New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-04-14
Tho Effects q Dine.Nsysl Reading.

AAAAS ASAA1SSS AAeSAAA&Ss
ton years Of age and lived in New York.
He was = bright boy, and fond Of read
ing, and thanks to the carelessness, or
worse, Of his parents, he was able to
read all the dime novels he could find.
Filled with the spirit Of adventure nat
urally excited by such thrilling litera-
ture, he ran away from school one day
last summer and disappeared. At night
he did not come home. Search was in
stituted and vigorously maintained for
two or three days, but no tidings were
received Of the missing boy. The POI
lice were notified and the detectives
yet at work to invent theories and inn
agine clues, but nothing came of it.
The boy had vanished as completely as
if the earth had opened and swallowed
him. His bereaved parents finally gave
up the search and mOurned him as
dead.
BY accident, not long since, the moth
or learned that q little boy resembling
hers had been arrested in September
for larceny. Investigation showed that
this was indeed the missing child; and
by following up the clue the parents
discovered that he had been arraiqned
in October for petty larceny; that he
made no revelation as to his identity or
that of his parents, and that upon trial
he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to
three months imprisonment in the Pro-
tectory. There the parents found him
serving out his sentence.
The story he told illustrates, in way
that can hardly fail to reach the heart
of the most Indifferent parent, the evils
of the literature referred to. When he
ran away from school he met some
youngsters who persuaded him to spend
the night with :hem in q barn. The
novelty of the situation attracted him.
and the subsequent proceedings were so
much like what he had read about that
he readily consented to all that his new
found friends asked of him. They were
all older than he, and had formed them
selves into band, with Oaths and pass
words, and grips and other parapher-
band they solemnly initiated the little
ten-year-old lad, who was then told
that the object Of the organization was
plumber. Being new member, he was
given exceptional opportunities of dis
tinguishing himself; and it was while
engaged in stealing for the society that
he was caught, with the result already
narrated. Young as he was. and ten
derby as he had been nurtured, he re-
fused to betray his companions, or to
disclose the name of his parents, lest by
that means the 'gang'' should be in
jured. With pluck worthy Of an old
or heart and better cause, he chose
rather to go to prison than-as he him.
self put ito 'squeal.'
The story might almost be accepted
as one of the dime novel yarns, the in
iquity of which it so strikingly shows,
were it not for its having the hero in
prison. In the genuine tale the hero
never comes to grief, but always to
glory or gain, whether his career is that
of hunter, sailor or thief. It is this
feature of the infamous literature which
commends it so thoroughly to the iuve-
nile imagination, and secures for it such
enthusiastic perusal. In its baneful ef-
fects upon the community, and especial
" upon the youth of the country, it is
worse, if possible, than the literature
which is receiving just now such con-
demnation. And it is so because it is
read openly and without any remon-
STRANGE from parents or guardians,
while the other, if read at all, must be
read secretly.--DetroN Free Press.