The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-12-12

chief thought was OF lttaS ,,E
tell me- that thou orsakest books a'ln
giVcst myself up To pleasure. lli"" ~
a. a shrine without its rcd' yea Is
house without bread. Johl Mlltv. -
qrotcJ as saying that hooks c"hl"lh
a notracv of 10. the purest efficacy OF
the LIVING intellect tina hfnuE"l t nNu.
forth" and that "a good hook ~ HlWaA
the precious lifc-elood oi some master
spirit.
Hooks Give Insight To iiie'
tt,,...,.e, tho Inference should not bc
drawn from shat / Gm seNihk' li"N
knowledge OF hooks can pI"p"lN IN IN
Z the place OF hnowlcdg' OF men lhS
saund III The ltNlug voice, the t"u'h 81
mo hand that Vibratrs with IRE. thv
contact 80 living Splru win hNlhs
spirit cannot. believe he ttP.@sNSS
even - that book whose a,s'tlp','"nss
] OF charactci aud whose i"lttdSal 81
emotion - as VIVA As ScniuS can MAKE
/ them II ~ because tins ls true tn"'
/ the mere bookwOrm ~ chafa,t'l'a-
. ideally tile man whose know icdsr ~
/ facts H. very large. while his inslsht
7 into the nature OF men Il 'r"n' anu
4 limited.
= Yet books give ~ better under
ytaUding of men. Tor s9tN Introduce vs.
not only o. the rustoms and the culture
OF oui own day and OF our immediate
lCnN iroumCnt but theN become the
vehicle OF our acQualntant eshlp with
Z All the civilizations that nave b"Vii.
I they out as into closest touCh Win AL
the PASSIONS that hive stlrreu tue
! hearts of Dlen. thSN ltttoduCe us INTO
thu ilmost processes ot the thouhhl
life OF those whose si-uStlon Is diUer-
ent than our own. and with Mnom the
tNptrtcpccs or our Ike would never
! bring as into contact. BY means OF
books, the pauper may MAX" has way
I " itEout fear into tha palace or the
King. and the noble, Without the en-
paTraS OF curious eyes upon MN,
may thread his way through the macs
( and the dmginess OF povertys abode
and squalor's home. Through DOORS,
/ the sceptic and the reh gionlst prHsli
shoulders and each come 10 uhderstahu
| the others attitude.
| In a word, books represent the ever
/ living. ever present ever active pohds
of relationship between man and man.
| They break down every intellectual
every social. and almost on" might say,
every physical barrier betwiNt them.
They constitute great cable oy Whlch
/ the n ud Of one civilization reaches out
4 its hand to another. and by when inc
Aspirations. the hopes and the ideals or
one social or national gre up may DE
| compared or contrasted with all others
Go into "A well-ordere1 library ana you
are indeed on sacred sfoGnu iol YOU
stand I'm the presence OF the genius OF
all the ages To you. Homer and virgil
and Socrates and Plato and Shakespeare
/ and Goethe and schiller become living
/ personalities What. "a mankinds in
| fancy. oral tradition did for the race,
| that. In tcn-fOld more Significant
manner the printed page is doing for
I n
( the possession OF the present, and the
best that stirred the hearts and con-
! sciences of men in ages that are gone,
becomes ours TO inspire US ana 10 HSht
our ways.
Now / hold that because this is true,
literature rs from it's very nature
! IRENE ndous moral force ia the life OF
men. The very fact that IT fixes upon
our attention for all time the great
personalities of history, that IL revivi-
/ fies the voices OF those master spirits
whose words stir our hearts as they
/ stirred the hearts OF the men To whom
they were addressed. that IL exempt
1 fies 10 US the eternal conflict manifest
! in history and in the heart or Wa6 be
/ tween good and evil. that II gives TO
/ lime ginativc genius the power TO paint
| characters and situations for the bene-
I ut of all which life reveals only 10 the
few that IT gives form 20 the poets
dreams as well as to the philosophers
] specGlations--all these lead To the con-
clusion that literature Is at its highest
/ moral force in the life of the tndt-
vidual ana in the life OF the race. than
which none Is more mighty or more
/ consistent.
Fiction "a Moral Force.
! But tho very judgment that l am
passing upon books carries with IL the
Implication that the moral element in
books must be rather implicit than
expressed. Morality needs no more To
| lie titled tagged and labeled in htera-
ture than does wit or philosophy. y
. DOCK whose moral must De APPENDED
it--as before the days of pedagogic
: science IL uscd To be, 10 the stories In
our school readers-is not good BOOK.
/ The inherent influence OF books must
exert itself through its silent working
upon the subjective soul rather than by
its obtrusion upon the Intellect from
the outside. For this reason, | hold
that. aside perhaps from biography, the
dramatic novel and the allegoFy are the
best lifted vehicles W" have in litera-
ture for the conveyance OF moral In
fiuences In word, fiction may be 4
Tremendous moral force.
That book which deliLhts the reader
while IL pictures to him the glory OF
] passionate virtue is certainly infinitely
more efficient in its Lower for good
/ than Is that wcarisome discourse whose
didactic character is obtrIsiVe. In his
/ autobiography. Anthony Trollope has
! brought tins fact out with some force.
lie says in effect, that while the novel
ist II he have conscience, must
! through his books preach his sermons
/ on morality AS surely as must the
! clergyman. he fails utterly unless in
| making virtue dllurtnS and vice ugly,
he can charm his readers instead OF
Wearying them.
| But literature must be vital force
not only in siren tightening the virtue Of
| the individual, nut as well In shaping
public opinion n regard To problems of
social morality. What better illustra-
I ton Of the tremendous rover OF books
4, To awaken the public conscience might
he cited than the familiar one of Dick
ems. whose works lid more tina nall the
! spt echcs In parliament to reform the
I abhorrent conditions that obtained in
! the penal instit atoms In The England
OF his day. Dickens might have rallied
! from the platform year after year
against tho cruelties and the inhumani-
J ties that obtained In the administTd-
( ton OF the poor lava but II must
surely have been with less effect than
! his exhibition OF these same atrocities
In hi SOLVER Twist" or even I'm the
! Introductory chapter TO what H. sup
posed TO be his autobiography. David
| CopIerfieli" To come nearer home
| ence that was eNerted In shaping anti
slavery sentiment by Harriet Beecher
| stoves Uncle Tom Cabin. or I'm
| arousing the right sort Of patriotic sem
! timent by Edward Everett Halc's story
I OF the Man without Country"
In the form Of fiction. men are viii
| ing TO absorb the lessons that they
should learn, the same principle
that they are willing to take the most
bitter medicine IL IL rs Lut up in the
form OF sISar-coated pills. But. 80 the
lesson ne there, NJ will accomplish its
end just the same; ard. by the way
aside from all the religious bearings OF
the que stion. this consideration may he
used as "A potent argument in rebuttal
against those who advocate the read
ing of the Bible in the public schools
upon the ground that only that book y
ntted by its nature to be a text book
OF morals The argument H. quite fool
ish. Have We not enough good lit,ra