The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-06-04
The Horrors Of Fiction,

Brooklyn, n. Y, We take the following:
put to you to-day the stupendous ques-
ton. what books and newspapers shall We
and our families read ? 1t is subject of
vital Importance to-day, standing as we do
chin deep in fictitious literature. | do
not deny that there are many good novels.
The world will have some difficulty in pay
ing its debt of obligation to such novelists
as Hawthorne, Mackenzie, Landor, Hunt
T. 5. Arthur and Marion Harland. Coop
er's works we're also healthy, smelling of
seawecd and wood flowers. Thaekeray
has brought the world into debt by his
earicatures Of pretenders to nobility, aud
Charles Dickeus books are an everlasting
plea for the poor This class Of novels
rightly read and in good proportion to other
books, is healthy But deplore the fact
there is a pernicious tide of novels com
ing in ike destructive freshet You will
find thcm in the schoolgirls desk and in
the Young mans trunk. l charge upon
these books the destruction Of tens Of
thousands of souls
In the first place, warn you to avoid
all those which give false pictures Of hu-
man lives. What good do they do you ?
How do they prepare YOU for the labor of
the day. See that woman at midnight
bending over the romance. her hair dis
hevelled, her cheeks pale, trembling and
sobbiug at the fate Of the luckless lover
Roderieo. Look at her this morning
There she sits, with a thousand duties
calling her, staring idly into vacancy.
The carpet, which seemed plain before, is
now positively hideous in her eyes. What
Is il TO marble hail-which never existed
through which she strolled last night :?
What is her kitchen or sewing room to the
iyy bower BY the limpid stream in which
she sat with the polished desperadO2
In ntbe second place don read bad books.
Don deceive yourself with the idea that
you can safely read bad book wiki the
iutea,ioa Of getting good cut of it, You
plunge your hand into hedge Of briers TO
&c, one blackberry and you invariably get
more burrs than jlackberries Whenever
yoa peruse a bad book with any such idea
you are Ike mzn who takes 4 lighted
torch into a powder magazine With a view
Of dading out whether j, IS safe TO do it.
He'll fud cut, bnt the experiment won't
be Of any particular use 10 himself In
the ihird place counsel You against ali
novels which arouse however family the
bzscr passions Of man. Years ago 3 French
lads came forth a. an su,hog under the
nausc of George sand She smoked cigars
She wore gentleman 5 apparel She s,epP-
cd over the bounds Of deecncy. She With
a style, ardent, eloquent, mighty ia is
bloom, horrible in is unehas;isy, glowing
10 it, veTbiace. vivid in It's poTtraisare
Jamains Ia is effects, ,ransiaslDg into the
Libraries aud homes Of the worll al evil
that has net even TO rclsui; aud she has
hsr eopyis,s 10 al lauds To-day under
the nostriIs Of your city there Is fe'id,
rsekine, uuwsshsd I,s'atars enough TO
poison ali the fountains Of pabiie virtue
and smiie your sous and daughters as with
the sing Of the destroying angel.
Again, avoid al books vhieh are apols.
sesie for crime. Al novels which sin 6
happy aud vice as triumphant are insults
to niaa aud God. Sin Is never happy
vices never triumphant II earaaliiy must
be presented let Il not Be presented as lurk
Ing behind embroidered curtains or Ian
gushing IN gorseously-lighted halls, but as
writhias 10 agony in the city hospital.
Carsed Be all those books
The clock strikes midnight. \ fair form
bends over romance. The eyes fash FIRE.
The breath is quick ani irregular. occa-
sionally the color dashes to the cheek and
then dies out. The hands ,remble as
though a guardian spirit we're trying to
shake the deadly book out Of her grasp
Ho, tears fall She laughs with a shriI
yoice that drops at its own sounds The
sweat on her brow is the spray dashed W
from the river Of Death The clock strike:
four, aud the rosy dawn soon after begins
to peep through the lattice upon the pale
form that looks ike 4 detained spectre oI
the night. Soon in a madhouso she vii
mistake her ringlets for curling serpent.
and thrust her white hands through the bar.
Of the prison aud smite her head, rubbing
it back aud forth as though to push the
scalp from the skull, shriekiag, Ny brain
Ny brain 70
Mr. Talmage next directed aua;hema'
to wha, he called the "Unclean pictorial:
Of today Many young man in the
purchase of weekly picture paper buys
he said, bis everlasting undoing. The
Queen Of Death holds banquet every
night, and the unclean pietorials are the
cards of invitation I'll give 81 600 re-
ward for any young man who being in the
habit of looking at these papers, remain;
pure and good. Oae column in a good
newspaper may save your soul; one para
graph in bad one may damn it In
conclusion, Mr.. Talmage urged his hearer:
to 20 straight home, weed out their libra
ries, aud making piles in their back yards
of all their questionable books, set fire to
them.
RAISING CAMELs IN NEvADA.-The
Virginia City Enterprise says ;-"We are
informed that the Frenehman who owns
the herd of eamels ranging to the eastward
in the valleys bordering the Carson River
will utilize his "ships of the desert next
summer in carrying goods from the termi-
nus of the Carson aud Colorado Railroad
into camps far out in the wilderness. The
camels now number about forty, all but