Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-09-09
From the New York Observer.
n 0 V E L r A DIN G.

Gle On the pernicious tendency of novel
reading. II was nv intention to have
complied with that request withou. DELAY:
but meeting with the following passage
IN the Rev. DR.. Reeds popular work
called No Fiction" | have concluded to
send ii for publicat on, as being altogether
more to the purpose than anything which
should write. Ii there are any nOreL
readers, that is, any who make business
as well as pleasure of reading them; who !
read them IN the morning, and at noon, |
sand IN the evening, and by stealth after
they have retired for the night, and on
Sundays, and in church, Qor have seen |
many a novel carried TO church to be read |
in sermon time,) say, if there are any !
OF this class who take up the Observer, !
they will b. sure TO see this article, and
us it is intended for their special benefit,
beg them 10 forget their romances for
brief season, and attend to some matters
iof fact. IRENEus
First, then. | object to a course of
novel reading, as 1t produces an undue
excitement az the mind. The design of
the novel writer is to interest and mhlme
the passions; and this design is generally
accomplished by giving that POSITION to
incidents and characters which shall fl
me imagination, and excite the deepest
Fl feelings of the heart. This excitaiion,
from being pleasing, becomes neressary:
The appetite grows with the qualification
till. at length, the novel reader requires
his tale as he drunkard does his potion.
The evils of this excitement mast be
apparent. Where i. is INDUCED, the rel
ish for sober pleasures and rational pur-
suits is lost; the aderstandng and the
= judgment are ensaved to an inf Ted i'm
a9inaion; aud ennua, the insrparabe
companion of violent emotion. sheds its
destructive mildew on all the soul. The
hat iual novel reader feeds on essences
and liquors rather than temperate and
wholesome diet
And, If the observation is TO be applied
10 youth, the case is aggravated. In
: youth the fancy wants restraint, and the
r understanding cultvation; course of
: novel reading. a, this period, then, must
!, be as periIous as the administration of
slmulanis whore there Is every symptom
' of fever.
i Secondly, object TO general novel read
/, ing because IL gires false impressions and
Q uie,os Of life. Although 1t Is the boat o.
the novelist that he draws from life," /
u will venture to say his descriptions are no
r more fair sample OF lille than the gar
At dens of Italy are ii fair specimen If The
10 world, or the portraits in Somerset House
fair represe, ,ation of our species. 1t is
& rather a selection from LIFE than a delluel-
o. lion of it; and houoh The copy should b.
vs. correct, the impression will be erroneous.
. There is too much hustle, aud surprise,
and agitation; the heart must thrill with
~ fear and hope through every pagr of the
n story; while the days, the months the
~ years of real life, which pass away in
9 regular duty and quir, happiness, receive
nerher description nor enconlum.
But 1t frequently happens that the exhl
IS bit ons OF HE, partial as they are. ar
PAT unjust. Chara t-rs are drawn with
IA monstrous compound of vice and virtue
Passions are described with necessar
III consequences which are by no mean
he cons, quent. Trfts are raised into i'll
md portance; events. not likely to occur III
ilIfelime. are made essential to lie; an
others. common to humanity, aud who
Frequently bring with them iIttle pain {
. pleasure, can not be realized wnho
sinking in an abyss Of endless mlser
. or rising TO a Paradise Of everlasting 10
But, hirdfy. nv principal ohjec' ion
arly novel reading 5 ITS immoral tendency.
ub- This charge, though most serious on
pos IS, | fear, to be applied to nearly all t
heir books which PISS under the name of no
y Vtlr
; m am taking the New Testament as /
IN standard of morality; and-by this stan
re- ard, although there will be no comparIS
,rId in the shades of guilt, few Will esca
liItd condemnation. What are we to say
was works which fritter away the dis InciIo
fire. between right ana wrong, and deceive
LAS unwarv INTO the paths OF vice. by 81
&C.. rounding them with the waynai ks
been virtue? What are we 10 say of wo
an which treat with contempt tose adniI
1850 bic qnalites--industry, rugallty, ana T.
; re- deuce; while they sqnander Their P al
New on extravaganza, carelesshesS, and FOL
euar- What are we 10 say of works VII
i lent alienat. The heart from domestic and
f the tired duties which convert every q
, the home into ii prison housr, and make
best of parents appear either rieieu
f the or tyrunnica2 What are we to Sd.
nmil- works which are polluted hy '"sc
It the descriptions 1T sensual pleasures, 'as'
saints Gus inuendoes. aud lnnlel bon NOUS
Some which. almost uniformly, MAKE 10
i,nilar passion wholly irresistlhles What
we 10 say of works which justify en-
days lion. pride. vanity, revenge ambition
,sesssd hatred2-of works which, in some c