Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1856-01-16

PERNIcIous L1rERAruRE-Much is written at the
present time upon the influence Of bad books. We
have several large and wealthy corporations in this
country whose protested aim is to supply the coun-
try with good literature and to contefct the terrible
power of corrupt books The American Tract So
clety, and the Sunday School Union specimens
Of the associations to which we alludc. "a & .ss
But there is another style of literature more PERM.
cious than any that the Tract Society the Sunday
School Society opposes. class OF books is popu-
lar in midst which is as nsidous in its mischief
as o rat hole in the dyke of Holland-which affects
the tone and thought of public life like the miasma
OF the tropics-which penetractes and pervades the
whole system like the fumes of burning charcoal,
which luls the body to repose and invites 70 that
slumber thatknows no awakening. The air is full of
it. Its fruit is in the wild fanaticism of one
section, in the impractcable conduct of another
in the assaults against the Union, the laws of the
United States and the compacts of the Constitution
which distinguish the Black Republicans"
We allude to the disunon fiction of the present
day-the literature Of philanthropy" as it is, call
ed, Or as it may be better described the Uncle Tom
CABIN literature" Of the present time. The money
success of that book has called out host of ima-
tors-and the country is flooded with assaults OH
the South; the North forgetting that she ever held
slaves, and gave up the system because it was rot
profitable kind of abor-forgetting that all the
original thirteen" held slaves at the time Of the
adoption of the Costitntion-andt that the condition
to service, was better than it has been since
The North, we say, drinking in the tales OF fiction
and ialsehood from the pious pens OF the Beechcr
Stoves and Sorrys mas become infatuated and pos
sessed to an alarming degree.
The condition of the slave is exaggerated till his
real condition is unknown-tbe South has become
a den OF hdcous worcestershire melody of the bird
is lost in the cry the shrek of the wrctched slave
the UIion is Il brotherhood of thieves-the Con-
stution a compact of blood-and its compromises
u covenant with death and hell. At the start these
statements and eXtravagant remarks excited only
smile of contempt. But the story has been often
told and repeated in many f,rms-thls style OF
novel writing has become popular and so profit
abc-so gene, ally have such works been circulated
and read-that the bad ripe fruits seen ON all
sides.
The last Legislature of Massachusetts, is an evil
deuce Of the general influence of this kind Of wri-
ting. 1t went to the extreme of tSunion. 1t sent
the demagogue Wilson to the Senate to sit i'll the
chair Of ebSter, who when Scott nominated
at Baltimore, rnbbei his hands with glcc, and suit
ing the action the word said Of " eb>ter, I'VE
have dirke,l him! We have dirkcd him !" The
Abolition press has done something toward creating
the fanaticsm and dSunionisn of this age. The
Northern pulpit has done more. But the iictcious
and men'aciou> tales OF Southern life and customs
enanating from pens called pionS and from publish
ing houses called respectable, have done than
all. We would like to the social life of Boston
laid bare with all the .tair"ess that marks the pages
Of Uncle Toms Cabin" The citizens of that NOR
a! Athens would find cause to hide their heads in
shame. Cases can be found, and that not isolated,
that will match any cases or persons created by Mrs
Stowe. Let the streets and alleys of Boston be
searched without CANDLE and brutal husbands,
inidel wives, "Tcpseys" without numbers, deserted
children, weary and overtasked maidens, and wo-
fleeing from home oppression, tyranny and want
to prostitution could be produced Let that form
basis for a novel of -" Life among the American At
thenians.' Let the recent Developments in that
fashionable part of Boston, "the Shawmut avenue"
and the conduct OF the Datons aud the Coburns
with their wives become the standard for the domes
tic life of New England. Let the tyranny of the
husband-which makes many nobe-hearted wo-
man in that city curse the day of her bridal, and
the hour that she born-a tyranny more gen.
eral in New England than any part Of this land
be unfoied Let the oppression of the grinding
down of sewing women and working girls-the sys-
TEN of corruption and crime, that underneath a
smooth cloak of religious zeal and warm regard
for suffering humanity in the distance, marks the
social system of the North-ct these blaze out in
novel as tale Of real life let the novel be followed
with "key with the names appended and the
South would have little to blush for any story
written by poverty stricken Adventures We should
like to see the novel written. Let it DC called Pc
ter Pious' Cottage, Or Life Among the phi'anthro-
psts" New lorh Ddtty AeWs.
EFFECTS OF EMAScIpArioN.- We extract the fol-
lowing from the American Statistical Annual for 1861
relating to Jamaica:
From papers recently laid before the British
Parliament it appears that since the emancipation
of the slaves more than GEO estates in the Island
have been abandoned. These gave employ
ment to $4,000 aborers The number of estates
abandoned or partially abandoned from january,
1852, to January, 1853, was as follows:
Sugar Estates. Coffee. Country seat
Abandoned, 1913 Sc 30
Partially Aband'd, II TT q
1919 1872 50
Tota! acres 391, 1877
The language of the late Governor General, Sir,
Charles Grey on the condition of this island is in