The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-03-12

land of Egypt. And the magicians
did so with their entertainments, and
brought up frogs upon the land OF
Egypt"
There is almost a universal aversion
to frogs, and yet with the Egyptian
they were hOnored, they were sacred,
and they were objects of worship while
alive, and after death they were EN-
and today their remains may
be found among the sepulchers of
Thebes. These creatures so attractive
once to the Egyptians, at divine be-
hest became obnoxious and loathsome,
and they went croaking and hopping
and leaping into the palace of the king,
and into the bread trays and the couches
of the people, and even the ovens,
which now are uplifted above the earth
and on the side of the chimneys, but
then were small holes in the earth
with sunken pottery, were filled with
frogs when the housekeepers came to
look at them. If q man sat down to
eat, o frog alighted on his plate. Ii he
attempted to put on q shoe it was pre-
occupied by q frog. IF he attempted
to put his head%hpon q pillow it had
been taken possession of by frog.
Frogs high and low and everywhere;
loathsome frogs, Shiny frogs, besieging
frogs, innumerable frogs, great plague
of frogs. What made the matter
worse the magicians said there was no
miracle in this, and they could by
sleight of hand produce the same thing,
and they seemed to succeed, for by
sleight OF hand wonders may be
wrought. After Moses had thrown
down his staff and by miracle it be-
came a serpent, and then he took hold
of it and by miracle it again became q
staff, the serpent charmers initiated
the same thing, and knowing that
there were serpentsi in Egypt which by
peculiar pressure on the neck would
become as rigid as stick of wood,
they seemed to change the serpent into
the staff, and then throwing it down
the staff became the serpent. So like
wise these magicians tried to initiate
the plague Of frogs, and perhaps by
smell Of food attracting great number
of them to a certain point, or by shak-
ing them out from o hidden place, the
magicians sometimes seemed to &C
complish tho same miracle. While these
magicians made the plague worse, none
of them tried to make it better Frogs
came up and covered the land of
Egypt, and tho magicians did so with
their enchartnent, and brought up
frogs upon the land of Egypt"
A MODERN PLAGUE.
Now that plague of frogs has come
back upon the earth. 1t is abroad to-
day. 1t is shifting this nation II
comes in the shape of corrupt litera-
ture. These frogs hop into the store,
the shop, the Office, the banking house,
the factory, into the home, into the
cellar, into the garnet, on the drawing
room table, on the shelf of the library
While the lad is reading the bad book
the teachers face is turned the Other
way. One of these frogs hops upon
the page. While the young woman i
reading the forbidden novelette, aftel
retiring at night, reading by gaslight
one of these frogs leaps upon the page
Indeed, they have hoped upon thu
news stands of the country, and tn
mails at the postoffice shake out in thu
letter trough hundreds of them. TIL,
plague has taken at different time
possession of this country. 1t is one o
the most loathsome one of the mos
frightful; one of the most CHASTITY O
the ten plaques of our modern cities.
There is vast number of books an,
newspapers printed and publishe
which ought never to see the light
They are filled with a pestilence tina
makes the land swelter with a mora
epidemic. The greatest blessing tina
ever came to this nation is that of q
elevated literature, and the creates
scourge has been that of unclean lite
AZURE d This last has itstvictims in a
occupations and departments. 1t ha
helpedsto fill insane asylums and pen
tentiaries and almshouses land dens {
shame. The bodies of this infectio
liein the hospitals and in the grave
while their souls are being tossed owe
into a lost eternity, an avalanche {
horror. and despair. The Londo
plague was nothing to it. That coun
ed its victims by thousands, but th
modern. pest has already shoveled i
millions into the charmed house of Il
morally dead. The longest rail trai
that ever ran over the Erie or Hudsc
tracks was not long enough ror lar;
enough to carry The beastiiness and Il
putrefaetion which have been ,gathere
Up IN bad books and newspapers
this land N the last twenty years. III
literature of a nation decides the fa
of a nation. GOOD books, goodmoral
Bad, books bad morals.
: { begin with the lowest of. all the Ii
eratIire. That which does not even Or
"a tend to bassspectable- cover
/. saEssagver a. bhotehs dfsylsprosy There a
4. lnany whose entire business it is to d
pose, of that kind of literature. tn,
5sdisplay, it before the schoolboy on
way home. They get the catalegu
Z of schools and colleges, take the nam
and postoffice addresses and send ths
advertisements, and their circulars, al
their pamphlets, and their books,
1-every one of them. ~
SENDING OUT BAD BOOKS.
: In the possession of these dealers
bad literature were found nine he
i, dred thousand names and postoffl
addresses, to whom it was thought.
- might be profitable to send these c,
rupt. things. In the year 1873 The
De were one hundred and sixty-five ests
q ishments engaged in publishing ches
corrupt literature. From one publ.
q inc hut1sa f,harss. vent ur1f tvvas,fv III f