A CHAPTER FOR BOYS 377 



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 hill- 

 side of vice. All degrees of wickedness are pictured on 

 the faces of a large proportion of the boys we meet 

 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 impu- 

 dence are among the vices which contaminate thou- 

 sands and thousands of the boys who are by and by 

 to become the men of this country, to constitute its 

 legislators, its educators, its supporters, and its pro- 

 tectors. Is it possible that such boys can become good, 

 useful, noble, trustworthy men! If the seeds of nox- 

 ious 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, whose 

 traces 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; weakens, de- 

 grades, 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 the same awful 

 sin against nature and against God. We shall not ex- 

 plain here the exact nature of the sin, as very few boys 



