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'^'HEN I WAS 32 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/linesfromdoctortOOIong 
 
Lines from a Doctor to His Son J 
 
 or 
 
 Knowledge vs Ignorance 
 
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 By 
 
 J. I. T. 
 
 LONG, M. D 
 
 Allen, Md. 
 
 
 PuWished 
 By the Author 
 1910 
 
A 
 
 J--^ V 
 
 ■o 
 
THE MONSTER 
 
 Ignorance the Curse of the World 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 My Dear Boys: 
 
 Considering the uncertainty of life, the proneness of 
 human nature to err, ''man's inhumanity to man," plus 
 the great cost of ignorance to the world, and feeling exceed- 
 ingly anxious as to your future welfare and happiness, I 
 undertake, with much parental love and solicitude, the 
 pleasant task of writing you a few lines of advice and of 
 laying down a few rules for your guidance through the 
 checkered scenes and tortuous path of life. 
 
 In the language of the poet: 
 
 "Life is a sea, — as fathomless, 
 
 As wide, as terrible, and yet sometimes 
 As calm and beautiful. The light of heaven 
 
 Smiles on it, and 'tis decked with every hue 
 Of glory and of joy. Anon dark clouds 
 
 Arise, contending winds of fate go forth, 
 And Hope sits weeping o'er a general wreck. 
 
 And thou must sail upon this sea, a long 
 Eventful voyage. The wise may suffer wreck, 
 
 The foolish must." 
 
 That I may live to see you all men and established in 
 life, that you may have the benefit of my experience and 
 advice, is one of my fondest and most cherished desires, 
 the realization of which of course, I can have no assur- 
 ance, hence these efforts in your behalf. 
 
 At an early age, I was left an orphan, and my experience 
 was that of an orphan — all that significant word implies — 
 and to express which, would require many pages. You 
 may be sure, I grew not up on "flowery beds of ease," 
 nor with a "silver spoon in my mouth." 
 
 Hence, I am prepared to sympathize with the orphan, 
 and realize that you will need, in the event of your father's 
 death before you arrive at the years of maturity — and even 
 then — all the advice and information it is possible for him 
 to impart. 
 
 When three or four years of age, my father died, and, 
 a little later, my mother. 
 
 After drifting about at the mercy of the treacherous 
 tides of the sea of life, till old enough, began the study of 
 
6 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 medicine, handicapped by a very limited education, plus 
 a very diminutive purse. However, by hard study, and 
 with the assistance of a few friends, who seemed to have 
 confidence in me — though, as it now seems to me, a very 
 unpromising waif — I succeeded in winning the coveted 
 prize — a diploma — and was soon in the field, a full-fledged 
 doctor and candidate for practice. 
 
 Hence, with the experience of an orphan, a father and 
 physician, I may venture to hope to be able to repay in 
 sound, wholesome, and substantial advice and informa- 
 tion, that boy or young man who will attentively follow 
 the course of my pen. 
 
 I shall not, however, in the prosecution of the work 
 under consideration, confine myself to the narrow sphere 
 of my own experience and observation, but, like the bee 
 that gathers honey from every opening flower, or the 
 migratory bird that picks the seed of every cUme and land, 
 I, too, shall gather for the volume in hand, from all avail- 
 able sources. 
 
 There are many lessons, by sad and dearly bought 
 experience alone, which you can learn. Even these, I 
 may assist you to learn, and many others teach you. 
 
 It is true, I cannot put an old head upon young shoul- 
 ders; nor would I, if I could. An old head on young 
 shoulders would stint the growth of the body and soon 
 exhaust it. A full, ripe, and perfect head of wheat, we 
 can not expect to find on a young and green, and tender 
 stalk. The welfare of the stalk is essential to the growth 
 and prosperity of the head. It is better that the two grow 
 old together, that the necessary harmony may be preserved. 
 
 Boys will be boys, and such they should be. I would 
 not rob them of this bright, hopeful and joyous season; 
 nor should a reasonable and seasonable indulgence in 
 boyish fun and sport be denied them. It is a necessary 
 preliminary stage of training through which they should 
 pass. Exercise is the law of growth, and when pleasure 
 can be combined with it, its object is doubly promoted. 
 
 I repeat; I would not rob you of those innocent, health- 
 ful, and invigorationg pleasures and amusements peculiarly 
 yours, nor burden you, at so early an age, with the cares 
 and responsibilities of life. But let us go not too fast. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 7 
 
 Youth is not^'Jonly a period of enjoyment and growth, 
 but a period of susceptibility and giddiness; frivolity and 
 waywardness — indiscretion — a period when the tide of the 
 appetites and passions runs dangerously high, and without 
 some restraining power; guiding and controlling influence 
 — proper and adequate instruction — you will be impelled, 
 not only into gross absurdities and inconsistencies, but 
 ruinous habits and damning errors. 
 
 E\il associates and prompting environment, playing 
 upon the appetites and passions of inexperienced youth, 
 constitute the sirens by whose deceptive strains so many 
 bright, happy and promising boys have been lured to ruin, 
 a premature and ignominious grave. Without some guide; 
 proper and adequate instruction, these are the demons that 
 will sting you to death, while they embrace and caress you; 
 and in your efforts to shun Scylla, you will be drawn into 
 Charybdis. You will hear from various sources that the 
 "devil is going about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he 
 may devour." And so he is, in a sense, but keep you it 
 ever in mind that your appetites and passions, under the 
 promptings of external temptations, constitute the most 
 redoubtable enemy with which you will have to contend. 
 The contest is with these, and within. 
 
 The "roaring lion" is within, not without. 
 
 The animal appetites and passions are not of evil 
 import, but were given us for wise and benevolent purposes; 
 and under wise and proper restrictions, contribute in an 
 inmeasurable degree to human progress and happiness; 
 and they are, of course, essential to the propagation and 
 perpetuity of the human family. 
 
 * * 5fj * 
 
 The man who has passed the fiftieth milestone of life, 
 and turns the retrospective eye upon the fleeting and fad- 
 ing years behind him, repeats to himself. If I had known. 
 
 The man who has reached the meridian of life, and 
 pauses for a backward glance, repeats to himself. If I had 
 known. 
 
 The young man, on whose head the twenty-fifth sun of 
 life hasn't yet ceased to shine, repeats to himself, If I had 
 known. If I had known what? Why these vain regrets, 
 and this remorse, on the part of man, not only in the " sear 
 
8 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 and yellow leaf" of life, but even as early as that period 
 of existence, when every fibre of his being should tingle, 
 and sing, and vibrate with the joy, and gladness, and vigor 
 of harmonious health ? 
 
 Will try in subsequent pages to answer these and many 
 other questions. 
 
 "Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm, 
 And make mistakes for manhood to reform." 
 
 And while it is true, I would not burden you at so 
 early an age with the cares and responsibilities of life, 
 neither would I advocate for you a life of uninterrupted 
 indolence and ease. Youth is a preparatory stage; a sea- 
 son of preparation — the seed-time of life — a getting ready 
 for the great battles of life, and the results of the battles 
 that you will fight; the kind of sphere in which you will 
 live and move; the kind of harvest that you will realize 
 in the future, depend to a large extent, upon- the kind of 
 preparation you make, and the character of the seed you 
 sow in your youth. 
 
 "O! then be early wise! 
 Learn from the mariner his skilful art 
 
 To ride upon the waves, and catch the breeze, 
 And dare the threatening storm, and trace a path 
 
 'Mid countless dangers to the destined port, 
 Unerringly secure." 
 
