, 1873-03-23
PERIODICAL LITERATURE,

| BE PROF, WILLIAM MATTHEW'S, OF THE UNIVERSITY
| OF CHICAGO.
Mr. Lecky, in his European lEorals, calls at
| tcntlon to "monentous intellectual 1eyoIu-
ton " which is taking place in England, and, he
| might hare added, in this country. He points
out that the work of instrrctiug the
public, which used to belong to book
makers. has boon almost wholly handed
| over to tho journalists who give US the
results of their thinking in the daily and veekIy
| press. Even touching abstruse subjects, such
rs philosophical aud ethical theories, ho main
tains that the weekly English papers exercise
groater influence than my other productions Of
the day in forming the ways OF thinking of
ordinary educated Eng1ishmon.' These state
ments may startle the thoughtful reader, aud
stzide him, at first, as oyercharged; but
who that considers the number, va
rioty, and ever-increasing ability OF these
periodicals, eau doubt it2 The public
journal, at once the echo and tho prornpter of
public mind ia constantly on!arging it's power
and widening its scope. Not only ia it becoming
the common peoples encyclopaedia, its school,
lyceum, and col1ege,-but the educated classes
arc looking to it more and moro as their oracle.
Is this fact to be deprecated or sha1: wo reioico
at q revolution which it Is evidently not in our
power to stop2
There is a class OF persons who talk in rerv
melancholy strain about tEe "lisht literature"
with which they say We arc deluged in these
days. They hardly know which to regard as the
moro dcplorable, that tho American people
should read 80 many newspapers and magazines.
Or that scholars should waste 80 much Of their
time in contributing to these epkemeral publica-
tions. Under their belefu1 influence VIC are
losing, it is feared, all terseness, elegance, and
idiomatic purity OF style, and all capacity
for serious thought skimming the surface
Of things, acquiring no solid, thorough info1ma-
tion, Uo shall bo speedily, in DR.. Jol1nson's
phrase, like the Inhabitants Of beseeed town.
We shall have "a mouthful Of evo1y kind Of
knowledge, and d bellyfu1 Of none" But what
do these croakcss mean BY light literature? Ia
not tho word purely relntiye? May not reading
which ia light as chat to ono man DO Is vojgbty
as grain to another7 The question With the
great majority OF men is not whether they shall
read newspapers and magazines, or solid.
thoughtful books, but whether they shall read
tho former OF nothing. Horny Of Navarro |
1onged for tho time when every Frcnchman
should have hen in his pot. That he deemed !
better sign OF a peoples prosperity than occa-
Honnl big fcasts in the castles OF tho great The
newspapers md magazines bring literature into |
every home, just as Ed aqueduct and pipe bring [
the water Of Lake Michigan into the homes |
Of our citizens. 1t is quite true that tho water
tastes occasionally Of iron, and wcars a rusty
true that purer draueht NAV bo
found at some lake in the shadow Of the hills.
but tho water is flowing in every house-which |
s the great desideratum aud, moreover it is
oftcn as pure in the basin Of the citizen az be-
heath the trembling sodgcs which tho wild duck
owes.
Tho truth Is, the flight reading" 60 much
stigmatizod is a necessary prerequisite to taEta
or something more substantial. As d horae
annot 1.-Two upon oats without hay, SO the popu-
ar mind cannot digest it's nutriment if il is too
concentrated. There must b. bulk as veil as
lntr1nent. destroy our periodicals, md who
'ehe7es that Eacon md Milton would have one
eader century hence where they now have =
lunoredf 10 Thousands and tens Of thousands
nc newspaper is IN academy, III which they are
prepared to profit By the instruction they will
tterwards got in the university OF which Bacon,
;ewton, Locke, Nil, ali tho worlds great
hinkorB, ,-are professors.
We deny, however, the propriety OF the term
Light, when applied in 30 creeping manner
0 the newspaper literature Of the day. Those
Tho uee the term forget the e1ozmous atride
'hlch journalism has made within the last forty !
ears. Our leading newspapers are no longer
He'd With news exclusively, with raw-head and
loody-bones stories, or with gossip and twad-
ling criticism, but with ably-w1itten editorials
nd contributions, containing tho results Of
auch thought and research, touching the