The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-10-21
A Scorpion Among the Papers.

! was found by news dealer of New
London, Connecticut, in package OF
, papers brought to him by New York
J steamer. 1t was natural that the pres
ence of such venomous insect should
r create astonishment and excite alarm.
! IL was felt that ii was an unwelcome
intruder, and that undetected and I'M
, restrained it might endanger precious
/ life. Sent out in paper, it might
have carried wretcbedness' to any
homo in the city. The brightest and
most promising youth might have fell
len victim to its death-inoculating
sting. The scorpion was not sent no
purpose and with the intention of do
ing harm. 1t is supposed that it was
brought from the tropics hidden away
in fruit.
But suppose that men in New York
had secured thousands of scorpions,
and had stored them away in the bun
dies of books apd papers going fUrth
every day from the great city to all
parts of the land. Suppose that living
scorpions were coming daily to news
dealers, and without consern or
thought on their part, were given over
into the hands of people of all ages and
classes. Suppose ii were a common
thing to find them among the books of
the school children, lurking about their
playground, secreted in their closets.
and even treasured in their, pockets.
What would you think and say and do?
Would you be Indifferent? Would
you say, "Let the scorpion Gomez
Would you insist that the youth must
learn TO let the scorpion alone?
Would you claim that if some are
stung and die, others will take warn
ing! by no means. You would make
loud, earnest and repeated protest.
You would unite in efforts to have an
end put to the danger. You would
call law to your aid. Your course
would be inst. Duty would compel
you to it. Silence and inaction would
prove you unfaithful to the welfare of
the rising generation and recreant TO
your sacred obligations as parents and
citizens.
OF course there is no general trade
in living scorpions. None come for
ward to deal in them for the sole rea-
son That there arc no buyers. There
would'be men to accept the business
no matter how ruinous it might prove.
if they could make money by it. Pa.
ternal anXieties, darkened homes. pois.
oncd and blighted lives would be no
obstacles.
There are moral scorpions and there
are men whose business it is to procure
and sell them. They tax their ingenu-
ity to find ways and means of making
sales. They are wide awake to dis
cover opportunities for pushing them
into schools and homes. They arc
shamelessly impudent in attracting
Youthful purchasers. Like 'rhe scor.
pion among the papers," these more
venomous moral insects, these intellec-
tnal ana spiritual pests, go abroad hid
den under book-covers, wrapped up in
packages OF papers, and are concealed
at news stands and in book stores mn =
der ti layers of good reading. They take
the form of circulars. .Lsy put On ell
velopes printed by the government rs
ti.oi. oiothi'rs, they ride in our conn
try mail bags; they dart ont from our
post Offices; they slip through the fin
gers of our postmasters.
1hcSe, however, are not its worst
features. These are found in tbe i'm
periled youth themselves. So strono is
the impulse of depraved curiosity. so
keen is the relish for unnatural excite.
ment, so hot is youthful blood, so easily
blinded are mortal eyes to soul and
eternal losses, so inclined are all 10
shut olt the thought of God, that onr
you tb C eager to be poisoned. They
seek out the scorpion, and to get them
will Fay their money and practice de.
ception. If they do not lie and steal.
Obtaint d thy play with them in Sc
cret, and when under the infatuation of
the sting they have received, they will
pass them along to their fellows. Thus
by the presence of one or two a whole
community of youth NAV be poisoned.
corrupted, ruined. Stung bv these
scorpions among the papers, the vic
tins quickly show that their moral
earnestness is sapped. Their percep-
tions of right and wrong are blunted.
Their aims and purposes lose tone and
quality, and grow sordid and selfish.
Their minds are spoiled of vigor and
strength, and crave only the sentiment
tai, the lustful and criminal. Their ma
tive innocence and purity are driven
out OF the character, and the germs of
all spiritual diseases implanted.
1t is from the ranks of those who
read the "Boys' Papers," and publica-
tions of similar intellectual and NOR.
al tone, that thieves and liars and bur
glars come. From this trash, much of
it the vilest hash of scenes and events
from criminal life, boys of spirit and
courage find impulses to band them.
selves together as brigands. This
trash promotes triokine and deceit. 1t
is the hot-bed for urging the fungus
growth of slang and vulgarity. 1t is
one of the strongest indictments TO dis
obedience, unfaithfulness, and cruelty.
1t opens and gilds the way to licen-
tiousness and other moral worthless
ness. Take this instance as a sample:
A young man was arrested for advcr-
tising and sending through the mails,
under dozen aliases, obscene matter.
While his room at his fathers house
was being searched, the agent found
hidden away in one corner mass of
"Boys' Papers" At this discovery, as
the agent was pulling them over, the
young man turned his guilty ewes upon
them, and pointing at them with
trembling finger, in bitterness and re-
morse exclaimed, "There, there's the
cause of my ruin-that has cursed me
and brought me to this" You see he
recognized the scorpion among the pa
pers and knew that il had stanq him.
Parents and teachers, he vigilant. Do
; not shut your eyes 10 the fact that there
are scorpions among the papersl-
Rev. q. w. Gates, in Herald of Truth.
a soldier who went to war took
with him some of the small instruments
of his craft Che was watch-tinker)
thinking to make some extra shillincs