PENNY DREADFULS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5374, 6 September 1904, Page 3

PENNY DREADFULS.

BOOKS AND CRIME. WHAT YOUNGSTERS READ. When Mr Justice Edwards, at Napier last week, ‘■commented very strongly on tho immoral tendency of pernicious literature allowed to be sold throughout the colony,” ho undoubtedly placed his finger cn the fringe of a great evil. And yet sensational reading is a more circumstance contributing towards tho initiating of child minds. Tho “penny dreadful” has been the beta noir of the watchful mother for a couple of generations past. Sho has .searched for it under the backstairs and in tho disused wardrobe; she has declaimed against it when the household is on famillo; and finally, she has implored the bookseller not to tell it to her particular son, if ho be among the inquisitive young rascals who hand their pennies across the counter with a gleam of expectation in their eyes.It is ono of the stages of a. man’s development that lie should bo a dreamer for a while. That is when ho is leaving boyhood behind, and begins to feel man’s strength, without having man’s experience. Tho following sentence, put by Arthur Adams into the mouth of ono of his heroines, aptly expresses this phase: “A little cloudland is necessary to everybody.” Tbo boy does not realise yet, as the speaker proceeds to say, that “you’vo got to come down and walk on solid earth for a bit if you want to roach anything. You ought to feel what life is like, rub shoulders with the crowd.” That is just tho danger. At the ago when ho is a dreamer the boy is not rubbing shoulders with tho crowd. Ha is imbibing his inspirations, framing his ideals, from tho fountain of letters which ho is just able to understand. Consequently, ho is a precarious creature. Ho reads with staring, wonderladen ©yes tho breathless tales of tho Wild West. By-ancl-bye, his wonder becomes all admiration. Ha Is dazzled with the glamour that surrounds tho life and deeds of Buffalo Bill and Deadshot Dick, and that boy, if lie is a boy at all, is ready right away to embrace tho first chance of becoming a splendid, doughty coufboy like them. Ho would just as willingly be the blackguard of the piece, except that tho subtle Providence which pervades even tho penny dreadful generally brings tho blackguard to a rogue’s death. That is distasteful. Let us see what manner of, stuff reposes behind the multi-coloured paper covers of the penny dreadfuls. Tho Wild Most library deals chiefly with the prowess of ono Buffalo Bill. He is a tremendous man, ready to fill any role, from King of tho Border to the lover of Wild Nell, who is tho Amazon Queen of the. West. These books—they run into about a couple of dozen —are described as “grand stories of exciting and thrilling adventure,” and that is perhaps the worst that can be said of them. They detail, in instalments of a penn’orth, tho escapades, tlie loves, the heroisms of tho man who is typical of life out West. Suffice to say that in themselves they would do very little ' to lead youth into those paths of evil-doing which tho Judge at Napier found were frequently blazed by pernicious literature.

First cousin to the Wild West series is the “Tip Top” library. The hero in this case is one Diamond Dick. He is probably no more pernicious a customer than Buffalo Bill; but let us look inside. The very introduction, setting forth -that readers of the previous books would remember Diamond Dick as he appeared in “No. 3X9'’ of the series, lands him promptly in a wallow of blood. “Diamond Dick tottered,” we are told; “and then onoe more Braced himself erect, wiping the blood and grime of battle from his brow and ©yes.” “Handsome Harry,” another member of tlie gang, bad meanwhile “fainted away across a heap of the outlaw slain. Tho dead wore everywhere”—and so forth, through nine chapters and sixty-four pages for a penny. Tho cover itself is good value for the money, for thereon, forsooth, in colours of red and black and gold, is seen Diamond Dick with his rifle bringing to earth the horse of his lover’s pursuer. What more ennobling destiny for the boy just entering upon the age of moustaches? And “Diamond Dick’s Defiance’’ is only one of three hundred and twenty-one similar -works! “Spring-heeled Jack” is tho hero of about eight volumes, on the front covers of which, in a halo of colour, he may be seen dodging eight different forms of imminent death. He is first cousin to one Dick Turpin, whom, in Common with many other rogues; these “libraries” canonise and hold up to the admiration of tho young. There was “a splendid set of Dick Turpin tales” published in June last at a penny a volume of twenty-four pages. The covers are engaging and tho subjects are “With Bullet and Blade, or Dick Turpin’s Terrible Vendetta,” “A Deed of Darkness, or For Justice and the Bight,” “ On the Wings of Night, or the Gate-keep-er’s Secret,’’ and “Staunch and True, or Dick Turpin to the Rescue.” These books may bo found in'almost every second-rate bookshop in the. city, and they undoubtedly have a large patronage amongst hoys in their teens. They may not be directly responsible for such deeds of darkness as the Has’ ings boy burglars committed, hub two distinct charges may be levelled against them. First, that they familiarise the youngster with blood and killing in a way that, must have a bad effect; second, that they deliberately hold up rogues and lawless men to admiration and approval. They are so cheap as-to ho within reach of the finder of an empty bccr-bottlc. Passing from mere wantonness of blood and wealth of adventure to another degrading class, we find the same things predominating. One publishing company has brought its series of detective yarns up to over three hundred. And to show that there is no deception, that tho story is real and vivid, the crime is generally depicted on tho cover. “Tho Rogue's Discomfiture” gees to eighty pages “in striking coloured cover,” and what wonder that tho youngster, with tho best intentions possible, should spend his twopence on this volume? Tho detective story has one virtue at least in excess of tho Dick Turpin and Spring-heeled Jack series. It has its triumph in the punishment of crime. That being so, tho youngster would elect, to bo tho smart police officer, rather than the criminal run to earth. This is a decided consideration. It is only fair to say that every multi-

colomvd p->nr:y book is r.or ye;mcicm?. I boro hit; quo or two 3T-, i .o which. ’"hue po* nn'4 lather more b.iMordat-h than

i** dwrabv. .iw, n *vo- investing irom a- historical point, ox view. and tervo to bring con ain matters oi history before a section of the public that, cannot afford anything dearer. In subject matter they resemble to a groat extent tho 5-nmng talcs which Captain iMarrynn, R. M. Baliamyno, W. H. G. King i-tn. Fcnimoro Cooper, and other woll-known writers have given to an approving clientele of parents. They only lack tone and style, and probably neither is a great desideratum with the youngsters who read thorn. Another medium by which the evildisposed young man is enabled to satisfy hirs curiosity is such periodicals a-s contain "all the sensations of tho week,” “famous crimes,” ‘’famous fights,” etc. They are, of course, purely designed for tho edification of the morbidly and criminally disposed, and' with their gruesome covers and horrible details they servo the purpose admirably at a low price.

It still remains a question, however, whether it is merely “the sight of means to do ill deeds that makes deeds ill done”; whether the child, normal and without predisposition to- crime, is led thereto by the penny (dreadful, or whether, having already the predisposition, he finds such literature a pleasant whet for a diseased imagination.