Pictures on The Wall
Pictures on The Wall
BY MR. James M.Taylor
ISBN: 9781648173233
Pictures on the wall
James M. Taylor
First Fruits Press, ©2025
Digital version at http://place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruitsheritagematerial/5/
First Fruits Press is a digital imprint of the Asbury Theological Seminary, B.L. Fisher Library. Asbury Theological Seminary is the legal owner of the material previously published by the Pentecostal Publishing Co. and reserves the right to release new editions of this material as well as new material produced by Asbury Theological Seminary. Its publications are available for noncommercial and educational uses, such as research, teaching and private study. First Fruits Press has licensed the digital version of this work under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/.
For all other uses, contact:
First Fruits Press
B.L. Fisher Library
Asbury Theological Seminary 204 N. Lexington Ave. Wilmore, KY 40390
http://place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruits
Taylor, James M. (James Milburn), 1873-
Pictures on the wall [electronic resource]/ by James M. Taylor. – Wilmore, Kentucky : First Fruits Press, ©2025.
Reprint. Previously published: Louisville, Ky. : Pentecostal Publishing Co., [191-?] 1 online resource 63 pages : digital.
ISBN: 9781648173226 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781648173233 (uPDF)
ISBN: 9781648173240 (Mobi)
OCLC: 1545095309
1. Young men--Religious life--Sermons. I. Title.
BV4541.T37 2025eb
Cover design by Amanda Kessinger
First Fruits Press
Te Academic Open Press of Asbury Teological Seminary 204 N. Lexington Ave., Wilmore, KY 40390 859-858-2236
frst.fruits@asburyseminary.edu asbury.to/frstfruits
Pictures on The Wall
JAMES M. TAYLOR,
MissionaryEvangelist.
The laylorMissionaryBooks
F<lll' the puit -eeven yea.re ~e e.u:th,or and Mr.a. Ta1Ior llave •~t tihe grea.ter part ot thellr time ·in mleslonar, wo-rk. Much of thls has been ,spent in Son.th Ameriea, Centr,a,1 .Amer.tcia. and the Wel!Pt I.nd.ta L91a.ndtt. Because, of their interest 18.'1).dexperience In missionary WOt"k o,n man11 fteld-s these bo.oks are tbe llllllgunce ot burdened :hea,rts, and fnrniS'h a mine o.f mforma,tio.n to thoee who a.re, or shouad be interested kl JmSsion&lV work.
Campaigning for God ln Caribbean Waters. Paper, 25 cents. Clo.th 50 cents .
.3• Mule Baek Through Central America. Paper 25 cents. Ctoctlh 50 cents.
A M\ssionary Album . . . . . . . . . ..... Beautifully bound. 21 eeat1 'the Sou-th American Situation.
. Pe,pef 10 MDU Henry, The Converted Hindu ............... Paper, 10 eell1il
An Open Door ............................ Papel' 10 eente Missionary Arrows.
. ... Paper, 10 cena A Voice from tb.e West Indies ................ Paper, 10 eeat1
An Earaest Appeal (Hrs. James H. Taylor) ..... Paper, 10 ee11t1 De Missions Pay'l (:lllrs. James M. Taylor) ...... Paper, 10 cent•
This eet of ten booms covers ln .tts scope many 11elds, and deals with .the "neglected continent," which 1s rapi-11y becoming so •prominenit; also Centml America and ,the West Indies, ln a special ma.n.ner. I.n order to g.Ive them e. w,lde ctrcuta-tion In the interest of m4ssionary work on the fi&lds t'hey represent, the pu:bUshers make a rare offer on the imt.tre set, which sens at $1.45. We w.ill ,send the ten books pOtStpaid to any address tor fl.00. Remiit by stamps, perso,nal check, New YoTk draft, Money Ord-er or registered letter. Order today trom
PICTU~es
JAMES M. TAYLOR, Evangelist.
A•thor of ''Defeats ef the Devil," "Ruth," "Knotty Points," "Associations," "Hell," "Doing His Will," "Why Teach Holiness," "The Carnal Mind," "Little Nuggets," "How to !{each the Masses," "Baptism of th• Holy Ghost," etc., eto.
Cloth, 25; Paper, 10.
NHA
J!,t~torical~ollection
GIVEN BY: s. MacDonqld IN HONOR OF
PROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL HOLINESS ASSOCIATION
DEDICATED
To The Young Men of America, by one who loves them; one who seeks their welfare; one wh.:> prays for them and desiTes for every one of them a noble, spotless life, of which they would not be ashamed were mother, si.ster, sweetheart to know the deepest secrets; by one who is glad to be yet able to subscribe himself, One of Them.
INTRODUCTION.
I have been interested in the subject of thi~ book for years. Who that loves young manh0od; that wimes :for it pure character; who that is the father of boys (I have eight living, one in heaven) can fail to be intensely interested in it? It is imposb"iblefor a boy, a man, to look upon the low, the vile, the salacious pictures so frequently seen on bill boards, on advertising placards, yea, must I ·say it, on the walls ·of many hotels, stores, officea and otherwise respectable homes and be altogeth .. er pure in thought. But we should remember, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Prov. 23 :7 Any picture that suggests impurity is essentially corrupting, for you ·.sowa thought and you reap an act; you sow an act and you reap character; you sow character and you reap destiny. The villians who make and the thoughtless simpletonsmale or female-who display pictures suggestive of immoral thought are breeders of vice, destroyers of character and C'onsequentlyenemies of the race.
In the godly town \lf Orange Va., I entered the office of a hotel and found seven or eight pictures on the walls, all but one representing woman in a
state of nudity. I would not insult my mother and my precious wife and stultify my Christian manhood by putting up at such a hotel. I consider such pictures more befitting a den of shame than a public inn.
A good rule, young man, concerning picture•o on the wall is this : Never tolerate one that would 1lanch your cheek with shame were it youT oother or sister that was so dressed.
I never went to a theatrical performance in my life. But if they show on the stage what they sometimes advertise on the bill boards I don't see how an honest woman who respects her sex, or a clean man who loves his mother, sister, ''best girl" or wife can get her or his consent to patronize them. To me the case is plain-they breed lust, destroy womanhood, corrupt manhood. Editors, and decent citizens in general, as well ms all preachers of the gospel of Him who said, "He that looketh fo lust" is an adulterer, must take a bold stand f OT clean pictures, pure speech, noble, virtuous manhood, as well as for unsullied woman.ho,od. All such should welcome Bro. Taylor's book. L. L. PICKETT.
PICTURES ON THE WAllli.
JAMES M. TAYLOR, Evangeli\;t.
There are few avenues reaching the inner man --the soul-of such importance as that of the eye. It is by beholding the beautiful, the good, the pure, the holy, that "we are changed from glory to glory," and gradually molded into the image of that upon which we continually look. It is also true that by beholding the vile, the corrupt, the sensual, we are changed frum bad to woTseuntil we are gradually, but surely, changed into the likeness of the object we behold. This is not only true as a theory, but practically. Some of the greatest and most disruatrous moral wrecks the world has ever known have gone down Tight along this line.
King David lived right until he looked, but the evil one found his way into David's heart through his eyes when he had failed in all other ways. This being true, we cannot be too careful about what we see and what we prepare to be seen.
Now comes the question, How shall we decorate our homes? What pictures shall find a place l>n our walla, and center tables? How should we dress to have pictures made upon which our friends are to look? As business men how shall our places of business be advertised? What shall 7
Pictures
be used as a calendar or picture for advertisement? These queations are of veTy great importance and we earnestly plead that they he thougihtfully an.swered after prayerful consideration.
We make this plea in the name of Jesus and home; for the sake of the men of this country, who could hardly he pure if they wanted to, on account of the awful vantage ground the devil of uncleanness has gained in what our men and boys must look upon daily.
