The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-05-04
YOUR LITERATURE.
It is All-Important for Youth.
MUCH DEPENDS ON IT.

Do you often think of the great i'm
,ortance attached to a right selection
md use of the literature OF your home? p?
All rational people haye some consid-
,ratlon OF the quality and quantity OF l
God that is taken in day by day for the !
healthy development and maintenance
If physical life. In this, too, parents
;hink and provide for the needs of their
children. 1t is certainly of no less i'm
oortance and an obligation that they
exercise the same care for the mental
and moral training of themselves and
their offsprings. AS by assimilation
the food that we take in day by day
finds its way into muscle, bone, slnew
and every organism OF life, to build
and sustain it in it's proper proportions,
so our literature finds its way so early
into our character, our life, and deter
mines at once what we are, and what we
shall be. A man would soon faint and
fail under the strain and drain OF heavy
manual labor if ne undertook to nour-
ish his physical structure with rice or
cruel alone, and it he Is sensible man |
he will seek those nourlshments that |
are sufficient to meet the drains OF his
system. It is no less true of the men,
tai or moral laborer. If one is cold
blooded and lifeless, he will not be able
or desirous of assinllating much for
moral or mental supply, but if he is
one OF Gods living creatures he must
consume or suffer.
In my observations as pastor IN
dealing and mlngling with my people
for a decade, no truth has been more
clearly established than the moral and
spiritual effect OF literature upon the
individuals of my parish. l have seen
the worldly minded man become deep
iv pious and faithful by the effect ct
the literature he was feeding his nature
from. I haye seen the wayward be-
come sturdy and reliable from constant
contact with that mental nourlshment
that he would get from the right kind
of literature The man Of strong
temptation has REINFORCED his power TO
Withstand it and prove himself the
equal of his trials by the good effect OF
wholesome and nourishing literature.
On the other hand, many well en-
dowed youth, with excellent blood in
his veins, with good ancestral training
as vantage ground to start with, has
fallen a victim to crime and disaster
from the effect of bad literature on
mind and moral-on the mind first as
1t is the precursor of every other DC
, velopment OF character.
: It is true that in some we find con
: genital idiosyncrasies which can never
. be fully overcome by training, brt We
t will not disparage worth OF training OF
: this account. And even in the alb
normal irregularities of Temperament
. If one is sensible of his weakness ant
. desirous of correcting his faults, he ma.
Y find marvellous help from the inf1uenc'
: of good literature. Here let me sa.
4 that the stimulus which our veal
d natures need can never be found II
: the "yellow journals" OF our day, no
d In the average popular novels that lssu
o from the press of this day and, alas,
e is too often true that they do not ems
II nate from the local secular press. Tha
e such literature is popular and finds
e superabundance of patronage Is rathe
n an argument of its already pernicior
,r effect upon public morals, than that
d is fit agency of civil and moral cuitur
le o. when shall we drift again ln'
p. channels of literary safety? Not tt
Or our parents wake up to see that tt
to lapse of social and civil life is due
h their Indifference to the matter that
making the character of their childre
a OF course this is literary age. "
ne people are reading people. They
" not in many homes need to be admo
er ished to read more. But how many
lie the youth OF this day are familiar WI
d. the literature whose influence has ma
statesmen. or reformers, or men OF al
craft whose names are now In t.
galaxy of fame? These great works
In biography or history or philosophy
religion are stale to them. They ha
but little taste for such reading and
often equally as little OF the elemel
of greatness. Don't think 1t Is expe
sive to furnish yourself with the D.
OF literature, whether of books or co
mendable journals, and don't feel tt
1t is light duty to persuade yours
and your wards to use such freely.
ANOTHER CASE OF RHEUM