The morning news., 1894-05-21
THE EVILS OF BAD BOOKS.
Rev. T. Il. BlGnHS on the Effects Of
PeTniCiOuS Literature.

ANS0PS no Neeo Eor higher Class
of Literature, Refinement of Pub
lie Taste and Of Public Morals.
Rev, T. II. Blenus, pastor Of the Chris
tian church, preached an interesting dis
course yesterday on the evils Of bad lit
erature, basing his sermon on Rev. K,
and 10.
Mr.. Blenus showed that the experience
of the Apostle John has been and is the
experience OF many readers of doubtful
and hurtful books and trashy literature
not coming, as Johns book from the
hands of angels. The present age, he
said, is remarkable one. The printing
press IS the handmaid of the mind and
the embalmer of human thought. Every
move of moment, social, political and re-
llglous, finds its mention in the daily
press. Books are the only audible and
articulate voices of the ACCOMPLISHED
deeds, thoughts and actions Of the past,
and bequeath to the people of to-day the
manners Of antiquity, making them as
familiar as the deeds of but yesterday.
Mr.. Blenus dwelt upon the wonderful
influence Of books upon human character
and showed that a well chosen library is
no longer luxury, but a mental and
moral necessity. A man can be better
Judged by the books and papers he reads
Than by the company he keeps. His COM
pdnlons may not be the creatures of his
selection, but his reading is certainly of
his own choosing, and makes deeper and
| more lasting impression on his mental
| ana moral character than any other indu-
ence with which he may come in contact.
BOOKS THAT ARE WORTH READING.
No book that is worth printing
or WORTH reading is without it's
moral expression, as true to the book
itself as TO the face of an individual is to
his own personality, hence the great need
OF the most sCrupulous care in the selec-
tlon OF such writings as will elevate, in
struct, ennoble, and lift the heart and
mind by an inspiring influence above the
| low, the sensual and the grovelling.
tits to be deplored that much of the cur
| rent literature of to-day is anything but
| soul-Gfting, and ennobling. Many writers
| recognize out one standard of action, pecu-
! mary profit. The lowest, the most
vicious, and the most debased taste is
| catered TO, till every news stand and
| book store is flooded with trashy filth,
| sweet to the taste, but bitter in the ex-
| perience The bright-faced, innocent
minded children of our country, the boys,
ana the girls, soon to be the men and
/ NOLuCn VI our ldEu, lGbu IQ6lE young
! minds on the dime novel. the sentimental
! love story the viciously suggestive
| serial, till their plastic and pliable hearts
| are debauched by these timetables for the
! road to eternal ruin. Notes of warning
! often come TO us from the gallows, the
! chatn-gang, and the prison, and yet the
| wreck and he ruin go on.
| DR.. CheeYer once wrote, "A man who
writes an immoral but immortal book
may be tracked into eternity by a pro
| cession of lost souls from every genera
! ton; every one of them to be a witness
against him at the Judgment, to show to
! him and the universe the unmeasureable
| dreadfulness Of his iniquty."
HAD REASON TO TRENBLE.
It is said of an American writer Of SEN
! sational stories, that in a recent CONVEX
| sation with friend, he said. "When I
! sit at my table, surrounded by my inno-
! cent and beloved daughters, and think of
much of the influence of the works of
! sentiment, false, weak and foolish, have
| given TO the world, l quake and trem-
! BILE"
! The bad book would never appear if
! there were no demand for il. Here is the
| sad secret of its success. - said Mr.. Blcnus
! "Wo need refinement of public taste and
| public morals. We need to educate the
! young in the direction of a vigorous self
! culture, and we will then elevate the
| standard of literature for the masses.
! False pictures of life are presented to the
/ youth of our country, making life tragiCal
and farcical, when it is in reality neither.
| The basely extravagant portrayal of
| thought and action, ever htful, fanciful
and fantastic, to be found in the popular
novel, or serial story, where knaves, vii
lains. the impure and the immoral are
made to pass as heroes and heroines,
units the reader for the higher and
nobler walks and aims of life, while il
degenerates the whole being into an in
ane, useless, castl6-building good-for-
nothing. Many thousands of our people
| never read history, poetry or science, and
yet they read-they are ever reading.
They 60 to an empty source with an
empty mind.
ENJOYMENT THAT Is aOsT.
Those who have no taste for the better
literature, who have failed to cultivate
the disposition to read works of in
struetion, full of the material of heart
and mind building, have not only pros
tituted their better powers and higher
capa bilities but are also in ignorance of
that honey, sweet to the taste, present
and after that they might have enjoyed
Books of doubtful moral, and books of in
ferior teaching, or of Indifferent use,
should be rejected, especially when we
can in this day have recourse TO the
spring-centerS of the best, the noblest
and the purest teachings of letters and
science.
We boast Of American freedom, Of the
freedom that belongs TO the people, the
rostrum, the pulpit and the press, but I
cannot help but think that in some in
stances, at least, we have dissipation of
freedom, and with the press at least,
there Should be a curtailing Of a freedom
that has but one result, and that to lower
the standard of morals and debase, de-
grade. and even destroy the God-ordained
principles Of family and home. It would
be a blessing to the youth of our country
if a large, yes, q very large, majority of
the paper-covered trash born into our
world-of letters, could be strangled before
they saw the light Of day, or found
brief resting place on the counters of our
news stands / am not a pessimist. l say
let us read Day ana night let us read.
But when we believe that what we read
goes far to the molding Of character
and shaping life, let US be careful what
we read. Good books are our truest, our
dearest, and our safest companions.
Good books, says one, "are the crystal
line founts, which hold in eternal ice the
imperishable gems of the past"
THE BOOK OF BOOKS.
In concluding, Mr.. Blenus dwelt on the
grandeur, power, beauty and blessedness
of the best of books, the Bible. This