The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1875-01-03


angue the people on the science of government
The Archbishop, who is q capital narrator of
stories, then narrated the story of Governor
Stnyvesants treatment OF the shoemaker who
could not mend a watch, but had no hesitation
at attempting to mend the government. 1t
would be well, continued the lecturer. if we
now had few such rulers as was the stout old
Dutch Governor.
Hut all this is beyond my subject, though
indirectly it still bears upon it. The thought
which is on my mind and which wish to i'm.
press on yours, is that the tendency of things
IN TINS country, as regards mental and intel
lectuai culture, is to mediocrity, or rather to
superticiality, and that the corrective to this
Is d ss1ay, as opposed to mere reading:
ana Dy books do not mean everything print
cd on paper and bound between two covers
1enet tnsdnabite multos scribendi cacoettus-ip
plain English. the whole world has gone mad
In our days at making books. If the wise man
days, that of making of bsoks there was no
end, what would he say if he were to see them
hying ont of the steam presses, like -four out
OF mill hopper: And it is this very profusion
OF all sorts OF literature, good, bad and indif-
ferent, that makes it necessary for us to have
some knowledge of what may be called tho
character of books, if we would get any good
iicentious books-it is hardly necessary for me
to say anything in speaking to you.
BUT THE RESTRICTION
goes far beyond this for under the head of
bad books are included not only books against
sound morals, but all books against Faith
against our holy religion. The "Index Expur-
gatorius," as it is called, which contains q list
of books condemned by the Holy See, which
she forbids her children to read under pain of
SIN, is, as we know, constant subject of ridi-
thinkers. Bat it only exercises in regard to
the members of the Catholic Church the right
or rather the duty, which every good parent
feels bound to exercise toward his children, of
keeping out of their hands everything which
may corrupt their minds and lead them to evil.
Many a man who has spoken and perhaps
written most fercely against the Church upon
this point, has been at the same time most
rigid "1ndex Expurgatorius" in his own family.
II we are bound by every principle of our re-
ligion to avoid bad company, we are equally
bound to avoid bad books-for Of all evil cor
rupting company, the worst beyond all mea-
sure is bad book-and yet many q one who
would be ashamed to be seen with bad COM
panions, does not hesitate to hide under his
pillow, or in some secret drawer books every
line of which dstill the most corrupting and
deadly poison. bad companion often excites
disgust, and his influence is generally but
transient, but woe to him who takes to his
bosom the contents of a licentious and cor
rupting book.
The notes to Gibbons History of the Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire have corrupted
more persons than have been led astray by his
gorgeous but sophistical text. There can be
no doubt that the most pernicious influence at
work in the world ut this moment is from bad
books and bad newspapers. yellow-covered
pared with which the yellow fever and cholera
are nothing, and yet there is no quarantine
against it. To spend ones time in reading such
books is not only waste of time, but it is an
abuse of it of the most criminal character.
We deplore and mourn over, as an insane folly
the conduct of the opium eater, who pays for
few moments of sensual pleasure by wasted
health and idiocy-but what is the folly and
wickedness of the opium eater drunkard
compared with that of those who, from bad
books, deliberately suck in a poison which
,ka, H.. I
the soul7
The first thing, then, we have to learn about
books, is that there are bad ones-"the fruit of
that for hidden tree, whose mortal taste brought
death into the world, and all our woe,n and
which consequently are to be Stunned with the
greatest care. Never look at a book which you
would not be willing to be seen reading.
Avoid not only notoriouslg immoral books and
papers, but avoid also those sensational maga-
zines and novels which are SO profusely scat
tered around on every side The demand
which exists for such garbage, speaks very
badly for the moral discipline and intellectual
training of those who read them. To person
of any correct feeling or sound mental culture,
heavier penance could not be imposed than
TO be obliged to read such trash.
We must acquire taste for reading-for to
a certain eXteuJ it is an acquired taste. l
know of nothing after the consultations of re-
liGiCn more full of advantage to us in every
point of view than love for books.
That wise old man, Dr. Johnson, has said some
where that he "pitied country gentleman on
a rainy day who bad no taste for books" The
most miserable persous have ever met with,
were persons who, after having been occupied
for years in the busy work of life, found them
selves either on account of the success which
had attended their efforts, or from ad verse cir
cumstances, condemned to idleness, ard who,
from having received defective education or
no education at all, had acquired no taste for
literature, and who were consequently left to
the esnwi of their own vacant minds. / might
take up the whole evening in quotiug the noble
sentences which have been written by distin-
guished men in grateful praise of books, and
which have been, to q certain extent, the
cause of their becoming great, the charm of
their lives and the solace of their old age.
Thus Cicero, the greatest of the Roman
orators, and whose works, for clearness and
elevation of thought and beauty of diction and
style, form so great ornament of Roman
literature, says Of books: "They nourish us
in our youth, delight us in old age, adorn our
prosperity, are refuge and solaoe in adversity,
are the charm of our home and no hindrance |
abroad; they pass the night with us, and &C.
company US in our journeys, and 60 with US to
our country Seats One of the most touching |
eulogies upon books, and the solace they bring |
with them that ever met with, is in the ad- |