The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1858-08-12
Sowing Wild Oats.


thoughtlcss person, talking flippantly
about sowing wild oats as a thing to be
expected in youth.
"I had one lesson on this subject
from the lips of an aged counselor" /" said
a valued friend to me not long since,
which has never been forgotten. The
timely warning saved me. | was nine
teen years of age, and had just entered
college. Young men were there from
nearly every State in the Union, and
some Of them sadly corrupted ] was
social, in high health and spirits, and
with an imagination forever carrying me
beyond the actual and the present. Be-
fore | had time for reflection, and before
even consciousness of wrong had
reached me, was ahoat on dangerous
sea, my boat gliding swiftly forward and
the syren's songs already in my ears.
One night we had wine party in
the town, which ended in cxcesses, the
thought of which has called a burning
blush to my cheeks a hundred times
since. | had not been very well for some
days previously, suffering from constant
headache and low febrile symptoms
The dissipation of night turned the
scale upon the wrong side, and | was so
i'll on the next day that it was thought
best to call in physician. He was an
old man, of the old school Of gentlemen,
and wise, thoughtful and kind He COM
meneed at once the business of finding
out everything in regard to my habits,
principles and modes of thought, and
there was something in him that so in
spircd me with confidence, that con-
cealed nothing. He looked grave, and
offered remonstrance.
"Oh y said /, almost lightly, 4"
"young men must sow their wild oats
The ground will be so much better pre-
pared for seeding wheat after the crop is
taken"
An error of the gravest character"
he replied, seriously, .'and one that has
ruined its thousands and tens of thous-
ands of young men. Is garden better
prepared for the reception of the good
seed, for having first been permitted to
grow weeds ;? | put the question to your
common sense. Are there not some
soils so filled with all manner of evil
seeds, that the gardener, with his ut
most toll and care, can scarcely remove
the vigorous plants that spring to life in
the warm sunshine and rain 1t is no
mere comparison-that of human soul
TO a garden. 1t is in reality spiritual
garden. Truth is the good seed which
is sown in this garden-false principles
the evil seed, or wild OATS which the
enemy's hand scatters, if permitted, up
on the virgin soil. Now, is it not an
insult to reason to say that man will be
a wiser, truer, better man for having
false principles, leading at once to an
evil, sown upon the ground of his mind
in youth, as it would be to say that a
garden would be more thrifty in after
years, for being first permitted to grow
weedse
"My stranger friend | have lived
almost to the completion of life's earthly
cycle, and have seen sad number of
young men lost TO the world, lost to them
selves, and lost, | fear, to the company
of Gods blessed angels, in consequence
of that single false idea sown into the
earth of their minds. Oh, cast it out at
once Keep yourself pure. Let right
principles, chaste thoughts, noble pur-
poses, manly aims, grow in your garden
= not the accursed wild oats Be
prudent, temperate, yirtuous, obedient to
superiors, honorable aud kind. Aim to
be man-not a sensualst. Govern
yourself as a man, instead of letting pas
sion, appetite, or any sensual desire, rule
you as tyrant Sow no more wild oatst
you will find trouble enough in your af-
ter life with the seed already scattered in
your fields"
The scales, said my friend, " drop
ped at once from my eyes. saw that
the good old physician was right, and
that this cant about sowing wild oats
involved one of the most dangerous fall
laeies into which the mind of young
man could fall. Itwas ny last folly of
this kind"
man rraising porter, said it was so excel
lent beverage, that it always made him fat