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THE

LADIES' REPOSITORY.

MAY, 1857.

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS.*

BY E. THOMSON, D. d.

looked; they divert attention from frivolous, idle, and often sinful amusements. Young people will meet together; this is natural; it is right—let us

NE of the most favorable signs of the times is have no asceticism, no austerity among us-if

This is seen not only in our common schools and higher educational institutions, but in the tendency of our adult population to a more thorough selfeducation and illumination. As a result of this tendency, we see associations for literary purposes are springing up in all our cities and villages, and even in our rural districts. Such institutions have not yet effected much, but they are in an incipient state. We can hardly yet estimate their ultimate importance. By popular lectureships, by the opening of reading-rooms, by the establishment of libraries, and by the cultivation of thought and style in composition, declamation, and criticism, they are destined to awaken and train the public mind.

and dignified amusements, they will for those of a different kind. Is not the Church in this land greatly at fault in this matter? Pastors, sometimes, while they utter their anathemas against theaters, card-playing, dancing, etc., take no pains to suggest substitutes for them; they ridicule the contemptible amusements and sinful extravagance of social parties, but offer no plans for more profitable and not less animating modes of spending time. Parents forgetting the change which has passed upon themselves, complain of the inclination of their children to society, hilarity, and mirth. They should remember that the social element of our nature is ineradicable and indispensable, and that they should not attempt to conquer it, but to At present the tendency seems to be to direct direct and regulate it. Children are often less to the chief attention to popular lectures. They are blame than parents for their vain and sinful methundoubtedly useful. By bringing the best minds ods of spending time. These literary associations of the country in direct contact with our youth, should receive the attention, encouragement, and they impart to them a good style of thinking, guidance of the Church. Alas! it is to be feared expression, and delivery. They also convey they do not. An association calls upon a reputamuch useful knowledge, and sharpen the appetite ble Presbyterian minister to deliver a lecture, for more, while they point the way by which it hoping to enlist the assistance of the denominamay be attained. They serve also to encourage tion-feeling sure that, at least, they will attend the young to aim at greatness. Great men loom his lecture. In both respects perhaps they are upon the imagination, especially of youth, who disappointed. They next call upon a Baptist see them as through an intellectual mirage. But minister or lawyer, in hope to enlist the members when they approach us the illusion vanishes; we of that Church. The evening comes, and the regard them as men of like weaknesses with our-speaker comes, but the members do not. The soselves, and begin to realize that what they have accomplished we may too. The negative advantages of popular lectures ought not to be over

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ciety is discouraged-perhaps finding that the receipts of the evening do not pay the expenses of the hall. The speaker is discouraged-he had, may be, labored a month upon his discourse, and was confident that it was worthy to be listened to, and that it would promote the best interests of the people for whom it was designed. The asso

branch of knowledge; such as natural philoso-
phy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, law, or polit-
ical economy. This is the plan adopted by sim-
ilar associations in the old world, and I predict
that it will soon be adopted in the new-the
itinerant system of scattering light will give place
to a more settled ministry and permanent pastor-
ate of science, which will place the merchants,
manufacturers, mechanics, and farmers, nearly
upon a level in respect of literary advantages
with the student of a college. They will not,
indeed, have the same drilling, nor the same sys-
tem of instruction; but such of them as have
genius and leisure, will supply by their own med-
itations the want of these advantages; while others
will not fail to receive large, useful, and practical
views of the subjects discussed-such as the ex-
tent, the mechanism, and the general laws of the
universe. A very great error prevails among the
masses, and it is too often countenanced by the
learned. It is expressed by Pope in the couplet,
"A little learning is a dangerous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."

ciation, with true honor and generosity, tax themselves to be magnanimous to the stranger-for young men are the last to be mean-and after another experiment or two of the same kind, with a like result, they cease to inquire who can deliver us a useful lecture; but who will draw? They send for some man who is notorious, either as politician, lecturer, or reformer, without asking themselves whether he will deliver truth or error, for they must have success and money. It very frequently happens, under such a policy, that very unsuitable selections are made; for in this wicked world error is often popular, and curiosity overcomes repugnance to bad men, even in the breasts of the good. Hence we find that our literary associations are, in many cases, the means of proclaiming, unintentionally and insidiously, the Pantheism, Deism, and atheism of the age, and in a style which, though attractive to the mass, is no model for youth. The Churches are surprised and alarmed; but why should they be? it is the natural result of their own negligence. There are other causes which tend to bring into disrepute the system of popular lectures. One is the expense of it. When you call a man from a neighboring county or state, you must, of course, expect to pay his expenses, and not merely his traveling expenses computed on the shortest route, allowing him one meal a day, but also those extra expenses which a gentleman is subjected to when abroad, both on his way and at his home. Nor is this all-it is unreasonable to overlook the wear and tear of body, mind, and soul, which the preparation and delivery of the lecture and the journey of the lecturer must occasion. It is true, that where a lecturer has a line of appointments on some highway, a compensation such as we should bestow for a single lecture, would afford him unreasonable profits. And this is now fast becoming the case; our popular lecturers prepare a couple of lectures, and deliver them all through the land, receiving at each delivery about fifty dollars, making profits at which we may well In this view a literary hall is of unspeakable complain, and imparting knowledge by no means service; it not only gives the association a “local proportionate. Indeed, the plan of popular lec- habitation and a name," but furnishes facilities to tures, under any system, is a dear method of get-preserve the necessary instruments and materials ting information. Suppose you have a lecture for illustration. every week for six months, for which you pay fifty dollars-the aggregate amount will be one thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars; a sum which, if judiciously expended in books, would make a library that might enlighten the community five hundred years after the lecturer shall have passed to his account. This objection would not have the same force, if the lectures constituted a systematic course on some important

