Plain Facts for Old and Young Part 27

3. Avoid watching for symptoms. Ills are greatly exaggerated by dwelling upon them. One can easily imagine himself getting worse when he is really getting better. Indeed, one can make himself sick by dwelling upon insignificant symptoms. Fix upon a course to pursue for recovery, firmly resolve to comply with every requirement necessary to insure success, and then let the mind be entirely at rest respecting the result.

4. Never consult a quack. The newspapers abound with lying advertis.e.m.e.nts of remedies for diseases of this character. Do not waste time and money in corresponding with the ignorant, unprincipled charlatans who make such false pretensions. Do not consult traveling doctors. Physicians of real merit have plenty of business at home. They are not obliged to go abroad in order to secure practice. Persons who resort to this course are, without exception, pretentious quacks.

Consult only some well-known and reliable physician in whom you have confidence. If your physician treats the matter lightly, and advises marriage as a means of cure, you will not judge him harshly if you decide that although he may be thoroughly competent to treat other diseases, he is ignorant of the nature and proper treatment of this. It is an unfortunate fact that there are many physicians who are not thoroughly acquainted with the nature of spermatorrhoea and the proper mode of treating the disease; hence the importance of making a judicious selection in choosing a medical adviser. If possible, employ one whom you know to have treated successfully numerous similar cases, and give him your entire confidence. It is far better to consult your family physician than to trust yourself in the hands of some one whom you do not know, and especially one who makes great pretensions to knowledge.

5. Do not despair of ever recovering from the effects of past transgression, and plunge into greater depths of sin. Persevering, skillful treatment will cure almost every case. Even the worst cases can be greatly benefited if the earnest co-operation of the patient can be secured. This is indispensable, and the patient should be so instructed at the outset of a course of treatment.

6. Every sufferer from s.e.xual disease must make up his mind to live, during the remainder of his life, as closely in accord with the laws of life and health as circ.u.mstances under his control will allow him to do. One who pursues this course, with a genuine regard for principle and a love for right, may confidently expect to receive the reward of obedience for his faithfulness. We would recommend such to obtain and study the best works upon hygiene, put in practice every new truth as soon as learned, and become missionaries of the saving truths of hygiene to others who are suffering from the same cause as themselves, or who may be in danger of falling into the same evil.

A CHAPTER FOR BOYS.

Boys, this chapter is for you. It is written and printed purposely for you. If you do not read another word in the book, read these few pages if you are old enough to do so. Read each line carefully and thoughtfully.

You may not find anything to make you laugh--possibly you may: but you will be certain to find something of almost inestimable value to you in every line.

Who are Boys?--Boys are scarce now-a-days. In the days of Methuselah, male human beings were still boys when nearly a century old; twenty-five years ago boys were still such until well out of their "teens"; now the interval between infancy and the age at which the boy becomes a young man is so brief that boyhood is almost a thing of the past. The happy period of care-free, joyous innocence which formerly intervened between childhood and early manhood is now almost un.o.bservable. Boys grow old too fast. They learn to imitate the vices and the manners of their seniors before they reach their teens, and are impatient to be counted as men, no matter how great may be their deficiencies, their unfitness for the important duties and responsibilities of life. The consequence of this inordinate haste and impatience to be old, is premature decay. Unfortunately the general tendency of the young members of the rising generation is to copy the vices of their elders, rather than the virtues of true manliness. A strong evidence of this fact, if there were no other, is the unnaturally old-looking faces which so many of our boys present. At the present time the average boy of twelve knows more of vice and sin than the youth of twenty of the past generation.

It is not so much for these human mushrooms, which may be not inaptly compared to toadstools which grow up in a single night and almost as speedily decay, that we write, but for the old-fas.h.i.+oned boys, the few such there may be, those who have not yet learned to love sin, those whose minds are still pure and uncontaminated. Those who have already begun a course of vice and wickedness we have little hope of reforming; but we are anxious to offer a few words of counsel and warning which may possibly help to save as brands plucked from a blazing fire, those whose moral sense is yet alive, who have quick and tender consciences, who aspire to be truly n.o.ble and good.

What are Boys for?--This question was answered with exact truthfulness by a little boy, who, when contemptuously accosted by a man with the remark, "What are you good for?" replied, "Men are made of such as we."