 Habits formed in our youth, good or bad, cling to us 
 in after life, with the persistent tenacity of the bull-dog. 
 Hence, I would impress upon you the great importance of 
 refraining from bad, vicious, and detrimental habits, and 
 the formation of those that will contribute to your future 
 health and happiness. 
 
 I said, impress upon you. Yes, I repeat; impress upon 
 you ; for impressions made upon the mind when it is plastic 
 and susceptible, are with great difficulty obliterated. 
 Indeed, the entire obliteration, even during the course of 
 the longest and most eventful life, may well be doubted. 
 Unquestionably, they exert an influence upon us all through 
 the most active period of life — we may not always, or 
 often, be conscious of it — in fact are not, because we do 
 not stop to analyze our state of mind to ascertain what 
 agent or agents brought it about. And, it is to be observed, 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 9 
 
 in the case of those who have lived to see the Summer of 
 life depart, and to descend the ladder of declining years, 
 that their minds invariably revert to the scenes and experi- 
 ences of their childhood. 
 
 What we learn in our youth grows up with us, and in 
 time, becomes a part of the mind itself. This seems irre- 
 futable. And in the recognition of the truth of these 
 propositions, we see at a glance, the great importance of 
 guarding against pernicious influences and vicious habits. 
 Your future health, happiness and prosperity depend 
 largely upon the impressions, the lessons, the habits of 
 your youth. Indeed, so much depends on the impressions 
 you receive, the lessons you learn, the habits you form, 
 in your youth, too much stress cannot be laid upon them. 
 
 There are two paths leading from the cradle to the 
 grave. One leads by way of grand and glorious manhood 
 to honorable and serene old age. The ,other through the 
 meandering swamps of depravity, degradation and to 
 row^dyism, to a premature and ignominious grave. Nor 
 does the matter end here. Ignoring the future state of 
 the boy who chose the path that leads to dishonor and an 
 untimely end, he leaves behind him an evil influence that 
 will continue to operate, and incite others to evil and infamy. 
 Fortunate, it would seem indeed, if the matter ended with 
 the life of the miserable miscreant; but such is not the 
 case; his influence lives after him, and spreads, and extends 
 beyond the computation of calculus or pen: 
 
 "The smallest bark on life's tumultuous ocean 
 
 Will leave a track behind for evermore; 
 The lightest wave of influence set in motion 
 
 Extends and widens to the eternal shore." 
 
 And what is worse, and saddest of all, is the fact that the 
 innocent are largely participants of the penalty. If the 
 guilty alone suffered; if the penalty of transgression and 
 folly ended vdth the third and fourth generations, the 
 matter would appear far less enormous and serious; far 
 more limited in import and consequences. But when we 
 reflect that we, and this generation, are now paying, in 
 diverse and manifold ways, the penalty of the transgres- 
 sions and folly of many previous generations; that because 
 of their mistakes, recklessness and indifference we find it 
 
10 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 harderlto think right and live right; and that it will be 
 thus with the generations to come, we begin to realize the 
 enormity, importance and gravity of the subject we are 
 discussing. 
 
 It has been said that the philosophy of one generation 
 becomes the common sense of the succeeding generation. 
 What is meant? Simply that the fruits and achievements 
 of the labor of one generation, pass down to the succeeding 
 generation. Hence, we begin our career v^th information 
 and advantages our ancestors did not enjoy. Where they 
 groped in ignorance and darkness, experimenting, investi- 
 gating, and feeling cautiously their way, we run, with no 
 uncertain step, in the broad and clear light of ascertained 
 and known facts, with a record of their errors and mis- 
 takes to warn and guide us in the ceaseless march, "Mid 
 countless dangers to the destined port." 
 
 One generation profits by the experience of former 
 generations — or should do — and that generation that will 
 not consult nor consider the history, experience and teach- 
 ings of predecessors, but rigidly and obstinately closes its 
 eyes to the past, and the experience of those who pre- 
 ceded it, will surely and quickly come to grief; by "unmerci- 
 ful disaster followed fast and followed faster." 
 
 And, in like manner, will that boy or young man, who 
 is without appreciation of the warnings of sincere friends, 
 and pays no attention to their advice, speedily find himself 
 in trouble, and often in trouble from which he will not be 
 quickly able to extricate himself. 
 
 The wise generation heeds and profits by the lessons 
 and experiences of the past. The wise boy vdll listen to 
 the advice of those in authority, and whose position and 
 experience enable them to warn and instruct. 
 
 A few words here, in a general way, in regard to your 
 health; a subject of vast, profound and paramount impor- 
 tance; and one about which I cannot say too much; and 
 to which I shall frequently revert in the course of these 
 lines, I have undertaken in your behalf. Indeed, in these 
 lines, it is so intimately associated with, and plays so 
 important a part in all I shall write, it may be put down 
 as the basis of substratum of the task in hand. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE ii 
 
 Indeed, it plays so important a part in the affairs of the 
 world, and one's happiness, success and career, it neces- 
 sarily occupies a prominent position in, and basal relation 
 to these and similar writings. 
 
 "Mens Sana in corpore sano." Putting this phrase 
 into EngHsh, it reads, a sound mind in a sound body. 
 How grand and glorious a combination and possession — 
 priceless. W^o and how many understand and fully 
 appreciate the full and true significance of the above 
 phrase, and all it implies? 
 
 During the period of adolescence and young manhood, 
 unless you are \viser than your predecessors and contem- 
 poraries of equal age, you will be but little inclined to duly 
 consider the meaning and importance of the phrase just 
 quoted. And this being the time of life when so many 
 errors and mistakes are made; errors and mistakes that 
 lead to disaster, suffering, sorrow, regret and failure, I 
 would endeavor, by iteration and re-iteration, to impress 
 upon you the great and paramount importance of being 
 "early wise." 
 
 In looking with the eye of a physician, over the inhabited 
 part of the world, upon the well-nigh countless number of 
 human beings that are living, moving, struggling for exis- 
 tence, but few are found in the ideal state of a sound mind 
 in a sound body — free from the numerous ills mth which 
 poor human beings are afficted. 
 
 And of this great number of human beings that now 
 inhabit the globe, but a very insignificant number — ^if any 
 — will live to that age I would designate the full com- 
 plement of years. Indeed, in view of the fact that we 
 are all living under the baleful influence of transmitted 
 weakness and disease, it would not do to maintain that any 
 one of the present population of the world, will live to 
 that age that might have been attained, by right living 
 on the part of our ancestors and ourselves. Hence, there 
 can be no exaggeration in the statement that every soul 
 upon the face of the earth today, will go down into a pre- 
 mature grave; thousands in infancy, thousands in child- 
 hood, boyhood, and middle life. 
 
 Disease is not a necessity and inevitable, but the penalty 
 attached to the transgression of the laws of health. Every 
 
12 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 one is entitled to health, strength and comfort; a sound 
 mind in a sound body, and when these are lacking, the 
 fault lies either with the victim or the victim's ancestors, 
 plus environment. Whether the law is transgressed in 
 ignorance or not, results are the same. 
 
 The great desideratum is to know the laws of health 
 and to observe them. 
 
 Every child that comes into the world has a right to 
 a sound, strong, symmetrical and harmonious body. How 
 many such children come in the world? Unfortunately, 
 the number is exceedingly small. I would not maintain 
 there are any; and can't see how there could be. 
 
