The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-10-24
Sweet Master in their dead ears cries
ARISE Oh, fallen star, arise!'
And their souls shine, while you fall down
And men gaze upward from the town.

And men gaze upward from the town.
FICTION CONDEAINED---A DEBATE.
When Jason, compelled by the
mighty Jupiter, started many hundred
years ago in the good Argonaut to seek
the Golden Fleece whose power was to
free him from all care and invest him
with riches, he felt low spirited enough
until the beautiful Greek musician Or
pheus consented to accompany him on
the perilous expedition. In setting
out with my Arsonaut of thought upon
this search for the Golden Fleece Of
literature have felt somewhat hopeless
until the kind God Of Truth consented
to accompany me into the difficult
fields of research. l am glad l have
not allowed myself to decide the ques-
ton alone. Two heads are always bet
ter than one. Myself and my COM
panion, Truth, have sought out from
obscure corners authoritative statements
upon the question before us. We have
read the thoughts Of minds immortal in
the memory of the ages, and it is with
deductions from their wisdom that we
have laden our argument.
1t may have been in the primal ages
that wisdom was poured into the years
and thence to the brains of the Sages
from the cups of the flowers as they
slept at noon in the tropical gardens.
For, indeed, the dew is from heaven, and
heaven is the college of all wisdom. 1t
may have been, say, as l have de-
scribed it, in the primal or genesic ages,
but the days Of Adam and Eve, of Peter
and Paul, haye flown. The wisdom OF
the nineteenth century comes not to
the brain from the leaves of odorous
plants, but is drunk with toll and diff
Guilty from the pages of the greatest
masters. In those old days the moral
lists would have asked: Shall the child
be given drink from the chaste rose OF
Damascus, or from the unclean cup of
the Upas? In our day we ask : Shall
the child be given lessons from the pure
pages of the Christian Philosophers, or
from the false leaves ofthe Fictionists
If you are parents, the answer will
suggest itself. If you are brothers
and sisters, the reply will be written
for you over the surface of your
consciences. Look there, and read,
and judge as the Divine decree
prompts. We are touching to-day
upon the sublimest of human prob
lens; that of Education. Shall
the human creatures be taught the
creeds of mental and moral growth,
refinement and development, or shall
they be allowed to choose for them
selves the doctrines of idealityo Alott
upon the spiritual Globe stands he
rolc Truth, below on the material
Sand-hill stands Fiction; it is the
plan of the Creative Power that we
ascend, that we aspire; not that we
descend, that we despair. We ask
you in the name of moral Humanity
to uphold the books that teach us to
ascend, and to eternally condemn the
volumes that cause us to descend.
Philosophy exalts, Fiction degrades,
Falsity is the only definition for the
latter; Truth the only meaning for
the former: The angel of God has
written,-Truth is the golden key
that turns in the lock of everlasting
happiness.
Man is born with many attributes
Essential all of them to the physical
welfare of the human creature. The
limbs are given for means of loco.
motion, the arms for action in natura
events. The five senses of, hearing,
seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling
accompany the living model through
all the circumstances of existence
Without any one of them man would
be helpless to attain a perfect end il
the limitless play of life. But, ovel
and above them all, beyond any i'm
portance they may possess; to govern
direct and sustain them; to direct tn,
foot, guide the hand and arm, compe
sensations of the feelings, and t.
govern the minutest actions of tn,
lower, Or, earth body stands the mind
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS that CRANE
Major General of the human system
the Brain. The mental functions @
the child are limited; the intellectual
possibilities of the man are unbound
ed: 1t is that this latter statemen
may be found true in succeeding age
that and my colleagues are here t
condemn fictitious literature. Tina
the limited functions of the infant min,
may evolve to the unbounded posi-
bilities of the manly instinct by re
moving from them and their desire
a class of books whose perusal wi
bleach their hopes for wisdom whit
as the barren wastes of Stupidity.
propose tolook upon the question 70
a little while in the light of Predesti
nation. Not the Predestination @
Religion, but the Predestination of Ii
stinct. If the class ofliterature we ar
endeavoring to condemn is permitte
much longer to inhabit our publ
and private chambers the Brain-th
commander of the intellectual req
ment of the Universe-will stan
alone on the field of moral combat
his warriors having fled to the viii
Western Prairies armed with carbine:
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