The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-09-27

1t is related That when the four little boys
who recently paced stones on the New York
elevated Railroad were in the Tombs await
Ing examinllion they showed much anxiety
about their record as nice boys When
questioned one day by visitor as to the
bo X t.'y rfa', ,he three largest at first de-
c,Ared that tn,y did nOt have much time to
read, they had to study 50 hard but when
further pressed they finally admitted that
t"o! occtsloually did read Sunday school
books, il allowed to situp few moments
after $50 O'Clock in the evening. No fur
cher cIncrs,io = could he obtained They
stoutly maintained thatSdniay school books
formed their sole literary relaxation These
tHrer boys, It will b. remembered, were about
thirteen yeaIs of age; they claimed also to
have been melted to the deed by little fel-
low only nlne years ol age This last was
bright, tr'uk boy. When questioned he said
ne o"u'n read all except big words that he
liked best the poIIce Gazette, the Boys and
Girls Weekly aud sach family papers.
These facts and he story published in
Mondays Tribune of the small boy who has
run away from Buffalo so many times, but
who also declares that he reads nothing but
Sunday School hooks, indicate perhaps that
the boys themselves are beginning to under
stand that much of the juvenile literature of
TO da! Is uui. tor them. In speaking of
these matters, Superintendent Jones, of the
House oi Refuge ON Randails Island, said
The boys that we have here do not, however
often deny their taste for that sort of reading.
If they are allowed their choice they almost
always express desire to get hold of the
Boys and Girls Weekly, the Boys of Am
erica, the Police Gazette, or similar publica-
tions. Many copies OF these papers are sent
70 them by friends because they can be pur-
chased cheap'y. We stop an such however.
There is library in each school room here,
aud the interest of $1,000 is appropriated
every year to making additions 10 tLese
| shelves TIE books are books OF history
and travel with some fiction. When they
can't get any thing else the boys will read
them, finally they grow fond of them. Wild
| thrilling tales unsette minds and hinder our
| efforts to teach the lesson that they must
work carefully if they expect TO succeed in
the world. Such boys are constantly expect-
ing something startling to happen to
them"
"Could you tell, asked the inquirer, "why
boys read this bad kind of juvenile ltera.
ture."
"Without any trouble" was the reply.
such readers have vivid and unhealthy i'm
aginations. The most ordinary incident is
so colored by them that the truth can hardly
be recognized. They are incapable, appar-
emily, of stating facts as they occur. With
them convicts are heroes fathers, mothers
aud keepers of any kind are tyrants.
The stories they relate to each other are
something wonderful, and bear a strong re-
semblance to the narratives in the weekly
papers.
The effects of such reading upon the
community may be easily traced in the
statistics of public institutions. Twenty
years ago, when such papers were fewer in
number, most Of the boys sent there had
been arrested for pilfering. But of late the
number of vagrauts is much increased. In
my mind, this is one of the most noteworthy
effects of the food of bad books and papers
All these stories, directly or indirectly, teach
that obedience to parents is unmanly. The
boy who il boy scorns all control; escapes
from boarding school, where the table docs
not suit him, or aids coIvict to escape from
prison andwins undying gratitude thereby.
The reader follows the example so entertain
ngly set for him. lie seeks company in the
streets runs away from school defies his
father ana mother, teachers aud masters be-
comes a vagraut, and eventually turns up
here or in some more unpleasant institution.
You would be surprised at the great number
of very young tramps whom we receive.
They come often from distant cities-Buifa-
10 or Cleveland. Generally they are moi
more than sixteen or seventeen years old,
but they always have one of these abomina-
BILE papers in their pockets. What the re-
suit of such an influence in the community
will be eventually, unless it is arrested, in
some way, is hard to tell The evil is GER
tainly crying one and calls for some reme'
dy.'-New York Tribune,