Plain Facts for Old and Young by John Harvey Kellogg
6. Every sufferer from sexual disease must make up his mind to live,
1225 words | Chapter 126
during the remainder of his life, as closely in accord with the laws
of life and health as circumstances 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 unobservable. 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-fashioned 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 noble 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 noble,
virtuous, vigorous boys, is equally sure of having noble, 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 assured.
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 noblest work of God, 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 noble animals;
but they are only noble 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 noble, 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 Noble Character is Ruined.--A noble 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 nobility 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 classes 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 nobleness 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;
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