The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-07
NOVEL READING
Rev. Dr.. soudder Gives
Advice as to the Kind
Of Books.

The Rev. John I. scudder. in the First
congregational Church, Bergen and Boyd
avenues. last night, preached the second
of his series of sermons on "Sanetifyins
Amusements.'' His subject was Novel
Reading His text was, 'Hearken dill
gently unto Me, and eat We that which is
good. and let your soul delight itself IN
| fatness.s He said in ~part.-"Our subject
is novel reading; and considering The vast
amount of Indulgence which the people
| give themselves in this direction, together
with the powerful influence which reading
exerts upon character, am inclined 70
regard this as one of the most important
| topics of the series. Possibly there are
| some who would not place novel reading
under the head of amusements, but ! am
inclined 10 believe that this IS not only an
amusement. but one of the most popular
Of all amusements, taking up more of the
peoples time than any other style OF d.
version. Reading is a quiet. intellectual
pursuit and pleasure. and on this very ac-
| count does not obtrude itself upon the
public gaze and is largely lost to view, In
card playing, theatre going and dancing,
man shares his pleasures with others. III
/ dancing a person must have a partner or
become a wallfower; a game Of whist re-
| ouires the presence and participation of
others besides yourself, and in the thea
tire you are always necessarily in a
| crowd. These amusements are social and
conspicuous in their nature; but the ten
! deney of novel reading is reclusive. 1t
ndrives the reader into congenial Isolation
where he may be free from interruption
and sit down alone with his. book- He
breaks away from the usual world OF
sights and sounds and runs into some
corner by himself. He abandons the COM
pany of living for imaginary ~personages.
Some families. / am glad to say, have the
good sense to read works of fiction to-
| gether. After the days work is done,
| father. mother and the children gather
| around the sitting room table and for an
hour or two previous to retiring they lis
| ten to some member of the family WHO
reads aloud. They take turns in read
ing. and thus improve their powers of
| elocution. while at the same time they
strengthen the family ties. ! approve OF
this method Of reading the standard nov
| els because it unifes the family and each
| one. moreover. takes a greater enjoyment
in the story when he shares his thoughts
anu GflOtlOHS \ tiAt9tS
| the family is pretty certain also to confine
itself to works Of a high, moral character
If more American households would adopt
this plan of collective reading fathers
would be less anxious to spend their even
ings at the club, and children less in
| clined to roam about the streets. But
such families as / have described are
! the exceptions. The average novel read
=. a. 4 = No. or--r, raarn o,=d ch1I4c HIM
self off from the rest of the world. In
der the circumstances his reading is
strictly private and his choice of books Is
not always the best. \
THAT the amount of novel reading in
this country is immense n almost in
calculable no one can doubt who keeps
his eyes open and is interested in public
morals and education. The novel has be-
come cosmopolitan and has managed to
insinuate itself everywhere. The news
stands groan beneath the burden of light.
| attractive literature. The columns of
both secular and religious press, as well
| as the hands of pertinacious train boys,
| are full of novels. -Seventy-fve per cent.
| of the books taken from our public IL
| braries are works of fiction. many of
| them of doubtful character. and even in
our Sunday School libraries the novels
predominant.
Nov it is needless to state that amid
this vast, entertaining mass of fiction,
one can find every variety and descrip-
ton. Here is the sentimental and the
| solid. the salacious and the salutary. all
kinds and any amount of each kind.
Here is mental food for the million,
served up in every Imaginable style and
made palatable by all sorts Of spice. The
literary grist mills are never idle, the de-
mand for works of fiction is constantly
increasing. Everybody reads, novels in
these lays and multitudes read nothing
but novels and newspapers. Under these
circumstances the question arises, What
kind of novels shall we read? We must
feed our minds on something in the line
Of fiction, for in these days the best as
well as the worst is thrown into the
form of a novel. My answer will be
found in the text. .Hearken diligently unto
me cries the prophet Isaiah, and eat
We that which is good ] know of no
\ better rule to~guide US in the selection
of reading matter than this ancient but
thoroughly wholesome advice. From a
literary point of view We may sit at
Delmonico's and be served with the best
the country can afford or we frequent
some dirty underground restaurant and
feed on provender that is scarcely fit for
italian immigrants. In this matter of
novel reading you may take your choice,
for in either case your intellectual meal
can be secured for the small sum of
twenty-five cents. For a mere pittance
YOU can purchase the vilest, most nause-
ating compound of a Ouida or lola, or
the finest production of a Hawthorne or
a Sir Walter Scott. Hence | affirm that
if YOU read bad books it is because you
yourself are bad and enjoy that kind of
reading.
'Let US consider for a moment the
analogy of the text. Thought is TO the
intellect what food is to the body. The
mind hungers for ideas in some form: it is
Interested in working them over and as
sirnilating them just as the stomach
digests the food that falls within it's
! grasp. In the selection of this thought,
/ Of course, as in the selection Of our food
we should exercise our judgment and good
sense. There is much that grows IN
nature that is not fit to eat. and likewise
there is much thought in the world which
Is morally injurious. Hence In our read
ing. as in our eating, we should nave a
careful system of dietetics, knowing what