Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1872-12-26
Satanic Literature.


/ must coon become a prominent one.
| " hat we do read, or what a large portion
OF our population reads, is plain enough.
A,number of tlAshy ard sensational papers
in New York count their subscribers bv
| the 100, coo, while the two or three sober
and sensible weeklies are barely sustained.
What is to he the resultOf this sensational
and dangerous mental gOrmanaizingg In
| a physical way we know that the con.
sumption of sound and substantial food
gives US better limbs and stronger
muscles, while, on the contrary, il the
food is diseased or unsubstanlial we may
, look for disorders and weak physical dc.
velopment. II the same law obtains In
mental culture we can safely predict an
alarming crop of minds diseased dur
ing the next few years
We are accustomed to call that q morbid
taste which induces people To flock 10
hear the wife Of Joaquin Miller complain
of her wrongs, and fills houses to over
flowing to hear or see Mrs. Gelyerton in
her character Of the divorced wife This
taste is 'depravCd,' we say; but how
about that which induces a large class Of
our young people, boys and girls from
thirteen to twenty, to pore oycr dime
novels, and reyel in the "h,ood and
thunder stories of the hcbiomadal press =
These young people, or the majority,
have hardly yet grown vicious or de.
PRAYED Their minds are plastic, but
curious; and is not the taste That they
manifest rather the natural one for start.
ling adventure. bold figures and wonder
ful exploits, which simply requires e1u-
eating, developing, elevating, to become
very proper and CommcndRblc oRe9
The boy has 81 world outside Of that i'm
mediateiy around him, peoplca with
fabulous giants in courage, strength and
intellect. You only need TO travel the
road and point out the fact that these
heroes are men Of straw. mere creatures
of the Imagination, TO have his interest
cease in the recital of their exploits. IL
We read n story for the story alone, it
must be reasonable or possible, other
wise the interest ceases and it becomes
ridiculous. When boys can be made to
laugh at the tremendous exploits Of tcti-
tious heroes, instead OF admriNg and be.
lieying in them, the danger has well nigh
vanished. How this may he done, or
how the minds Of our young people may
be drawn into another channel Of reading,
may be the subject Of another article.
1 JUS. now We WISH :" emo" III VIVA. on
IG'.,on 'no tastes Oh "a '4feo percentage
VI ~ lue po"PIe mostly ~ -,
the fact that Emma d. L N SouihWorth
is read more extensively than Dickens,
and that Thackeray falls far below Syl-
vanus Cobb, Jr The writings Of Mrs
Southworth can hardly he called vicious.
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