Never allow your children to sleep with strangers; however young, they may learn more of impurity in ten minutes, than you could teach them virtue in years. The reason why I speak to you of the necessity of having a watchful eye on your offspring, is that so many young men and women, whom I have been called to visit, in consumption, and some in a deranged state, have confessed to me, that they had contracted an intimacy with a play-mate, who had taught them the act of self-pollution, and, to their sorrow, had practiced the same for years, till they had no control of themselves; this brought involuntary emissions, and thence come leucorrhœa, falling of the womb, and frequently insanity; the greatest number, as a general rule, end in consumption. Doctors are too delicate to mention the cause of this disease, and treat the case, directly opposite to what it should be, as all the internal organs are debilitated.
I will relate a very distressing case, which I hope will be a warning to mothers and daughters:
A daughter of one of the first families of Springfield, Massachusetts, a few years ago, was pronounced by all the physicians of that city, to be in a consumption. I was called on, by a friend of the family, and requested to visit the young lady, at her special request, immediately. I lost no time, but went instantly, and what a pitiful object I beheld! A living skeleton—a fearful picture of self-pollution! I desired all to quit the apartment, and this poor child confessed her weakness; she was willing to die, she said, if she could atone for the trouble and expense she had brought on her parents. Now what was to be done. I well knew her debility was too great to depend on tonics, and to save her, I must gain her confidence and love. I left her, and returned soon after, got her permission to divulge the secret to her mother, and lost no time, in order to save her from death. She must have her genital organ cut out; the operation should take place instantly, as involuntary emissions would soon carry her off, her debility was so great. But thanks be to God, she is still living, in the far west; but never can she enjoy the blessings of married life.
[ROOTS AND HERBS.]
HOW TO COLLECT AND PRESERVE THEM.
COLLECT such as are sound and perfect, and separate from them such as are injured or decayed. Those precautions must be taken which are best fitted for preserving them, and they should, as a general rule, be defended from the effects of moisture, too great heat, or cold, and confined air. Vegetable matters should be collected in the countries where they are indigenous, and those which grow wild in dry soil and high situations, fully exposed to the air and sun, are, in general, to be preferred to those which are cultivated, or which grow in moist, low, shady, or confined places.
Roots which are annual, should be collected before they shoot out their stalks, or flowers; biennial roots, in the harvest of the first, or spring of the second year; perennial roots, either in spring, before the sap begins to mount, or in harvest, after it has returned. Those which are worm eaten, except some resinous roots, or which are decayed, are to be rejected; the others are immediately to be cleaned, with a brush and cold water, letting them lie in it as short a time as possible; the fibres and little roots, when not essential, are to be cut away. Roots which consist principally of fibres, and have but a small top, may be immediately dried, if they are juicy, and not aromatic; this may be done by heat, not 100 degrees of Fahrenheit; but, if aromatic, by simply exposing and turning them frequently in a current of dry air; if they are thick and strong, they should be split or cut into slices, and strung upon thread; if covered with a rough bark, they may be peeled fresh, then dried. Such as lose their virtues by drying, or are directed to be preserved in a fresh state, are to be kept buried in dry sand.
No very general rule can be given for the collection of herbs and leaves—some of them acquiring activity by age, and others, as the mucilaginous leaves, from the same cause, losing the properties for which they are efficient. Aromatics are to be gathered after the flower buds are formed; annuals, not aromatic, when they are about to flower, or when in flower; biennials, before they shoot, and perennials, before they flower, especially if their fibres become woody; they are to be gathered in dry weather, after the dew is off them, or in the evening, before it falls, and are to be freed from decayed, withered, or foreign leaves; they are usually tied in bundles, and hung up in a shady, warm, and airy place, or spread upon the floor, and frequently turned; if very juicy, they are laid upon a sieve, and dried by a gentle degree of artificial warmth, by the stove.
Sprouts are collected before the buds open, and stalks are gathered in autumn.