Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1878-08-21
READING FOR BOYS.

reporter OF tne ITtOuHt mas Decn
talking with the Superintendent Of the
New York Juvenile Asylum, who
confirmed all that has been urged OF
late relative to the pernicious effects
wrought by sensational literature for
the young. Said the Superintendent :
Almost the first question put to the uniortu-
nate lads Is, "What have you been reading "
and the answer invariably shows that my surmiso
was right. The horrible, trashy literature these
boys feed on is what corrupts their minds. The
other day q boy was brought here in whose
pockets were found toy pistol. three revolyers,
three boxes Of cartridges, gold watch and three
large new jack-knlves. With this display before
me l asked the usual question, and the answer
came promptly read The Boys Of New York"
The boy had an uncle in Connecticut from whom
be had run away after stealing his money and
the watch.
What makes this evil the harder to
strike at is, that it is wrong commit
ted wholly under the protection OF the
law. The publishers of the flush
weeklics have legal right to utter
their abominable, harmful stuff; news
dealers have right to sell it and, so
far as the law is concerned, boys have
right to buy it. Parental caution,
the only power having the right to in
tervene in behalf ofyouthiul mortality,
practically is powerless for in despite
Of the utmost watchfulness boys will
manage in nine cases out Of ten tooutwit
theirparents and accomplish the wrong
upon which they have set their minds.
And it must be remembered that in the
great majority of instances the boys
most likely to be harmed by fashy
reading are those who are without
wholesome home influences and to
whom the word "father" suggests
only AZ embodiment OF brute force La
BILE at any time to be exertcd in such
way as to cause them pain, but never
by any chance to do them good. As
to the waits and strays of the great
cities, the hapless little creatures who
seem to come up spontaneously, like
depraved and blackened variety Of the
lilies Of the field who may have known
something Of mother in very early
life, but who certainly never have been
wise enough to find out their fathers
for these unfortunates there is no pro.
lection whatever They are cut adrift
at the age when their luckier fellows
are still in the nursery, and what edu.
cation they get they squeeze out OF the
world as they pass aloug. Where they
ever learn to read is a mystery, but
they generally do pick up this solitary
accomplishment, and, having it, they
make an utterly bad use of it. 1t is
not to be wondered at that, working
on such material, the flash press, aided
by the flash stage, contrives TO bring
about moral ruin and TO act as n most
powerful agent for the dissemination
of vice.
The need for legislation in the rremi-
ses is evident, but the case is very
bard one to deal with adequately in ac-
cordance with the forms OF law. Stories
Of adventure, even stories with real
pirates in them, il written in q manly,
honest way, are wholesome reading
for boys and should not be withheld
from them. Stories containing pre-
cisely the same elements, but treated
in different way, are infinitely pro
ductive of mischief, and should be kept
away from boys as ifthey were--as, in
deed they are-deadly poison. Yet to
frame a law which shall permit the good
10 flourish while at the same time the
bad is cut off is delicate and difficult
task. Weare notprepared to say, even,
that such n law is practicable; but it
is possible that by a carcfully-drawn
statute certain censorial power,
greater than at present exercised, but
of the same general character, might
be vested in the courts, and the evil
thus reduced if not eradicated. Fail.
ing in some such law finding its way
upon the books, there is nothing to do
but to fall back on moral suasion--and
moral suasion, as has come TO be pret-
ty generally admitted in these later
days, is not by any means the most
active force Of the nineteenth century
Philadelphia Times.