Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-04-04
Stories and Life.

"There'e something wrong with the machine
~, SOMETHING wrong!' "But whati" 40, dom
know, but II works wrong" There is class
Of croakers who are all the time enlightenine
us just 60 far as TO the state of things. Quere--
to what purpose2 f1H ciH
Not long since, respectable young girl in q
western town married mere adventurer, :, OF
good address, but without credentials or any
known antecedents, and of course he proved q
scamp, bigamist, polygamist, or something,
and there our part of the story ended Where
upon gravely appears In leading paper an ed
itorial, commenting on the affair, with this
"moral:'---that in no country under heaven do
women throw themselves away 80 careleesly
30 unguardedly, and 80 forth, and so forth. I,
Croak, croak, to no real purpose; no reason
given, no remedy proposed, no hope Of any,
evidently giving up the whole % hopeless case.
Perhaps 1t is. Then why waste pen, ink and
paper. time, type, composition and printers ink
In saying so2 s6.sl..H $50 - $50 .i.t
Nor are we to find either cause or remedy in
q day, yet, looking Q little deeper, one may be
permitted q suggestion. One cause may lie In
the current and prevailing literature of the day /;
especially that 80 greedily devoured by the
class among whom the evils spoken of are most
prevalent Their staple mental food is a sen
sation story, terrifcalIy wild and horrid, or
hicto toNO oeot |NCty bOohS CVcEy uONctg tVs
cry tale from the highest to the lowest, turns on
the course of true loseSor what they are pleas.
ed TO call true love, q counterfeit presentment.
Every story presents It's course, the obstacles
In the way, the means miraculous or otherwise,
by which they are overcome, and the final catas
trophe. s-sefsrg
In ninety-nine cases out of hundred the end
is marriage, and the curtain drops; while In the
one case that fails Of this result, there Is feel
ing Of disappointment and the author receives
no thanks. And this is regarded as the end
instead of the beginning of life; there is not
look beyond, to see how the two imperfect be-
ings may 60 on, after they have taken up the
burdens OF life together. OF course not: it
would be too prosaic, too disenchanting, and
yet-if one might be allowed so homely a sug-
gestion, It might be useful. A young girl hav-
ing well learned this lesson, taught by all the
books she has read in every spare moment of
her time, nothing remains but TO follow the
course OF her education to its legitimate end.
The first teaching of this education is, the enc,
aim and object OF lifeis to be married; we'll, if
you can, but at any rate to marry. Shut your
eyes and lear; people do sometimes land safely
even In the dark .t. ttlt
Here we are, precisely where our croaker left
us, save that we have guess at the cause
Let US look more closely at the stories as they
rise. Take hundred and analyze them, To
one-half you have love at first sight, in all Of
them there are obstacles in the way of an i'm
mediate bssful result. In TWENTY-FIVE cases,
parents oppose, are cruel, relentless, unrea-
sonable; in another twenty-five. rival mysti-
fies matters; in the same number more, the
lovers quarrel and cannot by any means come
to an understanding till the end Of the second
volume, though you could settle IL oil in five
minutes. In the rest of the hundred cases,
poverty, or fate, or guardian, or an uncle who
will not die; or indi6erepces or willfuness on
the part OF the party of the first part, or the party
OF the second part, keep them asunder. Il Is
Only wonderful skill and power of invention that
can give as anything else.
The supply of incident is meagre. In twenty
cases, the hero saves the heroine from drown
ing; in ten, he rushes into burning house and
rescues her; in FIVE, he saves her from wild
Indians; in five others, from "the enemy,"
whoever that may be. In ten Others, he catches
q runaway horse or horses at the risk of his
own life, as she is riding or driving: in three,
he saves her from the rising tide; in seven,
from shipwreck; and so on. The reader Of
good memory can perhaps supply the few re-
markable cases in which the author, by won
derfu good luck, or fertility of invention, or in.
spiration, has hit upon anything else. Now and
then we are treated to long and wearisome de-
lays, till we feel that the life of the parties ia
passing, and We grow weary, If they do not
We are impatient, whatever they may be, for
the ful6llment Of their hopes. So much for the
Incidents on which all these wonderful tales are
based. at
However, the poor writers are not TO blame.
The raw material has been used up long ago.
IL is like paper which, made over again and
again, loses all its fibre, all It's strength, vet has
the semblance Of paper still. We have COM
planned that they all stop at marriage as the end
and aim OF lie. But perhaps this is in part
up, and with the doctrine Of affinities come new
People seem to marry in haste to
repent at leisure; perhaps the evil is now work.
ing its own cure. The favorite now seems to be
(for story is 90 far true to nature, that il is
nothing without trouble,) that after they are
quietly married, the pair discover that they
have chosen the wrong person; and then We
are treated to all their struggles and strifes,
With the alternatives Of open QUAR- cling, silent
endurance, divorce or disgraceiul flight. There
is no spice unless something is wrong, or, as a
young lady said, with more sincerity than
reverence, "there is no spice in life without
sim" @ .hA'
We discover in these last plots something of
the influence Of the spirit Of French fiction. AS
In France are arranged by friends,
and theparties have little choice or opportunity
Of acquaintance before marriage, the only free
dom which woman enjoys comes when it is too
late. But as there must be romance in life, 1t
Is then or never. Now We do not wish to re.
form French customs or morals. but let us care
for our own. We have no need to engraft one
evil upon another.
r 4
"The evil that men do live after them, t --
The good Oft inferred with their bones.n
Fvtyanrdiuayv TlraynatJc Rasr,,..t,o,