The record-union., 1895-01-22
Those Living Pictures,

EDS. RECORD UNION: I beg you to pub
llsh The following liues, which, l believe,
will be OF general interest TO the public:
Some time ago | read within the lines
of the RECORD UNION that the mothers
and daughters of one of our great East
ern cities had entered upon a warfare
against living pictures" l did not un-
derstand the motive of this unfrie ndIy
demonstration toward the "iiYing piCt-
ures" at that time. They may have been
eXhi Dited in our local tneaters, but since
[ have not frequented them for years,
Tor the same reason which compels me
to write these lines, | have not heard or
seen anything o. them.
But now the living pictures" will be
in our midst. Our young men will go to
see them and feast their eyes upon the
almost uncOnceaIed nakedness Of female
bodies in which shame has passed away
long ago. Husbands Will take their
wives, and perhaps parents their sons
and daughters, and thereby induce them
TO see what their mothers have taught
them TO be sin against purity and chas-
tlty. To tell the public what they will
behold IN nature, the photos OF these
living pictures have for weeks been
exhibited in the large show window of
one of our leading stores. The writer's
attention was first drawn to them by the
devouring the pictures, whilst the woman
that was compelled to pass the place
your mother, wife or aughter-hurried
past TO avoid the unCAaste glance that
sized up their forms from head to foot.
But why does the writer Of these lines
write this? Not because he thinks he
can stop the entertainment and eXhlDi
ton of the Giving pictures" But he
would draw the attention OF the friends Of
social purity to the dangers to which our
sons and daughters are exposed. We are
hurried into an age OF extreme pleasure
seeking, which ends in sensualism, and
to which chastity is no more sacred.
Nothing is spared 10 make the haunts OF
pleasure attractive, even if it cost de-
cenCy and purity.
We cry over the decline of morals and
lament over the increase Of fallen men
and women. But here the poison of i'm
morality is administered in such plain
manner that its fruit cannot be anything
but Righteousness, and, alas in not few
cases, prostitution.
The class Of women that do not hesitate
to expose their forms as living pictures
cannot be far from the class OF their sex,
which we deplore, to be among the fallen
ones. Their reward is money and tue ap-
plause OF their bewildered spectators.
But if they gain accession into so-caIled
society" there must, certainly, ''some-
thing be wrong" History teaches us
that the most speedy way to ruin is the
decline of social purity. On the other
hand, the strength of nations and their
children was rooted in social chastity.
These lines are strong and earnest ap-
peal to all citizens who love their coun-
try; to husbands who love their wives,
and do not wish them TO be abused and
insulted by such as cultivate immoral
passions; TO parents who wish to see
their sons and daughters grow up chaste
and pure; to our merchants or dealers in
pictures, to keep their show windows
clean of pictures that would make your
mother blush; finally, to all who esteem
the laws Of God and the rights and feel
ings of our sisters. May the voice of
wisdom be heard
\ HUSBAND AND FATHER.
Sacramento, January q, 1895.