Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-08-04
LIGHT LITERATURE.
EFFECTS OF THE CONTINUED CON-
SUMPTION OF TRASHY STORIES.

The Novel Reading Habit and Its Re-
sults-Chesp Libraries.
Persons very fond OF reading, but with
little spare time TO indulge their taste, who
visit a narrow shop near one of the de-
partments, are apt to come away with q
severe attack Of the blues. The shelves,
counters. and even the floor of the shop
are chock full of pretty nearly all the wis.
dom of the ancients and wit Of the mod
erns, done up In elegant but handily
pocketable paper bound packages, which
sell at from ten TO twenty cents each. The
shop in fact, is sort of headquarters for
the cheap libraries now so numerous, and
which are said to be doing great damage
to the more pretentious branches of the
book trade.
Here, for Is, careful person can pur-
chase library more extensive and better
than was ever owned by many o man
whom the world calls great and wise.
History, biography, poetry, philosophy,
science, literature and romance are min
gled in bewildering confusion and pro.
fusion. A glance at the titles of the
famous works piled ON shelf and counter
fills one with despair of ever being able to
read them all, so numerous are they; and
yet they are so cheap that a person with
the reading habit feels ashamed not to
buy an armful and rush off TO his den to
devour them at once.
I've have several customers who read
two and three books day." the proprie-
tor said to an inquisitive reporter. "0ne
man in particular used to come in regu-
larly every other or third day and carry
off each time from six to eight volumes
He didn't appear particular about what
he read, but took them just as they came.
He kept It up week after week. too He
had place In the interior department,
but was discharged not long ago"
The proprietor didn't intimate that there
was any connection between the man 3
reading habits and the loss of his position,
but 1t struck The reporter that there
might be.
A BOOK DAY.
There are plenty of people who aver.
age a book a day, month In and month
out" the proprietor continued "These
people are mostly novel readers, of course.
Ii gets to be passion with them, like
anything else, and they give all their
spare time to it, If they can't get hold
Of q new story os soon as they have fin
ished the old one they don't know what
to do with themselves and are miserable
like q tippler whose rations have been
cut off or morphine eater who can't get
the drug"
"Do you notice much difference in the
class Of stories preferred by men and wo-
nNo I cant soy tbatIao Tho vomo,
do,,Y o,,' rn 's "o;aii,, onas % sana wohtrn a
sta,ios T., go - - N,,,o
here won| reaa Iowa % storinn sn or m'T novniS oUS
,,r;,,ou VII ~ h,, ,,,o,,a r,,o,, &c., H. Sn
to.tiwa stcr;os aud rvs,ey;dS p 90 nv % RoiS- Jo
ooha,, onS Gorhor;a,; ana zoIo,s hinhi,,
Soyorod stnT "a w NJ Roynoids' san.
sat;onoi rnn,anoos rsai ta baEa hi, saI,
hn. tSar nron, ~ u'oa " ,'oh dad S I",o, a
thav ,rs ,reya ~ 10 'e''"''1 "'
ny .;uavap:, ,ho o,oor ,;h-arios bur. ,bo
sorsatinnai s,nr,, ,o,,nr. ,rraat dnaIy, ,hs
ronortar ;no~irasa Ts p"iN'' " ''''' @N"'' WV
''pT, esWoi, yoi M, 'ou os much .,orr,. ,ho,,
,r,,, ,,oinn 20 a. Grst . ,hn e,5o,,,,o,,.;
WA Wy eC%ins W a az ,uo a sum',.an1' ,un,I1
ha r,,-a,v r;von ont vo Sy 81 ihp pai Aai5 hv ths
obonr i;t,,r;as - bauSI,, I'LL. G
saT"s 49, fnilnr D a ,,,,nh a SE I'm, an,,t
IT, ,anars hara 20 Loar hnon,;np,, p ,bnr,'
sai,,as aII tbn tin,a ,hn,i,,b nn tSa, iaa .
1rro,,,,d ~ h,di,, TTa, n 10 "a oos
shou ,,sod tnS So M nawsaaolare ,,,nmid,, !,
ha 49,, 60, 20 ~ a, nr,r ,,a,,ors ,,.a,.r
5r;ven ont ~ tb, fo,d aifoantLsr m,
margin of nrofit on than is verv ANAL
and The worst of II ia tho neonIo ,ybo I'm /,
them are OF tho .cbarge' Il. md. I'M. nav
YOU. next time class. Now, IL they fail
To nav once IL knocks the profit of 4 good
many papers"
1.-The people who read the story papers,
then, are of a different class from those
who buy the cheap library novelist"
FALSE AM FOOLISH IDEAS
"Yes, as a rule. they are The neonle
who read these novels and serial stories
get false and foolish ideas of life. This
Is especially true of the confirmed story
paper readers. They are the worst Of alf
| can tell one Of them almost as quickly
as set ewes on ber-for The story papei
renders are penerallv' women. They ha ve
4 would be grand and romantic Air aboIlt
them, use Big words and theatrical eX
pressions. and try 10 initiate generally in
their manner the highly wrought charac
ters they read about In the serials. Girls
brought IN from the time tbey are fifteen
| Or sixteen on this sort of reading sren 4
satisfied with n man unless he Is like Tho
heroes of their stories, and they are M,
| to wait good whilo before they find one
who seems TO promise to come to WIN,
thew call their ideal And then. II the,
| do get married. in ninety.nine cases on,
| of Flmndred, they soon discover that tn,
| promises were all false; that they haven
married their hero at all hut only an
| ordinary. common place man. with no
enough of the story paper ideal TO hin
| TO supply n paragraph In one of the slopp,
serials.
| "These people with the story pape
habit" tho speaker continued, seen
hardly able TO control their impatieuc,
from week to week for tho succeeding in
stallments Of tho romances. Many o.
them make a practice of coming here abou
the time they know the papers arrive an,
waiting until thew can get them. and |
| papers are s1l'' our "heh 'D~y GeI here
'NeI "How o wan~ ~ 81 81" Tho chan, ,ibroriea or
! hOW Hull VI llc tu'hp llDIuTlts ut