Morning journal and courier., 1882-03-27
Anthony Comstock's Lecture.

given by several reformed men. Three per sons signed the pledge.
 Anthony Comstock's Lecture. A Very Large Audience in the AHheneum
 to Listen to Him-The Way the Youth
 fuI Mind is Corrupted.
 Last evening Anthony Comstock, the agent for the Society of Prevention of Vice. locat- ed in New York city, addressed very large audience in the Atheneum.
 In his opening remarks he said From | out of the fullness of my ten years expert | ence desire to spend my hour in showing l you some of the iniquity and poison that l corrupts the minds of our children with im- ] pure literature. The more we dwell on any 1 subject the greater becomes it's influence for good or evil. Perhaps the least impressive of all the reading is that which we call the love story, which is written to captivate the child. So much as this kind of literature turns the thought of the child from study it is wrong. But say that the fathers and the mothers often permit this to be done-often, perhaps, unconsciously, but carelessly. The paper enters the house, is hastily glanced at for the daily news, while the story is not noticed, and is left for the boy and the girl to read over and over again and discuss among themselves, and what the effect is you shall see before I get through. Refer ring to the weekly story papers which the children could purchase for five cents, he characterized them as the devils seed sowing. He said that he kept a scrap book of crimes by youthful IL 4IDo1,o twenty five crimes by girls and boys ranging from eight to sixteen years. Some were for burglary, some for arson, some for murder, some for theft, train wrecking, &c. The story paper was transferring the crimes of the country from the older heads to the youth. The twenty eight days of this last February we have 34 boys for larceny, 1 for murder, 1 shot another boy, girl who shot her own father, 19 burglars, .all under the age of 21. There were train wreckers and any number of gamblers under 21. Whence said the speaker, comes this flood and car mage? It is the devils seed sowing, and the seed is found on every corner of our streets. Do you not agree with me in this? If not l we need go no further. But we must go fur ther. The speaker here recited several incl dents that had come under his own observation of young boys that he had arrested for crime, and showing that the youthful criminals | had been brought to crime by reading story papers. Continuing, he said there was class \ of publications that were plotting out the life | of our youth, and they were increasing to an l alarming extent, and they demand freedom | to poliute your child and deny you the right 1 to protect your child. These influences are l all about our children but beyond the reach of the law, and it is for you to say whether | these publications shall cross your threshold. ! It is for you to say whether you will dscoun- l tenance them. But last of all, and the most ! important, is the evil which travels in secret ! and prevails everywhere Of this matter over ! twenty four tons have been seized and de- 1 stroyed by myself under the direction of the | Society for the Suppression of Vice. prin l cipal of one of the largest female seminaries | in New York called on me one day and told me ! that man had called and got quantity of catalogues and she wanted to get them back. I found the man and the catalogues and piles ! of others from seminaries all over the coun- ! try were obtained and these girls and boys | were receiving obscene circulars and books to pollute their minds. The law of the
 United States, which your own Buckingham ! stood up in the Senate and advocated, says
 these books shall not be sent through the
 mails, and I stand here to night to speak 8 ! word of praise in honor of his noble efforts in this behalf. This class of evil reading is to be found everywhere, and parents mourn
 over the distaste of children to read any
 thing useful. So down and down they go I POSoCoolOAI
 Fathers mothers, say the price of moral
 purity today is eternal vigilance, and mark you my word, there IS no more successful
 way of carrying on this work to day than is
 found in the ranks of the infdel. He paid
 his respects to the publications of Robert G.
 Ingersoll, which he said were now sold in
 place of more vile works which were driven
 out of the bookstores. Speaking of the ob-
 stacles to this work, he said the safest place
 to be in was the path of duty. He referred
 to the efforts of the Liberal League to show
 that the law was unconstitutional that pre- l vented infide1 books from being circulated
 through the mails. He spoke of an attack
 being made on his life and the providence
 that interfered and permitted him to work
 on. God knew what best and by that
 blow the debt was raised from our society
 and we have been successful ever since. In
 concluding he showed the efforts of the Lib
 erals to blacken his character by a forged
 document, then to a petition sent to Con gress signed by 10000 Liberals to get the law { repealed. He said that all sorts of lies had
 been sent out by the Liberals there being
 not one word of truth in any of them. He then referred to h1s struggles against the Liberals in Washington and finally urged the
 young men to be not deceived. ''As ye SOW ! so shall ye reap"