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 because they are secret tempters; they ply their nefarious business stealthily and continually. You would be ashamed to remain for any length of time alone with a person of doubtful reputation; you would be careful not to confide in him, because you would fear that injury to your virtue might be the result. On the contrary, one is alone when reading a bad book, alone with the tempter; one can listen to him without being put to shame before others.

4. The number of these silent, but persuasive, tempters is legion nowadays. Like a second deluge, the endless number of bad books and periodicals that are prejudicial to innocence and morality pours itself over all strata of society, in cities and villages, extending its ravages even to remote mountain valleys. First in the turbid flood we find bad novels, and indeed the greater number of novels and romances are fraught with danger to morals. They almost all relate piquant, sensual love stories, heat the imagination by highly colored descriptions, and these again blind the understanding, enfeeble the will, and ensnare the heart.

The deadly poison is presented and swallowed with the sweet sugar of a showy, attractive style, and a highly interesting tale. But daily experience proves how ruinous are its effects.

5. Seek the advice of a priest or an educated Catholic layman with regard to