The Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1906. FICTION AS A TEACHER.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XII, Issue 2374, 2 June 1906, Page 4

The Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1906. FICTION AS A TEACHER.

, 11,,, "Daily Telegraph,” an American author gives an interesting account of the way in which society fiction has captured the magazines of his country. The explanation ol it is <|uite simple. American v.one o i re constantly rising in the i oci..i scale. 1 he poor woman who 1 e ■ .in housework one year may r.c -.t year I. keeping an csG.blishment in which servants knotv more about the ways ol scs iet.v than she l ic. In . sell . Thu then is a constant demand for instruction in manners and customs to lit women to piny their parts in the social drama. Books of citquctto are quite out of date; the American woman athirst for social success finds her instruction in novel, and short stories dealing with various phases of fashionable life. It is the women who form the majority of magazine renders, and editors show an appreciation of t ho wants of their readers by administering instruction in the art of social advancement “in romance-covered pellets, in sentimental drops, and in heart-to-heart powders. From the tale ol what happened at a house party one riiiiy learn how to behave, or misbehave, if he should happily he invited to attend a house party. The writer gives necessary items with great particularity, such as the amount and quality of clothing necessary on such occasions, the' duties ol servants, and the relations between entertainers and entertained, between the guests themselves, and of t ho guests to tlu> servants, especially in the matter of fees.” The easiest road to success in writing for American magazines is the study of society, of millionaires and duchesses, of the haunts, pleasures and luxuries of the wealthy. When you have become

famous as a writer you can write about low life, but until you are famous you must obey the unwritten law of most of the successful magazines, which forbids the acceptance of stories that do not deal with “nice people”—that is, with people whose social status inspires the average reader with longing, admiration, or envy. The magazine section of the Sunday papers, which influence a much larger audience, have the same tendency. Here the same thirst for the details of social life is shown. What the richest people do, and liow they do it, are read with the keenest avidity, remembered the longest, and quoted the most frequently. But America can hardly be said to be unique in this respect. An examination of English periodicals would undoubtedly show similar concessions to those fascinated by social glitter.