 You are not what you should be physically and men- 
 tally. And why? because of ancestral ignorance and 
 indifference; because your fore-fathers ignorantly or 
 knowingly, and recklessly, transgressed the laws of nature, 
 thereby weakening, damaging and deranging their sys- 
 tems; and, as children inherit, not only the traits, peculiar- 
 ities, temperament, etc., of their parents, but as well their 
 weaknesses and infirmatives, you have not been exempt 
 from the operations of these laws; you have not been an 
 exception to the rule. Nature's laws are inexorable, and 
 no one may expect to transgress them with impunity. 
 
 Had your ancestors always lived with reference to 
 their health and comfort, and the health and comfort of 
 their progency — succeeding generations — had they always 
 lived in harmony with physiologic and hygienic law, you 
 would be larger, stronger, more healthy and happy, with 
 much greater chance of living to attain a good old age. 
 
 Alas I Alas! When our forefathers were weakening, 
 deranging, and perverting their systems by excesses and 
 indulgences detrimental to their health, little did they think 
 of the effect upon the coming generations — the sad and 
 far-reaching consequences of their course and conduct. 
 Instead of living in a way that would preserve their health 
 and strength, their mind and body in the best possible 
 condition, that their children might come into the world 
 with strong, healthy, happy bodies, free from ancestral 
 weakness, taint, deformity, disease, etc., they yielded to 
 the temptations of the hour; refused to deny themselves 
 the imagined pleasures. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 WASTED ENERGY 
 
 The great waste of energy everywhere apparent, is a 
 matter of moment and worthy of consideration 
 
 Nature, it seems, has a superabundance of energy and 
 scatters it with prodigal hand. But it is not of the seeming 
 wasteful expenditure of energy by nature, outside of the 
 organism of man, that I would speak; my object is to call 
 your attention to the thoughtless and foohsh waste of 
 energy by humanity, and to try to impress upon you the 
 importance of the wise use and conservation of your strength, 
 another term for energy. 
 
 Could I present to you in visible form and bulk the 
 quantity of energy wasted by man in a life time, and place 
 it by the side of his wisely expended energy, you would 
 be suprised and begin to realize the importance of the proper 
 use of one's energy. 
 
 Heed! here are lines from another, read them and 
 reflect upon them; they are worthy of earnest consideration. 
 
 "If people realized how precious physical and mental 
 vitality are, they would not squander them by foolishness 
 any more readily than they would tap their veins and 
 squander their life blood. 
 
 To accomplish great things, we must have a strong, 
 vigorous life force, a powerful vitality. If we do not have 
 these, everything we do will bear the stamp of weakness. 
 It will crop out in every act. It is the strong \dtality that 
 tells in the great struggle of Ufe. It is the reserve power 
 that enables the runner to keep going when others fall 
 exhausted by the way. 
 
 It is a great art to learn to accumulate and conserve 
 vitality, to store it away for future emergencies. It is 
 success capital. You may succeed without money but 
 you cannot succeed without physical and mental capital. 
 It is a strong vitality that wins. The plus force, the physical 
 and mental energies themselves are the things that enable 
 
 13 
 
14 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 one to surmount difficulties and ride triumphantly over 
 obstacles. 
 
 Many people work so much they do not store any reserve 
 power. They use up all the power they generate as they 
 go along. All creative work, especially, requires a fresh 
 brain, vigorous, spontaneous thought. 
 
 All effective work is a result of concentrated faculties. 
 A tired and exhausted brain cannot focus its ideas with 
 any power. It is not so much a question of vigorous 
 mentality, and that is a child of pure blood; it depends 
 upon a hundred other conditions being just right. 
 
 To profit by the lessons of these pages, you will have 
 to read them over and over. Lessons are so easily for- 
 gotten — the grandest and most precious; and these some- 
 times appear in the least pretentious phrase. The dia- 
 mond comes in unattractive vesture. When nature wants 
 to catch our attention and impress a lesson she doesn't 
 always sound a trumpet from the house-top or appear in 
 imposing attire. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SICKNESS AVOIDABLE— COST 
 
 A glance over the inhabited world of today, discovers 
 hundreds and hundreds of hospitals, medical schools, drug- 
 stores, sanitariums, etc.; thousands and thousands of doc- 
 tors, nurses and sick people. Leaving out the sufferings 
 of these people, the sick, and in one way or another afficted, 
 represent in cost to the world, a sum colossal, incomputable 
 and surprising to those who have given the matter no atten- 
 tion. Add to this the value of the time consumed by, and 
 with the sick, and variously afficted, and the matter 
 assumes still greater proportions. 
 
 1^ And, mark you, 75 percent (if not more), of all this 
 sickness, suffering and cost, was avoidable. 
 
 We point with pride to the magnitude, number, arrange- 
 ment, and style of the handsome hospitals, medical schools, 
 etc., which bedeck the cities of the land, as evidences of 
 progress, prosperity, intelligence and munificence. And 
 such J they are in one sense — nor would I decry in the 
 sKghtest degree the benevolence and human work of these 
 institutions; on the contrar}', their presence and work 
 inspire my heart with cheer and hope, and I have naught 
 but praise to utter relative to them — but, in another sense, 
 they express ignorance, thoughtlessness, recklessness and 
 indifference. 
 
 Cancel all the sickness and affliction attributable 
 directly or indirectly to ignorance, plus heredity, and you 
 may turn your hospitals, medical schools and drugstores 
 into business or play-houses. Which is preferable? 
 Shall we build play houses for our children, born and unborn, 
 or sick-rooms to our dwelKngs? Young man, by your 
 course and conduct, you are building one or the other. 
 Stop; reflect; examine yourself, and, if you discover about 
 yourself a passion, appetite or weakness, which is impel- 
 ling you to indulge in any way, in any thing, prejudicial to 
 your health or morals, down with the brakes at once. 
 Remember that "mind is the master power that moulds 
 
 15 
 
1 6 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 and makes." Institute warfare at once with yourself 
 against the vicious tendency, nor desist till success crowns 
 your efforts. ''The conqueror of self is greater than the 
 conqueror of cities." Self-mastery should be the first aim 
 of life, and should be secured at any cost. It is a priceless 
 possession. The slave to the animal passions and appetites 
 is doomed to failure and regret, if not to a worse fate. 
 
 The animal parts of man have their function — exceed- 
 ingly important too — but should be wholly subservient to 
 an intelligent will. 
 
 I cannot hope to make you philosophers, but I may 
 quote you a line occasionally from those revered thinkers, 
 that you may not be without some knowledge of them, and, 
 for the greater reason, that you may obtain a taste of the 
 riches of their profound wisdom. 
 
 Socrates, that grand old man of Athens, it is the opinion 
 of many, was the profoundest thinker the world has ever 
 produced, taught that sin is only another name for ignor- 
 ance; sin and ignorance being one and synonomous terms. 
 No man, he teaches, is wilfully vicious; man errs, of 
 course, but the goal of all is happiness, but through ignor- 
 ance, in his search for happiness, he makes mistakes — sins. 
 In his heart, so to speak, he imagines that the acquisition 
 of certain things, or the attainment of a particular end, 
 will render him happy. In this, he often errs; the coveted 
 object proves deceptive and disappointing, the anticipated 
 pleasure is not realized. 
 
