Show Liter literary arv ca department NOVEL READING in treating ta such a subject one should be more or less acquainted with novels the more the better it is an undisputed fact that the more familiar a person is with a subject the more justice lie he can do it hence one who has never read and studied a number of novels can hardly be expected to treat such a subject very extensively the word novel when applied to reaching material has near nearly ly if not quite as broad a meaning as any other word in the english landage lan Ian gage especially is this true among the greater number of our everyday people novel to them means anything n from a detective story to the best word of fiction they ever read it may mean the same to others of higher learning but at the same time the latter class can more easily see a great difference between detective stories and classical novels than the former it this discussion I 1 will discard all such works as dime novels and confine myself to classical fictitious stories rie or what I 1 call novels proper avels novels are of course classified but so extensively that I 1 could not attempt anything r of the kind in tills this brief discussion I 1 will merely suggest c one or two classes and try as best I 1 can to show wherein the reading 0 of such is beneficial or detrimental undoubtedly there are more romantic novels written than any other one class A romantic novel is one which idealizes life and its surroundings 0 perhaps it can be better understood by giving a partial definition of the two words romance and novel A romance deals with lofty and supernatural characters and incidents a novel treats of the ordinary events of life the romantic novel would have a tendency to picture things somewhat better than the they y really are certainly there can be no objection to reading a book which sets seis forth ideas and suggestions that are moral and elevating 0 in their nature and it is beyond question that every good classical novel teaches a moral lesson As far as dime novels or dime love stories are concerned I 1 will not uphold them in one instance but literature like that which comes from the pen of scott dickens longfellow 0 hawthorne irving lowell bryant elliot and such writers is well worth our attention those authors were all moral exemplary literary persons and consequently had elevating thoughts the world is much better for their having lived and the greatest help they have given it has come from their pens the purpose of the novel which deals with real life is to bring the people face ace to face with themselves r and their true condition this isi done in such a way that they cannot help seeing their faults at the same time this class of novels is interesting and attractive in order that they may have a wider circulation A man who sees all or at least many faults with the people 0 pleat at large would be ng his lifo life to go around proclaiming such from the public stand he can if a good writer and such men are generally liseray to a great extent get at the people in a much easier and more attractive way by writing an interesting and somewhat fictitious story portraying g the real condition of if the people ho he shows them their faults such books are generally read extensively and without doubt are beneficial morally at least at the same time the people are reading the best language of the world consequently learn to use it nicholas and scores of others could bo named then again some novels are based upon one or two real incidents and expanded to such an extent and in such a manner that they seem true such are generally historical in their nature the author by using his imaginative powers creates scenes and incidents either good or bad but generally the former and while he is writing fiction it is so near like what has happened or what may happen or what could happen that there is really no harm barm in reading 0 it connected with such st stories ories is always a moral principle which any close reader cannot fail to see it tf 0 may be argued that people get in such a habit of reading novels that they neglect 0 their duties some mothers often keep their children from reading 0 fiction in order that they shall n not ot acquire such a habit there are women grown 0 grown who boast of nevor never having 0 read a novel I 1 do not think it a very large feather in their cap by shutting their eyes and stopping 0 their ears at such things they have deprived themselves of just as man many y good d thoughts and suggestions tz and moral principles as they them might have read in good books consequently they are not as good as they might have been some may say that the ideas could have been gained in other ways probably Pra bably so but b ut such elevating thoughts td as one can find in reading a good novel are not floasin floating 0 round in the air only men of a highly moral character set forth such ideas from experience I 1 know there has no harm come from such reading 0 and while I 1 like it I 1 have never cultivated the habit so extensively e as I 1 might have done with great profit there are times when young people have nothing particularly to do and so do nothing they might 0 very profitably be reading C some book that would awaken new thou thoughts ats in their otherwise idle minds an idle brain is the devils workshop work shop novels have been written ever since before christ five hundred years no great t harm has ever benio from reading such as I 1 am upholding and there are no prospects of harm ever coming in conclusion I 1 would say especially ally to mothers read good moral interesting stories to your children and provide means for them to read such stories such a habit will be a very good thing for the moral development of the ones you would never have do wrong C IV T vice is a monster of so frightful mein that to be hated needs to be seen yet seen too oft familiar with her face we first endure then pity then thea embrace pope pop the path 0 sorrow and that pah alque alone leads to the land where sorrow is unknown no traveler abeler tr ever reached th that at blest abode who found not briars on his road wm cowper people seldom improve when they have no other model but it themselves to copy after oliver goldsmith the only way to have a friend is to be one emerson E merson F for or the noblest man that lives 11 ves there still remains a conflict flicht james A garfield all that I 1 am or hope to be I 1 owe to my mother abraham lincoln the th 0 intelligence inte 11 irence ca of the people is the security of the nation daniel webster I 1 never saw a garment too fine for a man or maid there never was a chair too good for a cobler bler or a cooper or a king to sit in never a house too fine to sheler ter the human head el elegance degance fits man but do not value these tools a little more than th they are arc worth wort hand and sometimes mortgage a house for the mahogany we bring g into it I 1 had rather eat my dinner off the head of a barrel or dress after the fashion of john the baptist in the wilderness or sit on a block all my life than consume all myself before I 1 got got to a home and take so much pains with the outside that the inside is as hollow as an empty emp ty nutshell beauty is a great thino thing but beauty of garment house and furniture are arc tawdry ornaments compared with domestic love all the elegance in the world will not make a home acome and ana I 1 would give more for a spoonful of real hearty love than for whole shiploads ship loads of furniture and all the gorgeousness 0 the world can gather oliver wendell holmes always leave the home with 1 loving 0 words for they maybe may be the last beware tho the fury of a patient man dryden I 1 think the first virtue is is to restrain the tongue 0 he be approaches nearest to god who knows how to be silent even though he be is in the right cato ideas go booming through the world we ald louder than cannons thoughts are mightier than armies mies principals have achieved more victories than horsemen or chariots |