The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-02-10
Sensation Novels.

A Sensation Novels.
OF all the instrumentaiities which Satan
brings to bear upon human society, perhaps
there issnot one SO potent for evil IS bad
books. It Is not at all matter OF wonder
that those stern, uncompromising bishops ana
cardinals of the olden time, used to make DON
fires In the public squares, of the hated VOL
umes whose teachings they believed so aan-
oorous to their focks. Grant that they were
mistaken sometimes as to the tendency OF the
doctrines. and always as to the best manner OF
contending against them, yet they certainly
were not mistaken as TO the immense power
of the engines they sought to destroy. And
perhaps no thoughtful person can stand at the
counter OF one of our cheap book and period
ical depots, and look over the wares there ex-
posed for sale, which constitute almost the
entire reading of large class in the commu-
nifty, without wishing that he had the power
for once to initiate the conduct ofthese fathers
Of the church. We have an abiding faith IN
the advantages of Free Press, and in It's
ability to correct its own abuses, and to fur
nish sufficient checks and balances for any
mschieis to which it may give rise; but we
confess that we have often wished we might
deliver up the whole mass Of yellow-covered
trash into the hands of the Licentiate Pero
Perez, and Master Nicholas, the barber, who
made such pitiless havoc with the library of
Don Quixote.
/ 1t will, of course, be perceived that In
speaking OF "bad books" we do not refer
chiefly to those which are openly irreligious
or immoral. Such are comparatively speak
ing, harmless, for their unmistakable charac-
ter excludes them from all respectable circles,
and the dulest can estimate them as they de-
serve. But what we more especially allude to
is hespecies OF fiction known as the "sensa-
ton school," The variety of publications
embraced in this class is very wide, and the
degree OF talent employed ranges from the
lowest to the highest, but all are eagerly de-
voured. "Stella Stokes" and the author of
''Aurora Floyd middleton Mudfog, Esq"
and the author of "The Woman in White"
and the "Strange Story" have each their cir
Gle of admiring readers. Then there is an In
termediate class, otter the productions Of we'll
known writers, who, sheltered under some
safe nom de plume, make more money on these
unowned progeny of their brains than on the
nobler efforts which are the foundation of
their fame. They all abound in startling Incl
dents and complicated situations in rags and
misery, jewels and upholstery, in fascinating
pirates and beautiful fends, In murder, rob-
berry and unlawful love. They deal with char
acters intense and exceptional, with perverted
motives and morbid emotions, with moral
atmosphere as feverish and malarious as Ro-
man marsh or Mississippi river-bottom.
Their influence upon youthful and uninstruct-
ed minds is incaIculable. By familiarizing the
Imagination with horrors they blunt the sem
sibilities; by investing the guilty with ro-
mantle charm, they soften the natural detesta-
ton of guilt; by depicting the worst criminal
as the creature OF circumstance, and the child
of "evil destiny they unsettle the sense OF
right and wrong, and produce the vaguest no.
tons, of moral accountability. If any one
doubts this let him study the manifestations
of maudlin sympathy which often follows
some brutal murderer in real life, and the eff.
forts made to screen him from the just penal
| ty of the law. He will find that such philan-
thropists constantly adopt the spirit and the
reasoning Of the sensation novels. A recent
English paper says:
"The great error of The sensational litera-
ture OF the present day is this: Some most
extraordinary character, some inconeeivable
act, some unparalleled crime, is held up before
the world, and made as it were an example
for imitation. An isolated real case, or one
originating solely from morbid imagination,
is represented to be in character with the
times, and to be In no way strange to the
morality of the hour. tissue of romance
is pronounced to be the law of lhe,-the life
of men and women as they are. And the i'm
preston left on perusing such works is this,
that thu story is by no means an unusual one,
and that many commit the most atrocioHs
crimes and enjoy the fruit of them for years"
To be burdened with a guilty secret seems
a rather interesting thing, on the whole; and
to devote ones whole mind and means and
life, to the wreaking Of a long cherished and
deliberately planned vengence, is not repre-
sented as an ignoble CT extraordinary employ
ment of superior powers.
In what we have said we would not be I'M
derstood as preaching crusade against all
novels Unfortunately. There are works OF
fiction which embody the purest morality, the
profoundest philosophy, the tenderest humani-
ty of the age In which we live. Such can never
be injurious in their effects; on the contrary,
their elevating aud refining influence is of great
and lasting value. But the most careful and
constant discrimination should be exercised
In selecting, and everything which approaches
the Observation-Disclosures school canuot be too
sedulously avoided. And, after all, the only
efficient safeguard against danger Is TO cult
vate taste for more solid and substantial
food. A fair proportion of good works of ic-
ton may be harmless, but the exclusive read
ing of them will not ''cultivate the mind'
any more than diet Of sugar candy will feed
and strengthen the body. 1--we would be ed
ucated in any worthy sense of the word, we
must read books which task and stimulate, as
well as amuse the mind. The taste for such
reading, once acquired, viii grow with whatit
feeds on, and afford an unfailing source Of
pleasure and of profit. ~,
Incidents about Home.
TOO POOR TO BE ECONOMICAL.