 Evil, then, is the absence of knowledge; virtue and 
 knowledge being one. "Men mistake their sensations, 
 appetites and passions for themselves, which is wrong." 
 The appetites and passions are perishable, the real-self is 
 immortal, nor does that which administers to the grati- 
 fication of the animal appetites and passions, contribute 
 to the nourishment of the soul. Spirit needs spiritual food. 
 
 V •]* *r H* 
 
 I was writing a while ago relative to the great degree 
 and extent of sickness and suffering in the world. 
 
 Suppose, as believed by astronomers, that the planets, 
 are inhabited, and that they are free from disease and 
 suffering. Suppose an inhabitant of one of these planets 
 came on a visit of exploration to the Earth, what, think 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 17 
 
 you, would be his impressions on visiting our hospitals, 
 sanitariums and other institutions and establishments for 
 the sick, the lame, the blind, the feeble, etc., etc.? Would 
 he be able to express his astonishment. And, when he 
 returned to his home (I can't think he would stay with 
 us long) wouldn't he make a report his people would sit 
 up nights to read? And wouldn't he have material for 
 volumes that would quickly enrich himself and pubUshers 
 to an extent that would eclipse the famed fortune of 
 Croesus ? 
 
 Aye; and wouldn't you like to accompany him to his 
 elysian abode? And would not you feel loath to return 
 again to this sorely afiiicted land? 
 
 Isn't the hope of some day finding a sphere that is 
 free from painful toil, strife, strain, sickness, suffering, 
 sorrow and death, a bright and inspiring one? Or have 
 the inhabitants of this torn, bleeding, wailing world, 
 become so accustomed to these conditions they no longer 
 dream of a fairer and happier home? 
 
 Let us hope, work and pray, for without the relief and 
 inspiration of these exercises, life on this sphere, would be 
 well nigh unendurable. 
 
 T* T* •1* ^ 
 
 Last year, 1906, there were in this countr\', 1,500,000 
 deaths, every one, I may say, I think, premature; 4,200,000 
 sick persons, invohing the comfort and material prosperity 
 of 5,000,000 homes and 25,000,000 people. 
 
 I repeat there were 1,500,000 deaths in this country last 
 year. I repeat to say this: Every one of them was a 
 suicide, in a sense. There wasn't one in the great number 
 that would not have lived longer — and a great deal longer — 
 if he or she had lived, always, in harmony with the laws 
 of nature. And. if the baleful influence of heredity could 
 have been eliminated from their beings, there is no reason 
 that all of them should not have lived to attain the age of 
 twice or thrice times the centenarians. 
 
 Those who doubt, and will not accept this doctrine, 
 and persist in li\ing as their progenitors lived, and con- 
 temporaries are li\ing, will go the way of those who are 
 gone, and those who are going, and at as early an age. 
 When the race has been made to see, that the causes of 
 
i8 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 sickness and death are avoidable; that sickness is merely 
 punishment for the transgression of the laws of being; 
 and that one may live as long as one desires, then will the 
 race experience a new impulse and sing a new song. 
 
 This doctrine is for those awaking. All of the race is 
 not yet ready for it, and, it appears, will not be soon. 
 The first to accept it, will be the first to profit by it. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 MASTICATION— DIGESTION 
 
 " When one reflects upon the age of the world; how 
 long man has been a denizen of these lower, or higher 
 regions; what he has accomplished; how lofty and wide 
 his scholarly attainments; it seems well-nigh incredible 
 that one should now be engaged in studying and teaching 
 the processes and stages of digestion, and especially the 
 first stage, that of mastication. It would seem incredible 
 that, after the elapse of so many centuries of practice and 
 experience, that it should be necessary to write a hne 
 relative to digestion, and yet, such is the case. 
 
 Regardless of the fact that digestion has constituted, 
 in a sense, the motive power of the world, enabling man to 
 discover and develop, investigate and achieve, man is 
 still Hving to eat, instead of eating to live; still a slave to 
 his palate, instead of eating to nourish: still needing to 
 be told how to eat. 
 
 Gladstone, a great statesman of England, insisted that 
 every bite of food should be chewed thirty-two times; 
 and that all who would obser\'e this rule, would feel 50 
 per cent better, and would be able to do a great deal more 
 work in a day than they can. And he should have added, 
 would escape a thousand ills, and would increase his 
 chances of comfortable old age fifty per cent, plus fifty 
 per cent. This may sound somewhat Hke exaggeration, 
 but the fact is, so many ills, and so much weakness, and 
 so many failures, and so many premature deaths, result 
 from excessive and hurried eating, and imperfect masti- 
 cation, a littie exaggeration, if possible, is allowable. 
 
 When the stomach is wrestling with a mass of unmas- 
 ticated food that the teeth should have ground up, the 
 brain cannot work well, and the whole body will experience 
 in a greater or less degree, lassitude, and weakness there- 
 from. ... 
 
 Experiments by the professors at Yale, and other like 
 institutions, prove conclusively that thorough masticaton 
 
 19 
 
20 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 very materially increased the physical and mental working 
 capacity of all the students who submitted to the test. 
 
 One writer says: *'Chew everything but meat." An- 
 other says, "Chew all solid food thoroughly." What shall 
 one do? I say unto you, chew — chew — chew. 
 
 Physiology teaches that all solid food should be thor- 
 oughly masticated before being swallowed. The saliva 
 plays a very important part in digestion, and in bolting 
 food, there is poor chance of incorporating much saliva, 
 which throws still more work upon the stomach, that very 
 important and much abused organ. 
 
 When eating, how many persons, and especially the 
 young, concern themselves about the processes of diges- 
 tion? Food is swallowed without thought as to its pur- 
 pose; as to how it is disposed of; or in what way it nour- 
 ishes the body. Those who have no knowledge of physiol- 
 ogy; no knowledge of anatomy, function, nor anatomical 
 relations of the organs of digestion, are necessarily without 
 adequate appreciation of the processes of digestion, and 
 the importance of the proper preparation of food before 
 being swallowed. Incisors nor molars; saliva nor gastric 
 juice; are of much moment to them. 
 
 Chickens and geese, etc., have gizzards and swallow 
 pebbles, etc., with which to grind up their food for diges- 
 tion and assimilation. Man is without a gizzard; nor 
 has he any teeth in his stomach ; and if he neglect the proper 
 preparation of his food by cooking and digestion, he will 
 sooner or later be brought to a regretful realization of 
 the fact that a disregard of these matters proves very costly, 
 and is a great mistake. 
 
 I may here relate the fable of the ''Belly and the Mem- 
 bers." ''In former days, when the Belly and the other 
 parts of the body enjoyed the faculty of speech, they had 
 separate views and designs of their own: each part, it 
 seems, in particular for himself, and in the name of the 
 whole, took exception at the conduct of the Belly and were 
 resolved to grant him supplies no longer." 
 
 In a short while they all began to feel the need of nour- 
 ishment, and to realize their mistake. 
 
 My purpose in relating this fable is to call your atten- 
 tion to the dependence of all the members and parts of the 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 21 
 
 body upon the stomach. You are aware of this, but you 
 pay no attention to it; do not treat the stomach with due 
 consideration, and, as an inevitable result, decline and 
 decay are hastened. 
 
 DIET 
 
 It pays handsomely to treat the stomach right. Take 
 time to eat. Chew — chew — chew. 
 
 Relative to diet, some will tell you, a meat diet is the 
 cause of all your physical woes and the filler of premature 
 graves. The vegetarian will wax eloquent over the merits 
 and blessings of a vegetable diet. Others contend for a 
 mixed diet. And still others for a raw diet. Who is 
 right? How is one to know? 
 
