Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-02-04
THE PEST-HOLES OF SOCIETY
Where Seeds of Vice and
Crime Are Sown.
FATER BIRMINGHAM ON CLUBS
They Are a Curse and a
y Scourge to a Community.
The Rov. Father Birmingham OF st.
Paui's II. q. Church Directs Another
Sermon Against Clubs and sociaIs--rhe
Responsibility of Parents for the Evil.

Clubs and socials received ms comnIe,e
raking at the hands of Father Der.
mingham from the pulpit of st. Paurs
n Y. Church Sunday night as they ever
before did in this city. These so.called
social organizations were made the sub
1ect OF lecture by the well-known
priest and in the course of this lecture
ne TOOK occasion to score them merci-
lessly. The church was crowded from
entrance to pulpit, persons filling the
aisles OF the auditorium and blocking
the stairways leading to the church, SO
that many were turned away for want
OF room. Father Birmingham spoke
from the VII chapter of st. Matthew,
18th TO nth verse.
He spoke of the evil surroundings of
home and society to-day and said that
many of the existing vices have their
origin in these so-called social organiza-
tions. Many of them, he said, were
curse and a scourge to any community.
The life OF man can be compared to Ger
tain seasons of theyear. Spring time is his
youth. In this season of his career he
sows the seed which afterwards bear the
fruits of his sowing. Like the plough
man who sows his cereal in the spring
time, is youth. The harvest he shall
reap depends upon the seed he has
planted. So 1t is with man. Youth is
the sprngtime of life. The nature and
character of man is moulded in youth.
All should be careful to plant in youth
seeds that will ripen into grand and
beautiful manhood. Experience tells us
that passions are strongest in youth.
There are many snarcs and pitfalls to
destroy the mind Of man and to destroy
his heart. 1t is upon our youth that the
/ welfare of the state depends for as they
advance and become more enlightened
SO will the advancement of society and
state certainly follow. In looking around
him one heholds the rising generation.
II things are not changed fear for the
safety of the future. This is an age of
invention, Of enlightmcnt and in it are
the grandest years that man has lived,
{ But In the age of enlightment, side by
side vice comes and stalks before us,
sapping the very foundation of society
and crushing the home TO atoms.
We look to the church for assistance
in the grave crisis, but the church must
likewise receive the support of the home
and OF the parents, otherwise the work
counts for naught If parents stand by
us the reform must come. The place to
begin is in the home, where the sur
roundings of youth should he all that il
desired. Parents frequently encourage
vice by their wanton careless and disrc.
gard of the needs of youth. MANY
boy has been forced to leave home for
dread of a scolding mother or drunken
father, and seek places of iniquity and
vice. These places of vice are to GER
tain extent due TO the carelessness of
the home. Parents should be more care.
full with their children and see to il that
they receive the proper training and
care.
But these so.called socials and vice
must be destroyed. | will crush them
ana destroy them as long as God gives
me power. IL is in these second-story
fronts where these dens exist; where Won
have to pass through an alley and give
a double, treble knock to get in. Here
is where vice stalks immolested and
where some of the youth of to-day are
spending their nights. There are no
club houses outside of the church except
those which have perfect right to exist
by law.
10 show that crime is hereditary and
that parents are to large extent re.
sponsible for the acts of their children.
the priest cited the Burke case in New
GcTh state. In the family there were
six sisters from whom descended 1874
persons.Of this number 206 were paupers
and the crimes charged against them
were 1l5 This family cost the state of
New York $1,000,000 The speaker
argued that If these persons had received
the proper care and treatment in their