The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-04-08


society for the protection Of dogs. This So
ciety had been in operation some years, and
hundreds Of canine sufferers had been
rescued from poisoned sausages, boiling wa
ter and other incidents of this cruel world,
when some one suggested that the charitable
work Of the society might be enlarged, so as
to include children as we'll as dogs and cats.
The idea was at once seized upon. and the
Society for the Prevention Of Cruelty to Chill
dren was the result. 1t went to work imme-
diately; scores Of children were rescued,
principally from theatres and circuses and
carried off in triumph by the society, to be
deposited in respectable orphan asylums. 1t
has Just struck the mind of the leading men
OF this society for the protection OF children
that theatres and circuses are not the only
institutions In this country that demoralize
children.
The discovery of an "Infant Order Of
Burglars in San Francisco and New York,
pledged to larceny and burglary, the dis
appearance at the same time Of some score OF
boys and carving knives, gone to meet the
wild Indians of the Western prairies, have
convinced this society that yellow-back
dllu lIies HOu ocoiACo AOA wy . OIL Q
doing far more harm Just now than all the
shows in the world.
The result has been q combination Of gen
tlemen in New York to fight the purveyors of
these wild stories for boys; an attempt will
be made at once to prevent, in some manner,
the circulation of these deleterious books
among children. An "Index Expurgatorius"
has already been. prepared, for the benefit of
parents and school teachers, Of books that
boys in future are to be forbidden to touch.
The list is a very long one, and the names
Of the books most suggestive of their con-
tents. "Jerry O'Keefe, the Burglar of New
York, bad Maurice, the Looney Detective, "
"Under the Gallows, +" "Hell, "How to Mash, "
"The Four Jacks" "On His Ear" "The Muir
der on the Pier" "Jim JAMS" "The Pirate
Doctor" The Pirate Chief" "The smuggler, f"
''The Masked Highwayman," "The Demon of
the Deep" "Dick and the Devil" "The Pirates
Of America" 1.-THE Pirate Schooner" "The
Black Pirate THE Pirate Cutter" 1.-THE
Highwayman, "The Assassin's DOOM" and
hundreds of the same kind.
Few persons know the evil that these books
bring forth, because few read them save the
boys, who devour them by the hundreds.
They are full of slang, full of impossibilities
and full of the worst morality. The hero is
generally between twelve and twenty years
of age; his father is close, uncharitable old
brute, who refuses to give his son money for
his little festivities. The latter, in revenge,
burglarizes the house Of the cruel parent and
makes off with the "swag," leads wild, riot
Gus, dissipated life, enjoying himself with
murders, robberies, etc. The effect of such
stories upon the Imagination of boys may
well be conceived. A careful investiga-
ton made by the society in the New York
Toombs and in the workhouse shows that the
criminality of the boys in these institutions
is in exact proportion with the amount Of
this sort of stuff they have read, and leaves it
beyond doubt that these stories go far toward
forming the character of those who read them.
The law interferes to prevent boys from
running themselves by drinking; how much
more important it is to prevent their mental
and moral ruin. If the New York society
can, in any way, prevent the circulation and
reading of these stories by boys, they will
undoubtedly confer great benefit on the en-
tire country,