You can warn him that "indulgence" or "self-abuse" is a temptation more likely to assail him than any other vices, such as drinking, gambling, or smoking, and is more harmful than any of them, since it brings with it weakness of heart and head, and, if persisted in, idiocy and lunacy.
Show him that it is not even a manly vice, but is everywhere looked down upon with contempt; and that it can be overcome by determination and strength of will.
The temptation may arise from physical causes, such as eating rich foods, sleeping on the back in a soft bed with too many blankets on, or from constipation, or it may come from suggestion through pictures, stories, or dirty talk of others.
In any case, knowing their danger, these causes must be avoided, and the temptation met with a mental determination to fight it by substituting other thoughts, by washing in cold water, and by exercising the upper part of the body, with boxing or arm exercises, to draw away the blood, and so on.
The first occasion will be the difficult one, but once this is successfully overcome subsequent attacks will be more easy to deal with.
If the boy still finds difficulty about it he should come and speak quite openly to his officer, who can then advise him what to do.
But for an instructor to let his boys walk on this exceedingly thin ice without giving them a warning word, owing to some prudish sentimentality, would be little short of a crime.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Priggishness or conceit is sure to come to some of your boys as they find themselves good at various games or branches of their work. These must be taken down by the skill and patience of the instructors. Don't get upset by having one or two of these to deal with, but, on the contrary, take it as a sporting adventure, and treat them as interesting subjects. It is far more satisfactory to turn one unruly character the right way than to deal with a dozen milk-and-water cases.
There are also boys who, though with other boys, are not of them. These need special individual study and special treatment, which will avail in almost every case.