Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-09-09
Sowing Wild Oats.

Sowing Wild Oats.
Many a young mar has been lured from
the path OF virtue, and enticed into til,
road that leads by an easy descent, into
the accursed valley Of destruction
through the thoughtlcss speech OF some
thoughtless person, talking fippantly
about sowing wild oats as a thing to bt
expected in youth.
Il had one lesson on this subject from
the lips of an aged counsellor" said &
valued friend to me not lonaapce, s'whict
has never been forgotten. The timely
warning saved me. was nineteen years
old, and had just entered college. Young
men were there from almost every State
in the Union, and some of them sadly cor
rupted. | was social, in high health anG
spirits, and with an Imagination forever
carrying me beyond the actual and the
present. Before | had time for reflection
and before even a consciousness of wrong
had reached me, Twas aaoat on a danger
Gus sea, my boat gliding swiftly forward
and the syren's song already in my ears
/" One night we had a wine party in
the town, which ended in excuses, the
thought of which called a burning blush
to my checks a thousand times since.
had not been very well for some time
previous, suffering from constant head.
ache and low ferbrile symptoms. The
dissipation of a night t~urnedStbe scale
next day that it was tdaoiugnE best to5 cali Il
a physician. He was an old man, of the
old school of gentleman. and thoughtful,
wise and kind. He commenced at once
the business of finding out everything in
regard to my habits, principles and ways
of thought, and there was something in
him that SO inspired me with confidence.
that | concealed nothing. He looked
grave and offered a remonstrance.
"Oh!" said |, almost lightly, young
men must sow their wild oats. The
ground will be so much better prepared
for seeding wheat after the crop is taken.
/" An error of the brightest character"
he replied, seriously, i" and one that has
ruined its thousands and tens Of thous-
ands OF young men. Is a garden better
prepared for the reception Of the cool
seed, for having first been permitted to
grow weeds? | put the question to your
common sense. Are thereass some soils
so filled with all manner of evil seeds,
that the gardener, with his utmost care
and tod, can scarcely remove the vigor-
Gus plants that spring to lifein the warm
sunshine and rain? 1t is no mere com
p~arison, that of a human soul to a garden.
1t 10 in reality a spiritual garden. Truth
is the good seed which is sown in thia
garden-false principles the evil seed, or
wild oats which the enemy's hand scat.
tiers, if permitted, upon the virgin SOIL
Now is it not an insult to reason to say
that a man will be 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 tc
say that a garden would be more thrifty
in after years, for being first permitted tc
grow weeds
MY strange friend l have lived al
most to the completion of life's earthly
cycle, and have seen a great number o.
young men lost to the world, lost te
themselves, and lost. | fear, TO the compa
ny Of Gods blessed angels, in consequenct
of that single false idea sown into the
earth of their minds. Oh, cast it out a
once! Keep yourself pure. Let righi
principles, chaste thoughts, noble purpo'
ses, manly aims, grow in your garden
not the accursed wild oats Be prudent
temperate, ~virtuous, ohedient to superb
ors, honorable and kind. Aim to be &
man. not a sensualist. Govern yourself
as a man, instead Of letting passion, ap
petite, or any sensual desire, rule you as
q tyrant. Sow no nor wild oats. Yol
will find trouble enough in your after
life with the seed already scattered il
your fields"
The scales" said my friend, drop
ped at nee from my eyes | saw tina
the good old physician was right, anc
that this cant about sowing wild oats in
volyed n Of the most dangerous falla
cies into which the mind of a young maj
could fall. 1t was my lazAfaly of thi
kind"