The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1870-08-04
had BOOKS,
ny WATSON VI ROGERS, LID.


occupied leading positions in social
political, and professional life VIII
had drunk deep OF almost every cul
of honor. that few days before hi,
death, after reading ono Of the volume,
Of Stcrnc, he remarked to his friend.
who wcro with him Had I read
Noltairc less and Sterne more, whilt
young, the world would have beer
wide enough for Hamilton and mo
Sad and Bitter reflection! but there
was no remedy. TIE subtitle reason
ings of the willy Frcnchman had long
been ins,illed in his mind, had be-
come part and parcel OF himself; and
the great Hamilton had been, for nor c
than a quarter of century. quietly
sleeping with his fathers No stings
of conscience could revise his past, nor
help to unlearn aud undo the evil. No
bitter remorse could recall that beau
tiful morning when on that pictures
quo little island that seems floating on
the bosom of the noble Hudson, two
Of the fOrmost men OF their time met
in mortal combat, - whom Aaron
Burr slew Alexander Hamilton.
IL ia well known that Burr was a man
of unscrupulous ambition and ungov-
crncd passion. TO the crimes Of mur-
der and treason he added that Of the
libertiuc At his touch, virtue and
purity sickencd and died. lie march
through the earth like n conIucring
demon spreading destruction where
he went, and leaving behind him in
his path the sacked, p,llagcd, and
blackencd remains of what were once
the temples of purity aud honor.
ca altars dedicated to obscene gods
were slain, for the qualification of his
own foul lust the best aud itircst be"
iugs earth ever knew
A man who hal lived thus could do
no less bad die abhorred and dcicstcd
IL is said that for many years alter his
death no stone showed his burial-place
lest it should be the mark on which
popular Indignation might vent it.
self.
From his own mouth We know that
the great crime of his lie resulted from
reading one bad book, and who shall
say that all his faults dill not cmanate
from the same fountain of evil In.
decd, that they did is more than prob
able. Nor was the inquiry derived
from this source confined to him aud
the author whom hc read. The name
ri both tempter aud tempted is legion.
to where you may aud both will he
fuunl.
Neither does the caialoucc Of bad
books end with those of iniidel reason
ings; there is another class, no better.
but worse 10 their effect and influence,
because moro widely circulated and
moro extensively read we allude to
the common, light, impure, aud often
obscene literature of the day. Para
ioxical as it may seem, this species Of
literary productions may always be
known by tho outside clothing The
former class comprises, in many instan-
ccs, the reasonings Of enlightened,
highly cultivated minds, while tho lat.
usually emauates from The minds Of
those who love to pampcr to lust and
passion. The first is read only by the
lew, the second by the many.
Tho great extent TO which the pub.
ication of the lowest class of novels
md obscene papers has reached, ad-
monishcs us to be deeply concerned,
fnet alarmed, for the welfare Of the
young.
Go about the shops and stores Of
our towns and villages and see see
he guady cover; SEQ and read the
nigh-sounding title see the LEVIED
picture that sends the crimson blood
% the cheek Of modesty, and you get
1ut n faint idea Of the bountiful re,
past spread out. Nor is the market
.luttel tho supply is governed by
he demand. il is scattered, too,
With an unspariug hand. In respec.a-
bio Christian homes, rs wei as In tho
owest brothels Of corruption aud vice,
his same thirst for tales of dissap
pointed love, suicide, piracy, aud muir
Ter may be seen.
The danger to be apprekendod is
w0.fold.
Those who have accustomed them.
elves to read that which is trivial,
'eem to loose, in great measure, the
'etentive aud reasoning faculties OF
he mind. They read to be entertain.
ID, not instructed,-or oftencr, wha. l.
infinitely worse, TO, "kill time " They
ind nothing disirable to remember,
nothing sparkling with wit, no appeals
% the nobler impulses of man. They
ind no food for reflection, and the re-
suit is the mind becomes paralyzed 10y
being surfeited with trash Of the low.
sst order. All taste for pure, elevated
literature Of any kind Is destroyed.
The mind having long Travelled 10
The extravagan. regions OF fancy, no
longer desires commonplace, matter
offact materialj tho natural appetite
Is vitiated, destroyed.
As tho human somach, when over
loaded with indisgestiblo viands, re-
fuses to perform itsduties and becomes
so the mind, which over
with an unnatural food, suf'
fers q like deranement That it may
possess power, Il must bo fed on pure
1t were better never to have learu-
cd TO communicate IDEAS of tho i'm