The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-11-24
The "Penny Awful

An exchange has been analyzing tn,
penny awful which many schoolboys
and schoolgirls waste their time gloatine
over. The exchange says: Notwithstanding
the fact that the great quantity of cheal
and good literature now published has, te
a great extent, superseded the penny
dreadful, the latter still retains large
number of admirers; and for the benefit
of those who have never read one of these
choice productions, but at the same time
would like to know something about
them, we propose to give few details
collected during a perusal Through the
Kindness of a local bookseller) Of one hun
bred of Them
The hero, the most important person
age, has the proverbial fair hair and blue
eyes in siXty-seven out of the hundred,
and marTies the heroine in ninetv-four,
four of the other stories having no hero
inc, while i'll the remaining two She is kill
ed by the villain. Fortyfou of our he
roes follow the nautical profession, TWEEN
ty- one that of a cowboy or bushranger,
eleven are III the army, nine are detec-
tlves, while two circus clowns, one en-
CINE driver, one youthful lord, one Jockey
and miner complete the hundred. Out
OF the fortyfour sea-going heroes eigh-
teen are pirates, while the others are
either mdshipmen or boys who have run
away to sea. In any case, they rise to
the command of vessel, by fair means
or foul within a very short time of the
commencement of the narrative
The pirates chief occupation is to cap
ture vessels laden with treasure and a
beautiful maiden: sixteen out OF the eigh-
teen pirates finding their future wives on
board the captured vessels. One of the
remaining two hauls his lady love from
the bosom OF her family in the middle of
the night, and then sets the housc on fire.
while the other has no wife at all
| The nautical heroes. who are not ri
rates, meet their lady loves under different
circumstances. Seven of them are thrown
together while kept in captivity by vari-
Gus enemies; six we'd ''the girl they left
behind them when they ran away to sea ::
while another half dozen are successful in
rescuing the beloved ones from death in
some form OF another.
The cowboy heroes have in all twenty
one instances the fastest horse on the prai-
RE. They also all make use of the word
darn on more than one OCCASION These
appear to be their two most distinguish
ed characteristics, as they all seem to per-
form the same deeds Of valor and. eX-
| cept in three cases. all rescue their dar-
lings from the Indians. Sixteen of them
disrespecttully speak of the Indians as
'reptiles, while twelve use the addit-
ional endearment ''cuss.'
The Indians who appear in the course
OF the stories all speak in the third per-
son. Fourteen of them have the audacitv
| to suggest to the ''whte maiden they
/ have caught that she should become the
'squaw of her captor; an honor in every
case Indignantly declined. Then the
white maiden must die!' says the Indian
in six cases, and words to that effect in
the others. OF course, a rescue is effect
ed just as the maiden is about to be tor
tured. In nine cases a rifle report rings
| out and the Indian who is about to open
the proceedings falls dead and the devot-
ed lover and company arrive and wipe out
| the band. In four other instances the
| lover Is taken prisoner also. and the lndi-
ans are preparing for a double event.
when the faithful dog (who appears in
| nlne OF the narratives,) accompanied by a
| large band OF cowboys, causes an unavoid-
able alteration in the programme.
returning to the nautical heroes and
their doin@s, we find they all have a weak
ness for ordeliag double allowances of
''9rog' to the men on the slightest prov
ocation. Every pirate vessel mentioned,
and there are between $50 and 100 Of
them in forty-four Volumes is spoken Of
| with two exceptions, rs being EARNED to
the teeth. Twelve of the heroes rescue
their young ladies from the pirate yes
sells, aud fight mortal combats with the
pirate chief in nine instances. OF course,
| victory rests with the hero
The military tales are even more monot-
onouS. The principal character is in nine
out of the eleven. introduced to the reader
as lieutenant, and becomes a colonel be-
| tore the close of the story. The other two
| rise from the ranks to a similar position
They do nothing IN particular except to
perform prodigies OF vaior, always with
thoughts of cher in their minds
The detectives are in every case engag-
ed IN following up some remarkable clue
attached to either murder (siN) or Il rob
berry (tmee.) They are in every case sue
cessful; in every case, when they arrest
the guilty person. ito they say II am So
and-so the detective and in six instances
does the guilty one reply, ''Foiled +"
Two OF the others take it cooly, and make
remarks to the effect that the game is up,
while the ninth uses wicked swear word
of which only the first letter is given
OF course. all ends satisfactorily for the
| heroes, SO let MS turn for a moment to the
villains. OF the whole hundred of them
| for there is one OF some sort in each tale
eighty-two meet their death at the hands
of the hero: fifty seven being Shot. sixteen
killed by the sword, four hung. two
thrown overheard two over a precipice
while the other one is stranyled OF the
remaining eighteen, four died OF fever.
three are swallowed by sharks, three dis
appear and have never been heard OF since,
two poison themselves: and the remain
ing six include two deaths from starva-
ton, two suicides with a revolver a reform
and a delirillm tremens death.
The heroines call for no special atten-
ton. They are all described in glowing
terms, fifty eight of them being fair, the
next favorite color being. apparently,
raven tresSes, of which there are seven
| teen.
Found Dead.
ltSt evening 4 person giving the name Ii
X. Thompson registered at Hunts Hotel
and desired to he called in season to take