The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1851-12-18
NovEE READING.


a whole library ol histories, biographies and
scientific works, if fiction has been with
held. Imagination is most important par
,f mind; il wants food, aud wilfhaveii. !
something congenial is not supplied, II vii
pf itself manufacture sustennnce; and We
believe the i,nagnings Of those who have
never read fiction are US wild as the wild
lest raw hcad-and -bloody-bones' stories o'
Mrs. Radcliffe herself Very much is gain
ed by lending the imaginatians Of the mil
Iiion into the trained and cultivated paths
opened up by good novelist. Nothing j
sowcil calculated 10 give just and practical
views Of fife as good fiction, for no other
kind Of compositioncoaiains so much truth.
One never sees moro than skelckpD Of
truth Ia history Or biography: the mus
c!es and circulating fluids are war'ing-
The barsAc,iqn stands out; bu, the m tive,
The moving springs, the emotions Of the
lbeart--what binerapher or historian Gamer
dare give these? The outlines arc renlI-
ties, the whole filing out most generalss
|fic,ion, and fiction which is falsehood. foris
iprofesses to be fact In novel, the out
/ liines-,he names and dates--are fiction.
which is not false, tecause il professes e
be Just what il is, while all the essential
land intermediais parts are facts. An an
jthor can 90 down into the heart OF hero
or heroine with fictitious nu}se, and bring
up the secrets from thence to teach their
esson TO ,hnse who will learn; but should
Iha take any such liberty with one whose
address could be found 10 the city directory,
be should be called 10 account, and charged
with gross breach Of confidence.
We would give young people novels on
he same principle that we would give
|children Mother Goose's Tales to impar'
taste ior reading--and in order 10 give
them practical views Of lie, which ca mot
lbc readily attained elsewhere. Wise peo.
pie may sneer al love and courehip just as
much as they please, mud when they ere
done, these areJ he most important things
ln life. Every young person ought to kno"
what is considered proper IN the process q
Ilove-making and receiving addresses, and
bot few know this insiinctivelv. The more
Theological, scientific and hstorica! ednca-
ton you give young girl, the more likely
her hear, affairs, il! she has altogether es
chewcd leh, reuding. We know two nlons,
Ieyemp,ary women, who became coniirmed
lid maids, not from chnice, but from mere
ignorance. One otthem was present when
we, a girl, were telling mother as usua.
the mnulin Of party at which wc mad
tbeen the evening before. Anong other
things. partner in a country dance, with
|,rae Western emphasis, had made a rioa
IA our finger leave painful ,ndcniat'n n
bg holding our hand TOO firmly. Mother
was giving US a ma,ron!y lecture on CO.
q1ctry. and we were laughing at the fun
Inv remembrance Of the bruised finger,
when we Hbseryed -'s head hanging o
yer her work, and heavy drops falling from
her ewes. After moment she looked up
and asked ia such . strange, doubling
| tane--
.Would YOU permit man 10 squeeze
,our hand9'
.Wby, certainly, il liked him, and i !
| did not, should take il away
Aiier moments hesitation. in which
,he appeared to master u great emotion.
she said
q dismissed The only man ] ever loved
Cor that
She was then an old wilhered woman.
and to that day, through long years, hnd
lived with The narrowing belief that the
only man she had ever loved. her lie u
idc,l nfmaniy perfection, had taken adsan-
tars of her unprotected state as an orphan.
! nd grossly insulted her, because. after two
wears Of conr,ship he had pressed her hand
the frs, time he had been permitted 20 hoid
Ii, which was TO prevent her falling as the,
walked over All lev pavement from church
| one dark night. She had some time bel"re
tsken his arm. mud that night had, with
fear and trembling for the proprie,v oftht
step. allow ed him to hold her hand, the bet
ter TO suppos, her: aud this she feared had
giyen him reason 10 .bink lightly OF her, sn
tia, he had committed the grevons outrage
of significantly pressing her hand, a. which
she had sprang from his side, flew home.
denied him admission when he called, anc
steadily refused 10 see him again. or give
any explanation, until be wearied, moi
knowing what was wrong. and married an
other. She became prematurely old, bur
never forgot her frs, and only love, and j
was reIicfto her TO know that he had no,
been ui,worihy, mud that what she had
though, prudence was pruderv, which hnc
rendered her lie desolaie. If she had read
.Alonzo and Melissa even, il would have
laugh, her better, and done more to pro.
mote ber lire's hnppiness than all she bad
ever learned from theological controversies,
lin which she was well versed.
The other Que Of whom we spoke, asked
a married lady. very gravely, ifeser Mr..
had attempted to put his arm
around her waist before marriage! She
had considered herself grossly insuted b,
such an attempt on the part Of gent'eman
she expected to marry, had dismissed him
for the offence, aud was an old maid begin
ming TO doubt the correctness Of her opinion
on etiquette.
Neither ofthese women had ever read a
novel, and both Of them had the mott sin,
pn.ar. unnatural ideas about love aud mat
rimonv that could possibly be imagined /;
and they gave to these subjects more
thought than any confirmed novel reader
we ever knew.