Though superficial knowledge may be dangerous, it is not so dangerous as ignorance-moonlight, or even starlight, will guide us better than total darkness. I hold that no man can listen to a well-written lecture on a useful topic without being benefited, even though he should never hear another. He is profited by the habit of thought which it begets, by the stimulus it imparts to his mind, by the insensible influence which it exerts upon his style, and by the aspiration after something higher which it is sure to inspire. Nor will he who has taken a draught of the fascinating water be unlikely to revisit the spring. Popular lectures in regular courses on historical and philosophical subjects, though they might not make the community historians or philosophers, would tend vastly to their enlightenment and elevation.

Another mode by which such associations may promote the public interests is the opening of a reading-room, where the current periodicals, weekly, monthly, and quarterly, can be accessible to the young. This, doubtless, will involve some expense, but it will be small when divided among those who should reap its advantages, and very small when compared with the sums often expended on foolish and sinful pleasures. The sum

usually spent on a dance, or a sleigh-ride, would be sufficient to procure you access to all the important periodicals of the Union for a year.

The youth of the village will either spend their winter evenings in rational and improving pursuits, or in irrational and injurious ones. There are many close and severe students who may discourage a resort to reading-rooms, and descant eloquently upon the superiority of mathematics, or language, to train the mind, but the question we are discussing is a practical one. I agree with them, that, for mental discipline, the subjects just named are the best; but the youth of whom we speak, if they were restrained from the reading-room, would not be likely to resort to them. The question is, whether we shall have them read periodicals or read nothing, or read books pernicious. My own conviction is, that the newspaper, the common newspaper of the country, with all the objections that may justly be brought against it, especially in times of political excitement, is the great enlightener and civilizer of America. He who reads newspapers during spare hours, will soon form a taste for reading, and find the newspaper a necessity-and then he will find other necessities; when he reads the foreign news, he will find it necessary to refer to geography, which he will do with an interest that will be revived and deepened from week to week; when he reads of markets and river news, he will often be led to study the laws of commerce and agriculture; when he reads of politics, he will feel compelled to study history, first American, then foreign, both modern and ancient; when he reads poetry, his heart and imagination will be excited-hence, he may be led to Shakspeare and Milton, which may so powerfully excite him that he may be induced to study Reed, Stewart, and others, on the philosophy of the human mind, in order that he may understand the principles upon which the poets proceed; the editorials, especially such as were sharp and ringing, on whichever side in politics, will set his blood in motion. The taste for study thus formed, will attend him through life. The newspaper is the great educator of our Irish and German population. You can not get them into our schools and churches, but you can enlist them in politics, and when they are enlisted in politics, they can easily be induced to read the papers; thus they can be enlightened and enticed to read books; and the habit once formed, there is no telling to what extent it may be carried. I would that we had a readinging-room for all our population. A reading-room once established, will sooner or later be followed by a public library, which will be as a perennial

fountain of knowledge, such as you could not otherwise have. By combining the private libraries of a village, you would scarcely gain much. Fashion regulates our purchases of books, as of clothing and furniture. Hence, as you pass from house to house, you find the same books, with little variation, both on the center-tables and on the shelves of the family library. In purchasing a library we avoid the more common books, and buy the rare and standard ones. The importance of public libraries can hardly be overestimated. Dr. Franklin, our wisest philosopher, expressed his estimate of the measure by founding a library in the city of Philadelphia-an institution which would immortalize his name if there were nothing else to do so. Mr. Astor, of New York, under the influence of such men as Dr. Cogswell and Washington Irving, has rendered himself immortal in the same way. But for this act, he would have been remembered for a few years only as a miserable millionaire, and then have been forgotten by the world. As it is, he is a permanent benefactor of the city of New York-indeed, of the whole country. Without such libraries we should produce but a limited amount of the more valuable and standard books. An author who writes on either historical or philosophical subjects, must have reference to works too rare and too little needed for general use, to be found in private libraries. Libraries not only increase intelligence and stimulate authorship, but tend to elevate the professions; they facilitate, and thus encourage research and thoroughness among lawyers, doctors, and divines.

