The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-02-04

and Mrs. Martin. from the Flrxt Ere
church Of Tacoma.
THE NUDE IN ARr.
Dr.. Alisonss Sermsu q. IN. at.. 49,
ssnnsrs az City Life.
Rev. DR.. Alison preached last eves,,n.
his seventh discourse on .sThe sins ara
sinners OF Our CITY Life" His subject
Was. The Kind OF Books and Pictures
70 AVOID and Why" His text was Aaas-
thew v:s: blessed are the pure In
heart" In the outset he said: 1t is diff
cult in these days TO secure the interest
OK the masses OF the people in thu read
Ing Of that which 10 solid. substantial.
serious and clean. The great majority
OF men ana women prefer 10 read that
which 10 light. silly and laughter-provok.
Ing The speaker took the position that
this kind Of reading tended TO weaken
bosh sexes for the serious work OF ufe.
He said. however: do not imagine thar
condemn novel reading In toto, There
place In literature for the work OF fic-
ton. There are good novels and bad
ones. Novel writing IL but portrait
painting, and when true 70 It's mission
II may, Ike Photography. prove q very
use1m art. Like photography. also, It
may be, and has been, abused" He quoted
Afmong novels which he considered uHe-
ful and elevating the works OF Sir WAL
ter Scott. Charles Dickens, Thackeray, e.
r. Roe. Pausy. etc. He said. In this
connection: The good novel, Is, after
all. the real ant1x1ote to the bad one.
f~ hat fo<.r <na<-
poison will have anything to do with the
anticote. After all. prevention 10 bet
ter than cure. He who reads few
novels Is In less danger than he who
makes 1t his chief delight TO scan the
page OF fiction.
People read novels because they do not
require much. IL any. mental exercise.
We like that which Is easy In matters
mental as we'll as physical. But there
Is q serious aspect to this. II your mind
Is not exercised on heavy lifting 1t will
not become strong to lift, any more than
the muscles Of the arm viii II not trained
by exercise OF the hardest kind. Given
q well-tra2ned muscle and any reasonable
weight may be raised; given q well-dis-
ciplaned mind. and Il IL competent to
grapple with any problem. The mind OF
the hahetual novel reader II not apt TO
lead In the race Of life. where strong
thinking has to be done. and done quick
ly. DIR. Alison then undertook TO show
that the great men OF the world had not
been readers or light literature, but
heavy. In proof OF this he quoted many
names OF distinguished men and the
books which were their favorites. He
mentioned. among Others the Duke Of
Wellington. the hero OF Waterloo. His
favorite books were Clarendon" But
ier's analogy Adam Smiths Wealth
Of Nations" and tho Bible. The speaker
said: Amy man or woman who will re-
solve. and carry the resolve into effect,
to master Buffers Analogy and Adam
Smiths Wealth OF Nations win GER
iainiy be heard from personally or IN
poSterity.
lie then gave some words % connss!
as to the Kind OF books TO avoid. He
said: First OF all, be sure to steer clear
OF those aoveis that give a false view Of
our human existence" He developed
this quite fully. Els second point was.
..ge on your guard against the novel
that leads a double life: that is. neither
good nor bad. and that is really both In
a sense. But remember that no book
can be both good and bad any more than
man can. The had destroys the good.
There Is no affinky beSweeas good and
evil: between Christ ard Beiial. You
cannot mix the holy and the unhcly. any
more than you can oil and water.
What VIII you remember In a mixed
beoAe VIII you remember the good or
the had? Ask those who know from ex-
psrieisce. They VIII tell you It Is the
had that sticks. One OF the greatest
preachers La thu world testified In old
age that he never got over something
he read an 3 book which did not occupy
I'm reading over fifteen minutes Dr.
Alison spoke OF the amount OF foul iis-
eraturs that comes into our city under
cover az the sealed envelope. He sud:
..tfncle Sans mails are used more than
,ise officials are able 20 discover. Oh
scene matter fioats thrnugss thu Anerf-
can postofslce TO the tune OF thousands
and thousands year It Is impossible
TO detect the sealed letter 10 any great
extent" He spoke OF Mr.. InssrsoH SIS
cnarnpsonsng the cause che fsend who
sends the vile stuff through the ssail on
the ground that the pcstosflce department
is a public carrier. arsa sfsas this IL q
free country. He closed with a ssrong
,srzunciation OF the vicious pictorial and
the vile photograph. when SATAN" he
sssd. sseanaos capture the boy or the girl
by getting them to read a bad book. he
nxav ret them into his net by placing
before their eyes the obiecsursassie rao-
ture.ss TIE speaker thought u - shame
that such pictures a. were on exhibition
on eur streets the past week shcaE not
be put tznwn by the authorities. They
were certainly indecssat. am astonas rcd
saas they are allowed" He also der~e-
eares ttse freescus with wsasch go~sd r-eo-
pse decorated their xoosns with pictures
ana seaesmry that ought to be consigned
20 darkness. "A few years sgu." he
asa. s-ss was only IN sasns private part
OF = saiccs. which the initiated knew bow
% reach, thas certain pictures ard stas-
nary were ea exhshitsoa. Tcday they
49, 10 soxsgS- conessaiea- In many OF the
e.exs h,.ses ON FIFTH avenue New York.
ana In al our cities large ana small
vsss meet. on essersag . passc< or draw
tnx reossa. Displays cs sc-szs.sai ar1sssic
<eu.sxs thae 20 the ansophtsssrate3 are
sl.,xr.sy shocking. You are fvuwEsd urea
as hespw yzsr In culture ard ressnsrsent e
yssa show any saSns q assxssai aSzassa.
1-ase snss.e in ara hax became 80 mach