The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-31

than the church, great as that is admitted
to be-infnitely superior as a reforming
and restraining agent to all these forces
combined can the home be made. Il
is or can be made to be the birthplace
of every virtue, individual or national the
cradle of truth; the nursery of character
We firmly believe that if the sense of the
increase in crime could be traced to its true
source, it would be found in the deteriora-
ton of American homes and home life. We
do net mean by that that there is any
deterioration in home comforts; indeed,
luxuriant homes have greatly increased;
wealth and art have been exhausted to
make them splendid in their attractions
music, books and paintings; elegant fur
niture, soft carpets and brilliant lights lend
their aid to embellish and refine the home.
But what is complained of, and what is to
be regretted, is that those homely virtues
so characteristic of the homes in which the
founders of our nation were reared,
are passing away from our modern
mansions. The artificial is taking the
place of the real. The shadow is mistaken
for the substance. The unOstentatious as
sociation among neighbors; the happiness
that flowed from friendly intercourse with
out other influences to stimulate it than
that born of kindness of heart and good
fellowship; the innocent, unpretentious
amusement, the simple, unaffected manners
so characteristic of the forefathers
Of the republic - all these things
which contributed so much to the moral
bone and sinew of our nation in the early
days of its existence, are being supplanted
by shallow, fashionable pOmp, the mid
night masquerade where trifiers seek for
the pleasure which like a phantom still
eludes their grasp; and artificial manners
burdened with hypocrisy are taking the
place of the straightforward, honest con-
duct of yore, while envy, green-eyed and
mOnstrous, turks in the heart. Notwith-
standing all the shows of modesty, lust
Ieers in the eye; lechery is in the touch;
once more the world is learning that
After all the joys which plenty leads,
With tip-toe step, vice silently succeeds.
Let it not be thought that this descrip-
ton is too harsh, or that the evils that lie
fostering under the cloak of fashionable
life are over-estimated. An able historian
in treating of the evils which existed in
fashionable Rome, when Rome was at the
supposeduzenith of her glory, said, and he
said truly: THE refinements of life cor
rupt while they polish the intercourse of
the sexes. The gross appetite Of love be
comes most dangerous when it is elevated
or rather, indeed, disguised by sentimental
passion. The elegance of dress, the motion
and the manners give lustre of beauty
and iniame the senses through the imagi-
nation" The crazed desire to keep up
with the mad rush of fashionable and bust
ness life stiles conscience, infames
the mind, and fraud, chicanery,
ENLIGHTENMENT and theft are of
every day occurrence, and not among
the ignorant and unread so much as among
the so-called refined and intelligent. The
more brutal and revolving crimes may be
found to be perpetrated among the former
class. but the number of criminals among
the latter class is APPALLING. Why is this. 1t
is because the temptations which fashion
able life strews in their pathway are so
numerous and fascinating, and the home
life has been so artificial that it has failed
to furnish them with the kind of moral
muscews and sines to enable him to over
come such temptations. Truth, honesty, |
simplicity Of manners. purity and industry
are not woven into the web and wolf of
character in the home life to the extent
that they should be, and the state suffers |
from the neglect
Rank weeds and decaying vegetation are
permitted to choke up and corrupt the |
fountains of all morality, of all religion
the homes in our own land-and the streams |
that flow from corrupted fountains cannot |
be expected to be pure and undetiled. If |
our reformers would regenerate our race let |
them commence their noble work by invok-
ing the aid of home influence. If they |
would see the great republic avoid the
rocks and shoals upon which so many noble |
states have gone to pieces, let them foster
the homes and make them the source OF
their reforms as they are already the source |
Of whatever virtue exists. Let it be taught
as a central political doctrine, that the end
Of popular government is not to make a
rich aud populous, but to establish
morality as the basis of life and law When
that principle shall be firmly fixed in the
character of the American people, we shall
not be under the necessity of complaining of
IN increase in the number Of our criminals.
-------s.--z-a=za