The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-27
WHAT GIRLS SHOULD READ.
"John Oliver Hobbes" on Decadence
 of Modern Love Tales.
From. the London Express.

From the London Express.
 wsiting Tn the Academy John Oliver
 He obes (Mrs. Craigie) advances the some
 what startling proposition that every girl on reaching the age of IS should be given
 copy of From Jones'"
 Advice such as this In an age when
 Fielding is generally regarded as an au-
 thor whose works are only fit for con sumption by those of mature age, Is Tn itself sufficiently remarkable, and one
 might well be tempted to believe that Mrs. Craigie was not altogether serious. This, however. Is not the case. Mrs.
 Craigie is very much in earnest, and, to
 a representati, ot the Express she has given some cogent reasons In support or
 her unconventional theory.
 "As a matter of fact she said, "l am
 quite serious about this matter; so earn est indeed that I will even go to the extent of breaking my rule against talk | ing for publication.
 "Fielding is thought broad, even coarse but if he were merely broad and coarse we may be sure that Sir Walter Scott,
 whose mind was singularly fastidious and refined, would not have thought so highly of Tom Jones and Amelia as he | did.
 Speaking for myself, I consider Field | ing may be regarded as a nerve tonic nowadays an antidote to the morbid and neurotic twaddle which, under various | disguises-romantic, sentimental and
 historical--is consumed by girl and wo-
 men readers.
 "If had a daughter, I should certainly | give her the works of Fielding. l should | be sorry, of course, that she would have | to make the acquaintance of many se- | we're facts with which Fielding deals but l inc at one time or another, and I do not think
 she could learn them In a better way
 than by reading Amelia It Is a true study of human nature on robust lines,
 and the moral Fielding draws is invaria- bly, sound and reasonable. Unreasonable
 novels do enormous harm.
 ''rhe heroes drawn by Fielding are not
 models of good conduct, but he is always
 careful to give them excellent hearts,
 and if they are not capable of flights of
 poetic feeling, they are infinitely capable of steadfast affection.
 Tn modern novels the tendency Is to
 draw the men as meek, quiet, and lady like. whereas the women indulge in ex- | traordinary adventures and emotions. The women are rakes and the heroes would seem to be timid spinsters. l prefer the old school.
 What I most admire about Fielding is that. however self-indulgent his men may be, he always does splendid justice to the | highest type of women. They are so strong, so sensible. and so pure that they
 always emerge triumphant from all the
 perils. temptations and influences which surround them.
 And that said Mrs. Craigie, "is as 1t should be- It is as it always is in real | life. The really good woman is always | triumphant In the end.
 But that is not the kind of good wo-
 men we get presented to us in great deal of modern fiction. Thackeray's s
 Amelia (of whom I am fond was the
 beginning of the decadent type of stupid
 merit which has done so much to spread | the tradition that a vrtuous woman | must be rather boring at best. And since | little Amelia of Vanity Fair. we have had a long procession of weak, silly. helpless beings in contrast with the longer | train of brilliant, beautiful, unscrupu- lous sirens. There are sirens in Field