The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-03-13

OF Dr. Talmage at Brooklyn on the
t'Ten Plaques of the Cities" His text
was from Exodus, vii 6-7= And the
frogs came mp and covered the land of
Egypt And the magicians did so with
their entertainments, and brought up
frogs upon the land OF Egypt Follow
ing IS the sermon
There is almost universal aversion
to frogs, and yet with the Egyptian
they We're hOnored, they were sacred,
and they were objects of worship while
alive, and after death they were en-
baimed, and to-day their remains may
be found among the sepuIchres of
Thebes- These creatures, 50 attractive
once to the Egyptians, at divine behest
became obnoxious and lOathsOme. and
they went croaHing and hopping and
1eaping into tho palace OF the king, and
into the bread trays and the couehes of
the people, and even the ovens,
which now are uplifted above the earth
and on the side of cllimneys, but then
Were small holes IN the earth with
sunlxen pottery, were filed with frogs
when the housekeepers came to look at
them. If a man sat down to eat, a frog
aligkted on his plate. IF he attempted
to put on a shoe, it was preoccupied by
a frog. If he attempted TO put his head
upon d pillow, 1T had been taken posses
sion of by a frog. Frogs high and low
and every where; loathsOne frogs, Shiny
frogs, besieging frogs, innumerable
frogs, great plague of frogs What
made the matter worse, the ma gic1ans
said, there was no miracle in this, and
they could by sleight-Of-hand produce
the same thing, and they seemed to sue
coed, for by sleight-of-hand wonders
may be wrought.
After Moses had thrown down his
staff and by miracle 1t became a ser
pent, and then ne took hold of it and
by miracle it again became staff, the
serpent charmers initiated the same
thing, and knowing that there We're
9serpents in Egypt which by a 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 likewise these magi-
clans tried 70 initiate the plague of
frogs Frogs came up and covered
the land of Egypt, and the magicians
did so with their enchantment and
brought up frogs upon the land Of
Egypt"
Now that plague of frogs has come
back upon the earth 1t is abroad to-
day. 1t is shifting this nation.
1t comes IN the shape of cor
ruPt literature 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 Had
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 is reading the for
hidden novelette, after retiring at night,
reading 10y gas-ight, one of these frogs
leaps upon the page. Indeed, they have
hoped upon the news stands of the
country, and the mails at the post Office
shake out in the letter trough hundreds
OF them
The plague has taken, at different
times, possession OF this country. It i:
one OF the most loathsOme, one of the
most frightful, one of the most ghastly
of the ten plaques of our modern cities
There IS a vast number of books anC
newspapers printed and published which
ought never to see the light. They are
filed with a pestiIence that makes the
land swelter with moral epidemic.
The greatest blessing that ever came
to this nation is that of an elevated
literature, and the greatest scOarge ha,
been that of unclean literature The
last has its victims in all occupation
and departments It has helped to I'll
insane asy1uEns and penitentiaries ans
.almshouses and dens OF shame The
bodies of this infection lie in the hos
pitfalls and in the graves, while thei
souls are being tossed over into a los
eternity, an avalanche of horror ant
ing to IT That counted its victims b.
thousands, but this modern pest ha
already shOveled its millions into tn
-charneI house Of the morally dead Tn
literature of a nation decides the fate o
= nation Good books, good morals
Bad books bad morals
! begin with the lowest of all tn
literature. that which does not eve
pretend to be respectable-frOm cove
to cover blotch of leprosy. There ar
many whose entire business is to dis
pose of that kind OF literature The
display II before the schoOlboy on hi
way home They get the catalogues Q
schools and colleges, take the name
and post Office addresses and send thei
advertisements and their circulars an
their phamphlets and their books {
every one of them
In the possession OF these dealers i
bad literature were found SOC. coo name
and most Office addresses, to whom