 The truth is, there is no ideal diet, and if there were 
 it would not fit unideal men and women. The object of 
 food is to supply the needs of the body — build and sustain. 
 This, the mixed, raw or cooked will do, if that diet — 
 and here's the point — if that diet be simple in selection, 
 moderate in amount and taken under proper con- 
 ditions. 
 
 A breakfast of fruit, cereal with cream, brown bread and 
 butter, and a glass of milk will fulfil any requirement. Or 
 a morning meal of two raw eggs beaten up with milk, to- 
 gether with fruit and one or two slices of brown bread — 
 such a meal is equally nutritious and palatable. 
 
 For dinner, fresh meat, roasted or broiled; baked po- 
 tato, plain salad dressed with olive oil and a few drops of 
 lemon juice; perhaps another cooked vegetable, such as 
 turnips, spinach or parsnips; fruit and brown bread will 
 prove in every sense a wholesome and acceptable meal. 
 
 The third meal, if such be taken, may be similar to 
 breakfast, or it may consist of merely fresh fruit and a glass 
 of milk, with perhaps a cracker or a bit of bread. 
 
 These meals are not all vegetarian, or all fruit; but 
 they are simple, they are moderate, and if taken in proper 
 quantity, they will solve the question of diet. 
 
 Work, circumstances, exercise, age, etc., have to be 
 considered. The above diet is a sensible one. Pies, cakes, 
 tarts, etc., etc., you will observe, are not in it. It is a diet 
 of health, strength, and longevity." 
 
22 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Some say, "one meal a day;" some, "two; the majority 
 "three;" who is right? 
 
 All are right and all are wrong. All are right, and all 
 are wrong, becuase no one rule is applicable to all per- 
 sons. Circumstances, constitutions and conditions vary 
 too much. The laborer, physically, would not do well 
 on a diet that would suit and sustain the student or literary 
 person. 
 
 Haste, imperfect mastication, plus too much food, 
 constitute greater evils to health and longevity than errors 
 in diet, though it would not be easy to exaggerate the 
 importance of a properly selected diet. 
 
 If you are wise, you will give the lessons of these pages 
 more than a passing thought. 
 
 Remember, one should not eat, when not hungry; 
 Yield not to the urgings of friends or circumstances. Where 
 it is quite impossible to abstain altogether, eat very little. 
 Be master of yourself. We should eat to live. 
 
 Deep breathing and thorough mastication play a much 
 larger part in the happiness, longevity, and prosperity of 
 the world, than has yet been recognized, except by a few. 
 Their worth cannot be computed, but the world is not 
 profiting by them to the extent that it should. Thousands 
 are hurrying to sanitariums and watering-places, spending 
 in the aggregate fabulous sums for that which is every- 
 where, and could be had at home, at little cost. 
 
 Learning how to eat, and what to eat, come pretty high 
 at the sanitariums, and there are thousands there, who, 
 by the observance of a few of the simplest rules, might 
 have remained at home, and laughed at the suggestion of a 
 sanitarium. 
 
 FLETCHERISM 
 
 This chapter would be incomplete without a few words 
 relative to "Fletcherism." But, mark you, the value of 
 advice depends upon the appreciation of those to whom 
 the advice is tendered. "For the benefit of the unini- 
 tiated, fletcherism, is a system of feeding based mainly 
 on thorough mastication. Eat all you want, when you 
 want, but eat slowly and chew thoroughly. That is 
 fletcherism in a nutshell. Beyond that simple statement 
 Mr. Fletcher refuses to prescribe for you." 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 23 
 
 "No one," he says, "can prescribe for anyone' else. 
 You are the best judge of the foods which are suited to 
 you. There are, however, four good rules which any 
 person may safely follow: First — do not take' any food 
 until you are good and hungry. It is twelve o'clock [now, 
 and I have taken no food today, yet I feel no discomfort. 
 Some people say, 'I am always hungry;' others, 'I am never 
 hungry;' both statements are incorrect. True hunger is 
 indicated by a watering of the mouth, not the watering 
 produced by the artificial excitement of some pungent 
 stimulant, but that which is excited at the thought of the 
 simplest food, even at the thought of dry bread. 'All gone- 
 ness' in the region of the stomach, faintness, or any such 
 discomfort, is not a sign of hunger, but a symptom of in- 
 digestion or disease. Skip as many meals as you like and 
 learn true hunger." 
 
 Then when you are hungry comes the second rule. 
 Take the food you like best and chew it for all it is worth. 
 If it is a liquid get all the taste out of it; if it is a solid 
 hold it in the mouth until you are forced to swallow it. 
 
 Third: The minute the saliva stops flowing freely, 
 stop. Rest your appetite before it gets tired. 
 
 Fourth: If you cannot be cheerful, do not eat. You 
 wont digest enough to make it worth while. Don't eat 
 when you are sad or when you are mad, but only when 
 you are glad you are alive. And that is complete fletcher- 
 ism. 
 
 HORACE Fletcher's ten dietary commandments 
 
 1. Half the former and usual cost of nourishment. 
 
 2. An increase of fifty to two hundred per cent of 
 physical endurance. 
 
 3. Immunity from sickness (at least increased re- 
 sistance). 
 
 4. Immunity from "that tired feeling." 
 
 5. Suppression of craving for alcoholic stimulants. 
 
 6. Suppression of morbid animal desire. 
 
 7. Restitution of virility in those who had become 
 seemingly impotent. 
 
 8. Progressive recuperation of muscular and mental 
 quality and tone in those already past the present accepted 
 
24 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 period of middle life who had believed themselves on the 
 decline; renewal of youth. 
 
 I. Optimism, usefulness and happiness, instead of 
 pessimism, uselessness and misery. 
 
 The doctrine that animated and brilliant conversation 
 should be maintained during meals, I have long regarded 
 erroneous. Personal experience plus reason are against 
 it. I have found and still find that attention to what I 
 am eating, and how I am eating, augments the enjoyment 
 and promotes digestion. Animated conversation or argu- 
 ment during meals certainly diverts attention, and brilliant 
 or active conversation draws the blood from the digestive 
 organs, where needed, to the brain. This implies an an- 
 tagonism between stomach and brain prejudicial to the 
 entire organism. 
 
 And those post-prandial (after-dinner) speeches we 
 hear of as brilliant and felicitous efforts, strike me as 
 foolish and suicidal exploits. Certainly doctors should 
 know better. Quiet rest, for at least an hour after dinner, 
 should be the rule. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WHY ARE WE SICK? 
 
 I take the follomng lines from a health journal: 
 "The main causes of sickness are improper feeding, 
 improper breathing, overwork, excessive venery (sexual 
 indulgence), excessive clothing, \vorr\% etc. 
 
 "As to feeding, people eat too much, too rapidly, too 
 frequently, and too great a variety of food. They drink 
 with their meals, eat between meals, and when tired. 
 Many others resume work too soon after eating. All 
 these things are wrong — a sin against nature, and lead to 
 disease and premature decay. So, in the physical as well 
 as the moral realm, it is true that 'the wages of sin is 
 death.' 
 
 "An excess in the quantity of food overloads and irri- 
 tates the digestive organs. The food taken cannot be 
 digested, so it remains in the digestive tube for the greater 
 part of the day (portions of it longer) a fermenting mass, 
 unspeakably foul and irritating, and producing poisons 
 which the system absorbs and which are the direct cause 
 of many and multiform disorders — often of sudden death 
 through apoplexy or heart failure." 
 
