The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-01-16
SOWING WILD OATS.

influences that help to build up character,
that of familiar sayings and proverbs holds
a high place. They are so often on the
lips and in the ears that they cannot but
sink deep in the mind, and all unconscious
ly to those who repeat or listen to them
they become a part of their unwritten creed
and a moving power in their lives. Much
good has been done in this way. The
homely but healthy maxims of Franklin
have helped many a youth to be thrifty
and industrious, and have fixed a stigma
upon sel~f-indulgence, meanness and deceit
that more lengthy and labored advice
fails to do. As George Eliot says, ''the
right word is always a power, and eomrou-
nicates its definiteness to our actions;r
and when that word is so pithy and terse
as to become an o~ft-repeated saying, its
widespread benefit is inealculable.
Such sayings, however, do not all con-
tain the right word; many of them utter a
very wrong one, and then, of course, their
influence is equally effective for evil. Few
proverbs that have gained a firm foothold
in the English language have been more
insidiously harmful than that which sane
lions the sowing of wild oats. Whatever
be its origin, or whatever its primary in
t%ention, it has uniformly favored youthful
indiscretion and misconduct, and las cast
a continual slur upon those who advocate
purity and self-government in the period of
life when character is being formed. It
has disseminated the idea that it is a natural
thing, and one to be expected. that young
men shall, for a longer on shorter time go
astray, disobey the voice of conscience,
throw aside the lessons of self-eontrol that
they have received. thrust back the gentle
influences Of a good home. and the tender
appeals Of loving parents, and yield to the
temptations of evil companions or follow
the headings of s|elt-indulgent desires.
This, it is said, is only sowing wild oats,
"a mere youthful folly. a sort of moral
measles or whooping-eough, trying. no
doubt, while it lasts. but once over, afford
ing a source of congratulation that it win
not occur again.
To many of our youth, hesitating be-
tween good and evil influences, such words
spoken in a light and bantering tone, have
been the turning point in their career.
What had before seemed a grave and dan
gerous step, from which all that was true
and good was holding them back, now APP
pears but a tritling departure, offering
! ,,roran& 1niCvu,af+ and IOo-fHar +1o-,. -
fectly free to return to the straight road of
purity and goodness whenever they please.
Many of the natural guardians of youthful
honor and virtue have likewise been lured
from their proper sphere and influence by
the same false conception. of wrong not
being so very wrong-only a youthful in
discretion, only a sowing Of wild oats,
that, perhaps, it would be p~uritanic to
blame too severely.
1t would seem to be a most unfortunate
mistake that had led to the selection of the
act Of sowing as an illustration of youth
full vices, and yet had left ont all mention
of the reaping that was sure to follow.
There is another and very different maxim.
which is so faithful to the laws of life and
so true to all human experience that no
one has ever been found foolish enough to
controvert it '7Vhatsoeyer a man soweth
that shall he also reap" Whoever believes
this heartily and earnestly must. if he be
at all consistent, set his face against all
possible sowing OF wild oats. Thomas
Hughes writes upon this point What a
man. young. old or middle-aged, sows, that
and nothing else shall he reap. The one
thing to do with wild oats is to put them
carefully into the hottest part Of the fire
and get them burnt TO dust, every seed of
them. If you SOW them, no matter in what
ground, up they will come, viii long,
tough roots and ~luxuriant stalks and leaves,
as sure as there is a sun in heaven, a crop
which it makes ones heart cold to think of.
y < You and nobody else Will
have to reap them, and no common reaping
will get them out of the soil, which must
be dug down deep again and again. Well
for you, if with all your care, you can make
the ground sweet again by your dying
day"
The core of evil that lies at the heart of
this saying is the light and tritling view it
takes of wrong doing. No serious argu-
ment to make wrong appear right would
have half as much effect in sending a youth
into evil courses a the careless world that
depicts sin of any kind as a light and triv-
ial matter. If anything in the world de-
mands serious treatment, it is wrong-doing
in all its forms and he who speaks of it
with levity or indifference, strikes a blow
at the very foundations of morality and
human welfare. Let us rather encourage
in the heart of youth the utmost reverence
for character, the deepest love of truth,
purity and justice, and the firm conviction
that only as they cling to principles OF
honor and self-command, and follow their
highest ideal of the good and the true, can
their lives become rich, valuable aud
happy.-Ihilada. Ledger.
"Do you like the squash pie, Alfrede'
asked a young wife of her husband a few
days after marriage. " Yes, it is pretty
rood hnt-r .sRut what9 | suppose YOU