It seems we have reached a time when mothers and siaters would rather have pictures they call "fine art," which is nothing on earth hut fine lust food, than pure sons and brotheTs. The world has a mania, has gone wild, for pictures upon whi.ch no man on eaTth can allow his eyes to rest long without thoughts he ought not to have, and cannot entertain and keep pure in his inward being. Yet it fa hard to enter a h0me these days where lustbreeding, character-blighting suggestions are not found in pictures on the walls. Do we love pictures more than character? For this reason the perils of the young man are much greater to-day than those of the young woman. Home, shop, street and officeare literally lined with that which carries with it thoughts of the impure and sensual, and arouses an uncontrollable passion which burns like fire in the breast until the victim i10 under its heel.
Why do nearly all orur young men of late go to the bad, and make moral wrecks of themselves by
losing virtue? Where and how do they make the start?
These are reasonable questions eve-ryreasonable mind must consider. Statistics tell us that more than 60,000 girls enter the life of a public prJ1atitute every year; and it is conceded that there are even more than this number who are not known to the woTld at large. We have the alarming facts before us that at least 100,000 mother's daughters go to the grave of a fallen woman every year.
Over against these figures we have the male prostitutes, averaging at least five or six males to 'vne female. Therefore, at least 500,000 male prostitutes fill the wh0Temonger'1ograve every year!
As a young man, and a friend and sympathizer of men, I ask the reader, especially mother, wife and sister to explain where these 500,000 American sons make the start to a life of impurity and a grave with the fallen? We insist that they do not staTt in the brother. The young man without impure thoughts and meditations does not delibetately desire to hunt his doom. The seed of lust has been sown in the heart of ninety-nine out of every hundred, before they enter this district. The writer is convinced that were all other temptations taken out of the way of men the fallen wo.. man would have to make a respectable living. Wc insist we are not putting it too strong when we say it is in the hands of mothers, wives and sisters
10 Pictures on the Wall.
to throw a check on at least 75 per cent. of the impurity of men and boya in our land.
With these facts before us, does the reader wonder that we plead m<:>stearnestly for a complete renovation along the line of pictures and dreas. Let OUT homes be decorated with the beautiful and ennobling, even down to the calendars that adorn the walls. And let the women, young and old, with whom 0ur brothers, husbands and sons are associated daily on the 1street, in the parlor, at church and other public gatherings be "adorned in modest apparel" and enough of it to make them look modest, and we will have destroyed moTe than half the lust seed. Pray tell us, if a young man 1s to lo0k at a young lady in the choir and in the parlor dre:,sed decollette, how can we expect him to consider it dangerous to his morals to look upon some half nude "woman of the t0wn" on some other occasions?
A ministerial friend of the writer went to the mayor of a WeateTTIcity during a street fair and carnival where some indecent shows were being carried on and requested that they be discontinued. The mayor replied: "No 0ne on that stage is more indecently dressed than lady members of your church, even on the Sabbath day."
Why aITest the harlot for appearing in dress that makes her a nuisance, when respectable ,vomen make themselves just a13 great a nuisance as far as dress is concerned?
If women only knew how eveu many worldly,
sinful men are becoming disgusted with their manner of dress, knowing that it most surely leads them astray, we believe there would be some reformation along this line. We heard a presiding elder relate the following incident:
Three young men atood on the street one morning as people were going to church. A company of young women passed dressed in a way that had they been harlots they would have been arTested; but these were Christian ( ?) girls, so it was all right. The young men looked, and then followed on, not to go fa>church, but to go as an ox to the slaughter, because pure women had sown the seed of lust.
When we read Rev. Adam Clarke's comment on Uriah'o wife, when he said she surely could not have been a pure woman OT she would not have exposed herself to public view Si> that David could see her from his house-top it made us think.
Why do women love to dress in a way that will make a pure man blush to look upon her? And if she insists on doing so, how can she expect a pure, virtu,ms man for a husband? And then, not content with exposing herse1lf, she proceeds to the art gallery to have pictures made that aTe good for nothing else only to wreck character and ruin souls. A young man cannot live in the average home and keep a pure mind. When we are reminded that this is "art'' we must confess that we dread it, foT it is sure to damn souls. Very few men, however pure they may be, can go through
12 Pictures on The Wall.
the average art gallery and come out as pure as they went in.
We have in mind a home where one •aonis a complete moral wreck, not a fit associate for his sisters, and have seen them weep and wring their hands over his !Jst condition. Yet the walls of that home are decorated with ":fine art" and when one of these sisters, who dares to profess Chris-, tianity, was told that she never could expect a pure brother with such suggestions o:f evil around, she replied that if men had no better sense they would have to go.
Show us the pictures a young man constantly looks at, and we will tell you wheTe to find him in the dead hours of the night. With all the vile, contaminating influences brought to bear on thehminds from the outside, it does seem the young men ought to have one place where they would be safe.
The average calendar and advertisement of today i·a not :fit to hang in the barn loft, to say nothing of the home. Yet we find in the homeii of those who•profess to know •Christ, and evidently have more religion than sense, calendars that would make suitable decorations for a saloon or brothel.
We have in mind a home where the father and mdher profess sanctification, and give evidence of being good people, where we found in the sitting room a picture that would satisfy the taste of a.
Pictures on the Wall. 13
down-town bloat. When these parenta came to u.s with broken hearts, and told of a wayward son, and we learned what a moral vagabond he was, we were not sUTprised. The devil would nut have deeired more certain, blasting influence brought to bear on any mind than this one picture in IJiat home. When we see so much of this we feel 1:ke crying, "Oh, God, do give us common sense, that we may not ruin our loved ones when we want to save them."
If our own little one were grown to young manhood, we believ·ewe would as soon risk a harlot in our home as to risk the average calendar, together with much of "fine art," to hang there a constant reminder of things that would Tuin, and temptation to thoughts that would defile.
iHow we would love tv see a crusade against such pictures for the sake of the young men of our land. It would not be long until our busin¤as men would learn that in order to secure the recognition of their firms in our homes they must use only such advertisements as will suggest the pure and modest, and meet the approv:i] of women who love virtue and are trying to build a wall of protection about their sons and daughters.
It seems the women of this country would rise up en masse and resent what seem'!. at first thought an insult from business men by sending into our homes pictuTes we are all acquainted with. But instead of being insulted an:1 resent-
14 Pictures on. the Wall.
ing. they set their seal of approval and appreciafaon on it by the eagerness with which they are given place in the home.
Mothers, with love for pure sons, and sfatera, with love for pure brothers, we come to you on theiT behalf, knowing their dangers better perhaps than you, and beg you for their sake join in a crusade against everything having a mark of the immodest; everything that would suggest the impure.
You may wear the "white ribbon" and do a grand work against the liquor foe, ancl we say "Amen, God help you," but you may d.:>all that, and even be successful in getting it out of the way, and you have checked the onward march of 100,000 yearly to a drunkard's grave. But heTe are 500,000 pale-faced men and boya bC\und just a.ti tightly by lust as the other by drink, and these are marching to the grave of the whoremonger. '\JTon't you help a little here also? You have greater possibilities along this line than the other; you C{J,(11,clean out your own house, you can encc\urage modesty in dTess and photo in others. Oh ! mothers of the American s~ns ! Oh, sister~ of the young men of our land tramping wrong streets at the dead hours of night 500,000 strong, won't you help the helpless? Do it by creating a pure atmosphere at home, where only pure tloughts will be aroused. Help in this way the young man who has the ghastly monster of lust gnawing his manhood away.tuntil disheartened
Pictwres on the Wall.
with him.self he decides there is no hope, for whatever way he turns there is an object defying him to have pure thoughts, and grinning in his face makes fun of his resolution tv be clean.
We have thousands of such young men, and older ones, who are disgusted with the life they are living, and want to be clean, but they are beset on every hand. When they go out in town the bill boaTds are literally loaded; show windvW18are filled, office walls lined, and the barber shops as a rule, are places where the only way to go through clean is to go with closed eyes. Do you wonder we plead :for homes in which there is not inspired the thoughts that poison and kill?