Boys are the beginnings of men. They sustain the same relation to men that the buds do to full-blown flowers. They are still more like the small green apples which first appear when the blossoms drop from the branches, compared with the ripe, luscious fruit which in autumn bends the heavy-laden boughs almost to breaking. Often, like the young apples, boys are green; but this is only natural, and should be considered no disgrace to the boys. If they grow up naturally they will ripen with age, like the fruit, developing at each successive stage of life additional attractions and excellent qualities.

Boys the Hope of the World.--A nation's most valuable property is its boys. A nation which has poor, weakly, vicious boys will have still weaker, more vicious and untrustworthy men. A country with n.o.ble, virtuous, vigorous boys, is equally sure of having n.o.ble, pious, brave, and energetic men. Whatever debases, contaminates, or in any way injures the boys of a country, saps and undermines the very foundation of the nation's strength and greatness. Save the boys from vice and crime, give them good training, physically, mentally, and morally, and the prosperity of the nation is a.s.sured.

Man the Masterpiece.--When a skillful artist perfects a work of art, a painting, a drawing, a statue, or some other work requiring great talent and exceeding all his other efforts, it is called his masterpiece.

So man is the n.o.blest work of G.o.d, the masterpiece of the Almighty.

Numerous anecdotes are told of the sagacity of dogs, horses, elephants and other animals, of their intelligence and ingenious devices in overcoming obstacles, avoiding difficulties, etc. Our admiration and wonder are often excited by the scarcely less than human wisdom shown by these lowly brothers of the human race. We call them n.o.ble animals; but they are only n.o.ble brutes, at best. Compared with man, even in his most humble form, as seen in the wild savage that hunts and devours his prey like a wild beast, a lion or a tiger, they are immeasurably inferior. And in his highest development, man civilized, cultivated, Christianized, learned, generous, pious, certainly stands at the head of all created things.

Boys, do you love what is n.o.ble, what is pure, what is grand, what is good? You may each, if you will, become such yourselves. Let us consider for a moment

How a n.o.ble Character is Ruined.--A n.o.ble character is formed by the development of the good qualities of an individual. A bad character is formed by the development of bad traits, or evil propensities. In other words, sin is the cause of the demoralization of character, the debasing of the mind, the loss of n.o.bility of which we see so much around us in the world. Sin is the transgression of some law. There are two kinds of sins: those which are transgressions of the moral law, and those which are transgressions of physical laws. Both cla.s.ses of sins are followed by penalties. If a person violates the laws of health, he is just as certain to suffer as though he tells a falsehood, steals, murders, or commits any other crime. Perfect obedience to all of nature's laws, including of course all moral laws, is necessary to perfect health and perfect n.o.bleness of character. The nature of these laws and the results of transgression will be understood after we have taken a hasty glance at

The Marvelous Human Machine which we call the body. All the inventions and devices ever constructed by the human hand or conceived by the human mind, no matter how delicate, how intricate and complicated, are simple, childish toys compared with that most marvelously wrought mechanism, the human body. Let us proceed to take this wonderful machine in pieces and study its various parts and the manner in which they are put together.

The Two Objects of Human Existence.--The objects of this wonderfully formed mechanism are two: 1. The maintenance of an individual life; 2. The production of similar individuals which shall also have the power of maintaining individual lives. The same may be said of every plant that grows, and every animal. Each tree, plant, and shrub has some useful service to perform while it lives, in addition to the production of seed from which other plants may grow. For example, the object of the majestic oak which towers high and broadly spreads its leafy branches is not to produce acorns merely, but to give place for birds to build their nests, to present an inviting shade for cattle, and to afford protection in a variety of ways to numerous living creatures which need such aid. The same may be said of all vegetable growths, each particular plant having its peculiar purposes to fulfill, and all together acting as purifiers of the air for the benefit of man and lower animals.

The principle is equally true as applied to lower animals, as is evidenced by the numerous ways in which domestic animals are utilized.

Indeed, it seems that the prime purpose of life, not only with all lowly living creatures, as plants and animals, but with man as well, is to live and act as individuals. But the important function of reproduction, or producing other similar individuals, though incidental, is necessary to the perpetuation of the race or species.

