Attempt > Volume 1 and Select writings

274
THE ATTEMPT
No one can deny that sensation novels are interesting and exciting. It is not
pleasant to stop before you get to the end of the third volume, but when you do reach
that point and lay down the hook, you feel that you have been carried away and in¬
terested and excited by characters which, generally speaking, are not worthy of admir¬
ation. They are commonly distinguished by great force of will; a man determines
that he will be revenged on some enemy, and works steadily and perseveringly towards
his end; or a woman falls in love, and forthwith ordinary duties, joys, and sorrows
sink into insignificance, and are absorbed in a passion which is often the most selfish
that human beings feel. In a perfect character no one passion or feeling should pre¬
dominate to the stunting and dwarfing of all the others, as is usually the case in
the heroes and heroines of modern sensation novels. The effect of reading many such
books is most injurious. Our notions of right and wrong get unsettled, and we are
apt to admire what is not really true and good. The books we read have just as much
influence on our characters as the companions with whom we associate, and it is there¬
fore our duty to choose those which will foster every right and noble feeling.
M. E. M.
3% Imme of % Ujjtofs.
O’er Erin’s wild harp the green shamrock is flung,
Bound Albyn’s blue bonnet the thistle is hung,
Bound England’s royal scutcheon her proud roses bloom,
But the home of the moss is the vault and the tomb.
The towering foxglove its gay tiger bells
Bears regally up in the dark woodland dells;
The old gnarled hawthorn the ivy sustains,
The lowly green moss on the head-stone remains.
The moor and the hill-side with heather are bright;
The brow of the bride bears the orange-flower white ;
The feathery ferns o’er the forest grass wave—
The bonny moss mantles the sod of the grave.