Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-09-25
.sDImE NovRLs.s


writing from Mederia, gives this story:
There is such fascination about sea life
IS contained in the novels and romances
If the period, especially in that series
known as "'The Dime," thatsOne cannot
guard too carefully against the introduce
ion Of this hurtful trash into their house
holds, particularly when it may fall into
the hands of the young. know of many
a boy whose life has been wrecked and
blasted by reading this perniciOus litera-
ture. This has been brought foreibly to
my mind by the tale of two American
youths, who, sick, in trouble, far from
home and friends, related to me their his
tory one afternoon on the quarter deck of |
the julia, on which they were sailors. /
To those parents and guardians who think |
there is no harm in allowing those who |
are entrusted to their keeping to read such |
stuff, and to those bows and girls who |
read this kind of literature, and imagine
themselves heroes and heroines, / COM
mend the story of those boy adventnrers,
for it is founded on experience and rati-
fed by fact:
There was nothing of more than COM
mon interest, such as is found in the ordl-
nary humdrum of boyish life up to their
fourteenth year. In the summer thaG saw
them cross the threshold of that most mo-
mentous period of long life, the nCtle
town in which they lived was electr1hed
by the opening of "a bookstore. All were
agog to see the new cuts displayed IN the
windows and handle the first books and
pamphlets that covered the counters. It
was looked upon as an era of prosperity
for the sleepy little country village. But
what a mistake! The prosperity they
! looked for was to turn to ashes on their
| lips. and rend and blast the father, moth
| er, sister and brother. 1t is the little
steps, the small things, that must have
| the watching, for they, like snakes in the
grass, creep on one unpereeiyed, and by
| their Verv littleness are the means of
more effeetually instilling their venom.
| Greatness of any kind is conspicuous, land,
| like a sign-board, stands in the way, so
] that we can avoid or follow that path to-
wards which it points. The bookseller
was jolly fellow, full of quips and odd
remarks, just the kind of man to attract
the schOolbOy; and soon Jones' bookstore
| got to be rendezvous for the boys. It was
not the idea of Mr.. Jones that these
| youngsters should take up his valuable
time for naught. He knew boys nature
better than the youths themselves, and
in the part where the chairs and lolling
| places were, there were to be found the
| latest sensational trash that the markets
of New York or Boston had offered. One
pleasant afternoon, when school hours
/ were past, and half dozen fellows were
lounging about the store, Jones spoke up
and said, ''Boys, did you ever read this ?''
| w nat - CfI6u SIX OF seven DOyS' voices
at once. "Here it is, look for yourselves, -
he said in reply, tossing out one ofa Dime
series, with cover picture of trim
shaped schooner running before a stiff
breeze in the direction of faint sail Just
on the edge of the horizon.
The story was entitled, ''Tom Bowline /;
or, From the Mast to the Quarterback. .
(Thfs was shown me bv the boys.) Mat
thew Lane bought it. and went home with
his friend Elverd ChamberIin to read it
when at their leisure.
1t was not finished till after midnight,
and as the morning light stole into their
windows they had determined to run
away to sea, become Captains of a fine
ship. rescue lovely maidens from pirates,
and come home with bags of gold, as
Tom Bowline did. So about week after
ward they took the ears for Boston, in
stead of going to school with a-few clothes
packed up in a bag and a small sum Ot
money in their pockets. They visited all
the WharVes, but no one seemed to want
their services, and just as they were be
coming tired and discouraged they came
across the following notice in the VIII. dow
of a shipping office: WANTED, boat-steer
ers and greenhorns for whaling voyage
Apply Within" This was Just the thing
so in they went, signed their Names anC
before they knew it, were on board the
cars for New Bedford, in company will
a crowd of ragged and dirty looking men
When they arrived at New Bedford they
were marched aboard the Julia, which
Immediately sailed outside. Now they
found out what sea life really was: uI
half the night, wet to the skin, pulling
all day after whale, cutting. bIubbeI
knee-deep in oil, kicked and cursed by
the mates, was not the kind of life they
. had expected. They came into lovely
ports, for water and provisions, but the
, crew were not allowed to land, for feaI
/ fhnV Wnn16 FVhoVr
ceived letters from their grief-stricker
parents implOring them to return, bu
they had shipped for the cruise and mus
2 | wait till it is finished. They haxe-noN
been at sea two years, and If they have
: luck, and get certain amount of oil, the
, ship will return within a year, and then
and not till then, can they return to theil
homes.
But how changed since their departur,
impure and profane language, dirt an(
] filth, with which they have been sur
b rounded, have lefttheir impress on thei
e minds, and there is little reason to e1l
t pect it will ever be effaced. All this mis-
d cry can be traced to reading trash, tina
f gives false ideas of life and teaches tn
: lesson that to be happy you must act with
), out restraint the part of the gIoriou
# prodigal, and give up all your powers t
e Incidence and pleasure. 1t pictures tn
e vanities of human nature in the mos
II glowing cOlOrs, SCOTS at the though
Is ''that virtue is its own reward - and Pre-
II poses nothing beyond gratifying loN
)f and sensual inclination. It is q afpleasuT
d in these days of miscellaneous reading t
t. see minds that have attained positio
e above the whirlpool of suspicious liters
ture turn such friendly face and hen
De ing hand to those who are undergoing @
s about to undergo the perils that they hay
y safely passed.