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

smiling. This is the class Of girls that
the "result' visits and when he goes
to see one of them he carries her the
last new novel and tells her sit is
splendid" She reads it and pro-
neunces it "perfectly lovely"
She has no correct ideas OF life, and
no conception Of DUTY. Her ideal Of
N~omanhood is the heroine Of q novel,
and her highest ambition 10 to be pref
ty, and sit in a parlor and be waited
upon. If she can't accomplish this
glorious end, she imagines herself per
secuted ard unappreciated.
Her "lofty spirit" d'sdains druid
aery;" and If her mother cruelty insists
that she shall take care of her own
room, she fancics herself the descend
ant of a royal line who has been kid
mapped in infancy by some igno6le
family. Her mind is dwarfcd and
weakened, her nerves shattered, and
physical forces ruined, by a course OF
reading that she will never rellnqulsh
unless compelled to. So much OF ro-
nance is thrown around life in all lis
phases, that mcn and women are shorn
9 ftheir strength in meeting the practi-
cal truth. But nowhere is this so
plainly apparent as in the marriage re-
~lation. Matrimony is the ulima thule
of the novelist. He will lead his char
actcrs through seas of blood and
oceans of tears, and if they only get
married at last they are supposed to
be abundantly compensated Tor all
their sutferings.
God forbid that W should detrac'
, from the honor and dignity of true
marriage. 1t is ordained OF HEAVIER
and should be a sacrament to man
but it never can be unless both parties
carry through it, and to the grave be
| yond, q love which is holicr, deeper
and truer, than the world of fiction ha'
any conception of. The sentiment o
lovers may be well enough in its place
but woe to the married pair who built
for each other no stonSer affection
than this, and woe to the hearthston
that is net illumined by reason as vel
as sanctifed by honest affection.
There is a halo around a bridal veil
:, and a fascination in the orange flower
> and wedding ring that the novels
> cannot resist. Hence the people cate
y the married state with wrong concep
!, tons Of themselves and each other
q but the husband soon learns that hi
. wife is not An angelic heroine, but &C
tually has her faults, and sometime
lots of them and she finds that he
r husband isn't a bit like the model huS
band she has read of. No wonder tba
both parties become dissatisfied, an
y matters often grow worse instead q
better, until the disease become
h chronic. Hence our newspapers ar
y flooded with "matrimOnia. i%nfeliCities
v and the proceedings of divorce court:
!, Ofceurse the writer's and publisher
a of indiscriminatc fiction are not t
- blame for all Of this, but perhaps
n would he fair to lay one half Of it q
+ their doors.
y Give us then a pure literature, on
that will not pander to vice nor preI
q agate folIy-a literature that shun
alike the carnations of corrupt fancie
y and the diseased offspring OF unprin
v cipled minds. Fill our land with til
. purest streams from the fount oflcarr
ing and the ~rairest flowers from tn
q wreath Of Minerva. Let rs wander l
s the Elysian groves Of a literatur
n where no scrpents lurk beneath tn
tempting fruit-wAere no poisonou
d plant grows among the flowers Q
n twines amid the laurel. Give us tn
- rich fruits Of mental culture, unmixe
with the "applcs Of Sodom," and OF
people will be stronger and purer, OF
# children will he Drawer and better, an
our homes will be happier and noble
# Mrs. Fl. V. REED.
r