The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-12-29

LII -UeSt, Dut dI I0dSL lldy Win SurlGy
call it highest. The highest achieve
mentS in ideal literature are attained
by much the same process as that by
which Raphael attained to his Sistine
Madona, Guido to his st. Michael, or
Michael Angelo to any of his great
creations in marble. 1t is the striving
of great soul, to give expression to
that which is within itself. They have
a language only for those who ap-
proach somewhat in greatness of soul,
is that of the designer. To me, Raph-
aePs Madonas are only pictures of
woman. To an artist approaching
somewhat toward Raphael's greatness,
they speak perhaps of Divine Mother
hood, or things inutterably high and
holy; so we may say that the creations
of Milton, Dryden, Keats, Dante or
Petrarch and many of Shakspere's have
no message to the masses and no place
in the warm human affections of the
people. They are good to all who can
get good out of them; best to any who
can get the best there is in them.
In this age of steam printing presses,
literary culture has come to be, not
only the fashion, but general. Public
libraries, and reading rooms where the
best periodicals and newspapers may
be always found, offer unlimited op-
portunities for literary improvement.
Ten year-old school boys carry about
In their pockets, illustrated and abre-
waited editions of the Illiad of Homer,
or Keats L2inia or Mi!ton's Paradise
Lost. Thus there is given opportun
ity to nourish and develop whatever of
literary abilities may be given to each
But since at best, it is only very few
to whom is given the ability to attain
to any eminence in literature, it is only
these few who ever attain to full ap-
probation of all that is best in ideal
literature. At school they read some
of the great masters perhaps, because
they are on the curriculum, or part Of
the mental gymnastics through which
all students are put. But ten years
later hearing Achilles referred to, they
could recall him only as "that old
duffer with the light pair of heels"
Thus we see that in considering
what is good to read, we must have
ever before our minds, this great ma
jority, who go out from the school, or
the home to their chosen trade or pro-
fession, with minds prepared to meet
the many exigencies arising from the
present competitive system of business.
Since to these, reading now becomes
merely a recreation or amusement,
great care is necessary in the selection
of reading. Especially is this true of
the young. That which, to the refined
and fastidious palate of biblico- ma
MAC, would be insipid, tasteless or per-
haps wholly nauseating, may, to the
more plastic mind or sensitive imagi-
nation of the young become exhilerat-
ing, exciting or inflaming. Now ex-
citation and exhileratiOn may not be
evil in themselves. 1t all depends upon
which of the many factors that go to
make that entity called human nature,
is excited or stimulated. Injury is
more liable to occur at that period
when the young are about entering
into the state of manhood or woman
hood. l believe | am right in saying,
that at this period of life, the largest
of any one factor in human nature is
sentiment. How we'll the writer's of
stories today know this, as is evidenced
by the great quantities of so-called love
stories that flood the country. Senti-
ment comes as naturally to the young
as the song to the bird, or the duck to
the water, and they need no more
instruction as to the proper mode of
indulging in it. In itself it is good;
but by the time it has followed Amelia
Rivers Chandler, Bertha M. Clay or
Ouida in their flights of sentimental
fancy, we see it no longer as pure
sentiment. What was already large,
has become multiplied into distortion,
and is too often recognized as lust.
So then: while some of this class of
literature may be good, it is least good