San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-06-13
KICKS AT SAM JONES
To the LIGHT.

his hearers not to read it, yet he
confessed he had never read
"Trilby". / emphatically deny the
right of a preacher, or any
one else, no matter how
brainy and gifted, to brand a
novel, or any book, whatsoever, as
unfit for perusal by the most pious
and fastidious people to be culled
out Of the world. 1t is unnecessary
to brand this course of Sam Jones
as unjust, presumptuous and arro-
giant, in the highest degree, since
all men and women, who are
imbued with the least tincture Of
justice, must admit it is unjust,
presumptuous and arrogant to con-
denim any book without reading
it. If one has not read a book
how can he tell whether it be suit
able, or unsuitable for perusal?
Preachers have no more power Of
divining the contents of a novel
than laymen. Had Sam Jones
read "Trilby" half a dozen times
before he denounced it as unfit for
perasal, no independent mind
would accept his judgment Of 1t as
infallible, and refuse to read it for
himself. Men of sense, indepen-
dence OF mind and manliness Of
character utterly repudiate the
notion that any mortal man is or
al be infallible. The tastes Of
both men and women differ wide
ly. One relishes a book with the
keenest Zest, while another con-
dennis it without stint or measure,
for being dull and stupid, or i'm
moral. Thackeray set a high value
on the novels OF Fielding, while w.
ID. Howells, Of Plymouth Rock, be-
Titles both Fielding and Thack-
cray, as only a Boston man can
%depreciate the outside barbarians.
The craving for novels is born
with men and women. AS soon as
a child is able to lisp, it entreats
its nurse or it's mother "tell me a
story" Nine-tenths OF the novels
spawned by the press are both
trashy and flashy, in style and
matter, but it is much better for
girls and boys to read them than to
be loaflng on the streets, apt pu-
pills in the school Of slang and vul-
garity. II the mind be occupied,
it has no leisure for loafing on
the streets just to "kill time" and
pick up news. Cotton Mather
said an "idle mind was the DEVILS
Workshop" and he was right.
Before any one condemns a book
and brands it as unfit to be read,
1t is due to justice and the public,
that he should read it, carefully,
so as to "Know whereof he speaks,
st. Paul advised, that we .'prove
all things and hold fast to that
which is good" and it is the only
course which COMFORTS with
justice and with a decent respect
for the public. / myself have not
read "Trilby," and consequently,
can neither approve or condemn it,
blindfolded. II Sam Jones Is in the
habit of denouncing books that he
has not read he is too much on the
hap hazard order to be a safe spi-
ritual guide. II he objected to
Trilby on account of its being to
realistic, he ought to have remem-
bered that portions of the old test.
ament push sealism to a great
length and have been more lenient
to au uninspired book.
Fanaticism is more difficult of
extirpation than coo grass, or lust
for office. Want of practical sense
and sound Judgment are the
characteristics Of the fanatic. He
never adjusts and proportions his
means to the end, or bestows the
least reflection on the evils which
he may inflict on the community
in accomplishing his end. He
reasons just as the man reasoned
who sheared the wolf-"God gave
man dominion over the beasts Of
the field I; / have a right to shear
the wolf, and 1 shall exercise my
right"
In a town in New York, there
were eleven members out Of a
membership of 800 in the Presby-
terrain church, who were fanati-
cally opposed to drinking coffee
and smoking tobacco. The pas
tor was fond Of coffee and smok-
ing, and the eleven a~nti-coffee and
tobacco members kept up such a
nagging and badgering Of the pas
tor about his unministeral and
unchristion tastes and habits, that
he rendered his resignation The vote
stood IL for accepting his resigna-
ton and 1S9 for not accepting it.
The eleven fanatics wished to rule
the lS9 other members and did not
care a fig for the unity usefulness