The avant courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1871-1872, 1871-12-28
"A VANsE C1k3IJ RTER.



I 80 ssg "A. EsA. @-X. 49, -
Physicians are familiar with conplain
wiich> although sufficiently specific. has We
no name OF its own. The patient suffer
rpm anaiarming and marbid thirst, aud con
ssdnsesa iaba, aiiaepnts III fluid almost al
! ways ofsan sn.wholesone nature. Tea in .
diluted shape, eausucre, raspberry vinegar
and water, soda water or some other such
= n abominable mess, is taken BY the gallon. and
the unnatural craving is stimulated by indul
gence. 9Y IL
sCrescit indngens sibr dirus hydrops
Nee sitirn pellit.,i
= |Whelesoae food Il refuscd;a no exercise is
taken, and the patient finally sinks into a
nsbby and siekly seondition which nothing
but severe and determined treatment win
shake off. This dropsieal habit OF body finds
its5exact analpgnein the species ofssmental
dropsy which Is produced by over-indulgence
in three volumed novels. This terrible COM
plant 10 one of the worst evils which mod
ern civilization has brought with it, It's pro-
gress isgradual, erYainsidiGus, and often al
most imperceptible. At first all that is no.
ticed is that the sufferer is apt to be found
ofSt % ffSSssi dA say III ttlc
early morning, or In the middle of beauti-
8 4fil summers afternoon. Soon, however, the
disease becomes mIre pronounced, and In its
worst stage novels are got through with at
the rate ofthreedo four, or even five week,
or at an average, in severe and chronic case
of some two hundred and fifty or three hun
dred year. At first some discrimination is
exercised. and some writer Is, perhaps. pre-
G ferred another Er0l lepe, says Mrs.
Ross Church, or 'sOnida' to the author of
Guy Livingston. q
Very soon, however, the taste becomes
deadened and blnnted, and all power Of dis
t;nction and appreciation is lost. In this
stage the unhappy patient can no more 60
without her novel than can confirmed dip
somaniac without his dram. The smaller
circulating libraries, which lend out very see
ond hand novels indeed at penny volume,
are pat nnfef contribution, and any amount
xof garbage is swallowed Wholesale. Quality
Is held absolutely of no Importance and
quantity is everything The very process Of
reading becomes more or less mechanical,
aud seems to afford species Of mechanical
pleasure or satisfaction, a novel of the fee
best type being. read as relgionsly from cover
to cover, and yielding apparently as much
enjoyment as if it were a second ..Romola-
U is1lo comnion thing for asyoxngF lady in
in whom the complaint has assumed chronic
form to, have read the whole of Scott the |
whole Of Tiiackeray. tile whole Of Annie
Thomas. the whole of Mrs. Ross Church, the |
whole of Mrs. Bratlaon. the whole of Law |
rence. and into the bargain some four or five
hundred novels by less famous hands. When I
ethe disease is thus confirmed, the adropsical
habit Of mind becomes apparent. The con-
vefsation OF the patient becomes flabby and T
limp. Her Interest il. all ordinary subjects
except. perhaps, the latest fashions, or the
more scandalous portions in the Tiehbourne /
case, or the marriage of the Princess
I Beatrice-fickers feebly IN the socket and fl
nnaily dies'ont. The last stage-that Of abso-
lutte imbecilty-is now, unless very power
fill remedies are administered, a mere matter
OF time. Z 4
1t is too clear, unfortunately, why it is that
80 many women waste their time and rot
their minds They read novels, exactly az
some young men smoke and drink bitter
~
What a woman neeas is an application which
shah enable herEto read and feiiowhthe Par
liameptary debates instead Of the police and
divorce reports; and when women are thus
educated, then feeble novels and feeble nov
elists, will vex our souls no longer, to the
horrible extent to which they irritate us at
present. OF such an education we may say
that itis,not 20 be got In books, unless, in
deed, books can give sound, healthy common
sense, and wholesome interest on common
subjects. But MEXICAN give itby making the
women of their families their companions;
and that they should neglect to give it shows
after all how inyeterately deep-seated is the
extraordinary notion that the intellectual
difference between men and women is one Of
kind and not of degree Exchange.