Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-03-16
1aoies' department.
Mrs. M. E. GoRMAN, Editress.
Novel Reading"

~ 'AN l.
ats objects and designs are such as | approve,
yet there is an ultraism IN some of the senti-
ments advanced, Chat the writer cannot and
does not carry out ia practical life. And this
well-known failure takes off the thin wash
from the base metal it covers. The writer
denounccs 'aIl publications of romance and
dction," and forbids the reading of those
books and singing those songs which do not
tend to the knowledge and love Of God"-
Pray, what arc the songs taught in our re-
6giOSs scminaries9 Do they come up to the
standard Of this stern Mentor ? And the
books j%udicious teachers put into the hands
1f Their pupils-and the compositions the
yOungaadics write-would this potential de-
uounccr 6frevcrie and romance break up all
our literary institutions, because, forsooth,
they do not correspond with his matter-of-
fact, rigid rules Of utilitarianisn
unite with the writer, if he intends to
discourage the fippant loVe-sick twattle that
mounds In sensation literary o. papers and
yellow covered bIOo5and-murder stories =;
but because there arc such, it is running to
another extreme TO dalounce ell works of fc-
ton-romance-day-dreams as dangerous if
not ruineus 10 peruse- Twill venture to as
sert that our grim-visaged incubator Of mat
tcr-offact literature, INDUCES himself in dav-
drcams-idcalities-that would put to the
blush many Of the vagaries in writer's which
he processes so much to deprecate. Indeed
this fdaysdrecming-rearalg air1astles-ro-
m~ance-whatev you may please to term it.
is-an instinct co-existent with our species,
and which, however mischievously it may run
to extremes IN exceptional cases, is one ofthe
emotions that indieatcto us that mans high
er destinies and better hopes rest in the future.
And these day-dreams-thesc imaginary
. romancings-are Of all kinds and each age,
each condition, each variety of temper and
@lisposition, has its own order of wandering
thought" The student, modest but ambi-
tious the merchant, cautious but enterpris-
ing; the plough-boy, Flooding but deep"
the May Fair belle, and the cottage damsel
over her milking ails-but why attempt a
catalogue which might prove as interminable
az the variations Of human impulses, motives,
and circumstances ? The privilege of self-de-
lnsion is an inheritance common to us all.
How many bhthe hearts have been sadden-
"d-how many bonaie cheeks have blanched
how many bright cen have paled their
wonted light, as, by every burnside, in every
Highland bothie and LowlaHd homestead in
oldScotia, 'the Spe-wife" has pouredinto the
eager ear Of credulous lassie her network, SC
cunningly concerted, so dearly bought anC
paid for of all imagiuaQe q riignsyole. Felatiy.
familiar to madam meditations. And des
heart! how often, on the Other hand. ba
grief been turned into gladness, and fear t
Joyous confidence, and dependency to buoy
ant hopefulness, when the 'wise woman
finding her cue to be the dispensation of sur
shine, and not the gathering Of stormclouds
spoke words of encouragement not wors
1ounded-and not better-than those of doub
and menace. Ali sunny or sombre, old lady
may he tnc. color of your deceptive vaticin,
tions butbe the hue what it may, they ar
equally productive of ~reveries which tax
their unsubstantial shape from the lights an
shades of the cmpty,words. chat gave thel
birth.
And whnt Of the. daughters of privileg
case, and wealth? Have not these, likewis
their hours Of abstraction from the real I'M
the ideal, whore the future, family rehectC
by analogy from some vision of the past,
clad1maall the variegatGd, rainbow robes co
jured up by fancy, defiant of calm reason al
prudent calculation? Watch that charmin
changeful, Observation-Disclosures beaming ma,
testify with some thought too precious
communication, and which, rare emoti
with the happy-seens, whilst freighted wi
love and benevolcnce, to court the self
luxury of solitude. For this is a pecul
characteristic of the day-dream-that, for t
nonce, 1t usually seeks no companionsh
and is unwilling that even the nearest a
dearest friend should fully comprehend
source and nature of the felicity enjoyed.
Thatyoung, fair, gifted creature, hath hal
mot yet known love, in the sense of it's c
,centrati0n, "for better for worse" on a sin
object. How comes it, then, that she see
thus wrapped in some joyous vision there
Ask the ~tell-tale volume in her hand, and
will need not to tauy long for the answer
In the poem, the romaunt, the eloquent
suggestive novel, the maiden finds food abo
ding for her day-dreams she partakes Of
withas.much zest and relish as does her hi
bier sister the fare provided by the timer
ballad-singer, the gypsy, the "Spn-wife,"
village story-tcller. Its flight once tax
the wandering thought will receive impel
nation, and living forms mingle themsel
with the landscapeperspootive created
fancy. But this mental professor hallu
nation, as the Gradgrinds and Bounderbys
the practical school, would term it-tal
place Independently of individuasized love
being often observable that dsy-dreams
most intense and recurrent amongst til
who have not yst,experieneod that absorb
emotion, Ga1ich itself is in some respects