The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-04

gressed so much as we might hone. But surly you have no such gratIfyina consciousness in reading of the ris. gusting love affairs of that weak and silly Americans heiress, whho (as | judge from headlines which I could not help seeing). having obtained a divorce from degraded count about to marry a prince whose life has been quite as shady"
 Nc confessed Mrs. A.. "I can't see any excuse for reading all the ins and outs Of such a story as that But I have done more of 1t than I meant to--and find that people are talking about 1t everywhere. Really, when the parties in the case are so very rich and when prominent social figures from Paris are involved 1t isn't quite like talking over our everyday scandals at home"
 "But It is any better? Isn't there sort of vulture-and-car air about the whole business? Should we be obliged to examine all the dirty linen of people--counting the pieces and not ing the soil on each one-just because those people are rich? We do not think very highly of the historical records which contain the details of court scandals. The professional historian must wade through them-just as the newspaper people must wade through these--but itis enough for the rest of us to know the mere facts that Charles II and Louis XIV and Catharine of Russia were hopelessly immoral. Per- haps the most unsparingly condemned of all historical characters was that of Jeroboani. the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sim but It would be considered q mark of very low taste fin us to desire to read the full record of hls ill-odored crimes. What is the difference between doing that and wanting to read the nasty news of the present day7"
 ''But these newspaper interviews and accounts cannot be So loathsome es thosei"
 T don't know why not" continued Mrs B. You hear that a foolish young millionaire has spent enormous sums of money upon disreputable woman; that divorced count has been doing this or that-just exactly the old, old sins that Jeroboam com mittee-burning incense on the altars of the fieshy gods instead of the true ones--and very little is left to the im- agtnation-not more than 1t can read fly supply. Now I maintain that peo- pie cannot spend a half hour or so each day in the society--even the iin- aginary soeiety--of such beings with out becoming more or less smirched."
 Then you think we ought to skip all such news In the papers?"
 T certainly do. If you are asked about 1t. why should you be ashamed not to know? There are certain th hinEs that we ought to be proud to be ig- norant of. And if the papers found out that people would not read these lonE. specialized descriptions of doing of these creaturesy~many of whom are outside the pale of decent society, why, they would stop printing them. It Is said that we are much harder on the man who steals a loaf of bread. then on one who steals railroad. It might also be said that we are much harder on the poor man who abuses his wife than we are on these rich men and women who break all the command ments. We see that his sins are low and disgusting, and we scorn to read of them. Not so of the others. Great wealth seems to dazzle us. We lose the sense of moral and social values and all this gossip about rich people, in themselves most uninteresting indi- viduals. as a rule--seems to me to be and demoraiIzing. It seems to me that all good people ought to set their faces like a flint against it. It Is especially bad for children and young people. Many of them are no doubt ruined for life by it."
 This woman may have been too se- were. Her friend thought that she was. She Is probably considered purf- tanieaf -and% over-niee- by these who have d horror of setting up to be bet ter than the great rank and file.
 But all the same. there Is good deal in what she says. We ars made far more than we know. by what we read-and the sin of the printed word may be almost as contagious as of those "evil (personal) eoumunicat- ions" which, as everyone acknowl- edges, corrupt good manners