The Globe-republican., 1890-02-26

@tsoneists bH the 21nan.
writtsa expsessly for the GLonn.RnRunLxcAn
NOVEL READING b . source Of great
pleasure aud profit II It be OF the proper
character. Novels may he claesed rs
good. bad and indifferent. The indiffer-
ent are those which have NO special les
son to teach. They are wrietea 70 kill
dime aud make little ready money.
They are not worth the reading. They
are light weight 10 every particular; the
characters are weak, the sentiment sick
~, the language common-place or over
drawn; and the effect l. to eaervate the
moral and intellectual beiaG Of the one
who reads such fiction. Novels OF bad
character are only evil continually.
First, the information they contain, II
any, Is not worth knowing, for It Is posi-
lively harmful In its nature. Not only
the trending bot the sctual direction CIV
en- to the mind Is wrong. This class OF
novels excite the passions and invariably
the baser ones. Their heroes are bad
boys, bad men or bad women, or all COM
bined. Their plots are designed to Illus
trate the worst phases Of social order In
society; some enc Of the characters Is
jealous of another, or one lover Stays his
rival, or another assaseinates both the
rival and his lover; or an immoral man
and law-breaker Is greatly praised and
held up as paragon of courage because
be is mean enough and shrewd enough
to be bigamist and not be detected.
The characters may not be ovor-drawn.
but there is nothing about them to be
said, except the narration Of their wick.
edness; and who wants to have a mental
and moral meal of iniQuity served up to
him of the worst phases of human ma
ture?
GOOD NOVELS are abundant. They
are of two general classes, of incident
and of character. In the first biography
and history perform very important
part. The incidents related are the ele-
Ments of interest. These obtain and
hold the attention of the reader to the
historic or Geographic parts of the narra-
tive. In novels of character there are
incidents but they are wholly subordinate
to that of the character of the individu-
ais introduced. When one can analyze
the characters in a novel and choose be-
tween the good and bad, and profit by
the choice, he has SO far mastered the
subject of nOvel-reading as to be able to
derive from it the greatest benefit. This
is especially true if the characters are
complex, perplexing, or apparently con-
Trajectory. Such reading of the best
novels cannot fail to be stimulating and
helpful to mental and moral activity.
Never risk reading any but standard nov
els; this may be pretty we'll determined
by observing EmersOn's two rules for
reading: First, never read book that is
not q year old; second, never read any but
famed books. Hence, until good liter
airy taste is formed, never risk reading
any but standard novels.
tt I
In THE YEAR 1914, when Sir Walter
SCOTS Waverly Novels first appeared
they marked an epoch in that class Of lit
erature. They deal mostly with English
and Scottish manners and people. Incl
dent and character are admirably COM
bined. There are about twenty-four vol
umes in the complete set. To review one
of them briefly may not be uninteresting.
The plot of IvanhOe is laid 10 the reign of
Richard l., of England. who came to the
throne in 1889, A. d. The principal OBJ
iect seems to be to show the contrast be-
tween the life and manners of the Sax
pms, the peasants, and the Normans, the
conquerors of the Saxons. Wilfred of
is the hero of the story. Every
reader is delighted with the description
Of the tournament under the patronage
IF Prince John, IN which the disinherited
knight performed such an important part
IN the dangers and athletic sports of the
period. Who is not pleased with the
of the castle in which Ivanhoe
Ind Rebecca were prisoners-he wound
I'd and unable to leave his couch-she |
from an open window the pro-
yress of the battle! But manners, GUS
oms and descriptions are not all Of Ivan
zoe. Rebecca, the Jewess, has been ad-
nired by all who love to see noble traits
# character and sterling qualities of
'irtue. Rowena has been scarcely less
admired for the delicate tenderness of
Ter womanly heart, though she does not
possess the rugged strength of Rebecca.