The record-union., 1897-10-31


attention to fiction having? That is
question which is really a serious one
The call for novels at our public Ii
braries, to the exclusion of almost
every other kind Of literature, has long
been recognized as an evil. And al
though part of the cry against fiction
has been mere ignorance and prejudice,
every note Of protest is not to be met
with this assertion. For no form of
art, however good or noble in itself, can
win a popularity excluding all other
forms without vital injury to public
taste in general. The novel, as has Of
ter. been shown, is TO our age what the
drama was to the age of Elizabeth. Ii
has. been a natural vehicle of expression
for many Of our greatest writer's. The
serious question, however, as We have
said. is the effect upon readers Of this
exclusive attention 10 fiction. The
"Homiletic Review" goes so far as to
say that novel-reading in excess weak
ems the intellect. Similar charges have
been made before; nor is it difficult TO
see that there may be a measure OF
truth in them. Even if we say that the
novel is something more than means
of relaxation. il does not follow that we
arS-to devote ouRalves to it to the eX-
clusion Of other kinds of literature
Furthermore, since fiction, like all forms
of art, appeals to the feelings quite as
much as to the intellect, there is
distinct injury done by a constant play
ing upon the feelings, until the moral
sense is enervated and vigorous action
becomes impossible. The 'HomIIetlc
Review" presses this point almost too
far perhaps, when it says:
The exclusive attention to fiction
seems to have deadened, if not almost
destroyed, the public sense of fact of
reality. of truth This appears in all
departments of thought and life. The
demand for sensa ational reports in place
of actual news has almost revolution
lied journalism. This historical novel
is everywhere being pushed into the
place of genuine history. The widest
and most baseless speculation is palmeG
off and accepted as real science. The
press groans under the publication Of
critical and theological vagaries that
are expected to be accepted in place OF
scientific theology and the word of God.
The sense of the reality in the princi-
pies that underlie conscience and So
ciety and government has been in many
cases lost sight of. Indeed, it some
times seems as though the age has got
round again to the skeptical question Of
Plate, What is truth?" All this is
but the natural result of the pushing
of all truth out of the range Of intellec-
tual vision by means of all sorts Of fic-
titious productions.
There is exaggeration, no doubt, in
this view of the case. But yet it is
view which is not altogether without
justification. Whether, as the Re
view further says, corruption in pol
itics and laxity in religion comes from
novel-reading may be questioned. Ger
tainly, however, in the multitude OF
voices crying Quack remedies for every
Ill that the complaining millions suffer
the novelist is too often TO be distin-
gIished; and certainly this is debasing
to fiction, whatever it may be to the
public conscience. 4 recommendation
to get back again to the solid basis Of
truth is at least worth considering.
Strange that the cable made no men
ton of the recent death in Paris, in
his sixty-seventh year, of Henri Chi
vot of the famous farce building firm
Of Chivot ct Duru. Dozens of the
comic opera libretti and farces Of these
Industrious writer's have done service
on our American stage. Les Petites
Voisines" has been seen here in French,
German and English. They wrote the
words of Nine. Favart'' and La Mas
cote"
While it is probably true that steel
engraving, as well as engraving on
wood, is being supplanted by the va
rious cheaper, more rapid, and more
accurate forms Of process and photo
engraving, or by the more personal and
artistic etching by painter r-etchers, it
does not follow that the interest in
engravings on the part Of the collec-
tors is any the less keen. Indeed. it
is probable that just in proportion as
the art Of engraving is neglected, their
interest will increase.
John F. Boyle IS engaged upon a
statue of Franklin, destined for a site
in front Of the postoffice. Philadelphia
In the same city the Fairmount Park
Art Association is raising funds to con-
struct pedestal for F. Edwin Elwell's 8
statue of Dickens and Little Nell which
at present reposes within its packing
case.
One of the speakers at the Interna-
tional Medical Congress in Moscow was
Professor Hermann Krause of Berlin.
who delivered a lecture on the various
methods by which the voices of stu
dents and singers are ruined. He
called attention to the large number of
charlatans who spoil the fresh and
promising voices of their pupils by
their ignorance of vocal physiology and
hygiene; 60 the injurious effect of the
corset in the case OF women, and Of to-
bacco and drinking in the case of men.
and many other points. Among other
things. he insisted that only robust
girls should aspire ID the career of pub
lie singers. and that any frail anaemic
girl who tried 10 adopt such career
sinned against her health as well as
against art.
An article in the art Journal" on
THE American Tax on Art" concludes
thus: The growth of any national
art is purely the outcome of the process
of analysis, by which what is most
adaptable to the local wants is extract
ed and assimilated; and there is no way
OF insuring the healthy vitality of a
native school to be compared 10 the
constant Introduction of fresh blood
from other countries. If America pro-
poses to cultivate its art by prolonged
and compulsory inbreeding, it win pro-
duce nothing but a witless and crippled
monstrosity that VIII have to be killed
10 save the passers-by from the horror