LICENTIOUS BOOKS AND PAPERS.
The apostle, in giving the characteristics of the last days, declares that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” That this language applies with wonderful force at the present time, is only too painfully apparent. The following startling but truthful statement will in some measure account for the terrible increase of licentiousness among the youth of the present day: A firm and conscientious editor in New York justly says: “Few are aware of the number of licentious books and papers which are published in this and other cities, and the means employed to push them into circulation. Day and night, through the mails and by express, these infamous publishers are sending forth their vile prints, to pollute the young and pure of both sexes. The poison is disseminated, even in the sacred precincts of home, under the eye of the parent, and in the schools, under the eye of the teacher. Thus the influence of parental, Sunday-school, and pulpit instruction is destroyed, and the morals and character of our sons and daughters undermined. This evil is assuming a terrible magnitude; and its instigators are fast throwing off the disguises under which they formerly carried on their infamous trade. The sale of these vile publications is no longer confined to the newspaper peddlers around our railroad depots and ferries, who keep them concealed, and offer them only to those in search of such prurient literature, but the mails are used to carry obscene books and pamphlets. By means of catalogues, the names of the students in our colleges, universities, and academies, both male and female, are obtained, and before those in charge are aware, the minds of the pupils are contaminated with impure thoughts and suggestions, which have been conveyed to them through pamphlets or circulars received through the mails. Some houses engaged in this vile trade employ canvassers to scour the country, going from village to village; and who, while the people are asleep, throw their filthy prospectuses and circulars into their yards, or thrust them under the doors of their dwellings.”