In order that an individual human being may live and develop, it is necessary that he should eat, drink, digest, and a.s.similate, and that he should be able to move about, to perceive,--that is, to hear, see, feel, smell, taste, determine weight and distinguish temperature,--to think, and to express ideas in language. In order to keep his vital machinery in order, it is necessary that the body should also be able to repair injuries which may occur in consequence of wear or accident, and to remove out of the way wornout material which would otherwise obstruct the working of the delicate machinery of which his body is constructed. Each of these functions requires special organs and apparatuses to carry on the work; and these we will now briefly consider:--

The Nutritive Apparatus.--This consists of organs for the purpose of taking in food or nourishment, digesting it, and distributing it throughout the body wherever it is needed. These are chiefly the mouth and teeth for receiving and chewing the food, the stomach and intestines for digesting and absorbing it, and the heart and blood-vessels for distributing it to the body.

The Moving Apparatus.--For the purpose of producing motion, we have the muscles and the bones, by which the food is received, masticated, and swallowed, the blood circulated, the body moved about from place to place, and speech, expression, respiration, and many other important functions performed.

The Thinking and Feeling Apparatus.--The brain and nerves afford the means of thinking and feeling, also giving rise to all the activities of the body by the production of nerve force. To aid the brain and nerves, we have special organs provided, termed the organs of special sense; as the eye for sight, the ear for hearing, the nose for the detection of odors, the tongue for tasting, the skin and the mucous membrane for the sense of touch.

The Purifying Apparatus.--Waste matter acc.u.mulates in the body so rapidly that it is necessary to have abundant and efficient means to remove the same, and prevent death by obstruction. This work is performed by the lungs, liver, kidneys, skin, and mucous membrane.

Each organ and tissue possesses the power to repair itself. Animal heat, which is also necessary to life, is not produced by any special set of organs, but results incidentally from the various other processes named.

The Reproductive Apparatus.--As there is a stomach to digest, a brain to think, a pair of lungs to breathe, etc., so there are special organs for reproducing the species or producing new individuals. These organs have been carefully described in the preceding portion of this volume, so that we do not need to repeat the description here. Unlike all the other organs of the body, they are intended for use only after full development or manhood has been attained; consequently, they are only partially developed in childhood, becoming perfected as the person becomes older, especially after about the age of fourteen to eighteen, when p.u.b.erty occurs. The lungs, the stomach, the muscles, and other organs must be used constantly from the earliest period of infancy, hence they are developed sufficiently for efficient use at birth. The fact that the s.e.xual or reproductive organs are only fully developed later on in life, is sufficient evidence that they are intended for use only when the body has become fully mature and well developed.

How a n.o.ble Character and a Sound Body Must Be Formed.--By obeying all the laws which relate to the healthy action of the body and the mind, a n.o.ble character and a healthy body may be formed. Any deviation from right will be sure to be followed by suffering. A boy who carefully heeds the advice of good and wise parents, who avoids bad company, who never indulges in bad habits of any sort, who cultivates purity, honesty, and manliness, is certain to grow up into a n.o.ble, lovely youth, and to become an intelligent, respected, virtuous man.

The Down-Hill Road.--In every large city, and in small ones too, even in little villages, we can scarcely step upon the street without being pained at meeting little boys who have perhaps scarcely learned to speak distinctly, but whose faces show very plainly that they have already taken several steps down the steep hillside of vice. All degrees of wickedness are pictured on the faces of a large proportion of the boys we meet upon the streets, loitering about the corners, loafing in hotels, groceries, and about bar-room doors. Everywhere we meet small faces upon which sin and vice are as clearly written as though the words were actually spelled out. Lying, swearing, smoking, petty stealing, and brazen impudence are among the vices which contaminate thousands and thousands of the boys who are by-and-by to become the _men_ of this country, to const.i.tute its legislators, its educators, its supporters, and its protectors. Is it possible that such boys can become good, useful, n.o.ble, trustworthy men? Scarcely. If the seeds of noxious weeds can be made to produce useful plants or beautiful flowers, or if a barren, worthless shrub can be made to bear luscious fruit, then may we expect to see these vicious boys grow up into virtuous, useful men.

But the vices mentioned are not the worst, the traces of which we see stamped upon the faces of hundreds of boys, some of whom, too, would scorn to commit any one of the sins named. There is another vice, still more terrible, more blighting in its effects, a vice which defiles, diseases, and destroys the body, enervates, degrades, and finally dethrones the mind, debases and ruins the soul. It is to this vice that we wish especially to call attention. It is known as

Self-Abuse.--Secret vice, masturbation, and self-pollution are other names applied to this same awful sin against nature and against G.o.d.

