NOVEL READING.

Evening Star, Issue 9831, 21 October 1895, Page 2

NOVEL READING.

The subject of the Rev. tylr Lewis’s discourse at Trinity Wesleyan Church last night was ‘Novel Reading,’ and his text I, Timothy iv., 13: “Give attendance to reading.” The young man thus addressed had natural qualities oi an engaging character. He was warm-hearted, generous, and sympathetic, but was exposed to a danger by which many young preachers have been entrapped. Depending solely on their zeal and neglecting study their ministry becomes threadbare and their congregation drift elsewhere for instruction. Paul, therefore, from his own experience, urges on this young man mental culture. The literature of that day embraced the greatest masterpieces of human genius, such as the Iliad of Homer and the most popular of Latin writers—Virgil. It may be asked why this evening’s address is Specially to young women. Because woman is most. susceptible to appeals to the fancy or the emotions, and because, as queens of society, they can fix its laws and influence the opposite sex for good. The imagination is one of God’s choicest gifts to man. The eagerness with which a child watches images in the clouds, the way in which he peoples rural glens with fairies, the practice cf hanging up the stocking for Santa Claus—al! bear witness to its power; and they who spurn its other forms are yet iii their dreams transported to an unreal world. The imaginative faculty is fed largely by works of fiction. These may be of the most innocent and useful character, but too often are pernicious in their tendency. Beecher says : “It were a mercy to this to import serpents from Africa and pour them oubou our prairies.” A lad whoearnedhis bread onamilk round iiiDerbyshireattempted the murder of an old housekeeper with no assignable motive, but was found to have been reading eagerly the crimes of Dick Turpin. Courvoisier. after the assassination of Lord William Russell, said the crime was suggested by reading the adventures of Jack Shepherd. The chaplain of Newgate Prison, in his annual report to the Lord Mayor, said that several youths of good parentage within the walls were unquestionably led to crime through the corrupt literature that had fallen into their hands. The popular novel ia well known. In the serial form it works up interest to the highest pitch, then tanUllsss it by the an. nounosment "To be continued in our next.” In the yellowback novel the hero has the form of an Apollo, the strength of a Her* miles, and the wealth of a Orcesus. Of the heroine we read! “Her cheeks ate roses, her lips are coral, her teeth whiter than the whitest ivory, and her eyes, brighter than diamonds, burn a hole right through the hero’s heart.” After all kinds of dangers and disappointments they join heart and hand to the sound of the marriage bells. Within recent years this writing has assumed anew phase as the physiological novel. This deals with questions on which a doctor may very well speak to his patient, or a mother, in sacred privacy, to her daughter ; but the being indiscriminately circulated is a scandal and a disgrace. The effects of such reading are mental intoxication, waste of time, neglect of daily duty, an unreal view of life, and unfitness for the service of God, Let the best literature be studied, not merely of a religious order, but the grandest poets, the teachers of science, and such works of fiction as those that have immortalised Sir Walter Scott. Do not overlook the claims of the home. There are difficulties to be smoothed away, conversation to be sustained, the comfort of the family to be promoted, and hearts to be won. Physical development demands outdoor exercise. Why should not every young woman be a good pedestrian, learn to manage a horse, or bake oar in hand in her place in the boat? There is a closer connection between fresh air and good looks than some suppose, and in Nature God has opened before us a book of whose beauties we know too little. Then, in addition to the claims of the church to which you belong there are acts of benevolence in which you should take part. The prison work of Elizabeth Fry was then described, and the inspiration that such a'life should impart was dwelt on. The future of New Zealand will be just what its young men and its young women like to make it. Life might be all that the most imaginative have pictured. The milliner might marry the duke whom she serves across the counter. The lad might become the millionaire of whom he dreams, and yet in the light of eternity the career might be a blasted one. Let the claims of God be set first, and all else will prosper.