 Now, the human body is a machine — a machine in- 
 finitely more powerful, dehcate, and complex than the 
 steam engine. The orderly working of the machine called 
 the human body is health, its derangement is disease, its 
 stoppage death. 
 
 Sickness, or disease, then reduced to its simplest terms, 
 is derangement of the organism due to some unfavorable 
 influence. But the question still stands waiting. "WHiy 
 are we sick, anyway?" 
 
 We are sick because we do not treat our bodies properly. 
 That's all. 
 
 I could quote you lines from the snow-capped moun- 
 tains of the frigid north; the redolent bowers of sunny 
 Florida; the ocean-kissed coast of balmy California; in 
 fact, from all quarters of the civilized globe— all bearing 
 
 25 
 
26 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 the same burden; teaching the same lesson; all bearing 
 testimony to the fact that we "dig our graves with our 
 teeth." This is a fact of tremendous importance, but, 
 like many other stupendous and pregnant facts, receives but 
 little attention, and is permitted to continue to be tremendous 
 facts, involving tremendous cost; but in saying this, all 
 is not said — all of the truth connected with the teeth is not 
 included; for while it is true in a sense that thousands 
 have ''dug their graves with their teeth," thousands have 
 disappeared into premature graves because of neglect to 
 use their teeth. This, though superficially paradoxical, 
 is not a paradox. When it is said we ''dig our graves with 
 our teeth," it is meant, we kill ourselves eating to excess. 
 On the other hand, we kill ourselves with unmasticated 
 food. You see, we kill ourselves by using our teeth, and 
 by not using our teeth. We come into the world a blank. 
 We know nothing. We have all to learn. On every hand, 
 at every turn, inimical forces confront us. The great 
 school master. Experience, applies the whip with vigor and 
 inexorability. We are dull students, and hence, often 
 exhibit bleeding backs. The seeming cruelty of Mother 
 Nature is concealed kindness. She is trying to drive us 
 back into the straight path ; but some of us — many of us — 
 get back with terribly scarred bodies — scars and wounds 
 which accompany us to the grave. 
 
 In answer to the question heading this chapter, I 
 would reply in resounding tones — IGNORANCE! 
 
 "Health, strength, success; a long, useful, and happy 
 life here depend upon how much of truth we absorb." 
 That's it! Truth, beautiful Truth! Unalterable and 
 everlasting; to thee we would pray; of thee, we would 
 sing; at thy shrine, we would worship; in thy habitation 
 we would dwell; and in us, we would have thee forever 
 reside. Truth is the beauty, the glory, the life, the strength, 
 the inspiration, the all of the world. He who seeks truth 
 could not be more honorably or profitably employed. 
 
 Heed the lines from the "New Thought" doctrine? 
 "The man who would be well must think health, study 
 health, plan health." 
 
 The above words contain much truth, but I should 
 prefer to say: Disease is unnecessary and avoidable. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 27 
 
 Every one is entitled to health. Study the laws of health 
 — your being — and conform to them. "Say to yourself 
 it is not necessary to be sick. I shall not be sick," says 
 the Christian Scientist. These suggestions have some 
 efiEect, doubtless, upon the organism — rouse the cells in 
 a measure against bacterial invasion. It is a command 
 to the phagocytes to resist the entrance of disease germs 
 into the system, and is worth something, I believe; but 
 he who disregards and transgresses the laws of health with 
 the expectation of preserving his health by practising sug- 
 gestion, will have cause to rue it, may be positively stated. 
 Keeping the health up to the highest standard constitutes 
 the strongest barrier to disease. How to do this, I am 
 trying all through these pages to teach you. 
 
 "All disease is mental in its origin," says the Christian 
 Scientist, and this doctrine is being pushed with indomit- 
 able persistency and unwaning enthusiasm, and has won 
 phenomenal success. The superficial observer regards 
 success and merit as synonomous terms, and is not without 
 grounds for his belief, where permanency resides. But 
 in this case, a few remarks \vi11 suffice, I think, to evince 
 that the doctrine is fallacious, and that the position of the 
 advocates is untenable. 
 
 The writer from whom I quote says: "The individual 
 must possess a mind active enough to know ease from dis- 
 ease, and sane enough to be able to think, else no known 
 disease can enter his realm." The fallacy of this assertion 
 is so apparent, it seems to me, any one of ordinary intelli- 
 gence could see it without assistance. The author either 
 sees a good deal more than I do, or I see a good deal more 
 than he does, or he wrote for what dollars he saw in it. 
 
 His assertion amounts to this: To the individual with 
 too little sense to conceive of disease, there is no disease — 
 to such person disease is a non-entity. If this were true, 
 there should be no short graves in the cemeteries, neither 
 would idiots have fever nor pain. We know — ^if we know 
 anything — that infants, even in utero (before birth), sicken 
 and die; and it is also an indisputable fact that idiots con- 
 tract diseases. Further argument would be superfluous. 
 And yet and notwithstanding, the doctrine has captured 
 thousands of good, intelligent people. How shall we 
 
28 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 account for it ? I cannot now recall the author, but some 
 great thinker has said he had "long since doubted the 
 rationahty of the human family." Barnum, the great 
 showman, of world-wide fame, used to say, *' people like 
 to be humbugged." Novelty constitutes an attractive 
 if not an irresistible feature. And again, old doctrines 
 become insipid. The mind ever looks and longs for some- 
 thing new. Thinking with many is an irksome task. Con- 
 centration is too strenuous exercise. Analysis is an im- 
 possible task to them: all due to the influence of heredity 
 and environment. Environment necessitates thought and 
 reasoning, but ordinarily, thinking is fitful and superficial, 
 if not erratic. The brain has to be trained as well as the 
 fingers and hand. The hand ordinarily acquires a certain 
 amount of dexterity, and so does the brain, but for expert 
 proficiency, it requires special training and discipline, and 
 so does the brain. 
 
 From a Swiss physician, '*The amount of doughy 
 bread, indigestible griddle cakes, poor pork, injurious 
 cakes, and adulterated tea, coffee, milk — indeed, every 
 thing edible, which the American consumes is simply 
 marvelous. The Americans are as a nation dyspeptic, 
 and when as physicians we are permitted to enter their 
 homes and witness what they eat themselves and force 
 their hungry children to devour, that they are a race of 
 dyspeptics is not to be wondered at." 
 
 DYSPEPSIA 
 
 It seems to be a usually recognized fact that Americans 
 are a nation of dyspeptics. Dyspepsia means weakness, 
 degeneration, premature senility plus a premature grave. 
 Haven't we a lesson here? Is life worth living? Hardly 
 to the dyspeptic. "Some have ears to hear, but hear not." 
 
 What awaits a dyspeptic people but degeneration 
 and extinction? Who hath "ears to hear, let him hear." 
 
 The blind are pretty sure to fall in the ditch. The 
 exercise of a little foresight and discretion would often 
 prevent a great deal of trouble. If you will not heed the 
 lessons of these pages, you must pay the penalty. 
 
 I insert here another article from a health journal. It 
 is well worth the time and space: 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 29 
 
 "Good morning, Doctor." 
 
 "Good morning, John. How do you find yourself this 
 morning, when everything is so bright and clear?" 
 