We shall not explain here the exact nature of the sin, as very few boys are so ignorant or so innocent as to be unacquainted with it. To this sin and its awful consequences we now wish to call the attention of all who may read these lines.

A Dreadful Sin.--The sin of self-pollution is one of the vilest, the basest, and the most degrading that a human being can commit. It is worse than beastly. Those who commit it place themselves far below the meanest brute that breathes. The most loathsome reptile, rolling in the slush and slime of its stagnant pool, would not bemean itself thus.

It is true that monkeys sometimes have the habit, but only when they have been taught it by vile men or boys. A boy who is thus guilty ought to be ashamed to look into the eyes of an honest dog. Such a boy naturally shuns the company of those who are pure and innocent. He cannot look with a.s.surance into his mother's face. It is difficult for any one to catch his eye, even for a few seconds. He feels his guilt and acts it out, thus making it known to every one. Let such a boy think how he must appear in the eyes of the Almighty. Let him only think of the angels, pure, innocent, and holy, who are eye-witnesses of his shameful practices. Is not the thought appalling? Would he dare commit such a sin in the presence of his father, his mother, or his sisters? No, indeed.

How, then, will he dare to defile himself in the presence of Him from whose all-seeing eye nothing is hid?

The Bible utters the most solemn warnings against s.e.xual sins. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone for such transgressions. Onan was struck dead in the act of committing a vileness of this sort. For similar vices the wicked inhabitants of Palestine were destroyed, and their lands given to the Hebrews. For a single violation of the seventh commandment, one of the most notable Bible characters, David, suffered to the day of his death. Those who imagine that this sin is not a transgression of the seventh commandment may be a.s.sured that this most heinous, revolting, and unnatural vice is in every respect more pernicious, more debasing, and more immoral than what is generally considered as violation of the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and is itself a most flagrant violation of the same commandment.

Those who imagine that they "have a right to do as they please with themselves," so long as no one else is immediately affected, must learn that we are not our own masters; we belong to our Creator, and are accountable to G.o.d not only for the manner in which we treat our fellow-men, but for how we treat ourselves, for the manner in which we use the bodies which he has given us. The man who commits suicide, who takes his own life, is a murderer as much as he who kills a fellow-man. So, also, he who pollutes himself in the manner we are considering, violates the seventh commandment, although the crime is in both cases committed against himself. Think of this, ye youth who defile yourselves in secret and seek to escape the punishment of sin. In Heaven a faithful record of your vile commandment-breaking is kept, and you must meet it by-and-by. You are fixing your fate for eternity; and each daily act in some degree determines what it shall be. Are you a victim of this fascinating vice, stop, repent, reform, before you are forever ruined, a mental, moral, and physical wreck.

Self-Murderers.--Of all the vices to which human beings are addicted, no other so rapidly undermines the const.i.tution and so certainly makes a complete wreck of an individual as this, especially when the habit is begun at an early age. It wastes the most precious part of the blood, uses up the vital forces, and finally leaves the poor victim a most utterly ruined and loathsome object. If a boy should be deprived of both hands and feet and should lose his eyesight, he would still be infinitely better off than the boy who for years gives himself up to the gratification of l.u.s.t in secret vice. For such a boy to become a strong, vigorous man is just as impossible as it would be to make a mammoth tree out of a currant bush. Such a man will necessarily be short-lived. He will always suffer from the effects of his folly, even though he shall marry. If he has children--he may become incapable--they will be quite certain to be puny, weak, scrofulous, consumptive, rickety, nervous, depraved in body and mind, or otherwise deprived of the happiness which grows out of the possession of "a sound mind in a sound body."

Let us notice a little more closely the terrible effects resulting from this most unnatural and abominable vice.

What Makes Boys Dwarfs.--How many times have we seen boys who were born with good const.i.tutions, with force and stamina sufficient to develop them into large, vigorous men, become puny dwarfs. At the time when they ought to begin to grow and develop more rapidly than ever before, their growth is checked and they cease to develop. They are, in fact, stunted, dwarfed, like a plant which has a canker-worm eating away at its roots. Indeed, there is a veritable canker-worm sapping their vitality, undermining their const.i.tutions, and destroying their prospects for time and for eternity. Anxious friends may attribute the unhappy change to overwork, overstudy, or some similar cause; but from a somewhat extended observation we are thoroughly convinced that the very vice which we are considering is the viper which blights the prospects and poisons the existence of many of these promising boys.

