The Dangers of Exciting Reading
By New York Observer
It was the idea of the Greeks, in ancient times, that infants should be kept as free from excitement as possible, and therefore the greatest care was taken that all disturbing noises should be avoided, until they had become so far matured as to be able to bear them without injury. But there is very little care taken in our day, even in Christian families and communities, to preserve children and youth from excitement. On the contrary, the more they can get of it the better, in the opinion of parents and themselves. This is not favorable to health of body, or of soul. But worse than social excitement, is the effect of unwholesome reading which now floods the country. Papers and magazines are widely read which furnish the most frightful tales, incredible indeed, but ingeniously constructed, with a large amount of the supernatural to intensify the mystery, and excite the imagination. The dime novel that sends the small boy off to be a pirate, or a highwayman, is not worse than some of our society novels and sensational periodicals.