It would seem after careful thoughts on these things that the women who refuse to lend a helping hand could ·acarcelybe considered in any other light than on the side of ceTtain ruin to our yvung manhood. The fallen woman is almost powerlesi until pure ones cease to plant the seed of lust in the way mentioned. We wonder who is most resp,:msible in God's sight, the "scarlet woman" or the woman in good society who gives the young man his •atart to a life of ruin?
If the heart cry of great armiea of men today was sounded out, you would hear a cry foT the return of vld-fashioned modesty, that Godgiven feminine nature that brings blood to the face and a blush to mantle the brow.
SECOND PART.
TO MEN AND BOYS.
I have addre·ased the first part of this booklet particularly to our mothers., wives and sisters, hoping they will consider the many snares besetting us on ¤very hand when we want to be g0od. We are persuaded that the honest., thoughtful ones will lend a helping hand, but whether they do or not, we must be saved from the pitfalls men• tioned.
My brother Teader knows that the statement that men do not make the first break toward an impure life on account of a temptatiun thrown out by a fallen woman is true; and we believe you will also agree with us that it is in the power of the pure women of the land to stop 50 to 75 per cent. of the downward tide of prostitution amung men, by complying with the plea in regard to pie• tures and dress.
Men will read these lines who will look back with sickening horror on a vile picture, or a corrupt book read, with weird pictures of impure things that have never been erased frum the memory, and that very thing has been the starting point of a stranded character and blasted life.
You will all agree with me that anything which 16
Pictures on the Wall. 17
brings thoughts of evil invariably leaves us in worse shape than it found us, and every time such a temptation is yielded to we are conditioned more and more for the evil one to haunt us.
A descisi0n always passes through the will before reaching the soul, and everything h; weighed in our thoughts before being acted upon by our wills. Therefore we need to be careful about our thoughts. When we consider that nothing can get through the eye without reaching the thoughts, then we sh0uld guard the eye, and what we see, as we would guard the soul itself. The object that fas tens the thoughts on things that would ruin u.s is an object to be shunned.
Men know there are a multitude of things combined to make it harder for a man to live a virtuous life than for our sisters. It is imp0ssible these days to find a "show" of any description at the opera house, church, or circus where the whole affair is n0t mixed up with things that have direful effects on the manhood of our country; and there seems to be an unwritten law among many of the society women that they must dress in a way that will produce the same evil results.
Then, with all this, comes the fact that men -are not counted guilty, like girls who go down, but bad as it is for the young man, he can live in such a way aa would cause his sister to be put out of society. He, however, is yet looked upon a~ a "•gentleman" and 0ther doors are thrown open to him. All these things are against the morals of
18 Pictures on the Wall..
the man; and, comidering these facts, men should be very careful, else they are sure to be wrecked morally and diseased bodily.
We cannot be moral men, much less can we live for God and right, without the strictest obedience to that Scripture which says, ''He that looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." The writer remembers a young minister who wa:a,once entertained in a Christian home. When shown to his room that night by that Christian(?) mother he found two pictures that could bring only evil 2ugge.stionsto his mind, so, fearing the devil and his househ0ld plunder, he went immediately and turned both with face to the wall.
If it was nothing of more value than our property or lives we could afford to be careless, but when character, yea, more , even our .souls, are at stake, we cannot afford to take any risk.
Evil influences are not only brought to bear upon the mind by foul pictures by themselves; but this is also true of many papers, magazines and books. We could give the names of some periodicals that are so foul and oorrupting in their influence that it is great peril to him whose eye even occasionally peruses their obscene pages. All theBe evils are as chargeable to the nude pictures in novels and story papers as they are to the paintings that hang on the wall.
We want to lift a warning voice to our men in regard to the way sv many women seem called up
Pictures on the Wall. 19
on to dress. The men of this country ought, for their own safety and protection, to show their disapproval of a pure woman dressing in a way that may poison the mind of a man who is even trying to be good and pure.
A man purposing to live a pure life should turn his eye from a woman so dressed, just as he would turn from a glass of wine when he wants to live soberly. Just as the sip of wine will fire the whole being with desire for the intoxicating cup and cause the appetite to literally cry for drink, so the look at a woman, immodestly dressed, will eause the passion of lust to :fiercelyburn for a life of sin.
The writer must confess that he has about as much patience with the red-eyed, brazen-faced saloon-keeper who offers the death-dealing draught to our young men, a temptation which, if yielded to, will make them a slave to strong drink, which we are told is filling 100,000 drunkard's graves every year, as with the brazen-faced, immodest woman, who at the ball, and theater, and even in the church ch0ir, and on the ·atreet, by her shameless dress ( or lack of dress) is offering to our young men a temptation which, if yielded to will make them slaves to passion, which is filling 500,000 graves every year with debauch.. ees.
It is high time some of us were taking the glamor off of these forms of sin, and temptation, and instead of licensing them, because there is no
20 Pictures on the Wall.
social sentiment against them, we must lift a warning voice against them and all forms of wrong.
We are all ready to condemn the saloon-keeper for hh pernicious work, and so we ought, but we must insist that the liquor curse is not by any means the only awful foe against which our boys and mn have to battle. We Tepeat, this other foe is one of the most ensnaring, because so-called ''evening dress" is C'uunted "the thing," while nude picture·a and statuary is labeled high art.
Did the reader ever stop to think that in real "society'' homes a pure young man can scarcely be found? If you stop to consider that they are constantly thrown with the society woman in "evening dress," you will then understand wh,- the y0ung men who ought to make their mark in the· world are almost everywhere moral wrecks.
With these facts before us we should get our eyes open and see that if we do not choose what we are to look at, we will be lost, world without end.
THE THEATRE JUDGED BY THE BILL.BOARD.
If we are to judge the theatre by their advertisements--Bill Boards--it can be nothing but a lu.st breeding in~titution. A play is scarcely ever advertised vn the street but that the picture of a lot of partially nude women it, arrayed before the public eye. Some of us, who are sorry to confes.s we have seen more of the theater than the bill boards, know that they are correctly represented on the street. We are ashamed that at times we have viewed the stage from both ·.sidesof the "foot lights."
The writer doesn't believe God ever made the man who iB so refined, who has lived so pure in the past, or who has so much of God in his heart now, that he can attend an average theater without having the fires of lust, impure thoughts and imaginations kindled in his heart and mind. It is an auay from start to finh,h of partially nude women, with lustful actions. Yet decent people, even church people, will attend these resorts and plead for them as good educators, etc. A few facts might be considered in this connection.
1. A theater is never attended but what harlots and their male associates are to be found there enjoying it to the fullest extent.
22 Pictures on the Wall.
2. In our citiea the "red light di.stTicts'' do their largetit bu.siness after the theater closes.
3. Connected with smaller theaters in our larger cities are large numbers of Tooms and these are occupied by fallen girls who can be seen at any time during the display of nudity on the stage entering these rooms with their victim3.
It is hard for the writer to understand how a woman can have the proper regard for virtue, and at the same time uphold, encou:r:age, patronize and support those places where virtue is put on the block. There is a large army of men over this country, many of them not even professed Christians, who are unable to believe that the crowds of no-sleeved, low-necked women, who frequent theoe incubators of lust, have much appreciation of virtue in the men and boys of the land.
A woman who hasn't sense enough to know that such scenes inject and fan the spark of luBt in the heart of men should by law be shut out of society where tempted men must go. The reader knows that women do not attend the theater without hearing remarks and lustful conversations by men preaent about things they see on the stage. Who has not heard the expr¤13sionwhen some fallen woman aa. actress came on the stage, but half dressed : "Look here ! Lend me your glasses,'' etc. We insist that if women can, and do, attend these schools of vice without impure thoughta, to say nothing of desireB, and haven't enough righteous
Pictures on the Wall. 23
jealousy and Tegard for their own fair se:x:,to make their pure womanhood boil with indignation, then, for the sake of sons, brothers and young womanhood at large, they owe it to the men to quarantine against this contagion of hell that spreads lust and impurity everywhere it comes in contact with men.
