Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1894-02-08
THE EVIL INFLUENCE
IMPURE LITERATURE.
paper read by Mrs. Ann r. Greedy be-
fore the Woman's Club of Ellis
worth, Dec. 80. 1898.


| Published by request of the Club.
| A writer has said: Tell me what kin,
/ Of food man eats, and | will tell vol
what kind of a man he is" 1t may will
| as much truth and philosophy be written
| Tell me upon what a man feeds his mind
aud will tell you what kind OF people ar,
| his chosen associates. and what are hi!
thoughts" "As a man thinketh so he l.,
| is an oil adage. the truth of which ha.
been so often demonstrated 1t will nevel
| be questioned
| Literature Is to the mind what food I,
bodies are nourished and become strong
II of poor quality or insufficient quantity
we lose flesh and strength, and finally di,
| from exhausted vitality.
| II We habltuslly read weak or mpur,
| literature the mind becomes feeble an,
| coarse. and after a time incapable Of ap
precisting great thoughts or enjoying n,
society Of cultivated people Oue OF th,
greatest evils of the day is the desire o
| young people for sensational reading, auc
the daily newspapers. with their filth,
records Of police courts. furnish a bouuti
full supply In exaggerated and detailed re
ports Of elopemenis. divorce cases, priz.
fights, murders, and executions. that tenc
to vitiste the taste and currupt the morals
By familiariZing the readers with bruta
scenes and low characters.
Pope tells Us Tat
"Nioe is a monster Of such hideou- mlen
That To be hated needs only to be Aeen:
But seen too Oft. familiar with her face.
We first endure, then pity. then embrace"
The same may be said of low literature
profanity. and vulgsrity; when We first
hear II We are shocked and disgnsted, bu,
a. our ears become accustomed to H.
though we may still shrink from the
society OF those who use 1t. It loses II.
horror, although We may never indulge
In it.
From the New England Watch and
Ward SocIety's annual report We read
Books technically obscene are seldom
published; punishment for their sale is toe
swift and sure 10 make this a profitable
venture. The books at the present day
most harmful to the young are those in
cinded under the head Of realistic nctiou
calculated 10 excite the imagiuations and
iuhsme the passions. Th, So works are ot
two kinds. one mostly French. the other
usually American Both hoss, of their
realism, hut affect the minds snd corrupt
the morals OF the young 10 different ways.
The former says little. bu, suggests
much, gradually bringing the reader to
that state Of excitement in which principle
is overcome by passion. and nothing hu,
opportunity Is wanting for unbridlei IN
diligence. The other by sividly portray
ing the worst features lu the lives OF the
most abandoned men and women. and
representing this to he true picture Of
society fsmilarizes the mind with vice
and at the same time leads the young 10
look upon such life a. both common and
de>iTa5le--ihe same result Is thus sccom-
pli>hed. though by different means
Scarcely week passes that the papers
do no: record the commission Of the worst
crimes by youth, wb bo have fed their mind, ,
on literature whose language is so clothed
that 1t caunot be cia>sed as obscene. but
is hardly less hsueful in lis effect upon the
young. The story Of "Pcck's Bad Boy
hs> undoubtedly been rehearsed thousand is
OF times by Juveniles who have admirin.iy
peru>ed is pages.
In a lecture delivered by Rev r. +.
says: "A friend has sen; me copy Of
IHck and directed my attention 10 car
tpon on the first page. /, was an infant
in q cradle surrounded with dangerous
weapons for toys and the nursiu. bottle
from which II drew its nnurishment w as
labeled Dime Novels; round the cradle
were novels with such titles a. Ike the In
dian Killer and Blood, Ben There is =
startling truth hidden under this grore-que
cartoon. The very babes 10 their cradles
have this excitii Z and pernIcious trash
raiued in upon them. Instead of the story
of The Three Bears the child of today
reads about the Five skulls; instead of
Dick Worthlngton and his Cat. he reads
of Dick the Destroyer; inste al Of Gin
derella' he reads about the Girl Traitor or
Wild Nell on the Scaffold With minds
50 nourished. Is II strange that we read of
fourteen-year-old boy who deliberately
murdered his mother By shooting her while
she was working In the field, aud when
arrested, confessed the crime, and said lie
had planned to kill his father, and sell the
plantation and become 4 brigand?"
la trunk full Of dime novels in the
possession of Newark boy who had been
found guilty Of the murder of a bank
cashier and the robbery of the bank. TO
enable him to III out pirating expedition
in Boston harbor, were books with such
titles as, 'Deadwood Dicks DOOM" Ca
lamity James Last Adventure, THE Dew
lis Dwarf and his Red Hatchet," Snow
man, the Boy Sharp, The Bloody Foot
prints, The Dead Shot Dandy" The
Boy Burglar" Broadway Blly's Death
Racket" The Outlaw Queen.
Low literature is to the mind wha,
scrofula is to the blood; it soon permea, ties
the mind and terminates in malignant
cancer which contains all the vices to
which man Is addicted.
The young men who daily and nightly
walk our streets, smoking cigars and Gig
arettes, and assuming staggering airs
are but initiating dime novel heroes. Boy
burglars and train wreckers (the long list
of which is becoming appalling) are ths
legitimate fruit of such literature, no less
than the girls in their teens who with hats
setting jsuntily on the back of their heads
and talking in loud voices, walk ouI
streets or crowd the public resorts imag