Show What Constitutes Wholesome Literature L for Young People I I Mi II 1 NU till lit 11 11 In papers AMONG A r i tit l I the r Mutual Im 1111 nF confer confor was wan nna ne nf oC f 1 liMi Willi n fl feature of at the time mm Mens This wits wax A rend read l hI LV v Irot John II 11 Is III re lur 1 In full for ci Ih benefit ot of all allI I Ii L dC who nr are now 1101 a og with It time the thoI I l r ibl m nf or combining lug with for the Iho Average boy hOJ boyA hOJI A Sd I mu m to tn say ny IY something ut K goal x rJ you yO can esti make use ilK of lIr during time ilio ii I 1 hall holl endeavor to h he bl n All as direct a mirl HU Pill 8 I onn citi And Aud since e the anti the Ih R lon nr III illa as A to In toc c anti ami careful 1 not In to irly 11 upon lI on III duo un an L of or address sj hilt luil tn to set net t flown on paper Pallor nil emil l I Iad to sity It sib that right or 01 wrong In II end nd I shall at II all ants have saId y what 1 I Mio fl Moreover I III haw II It I tried I I to 10 keep before me Cite Iho of or our 1111 men and Ih the h nut of ot vi wu must the habit In th thene m o ot of reading good gOIl SOl hOoks books Sum le of ot tIme the that have havo hl heon m Ii I 13 In I mm my m lit i mind t prep I tm of ot this Ihl nn ta Why II 1 v 11 to In induce the Iho I bs to tn I iacI iid Or Dr It IC they read nov how why wity 11 1 Iv v tn In tt low lioti far farnay nay wr wo do lo this thi Asid ml more especially how io ought ou ms to 10 proceed In It tills this matter mo Iter fo so us nIt to In lining the Ih greatest t good I throw out cult the these now nt cit the Ih beginning I Int you OU to 10 thInly about hout them to III hold them In mind and ando andI In o I mo mime 01 In Itt answering them th m One Ommo timing thIn I think vo an 0 unity may toke take for granted to begin hE IJ with Somo of ot our hoys hy ho s lo do Oat not maul at Itt nil all f te few w rend slid and PO I rend lIterature of ot an nn Improper kind at nt the corner grocery house hoise hal racing and Ind buggy bUBsy bUg y riding at hours hour spInning or ory yarns Jarn cra O nr Ire are to too 1110 tie many ot oC time tha men InCH more than the de nf or good reading Not ol that hat thorn I Is s harmful about whittling riding and the like Ilk but bill thorn hero In Is harmful In way vay Va they are ale aI overdone And ACid somo of or ortho those tho E whom wp WI find dud alreAdy In posses slon or of the he reading habit 11 ton tot much oC of o their theil spare stare into to time th hund hundred red rail ed and one ma and to the tho six she sl heM best selling novels noyel of or the hue day Ia The taCt Is III that our lighter monthlies for tor torI or tho ho I most part purl merely and foci feed the time often vitiated public mite lato Instead of It II mini un the hue SIX best beet sellers are arc with lIh rare exceptions notoriously unworthy time the titan It takes to tn read them hom The problem confronting Mu Mutual Iu Improvement workers rs so sio far Or an nut 1 Concerns this matter of or reading Is therefore twofold I 1 how home ho ecu can all wo tto 0 get Iho o boys boyn to read real who now read nothing nod 2 how can we get et those Iho e who now 1111 rend read to road read something better This TImis problem I 1 have made my chief concern title thIs morning In 1 lInt Bul before efort 1 treating It In I wish to call at ot attention to In two tO other uther points Till Tho Tim first or of these Is the meaning mannIng that tho has hilI for tor tho the boy bo I Y Iam am nun afraid that a good many of ua do donot donot donot not believe In reading so at strongly an as A Awe aste wo we should but bul until we are ure convinced I that It IH luu an em absolutely thing wa wo cannot hoW hope to do much title this winter with tho lie reading courso course NECESSITY KOn FOt l On BEADING m ADINO Now Nom why wh should shaul time the boys read Th lh Time answer anster usually given Is that It Is la part parl partly parti ly I to give gle them amusement and anti partly Ill to 10 give RIo them Instruction This may maybo ma mabe maybe be bo perfectly true rue but ut h tp lp us mis much for tal there Is still the ques question question tion lion Why h hould they get Iet amuse amusement mont ment and lIld instruction In or at lit any 1111 rate rat j why cant they the get fet these theu the e out o or of them the books bools just as liS well The Tho answer I inspect lIes lien nearer time the surface than thane we e sometimes Imagine Imo llIe Consider for Cor forit it II moment the difference between tho time thoman man ho reads and the tho th man who does doeR not read Other tImings things being equal time tho former lormer Is broader and deeper In his lila comprehension of 01 thing s than tho th lot latter he ho lisa lias a mm far greater grealer outlook upon the world Life means more to him simply because his Is larger I have haQ seen cacti hundreds of or men meu In time the mining districts of ot England 1 and 11 lid Wales ales who had hud actually lost all power to read road because they had not formed time the reading early In lite life and consequently cn their lives which oilier wise wl o might have havo been boen more mora useful than merely to provide food for them themselves selves and theIr offspring warn nan lIar narrowed rowed down to a 0 simple