Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-01-27
LURID LITERATURE
TEMPTS GIRLS

EMPTED by visions of the end
less round of pleasure and
1 excitement that waited them
in New York, whose very name spells
romance to the average girl, Eliza
beth Privitt and Anna Tate of Rid
ley Park attempted to run away
day or so ago.
They were caught by the police and
after some bitter hours in narrow
cell in city hall their fathers took
them back home.
But the romance has not been
torn from their minds by realities.
Little Miss Privitt still signs for the
glories of that great metropolitan
city, and not any Of the kindly
truths told her by Captain of Detee-
tives Souder could eliminate from
her mind the picture which lurid
literature had drawn for her.
1--WE read of lots of girls who
went to New York and got married
or became famous actresses" she
said, and all her youth and inno-
cence spoke in those words, as they
did in the tears of little Anna Tate.
1--WE read about it," There lay
the crux of the whole matter, and
the rock upon which so many girlish
lives are wrecked.
In the pages of the novel virtue ia
always so triumphant; there is al
ways a hero for every villain. and
true love always crowns a life OF
work in the great city, whether it is
Bertha, the beautiful shop girl, or
Mary, who becomes Marietta the
wonderful actress and returns home
to lift the mortgage on the farm.
But in real life there is more
tragedy than comedy and more I'm
happy endings to the story of love
than happy ones
Girls can't understand that. Why
should they?
But if lurid literature wes kept
out of their hands there would be
fewer runaways.
It's all right when they are caught
and brought back-if they don't &C
again, which, alas! they often do.
But once they get caught in the
whirlpool of the city and are sucked
beneath the surface and catch
glimpse of it's depths, they long to
go home-and are afraid to.
That same literature has shown
them that no forgiveness awaits the
girl who has gone down even once
into the depths, ahd 20 they struggle
pitiful, frightened, homesick, until
real callousness comes through very
excess of suffering
And books-not bad books, per
bapstbut foolish books are usually
the beginning.
Gracious! Haven't we all of u,
"sneaked' away With some boor
companion to eat apples and thrill
and sigh and exclaim over thess
marvellous stories which come in such
gay paper covers?
Haven't we all of US lain dreaming
Of being Just such another heroine:
We most of US outgrow it, Of course
that is. if we are given an oppor
tuntty to learn to appreciate better
things, but the girls in whose home
books do not figure usually stick te
the lurid kind.
From the time your boys and girls
are big enough, give them books thai
will encourage healthful dreams ant
aspirations. Don't forbid the gaudy
tales, for they will probably have
added zest il forbidden, but give
them enough good literature to take
away the taste for the bad, just al
you give them good sweets and food
to prevent them from eating un.
healthy varieties.
Once they have learned to like ane
desire interesting books that are
worth while, the cid novels WILL have
lost their zest and the little banks OF
their lives will be turned into safe
channels far away from the swift
currents that rush through narrow
chasms TO the whirlpools OF sin and
sorrow, and the rocks of the cityl
life, where the dreams Of fame and
the dreams of marrying a great man
are forever shattered.