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Show s ' NOVEL BEADING. The fnormous sales that many books of fiction have just novV show plainly that the greater number of readers today to-day are novel readers. History of the medieval and American colonial kind, and biography still have their readers; but even tho wi lc--pread interest in history his-tory and biography rray be considared as indies tlons of an interest that primarily pri-marily was aroused by the novel. For-merlv For-merlv this great in-?.-'-ase of the novel reading pubir would have been considered consid-ered as an indutiable proof of supsr-ficiality, supsr-ficiality, of fi h'olousnes3, and a certain fiightinecs that should be discouraged by all means. For formerly novels w-ere looked upon as so unreal in their delineations delin-eations of character, as so suggestive of emotions that should be crushed out of the life of all who were destined, or who wished, to engage in any serious pursuits, and as presenting such airy pictures of life, that any one who was known to read them assiduously was Immediately put down as a dreamer, and almost as one who was preparing himself to be a good-for-nothing all the days of his life. This old notion has not yet quite been erased from the minds of all. There are still some people peo-ple who boast that they have never read a novel. But the greater number of men and women now look upon the novel as filling a want that modern practical life has left empty. And it is from this position of view that the novel is good. Of course, in saying this, we are only speaking of the books that are good; good in their literary qualities, quali-ties, in their subjects, and in the manner man-ner in which the subjects are presented. pre-sented. New World. |