THE PICTURE AND TEE TEXT 279 



it is still commonly a scrap-work — of information, humor, anecdote, etc., 

 with the sketch or short story as the climax of its demands upon syn- 

 thetic thought. 



The mere change in average length of article which, with a few strik- 

 ing exceptions, has steadily declined during the past generation, is sug- 

 gestive of this alteration of attitude ; and the rise of the short story to a 

 dominant place in our popular magazines is probably part of the same 

 intellectual reaction. We seem no longer to desire sustained attention 

 and consecutive thought. As a consequence we turn from criticism, 

 reflection upon human affairs and constructive theory to fiction, which 

 as a class of literature presents its materials concretely and pictorially ; 

 while in fiction itself we prefer the short story, which must deal with a 

 single dramatic action or situation, rather than the novel with its more 

 complex plot and sustained analysis of character and motive. 



Lapsing still further, we demand that our intellectual food shall be 

 put up in the form of mouthfuls, or boluses, in notes of travel, places, 

 events ; in anecdote, verse, personalia and the like ; until each page of the 

 publication exists in practical isolation from the rest. In such connec- 

 tion "mental pabulum" is a misnomer. No real intellectual stimula- 

 tion, enlightenment or discipline enters into the case. Mental activity 

 is practically limited to the pleasurable sensation of the moment. Bead- 

 ing becomes a stimulant, not in the sense of arousing a heightened intel- 

 lectual functioning, but only in its provoking a momentary excitement of 

 the imagination; and the mental content of the reader is reduced to a 

 series of such crudely exhilarating moments, unprovocative of subse- 

 quent reflection ■ and without any enduring illumination of mind. One 

 who falls into such a habit has become an intellectual drug-fiend, for the 

 securing by artificial means of a heightened or quieted consciousness 

 is not restricted to the use of the needle and the pipe alone. It is a 

 matter of common experience that we turn from the editorial page and 

 critical discussion to more trivial and inconsequential items as the 

 mental energies flag, and for many of us the approach of exhaustion is 

 marked by an assiduous and almost involuntary reading of the advertis- 

 ing columns of our daily paper. Men of intellectual force have similarly 

 confessed to a habit of devouring shilling shockers when tired from a 

 long bout of work, the jaded mind still craving an activity which it was 

 unable to sustain and finding satisfaction in the violent stimulation and 

 elementary situations which yellow-back literature offered. 



The significance of certain changes in the place of illustration to 

 which attention has already been called in the case of books and periodi- 

 cals is still more strikingly exhibited in the recent history of platform 

 speaking. The public lecture has been an important factor in the de- 

 velopment of American culture. Before the multiplication of periodical 

 literature and the rise of the illustrated magazine its position was su- 

 preme. Upon the system of Lyceum lecturing the intelligent public 



