The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1905-01-05
THE SOUTHERN SENTINEL WINFIELD, JANUARY 5. 1905


open door into that young mans hands.
In that bad book I will open that
young mans eyes to the pleasures Of
sin. I will excite all his evil passions.
Before that young mans eyes l will
halo sin in rs fascinating language as
Lord Byron ever did in his autobiog-
Hraphy of Don Juan. In that book
through garden of fragrant roses
will lead that young man up to the
very gates of hell. will make him
think he is approaching the gates OF
heaven Then, just at the right mo-
ment, when that tempting book is
working its charms, we will give that
young man shove and push him into
the flames of the bottomless pit
"Ahaw cried the demons exukingly.
"Aha! We will capture that young man
through the influence Of a bad book.
o man, am l going beyond the truth
when l state that your eyes We're first
opened to the sins Of this world
through the influence Of bad book?
And am I going beyond my right when
l state that one of the reasons. and the
chief one, that you are not what you
ought to be In Christian character Is
because every little while you allow
yourself to revel in scenes Of wicked
ness and riot conjured up by the mag
nation of some licentious author4
There you associate with characters OF
that writer's. creation so vile that you
would shrink from contact with them
II you We're introduced to them In the
flesh. but you are fascinated by the
glamour with which they are clothed In
bis pages.
What II Your Boy Readinss
But the fiendish heart Of bad book
is not satisfied with Staying one men,
Der Of a family. Like the fatal coils
of the serpent Of LAGOON. 1t would
crush out the life Of father and the
lives Of his children also. 0 man.
your spiritual life may be poisoned by
bad books! Have you ever stopped to
think that your children's spiritual
lives may be In the process Of being
poisoned by the same deadly fangsf
What is your boy doing In the next
room? "He Is reading" is your an
swer. What is he readingi Only q
book" What kind OF a book Is he
reading? Where did he get that book7
oh" you answer, II do not know. I
let my boy select his own literature to
read. I believe he said be borrowed
that book from one Of his compan-
IONS" Do you not know what your
boy is reading? After your own awful
experience many years ago In reading
q bad book. from the evil effects Of
which hope you may have recovered,
are you going to let your boy continue
to read that book1 Would you, II you
could prevent 1t, allow Jour boy to go
with evil companionss Would you
allow him at his tender age
to wander down into the vile haunts
and look upon the immoral cesspools Of
our great cities? You are doing some
thing as bad as that o father, you
are allowing an unpr1ncipled author to
show your boy sin In its most attrac.
tive form! Can you not see there Is
wrong In your boys bookf
Look at his glassy eye and flushed
cheek and labored breathing. There
are seeds OF infamy being sown now In
TINT young mans heart which. II not
stamped out at once. may grow up into
q harvest Of tares, which Satan and
his demoniac hirelings alone will gath
er. o God, help us to come to the
arm, Christian decision OF never inten-
tionally reading bad book nor Of al
lowing bad book to be placed IN the
hands Of our loved ones!
do not mean by this that the books
we admit to our hearts and homes
must be limited to distinctively reli-
gious books. We must read for instruc- |
hon and for entertainment. Because Z |
book Is not distinctly O religious book
hat Is no reason why necessarily 1t
should be debarred from coming to our
eading chairs. Some books we should |
elect because they are books Of travel,
'ome because they are the Biographies
4 men and women who were the great
eaders and makers Of the worlds his
DRY. The higher the mountain peak
lpon which you stand the wider the
ange OF your horizon. We should &C.
ect some books because they teach M
he geographical and geological or az
economical or atmospheric or biological
obstruction Of the animal, vegetable or
aineral kingdom, whether these studies
. inside Of the world or above theworld
Z upon the surface Of the world. I'm
be beginning God created the heavens
nd the earth, the sea and all that n
hem is" 1t Is our duty to learn %
much as possible about Gods creations
we can do so without curtailing the
FORK for which God created US. But
hough we should select books of travel
nd Of fiction. II the right kind OF &c
lon. we should also select certain books
9 lifetime companions because first
nd last and intrinsically they were
vritten to teach us the duties Of the
pirttual life. We should read them
ecause they were written to teach M
ow to love the Lord our God with all
ar heart and soul and mind ana
rength. and our neighbor as our.
elves.
The Books Fof tatmeA.
Limit my reading to books writteh
Or spiritual edification?" says some