UNCHASTITY 281 



2. Those wliich may be regarded as positive. Sev- 

 eral suspicious signs together may constitute a positive 

 sign. Under these two heads, we will consider the signs 

 of this vile habit. 



It is well to bear in mind the fact that one or two 

 suspicious signs are not evidence of the disease. It is 

 likewise well to remember that the habit may be found 

 where least looked for, and where one would have a 

 right to expect perfect purity. Prejudice must be al- 

 lowed no voice upon either side. A writer has said that 

 every young person under puberty ought to be sus- 

 pected of the disease. We can hardly indorse this re- 

 mark in full, but it would be at least wise for every 

 guardian of children to criticise most carefully their 

 habits and to quickly detect the first indications of sin- 

 ful practices. Parents must not think that their chil- 

 dren, at least, are too good to engage in such sinful 

 abuses. It is most probable that their children are very 

 like those of their neighbors ; and any amount of natu- 

 ral goodness is not a protection against this insidious 

 vice when it presents itself as a harmless pleasure to 

 the unwarned and ignorant child. 



Suspicious Signs.— The following symptoms, oc- 

 curring in the mental and physical character and 

 habits of a child or young ]3erson, may well give rise 

 to grave suspicions of evil, and should cause par- 

 ents or guardians to be on the alert to root it out if 

 possible : 



1. General debility, coming upon a previously 

 healthy child, marked by emaciation, weakness, an un- 

 natural paleness, colorless lips and gums, and the gen- 

 eral symptoms of exliaustion, when it cannot be traced 

 to any other legitimate cause, as internal disease, 

 worms, grief, overwork, poor air or poor food, and 



