Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1850-11-27
From the Mothers Magazine
NDYSl R.HALOlMG>
EY MRS. II. C CONANT.

Aunt Deborah ~ exclaimed young
Amy Greene, in an eager and somewhat
triumphant tone. /" this writer in the --
Review seems 10 have quite a different
opinion from you on the subject Of novel
reading"
"Ah" said Aunt Deborah, with quiet
kindly smile, "what. then, does he ihink!''
"Why, iha, novel reading tends direct
ly to cultivate the imagination and the SEN
sibili,y, the two qualities most lovely and
most useful in woman and that it is
the novel reading women who are capable
of doing most and sacrificing most for 9th.
ers, because they feel most"
Aunt Deborah stopped knitting, pushed
back her sPec,acIes, and said,very graveIy:
How strange it was tina, Absaiom did no,
wear wig! !''
"What an idea !" cried Amy. laughing:
81 am sure he had hair enough of his own. "
That is the very reason,'' SAID Aunt
Deborah. ''ll is because he had so much,
that he ought to have had MORE"
"Whai do you mean, aunt y asked
Amy, looking rather puzzled.
."Why, my dear. ! always thought that
our sex had, by nature, more imagination
and feeling than most Of them knew how
10 manage, and yet, according 10 this wri.
ter. our chief aim should be 10 increase
the stock as much as possible. Now TO
mo it appears that the weaker parts, the
understanding and judgment, stand most
in need Of being strengthened.
"Then you won't allow any use in
novels. aunt Deborah"
"Do you think apples wholesome
article Of food, Amy -
"To be sure"
"Then, of course. you will eat all the
hard, unripe, and all the decayed and
wormy apples you can find. as well us
the good ones. You will neglect your
regular meals. exercise, and every duty,
for the sake Of eating apples. You will
even set up half the night to do it, they
are so very wholesome ~
Amy laughed and blushed, for the pre-.
ceding midnigh, had found her absorbed in
"the last new novel;
The fact is, nv dear, tha, young
girls read novels just as children eat ap-
pies, moi for the sake of anv benefit it may
be TO them, but simply for the pleasure
they take in doing it; and if they can ge,
a strict and sober old body like me 10 ad-
nit any possible use in their favorite au-
thors, why, then it is nothing but novels,
morning, noon, and night. One would
think they were resolved to offer up soul
and body in search oe the hidden virtue"
Amy made no reply, and after little
pause aunt Deborah continued:
And moi only so, but you nake it the
excuse Of reading novels Of bad, or, a,
best, Of doubtful character, such as in your
own hear, you know are unfit for a pure
eye and an unguarded mind. 1t is not for
the use, i, is for the entertainment, the ex.
cl'ement, ,ha, you read them, and i, is not
honest TO pretend otherwise"
This was said with unusual Sharpness
Of tone. for uutruth(ulness in any form
was in aunt Deborah's eye a cardinal sin
and she had, moreover, paid the penalty Of
Amy's vigis by nervous headache.
She recovered herself in a moment, how
ever, and proceeded in milder voice:
Now. Amy. if you ask honestly after
The uses Of fctious reading, is it not plain
that two things nre presupposed First,
that all works Of immoral or even doubtful
tendency are TO be swept at once out Of
view. No matter what claims they NAV
put forth as works ofgenius, as pictures Of !