The Evils of Novel-Reading
By Editor
FROM Philadelphia comes an account of another instance of the demoralizing effects of novel-reading. Two boys, aged seventeen and eighteen, fast friends, were found in the room of one of them, with bullet wounds in their heads, one dead, the other dying. The mother of one of them had left the room but a few moments before. The friendship of the boys for each other was so marked as to be the talk of all their associates; and the only reason for their deed was that their heads had been turned by the constant reading of novels, and they decided to die together. Flashy novels were found in their rooms. The boys are said to have had no bad habits, but we differ. A habit that will lead to murder and suicide is one of the worst imaginable. This is not an isolated case of the evil effects of novel-reading. It is really worse than a passion for intoxicating liquors, for in the latter case the man is at times in his right mind, while the novel-reader is always in an abnormal condition. A diseased imagination and a weakened intellect are the natural results of this vice. It tends directly to idiocy. One might as reasonably expect to have a strong, healthy, vigorous body from a steady diet of froth, as to have a well-balanced, healthy mind when addicted to novel-reading. No one can indulge in a habit that will weaken his God-given faculties, and be guiltless. There are more useful and instructive books than can be read in a life-time. If you have not a taste for such reading, cultivate it.