Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-06-02
A nROWING EVIL.

.aseribe to the indulgence in ardent
spirits all the ms that fiesh is heir to,
should turn their attention fora time,
or at least devote a share Of Their efforts,
to a new crusade crusade against the
evils of pernicious hterature. OF this
there are two kinds, the artistic sug-
gestive, and the coarse and openly inn
moral. These stand in the same rela-
tons to each other as tipping and habit
ual intoxication, and we are prepared to
say that they do almost as much harm.
Almost? Aye, more; for they deprave
appetites that are more easily debased
and with more difficulty restored to a
healthy condition.
There is yet another similarity be-
tween the two evils. 1t is sand that
there was time when almost every
body drank in moderation, and cases OF
intoxication were few and far between.
But this condition Of things has changed,
and Just such a change has taken place
in the matter of evil literature. Years
ago, when GEORGE SAND wrote her
glowing descriptions of illicit love, the
patent errors Of her social theories were
excused, so far as such sins can be for
given, by the bright light OF the flame
of genius which, misdirected as 1t was,
shone over all. Before DUMAS fLs aban-
doned noyel-writing for the drama he
published two works, which, however
bad their tendency and low their con-
ception of human nature, were not With
out some sparks OF redeeming traits,
They showed marvellous knowledge OF
one side of human nature-certainly
not the highest-a degree OF Pathos,
and the fasulty OF a subtle psychology
cal analysis. These works were written
under the Second Empire, in the era of
moderate drinking, when men tasted
their wines, aud drank them for the
taste. But now nothing is too vile for
the palate or the stomach deprayed with
intoxicants, and now even lola is not
too base to be read.
This lola is a French writer who
has given to the public many books,
all of which have heen widely
read, but none of which a
young man .could read to his
sister He achieved his first uneviabIe
distinction in LAssOmmoir, a novel in
which there is not a single spark OF
genius, single redeeming feature. To
the shame of the Parisians, who once
prided themselves upon the classic
methods of CoRNEILLE and RACINE, upon
such opposite excellences as PAscAL's
Letters and the wit and learning OF
VoLrAIRE, they have become infatuated
with the coarse and vulgar brutality OF a
tale in which there is not even a pre-
tense Of yelling the lowest and most
degenerate vices OF the yilest
classes Of the community. From
the first page to the last
there is not a single flash OF
wit or ray Of humOr. There is not a
single lament over the fall of the char
acters of the nOvel-it is impossible to
call them heroes or heroines; there is
not even muffled expression OF an as
piration foe better and purer life. All
the degradation Of the slaughter house
of all that is virtuOus and pure and OF
good repute is taken as a matter OF
course, discussed and laid bare without
a sigh and without a regret. GERvAIsE,
the principal female character, is an inn
pure woman, the willing mistress OF a |
swindler, and the adulterOus wife OF 4
man who dies in an asylum amid all the
horrors OF the delirium tremens.
There is not a woman in the book
who makes even a claim to modesty.
There is but one man whose character
is above that Of the beasts Of the field.
The scenes and the incidents are the
very extravaganza Of the abandonment
OF all that should be good and noble in
human nature to the lowest depths OF
unbridled lust and mere animalism,
with all semblance of anything higher
stripped off and tossed to the winds.
And vet this is the story over which
Paris is gloating. This brutal lasCiviOus-
ness is not even confined to the closet.
IL has been adapted TO the stage, and the
theatre is filed every night TO witness the
auarrels of drunken washerwOmen and
the rawlings of patient OF an insane
asylum, maddened by drink, and dying
in all the horrors OF mania. 1t is sad
thing for France that it should be so,
but the fact cannot be denied. OF old,
wit and hunor cast a glamour over vice
and iuiquity. Now both are lost. The
ParisianS now flock in constantly in
Crcasing crowds TO glOat over barbarous
vulrarity and the naked deformity of
vice. II such attractions continue to
iascinatc the people, the cancer they will |
produce will be infinitely more danger
Gus to the body polite than all the mere
violence and false ideas of a hundred !
COmmUneS.
But it is not only at distance that
We contemplate the evil. The play is
now having-or has recently had,-an
immense run in New York, and is to be |
played in other cities; and a translation
Of the book has been sold by thousands |
in this country, many copies right here !