The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-01-29

We find it cvcrywhcre-in parlor,
library, AMI kitchGn-in steamboats,,
cars, and hOtals-on the street-corners,
and in the market-places. We are en-
inently a reading people, and are very
willing to be so considered, but ayhat
we read is quite another thing. 1t is a
sad truth that the public mind is con
stantly fed upon fiction, and fiction too
of the most insipid character, A book
that would command q multitude Of
readers must ignore to a great extent
both principles and ideas.
The weakest and sickest loyc-story
is c~orgeously bound in green and gold,
and sent into the world to meet with
lust as warm Il reception as if the same
programme was not repeated every day
in the year. Occasionally, it IS true,
we meet with a novel that teaches a
great moral lesson, but these seldom
appear, and the intervals between them
are crowded with the ycriest trash that
ever filled Il vacant head, Weekly
newspapers and monthly magazines
have amassed fortunes simply by the
publication of long "continued stories
stories that are spun out through 4
series of weeks and months, evidently
for the sole purpose Of filing space
and purse. They have no mission to
humanity-they bring no balm to the
sutlering--no cure for wounded hearts
no word of hope or love that can
reach and satisfy the better nature.
Still they are bought by thousands, and
read, loaned, and re-read, and that too
by these who 'havc no time to rcad'
anything that is worth reading.
The "man of the period" will some
times wake up to the actual state OF
things far enough to remark lcarned]y,
that "a uoman'S head is always full of
fashions and novels without stopping
to consider that his own Uranium has
no better furniture. So far rs the nov
els are concerned he has no advantage,
and probably the lady would appear
on the street as willingly in a last
!, years dress, rs her liegc lord would in
an old-fashioned coat.
But the reading of fiction has be-
come q disease. 1t attacks the youth
full mind and weakens it long before
maturity. The mental appetite soon
becomes SO morbid that it raves arti-
fetal excitement, to the exclusion of
everything else, and, like opium-eat,
ing, the longer the habit is persisted in
the harder it becomes to break it.
The standard works of our public Ii
braries lie almost untouched upon
their shelves, while every novel in the
collection is well worn with use, and it
frequently happens that the very poor
est of them all has been handled and
read the most.
The human mind, like the body, is
composed of what it feeds upon.
What, then, must be the character of
the young minds of the present genera
ton? No child can develop a pure
thought or correct principle from a
stream of sickly sentiment. And if he
reads volume after volume that is not
worth remembering. and which lie
makes nc effort to retain, the power of
memory becomes constantly weakened,
until it is almost shattered.
The habitual novel reader has Meth
err the inclination or ability to grasp a
thought or reason out a result. His
brain is paralyzed by intellectual
opiates, and it knows nothing of a
healthful growth and development.
This brain wasting literature is received
into American homes and marked out
in the lives of children. We see the
results all around US. There is one
down the street he is about eighteen
or twenty, carries a cane and adver-
tises the clothing stores. He wears a
gold watch and chain, is petting an in
cipient moustache, end perfumes all
the atmosphere around him with hair
oil and cigar smeke--probably he
chews too, plays cards, and drinks oc.
casionally-he might as well he isn't
the smallest fraction of a man, and
never will 5e-he is simply an empty
result.
There ale young ladies too, whose
minds are formed in the same way.
They resd Lalf the night. and, Of.
course, must sleep until nearly noon
the next day; probably it would be
more agreeable TO their friends If they
slept all day.
Sometimes, however, their parents
boast of their being "such great read.
ers.' and the girls will tell how many
volumes they can read in a week. But
they arc narrow chested and hollow
eyed they are bilious and cross, and
hateful generally, unless in company
where they feel under obligations to
behave Reconsideration they are laced