Huabands confess that for a happy home the theater is a dangerous thing, because it holds out to a contented, happy husband a temptation to dTaw comparisons, get dissatisfied with the wife of his first love. Thus aTe. the seed sown which produce lust instead of pure love in the home. Oh women; sisters of our mothers, companions of our sisters, the sex we have a jealous regard for, and would sacrifice life in the interest of, Tise up in your pure, indignant, insulted womanhood and overthrow this ghastly monster of death, that is striking its fangs at the very vitala of our manhood.
MAN'S PART IN THE PLAY.
li the evil will exist, if our sisters won't rise up and <!rYagainst it, we must assert our will power, guard our manhood as we would our money and shun these joints, these incubators of lust, and pasa them by. No young man, reader, has ever spent three minutes looking at the advertisement of a play but what his mind was soiled to a greater or less extent. Then, as we would fear and
24 Pictures on the Wall.
pass by a pest house where yellow fever, or small pox victims were incarcerated, we should pass by these pest houses of hell, for in them is the contagion of uncleanness that will lay hold as certain as the entrance is made. We are told we can not play with fire and not be burnt, just so with this fire of impurity. The fact that a theater-goer is never a lovei- of the prayer-meeting and that as soon as a good church member begins to frequent the theater he drops out of the prayer-meeting, is conclusive evidence of it's being a place of danger.
THE IROQUOIS DISASTER.
The writer was in Chicago, Ill. a few days after the great Iroquois TheateT fire and disaster when so many people were killed. The bill boards were still up and we surely never saw a greater disp1ay of nudity than in thes-a advertisements, a regular army, I judge from fifty to one hundTed and fifty women nearly nude. The scene being acted out when the fire began was enough to make a harlot blush, and yet in this theater at this afternoon play were church members by the hundreds, ,almost the whole membership of one Ohie;agochurch was caught in the fire trap and killed. But what better could be expected when among other preachers present there were tw-0 Methodist pastors who we are told were caught, and stepped from this school of vice, this gate way to lust, in•
to the presence of God. With these, we are told, the man whose name was practically at the head of the Epworth League work in the United States at one time, was viewing what harlots enjoy, whoremongera, gloat over and the house of illfame is fed on. He too went into eternity from the theater fire. To the mind of the writer this a manifestation of God's wrath, as spoken of in Nahum 1 :2-8.
PUBLIC OPINION.
A pe1son only needs to be a careful reader and to converse with a careful thinker, to :find a growing disgust in public opinion for the craze on nudity of dress and art that prevail-a on all sides. We give the Teader a clipping from a St. Louis daily:
SCORES CHICAGO SOCIETY WOMAN.
Rev. Strong shocked by alleged scene at fashionable "Kirmess." Says attire immodest. "Similar costumes in saloon would provoke police raid," he asserta.
Chicago, Jan. 22.- The terrific denunciation of the "kirmes.s," the star society event of the winter under the auspices of MTS.---, Mrs. ---, Mrs. ---, Mrs. ---, and others equally prominent in society, by the Rev. Sidney Strong of the Second Congregational Church in Oak Park, has stirred up bitter resentment. The min1steTwas present one night, and in his denuncidtion from the pulpit he said:
"I ·.sawyoung women attending the frappe table attired in such a way that a similar attire in a saloon in South State street would pTOvokea raid by the police.
aThe women who took part are the product of our institutions-Bryn MaWT,Vassar and the like 26
Pictures ur1,the Wa;ll. 27
-and their relatives are powers in the commer• cial world.
"They gave an exhibition of themselves that was open to the public. The feature that at firi;t arou.sed me was the irony 0f the spectacle of a company of women banding themselves together in a 'cribside' society-women who have come from the class that keeps as far from the crihside as poss:ible--womem.Will}Seclass, which is called 'society,' is, by ·ains of 1:>mission,doing a thou.sand.. fold more for the injury of the innocents than they will be able to atone for by charity to the homeless.
"Suppose a hundred saloon keepers: should form a society to found a dTUn.kard'shome?
"HIDEOUS CARICATURES."
"It is a. hideous caricature for the childleM, through choice, to stand as patrons of the children. The half naked, painted, sensualized Chicago woman is full sister with the benighted woman of South Africa. Striving to be leaders oi society; instead, destroyers vf the best life of the race.
"It seemed to me that the girl graduates of Halsted street who danced on the West Side, had a right to reach out and clasp hands with girl graduates of Bryn Mawr:"
Mrs. ---, trea:ourer of the kiTmess, declared that none of the dances was immodest and that
28 Pictures on the Wall.
the costumes worn by the women who dispenaed punch complied with every rule of propriety.
''Dr. Strong is mistaken in the dance," said Mrs. ---, who was considered one of the pTettiest of Spanish dancers. "You kr ow, we did not do any kicking at all, like some of the othera, and the dresses were just as modest as could be. I am afraid Dr. Strong never attended many theaters, or he would not have been shocked."
Edison --- said the man is a bigot and a. Puritan.
SKIRTS WERE SHORT
"The avei-age skirts at the kirmess iacked something like five inche·aof touching the ground. Now, one could not seriously object to a skirt of that length, unless, of course, he waa looking for something to object to. A£, a matter of fact, the skirt of that length is better than the ones ordinarily worn by women."
Mr. ---who led the grand march and. whose wife was a member of the Spanish set, declined to discuas at any length the attack made by Dr. Strong.
<'What do we care about Oak Park?" was his comment.
One woman, on promise not to use her name, said: "The atmosphere of that last night particularly may have been conducive to too much wine. I really believe myself that things were
Pictwres on the Wall. 29
carried too far; that some of the girls, who danced around the place after the dance was over in the early morning hours, did capers that they would never have performed if they had stopped to think. But they were all sorry foT it the next day, I know."
IT'hank G-Od,here is at lea.st one preacher out of Chicago's great army of them who is not afraid vf the wealth of society but with a conscience inside awake, cries out against the nudity of sooiety. How can we expect om young men brought up in such circles to have pUTeminds, desires, or morals? God pity the low-necked, no-sleeved, shortskirt, high-kicking, wine-drinking crowd of women over this country who pose as the heads of society.
When the writer read the following article in a leading daily a few days ago, he felt it was worth reproducing in this book on "Pictures on The Wall."
GIBL DANCER SHOCKS BOSTON SOCIETY FOLKS.
Pay $5 each to see Oriental gY7ationsin scant attire.
Boston, Mass., May 3.-A dance, such as the "400" oi Boston rarely sees, and which shocked s1vme of the matrons who attended the affair at M'ro. "Jack" Gardner's home, Fenway court, ye:1J.• teTday, was given by Miss Ruth St. Denis. The dance was so novel in the matter of attire that
30 Pictwres on the Wall.
patronesses rubbed their eyes and looked a second and a third time before they could believe what their sight conveyed ro their minds. Two hundred and fifty men and women paid $5 each to witness Miss St. Denis go through her gyratiolli> and contortions. Then they gasped for breath.
The dancer told oriental stories with pose and gesture in true East Indian .style. While none of her dances are open ro criticism on the lines of vulgarity, they made a sensatioiill with Bost0111's aristocracy. She explained her ·.scantinessof attire by saying that it was absolutely necessary in performing the intricate movements of the Hindoo dances.
When the "400" of Boston society get shocked at the dresa of a woman it must be time £or the good people of the land to rise up in a crusade against ·~uchnudity. Even society women, at least those who have yet a sense of the modest left, are becoming disgusted with this public array of themselves, in half-dressed styles.
We insert the following clipping a.s an illustTation of the low ebb fo which self-respect and ideals of purity have fallen even in the church. Here is a Methodist Episcopal church, the product of plain, modest people living holy lives; lives of prayer, but what is the product yielding?
GIRLS PASS AROUND THEIR STDCKINGS TO CLEAR CHURCH DEBT.
