Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-10-15
WOMAN's REALN.
lramlly Eseadihg.

!
FAMILY 1:eaaTs
I Not long since / saw 9 boy Of very
plastic age, eagerly 8Utch q daily pa
per with this ej;yhMation: any more
murders or h29gings!' Alas fear
that he found therein what his depraY-
ed taste crave9 Vow | have formerly
encouraged IL the family the reading
Of the daily 7aPers, since in 10 other
way it seemed possible to become ia
rhsliar wah the worlds happenings
1as.:t ss's changed ny mind Of late,
and why? DO not most of these pa
pers ferret out every vile SANDER. or
criminal event? DO they not employ
reporters who eIaggerate and distort
every evil proceeding which they re-
port? While writing the above, the
daily paper is brought in. / drop my
pen and from force Of habit, scan at
once its pages, The first thing visible
is hideous illustration Of murder
and suicide. A wronged husband has
found his erriGg wife, and takes their
lives III his own hands. The report is
vile out the pictures Gre yiler 1t is
written WITH disgusting detail, and
calculated to arouse prematurely, the
passions of the young. There it gees
into the CRATE. My boy shall not he
contaminated with its perusal. You
may censure the dime novel with all
its baletul influences. but pray can it
be worse than The daily reading Of such
! transactions; Of murders and hangings
written with minute and horrible de-
tail? 10 indeed! it is scarcely so bad,
for tie former they knoE to be q tic-
ton, bnt they read the latter as chro-
niclar Of facts. Thus the hardening
process begins, and crime in its vari-
Gus phases, becomes gradually, less
obnoxious 10 them. Has not Pope
truthfully said:
"NlceIs a monster Of such hdcol,s men,
| That 70 be hated needs not to be seen,
Yet sen too Oft, familiar with her face
! We lrst endure, then pity, then embrace"
SurAy the mothers of tie land ought
to rise en- masse against these periodi-
calls Claiming, as they do, to be ilrstclass
newspapers, the pages of which are
/ we'll nigh "Po]ice Gazette" in their
sensational makeup. AS mothers. we
are all DESTROYS Of forming ii our child
rem the taste for good reading; hence
we finnish it for them. In these days
of many periodicals and books, it isnot
difficult to find Inexpensive, yet bene-
flcal reading. l hayea son who early
exhibited a taste for poetry; which in
clinatlon foster by gifts Of metric
works. Henever tires OF Tennyson, Bry-
ant, or Longfellow. I have recently
secured book entitled woman in
Sacred Song" The book Of nine
hundred pages is complied by Mrs. G.
L.,Smlth, of Springfield, Illinois. 1t
consists Of hymns, temperance poems,
| and songs written only by women;
hence my boy can-as in no other way
get an idea of what women have done
and are still doing, for the worlds up
lifting. I would fain that every
mother who reads these helpful
pages would secures copy of this noble
wo,is. A more fitting birthday souvi-
ner fer any member of the family
could not be obtained; Who does not
hail with delight the present OF 8 choice
book? I have a friend who is the
pnssessor of 8 fnG library, every book
Of which has been a birthday gift
from members Of his family. Ii we
then, as parents, are careful to procure
only good reading for our children, the
trashy novel, and the sensational paper
will for them lose al attraction, since
by the cultivation OF their taste we
will excite in their minds keen re-
pugnance for such foul reading. sure
ly, in mind, as N bodily food, our de-
sires grow upon what they are fed,
Fanny Fanshaw.-In Ladies Home
Journal.
The white -ibbon women OF Jerauid
County, Dear Sisters The continued
dangerous Illness OF my husband has
prevented me from calling the -Annu-
al County Convention Of C. I. &.
ribs