The great fountain of legal knowledge is the civil law, the principles of which have been gradually incorporated by the great English lawyers into the common law, and which more or less imperceptibly or ostensibly influence the statutes and decisions of all civilized nations. By it, as a great Frenchman has said, Rome still rules the world by her reason, although she has ceased to rule it by her authority. As a source of information, a matter of curiosity, or a means of mental discipline, it is of unspeakable service to the profession. But it is too expensive and too voluminous to be looked for in a lawyer's private library; and it may be well doubted whether there is a single copy, either of the Theodosian or of the Justinian code, in more than one or two counties in the state. I mean, of course, not merely the institutes, but the whole corpus juris civilis, including pandects and constitutions, new and old. This, you know, is in the Latin tongue; and if it were accessible, you perceive what an inducement it would afford the profession to cultivate that

beautiful language, which is not only the key to law, but to the most elegant literature of the world. This inducement would not only operate upon the more learned and ambitious of the professions, but through them upon all others; for who would be willing to hear the civil law quoted against his cause without being able to read the quotation and ascertain for himself its import; and what judge, who knew that the Justinian code was likely to be quoted in a case that he was to try, would not prepare himself to examine and judge of the bearing of the quotation?

What the civil law is to the lawyer, so in great measure is the canon law to the ecclesiastic, especially when sitting in an ecclesiastical court; but where is the clerical library that contains it? In this country we are destined to have a long and fearful battle between Protestantism and Romanism. Are we prepared for it? Have we the original sources of information, the great fountains of ecclesiastical history, Roman and Protestant, such as the Centuriatores Magdebergensis, the work of Baronius and Reynaldus, the History of the Councils, and the Bulls of the Popes? It is not to be expected that these can be possessed by a private clergyman, yet they should be accessible to him.

It is well known that in the days of the great physicians, both ancient and modern, such as Galen, Boerhaave, and Sydenham, the Latin language was the universal medium of professional and scientific knowledge. No physician wrote in his vernacular, but in the Latin; so that his work might be read at once out of his country, in any other; there was no need then of translations. Now and then a physician became eminent without such an acquaintance with the Latin, as to enable him to write with ease and elegance in it. In such case he wrote in his native tongue, and employed a translator to render it into Latin. This was the case with Sydenham. Since the decline of the language, the works of the old medical authors have fallen into disuse-they are not translated to any great extent, and not likely to be, for they are very voluminous, and, moreover, they contain medical theories in which we have no interest, as they have long since been exploded. And yet their facts and practical observations are of unspeakable value. If these works, now so rare and dear, were found in some public library, in every county, we should soon find their elevating influence upon the profession; some ambitious member would resort to them, and deriving value from them, lead his fellows also to them. We should then probably hear less frequently about new diseases, and new methods of cure. We

should find that in medicine, as in many other things, to a great extent, that which is new is not true, that which is true is not new. Dr. M., who was known as one of the most successful practitioners of Cincinnati, is said to have given his days and nights to the study of the old authors who wrote in the Latin tongue. It was the opinion, not only of his professional brethren, but of his patients, that he owed much of his skill to his acquaintance with the lore of medicine.

To all this it may be answered, that not one man in five thousand among us is sufficiently educated to avail himself of the treasures laid up in the Greek and Latin languages. Well, for that one we should be at the expense of furnishing them. And he may well repay the munificence of his neighbors; for, after lighting his own lamp, he may hand it to the rest, that they may light theirs. But this is not all; the accessibility of valuable works in the dead languages provokes men to acquire the knowledge necessary to enjoy them. The gold of California caused men to encounter great difficulties and dangers in order to possess it. Wisdom is better than gold; and so soon as it is made known that there is a reservoir of it at our command, we are ready to seek for it as for hidden treasures. "For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.”

Rev. Mr. Rylance, in whose church I preached while in Paris, gives me the following account: "I was invited, not long since, to see an old lady, in her seventieth year, who, about ten years ago, having heard the original Scripture quoted in the pulpit, determined to know what it was for herself. Having ascertained that the New Testament was in Greek and the Old in Hebrew, she purchased a Greek grammar, lexicon, and Testament, and pored over them till she became acquainted with the language. She then procured a Hebrew grammar, lexicon, and Bible, and continued her studies till she was familiar with Hebrew. She then commenced the critical study of the Scriptures, and had written a translation of the whole Bible out of the original tongues, with her own hand, accompanied with critical remarks and annotations in English, French, and German. She had accomplished all this without any aid or encouragement, and while living in a garret, on a very narrow income."

Another mode by which literary associations may accomplish their designs, is by mutual assistance in composition and oratory. It is impossible for men to meet weekly for dignified discus

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