Pittsburg, Pa., March 6.-"Let'!ci have a stock-
Pictures on the Wall. 31
ing social," said a plump young mjss at the Methodist Episcopal Church the oth,"\Tevening when the Women's Aid Society was discussing ways and means of paying off the church debt.
''What's that?" asked the others.
Then the plump mi:a.sexplained, with many blushes. "All you have to do is to fix up one of your stockings with a baby ribbon draw~tring in• stead of a garter and ask the young men to drop soonething in for the benefit of the church."
The mouths of the old ones and the thin ones all took the form of a big letteT "0," but the young ones who are plump and pretty, and don't give a rap, had their way and a stocking social it is to be. The girfa are all busy pas.sing their stockings around now.
Next Thursday evening they will meet in the church and dump the contents of all of them into the collection basket. It is already assumed the debt on the church will be wipe·d out.
When a Methodist church, with a pastor professing godliness, with a boarq_ of steward8 claiming to run •the place for anything higher than a lust incubator, will permit such barbaric, practices, such wholesale advertising of nudity, as the above, yes, when a Methodist church can stoop so low as to let a gang of sensual-minded young women, who have no more self-respect than to thus array themselves before the publc, take charge of things it is certainly time to blow out the lights, throw the key away, and go out of business.
32 Pictures on the Wall.
Are we going to actually adopt the heathen practice of making lust a god and actually bring it into our worship and offer prayers to it as to God, and implore its help to the raising of money?
In the name of our yo1.mg manhood, I implore managers of theaters, maJams of bawdy houses, leaders of society, and pastors of such churches as the above, to call a halt, and put the premium vn modesty and virtue in the future.
When we read the following in a daily paper the other day, the thought caine to us, while lawmaking bodies are cutting off one part of the clothing for the protection of health ( which is certainly commendable) would it not be well to sew the part cut off, on to the other end of the garment for the protection of morals:
ORDINANCE AGAINST WOMEN ALLOWING TRAINS TO DRAG.
N oTdhausen, Prrnssian Saxony, May 5.-The Town Council of N ordhausen has issued an ordinance prohibiting women from allowing the trains of their dresses fa drag in the streets, as a "mea.Burefor the protection of health and to prevent tainting the air with dust."
The penalty for infraction of this ordinance is a fine of $7.50.
The writer knows particulars about a crowd of young women in a Southern city who went to a park for an evening on the car. Returning late
at night, holding to the straps of the car, they began kicking and succeeded in kicking out a part of the lights in the car. That the young man is far gone in his morals we don't deny, but would it not be a miracle of the type of those performed by Chrfat, if he should be even Teasonably clean in his habits when we have to contend with what we do? Let the White Ribbon army (a noble band they are) go home and renovate walls and wardrobe and save the manhood of our land of two pit-falls.
THE PRESS AGAINST PICTURES ON THE WALL.
That the reader may see this lengthy discussion of nudity is not simply the opinions of "a preacher'' we give below a oonvincing article from The Practical Farmer of Philadelphia.
THE NUDE IN ART.
Character is the only t,~ing in the world that is worth while. Everything else is ephemeral, transitory, and of value only a.s it aids the formation of the highest type of character. Our pleasures and our troubles, our friends and our foes, our ambtions and disappointments, our books, clothea, food, pictures, houses, lands, stock, come and go, but the character they affect remains. When finally death severs even the continually changing contact we have with these thing.s, it does not sever us from ourselves, from our character. Throughout eternity our character goes with uc;, and also behind us remains the influence that ouT character had upon others.
All things in life, every choice made, every step taken, everything sought to be obtained or held, every policy considered, every opinion, every act, every feeling, should be judged by only one standard; namely, how will this thing affect character -imy character, the characters of those near me,
Pictwres on. the Wall.
the characters of those further away, either now or hereaiter? If the effect on chaTacter is good, the thing is to be commended. Nothing is good or bad in itself. It is good or bad only as it affects something else. Poi.son is quite harmless if left alone. Nothing exists for itself, and can be rightly judged only as it affects other things and finally affects the one permanent thing, suol-life, or character.
This manner of judgment should be followed regardle88 of immediate consequences, for the final consequences will be to effect permanent good. The immediate co:ru;equencesmay be, and often will be, the u~tting of faB-hions,traditions, conventionalisms, catch-words of schools, shibboleths of many sorts. For instance, "ATt for art's sake" will be thrown on the refuse heap as quickly as would be the dictum, eating for @abing'ssake. Art becomes true art, only as it is an aid to character. There is bad art just as there is bad food, just as theTe are bad books, bad companions. "Let U'o keep our art, friends." Yes, brother, if it is true art. The good, the true, those things that affect character for good, we shall gladly keep, but ealling a thing art does not make it art. VulgaTity and ob.scenity are faexcusaible in speech, action, thought, looks and pictures. Counterfeit money is called money sometimes, but with the word bad or counterfeit joined to the name. The word art c.an be applied to some pictures and to some carved :figures only in the same way, by use of the ex-
36 Pictures on the lV"all.
planatory adjective showing that the thing is noi: really true art. And what is not true art, that which will injuriously affect character, we do not wish to have in our homes or elsewhere. If, in consequence, we are to be called Puritans, provincial, narrow or prudish, very well. To be called a Puritan is always an honor, and the other epithets are equally futile to harm. It is better to be right than to be applauded. To retort that in Titus the Scripture says: "To the pure all things are pure," is as irrelevant as to quote the other verse, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Satan is always ready to quote the words of Scripture even to Christ Himself. But in all such cases the meaning and limitations which the writer intended, must not be considered mere verbiage. The author of the Epistle to Titus was condemning vain talkers insisting on rites, circumcision, forms, Jewish fables, and concerning meats offered to idols and similarly merely ritualistically contaminated things. The Apostle again, as in RomacrIB,says they are not unclean or impure in themselves. Christ was the personification of purity, yet he did not hesitate to denounce impure things as being impure, nor should any follower of His. Although pure, He recognized impurity when He saw it. So should we. All honor to the Women's Christian Temperance Union, to the White Cross Society, to the highly useful Society for the Prevention of Vice and Crime and its noble, efficient officer, Anthony Comstock. May the
Pictures on the Wall. 3'1
purity work these excellent agencies do, be heartily supported by all of us. And if the cry of "prudishness" be Taised, let it be a boomerang, recoiling upon those who, either from ignorance or with evil intent, use the epithet. On the other hand, in deciding whether a so-called work of art is truly such, or merely painted, carved OTprinted obscenity, we must judge it not by our customs, conventionalisms and traditions, but solely by the standard, "How does it affect character?" This being the case, the mere fact of clothes or lack of clothes, the complete nakedness or any less degree of nudity does not in itself alone determine the matter.
No one would give the picture of an unclothed cow or a very meagerly clothed Indian racer a second thought, ·ao far as the clothes item was concerned. The attention would be attracted to the matter of clothes only in case the bodies were repT¤¤ented with clothes on. A fit of laughter would greet the cow, and incredulous wonder and amusement meet the picture of an Indian, swathed in a blanket, trying to run. It is the unnatural which, in each case, has attracted attention. At the Chicago World's Fair was a picture of a girl in her ''biTthday clothes" ( as my sister-in-law describea the absence of any) sound asleep under a tree in the woods. One young lady denounced the picture with vigor. "If she were doing anything, or had any occasion to be there that way, it would be different; but what girl would go out and lie