 "Well, Doctor, to tell you the truth, I am not feehng 
 very well. Yet I am not sick in bed, as you see." 
 
 "Well, John, I am sorry for you; sorry that you should 
 be sick, yet people who sin must suffer the consequences 
 of their follies. In the realm of natural law not the least 
 favoritism is shown to distinguished people; in that court 
 they are all equal before the law. The flame of the lamp 
 will burn the finger of a king, or president, just as sharply 
 as it will the poorest and most ignorant person in the world. 
 John, shall I tell you a secret and one that has been sacredly 
 guarded from the foundation of the world to the present 
 hour?" 
 
 "Yes, Doctor, out with it and let us know what it is." 
 
 "Well, John, it is just this, and no more. The time 
 is soon coming when to be sick will be a social disgrace." 
 
 "Hold on there, Doctor, if you please. Did I under- 
 stand you rightly, a social disgrace to be sick?" 
 
 "That was just what I said, John, and I meant exactly 
 what I said. We may safely compare it with the ability 
 to read and write; to be unable to read and write is today 
 reckoned a social disgrace, and justly so, for the simple 
 reason that the facilities are here in abundance for learning 
 and he who fails to use them is either too lazy to learn or too 
 foolish to understand his own true interests. The day 
 is not far off when, if you are sick, the fact of your illness 
 will be taken as demonstrative evidence that you have 
 disobeyed some law of nature, that you ought to have 
 known enough to have kept from and thereby avoided the 
 pain and agony that you are now called upon to endure." 
 
 "Well, Doctor, that may be all right for learned men 
 like yourself, but for us poor fellows who have plenty of 
 work and not much time for study, how are we going to 
 find out all these things? Mankind has always been hav- 
 ing sickness, what's going to change all this?" 
 
 "A little knowledge, John, a little knowledge properly 
 applied will do much more than you imagine. The truth 
 of the matter is, John, we have never learned to use our 
 eyes and ears, these useful organs may be made to sub- 
 
30 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 serve our education in many ways; we are not taught to 
 use them at present, so they are nearly useless to us for 
 many of the purposes for which they were designed. What 
 we want to know, we try to find out, what we regard as 
 unimportant — here's where we make serious mistakes — 
 we ignore. 
 
 ''But keep this fact ever in mind, that people must 
 either keep well, or take a back seat in the world. Besides 
 all this, John, men like to be strong, and women beautiful ; 
 sick men cannot be strong, nor invalid women beautiful. 
 
 '' Grace and beauty, health and strength, are synonomous 
 terms, and we can all have these things, provided we make 
 the proper effort to obtain them. (In a measure, I should 
 say, provided heredity and environment are not too strong 
 against us.) And last of all, John, we must come to know 
 what the wise man meant when he said, 'As a man thinketh 
 in his heart, so is he.' We must leave worry behind us 
 ere we can be well in body or mind. We must let the dead 
 bury its dead and go forward casting aside every weight 
 and sin that doth so easily beset us. In other words, we 
 must learn to do right, and act right, because it is right, 
 and not because we are to receive a reward as the price 
 of our own labor." 
 
 If you would have health, live the life that holds health. 
 If you would be happy, live the life that means happiness. 
 If you would continue to live, live in harmony with the 
 laws of life — live to live. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 STRAINING IS COSTLY 
 
 "At this juncture Mr. H.'s health gave way, and for 
 a time, he hovered between life and death. For over 
 fifteen years he had been toiling almost night and day with 
 little respite." 
 
 The subject of these remarks began life with a surplus 
 of energy, health, and an impelling ambition. Starting 
 \vithout a dollar, but with an abundance of health, energy, 
 and push, he found himself, in fifteen years, within a step 
 of the coveted goal. But there is a limit to the strain, and 
 stretch of the strongest and most enduring constitution. 
 Just as he put forth his hands to grasp the prize and fruit 
 of fifteen years of unremittent and excessive toil, his health 
 failed. 
 
 There's the point. Inordinate ambition impels be- 
 yond the boundary of prudence and safety, and has wrecked 
 and foiled many a man who possessed all the elements of 
 success. 
 
 Make haste slowly is mighty good advice. 
 
 Mr. H.'s capital consisted of health and energy, the 
 most effective and desirable capital of the world, and if 
 he had held in check his ambition, the desired goal would 
 have been easily attained and long enjoyed. 
 
 As I have elsewhere written you on this subject, it 
 doesn't pay to strain to excess, it is extremely costly. Turn 
 back the keys and slacken the strings, it pays handsomely. 
 
 A little reflection as to the mutability and ephemeral 
 character of the things of the world will suffice to check a 
 vaulting and reckless ambition. 
 
 My object in these and kindred lines is to impress upon 
 you the momentous fact, that the bartering of health for 
 wealth or position, constitutes a myopic and foolish trans- 
 action, as many a man can testify. 
 
 It is said that an old philosopher who had spent his 
 years over seething cauldrons, steaming kettles, and super- 
 heated furnaces, in the secret, sunless, and vaporous caves 
 
 31 
 
32 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 of the earth, in quest of the secret of maldng gold, having, 
 by unremittent toil and insistent importunity, succeeded 
 in winning from nature the coveted and long-sought prize, 
 forwith dashed it back into the furnace whence it came. 
 Incomprehensible, isn't it? Why should he so precipi- 
 tously and recklessly destroy that for which he had sacrificed 
 his life? 
 
 The answer is not far to seek or difficult to find. Simul- 
 taneously with the discovery of the long-sought secret of 
 the transmutation of baser metals into gold, came the 
 knowledge that he had no days left in which to spend gold; 
 he gave back the secret to nature. 
 
 Isn't this an important lesson? Too eager in pursuit 
 to notice the passing of time, he pressed on to the goal 
 to find that his life was all behind him. 
 
 Haven't we here much of the history of the human 
 family? Better stop and pluck a few flowers as we go 
 along the path of life. Better sit awhile in the lap of 
 Nature, press your cheek to hers, and your ear to her 
 pulsing bosom. She has an entrancing song for the lis- 
 tener, priceless secrets for the child and student at her feet. 
 The voice of nature is the voice of the God. 
 
 Gold is not the All of life. 
 
 If the angel of death were to visit the graveyards and 
 cemeteries of our land, and write on the tombstones in 
 bold and glaring letters the words, strain, irregularity, 
 and artificiality, where they properly belong, as the causes 
 of the deaths of those, over whose remains these marble 
 slabs had been raised, the staring of these words from so 
 many tombs would surely impress a valuable lesson; a 
 lesson and a warning that the ''wayfaring man, though a 
 fool," might read running. 
 
 And again, if the sextons were ordered to remove all 
 the tombstones bearing these words upon their faces, and 
 efface all the graves over which they had stood, despoliation 
 would mark the scene. 
 
 And if the King of Heaven sent an angel to plant a 
 perennial rose over the graves of all who had lived out 
 the full complement of years, the angel would return to 
 Heaven with all the roses with which he had left. 
 
 When the great Athenian philosopher, Thales, was 
 asked what was the most fortunate thing that could befall 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 33 
 
 one, he replied never to have been born, but being born, 
 to die quickly. The wisdom of Thales has never been 
 questioned; and viewed from a certain standpoint, it 
 would seem that he was right, but we didn't die quickly, 
 hence we should try to get the most out of life, and to do 
 this, requires wisdom and foresight. These we should 
 try diligently to procure. 
 
