The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-07-27
NOVEL READING.
BY EMMA NJ. coNNELLY.

l
sidered a species of vice; and at that
when the success of fictitious work de-
| depended almost entirely upon the plot,
and thought was made matter of secon-
dairy consideration-When the characters
were monstrous, the events miracles, and
the whole thing as ridiculous and unnat-
/ ural as possible; novel reading was un-
doubtedly pernicious. But the reign of
superstition and ignorance having passed
away forever, to be succeeded by a hap
pier one of moral and intellectual worth,
the public mind has become more refined,
| the tastes more delicate and pure; and in
| trlcate thought, skilful artistry and an
extensive knowledge of human nature are
among the necessary essentials of the
| modern novel
1t Is indeed to be regretted that ro'
nance should occupy such giant position
IN the literary world but It is far from
being an unmixed evil l believe it was
Irving who supposing two young men to
have been shut up in a glass case from
eighteen until twenty-five, and supplied
with an unlimited number of novels
gives to the one who reads his novel pre-
cedence, in point of worldly wisdom, over
the one who makes it matter of con-
science never to open one They hold in
solution, says he, "a great deal of expe-
rience. 1t would, therefore, surely be a
most useful thing to provide rules by
which the experience might be precipated,
and to ascertain the processes by means of
which the precipitate might be made fit
for use"
The habitual novel reader is truly an
object Of pity. His mind is so crowded
with imaginary scenes and conversations,
and his Judgment so crippled with the
opinions of Others, that he sees life, as it
were. through distorted lens, and is able
to form no positive opinions of his own
Sugar IS compound necessary to the
| human system. It enters into the com
position of almost all articles of food and
yet diet OF sweets would derange the
system; and so an excess of romance
weakens the mind. Many persons plod
through long dry works upon abstract sub
Jects-wlthout pleasure or interest-and
fancy they are improving their minds"
when, in fact, it is time thrown away.
Thoughts forced upon an unwilling mind
seldom tarry long, and are of little of ser
vice while they do tarry. But to read
| trIfing novel is time worse than lost, for,
If devoid Of good, it is very rarely devoid
of evil
To the large class of unoccupied per-
sons of the present time-whom the in
ventions and improvements of the age
have liberated from the burden of toll
and who require time killer, a sensible,
| intelligent, and good novel is much bet
ter than dissipation and revslry Your
| son Is safer at home with Dickens or
Reade than in haunts of vice; your
| daughter better employed in threading
the labyrinths of thought through the
mazes of an imaginary life, than in feed
ing her vanity and squandering the pro
ducts of paternal industry and economy
IN folly and extravaganza. The mind
that has been kept pure and unsullied
through right education and association
will find pleasure only in works of un-
doubted morality. What intelligent moth
er would experience any uneasiness in
knowing that her child was occupied with
the best thoughts of such writers as Miss
Muloeh, Elizabeth Wetheree, Miss Edge
worth, and many, many others who have
| filled the lonely hours of many an orphan
ed child with good thoughts and good re-
solves.
No branch of literature is free from
fault. History is often discolored by pre-
judices. over-wrought, and patched up
! with superstition and doubtful traditions
Metaphysics is founded opinions ofttimes
of no more substance than our own, and
poetry is so near akin to romance that, in
| this instance, they may be classed togeth-
er. Occasionally there rises a great out
cry against the clouds of chaf with which
the press annually mandates the world.
Chaff inevitably accompanies the wheat,
and the amount of it is considered a good
indication of the harvest. The wheat is
garnered up while the flow of years sweep
the chaff into oblivion.
To write good novel is not the work
of days, nor of weeks, neither of months,
but of years. How it is by bitter expe-
riences, heartaches, and even physical pain
they are generated, and through what dill
gent study, patient research, and anxious
care perfected, many a brilliant pen has
written. l speak only of good novels,
and there are enough of this class to rem
der those of doubtful morality entirely
superfuous to the reading world.
Romance is now an established branch
of literature, and powerful one. 1t has
enlisted within its ranks some of the
brightest stars of each profession, Let
the skilful writer look to it that he makes
| of it useful weapon in the worlds war
| fare. Not IN creating extravagantly per-
| feet, impossible, angelic models-surpas
sing even scriptural saints, who have evil
| thoughts and giant passions to contend
with-which are disappointing and dis
| couraging, because unattainable. Let
them give US living people, full of living
| faults, and teach as to overcome the evil
with the good, and how we may turn the
passions into workers of good works.
Says Gail Hamilton "a story or po-
EN- may comprehend the whole duty of
man. 1 recollect Herman; or, Young
| Knighthood,' which contained, not only
more wit, but more wisdom; not only
more beauty, but more grandeur; not on
ly more play of fancy, but more power Of
Imagination, more directness of purpose,
more felicity of expression and more ele-
gance of diction, but more knowledge of
! human nature, more soundness Of Judg-
ment, grander conceptions of human aspl-
rations and human capacity to love and
to suffer, to enjoy, to act, to die, and to
| rise again; vaster sweep of thought,
broader generalization, more comprehen-
sive views, more logical and accurate
reasoning, nicer analogies, a higher stan
/ dard of Christian manhood, than you
would find in a column of your solid
reading that would reach from Maine to
Georgia"
That we should be endowed-some so
marvelously-with the power of imagina-
ton, should be sufficient proof that it has
its appropriate work. No other faculty
of the mind was created for naught ,neith-
er was imagination. Were not the para
bles wrought through the medium of fam
cy? Was there in reality a man who
planted a vineyard and went into a far
country, leaving it in charge of the cruel
hOshandman who heat servants and KILL
ed his son? and had that unscrupulous
servant who made himself friends of his
masters debtors at his masters expense
any real existence? Would the truths
impr us more forclbly if we knew that
the Great Teacher had in his mind some
actual person ?-GOdey's Ladies Book.
A Census Man in a FIX.