Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-09-05
PerniciOus Literature.

PerniciOus Literature.
The fact that what is known as "ro.
nance among ignorant people, and as
"criminal trash" among intelligent
people, is really the motive power of
nine.tenths of the female ruin Of which
we hear daily, is beginning to be known
and understood. The story papers I"
have done more harm to public morals
in the last ten years than all the seduc-
tive glitter OF hundred years back.
The New York Sun has the following
little collection of illustrations of this
fact:
Mr.. Miller became interested in
Halleck. convict in the Ohio State
Prison, and by earnest efforts obtained
his pardon. That was three months
ago. Halleck found temporary home
in the Miller family, and his reforma-
ton seemed complete. He has now
eloped with Miller's wife, and Miller
says he was never more astonished in
his life. Mr.. Delaine, OF New Orleans.
is equally astonished by the elopement
of his daughter, Eugene. He forbade
her to marry young Bascot, and lest she
should disobey, started to take her to
Chicago, where he intended to leave her
in charge Of vigilant aunt. He saw
the girl bid Bascot farewell on the levee,
and put her aboard the steamer, care
fully locking her in state.room. When
he was ready to go to bed he looked in
to see if she was in much distress, but
she was not there at all, having escaped
through the window, rejoined her lover,
and got married. The sight of real
gypsy with black hair and yellow skin,
affected Jennie Reed sentimentally, and
the young man who had strolled into
Cazenovia, New York, with his band of
horse traders and fortune tellers, lost no
time in wooing her. Her father tried
to stop the nonsense, but she was bound
to elope, and did. Ayoung Indian was
similarly successful with white girl at
Avalanche, Minnesota. She invested
him with all the romantic qualities of
the noble red man of the books, and
eloped with him to his wigwam."
The silly nonsense which led to the
blight of these three lives is, evidently,
the outgrowth of the sensation "sto-
ries," which are printed in the flash lit
eraturc OF the day, and read in far too
many household. 1t is fair to pre-
sumo that the fact of Halleck being q
penitentiary convict invested him with
a sort of bandit air, which captivated
that woman. The old saying, that
"Love laughs at locksmiths," is as true
as holy writ. 1t has been made the
handspring of two-thirds of our love
stories. A stern parent, who thinks
that he is master simply because he is
| fn mo In 10
girl to the very boy of all boys whom
remember story of an old man that
had friend that wanted to shoot him
self. He had the blues, and said that
if he only had pistol he would blow
his own brains out. His old friend
loaded u pistol before his eyes, and told
him to go ahead and shoot himself-it
would be the best thing he could do.
1t was thirty years ago. The young
man has never forgiven his old friend
for what he considered an unfriendly
act. 1t is thirty years ago and both the
men are living now. That is the way
Mr.. Delaine should have served his
daughter. If he had told her to go and
stay, she would have thought twice.
But she had probably read of the young
Lochinvars, mot the golden gallant Of
Walter Scott, but some pinchbeck out
fit, in cotton velvet coat, who tread
me measure" with rope ladder, over
u tropical cliff five hundred feet high,
at whose base seven polar bears are
waiting to be vanquished, all for the
sake of the beautiful Imogeniphenia !;
and, consequently the young gentle
man who doesn't pronounce the in his
name is the only one for whom her soul
could ever pine. The Minnesota girl
shows a similar incubation. She has
read about At-e-whang.te ha-ka, or
the Red-nosed Wolf OF the Bloody
Prairie," and has found her destiny.
1t is to
| Marry with some Indian chieftain.
Noble grand old Indian cheftan
| Live with him within the forest,
Sing beside his noble camp-fires
And have little Indian babies"
She has discovered her mistake when
it is too late. and the dime novel and
the Saturday story paper are respon-
sible and irresponsible for it.
A great part of the vagabondism of
our boys is traceable to the same cause.
The amount of injury that the immense
circulation of this trash is doing is in.
calculable. The time will come when
it will be necessary to prohibit it's pub
Observation-Disclosures Ha1k-Ey
BIRDS OF PARADIsE.-The birds of
paradise join the graceful plumes of
the ostrich to the dainty coloring of the
sun bird. Crests almost as largely de-
veloped as that of the umbrella-bird
overshadow their beautiful heads; frills
as full as those of the hummirg birds
fall down in metallic splendor before
their gorgeous necks. And if any