Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1872-01-24
The Novel; Reading Disease.

PhyscianS are famillar Win y COM
plant which, although sufficiently
specific, has yet no name of its own,
The patient suffers from an alarming
and morbid thirst, and consumes 4
perfectly fabulous amount Of fluid, al
most always Of an unwholcsome char,
acter. Tea in highly diluted state,
enl sucre, raspberry vinegar and wa
ter, soda water, or some other abomi-
nable mess, is taken by the gallon,
and the unatural craving is stimulated
by indulgence.
"crcscii indalgcns sibi dirus hydfOps
A Nee sitim peillt,"
Wholesome food is refused; no ex.
ercise is taken, and the patient finally
sinks into nabby and sckly condi.
tion, which nothing but severe and
determined treatment will shake off,
The dropsical habit Of body finds its
exact analogue in the species of men.
tai dropsy which is produced by over
indulgence in three.volumed novels.
This. terrible complaint is one of the
worst evils which modern civilization
has brought with it, It's progress is
gradual, very insidious, and often al
most imperceptibe. At first all that
is noticed is that the sufferer is apt to
DO found bent over q novel at unnat-
ural hours--as, say, in the early morn
ing, or in the middle Of beautiful
summers afternoon. Soon, however,
the disease becomes more pronounced,
aud in its worst stage novels are got
through at the rate Of three or 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 discrimi-
nation is used, and one writer iS, per-
haps, preferred to another-Mr. Trol-
lope, say, to Mrs. Ross Church, or
"0uda" to the author of "Guy Liv.
ingstone." Very soon, however, the
taste becomes deadened and blunted,
and all power Of discrimination is lost.
In this stage the unhappy patient can
no more do without her novel than
can confirmed dipsomaniac without
his dram. Tho smaller circulating
libraries, which lend out very second
hand volumes indeed at a penny u
volume, are put under contribution,
and any amount of garbage is swal-
lowed wholesale. Quality is held ab.
solutely of no Importance, and guam
tity is everything. The very process
of reading becomes more or less mo-
chanieal, and seems to afford species
of mechanical pleasure or satisfaction,
a novel OF the feeblest possible typo
being read as religiously from cover
to cover and yielding apparently as
much enjoyment as If it were second
"Romolo." 1t is no uncommon thing
for a young lady 10 whom the COM
plant has assumed a chronic form to
have read the whole Of Scott, the
whole of Thackery, the whole of Dick.
ems, the whole of Trollope, the whole
of Anne Thomas, the whole Of Mrs.
Ross Church, the whole Of Mrs. Brad.
don, tho whole of Lawrence, and, into
the bargain, some four or five hundred
other novels by less famous hands,
When the disease is thus confirmed
the dropsical habit Of mind becomes
apparent. The conversation of the
patient becomes fabby and limp
Her interest in all ordinary subjects
except, perhaps, the latest fashions, or
the most scandalous portions OF evi
denee in the Ticheborne case, or the
marriage of the Princess Beatrice
iickers feebly in the socket, and final
ly dies out The last stage-that Of
J absoluc imbeciity lis now, unless
very powerful remedies are exhibited
I mere matter of time
1t is too clear, unfortunately, why
it is that so many woman thus waste
, their time aud rot their minds They
, read novels exactly as some young
: men smoke and drink bitter beer---fol
sheer want Of something TO do. What
woman needs is an education whicl
: shall enable her to read and follow
, the parliamentary debates instead o
. the police and divorce reports; ans
. when women are thus educated thel
, feeble novels and feeble novelists will
vex our souls no longer to the horrible
extent TO which they irritatc US a
, present. Ofsuch an education we ma
say it is not to be got in book, unless, in
, deed books can give sound healthy com
mon sense, and wholesome interest il
common subjects. But men can give i
: by making the woman Of their iamiiie
their companions, and that they shoulC
} neglect to give it shows, after all how
: terribly deep seated is the extraordi
nary notion that the intellectual dif
! ference between men and women il
} one Of kind and not of degree.