animal ex mix existence I call attention to the tho dlf dit frence In manhood because that dif difference ference ounce has ha Its Ita beginning Iii hi boyhood bo hood The habit of rending readIng I nl It is said so It with truth must with time the boy If Ie It 1 at al all 11 There tire tent ot or course ex cx c hut but they the lire are exceptions Who rho has not witnessed the pathetic struggle gle of f the lie maturo mature man oman who con convinced C vinced too t o Iota lalo oC or the tho necessity for reading lois has triad Irl d to male amends for lor forthe the tho past It IB a 11 like an out oarsman lighting against the I 1 tried hard to got get this lesson remarked a aman man In a Sunday school class but the thu minute I 1 alee ahe al them book bonk I fall toll to He hud had never neel learned to toad road So Ho then thon it Is IB Imperative that thu III youth acquire the tho It II ho h would bo ho Influenced bj by b tho them greater world worl and It If he Ii would learn J It Is I something higher In lit lIfe than to Imalia hOIlO about the tho street heet corners with smith his hands In his imis hl pockets and the deadly cl between Ills his hl Up lips FOIl FOH Ott on ILL tIL Tho ho Importance of or reading is 18 fur further further ther tImer emphasized by b tho the power ower IL a book may have hate for good or Ill on 01 ones ona life Ie Komo Somo years ago age Mr tr rr Howells tho time dean doati ot or American letters declared red n oat n K his opinion that It docs doc locus not matter one reads read and that thu t will como caine out all right In the tho end email nd I must confess that title this appears to mn mA mAa atea a u pernicious Of or course 1 and girls with natural good goud taste laSt would be lie nail IIAn by vulgar litera liters literature literature ture nail It U Is perhaps to that Mr I I loten d nut there them am are many boy boys and gIrls In tho world who huo humet natural bad had taste lost but hut tc te MM bo ho Improved by Ity h cultivation ith lIh the Ihu these p timings things do 10 mb not always alway tutu turn turnout out right in tut the tho md Som th they y In tIme tho 1111 Olle Mr Ir I would probably Nay uny that hat they the would etui smut there thero anyway may mUl foe be b but It In Is scarcely n a safe mite to tOIs im Is as Lie 1 n it t basis buBU for tho th J distribution If C e reading mutter Many 1111 latt a n girl Irl In till thin humdrum l ut at early CO ca rh ny married II life to lm hn found at nt cro cros cross s with thins a as they tho me are m merely relY because berAu her Ier of or life lito were derived derl train from tro the variety of o notion because the tho wrench was WaN too gr great it which required l her i r ld Id Ideas as to conform to 10 time the v unties I of t thin the hand oll man she h to lo meet there confronted iter H s l n only mod looking 1001 with not 1101 ov n ro rona na enough to 0 propose on hi hl his knees kneR c for tal al the tho which her cb ap nov no novel l had hamI thrown ov 01 r matri matrimony mony site he wn by I tho Ih fact thaI there were dishes to R all to 10 tu ant and children to 10 pacify Tha re n suIt milt nt In irs chattel IH is and amid muter misery for her and all allaround around her It Is HO so nl ai also o with th thus buy boy the thiC hook book you 01 IJ In lii hl iti hund gives him hInt a Il Ideal Him 11 I ho hll will wilt lime Ine look looH for to d tI tim that is la daring n 11 sensational unusual liE its II f canno cianno bring down tn to th the tho turn 10 oili wuyu of ot his fathers Oblivious tn to tu time the fait fact rent men III In fetal worlds to i S urn II ii or r by lit d egre tho timo youth holl Ideas Id la lahI hI lOtte i lisp tn funned untied by Ii h clump p must ulu 0 III ii fume tunic power at III a Slit 1111 el I leat leal ed am saIl lie he grown glows with trill u mi IIi co cc shies not Ih e by b ho the Ih time lime ho he hla ma unit On tIme II oIlier other hand hund the iha result r sull o I Of r u IL Hll 1101 book on Olt the IIII boys life Pill ft it volume Inlo hIs hili you OU InUI I him hint twice blessed e J s Thera 4 m i d will hn be less on un his part to wust hl his thrift iliac His HIli ideas 1 of or pleasure will gradually undergo Ho will got sot an aim impulse tn to do flo sone thing thin with himself He lie 11 wilt will frel fel t 1 that there them Is I something In time world for him lo to do ito anti and nl that ho he horan hoI I ran can do It And Ala probably tho Inspiration ho hum receives may give an nut entirely new directIon to ti his hili career Ho lie will have hlo b lin set right with them thu I real ItI That Thu t IH is really what he hewa hea wa iva a this Is III what hn lun Is what a 11 U great ri nt matter a n little firs fire Depend upon It II than it does nako mako a L difference whether a II boy acquires the tIit Ih reading habit or ci not It do does s make mak a difference too whether ho reads this I or that hoo I WHAT TO READ nEAD The Time other point I promised to speak of 01 heron before taking ta kin I up the manner In which we should l go about our work worle concerns the question of or wholesome reading What In IR wholesome reading Nowadays time the question narrows Itself down to notion It Jt has hos little meaning Indeed Inde l if I 8 concerning history or ur biography