The Cecil Whig., 1873-11-15

NoIlH WIllcS oiIy lol lie LeuScl, d.
though her stories under others names
may be had in almost any book store.
Any one who can read one of her stories
through, certainly has patience enough for
anything. l have tried it, but have been
GLAD to turn to Blackstone as relief from
the dreary, dead level of stupidity. Then
there is Sylvanus Cobb, with hero al
ways the same, changcling son, whether
he lives in the heroic age of Greece or in
New York in the blaze of the nineteenth
century. 4 young man Of great personal
beauty and unequalled physical prowess,
hewing his way through ranks of foes to
wealth and-l wife. Then there is Leon
Lews, perfectly at home among bandits
and pirates, always getting his heroine
deeper into trouble and in every chapter
suggesting ideas that are opposed to all
notions of purity. Mrs. Woodull has been
indicted for circulating obscene literature
through the mails; are many of those
papers any better? The chief apparent
difference is that in one. the obscenity is
open and unguarded, in the others it is
vailed in hints and suggestions.
The true novelist must be an artist
capable of painting to life every line of the
characters he attempts to draw. 1t should
not be his business to sketch impossible
characters, to throw around deeds of crime
a halo Of falsehood and idle glamor, or to
70 Df
This is the one great and fatal fault of
modern fiction:-its false, unrealizable
pictures of life to be attained at best by
but a few favored ones. Who for instance
can read Disraeli's stories without much of
the same feeling with which he reads the
"Arabian Nights" that he is in realm
too dim and unreal to have ever really ex-
listed, and there are too many of just such
authors. To fulfill his high mission the
novelist must be true to real life, paint it
as it is, not according to some unreliable
ideal in his own mind.
The authors that have won the truest
fame have been those who have filled some
really felt want of the times in which they
lived. Dickens gave the impression of
not writing as much for the sake of his
story as for the sake of exposing the
wrongs of the times in which he lived, and
his name will go down to history as
classic. Mrs. Stowe dared to strike blow
for freedom when to speak against the
slave demon that domineered America re-
quired more than common courage, but
her pen proved more potent than the
soldiers sword in overthrowing the demon,
and is besides proof that devotion to
principles of right is the only passport to
fame.
Fiction is one of the real living facts of
the day, every one of ordinary intelligence
reads novels. 1t is useless to condemn
them. All We can do is to give precedence
to the best; to elevate, if possible, the
standard of literary taste. When the
English and American press are giving us
an average of one new novel daily any one
of ordinary capacity can select for himself.
The Ledger and Beadles Dime Novels "
will have readers of course, and so will the
Police News" and "Days Doings," on
the principle that the most intelligent COM
munities will always have their depraved
members. but the young men and women
who carry the I" Beautiful Pirate" or
"Whte Squaw'' in their pockets dc not
constitute any test of public taste. When
the authors of such entertaining works
learn that they are no longer appreciated
they will give place to better men.
We would not condemn modern fiction,
although it has much yet to be improved.
1t has 4 noble mission yet to fill, but
word of warning is not out of place in re
gard to much that passes current in the
world Of letters. What is needed is that
readers of fiction will read only the best
and the mass of trash will fall of its own
weight. Like edge tools it is something
essential for the rough work of the world
but something that requires careful hand
ling. While speaking of the unrelance of
much that passes current rs history, moth
ing is further from my wish than to dis
IbS SluuS. ue uduSeT Is III dC-
cepting every statement with which we
meet as unquestioned fact. The need is
that the reader of history, fiction, theology,
science;-what he may, should have suffi-
Gent independence to decide for himself
what he is to credit-what not. Intellect
ual activity was never so great as at present
and the man or woman who would be up
with the times must be fully armed at all
points. Books, education intelligence are
in the reach of all. Let each choose the
best and rest assured, if he lives in ignor-
ance it will be Lis own fault. With in
creasing knowledge will come an increas-
ing power of deciding the merits of book,
and better facilities for securing the best.
The character of man may be known by
the books he reads. If one then would
secure good name let him be careful of
his reading. A bad book will never cease
from evil results, while the influence of a
good one will become all the greater as
years pass onward.
JAPANESE REFORMS.