, who have been faithfully warned of
its consequences and fully appreciate its dangers, cannot be safely
trusted to associate with vile talkers. The use of bad language by old
and young is an evil which is of the very greatest moment. It is too
often ignored; too little is said about it; far too often it is
disregarded as of little consequence, and persons who are really not
bad at heart thoughtlessly encourage the evil by listening to and
laughing at obscene and ribald jokes, and impure language which ought
to make a virtuous man blush with shame to hear.

Boys, if you want to be pure, if you wish to be loved by a pure mother,
an innocent sister, and when you are grown to manhood to be worthy of
the confidence of a pure, virtuous wife, keep your lips pure; never
let a vile word or an indecent allusion pass them. Never, under any
circumstances, give utterance to language that you would blush to have
your mother overhear. If you find yourself in the company of persons
whose language will not bear this test, escape as soon as possible,
for you are in danger; your sense of what is right and proper in speech
is being vitiated; you are being damaged in a variety of ways.

Bad Books.--A bad book is as bad as an evil companion. In some respects
it is even worse than a living teacher of vice, since it may cling to
an individual at all times. It may follow him to the secrecy of his
bed-chamber, and there poison his mind with the venom of evil. The
influence of bad books in making bad boys and men is little appreciated.
Few are aware how much evil seed is being sown among the young everywhere
through the medium of vile books. It is not only the wretched volumes
of obscenity of which so many thousands have been seized and destroyed
by Mr. Comstock which are included under the head of bad books, and
which corrupt the morals of the young and lead them to enter the road
to infamy, but the evil literature which is sold in "dime and nickel
novels," and which constitutes the principal part of the contents of
such papers as the _Police Gazette_, the _Police News_, and a large
proportion of the sensational story books which flood the land, and
too many of which find their way into town and circulating libraries
and even Sunday-school libraries, which are rarely selected with the
care that ought to be exercised in the selection of reading matter for
the young.

Bad books often find their way even where evil companions would not
intrude;