The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-06-10

teenth century, namely. TO reveal life.
to show life as ii is; TO cheer and con-
sole life by opening a door for us into
the realms OF Imagination and fancy: 10
guide life. TO furnish ideals OF men and
women. These three objects in litera-
ture have been characterized by the
terms Realism. Romanticisn and Ideal
ism. While there has been no genius OF
the very highest rank among the writers
OF the past century, like Dante, Shake
speare or Milton. there has been a
very remarkable group OF men. a galaxy
Of stars shining from the heaven OF art.
THE NOVELS OF SCOTT.
"The most popular form OF literature
OF the century is fiction While the
novel had its origin in the eighteenth
century the first great popular novelist
was Walter Scott. the King OF the Ro-
mantics, who preserved in fiction the
character and life OF his native land. The
fact is that Scott was so actively identi-
he'd with his country hat we might we'll
think of it as Scotland. He conceived
OF the novel as a vivid and graphic pic
ture of human life drawn on a historical
background and has given US imperish-
able portraits of men and women. He
gave to the world in his novels a thou
sand years Of intense living. He will
never teach you TO admire anything that
Is mean. He Will hold up the ideals OF
chiyalry, so fondly cherished by the peo-
pie of the South. | trust that Southern
people Will never lose that chivalric
reverence fer woman and spirit of in
dOmitable courage, that have been the
admiration of the world. would advise
you to read also Thackeray and Dickens,
those twin stars of the mic century.
Many of us know England through their
novels better than by travel-the real
England that does not lie on the sur
face. There are many other novelists
that are worth your reading: George
Eliot, Kingsley, Cooper, Hawthorne, Poe,
In our own time there is a large number
Of men in all parts of the world who are
lighting up the regions where they live
and letting US enter into the secrets Of
our fellow men; in Scotland. Barrie,
Crockett, Maclaren; in England. Henry
James, George Meredith. kipling; in
America a host of those with whose
names you are familior; in New Eng
land, New York. the West and the
South.
THE OBJECTS OF FICTION.
1.-The first object of fiction is to give
pleasure, not to teach nor to moraliZe,
but to give pleasure through the magma
ton. do not include in my estimate
the books that sell by the hundreds
thousand in dry good stores, but those
refreshing, invigorating stories that add
much to the Joy of life. Some people
read novels secondhand. or retail the
gossip that is found in many OF our
literary journals-literary peptonoids to
digest books for other people. The gen
uine reading of fiction, however, will
make our lonely hours cheerful; our
empty hour full; it will bring us into
companionship with men and women
whose lives are Joy to us. WHO has not
been strengthened by reading such novels
as Henry Esmond, or Lorna Doone !?
| Novels are becoming as powerful as ser
! mons and the novelist reaches a larger
number of people than the preacher. for
he reaches the people six days in the
week, and sometimes SEVEN. while the
| preacher IS heard but one.
"a second result that comes from fic-
ton is that sometimes social movements
| are largely Influenced by novels. What
ever may be your opinion of slavery you
! must admit that Uncle Toms Cabin
had much to do with arOusing public
| sentiment in the North. Whether it was
true or false in it's presentation of the
life of those days men found in 1t
thoughts that breathed and words that
burned. Alton Locke and Felix Holt
have had influence in doing away with
industrial slavery, while Charles Reade
and Dickens have called attention in
terms Of art to distressing social con
ditions. If you have thought of fiction
as mere light literature you have not
! considered its great influence in the life
| Of the past century; it is easier to un-
| derestimate than to Ovcrestimate the
! value of good fiction in the practical life
: of the world.
| THE last and grcatest good that comes
from the reading of fiction is that our
human sympathies are enlarged, as We
come in vital contact with the reality,
beauty and pathos of the lives of the
| men and women of fiction. Brotherhood
with men in dreams cannot take the
place of brotherhood with mon in reality.
but it may prepare the way for the lat
| ter. Fiction by revealing to us the life
| that is independent of place or rank or
age. lifts us out of sectionalism and
provincialism When l who live in what
many consider provincial New Jersey
Icdt liz L i'o vi I'll ooN. L - ~
hind all the differences existing between
the people Of my State and Virginia., to
the real human life of the people OF
both sections. AS | read the stories OF
Cable and Grace King | know how people
| work, pray, suffer, rejoice in Louisiana,
independent of any dialect they may
| speak, or rank from which they may
come. | advise you, therefore to read
fiction, not cynical novels, nor goody-
good, or d~irty-nasty,' but healthy and
vital ones that admit you into the So
ciety of your betters.
THE REALM OF PHILOSOPHY.
"Another form of literature to which
1 can only refer in passing is that Of
theology, philosophy and science. One
must know something Of Darwin, Hulk
| ley, Spencer, something of Coleridge,
| Maurice, Martineau, Bushnell: something
of John Fiske, and William James if he
would know the great movements OF
| thn,ph+ ~ tho no r pnnt1rV Ono must