R. F. HENRY.




PREFACE.


You will, my dear reader, find many very plain things between the two
covers of this little book; things which will, perhaps, shock your
modesty and probably disgust you altogether.

But if you find merely the reading of the facts disgusting, think how
much more disgusting is the reality, and how essential that _some_ one
should portray the evil to the public in a manner impressive and not to
be misunderstood.

I have numerous reasons for undertaking this work, chief among them,
however, being because I have for many months, felt it to be a duty to
my God, and to my fellow-man. Nay, I may put it in a yet more concise
form; and simply say, because of a sense of duty to my God, for I
believe the two to be inseparable. As the green calyx of the rosebud
holds within its embrace everything required to make up the perfect
rose in all its beauty of form, texture, tint and perfume, so my duty to
my God embraces my whole duty to my fellow-man in all its beauty of
kindness, love, and any help or warning I may be able to give, and if
that duty shall lead me to speak out boldly and plainly a warning
against the evil of a popular amusement, I will boldly and plainly
speak, and leave the result with Him whose I am and whom I serve.