old
word in all lands, has personally investigated the subject, and the
result has filled him with dismay; when he sees the depths of
degradation to which men and women have fallen, he has almost lost faith
in the boasted civilization of the nineteenth century. In the course of
his inquiries he has visited both the well-known 'houses of pleasure'
and the 'private establishments' scattered all over the city. He states
that he has a list of both, with the street and number, the number of
inmates, and many other facts that would perfectly astonish the people
if made public. He freely conversed with the inmates, and the
life-histories that were revealed were sad indeed. To his utter
surprise, a large proportion of the 'soiled doves' _traced their fall to
influences that met them in the Public Schools_; and although Boston is
justly proud of its schools, it would seem, from his story, that they
need a thorough purification. In too many of them the most obscene and
soul-polluting books and pictures circulate among both sexes. The very
secrecy with which it is done throws an almost irresistible charm about
it; and to such an extent has the evil gone, that we fear a large
proportion of both boys and girls possess some of the articles, which
they kindly (?) lend to each other. The natural result follows, and
frequently the most debasing and revolting practises are indulged in.
And the evil is not confined alone to Boston. Other cities suffer in the
same way. It is but a few years since the second city in the
Commonwealth was stirred almost to its foundations by the discovery of
an association of boys and girls who were wont to indulge their passions
in one of the school-houses of the city; and not long ago another
somewhat similar affair was discovered by the authorities, but hushed up
for fear of depopulating the schools."

"That the devil is in the _Public Schools_, raging and rampant there
among the _pupils_ as well as among the _teachers_, no one can well
doubt who has sent a little child into them, as guiltless of evil or
unclean thoughts as a newly fallen snowflake, and had him come home, in
a short time, contaminated almost beyond belief by the vileness and
filth which he has seen, and heard, and learned _there_."--(Hathe Tyng
Griswold, in _Old and New_, for March; or _Boston Pilot_, April 6,
1872.)

A celebrated physician of this country says in his book, "Satan in
Society," as follows:

"The evils and dangers of the