Show T CONCERNING NOVEL READIG < ss r Some Presentda Alp cts and In fluemmees of Noelreadli fle lecture given 1 Mr Ered yUchQlds il the I laboratory bultln lastMQld evening was unusualhymnterestingTbe ball was cornpheli alYlntercstnS Tlc remained I after to 11Jigttg i au hecturer I I Mr Reynolds began oy noting the almost al-most exclus1c attention we give to 1e ton or all he books now pouring forth from the press morthan per cent are novels The choicest shelve In our libraries and our bookcases am hued with works of fiction dust Is oren allowed to settle on the other One of the most probable reson that make noels our sole literary diet Is mans universal hove for stories No matter how tired or dls pondent we are we turn to the story wrier for rest and encouragement NOueireading In al its phases was discussed dis-cussed thoroughly Figures from our own public library and bbertations made hr the best librarians of the country were quote A fewpxtracts from the lecture urc given belo 1xtract The Impulse with us that seems to mark us apart Is toward understanding self and slgnilcan of existence The overmastering deslrq1wlthus Is to fathom the mepning of the fiddle of lifer Man yearns to know what and where he is This Is the question with him always no mater what hehopesr dreams or loves or hates or suffers or enjoys Nothing e Interests hint like th ol interests of his hl flow f-low man We In this present day have coma to realize that life Is a wonderful thing dad wo want to know its possi bites Ve seek evidences of them as a prospector seeks thdlcaliOns of the ores enca of gold We wonder what goes On In the minds of our friends what they make out of existence wlat they find In Its sorrows and its delights Ve wonder at what goes on In our own minds Va explain to ourselves the feelns and motives mo-tives that prompt us to acton and then we wonder If they look 10 others as they do to us We speculate whether others have found a way to get more out of life than we getmorc vivid sensations more vibrant emotions more fareaching feel lags 000 The modern novel 15 an Inventory of the observations of man on man Its function 15 to reveal the subtleties of human nature I lifts us out of our OWl commonplace and uneventful existence and makes us a sharer 01 lift at Its keenest and best Itt It-t kes us In imagination among all classes of people tugh all kinds of acton and Iu SU lng It gives us u lmowledce of life second Only td that knowledge which comes roC life itself < 0 < A great part of the cry against fiction has been mere Ignorance and nrejudice Not every note ot protest however can I be for met example with that that atertion the exclusive Time attention charge we are giving to fiction Is sure 10 result in a genera lowering of our aesthetic taste Is fur to < gnve to be turned aide Attention to any form of art to the neglect neg-lect of other forms Is sure to result In a general lowering of time standard of art Especially I is thIs true of an art 111cc tic ton which translates emotional experIence exper-Ience with the lag e of ordinary In telcctual life A fine sensibility and a trained appreciatIon are necdell to get emotIonal pleasure from painting sCllp ture poetry I now we find that we can get the emotonal experience we crave with the comparatvely little effort It takes to read fcton doesnt It seem likely that we shall soon become too Indolent In-dolent to arouse ourselves sufficiently to sympathize with the conceptions Qt the painter and the sculptor or to understand the purely imaginative terms employed by the poet Amid wo not thus be blinding blind-Ing ourselves to means undoubtedly greater than HcUor or preserving and exalting the ideals of the llma race The condition probably may be one to be feara The present has many noted novelists but few essayists and almost no poets 0 0 Tn both of these classes or novels the servantglrl hovel and the bOYlovel thc Ideas of personal lionel are usuaib err liRh Time hero may be a quite impossible character but in one respect he Is realv deserving of emuiaton almost always he Is a person who finds himself quite incapable In-capable of deviating ono hairs breadth from th straight line of gentemanlY conduct con-duct LOts the soft gentleman In Sir Roger do Cocrey art gallery he would probabl sign a dcccl passing away half of his estate with his gloves on but ha would not put on hs hat before a lady to melve his life The author would rather picture him as misled by passion Into great moral lap1es than as vlaylng he part of eavesdropper even for a moment or as suffering thp intemmaust reflections linen the name of somebody else especial ly a WOln This then Is a merit of these novels rhey assist In diffusing amore a-more delete ent of honor mol cMv alrols Ideas regarding women and a greater I clllcmcu II IJtrslu lob anu manners The faults urged agaInst them stand Their tendency 15 toward weakening the Intellect and cranpln the ImagInatIon intelet imagnaton hut In them the libertine and wrongdoer arc belch up to just scorn and virtue and right are made to triumph Even these novels then Yetched though they ac are 11lnateb betc than those novels oC doubtful moral tendency that are sometimes some-times Popular 4 To illustrate the relIgious value of recent re-cent fictIon let us make reference to two well known novels Both have met with severe objection il certain quarters but for that reason perlops they will serve thmo better They are Thomas our purpose O Eardys < Tess je the dUrbervilles and I James Love Hens The ChoIr Invls Ihle In the very essence of such noels I as these there Is an Inspiraton They may sadden but they cannot depress If I rr lt eO natural outcome their sorrow is I genuinethe I U come of a natural course of eyentsthev I can but console encourage Inspire because be-cause they are a fresh proof of the super I 101lty of h man sentment over all woo and sorrow and anguish They give us fhnlng ea confidence in the goodness of timings and faith in time premised destiny of the race ml our own lives the memory ool them rf constant uplift because It keeps fresh and strengtimenmm our optimism and pre serves and exalts our Ideals I |