The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-08-06


wild oats" Some go SO far as to say
that he cannot amount to anything
unless he does SOW more or less Of
them. Many women have been heard
to say that penitent roues make the
best husbands. not recognizing the
fact that where one man Is strong
enough to overcome his evil expert
ences. a hundred are wrecked, NOR
ally and physically, says the Quincy
Journal
That the average young man sows
more or less wild oats is indisputable.
That the more substantial and manly
men are often the ones who have paid
particular attention to their sowing
is true. That some men who never
sowed any were not much to begin
with is also true. If fear, or lack OF
animality, had not been more promi-
nent in such men than in their erring
brothers, they would have Joined
their ranks. That some 'goody goody'
young men, who never have been
tempted, fall into evil ways later In
life cannot be denied. That penitents
often make good husbands Is mat
ter Of common observation; whether
they have been scared into good be-
havior or have simply matured In
judgment, matters not. On the other
hand, many young men who might
have been ornaments to society have
been ruined for life by wild oat SOW
ing. That any youth Is better for
wild oat sowing, save where it's ter
rible results bring naturally weak
and vacillating character to his senses
through mental shock, is false. Boys
will be boys" they say. Yes, and dogs
will be dogs; but this does not lessen
the deadliness of hydrophobia. The
wild oats doctrine was probably In
vented by some fake social philoso-
pher, who had sins of his own to
apologize for and no diseases acquir-
ed by early indiscretions to modify
his opinions.
Almost every boy at some time in
his life Is taught by his elders the
Lie Of the Wild Oats. His father and
grandfather learned it before him
followed where it led. The man who
escapes its dangers does so by great
good luck, Or by virtue of strong
organization, moral, mental and ply
steal, that nothing can shake. That
any man who sows can altogether es-
cape reaping is fallacy. Physical,
mental or moral scars remain, and
while the world may be satisfied with
him, he is never satisfied with him
self. Mans sexual lapses in after
life are often due to his choosing some
mental will-o' the-wisp; some youthful
experience, which, like the circus of
his boyhood, seems ideal.
Impressions made upon the highly
sensitive sexual brain centers Of youth
at period when the emotional or
ganization Is especially impression
able leave a memory that overshad-
ows all its future life as a false ideal
an ideal which is merely a reflex
from a mental scar that will never
fade nor become dulled in sensitive
ness so long as physical sexual ca
pacity remains unimpaired
Should youth be exposed to de-
bauchery to strengthen 1t? Most en-
phatically. no. If youth were protect
ed from wild oats influences until its
Judgment was mature, there would
not be so many brands to be plucked
from the burning. For the benefit of
those who accept the wild oats" con-
ception of the male ideal, here are a
few pictures that are only too famil-
lar:
Picture I. A certain health resort
part of the immortality, crime and
disease of America is dumped-there
are a hundred thousand visitors an
nually. OF these, a large proportion
go there to harvest their wild oats
crop. He who visits one of the gov
ernment rat holes" can best appre-
ciate the harvest of the wild oats"
Picture 2. A hospital Here is
group of locomotor ataxics; there is
a group of deformed children; yonder,
a girl in her teens is nursing child
who will never know its father. Mone
wild oats
Picture g. An asylum. Here is a
case of general paresis; there Is mel
ancholiac: in the next room maniac
can he heard shrieking. wild oats
aplenty.
ricrure 4. A police court. full of