Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-14
WHAT SHALL WE READ
A TIMELY DISCOURSE ON LITERARY
SELECTIONS FOR THE sUMMkR.
The Abandon OF Culture Deb basement Of Taste
The Influence of Careless Example.
what Is Needed For Wholesome
Moral Atmosphere--tiood Books.

very one takes some kind of vacation.
'eoplo seem naturally and willingly TO fall Il
nto sort of literary decentralization then. c
lust as, in too many other respects, they =
leem IL allowable, and even necessary, 10 lay :
,side the restraints of social propriety, mo- q
rality, and religion--I had almost said of CIV
lization and manufacturing the weeks G
hey spend in the mountains, the country, or
by the seashore, 50 in the matter of their J
residing during this season, they give full
and free run to their natural passions and
and with strange abandon
fling away all regard for true, Christian cul-
ture, TASTE and refinement. I do not speak |
of all, of course, but of very many, surpris-
ingly many, more than would have thought
possible, had not experience and observation
painfully convinced me of the extent OF this
annual reversion to literary barbarism.
Persons who at home live in constant at
mosphere of apparently true culture and re-
finement and are considered sincere Chris
tians, as they are models of punctuality and
faithfulness as regards their church duties,
whose libraries contain nothing but the
choicest and most wholesome literature-at
their summer resorts may be seen, have been
seen, gloating over Xola's filth, and devour-
ing with avidity the latest dose OF papcr-cov-
cred foul -poison-books and papers they
would justly have considered Il disgrace
and sin to place on their library table at
home. Strangest of all, they do not seem to
realize either the improperly and wrong oil
il, or the terrible evil Of the consequences
that must follow. "You Sec ] go in for |
thorough recreation, mental as well as physi- |
CAL" said one AZ he held up volume too |
disreputable even to mention here and he |
actually seemed to look for approval of the |
thoroughness of his "recreation /! SO, por- |
haps, some men consider intoNicatiOn mere |
recreation. To go on drunken spree for a
month or two would scarcely be more injuri-
Gus to the bodily well-being Of a man than
such moral and intellectual dcbauch is
harmful to the health of the soul.
1t may, l think, he confidently affirmed,
| that no one, however strong in bis conVic-
| tions and thoroughly fixed his tastes---no one
can read even single bad book without
| some degree OF spiritual harm. Ana, Oh
| course, the more such stuff he reads, the
| greater the evil to his mind, heart, and whole
| character AS Bishop Alonzo Potter says,
| alt is nearly an axiom, that people VIII not
| be better than the books they read"
MIsDIRECTIoS by EXAMPLE.
| II a whole summer fsuch dissipation must
| lead to the moral debasement and spiritual
| degradation even of the strongest, then what
must be its effects on the young, on those
| whose tastes and characters are still wcs.a
and uniformed? OF what avail - the most
careful guardianship and the wisest guidance
at home, ii, during the weeks Of vacation, all
counsel and restraint be omitted, and the
reading of our young boys and girls LEFT 10
chance or msdirected by careless, evil exam
will outweigh all the rest of the year \ watch
| fulncss and care.
".,SSublimest danger over which none wecps,
when any young wayflrins soul goes forth,
Alone, unconscious OF the perilous road,
The day-sun dazzling in his limpid eyes.
The world of books Nh You you think II fine
You clap hands--'A fairday = you cheer him on
Too long beside fountain. Yet, behold,
Behold i--the world OF books is sim The world (;
And wordlings In II are less mcrci:ul
And more pussnnt, For the wicked there
Are winged like angels. Every knife that strikes
Is edged FROM elemental hrc to ussnil
, spiritual litr.'
If care and aiTectionate oversight and
guidance arc needed at home, they are needed
even more when away from home and its
wholesome moral atmosphere and influences.
The hundreds of young people who return
from vacation with their literary tastes
I perverted, the clean hearts perhaps fatally
tainted, the bloom of purity gone from their
, cheeks, filled with unwholosome fancies, a
morbid sentimentalism, and deathward
appettes and propensities, all the result oil
their unguided, vicious summer reading
they are the sadly numerous witnesses OF the
: truth Of Aurora Leighs lament. i myself
a | know OF more than one instance Of passion
: | for ilashy literature having been aroused in
g just this wise where tho parents thought,
"a little light reading will not hurt after the
i hard study of school," but today see their
Y mistake, though too late, / fear, to escape
8 | reaping the whirlwind from the wind they 80
/ lightly sowed.
@ | no bAth 10 The OLD BOOhS.
4 Much of the evil arises from tho utterly
o false and banoful notion that light reading
1 must be trashy reading that all standard
o classic books, all that contain thought and
=. arouse thought that instruct and edify, musi
r on that account be heavy" too "solid" for
3 summer. 1t is a notion that betrays lament
l. able ignorance. Scores ofthe most instructive
o and morally uplifting books i'm the Language
y are at the same time its most entertaining and
!, interesting ones There are novels enough
. published within the last few years only, tC
. keep one busy reading all summer, every
u one of which is eight" and intensely inter
d esting even to such AZ have never read any
s thing but novels, and yet every one of then
pure in tone, full of instruction, and making
only and altogether for righteousness. Sew
;. oral of our leading publishing houses are
a making speciality of bringing out just sucl
works, III cheap and handy form, specially
> for light summer reading.
5 But why must our vacation literature con
If sist only of "the latest" stories2 says Mr.
v Frederick Harrison: Z" 1t is an unwritter
chapter in the history of the human mind
how this literary prurience after new prin
unnans us for the enjoyment of the old
t songs chanted forth in the sunrise of human
a imagination" The best that has beer
a written is by no means the latest the bes
poetry, biography, essays, history, humor ro
mances,-they arc among the oldest. But how
few ofour young people have read them! Why
not devote the summer leisure, for a change
" | 10 SOUt Dl tne DeSt, instead o.
a "the latest" works of light literature, abou
!. which everybody has read and talks bu
which ninety-nine out of hundred have
: never themselves really read OF old or new
i there certainly is no lack of thoroughly en-
Il joyable, yet morally pure and wholesome
4 | summer reading.
s "Where we go" said lady, "one has tc
! read trash or nothing" And il is only
too true that while of trash there L
always abundance to be had at oui
0 summer resorts at not few of them
Q really good reading is not as plenti.
Q fully offered That however, is but a poor
, excuse, and no justification for indulgence in
, the worthless, poisonous stuff offered Every
! one prepares for his and his family's bodily
comfort and convenience before he goes 10
the country or seashore. He makes provis.
ion for the contingency of not being able
: there TO get the clothing and equipments
they like by laying in a store according TO
. taste, and taking them along Why not do
! the same for tho comfort and health of the
, | mind? Why pot all through the year grad
| ually lay up store of books for summer
, ! reading? They can then be chosen at leisure,
!, mtelligently, judiciously, wisely, instead of,
. as too often, simply being left to chance. A
great part of the evil that comes with so much
of the ordinary summer reading would be
eleeually avoided if only a tithe of the care,
foresight, and expense devoted to preparing
Tor our bodily comfort and health during va
| cation were alsD apnlipd IN nraparinrr foe tho