The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-08-16
CNNHOLES0ME LITERATURE.
By J. F. J. Caldwell


written for The Herald and News.)
It is strange that neither Of the
two principal instructors in morality
the pulpit and the press-speaks
much or often concerning the corrupt
ing literature of the day. Both Of them
inveigh earnestly and constantly
against intemperance in liquor or
drugs, against gambling, against Sab
bath-breaking and profane swearing,
against cheating, against the small
evils of igarette-smoking and dissi-
patton in dancing; but we rarely hear
word from the one, or read line
by the other, against the vile reading
matter spread before the people, and
devoured by. them. The apprehension
of the other evils l have mentioned is
eminently proper. Hardly too much
can be said against them. But why
should hurtful literature be spared?
Possibly this is because its effects
are not so immediate or so apparent
as those of the other vices. A man
gets drunk. and beats his wife, or los
es his health, or his sense, or his
money, or his employment; Ini we
have unquestionable evidence Of the
injuriousness of excessive drinking.
A boy makes flabby ghost Of him
self by over-indulgence in cigarettes;
and the evil of that habit is manifest
And so with gambling and some other
dissipations. The operation OF dele
terious literature is slower and less
conspicuous. It shows no result very
soon in the readers body, or in his &C.
tions, or in his spiritual state, and it
must be admitted, that there are per-
sons Of minds so well balanced and
principles so we'll fixed, that they pass
safely through long course of in
dulgence in the poison, and that al
most any one may venture upon The
dissipation occasionally.
But there is nevertheless deadly
poison in the thing; and its danger
BUSINESS is all the greater because OF
it's quiet insidiousness. Most other
baneful elements are prompt in their
action like the material poisons prus-
sic acid, carbolic acid and strychnine.
This one resembles those slow poisons
which produce no apparent change i'll
an hour, or in a day, or in week,
yet gradually corrode and waste the
system, weakening and depraving all
it's partse, quietly paralyzing all its
healthy energies and engenderlng
mortal disorders, till the victim per-
ishes, beyond the possibility Of res
toration. The operation Of impure
literature is similarly gradual, and
similarly sure to produce results. 1t
slowly represses the purer thought
and sentiment; it quietly, but stead
lily, generates an unhealthy excite
ment Of mind; it creates and fosters
low, depraved taste; it, step by step,
engenders and natures an appetite
for vicious life by painting that life in
gaudy and attractive colors. 1t is all
the more influential when it presents
vice, partly yelled; for them much OF
vices depravity is concealed. 1t
would be far less dangerous if it ex-
hibited evil in it's nakedness, for then
it would disgust anydecent taste. Such
novels as "Red Pottage," Tolstol's
anna Karanina" and several of
Ouida's do more harm than G. W. NJ.
Reynolds flthiest stories or the bald
licentiousness of Fielding's ''Tom
Jones'" for the latter offend and re-
pei US by their grossness, whereas the
eo1mer furnish rotten aess disguised,
nay made inviting by agreeable
dressing and favoring.
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues Of life"
That element-by which | mean the
spiritual part of man or woman-ls
the source, the controlling force, the
real essence of life. AS We can not
gather grapes from thorns. nor figs
from thistles, so right living is i'm
possible to human being Of diseased
or depraved thought and sentiment
and taste. The two antagonists, pur-
ity and impurity, can not dwell to-
gether in harmony or equality. OF
course none of us can claim, or hope,
in this life, to be absolutely free from
impurity; but the proportion Of i'm
purity to purity of thought and SEN
timent determines whether our course
shall be upward or downward, for a
human being never travels along a
dead level, but must rise to greater