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Messages to Young People
life with a diseased imagination, magnifying every little grievance.
Things which a sound, sensible mind would not notice, become to
them unendurable trials, insurmountable obstacles. To them, life is in
constant shadow.
Those who have indulged the habit of racing through exciting sto-
ries, are crippling their mental strength, and disqualifying themselves
for vigorous thought and research. There are men and women now
in the decline of life who have never recovered from the effects of
intemperate reading.
The habit, formed in early years, has grown with their growth
and strengthened with their strength; and their efforts to overcome
it, though determined, have been only partially successful. Many
have never recovered their original vigor of mind. All attempts to
become practical Christians end with the desire. They cannot be truly
Christlike, and continue to feed the mind upon this class of literature.
Nor is the physical effect less disastrous. The nervous system is
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unnecessarily taxed by this passion for reading. In some cases youth,
and even those of mature age, have been afflicted with paralysis from
no other cause than excess in reading. The mind was kept under
constant excitement until the delicate machinery of the brain became
so weakened that it could not act, and paralysis was the result.
Mental Inebriates
When an appetite for exciting, sensational stories is cultivated,
the moral taste becomes perverted, and the mind is unsatisfied unless
constantly fed upon this trashy, unwholesome food. I have seen young
ladies, professed followers of Christ, who were really unhappy unless
they had on hand some new novel or story-paper. The mind craved
stimulation as the drunkard craves intoxicating drink. These youth
manifested no spirit of devotion; no heavenly light was shed upon their
associates to lead them to the fount of knowledge. They had no deep,
religious experience. If this class of reading had not been constantly
before them, there might have been some hope of their reforming; but
they craved it, and would have it.
I am pained to see young men and women thus ruining their use-
fulness in this life, and failing to obtain an experience that will prepare