The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-10-30
Impromptu Lecture on In
tluence of Literature.
STAGE GREAT VEHICLE
Book Power Raised one Pc.
Cent Nhcu il Iinu~ oppression
Behind tie foot-IiSht-
Novels Must speak iu-
Iior'- Life.

Before a barge audience of the
Woman's club and others. Thomas
Dixon. Jr., who j. in Raleigh in con-
temptation Of his play. the "Cae No-
man" here today, spoke yesterday
morning eXtemporaneous.y on the sub
ject The influence of Fiction on
Modern Life"
lie was happily introduced 10y Mr..
X. T.. Gray. rs Tom DIXON Of Cle.c-
land County" and in beginning his
address stated that he had not expect
cd to face a large audience u thac
he had understood tina he was mere
~ 10 talk to q small club in an in
formal way. He had been deceived
by his W household, n said. into
making this address. but he had been
used - talking all his life - III would
speak on the sDur Of the moment.
He did 50 for thrce-quarte.s OF
an hour in a vein that showed Il lack
Of preparation but an cXer-readN
case IN address and q sureneSs Of
thought which is hdbitual With him
us q public speaker. Literature. he
declared TO be chiefly valuable in
that it promoted the habit Of books.
than Which theIe - nothing more
Na1uable or necessary Ia the life OF
the youth; n of h making Of books
liz ~ III tFFib GII' tlIc0I mat JIG must.
be the result Of the physical and psy-
Geological experience Of the things
which the author has felt and lived.
IN addition they must be the expires
sion of The authors message 10 the
world, which should be more thar q
message in that ii should find voice
ut the exact When the world
was ready to listen. He dWclt at some
length upon his oWn experience as
illustrative of his convictions on the
taah1oiDa1 II,aGfiAoG f alt1ArGliI
| gave a rap TO the publishing houses
| which he declared Of ali enterprises
Of modern life to be the least de-
veloped and, in passing. referred To
Uncle Toms Cabin as 4 production
void Of literary merit. crude in me
thod and successful ION in that it
supplied to the thought of the time
its immediate incentive.
"The Habit of Books"
AS Individual thinkers and students
Of life, he said, nothing is so helpful
to the average boy or girl as the
habit Of books. Books are the links
which we have With a world bigger
than the one we live in. 1t makes us
intimates today with the citizens Of
Rome and of Greece, of ancient times
| and ancient civilizations. No greater
calamity can befall Il child than that
there should be taken from 1t the in
h~eritance of books. The great Of ali
ages become its friends. if it knows
hooks. 1t leads int a full, rich. deep
life which is worth living, which Is
inexhaustible in inspiration. Litera-
ture cultivates this habit. Formerly
many taught that fiction was Of the
devil and that the reading Of novels
! was a sin In his experience his
father was of the old scnool tlat con-
sideIed that = novel was of the devil
by the devil and for the devils chill
dren. But his mother liked books
and read novels without regard to
the opinion Of the head Of the house
and gave them to him to read.
Books lead into the land Of dreams.
into the land Of unreaIity where one
is lifted uD. whore he forgets the
thing that is in the thing that ought
To be.
OF Authorship.
To be a writer. he said. one must
consider first three things before he
can reach the attention Of the world
First. himself. his own life and pre-
paration. and the experience Of the
things he Would say in the personal
equation of his own mind; second,
the vehicle Of such expression, ana.
third. his audience.
Discussing these principles he said
that he did not care what or how
thorough had neen the preparation
10 book could live and gain life and
force for influence unless i expressed
the things that its writer had lived.
felt and experienced. 1t must be the
physical and psychological expression
of What one has felt. The writer
i3as not lived, he declared. who CAV
voice to something he has not him
self known. If the dependence be
merely in books and study and spec
u~lation, the result is a plagiarism
and the book q secondhand affair.
II his own BOOKS are worth anything.
he stated that it was because thelr
roots We're deep down in the red
soil of the hills of Western North
Carolina. 4 book to have vitality
must be the rich red blood of ones
own life. Its strings must be leaves
taken from your own soul, It's seams
from your own heart. Your own life.
, So written his books held the inter-
est of men. they had the grip Of
personality. the vital element OF life
No matter what the critics said, pao-
pie read the books in spite of them
! bccause they We're real. No matter u
they We're excluded from Libraries
I wish they would bar them from all
libraries. for whenever they do there
is sold a thousand copies
Contempt for Word Somersaults.
He who write must arst get some
thing To say. There is no use 10 Try
to say something by taking a pen
and paper and commencing 10 write.
1T method Of a maximum OF elbow
grease and a minimum Of pufpoSt
and 4 minimum Of message would
never succeed. What a man must
write to succeed is 10 Write MS own
heart. his own life. his OWE people
IN the simplest. the most direct. the
most passionate way. II the f.ateTla3
he adequate. the world is waiting and
it will and must hear. II the mes
sag IS there il i best and most pow
orfully told in the simplest and most
Greet diction. He Gid nos believe in
cutting somercauits over words. in US