A CHAPTER FOR BOYS 405 



men are frequently tlie instructors in vice. It is un- 

 safe to trust any but those who are known to be pure. 



Bad Language.— We have often been astonished 

 at the facility with which children acquire the language 

 of vice. Often we have been amazed to hear little boys 

 scarcely out of their cradles, lisping the most horrible 

 oaths and the vilest epithets. The streets and alleys 

 in our large cities, and in smaller ones also, in a less 

 degree, are nurseries of vice, in which are reared the 

 criminals that fill our jails, prisons, workhouses, school- 

 ships, and houses of correction. Many a lad begins his 

 criminal education by learning the language of vice 

 and sin. At first he simply imitates the evil utterances 

 of others; but soon he learns the full significance of 

 the obscene and filthy language which he hears and 

 repeats, and then he rapidly progresses in the down- 

 ward road. 



A boy that indulges in the use of foul language, 

 will not long be chaste in acts. A safe rule to be fol- 

 lowed by those who wish to grow up pure and un- 

 sullied by sin, untainted by vice, is that those who use 

 bad language are persons to be avoided. Keep away 

 from them. Even those who are well fortified against 

 vice, who have been faithfully warned of its conse- 

 quences and fully appreciate its dangers, cannot be 

 safely trusted to associate with vile talkers. The use 

 of bad language by old and young is an evil of great 

 degree. It is too often ignored ; too little is said about 

 it ; far too often it is regarded as of little consequence ; 

 and persons who are really not bad at heart, thought- 

 lessly encourage the evil by listening to and laughing 

 at obscene and ribald jokes, and impure language 

 which ought to make a virtuous man blush with shame 

 to hear. 



