Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-08-04

Injustice. and there are score OF nov
clistic pens today doing mighty work
fer God and righteousness.
Now. | say. books like these read at
right times and read In right proper
tion with other books cannot help but
be ennobling and purifying. but. alas,
for the loathsOme and impure literature
that has come In the shape Of novels
like a freshct overflowing all the banks
Of decency and common sense! Theyare
coming from some OF the most cele-
brated publishing houses; they are
coming with recommendation OF some
of our religious newspapers; they lie
on Your center table to curse your chill
dren and blast with their Internal llres
generations unborn. You find these
books I'm the desk OF the school miss,
In the trunk of the young man, in the
steamboat cabin, on the table of the
hotel reception room. You see light
I'm your child's room late ut night You
suddenly 60 In and say, What are you
doingT IL am reading" What are
you readlngT ~ book" You look at
the book 1t Is bad book. "Where
did you get it," Il borrowed It,"
Alas. there are always those abroad
who would like to loan your son or
daughter bad book! Everywhere. ev-
erywhere, an unclean literature! |
charge upon it the destruction Of 10000
immortal souls, and | bid you wake
up to the magnitude Of the evil.
Books to Destroy.
I shall take all the worlds literature
good novels and bad, travels true and
false, histories faithful and Incorrect,
legends beautiful and monstr0us-all
tracts, all chronicles. all poems, all
family, city, state and national Ii
brarles, and pile them UP In pyramid
OF literature, and then | shall bring to
bear upon 1t some grand, glorious. in
fallible, unmistakable Christian prin-
ciples God help me to speak with
reference to my last account, and help
you to listen.
charge you. in the first place, to
pIctures of life. Life is neither a trag-
edy nor farce Men are not all either
knayes or heroes. Women are neither
angels nor furles. And yet, If you de-
pended upon much of the literature OF
the day. you would get the idea that
life, instead OF being something ear
nest, something practical, Is htful ana
fantastic and extrayagant thing. How
poorly prepared are that young man
and woman for the duties OF today
who spent last night wading through
brilliant passages descriptive OF mag
nlficent knavery and wickedness! The
man will be looking all day long for
his heroine, In the office, by the forge,
in the factory, In the calnting room,
and he will not find h01 and he VIII
be dissatisfied. A mGye-yfno ives him
self up to the indlscriminate reading
of novels will be nerveless, inane and
q nuisance. H0 will be fit neither for
the store. nor. the shop, nor the Held.
A woman who gives herself up to the
indiscriminate reading OF novels VIII
be untitled for the duties OF WIFE,
mother, sister, daughter There she
Is. hair dlsheveled, countenance va
cant, checks pale. hands trembling
| bursting into tears at midnight over
| the fate Of some unfortunate lover; IN
the daytime, when she ought to be
busy, staring by the half hour at
nothing; biting her finger nails Into
the quick. The carpet that was plain
before will be palmer after having
wandered through romance all nlgh'
/ long in tessellated halls OF castles
| And your Industrious companion Will
he more unattractive than ever, now
that YOU have walked In the romance
through parks with plumed princesses
or lounged I'm the arbor with polished
desperate. Oh, these confirmed nove
readers! They are untitled for this
life, which Is tremendous discipline
They know not how to go through the
furnaces Of trial through which they
must pass, and they are united for
world where everything we gain we
achieve by hard and long continuing
work.
Dangerous Curiosity.
Again. abstain from all those books
which. while they have some gooc
things. have also an admixture Of evil
You have read books that had two ele
ments in them-the good and the bad
Which stuck to you? The bad. The
heart Of most people is like a sieve
which lets the small particles OF golC
fall through. but keeps the great Gin
ders. Once In awhile there Is mirC
like a loadstOne which, plunged amiC
steel and brass filings gathers up th'
steel and repels the brass. But IL Il
! generally exactly the opposite. lf yol
attempt to plunge through a hedge Of
burs to get one blackberry. you vii
vet more burs than blackberrles. Iol
;. cannot afford to read bad book how
ever good you are. You say, "The In
6uence Is insignificant" | tell yol
that the scratch OF pin has some
, times produced lockjaw. Alas.
through curiosity. as many do, you pr
; into an evil book your curiosity Is a
dangerous as that of the man wh'
would take q torch into a gunpowde
mill merely to see whether 1t woul(
really blow up or not!
In a menagerie In New York maj
nut his arm through the bars OF
. black leopard's cage. The animar'
hide looked so sleek and bright ant
beautiful. He Just stroked 1t once
The monster seized him, and he drev
/ forth a hand torn and mangled ant
, bleeding. Oh, touch not evil even Wit
the faintest stroke! Though 1t may b
glossy and beautiful, touch it not les
, you pull forth your soul torn and bleed
t ing under the clutch of the leopard
But" you say, how can | find ou
} whether a book Is good or bad wlthou
reading 1T? There is always some
thing suspicious about bad book.
,,oxor Iruou an ayppnt tiOn-SOmothln