Is it not time for those of us who know of the awfulness of this dread plague to “cry aloud from the housetops,” if by chance we may awaken the fathers and mothers who sleep in ignorance and false modesty?
An Appalling Instance
Will it help you any if I tell you of a single instance, which came under my notice some time ago, and is but one out of many that chills my blood as I write. A young girl came to a certain city and secured employment in one of the business houses of the city. She was of inferior intellect and had but little chance for development of that side of her nature, but the sex brain, or nerve center, had done much for her and built in her body lines of remarkable grace, had painted her cheeks with marvelous color and given unusual brilliancy to her eyes. A foul miscreant, in the form of a man of older years, saw this beautiful human creature and decoyed her into improper relations with him. His body was full of the leprosy of lewdness and he imparted it to this ignorant young creature. But sad as it would be it would not be so bad if the tragedy had stopped there, but it did not. Think of it friends! Eight of the untaught and unprotected boys of the High School of that city, who had been allowed the freedom of kisses and embraces of young girls, as ignorant and unprotected as they, saw this young creature and were drawn into improper relations with her and the leprosy was passed on to each of them. This is not an illustration merely, but a statement of fact, for I had the facts direct from the physicians who treated these boys.
If this was your High School would you be alarmed? And would you cast aside your false modesty and in the name of God be frank and true to your children?
Though it may not be your High School there are always dangers enough that if realized should make parents earnest and anxious for the safety of their loved ones.
Ignorance and a Wrecked Home
May I give you a single illustration of the wrecking of two lives, through the ignorance of a boy touching these grave questions? This sad story was told me by a medical friend, who was personally acquainted with these young people, and while an interne in a hospital, in one of our eastern cities, assisted in the operation referred to.
A young boy of sixteen, of one of the refined and cultured families of the city, had grown up in ignorance as to sex relations and instincts. He was invited to a week-end party, at the home of friends, and while there, with a houseful of guests, fell in with a woman older than himself, who enticed him into improper relations with her. Whether she knew it or not, she was afflicted with the leprosy of lewdness and she passed it on to this boy. As soon as he discovered his condition he went to his father and told him about this incident and was taken to one of the best physicians in this country, who lived in the city. This physician treated the young man till he was twenty-four years old and assured him, so far as medical science could determine, he seemed to be entirely cured. The young man had become awakened by this sad experience and through this awakening learned of the awful fatality which attaches itself to this leprosy, so to be sure he went to another specialist and was examined and treated by him for a year. During these years, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five, he had fallen in love with a beautiful young woman of one of the refined homes of the city; but so much of dread had he that he deferred his marriage for a year to make sure that the last vestige of the plague was gone. At last they were married with all the joys and delights of that hour.
Vain hope was his, for in less than a year after their marriage the physicians were compelled to perform an operation to save the young woman’s life, which forever left that home childless and the young husband carrying in his heart an awful shadow which would never lift till the grave received him.
This is not an isolated case, for such tragedies are multiplied by thousands all over this fair land of ours. And the appalling facts are that a large majority of them can be charged to a lack of education by the parents. Thousands of dollars are spent to educate the children in books and music, but not a moment of time given to teach them the truth about this one most important subject.