222 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



love, and matrimony" entirely indispensable as a 

 medium for conveying tlieir moral instruction. 



"Religious Novels."— Some of these ''religious 

 novels" are actually more pernicious than the fictions 

 of well-known novelists who make no pretense to hav- 

 ing religious instruction a particular object in view. 

 Sunday-school libraries are not often wholly composed 

 of this class of works ; but any one who takes the trou- 

 ble to examine the books of such a library will be able 

 to select the most pernicious ones by the external ap- 

 pearance. The covers will be well worn, and the edges 

 begrimmed with dirt from such handling. Children 

 soon tire of the shallow sameness which characterizes 

 the "moral" parts of most of these books, and skim 

 lightly over them, selecting and devouring with eager- 

 ness those portions which relate the silly narrative of 

 some love adventure. This kind of literature arouses 

 in children premature fancies and queries, and fosters 

 a sentimentalism which too often occasions most un- 

 happy results. Through their influence, young girls 

 are often led to begin a life of shame long before their 

 parents are aware that a thought of evil has ever en- 

 tered their minds. 



The following words from the pen of a forcible 

 writer * present this matter in none too strong a light : 



''You may tear your coat or break a vase, and re- 

 pair them again; but the point where the rip or the 

 fracture took place will always be evident. It takes less 

 than an hour to do your heart a damage which no time 

 can entirely repair. Look carefully over your child's 

 library ; see what book it is that he reads after he has 

 gone to bed, with the gas turned, upon the pillow. Do 

 not always take it for granted that a book is good be- 

 cause it is a Sunday-school book. As far as possible, 



* T. De Witt Talmage. 



