BAD BOOKS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 09, 11 January 1908, Page 13

BAD BOOKS.

Mrs. Annie S. Swan, in the British Weekly, writes that tho evil wrought rby unclean and suggestive books is moro widely spread than is generally admitted. Miss Corelli, she thinks, is in error in supposing that wealthy and indolent readers of the upper class are chiefly affected by "the fleshly school of fiction." , That such do read these books she does not doubt, but sho says : — "My correspondence with women of the middle classes, both young and mature, in all parts of the world, nnd extending over a considerable period, has sadly convinced me that the harm j wrought by immoral books, dealing almost exclusively and suggestively with sex questions, is incalculable. In spite of the utmost vigilance on the part of mothers and teachers, undesirable books are constantly found in the possession of young girls, and are passed from one to another, with all that camaraderie which distinguishes girls in their early friendships. These books are far too easily obtained ; the glowing terms in which they are- often dealt with by reviewers, and the candour with which they are advertised, giving readers every facility for learning what is in the market, and where it can be obtained. We are all tired of the plea that art is not, nor ever can be, for tha young person; that as a reader especially sho is entitled to no consideration whatsoever. If unable to. digest the strong meat provided for her elders, she must take her chance. But it is a very risky chance. I have known many girls (have talked with them and written to them) whose N whole view of life has been perverted on 'its very threshold by bad books, who have had their moral standard lowered, and the worst that is in them awakened and fostered by their perusal. I say this quite deliberately, because I know full well what lam writing about. The shipwreck of many a woman's life could be traced in the first instance to the pernicious influence of immoral books. It has to be remembered that these books are studied by immature and often ill-bal-anced minds, totally incapable of adjusting their proportion. "A good many years ago, when the appearance of the sex novel first caused / a sensation, the outcry against it was naturally loud. Prominent among these books was placed The Heavenly Twins,' which being written by a woman, was held up for special reprobation. Compared with what now pours unhindered, and apparently most welcome, from tho press, 'The Heavenly Twins' was both noble and inspired. I have indeed never been able to understand why it should have been so universally condemned, being actuated by a high purpose, unhesitatingly condemning vice, and making it hideous, both in its operation and consequences. We have sunk much deeper since then, or, to put it more correctly, we are openly unashamed. I would here protest against the assumption made in certain quarters, and too easily accepted in others, that women are the chief offenders in the- production of risky books. Thi3, in the interests of my fellow women writers, I totally deny ; and were it nofc for giving gratuitous advertisement to the books in question, would give indisputable figures. Tho other day a correspondent, an old lady, wrote t0 me> from a country town complaining bitterly of the quality of the books sent by her librarian when she loft it to his discretion. She I asked whether there was no protection for an old lady who was out of touch with the books in vogue at the present day. One book &o offended net i taste that, after part perusal, she thrust it iAfcq the and HS^tfi^^ i&ly§

to tho library to explain and protest, • She- was then ini ormeiji that tha book in question, which has already gone | through muny editions, was almost exclusively taken out by young women, and that many of thorn bought it after having rea,"d it from the library. Sho asks what Christian women are going to do about this, it was a matter i requiring urgent and drastic action. ! Something surely requires to bo done, if our young women are to be saved from contamination, from forming abnormal ideas of life, from exalting and exaggerating every question relating to sex.' r