The Bee-Hive. — 1875-10-09 (London, England)

BAD BOOKS.  Are thieves made by thieves' literature? Put more generally, the question is a very old one. "Train up a child in the way it should go." " As the twig is bent the tree's inclined." There are a hundred texts in sacred and profane literature—in prose and in verse to direct us on this subject; and yet, as a nation, it is almost frightful to think how long we went on neglecting them, and how indifferent we were to the plainest and most important duty towarde the children of the laud. As a matter of course we are nOiv  paying the penalty. The land swarms with ignorant children, many of whom can just read, so as with some difficulty to find a meaning, and get a sensation out of a plainly written story of crime or• of horror, out of wild adventures and "hair-breadth 'scapes," that excite the feeling without in any way touching the intellect. What are we to do under such circumstances? There is much discussion in the newspapers just now, and much abuse lavished on those who publish and sell the pernicious trash by which young people are corrupted. But whilst we admit that nothing as condemnation can be too severe for such unscrupulous panderers to vice, we, at the same time, insist that there has been no new development of the evil, and that the publishing trade of the country is not in any sense going back; but in many senses improving in the character of its influence on the public mind. We have not heard it stated that the Jenny Divers, the Jack Shepherds, the Blueskins, or the Sixteen-stringed Jacks were made by a juvenile study of the feats of older heroes. Yet they were made, and are now the principal characters in thieves' literature. If we destroyed this literature to-morrow, it is to be feared that thieves and burglars would be bred notwithstanding; nevertheless, we should be pleased to see the arm of the law strike heavily at such a mischievous class of offenders as those who publish it. The best way, however, to take the sting out of such a trade is to invade its market by a better class of publications. These vile penny serial stories of crime aro really the dearest things known to the country. They do not give half as much for a penny as honest wholesome publications contain. But the wholesome publications are not written in a style to suit the small ignorant customers who can only derive pleasure from rasping adventures, and deeds of daring fhat curdle the blood. When any attempt is made to catch the young amongst our very poor, it is usually with publications pious to the point of silliness; or pitched high above the comprehensions of the miserable young arabs for whom they are intended.  A publishing society that would issue-publications got up in the same manner as the Dick Turpin literature, but giving much more for a penny, in 'which the heroes were boys who are made to grapple with thieves and murderers, and drag them to justice for their crimes, with such adventures as freeze the blood, in defence of innocence and truth, much good would be done. There need be no moral, and the less piety the better. We are not debating as to what kind of publication is best in itself, but what kind would be best for superseding the mischievous trash now published. Unless something of this sort be done, we really do not see any use in newspaper controversy on such a subject. Time and a universal system of education for the young are our main reliances. Immediately, however, the evil might be met in the way we have pointed out, and not only much harm prevented, but much good at the same time done.