Four Years of Novel Reading | Page 7

a curious interest in its

actual working, and with little or no sympathy for the definite
principles of the society. Like the poor, these are always with us. But
although our increase has been largely discounted by a corresponding
decrease due to a variety of causes (personal and local), and by the
process of weeding out those indifferent to the pledge of membership,
we have been able to maintain a sound body of members numbering
eightythree, that are in full sympathy with the objects of the institution,
and faithful to its pledge and purpose. A uniform subscription of one
shilling per member, payable on entrance, is sufficient to meet all the
expenses of the Union. Members provide their own books, either by
loan or purchase; or sometimes, in the case of a group of students, by
mutual purchase each member obtaining the use of the book in turn,
while it is finally disposed of to the members in rotation.
At the end of the first month an informal discussion takes place on the
points to be noted, and subjects are set for essay and debate. The latter
are not always accepted, members selecting their subjects according to
their individual tastes, but always with due regard to the particular book
under discussion. Occasionally papers are given at this meeting, which
might be called supplementary papers, as they often deal with subjects
previously discussed, and are brought forward when a debate or essay
has not covered the whole subject from the writer's point of view.
Distant members contribute papers to the general meeting, and at their
own request have the papers of local members sent to them. With a
larger society, and special means at our command, every member
would be provided with a copy, or at least a precis, of the proceedings
at the general meeting.
An annual report is issued by the secretary, in which membership, work
done, finance, and future prospects are discussed; and each member is
supplied with a copy of this report, from which may be gathered the
general progress of the society.
This is a brief outline of the "Novel-Reading Union" as it at present
exists; and some idea of its work and usefulness may be seen in the
following table:
Books Read 20

Papers Given 54
Meetings Held 34
The list of authors has been extended, taking in Victor Hugo, Charles
Reade, George Meredith, Mrs. Gaskell, Eugene Sue, Charlotte Bronte*,
etc.; and the great works of these great authors have been a constant
source of pleasure to those privileged to read them under the guidance
of skilled literary advisers. Nor has the work been one of pleasure alone.
The avowed principle upon which the Union is based is to make fiction,
which contains some of the best thinking of the age, not only a pleasant,
but an educational pursuit; to neutralize the trashy and pernicious
literature which abounds in these days of cheap books, and to train
earnest students, not only in the best thought, but in the literary ways
and methods of the best novelists. It is sometimes urged against our
scheme, that it deals only with one department of literature to the
exclusion of others equally interesting, and possibly more profitable.
The use of this argument implies forge tfulness of the root idea of the
Union. It does not concern itself with the literary tastes of members,
except in so far as these tastes incline to fiction. We assume that fiction
has some place in the reading of every one who reads at all. We fix this
occasional reading at the rate of a novel in two months, and ask that the
reading be systematically done, and educational in purpose. It is no part
of our plan to provide pleasure without profit, and it cannot be too
clearly emphasized that the Union is not merely a recreative
organization.
One remark may be added. It has constantly been urged upon us from
outside, that our local effort would be a service to literary study in
general, because it would be pioneering with a view to discover a
practical method of systematically studying fiction, which, when once
discovered and tested by experience, would probably be adopted
elsewhere. This has been done at such places as London and Exeter;
and a further result of this local effort may be seen in the larger place
given to fiction in the programmes of the numerous debating societies,
in both town and country, and in the general consent which has been
accorded to the idea that the importance of the novel as a vehicle of

thought, and its influence in life., are such as to justify special study
and organization.
J. U. BARROW.

FOUR YEARS' WORK DONE BY THE BACKWORTH
CLASSICAL NOVELREADING UNION
WORK DONE BY THE C. N. R. U.