There is no need for new theories of Life and Religion;
all we require is strength and courage to perfect the old ones.
[Footnote: She quite changed her mind upon this subject eventually, and
held that there was not only need of new theories, but good hope that
we should have them.] What the mind wants is food it can grow upon, not
stimulants which inflate it for a time with a fancied sense of power
that has no real existence. But I have small hope for our nation when I
think of the sparkling trash that the mind of the multitude daily
imbibes and craves for. I mean our novels. What a fine affectation of
goodness there is in most of them! And what a perfect moral is tacked
on to them!--like the _balayeuse_ at the bottom of a lady's dress;
but, like the _balayeuse_, it is only meant to be a protection and
a finish, and, however precious it may be, it suffers from contact with
the dirt, and sooner or later has to be cut out and cast aside, soiled
and useless. Some doggerel a friend of mine scribbled on one book in
particular describes dozens of popular novels exactly:
O what a beautiful history!
Think what temptations they passed!
Each one more cruelly trying,
More tempting, indeed, than the last.
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