The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-07-24

The harm dime novels do in the course Of q
generation is incalculable. They are annually re-
sponsible for hundreds, yes thousands Of juvenile
criminals OF course they are not the only source
of crime among boys but every prison, every reform
atory every training school and house of correction
in the United States harbors boys and young men
whose downfall is directly traceabe to the influence
of the dime novel They saw bandits canonized in
print crime painted in attractive colors their minds
became permeated with utterly false ideas of life,
and from thinking wrong to doing wrong is only q
short STEP Some time ago young man died in q
western prison who direct victim Of dime novels
and was good illustration Of the way they work.
When he was mere youth he soaked his mind in
tales Of bandits, horse thieves and bank robbers
until the height OF his ambition was to be bank
robber He realized his desire, shot man and went
to prison for life Several years later he died That
he might easily have been useful citizen was ap-
parent to all who knew him in captivity; for his
conduct in prison, his implicit obedience to the rules
and his evident desire to do right for rights sake
proved the stuff he was made of.
An active healthy minded boy Graves excite
ment When he reads he wants to read OF deeds
and has no interest in speculative matters That
this craving is natural and should be satisfied is
admitted by all people with sense; and there
are many books for boys that furnish the quality of
mental food they require and at the same time are
actually beneficial to the reader, being of good
wholesome nature. Take, for example, Coopers
novels, the Oliver Optic stories, '"Tom Browns
School Days" Maurice Thompson's nature stories
and the works of of other writer's whose
are household words-there isn't boy in the world
that is worth cent that wouldn't devour them,
skipping, of course, the descriptions But unfor-
tunatey these books less costly Scarcely
any of them be bought for less than twenty five
cents, and quarter will buy FIVE "Old Sleuth" or
"Deadwood Dick libraries The boy whose parents
are in comfortable circumstances doesn't read dime
novels He doesn't have to. But the son of poor
parents, the child of working people, has either to
read dime novels or nothing True, he draw
books from the library and if he attends Sunday
school can get the Rollo books there but the tales
of good little Roo and his friend Jonas don't inter-
est the modern boy and library books must be read
lat home, kept clean and returned promptly They
can't be crammed into inside pockets and read down
borrowed book is not auring to a boy, whose sense
of ownership and "bump of acquisition" are gener-
ally well developed.
What boon it would be if some one would
establish printing house that would turn out all
the best literature for boys at prices within the
reach of all classes! For instance, if such books
were all sold at five cents copy at retail. That's
the price of the dime novel. Such publishing
house would have to do business with every small
statoner and cigar dealer in the tenement districts
of the large Cities and would certainly lose money
but if the dime novel could be frozen out land it
would be) and future citizens benefited what differ
ence would the monetary loss make? Few charities
are on paying basis. The scheme ought to be
worth trial at any rate.
News comes from the west of the expulsion of a
physician from of the leading medical societies of
his state because he fit to advertise Prior to the
time of inserting the notice in the paper the physician
in question Of good standing in the community
and popular among his colleagues, but as
he took that fatal step he became at an outlaw
among medical men and, SO strong is ancient pre-
judice he also lost caste among the balance OF the
community.
This is instance of the tyranny of custom,