Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1859-05-28
FOR the Herald.
SENTIMENT.

N0nsense among the strong, healthy minis
which are the repositories Of common sense
and true affections.
We believe In sentiment; and SO does
every man but he whose heart is SO crust
ed over with selfshness that even the
sledge -hammerstIokes Of great misfortunes
can scarcely make him feel; or he who is
sunk In grossness and sensuality beneath
the level of brutes. Bat, though we be
lieve in sentiment, we have no faith in any
of its abnormal manifestations, and are
particularly Disguised with that morbid
species which may be called stage senti-
Inselst, or that variety which finds its expo
Inents On the boards of theatres, in cheap
Ladies Magazines, mass y novels, and the
productions Of weak minded, suicidal poets
that variety which ignores sunshine and
baked beans, but dotes on moonlight and
confectionery. TO the possessors of this
species Of sentiment, life appears not as a
reality, but as something far removed, to
which cominon mortals cannot attain; it
seems like a rose. garden, where unsubstan.
tial fairies, yclep'd men and women, are
wont to smirk and smile and bow and
make love TO each other generally, shed
oceans Of briny tears fer nothing, and af-
ter more trials and perplexities than Chris
lian encountered in bis journey to The Ho-
ly City, they are certain of the catastro-
phe Of matrimony. In this ideal world,
no trials come save such as lie IN the path
Iof Hymen, and to overcome them blood,
plots and promiscuous horror are not spar
led. It is this kind of sentiment which
leads certain young ladies to believe
that matches are made In heaven" and
sends them strolling after some itiuerant
barber or bootblack, mayhap in his own
proper character, moro probably under the
alias of foreign nobleman, political ex.
lie or some other vagabond 1t is this
sentiment which wrecks thousands of minds
and renders so many Of our young men
and women totally unfit to. all tue prae-
teal duties Of life, and ncapacitates them
for the holy parental Office Of training
budding minds aud infant hearts for use
.fulness and happiness. 1t is this which
makes gray haired men weep over a with
cred rosebud, because dropped halfcen-
fury before by baby sweetheart; and
this it il which induces ali Of those mani
festations which sensible people justly
ridicule.
This form Of sentirnentality--a we'll as
the kindred loye-siek ore which regards
a0ou,an with such anauseating sensibiiity
has become peruiciously prevalent,
through the agency of the infamous trash
which floods the country in the shape of
yellow covered novels, cheap magazines
the lucubrations Of pin-feathef poets, and
9 literary" papers. Not until these agents
of evil are put down and taste for ra-
tional literature introduced among the
people, can we expect that universal influx
Of intelligence, which, with its effects up
on the masses, constitutes the hope of
It is a melancholy fact that the
New York Ledger and papers Of that
stamp count their circulation by hundreds
of thousands, while periodicals whose col
utnhs are the medium Of real, useful in
telligence, are left to die out for want of
support. We wonld caution every reader
to beware of every species of literature
which contains such false ideas of life and
its ends-such diseased and puerile senti-
ment, as the majority of popular novels
and " literary" papers; and we would ask
every parent who supplies such reading in
his family, whether he is not committing
a crime ID feeding those growing minds
which crave the substantial food of scien-
tiGc, literary and religious Information, on
The dry husks of these unreal, false and
criminal productions which starve the
mind and poison The heart
But then, again, that absence of senti
timent, found in the rowdy and the an
chorite, is as much to ce deprecated as the
unhealthy growth Of Which we have been
speaking. Many of our young men Try
to emulate the rosody in this particular,
Iunderthe apprehension thai he is the model
man. They sneer at the affections of SO
ciaI life, and to them there is nothing sa-
cred ia the names Of mother, sister or
friend; horse race has more attractions
for them than the society of the good or
the learned; and TO show their manhood,
they will ridicule the mother who bore
them and curse the father who reared
them. Life to them is place where no
flowers of affection bloom-no fruits OF
earnest effort ripen. Is hottest place, a
| bar room lis dearest associations, scenes
lof debauch and crime. Some OF them
dignity themselves by the fftle Of" sport
ing men" and if BY this term they meau
sporting with life's exalted ends, with God,
with virtue and their own well-being, the
Etit!e may be appropriate. Boys, if you
ARE searching for models of manliness, look
anywhere else rather than here; under the
Influence Of me OF this stamp you breathe
Ia poisoned atmosphere.
Some consider the cynic-the man of a
fossil heart--a criterion of manhood, but
for ourselves, we like not the man who
sneers at every expression Of feeling as
I agoaaoaish,' whose whole heart is en-
crossed IN the interests which pertain TO
ms bodily wants. He is TOO mach like the
man who has no music Id himself,' 4 fit
TOR treasons stratagems and spoils.n IN
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