Arizona republican., 1891-05-17
BURNING A POPULAR NOVEL.
The Mercantile Library Following in the Wake of the Spanish Inquisition of the Middle Ages.

The Mercantile Library Following in the
 Wake of the Spanish Inquisition of
 the Middle Ages.
 The Spectator of St. Louis for April II
 contained the following trenchant criti-
 cism of the action of the Mercantile
 Library Association in burning Helen
 Gardeners "Is This Your Son, My | Lord?"
 Grown up people in America, az least,
 have always reserved the right to read
 what they may think proper, and the
 puerile device of locking up or destroy
 ing the literary confection deemed in digestible or injurious, by certain self appointed guardians of the public
 morals, has invariably resulted in whet-
 ting the appetite for the for bidden dainty, with the added determination
 to gratify it by any means-in place of such plain usurpation of authority.
 ties to any attempt of the kind might
 with those whose interest it is to in crease the circulation of the tabooed volume. The management of the Mer- cantile Library are, of course, above suspicion, and their course in burning their copies of Miss Gardeners work
 may be taken simply as an emphatic expression of their condemnation of the book-the intended moral effect of which. necessarily limited, will be more than offset by the attention which this literary auto da Ee will be sure to arouse -as well as the natural sense of justice and curiosity-in behalf of the object of of SO much zeal. It needs no prophet to predict that ten people will read "Is This Your Son, My Lord ?" to one, had this ill-advised action not been taken.
 It may be question whether the force and value of the book would not have been enhanced by some attention to the elementary canons of art, but there can be no difference of opinion as to the remarkable ability displayed on every page of this extraordinary produc- tion. The unrivalled powers of sarcasm, the piercing wit, and the superhuman courage of expression, strike us with a sort of dismayed admiration--in this remorseless expose of the seamy side of modern society. No one can doubt her singleness of purpose, and her tremen- dous energy in voicing her opinions is almost overwhelming. Her unflinching gaze looks full at the undraped reality of things, and she would set up this | image of the naked truth for the wor- ship of a weak-eyed generation.
 As to the rdiS0n d'etre of such book, that will depend on the point of view. To those who believe that the present | evil conditions of society are irremedi- | able, that self-interest will always be stronger than the love of justice--pro. pensity more insistent than principle that the animal in man will down at the | bidding of no voice,-human or divine flor such pessimists, no course is left save to maintain the conspiracy of | silence" to cover up and hide away our hideous secret, the black cancer which is eating the tissues and poisoning the life blood of society, and to mask our pain and apprehension under such smil- ing or decent show of inconsistencies as we may be able to command.
 But those who believe in a possible regeneration of the race may take diff ferent view. 1.-the disease which affects the body polite is curable, surely the first step towards cure is the laying bare the affected part. Some hand must be found firm enough to tear aside the fostering wrappages in spite of shrink. ing and shuddering reluctance, the wound must be probed and the diagnosis determined. Then let the remedy be applied by the surgeons knife, the "actual cautery," or by constitutional" treatment, but let it be applied unainch- ingly. Not to drive an overburdened metaphor, we can but admire the cour. age of one who in touching these infected subjects, in the interests of her kind, almost takes her life in her hands. We feel that we could not do it. We are mostly moral towards.
 do not wish to criticise Miss Gar dener's methods. It might be said that she overproves her case--that her on- slaught is too general, that concentra- tion on few points of attack might have added strength to her position and that she sometimes violates the &C., cepted canons of what we call taste- but these are minor and unimportant beside the great talent which she employs with so much power and singleness of purpose in the cham pionship of great cause.