The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-03-25

VIRGINS as heaven-deScended likenesSes
after. seeing. for instance, the Forna-
rina of the Barberini palace. and feel
inc how sensual the artist must have
heen to paint such brazen trollop OF
his own accord, and lovingly?
But as for Mr.. GibsOn's colored
Venuses. stained. as / believe with
tobacco iuice. | really do not under
stand what they can have to say to
this generation. and | would be glad
to see as many heaps of quickiime III
their stead" Marble Faun.
Shall the decency of community be
shamed and sileDced by this cry OF
culture. God forbid. when our child
rem are in danger of contamlnatlon!
You can steep your boy in a cesspool
one whole year and not make nm
half SO vile as you can by allowing
him to swallow in the filthy sugges-
tions Of one bad book for single
hour No matter if the book be class
ic or not, artistic or not, if it soil the
souls of our children. away with it.
The fiction writer who studies IN,
art may be schooled perhaps by
Smollet and Boccaccio, the pedagogue
by Rebalais, and the poet b. nsron,
but the world would be none the
worse, l dare to say, if their books
were put by law and penalty far be-
yond the eyes of young people.
What if the total meaning of
"Sapho' does convey a moral lessen,
what then? Its value is special or local
merely. The book was written to warn
particular class of young men
against the dangers of polite and con-
ventional life in Paris. Young men
who have already entered upon such
Il life anywhere might. percharce ne
benefited by reading the book. But
in the great ma iority of INSTANCES.
"Sapho' introduces young people into
an utterly new and dazzling word
where the moral is submerged in :hc
sensual.
Would YOU believe in the efficacy of
ethics taught to classes of young men
and women assembled in bagnio?
But Daudet does something even more
dubious than this. He converts
bagnlo into home and teaches ethicss
there. Are you shocked at this? But
there is something even worse than
this in 'Sapho. Side by side with
this home he exhibits as a happy
home, another home sprung out of
a bawdy house. Bah! If I wanted my
boy to love the odor of attic violets.
I'd keep his nose if possible out of
slime pits.
, However. since our courts will not.
or IT may be cannot. protect our chill
dren from vicious literature, it is time
for parents and teachers to bestir
themselves. The best way. perhaps,
to exclude bad books from the lives
of our children is to pre-occupy their
minds with good books. Weeds are
not likely to grow in a plat of ground
upon which we lavish our love i'm the
cultivation of flowers. The gift of
what is good is better than warning
against what is bad
| wonder if it is generally known to
parents that the very cream of the
cream of the worlds literature has
been skinned for young people these
last few years? The daintiest, whole
soonest and noblest books of all time
have been simplifed, adapted and
cheapened for children this last quar-
ter century. These books ought to be
in every home and in every school
abuhdantly. They are standard class
les. all of them. but the stupidest man
would see marvellous difference be-
tween them and "Sapho.' They can
be read at least without bath in dis
afterwards.
At another time | will fill a column
with Il list of these classics for chill
dren. if it be desired
+. c. BRANSON.