New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-23
science I'm Novels.


viewed with suspicion and dstrust. Tn,
entry Of many women writers into the bust
ness Of purifying works of fiction has no
done anything to elevate the character fth,
works. and that IS just, although severe, re
buke that Punch administers to the Graf
when he depicts an elderly gentleman, of th'
Colonel Newcnmb type, pushing away tbs
books that are offered to him by the sales
man, and saying: Il see these works are 10y
women; | want something that ladies car
read" Indeed, the copious Issue Of novels
written by both men and women, whose in
tereSt consists in placing the leading charac'
tiers On the perilous verge of immortality. ant
attributing to them actions of dubious pro-
priety, whose style, although dainty and ias-
ti.liOus in choice Of words. continually oti'ends
good taste and insinuates the most disgusting
images, and which are unhealthy in senti,
meat. false in characterization. and unsound
in principle, generally is one Of the most de-
plorablc incidents of the age.
The staple topic is 1.-THE grand passion"
The dogma of Coleridge still constitutes the
great canon OF the art:
= All feelings, passions. all delights,
Whatever moves this mortal frame.
Arc all but ministers Of love,
And feed his sacred flamc.r
In accordance with this doctrine, the in
tcrcst hangs entirely upon the fortunes OF
lovers, and that done with, nothing remains
There is sometimes clever misunderstanding
and more rarely Skillful analysis. but the pre-
pondcrance OF bosh vitiates most Of them.
Their influence is great; women, especially.
get most Of their ideas from them, and even
learn to think, in feeble way, through their
educ2tiye power. The habits Of introspec-
ton which indiscriminatc peruSal of novels
creates often destroy all simplicity of de-
mcanOr and engender mawksh emotion and
aiiectation OF manner. On the other hand,
this great influence may be made the means
OF etiecting great changes in thought and
habit which otherwise would be done hardly.
Mr.. Charles Reade is certainly a clever
and entertaining writer. Although plain OF
speech he is sound and healthy in morals.
His style is a model of terseness and his
ideas are never concealed by word rubbish.
He thoroughly understands his trade, withal.
and in conveying wholesome doctrine, never
suffers himself to become prosy and didactic.
In novel of his now being issued as a serial,
he sets an example which we hope will be
initiated. He marries his lovers out of hand
and the interest of the novel consists in the
narration of their subsequent experiences.
There is much to provoke thought in the most
languid novcl-reader, but the following strikes
us as being specially apt:
DR.. Staines, the chief male parsonage OF
the story, accidentally discovers his wife put
ting some powder upon her face; with good
humored satire he rallies her about the dust
on her face, and furnishes her with rain
water to wash it of. An acquaintance as
sures his wife that such interference is imper-
tinent and encourages her to rebel. Upon
her pOuting about the matter her husband
sends her upstairs for some of the powder.
The rest we take literally from the book
"Whie she was gone he sent for a breakfast
cupful of flour, and when she came back he
had his scales out and begged her to put a
teaspoonful of flour into one scale and OF
violet powder into another. The flour kicked
the beam, as Homer expresses himself. Put
on another spoonful of -four The one spoon
full of violet powder out-wcighcd the two OF
-four.
80 Now,' said Staines, does not that
vegerapIc POWDER: i suppose they tell YOU
it is made of white volets dried and triturated
in diamond mill. Let us find out what the
metal is. We need not 90 very deep into
chemistry for that He then applied a sim.
pie test, and detected the presence of lead
in large quantities. Then he lectured her.
Invisible perspration is a process of nature
necessary to health and to life. The skin is
made porous for that purpose. You can kill
anybody in an hour or two by closing the
pores. A certain infallible ass, called Pope
Leo the Twelfth, killed little boy in TIVE
hours by gliding him to adorn the pageant OF
his first procession as Pope. But what is
death to the whole body must be injurious to
a part. What madness, then, to clog the
pores of so large and important a surface as
the face, and check the invisible perspiration:
how much more to insert lead into your sys.
tenn every day of your life a cumulative
poison, and one so deadly and so subtle that
the Sheffield fle-cutters die in their prime
from merely hammering on q leaden anvil
And what do you gain by this suicidal habit
No plum has sweeter bloom or n more deli
ciOus texture than the skin of Your Young
face; but this mineral filth hides that deli
cate texture, and substitutes drv uniform
appearance more like certain leprosv thar
health. Nature made your face the rival o
peaches, roses, lilies and you say, No;
know better than my Creator and nv God
my face shall be like 4 dusty miller's.' Go
into any flour mill and there YOU will see mcr
with faces exactly like your friend Miss Iu
cas's. But before 4 miller goes to see hi.
sweetheart, he always washes his face. Yol
ladies would never get miller down to YOU
level in brains. 1t is a miller's dirty face ou
monomanlacs Of women initiate, and not the
face miller goes counting with"
We think this is very good reading for man,
young ladies', and action in accordance woulC
tend much to increase their charms. If novels
could bring about such areform they certanl,
would do great amount Of good, for apar
! from the nastlness Of the habit, the dshon
esty Of appearance implies moral obtuseness
if not talsity Of character. The saIow
wrinkled skin that marks the face Of the oil,
powder-dredger is quickly recognized by thu
most casual observer, and the spectacle o
fresh, young girls marring themselves by tn
same pernici0us practice is simply disgusting
We hope that with better education and bet
ter taste the practice will die out, and Viz
GINA will not make herself liable to be mis-
taken for SchOcnicula. -Baltimiore american