A boy who gives himself up to the practice of secret vice at an early age, say as early as seven to ten years of age, is certain to make himself a wreck. Instead of having a healthy, vigorous body, with strong muscles and a hardy const.i.tution, he will be weak, scrawny, sickly, always complaining, never well, and will never know anything about that joyous exuberance of life and animal spirits which the young antelope feels as it bounds over the plain, or the vigorous young colt as it frisks about its pasture, and which every youth ought to feel.

Scrawny, Hollow-Eyed Boys.--Boys ought to be fresh and vigorous as little lambs. They ought to be plump, rosy, bright-eyed, and sprightly.

A boy who is pale, scrawny, hollow-eyed, dull, listless, has something the matter with him. Self-abuse makes thousands of just such boys every year; and it is just such boys that make vicious, s.h.i.+ftless, haggard, unhappy men. This horrible vice steals away the health and vitality which are needed to develop the body and the mind; and the lad that ought to make his mark in the world, that ought to become a distinguished statesman, orator, clergyman, physician, or author, becomes little more than a living animal, a mere shadow of what he ought to have been.

Old Boys.--Often have we felt sad when we have heard fond mothers speaking in glowing terms of the old ways of their sons, and rather glorying that they looked so much older than they were. In nine cases out of ten these old-looking boys owe their appearance to this vile habit; for it is exceedingly common, and its dreadful effects in shriveling and dwarfing and destroying the human form are too plainly perceptible, when present, to be mistaken. Oh! this dreadful curse!

Why will so many of our bright, innocent boys pollute themselves with it!

What Makes Idiots.--Reader, have you ever seen an idiot? If you have, the hideous picture will never be dissipated from your memory. The vacant stare, the drooping, drooling mouth, the unsteady gait, the sensual look, the emptiness of mind,--all these you will well remember.

Did you ever stop to think how idiots are made? It is by this very vice that the ranks of these poor daft mortals are being recruited every day. Every visitor to an insane asylum sees scores of them; ruined in mind and body, only the semblance of a human being, bereft of sense, lower than a beast in many respects, a human being hopelessly lost to himself and to the world!--oh, most terrible thought!--yet once pure, intelligent, active, perhaps the hope of a fond mother, the pride of a doting father, and possibly possessed of natural ability to become greatly distinguished in some of the many n.o.ble and useful walks of life; now sunk below the brute through the degrading, destroying influence of a l.u.s.tful gratification.

Boys, are you guilty of this terrible sin? have you even once in this way yielded to the tempter's voice? Stop, consider, think of the awful results, repent, confess to G.o.d, reform. Another step in that direction and you may be lost, soul and body. You cannot dally with the tempter.

You must escape now or never. Don't delay.

Young Dyspeptics.--If we leave out of the consideration the effects of bad food and worse cookery, there is in our estimation no other cause so active in occasioning the early breaking down of the digestive organs of our American boys. A boy of ten or twelve years of age ought to have a stomach capable of digesting anything not absolutely indigestible; but there are to-day thousands and thousands of boys of that age whose stomachs are so impaired as to be incapable of digesting any but the most simple food. The digestion being ruined, the teeth soon follow suit. Hardly one boy in a dozen has perfectly sound teeth. With a bad stomach and bad teeth, a foundation for disease is laid which is sure to result in early decay of the whole body.

In this awful vice do we find a cause, too, for the thousands of cases of consumption in young men. At the very time when they ought to be in their prime, they break down in health and become helpless invalids for life, or speedily sink into an early grave.

Upon their tombstones might justly be graven, "Here lies a self-murderer." Providence is not to blame; nor is climate, weather, overwork, overstudy, or any other even seemingly plausible cause, to be blamed. Their own sins have sunk them in mental, moral, and physical perdition. Such a victim literally dies by his own hand, a veritable suicide. Appalling thought! It is a grand thing to die for one's principles, a martyr to his love of right and truth. One may die blameless who is the victim of some dire contagious malady which he could not avoid; even the poor, downcast misanthrope whose hopes are blighted and whose sorrows multiplied, may possibly be in some degree excused for wis.h.i.+ng to end his misery with his life; but the wretched being who sheds his life-blood by the disgusting maneuvers of self-pollution--what can be said to extenuate _his_ guilt? His is a double crime. Let him pa.s.s from the memory of his fellow-men. He will perish, overwhelmed with his own vileness. Let him die, and return to the dust from which he sprang.