The Th only thug thing that we w ask about these lucRe Is I was WIlS the event went worth i to re cording the life worth writing and nto am 11 they the truly recorded and amid written Tite Th question ia Is asked of or poetry but hut since Inc boys do 10 mb not earn core much for tOl rhyme the question so 10 far as ns we are concerned Is ruled out It has ban however peculiar If It asked respecting Tha JhB query what hol Is In wholesome fiction Is one OM of or the vital things tImings In reading and In lii life 1 I l know kumow that among Comb somo ot or our peo people plo there lucre Is a IL prejudice against 1 reo ad III but I regard It as nut based on s misunderstanding of o the tho purposes of ot otI the I h good novel lIo I At all events tho the ques question question tion lion confronts us and nual will always n ways con confront confront front us wo WEt cannot Ignore It H Boys have n mm natural for Cor Nar Nan Narrative Is Jit almost the only In read ing they can understand The feeling for fOl action in some form or other Is at nt the thu high tide Ul 1 their power tn to grasp ideas In the tho abstract has ita little moro than begun to 10 develop How coolish tuna then It must be lie to 10 ignore this fact en Tho The bettor better way n Is I to 10 assume 0 that we wo can cannot cannot cannot not change the tho boys hoys constitution and to endeavor to make use C of ul It or to modify It to suit stilt our purposes Bo Do as assured n however that If a it boy roods reads at atall ataU all aU stories aro what he h will tend read stories of ot adventure n first than lien ot or love But Bitt it Jt Is no IS unwise to 10 condemn all kinds kind or of novels because somo am urn hail bad badas hailas as It Is to reject all kinds of at argument because o somo sorno arguments ments meats are a rl poor or to 10 refue to ac tiC accept opt Capt any an money because there them ire He counterfeit count prices afloat Time Tho better tIming thing ti to do In is I to tn discriminate between good and had bad fiction Just as ns we tie dis discriminate criminate In everything olse oise In Itt lIfe lICe A i good many mun people however object to im on account of oC the tue th time lime it consume and onet the It de tie develops for Cor more mar No doubt this can CH bo ho currIed carried to tim the extreme but tho the thing to do Is lit not riot to try to stop nil all reading of ot stories but to 10 limit tho time quantity Just as a It If a I a boy bo should bo ho In the habit of eating too much wo we should cut down tho quantity I Instead Ins lead ot of refusing tho boy bo any food at nt all alt WHAT IS GOOD FICTION Wo 0 still have havo tho them question What is good fictIon In general r should say that wo sno may ma tell a II novel as we tell a n abit abIt bit of 01 food whether It Is good or ur not nol by IJ Its II Food that deranges the tho stomach and amid tunings on a headache we wa may nay I think set net et down dawn as Improper for tot forus forus us lime Tho same Is true of ot a story if It It our notions of or right and ond wrong or tends to upset them It Is IN a hail bad book boo no nil matter who wrote It II There Thero arc lire to 10 tobo bo ho 1 0 sure literary merits or demerits of ot construction and style but them the only on thing that really concerns us Ud here Is II its moral tone No o Is good goat for tor our purposes It is morally amorally good Hero Is a I a story for tor example which throws n Q halo of or light and In Interest Interest terest lerest around the tho wicked hero or ho wicked heroine while a n morally good gOO character Is 15 made commonplace and unattractive by U comparison anti and are aro permitted to languish h In darkness and Is 18 that a CL good book I should say ort oft hand bond not for fat boys bO 3 Here lere lre Is another that takes tabes for Cor granted certain social vices Ices the main charac charne characters characters leIs drink and smoke for Instance and atmil these those appear virtues or Idleness In the hern helO does dols not seem to bo be a vice I should hesitate before recommending such auth a 0 book to 10 Mormon boys In hit n so eo soman many man of the tha stories written today certain certain tain tatu Infractions ot of the moral law late aro viewed as ns matters of 01 social I and It is this unwholesome at al atmosphere that poisons polson the tho young oung mind It was as not so In tho the earlier fiction n and It Is Itt never so In the tho best fiction of 01 today To read rend Scott Is to t breathe breath an atmosphere pherl of at virtue mind and honor and amat lUll genuine nobility and no imo greater ser Iter sermon mon was ever oer delivered lit hut the pulpit on all tho text Whatsoever thou it t that shall thou also reap than lhnn I l preached In iii George GeAre fiction few law sermons s have been so ef ct effective Care must bo lie 1 token taken though to 10 0 get the tho total effect of or the tho book not nol the tIle effect alone alono of oe any nn single Incident t tor or passage Judged by glimpses PIn Para Paradise dIsc dise Lost would bo condemned for far In inthe the tho first two Iwo books Satan appears a em really admirable hero h ro anti and there thole seems to be b nothing at III all out of them thA way WO tn In his rebellion against God Hut But no one onu can rend read the |