38 Pictures on the Wall.
down under a tree, on the rough roots and pebbles and weeds and go t.o sleep without any clothes on?" The element of unnaturalness spoiled the arl of the picture. In some pictures attention is attracted to the item of clothes, not by their absence, but by their unrumal arrange!Illent, colors or other details. Such pictures can be, and often i8Jl"e,more vulgar and effective jn suggesting evil than complete nudity. Again, pc•sture, expression, the story told by the picture, may, any one or all combined, make the picture far more salacioua than a picture of the undraped human figure. Here i~ a French picture of a ballet dancer at a wine revel, kicking one foot above her head, and here is another of little Johnny Jones, a ---'s Food baby, without any clothes on. The fiTst picture is abominable, the second delightful. You wish to pick the little fellow up and give him a kiss, he looks so sweet and n.aturn.l. The dancer had some drapery, the little boy none; yet the first was ,auggestive of evil thoughts, the second none at all. Here lies on a couch an actress-dressed, yet in such loose-sleeved, thin garments as to suggest the most sensual thoughts; then tur.n to the picture of a young girl wading, skirts turned up, one bare foot on a rock, the other in the water, ankles and calves entirely natural, arm& bare and a loose, quiet low neck, but not decolette waist, the whole figure expressive of action and pleasure in her play. There is more plain exposure of the body in the second picture than the first,
Pictures on the Wall. 39
but this latter is exhileratingly pure and sane. Finally, take the pictures in a physiology or even in a technical medical or surgical work. There ia no drapery nor is there suggestion of evil. Also in a physical culture book or magazine, though sometimes the editors are not sufficiently discriminating and admit unsuitable pictures, usually the pictures, although exhibiting the body practically unclothed, are suggestive of physical development, not of any evil thoughta. Venus of Milo is but partially draped, yet the most conservative may safely admit that statue to their homes. A picture or carving that is entirely nude may not suggest evil at all. The cUTvedline is the line of beauty. The human figure has hardry a straight line in it, and is therefore one of the most beautiful things that an artist can paint or carve. There is nothing necessarily oh3-cenein its representation. Mere n.udity does not condemn a work of art. Sugges,tiveness of evil, whether the form of the body be entirely draped or not draped at all, is the point to consider. Every picture must be considered in and by itself and judged by its effect on character. The larger number of pure pictures of the human: body we can have, the better it will be for all concerned. Unfortunately, the number of such art works is not so large nor are they so eaaily obtained as the more popular but injurious types which are sown broadcast in various ways, from cigarette picturffi up to very costly, so-called works of art. fit only for smoking rooms, saloons
40 Pictures on the Wall.
and other ante-chambers of hell. This class of so-called a:ritwe should oppose unceasingly.
The following "arl and evil" from rrhe "Watchmoo," of Boston, Mass., is worthy a place here and! we are sure will be of intereat to the reader:
ART AND EVIL.
In the S. S. lesson on the Death of John the Baptist the dancing of Herodias' daughter was so pleasing to Herod that he made the pledge to the young woman of giving her whatever she asked, with the r&sult that the man of God lost his head. The dancing of HeTOdirus.'daughter was very finely done. We can imagine that she was a pen;on of beauty of form and figure and that the poses and posturings of an oriental dance would exhibit her lines of grace and her skill to the greatest advantage. She was probably clad lightly in garments that half concealed and half revealed her form. In the suggestive posturings of the dance she pTobablyheld herself under some restraint and was not considered as violating any essential propriety, but there was boldness in her assuming in a public exhibition the place of a professional dancer-a person who was not usually a reputable character. There was a certain immodesty in the light garments she wore rund the movements she made in the presence of men.
But the skillful and graceful way of doing wh·at she did seemed to cover up a[Ildjustify the real immodesty of the performance in the eyes of those
Pi.ctures on the Walt. 41
who applauded it. The art with which it was done made it so beautiful that it was admired and brought her great eclat. Yet with all the beauty of the scene and the marvelous evolutions of form ihe essential evil was only veiled. The dance itself was a .suggestively voluptuous one, the men who looked upon it weTe not charmed out of its evil impressions and she herself had done what she would not have done on other occasions. She was not the responsible one for the death of John, but a tool in the hands of her mother, yet the net result of her a•$uming the place of a dancer was that a good man was put to death. Her art was used by others for theiT evil purposes.
This incident illustrates what we often have occasion to notice in social customs and diversions, how art covers and b¤auti:fies evil to such an extent that it h countenanced by people of reputable character and social standing. Thing"S that are in themselves improper and that such people would con.sider impropeT under other circumstances or settings are considered allowable. Things that tend to make a bad impression are so dressed in literature or drama or art as to be accepted and countenanced. They wou1d not be peTmitted under other circumstances or in a gross form in which their bare impression would be alone felt. A decollete wai.-:tis considered proper on some occasions and within certain circles and is regarded as that which disdose.s under limita,. tions the beauty of neck and bust. It would be s
42 Pictures on the Wall.
breach of propTiety for any one to appear in "tights" on social occasions, yet objection is not raised by those who witness the sight on the stage. If we ask the reason for this we find that art is suppo·sed to justify it under the circumstances and for the object. The same may be said of the representations of the nude on canvas and in marble when they are exhibited in an art gallery. The standard and object of art is considered as justifying the exhibition in its place.
Moralists and religious people, who lay emphasis on purity of thought and on impression8 that are wholly good, look with solicitude and disapproval upon what is essentially immodest or borders on the very edge of unsuitableness. In the Tedemption of human beings from vice and for the purification of the atmosphere of thought for those who are young they feel the necessity of avoiding even the suggestion of evil. It is. said of a great painter that he made a rule never to look upon a poor picture. Whatever may be the prudery or puritanism which lovers of pleasure charge upon religious people, it is a fact which cannot be successfully denied that in our social and popular life today art often invests e-vil with beauty and wit and splendor, but the net result is in serious impl'BS'aionson the young and the passionate. John the Baptist lost his life as an indirect result of art weeded to evil but many young men of to-day are losing moral stamina and purity which are greater losoosthan life itself.
A WONDER ON THE EARrrH.
Well, amen, Glory to God in the highest! I have asked Bro. J. M. Taylor for a little space in his book on pictures on the wall, and he has kindly given it to me. Now the reader will Temember that John the beloved, saw a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown ~f twelve stars. Now, reader, you see that ia a great wonder, and it is a wonder because John said it was, and I believe John, but I saw a greater wonder than the one John saw. I saw a woman on the earth with white gloves on her hands and her arms naked up to her shoulders, and why a Wv• man would glove her hand and expose her arm to the sunshine and wind and the eyes of men WffS a wonder that even the prophet Daniel could not unravel, and she had a veil over her face and not a rag of cloth on her collar-b0ne. Now, reader, you see that the wonder I saw is a greater wonder than the one John saw. Why a woman will cover up her face and hang her collar-.bone out on the clothes line is a mysteTy that is gigantic in its make-up. Now, her collar-bone was not a big, :fine-lookingone, but was a poor, scrawny, ~crubbylooking affair, and looked blue like the shank of a turkey gobbler and was a ·small looking outfit. It looked like you could have taken your pen43
Pictures
knife and split the little bone upon it and it would have made good tooth picks, and she came to my altar and knelt and I said to her, Now, sister, let's tie my handkerchief over youT collar bone while we pray, and she became very angry with me and said: "If I were to tell my husband h.:>wyou talked to me he would give you a :flogging." Well, I said, "Bless the Lord, if your huSiband wants to whip me for wanting his wife to put a whole dress on I would ·shout all the time while he whipped me." But, thank God, while I prayed God dug up her guilty conscience and she wept al.:>udand the big tears ran down heT face and fell off on her naked arms and I gave her my handkerchief to wipe her face with, and she got saved and came back to the church with a dress on with sleeves in it and a top on it, and had off her veil and to my great surprise and delight she looked just like other women folks. N .:>w,this is the wonder I saw.
BUD ROBINSON.
A HAND WRITING ON THE WALL.
