The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1851-09-04
Qbe Giterarp Gfbo,
Westerly, September A, 1851.
Works of Fiction.
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AND
P@wCaGu0k Adv0TGis0go


Among the many evils which infest all
societies, and which call for reproval and ex-
termination, is one more silent and slluring
than the rest, and that is, the reading of works
Of fiction. Scarcely family is entirely free from
the pernicious and soul-destroying influence
cxerted by the immense number of cheap works
of that class, which are continually flooding and
tempting the reading portion Of community.
There is bewitching ntoxication, an alluring
excitement in the novel, which operates with
as much power upon the devotee of fiction, as
does the exhilarating glass on he confirmed
incbriate, and will as surely lead to the de-
struction of the nobler qualities Of the mind.
We will give three of the many reasons which
may he adduced to prove it an evil.
1st. 1t does no good. 1t furnishes no food for
the intellect. Novels in general are made up
of exaggerated and overdrawn pictures oflife,
and give no correct impressions Of the duties
and realities Of existence, nor impart any useful
lesson sufficient to overbalance the pernicous
influence which they exert. There may be a
moral in some which may be worth learning,
but does it follow that for the sake of one truth
we must digest volumes of mere chaff' 'Tis
like searching in a hay-mow for a penny the
whole has been overhaued, and even then the
penny may not be found or like taking a large
dose of poison for the slight strengthening
properties which might be found in its particles
a. 1t enervates and destroys the mind. II
is q law of nature, that what creates an undue
excitement, must necessarily, tend to weaken
and dcbiltate the thing which it exctcs. Thus
with intemperance; thus with novel reading.
Every one who hasa read work of fiction, can
remember the fascination with which they were
bound to the perusal until the whole was
finished, and can recall the extreme mental
excitement under which they labored while they
followed the hero of the story through his hair
breadth escapes, and his ever occurring love-
scenes and such an one cannot deny that there
is an exhilarating, all-absOrbing influence in
such reading, and that there follows the newt
able consequence of an encrvated mind and
diseased imagination We recollect reading
in the life of celebrated atheist, we think it
was Voltaire, that his youth was spent in
reading all the works of fiction which he could
find, and there is no doubt that they left their
scething influence upon his future character.
1t destroys the taste for more solid reading.
Like alcoholic drinks it renders the more useful
enjoyments of life inspid.
3d. 1t is using time which was intended for
better employments. Our time was given us
to improve our minds and cultivate the faculties
with which God has endowed us. Now is it not
wrong to pervcrt the gifts of bountiful Creator,
for purposes directly opposed to those for which
they were intended? No one need complain OF
want of time who uses the smallest portion in
this worse than useless employment.
And whence comes all these death dispensing
denominations? Who is responsible for the in
fuencc thus eXcrted upon the coming genera
ton? The authors and publishers, certainly.
Then why not class them in the same category
as distillers and drunkard- -makers' We see nc
reason why the person who sells and circulates
these publications should be considered in a
better light than he who deals out death and
damnatiOn to his fellowbeings, in the shape Of
alcoholic drinks. Let every man hold them in
that aspect, spurn and detest them rs brother,
in one cause, and there will be manifest de-
crease in this pest of society.