A CHAPTER FOR YOUNG MEN 417 



minds and manners have been corrupted by evil asso- 

 ciations, and this class are undoubtedly responsible for 

 the grossly incorrect estimate which most young men 

 form of the character of young women ; and these young 

 women have undoubtedly led into vice many young 

 men who otherwise might have escaped. Certainly, 

 young men must not be charged with being the only 

 emissaries of vice. A good many cases have come to 

 the knowledge of the author in which "hired girls" 

 of "loose morals" have led into evil ways boys just 

 approaching manhood, who had previously been wholly 

 ignorant of vice. 



Sowing "Wild Oats.— A vast deal of harm comes 

 through the opinion prevalent in the world that a 

 young man may * * sow his wild oats ' ' for a few months 

 or a few years without doing himself very much harm, 

 and without lessening his chances for success in life. 

 The fact that hundreds of young men do run wild for 

 awhile, going into all sorts of wickedness, frequenting 

 the saloon and gambling table, and the lowest haunts 

 of vice, and yet are received back into good society, 

 if indeed they are not all the while recognized as * ' real 

 good fellows," though unfortunately a little "fast," 

 and placed on equal footing with those who have never 

 gone astray, is no excuse for such a course. Indeed, 

 there are plenty of women who express a decided pref- 

 erence for these fast young men, and consider a mod- 

 erate degree of wickedness as quite an accomplishment, 

 rather than a shame and a disgrace, as it should be to 

 every intelligent and pure-minded woman. 



The young man who imagines he can sow wild oats 

 even for a brief period without suffering serious injury 

 will find himself greatly mistaken if he makes the 

 attempt. Let him consider before he begins this evil 