The prophet Daniel is not the only ·oervant of the Most High that has been called on to read a strange hand writing on the wall. A few months ago the writer was entertained in the home of a well-to-do Methodist family, and when I was shown my room it was on the second floor and beautifully furnished in some respects, a lovely carpet on the floor, a nice folding bed and a lovely wash-stand and water-set, plenty of nice rockers and rugs, lit up with electricity and heated by a hot water radiator, and large windows fronting the east and north, and the wall almost covered with what looked to be costly pictures, and to my hoTror and amazement, I found on the wall of that room seven pictures of women without anything in the world on them; they were as free from clothing as they were when they were born, and before I ever opened up my grip I took down every picture that I could take down and put them under the wash-stand, with their faces t'I:>the floor, and those I could not take down I turned their faces to the wall, and I got down on my knees and asked God to give me grace to stand while I was not only in hell up to my knees, but up to my eyes. It is a fact that we can't keep ·out of hell in this country, but glory be to God, we can keep hell out of us. The reader will not be surprised when I •s
tell him that this room was occupied by the young man of the house, and that he was an awful backslider, a member of the Methodist church, but was only out to church once or twice while I was in the city, and was up town every night till a late hour with a band of worldly-going women, which is to my mind about the worst company on earth for a man of any age to keep. The young man was a beautiful, bTight, fine-looking fellow, about twenty-three years of age, but is to-day almost if not altogether wrecked. What hope is there of a young man with the wall of his room lined with pictures of undressed women? Now, I close with a question, how on earth do parents expect their sons to come to any good under the circumstances? Mothers and f atheTt, in the name of Jesus Christ, and for the ·sake of your own offspring, see to it that your s·on has a clean room, keep this awful temptation from before his eyes as much as in you lieth. Bun RoBINSON.
NUDITY.
Under the discussion of "Pictures on the Walls" we have tried to show rthe evils of nudity, and to look at the question from the tStandpoint of reason. We have given the opinions of the prei,i:;,and a fine article from Bud Robinson and others. We want in conclusion to give some incidents.
HOTELS AND NUDITY.
In a etter from a leading evangelist of the country he said to u.s. "I was in a hotel in a Southern town where I saw several large wall picturee and every one, without a tSingleexception, presented a lot of women in a ·.state of absolute nudity. Of course I did not 'put up' in such a den, although it would po~ibly be called one of the best hotels in the town." This is from a man of mature y,ears, with a fine ChTistian experience and one of the most serious and thoughtful men of our acquaintance. What about the young man out without Christ. lodged in such a place? Why not have a board of godly women in each town and city, to plead for decent pictures in baTber .:hops., and hotels.
Pictures on the WaU.
MEN PROTECT YOUR HOMES.
Speaking on the line of nudity a friend mfurmed us that he was "in a preacher's home who had the pictUTe of a woman, on his parlor wall, with only a little clothing from her breasts to her knees." Another friend, a song evangelist, told us of a pastor's hvme where a like picture was hanging and the pastor had aons in the home to look upon it. When approached about it, the wife said "Oh it is fine art." We men certainly owe it to our childTen and to those who visit our homea, to see to it that they are decent places for pure people to come.
WATCH THE CHILDREN.
Rev. L. L. Pickett, writing to us said, "a scoundrel years a.go sold one of my b0y.s, who was scarcely more than twelve year,s. of age, a knife that contained a hidden picture that is calculated to inspire only lust. The child when he discovered it brought me the knife in disgust." Happy be the father whose children have true disregard for such things, and run to their parents with them. If we cannot have legislation again.st your children having their minds contaminated with evil pictures, ·aurely we ought to have public sentiment boiling along this line, so the "scoundrel" would not dare to undertake a low down trick like the above. Fathers watch the pockets of your chidren, that you may know what they see.
YOUNG WOMEN HAVE DECENT BOOKS.
A friend writing me said: "In an elegant Kentucky home I was 'assigned' to the daughter's room, she being absent. Although she waa a gradua.te of the church schovl, I found a string of nude, or semi-nude, cigarette pictures, about fonr feet in length." Is it not a deplorable condition when young women right out of a church college are so vile in their tastes that they will decorate their rooms in a way to disgust a man because o:f the array of the impure and immodest? Can we not have a body of young woffi¤n over this country who will dress in a manner, and decorate their rooms and parlors in a way that will inspire only the pure and ennobling in olliers?
MOTHERS BE MODEST.
A national worker in her early life before she was saved, had dressed for a ball, when ready to start, she went to the room and kissed her little one good night, saying "now go to bed and to oleep; mama will be back after a while." The little innocent one looked up in its mother's face and sad, "Mama, aint you going to put on a dre38 before you go?" The mother, not so far gone perhaps as others, replied, "never mind, my child mother will put you to bed tonight," and retired from the room to pray, and dress, stayed at home to raise her children and work for the Master.
50 Pictures on the Wall.
Why not a thousand mothers cultivate modesty., and self-respect, enough to go and do likewi.5e.
SPEAK YOUR SENTIMENT.
A friend of ours was attending a wedding in company with a great educator. It was quite a social affair, but an effort was made to cundu~t it in a decent if not religious manner. Among the other guests was a lady dressed ( ?) for the occasion. The college president remarked to my friend, "It is a pity decent people and God's children can't meet and have a reispectable gatheTing without hell sending forth one of her very own to mar the occasion and disgust respectable people." It is u.sel¤ss to say that the lady dressed for the occasion disappeared for the evening.
ART GALLERIES ARE DANGEROUS.
The Rev. Dr. --a friend of the writer told us that while he was abToad visiting mUBeumo and art galleries, he found his mind and imagination, were being tainted. He simply gave it up and did not finish his expected trip through these noted depositories of art.
SIGHT SEEING IN SLUMDOM.
A religioua worker told us that he had gone through the "red light" districts in Chicago at
Pictures on the WaJl. 51
mid-night on Saturday night, said he saw hell turned loose, but that it brought things up bef0re his mind's eye he never wanted repeated, and would not go again even to take a friend through. Another religious worker wrote a friend and said, "I was through slumdom, it heads anything of the kind I ever s,aw any where, ih is hell let loose." The next letter to that friend said, "I have fallen."
THE LORD SAW THE DANGER OF EVIL PICTURES.
The Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when ye are passed 1vverJordan, into the land of Canaan; There ye shall drive out all inhabitants of the land from before you and destToy all their pictures. Numbers 33 :50-52. In this passage of scripture the Dvrd puts the heathen and their pictures right up side by side and declares that in order to live right and pleaw the Inrd we must not only drive out the heathen but destroy their picture3. To our mind if there is a picture on earth that looks heathenish it is the kind this book ref era to. One would not have been surprised to have found such pictures in abundance in Thessalonica when they were worshiping ·3ensuality, for the pictures gracing the walls of many homes in this fair land would be fit tablets for a temple of Wvl'shipwhere passion was made a god. Suppose we obey this command to destroy all these pictures.
Pictures on- the Wall.
YOUNG LADIES REFORM.
After heal"ing the ·atruggles of a young rnan pl'.>uredout to us we were in the home of the young lady to whom he was paying his respects, we found on the walls of her parlor pictures that would make a down-town tough blush to .see in the presence of a lady.
:MOTHERS .A.RE L.A.YING SN .A.RES
FOR SONS.
In a southern town the evangelist was called during the meeting, into the home of parents who·oeson was counted the toughest man in town, a moral leper, but the minister wru:;not surprised to find in the sitting room four pictures that would have been gratefully received by any broth• el in town.
POMPEII.
The city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius 1800 years ago, in.which were Roman villas, a resort of wealth, wa·a probably the in.ost licentious city for 2,000 year~. A friend who recently visited the excavated ruins of the place and saw relics now in diffeTent museums of the old world told us that the paintings and statuary were the must nude and lustful he had ever S¤¤n. To this we as a nation seem headed; may God grant that a halt may be called in time.
OIGARETTE FICTURES.
What young man does not remember only a few years ago how the boya carried around as treasures the dirty pictures from the old fashioned cigarettes, and would step around the coTDerand call other boys to look at them, cultivating lmt and ruin in a young heart at twelve to fourteen.
NOT ENOUGH OLOTHES TO FLAG A TRAIN.
Rev. Bud Robinsxm said he went by a ball room on his way home from service one night and when he looked in where they weTe dancing, the girls sca.rcely had on enough clothes to flag a train. He gave this as one reason of the awful state of morals he found in the place, and declared such dressing would soon land the young men and women who were pure ju.st where most of the older ones were.
