The Portland daily press., 1881-11-22
springfield Republican,
Bad Literature in Maine.

Rev. Frank e. Clark has done an excellent
piece of work by setting forth to the people of
Portland, Me-, the extent to which flash liter
ature is read there and elsewhere and tho per-
nicious effect it has. He puts the case none
too strongly, and we are glad to see that he
condemns not only the low books and papers
that deal in murder, seduction and other
fSs i@agnaon M aha akfs containing S
ing positively bad, give young people false
views of life and prepare their minds for lower
grades of literature.
Rev. Mr.. Clark estimates that there are in
Portland (about the size of Spring6eld) at least
12,OOO readers of trashy and injurious litera-
ture, of whom 6000 are young people, and says
there are 13 places in the city where it is sold.
One firm has published 20S volumes which sell
for five cents each and three have published
$40 volumes within few months. Advertise
mepts of this stuff meet the eye in all parts OF
the city and are thrust into the children's
hands as they come from school. he shows
what everybody knows TOO well. and what we
have seen illustrated in Springfield this very
week, that these books and papers make young
men burglars, murderers and lbertines, young
women stIumpets and burdens upon puDilc
charity. He very properly adds that nothing
more imperatively demands the attention OF
moral reformers and the public authorities
than this great evil. He fBds one cause OF
this inundation of pernicious writing in re-
action from the "stilted stiffness and prosiness
of juvenile literature in the past" also that
the vulgar sensationalism that some preachers
affect is reaction from the neayy tneologicai
essays of former years.
In response to this essay, the Congressional
club, before which it was read, has appointed
committee to see wnat can Oe done Tor Tue
abatement of the evil, the general opinion pe-
ing that some OF the pictures and papers are
clearly s'obscane publications" under the law
and that others must be met by the education
of the taste and moral sense of the people.
It NAV be proper to call the attention OF Port
land to the moral-reform socity OF New HaV-
en-, which under the lead OF such men as Dr.
Porter has accomplished much in the way OF
closing up low variety theatres and restraining
the evil tendenciessof the young. We appre-
hend, however, that Portland reformers have
another duty, and that is to encourage wnole-
some amusement. The most riotous oissl.
nation of the average .good young man" of
Maine is apt to consist of attendance on some
church ssstciablen or ''circle", which ordina-
rily furnishes about as much exhilsratlon
as a funeral, and nowhere has the pernlcious
notion that hilarity is wicked, or highly cues
tiouable taken stronger hold than IN the
Pine Tree State, particularly in its rural sec
tions The fact is, the human animal, partcu-
Iarly the young human animal, must nave
I amusement or be morbid, and there IS no SUD
iect more worthy of the attention OF pious men
than the problem of providing wholesome
amusement, public and private. There is the
same social stagnation in Maine that has borne
such baneful fruits in many rural Mtssacnu-
setts towns. Solitary life and the feeding Of
the Imagination on bad books and papers which
| it encourages are largely due TO dearth OF ra-
tional meaus OF relaxation Judging from the
advertisements of such things Maine has rats-
| ar more than Its quota of low literary caterers,
| and il is 10 be- hoped that this movement ia
| Portland will result in an abatement OF the
| nuisance and the growth Of healthier taste.