The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-12-13
Hook. Give un.ixn, To Life.


the place OF knowledge ~ men. Ihs
sound ~ The Twins voice, the touSh 81
the hand that Vibrates Win hi", a."
Cont.ct 90 living spirit Mith nNlns
spirit cannot. I believe, he feplaCvu
even o., that book whose descriptions
OF charat tel ard whose TortraSal OF
emotion is as vivid az Senius can ", AN,
them ~ H. because this Is true .ne'
the mere book worm is character's
ticaIly the man whose knoWiedss ol
facts e. very large. While ms lhsisn,
into the nature Ut men Is CRUDE anu
limited.
Yet. BOOKS give a. a better under
ytsrding of mon. for thty introduce US
not only Ia the customs and the cuiture
OF our own day and OF our imIheoia.e
enN irOnment, hut they become the
vehicle OF our mountaineering with
all the civilizations that nave peen.
they put Us into closest touch WIN a..
tho Tasstons that have stlrreu tne
hearts OF men; thCS ntoduce US unto
the iamost processes OF the thought
life OF those whose situation - diner-
emf than our own. anc Win " nom lhe
experiences of our lie would never
bring ~ into contact by means o.
books. the pauper may make his WAY
v itEout fear into the palace % inc
King. and the noble, Without the en-
parras sment OF curious eyes upon nun,
may thread his way through the mares
and the dnginess OF PoNertys aponc
aud squalor's home. Through BOOKS,
the seeptic and the r"hsionlst oruSn
shoulders and eaCN come tS uhuciSN1""
the others attitude.
In word. books represent the ever
living, ever present. ever active bonds
OF relationship between man ana man
They break down every lnteliectuaI'
every social. and almost one might say
every physical barrier bctWlAt tnetn'
They constitute a great cable by when
the hand of one civilization reaches out
its haad To another and by which the
aspirations, the hopes and the ideals OF
one social or national group may De
compared OF contrasted with all others
Go into a well-ordered library and you
are Indeed on sacred ground Tor YOU
stand m the presence OF the genius OF
all the ages. To you, Eomer and virgil
and Socrates and Plato and Shakespeare
and Goethe and Schiller become living
personalities. What, IN mankinds IN
fancy. oral tradition did for the race.
that in a ten-fold more Significant
manner. the printed page is doing Tor
mankind TODAY All the past becomes
the possession OF the present, and the
best that stirred the hearts and con-
sciences nj men in ages that are gone,
becomes ours 10 inspire us and TO light
our ways.
Now | hold that because this Is true.
literature is from it's very nature
tremendous moral force Ia the life or
men. The very TACT that II fixes upon
our attention for all time the great
tes 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 II eNempt-
hes to US the eternal conflict manifest
in history and in the heart or man be-
tween good and evil; that II gives TO
ime ginative genius tina power to paint
charaC tiers aud situations for the bene-
nit OF eall which life reveals only TO the
few; that il gives form TO the poets
dreams well as TO the philosophers
specGlations--all these lead 10 the con-
clusion that literature is at it's highest
moral force I'm the life of the indi-
yIdual ana in the life of the race, than
which none is more mighty or more
C consistent.
Fiction "a Moral Force.
But the Very Judgment that am
passing upon books carries with II the
implication that the moral element in
books must be rather implicit than
expressed. Morality needs no more To
lie titled. tagged and labeled I'm iltera-
ture than does wit or philosophy,
book whose moral must be appended TO
ft--as before the days Of pedagogic
science IL used TO be. to- the stories IN
our school readers-is not a 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 allegory are the
best fitted vehicles We have in litera-
ture for the conveyance OF moral In
huences In word, fiction may be
tremendous moral force
That book which delL6 hts the reader
while IL pictures to him the glory OF
passionate virtue Is certainly infinitely
more efficient in. its power for good
than is that wearisome discourse whose
didactic character Is obtrDsive. In his
Autobiography. Anthony Trollope has
brought this fact out with some force.
He says, in effect, that while the novel
list, IL he have conscience, must
through his books preach his sermons
on morality as surely as must the
clergyman. he falls utterly unless. in
making virtue alluring and vice ugly
he can charm his readers instead OF
wearying them.
But literature must be a vital force
not only in strengthening the virtue or
the individual, out as well in shaping
public opinion in regard To problems of
social morality. What better illustra-
ton OF the tremendous rover OF books
to awaken the public conscience might
be cited than the familiar one OF Dick
ems. whose works did more than all the
spe eClcs in parliament TO reform the
ahhOTrent conditions that obtained In
the penal institutions III the England
OF his dayr Dickens might have rallied
from the platform year after year
against the cruelties and the inhumani-
ties that obtained In the administra-
ton 0f the poor laws. bat IL must
surely have been with less effect than
his exhibition OF these same atrocities
in his oliver Twist or even in the
Introductory chapter to what is sup
posed 10 be his autobiography, David
CopIerhell" To come nearer home
who shall deny the far-reaching influ-
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 SEN
timent by Edward Everett Hale's story
of the Man Without a Country"
In the form Of fiction, men are will
ing 20 absorb tne lessons that they
should learn, on the same principle
that they are willing to ts ke the most
bitter medicine 81 IL IS Iut up In the
form OF sI&aT-COuted pills But. so the
lesson pc there. u viii accomplish its
end just the same, ana by the way
aside from all the religious bearings OF
the question. this consideration may he
Used - potent argument in rebuttal
against those who advocate the real
ing OF the Bible In thc public schools
upon tht ground that culy that book is
lifted By It's nature. 10 bt text book
OF morals Tho argument - quite fool
ish. Have We not enough GOOD Iit,ra-
ture Of thoroughly uon-sectarian
character that no tn" Fards OF comp.-
tent teachers may De made the bearer
of ar inherent morality" Indeed as n
matter q fn,t, ! hold that. rightly no
attempt should bc made to teach moral
ity apart from its Implication in tho
cutire curriculum Of tho preparatory
school Ethics Is a part OF philosophy
and children are not PHILOSOPHERS
What BIS essential In oui cducationai
routine rs tnat every. branch OF work
T. which the mind and the hand of our
children are turned. should be given
moral value
IA | think / have Tointrd ont he
fore from this pulpit no inner morgI
lesson can Ice taught II the chfld thnr
tprouEh the avenue ~ manual train