HARLOTS CONDEMN SUCH DRESS.
It is a noticeable fact that when fallen women go on the street vT go away from the city and want to pose for pure, modest women they invariably dress in a fashion not to put their bodiea on exhibition, they put on "full dress" sure enough. This should make respectable ladies think. When a queetionabe character doesn't want to be suspicioned she won't begin to dress as many of our
54 Pictures on the Wall.
society loved ones do. Shall the fallen raise the standard?
IT MAKES A LADY AN OBJECT OF INSULTS .A.ND TEMPTATIONS.
'l1he half dress condemned in this bo0klet often subjects the ones thus attired to msults and temptations, by those who easliy and often take them for queationable characf:¤rs. To thus dress, is to put virtue on the auction block. May God in mercy open the eyes of our wives and sisters before it is too late.
THE LAST.
The author's only puTpose in gathering spare moments between services to write these pages, ha.s been to glorify God and lift a warning voice on behalf of our fellow men and the home.s of our land. We have heard so many men with good desires and intentions talk and cry about how they go down and why they do so. We believe that when pure wive3, sisters, mothers and sweethearts look at this question seriously, they will by the grace of God work a reform in pictures on the walls, and the dress of tlociety, for the sake 1.JfJesus and their loved ones.
Taylor Library
15 BOOKS FOR
Regular Price $1.45.
ASSOCIATIONS
Or society goats disrobed. This book brings out the evil of the present day social lite, to which young people are constantly subjected. Over 10,000 have been sold. Paper binding, 10c.
KNOTTY POINTS
Or truth explained. An exegesis of 43 controverted passages of Scripture. Paper binding, 10c.
DOINGHIS WILL
Or going to Hell. This book sets forth the doctrine of entire sanctifkation as taught in the Scriptures. Also that it must be obtained here on earth. Paper binding, 10c.
THE CARNAL MIND
Showing what it is as described in the Scriptures, and giving the remedy for its removal. Paper bindiug, 10c.
HOME PASTIME
Treats the subject of proper literature for the !tome reading. Gives names of proper anct helpful books for young people of the home. Paper 10c.
PICTURESON THE WALL
A clear- statement of the great harm of some pictures on some w:.1lls. Should be read by all lovers of decency. Paper binding, 10c.
THE DEVIL'S PARTNERS
A sermon dealing wit'h the real partners of the devil. Handles the subjec-t with gloves and starts the reader to thinking. Paper binding, 10c.
PERILSOF THE YOUNGMAN
A lecture delivered in diffe,rent countries with unva• rying success. It brings out distinctly the many ')erils confronting the young man in this fast age. , Paper binding, 10c.
Dl!.fEATS OF THE DEVIL
An enlightening, inspiring book for the poor, the rich, the Christian, the sinner, the backslider. Helpful thoughts gleaned from the life of J. M. Taylor. Paper binding, 10c.
RUTH, OR HOW SHE FEU...
This book of 120 pages is the story of a young girl's life, and covers the entire Christian experience. Especially adapted to the young. Paner binding, 15c.
HOW TO REACHTHE MASSES
This book deals with the problems now facing all professing churches. It points out God's manner of doing tt. Paper binding, 10c.
THREE MOTHERSWHO PRAYED
Cannot be surpassed in its dealing with the subject O;f prevailing prayer by the motherhood of this country. A remarkable book for the times. Paper binding, 10c.
HELL,A PLACEOF ETERNALFIRE
A Scriptural treatise on eternal punishment. Price 5c.
BAPTISMWITH THE HOLYGHOST
Splendid treatise \n heart purity and euduement of power for service. Price 5c.
LITTLENUGGETSFOR CHILDREN
A story of little Johnnie. A fine story for children. Price 5c.
We offer the entire set of 15 books for $1.00 post• paid. Order today.
THE TAYLORLIBRARY
Tb.ls set of books wrlrtfletn for tlhe massea o.n Yariooe abjeets eanaot be more biply recommended ibhan to tell the pu,bYc that in the ta.9t few mo.nths hundreds of i&ets have gone to every part ot 1Jhe United Stia.tes. T,he demand bas been so ~resit :tba.t the pub-Ushers have found it dillcult to keep them tn etock. This Llbria.ry ot 11.freenbooks !bas been seleeted from the ~-tYon.e books by the ame autll,o.r.
As1oelatlou. hper, 11 oente
Knotty Pointe.
Doinar m, Will or Goins to Bell. .
. Paper, It oeats
..... Paper, 10 eeats
The Carnal Mind ....•...........•........ .. Paper, 10 cent. Why Teach Bollnes•'t .................... Pap•• 10 eeats Pictures on the Wall ....................•.... Paper, 10 cents
T•e Devil's Partners .............•....... Paper, 10 eent. Perils ot tile Youns Man .••.......•.••••.•. ,Paper, 10 ce11te Det•ts ot the Devil ......•.......•.....•.. ,Paper, 11 ceate :&uth er Hew She Fell Paper, 15 ceate How to Beaell the Masse• ................... Paper, 10 eents ThHe Mothers Who Prayed. Paper, 10 eents Baptlsin ot the Holy Ghost . ....... Paper, 5 cent. Little Nu.-;gets for Little Folk• .... Paper, I ce-.ts Hell, A Place of Eternal Fire . ..•.......... .. Paper, I eeata
The publlsher's interest in the spread ot g,oo,cl liter.a.tu.re has led him to make this exceptional offer: We wlll eeind the Ta•ylor Library of fifteen books ($1.45 worth) to .a.ny e.ddi:ess tor Sl.00 postpaid. Remit by Srtamps, peuonial check, New York draft, Mc>ne:, Order, or registered letter. Order today trom
We find af.ter a thorough trial in m()st every state that our Scripture Mottoes sell readily in every couimunity and in order to get our friends interested ill this splendid work we ,,ifer to send postpaid $S.OO wor,th of our prettiest and best selling mottoe• for $3If you make an effort and fail to $ell them and wish to return to us by mail in good condition we will re,. fund your m.>ney.
You can make any changes in the above assort .. ment that you may desire •.'.>ryou can make a selection of $5.00 worth from our atalogue.
This is a fine opportunity for you to make Mission-ary or church money and at the same time do ,a good work of getting the Scripture into the homes. Send y,:>urorder at once.
James Milburn Taylor was born July 27, 1873 in Blount County in Eastern Tennessee. In 1887, at a camp-meetng, Taylor experienced salvaton and became involved in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In January of 1895 he had his sanctfcaton experience and became a part of the Holiness Movement as an actve evangelist. He preached throughout Tennessee and Kentucky through the early 1900s, while making Knoxville, Tennessee his main center of operatons. He became associated with William Godbey and other Holiness fgures, publishing a number of booklets independently for his ministry. Many of these were published by H.C. Morrison’s Pentecostal Publishing Company.
In the early 1900s Taylor was involved with the Interdenominatonal Missionary Prayer League and the Holiness Union of the South, which helped sponsor Taylor on an evangelistc tour of the West Indies in 1906 and 1907. This included St. Thomas, St. Croix, Dominica, Antgua, Barbados, the Britsh Guianas, and Surinam among other islands, making him one of the pioneer missionaries of the English-speaking Caribbean. In 1912, Taylor, along with S. W. Edwards of the Holiness Union of the South did an evangelistc tour of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama. This was one of the earliest Holiness missions to Central America. From January to June of 1914, Taylor did an evangelistc tour of South America including Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.
By 1917, Taylor had become the Secretary for Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church Board of Foreign Missions and made missionary tours to Mexico and Asia, including Japan, Korea, China, India, Malaysia, Burma, and the Philippines. In 1921 Taylor became president of Taylor University, a positon which he held for six months untl he lef under a scandal. Taylor then went on the Chautauqua circuit speaking about his many travels, at least tll 1926, before fnally disappearing from the pages of history.