 Taking the world as it is, with all its conflicting forces 
 and clashing climatical elements; human nature as it is, 
 with all its waywardness, ''foibles and follies," plus its 
 warring appetites and passions, plus an inability to dis- 
 criminate between right and wrong, the real and the un- 
 real, the permanent and the fleeting, the ideal state of 
 physical perfection and spiritual poise appears too far 
 in the future to enter into the ''wavering \dsta" of one's 
 dreams, as a realization of this sphere. But one should 
 continually strive to attain the ideal, and one may avoid 
 many of the errors of predecessors and contemporaries, 
 and get a good deal more out of life than they got and are 
 getting. 
 
 During the palmy and halcyon days of ancient Rome, 
 with a ^vdew to maintaining and promoting their prestige, 
 welfare, and supremacy, the Romans, in order to weed 
 out the weaklings and relieve themselves of the burden 
 and cost of rearing faulty children, made it a rule to expose 
 all the newly-born infants upon a bleak hill a certain number 
 of hours, taking in all that sursdved the test, to be cared 
 for and reared. 
 
 In those sanguinary and barbarous days the various 
 tribes and nations of the earth were continually at war 
 with each other. Might made right, and the law of the 
 survival of the fittest prevailed, as it would seem, it always 
 has, and always will. Safety and continuation depended 
 on might: the need was soldiers, sturdy, intrepid. Those 
 were surely strenuous as well as utilitarian times. 
 
 Improvement of the human race, prevention of disease, 
 physical perfection and vigor are surely desirable; and all 
 practicable and legitimate methods and means should be 
 adopted to attain these ends, but the Roman methods 
 savor too much of barbarism for the cultured sensibilities 
 of the twentieth century. ^. 
 
34 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 "Look where we will throughout creation, 
 We look in vain for moderation. 
 Even things which by their nature bless, 
 Are turned to curses by excess." 
 
 There sits a little girl on a hard bench in a school- 
 room, frail, delicate, sensitive and excitable. Around her 
 sit others more robust in appearance. The frail little girl, 
 owing to delicacy of constitution, plus a nervous tempera- 
 ment, soon tires, waxes restless, and is impelled by nature 
 to move. 
 
 Her more hardy and phlegmatic companions sit com- 
 fortable and serene. Beside this frail little girl stands a 
 stack of books, to master which, in the time allotted, 
 would overwhelm one of much stouter heart and tougher 
 fibre. 
 
 The constant grind, strain and stress of these books, if 
 imposed upon a member of the school board, would impel 
 him to the woods. 
 
 The restlessness of the frail little girl attracts the atten- 
 tion of the teacher, who, mistaking the child's restlessness 
 for rudeness, etc., speaks sharply to her, commanding her 
 to bend lower to her books, threatening her with greater 
 punishment, if she kept not still. Poor child! Ignorant 
 teacher! Ignorant parents! And sometimes no parents 
 at all. The child is surely a worthy object of sincerest 
 pity. 
 
 Books, books, books; study, study, study; uneasy 
 sleep, disturbing dreams, a rigid and unappreciative 
 teacher, exhausted vitaHty, disease, death, constitute the 
 history of these frail flowers. Pity! Shame! Outrageous! 
 
 These are facts. The girl died in her teens. She 
 might have been living today, a happy and fairly strong 
 girl. She is only one of many. 
 
 A few such survive the strain, attain imperfect woman- 
 hood and marry. What then? Shall I Uft the veil? 
 Heed: pain, weakness, worry, irritability, exhaustion, 
 doctors, nurses, medicine, medicine, etc., etc.; later, if 
 not the grave, invalidism. Poor wife! Poor husband! 
 
 And in the event of children — often the case — through 
 them these troubles will be multiplied adown the ages 
 as time rolls on. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 35 
 
 Are these conditions and states desirable? Are they 
 unavoidable? Nol Emphatically NO! 
 
 Had the ancestors of the frail little girl of the chapter 
 always lived right; had her parents and teachers been 
 really intelligent persons, instead of weakness, sickness, 
 failure and death, there would have been health, happiness 
 and prosperity. 
 
 Better ponder these matters. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 NEURASTHENIA— NERVOUS PROSTRATION 
 
 It may be, as asserted by some, that whatever one looks 
 for continuously, one will find. But whether this be true 
 or not, it is true, one doesn't have to look very far to dis- 
 cover that there is a great deal of sickness and suffering 
 in the world, and a great deal more than is necessary. 
 
 ^\Tiether one looks at the world through the glasses 
 of the pessimist or optimist, this is true. Optimism may 
 blind one to much of the wretchedness and woe of the world, 
 but it exists all the same. 
 
 I now have under treatment a young man, twenty-four 
 years of age. He is a telegraph operator and has been in 
 the employ of the railroad company four years, and should 
 now hardly be up to his best with a brightening and beckon- 
 ing future ahead of him. But ins^^ead of this, he is a nerv- 
 ous wreck; had to give up his position and return home, 
 wretched and miserable beyond expression. The sufferings 
 of the neurasthenic (nerv^ous wreck) defy description. 
 Barring continued and excruciating pain, such as is ex- 
 perienced in tic douloureux (spasmodic facial neuralgia — 
 indescribable torture), there is no form or degree of sickness 
 which occasions as great a degree of wretchedness and woe, 
 as neurasthenia, and of all the miserable wretches in this 
 world, the nervous wreck is the most pitiable. 
 
 I shall not, however, undertake a full description of 
 the symptoms of neurasthenia. If you should ever become 
 the victim of fully developed neurasthenia, a calamity I 
 am now laboring to save you from, and which, I sincerely 
 hope and pray you will escape — you will learn more about 
 neurasthenia than is desirable, and that you will want to 
 know. But before closing the chapter, I shall try to ac- 
 quaint you with the causes — and that's the important 
 point — that you may guard against the trouble. You 
 need to know the causes, and without such knowledge, 
 escape will be a matter of chance, a poor dependence. 
 But to revert again to the young man of the chapter, he 
 
 37 
 
38 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 is at home, wretched, miserable, restless, uneasy, weak, 
 nervous, excitable, timid, ambitionless, irresolute, and well- 
 nigh hopeless, with all the phobias (fears) of the neuras- 
 thenic. 
 
 To add to the already extremely miserable condition 
 of the neurasthenic, morbid fears seize him and render 
 his condition still more distressing and pitiable. These 
 fears of the nervously exhausted are excited by various 
 causes, and assume various forms. 
 
 "The emotion of fear is normal to the human mind. 
 It is as natural and as necessary to be afraid as to be cour- 
 ageous. Fear is indeed a part of the first law of nature, 
 self existence. This emotion is, therefore, physiological, 
 varying both in degree and kind, with race, sex, age, and 
 the individual." Of normal fear, this is enough. My 
 purpose here is to acquaint you to some extent with morbid 
 fear, the fear of the neurasthenic. 
 
 ''Morbid fears are the result of various functional 
 diseases of the nervous system and imply a debility, a 
 weakness, an incompetency, and inadequacy, as compared 
 with the normal state of the individual." 
 
 The fear of the neurasthenic is far more painful and 
 distressing than normal fear. 
 
 Anthrophobia, fear of society; monophobia, fear of 
 being alone; pathophobia, morbid fear of disease — all 
 these fears are morbid fears, and there are many other 
 forms and phases, but these will suffice — all of them mean 
 nerve-exhaustion. 
 
 Hear some of the complaints of the neurasthenic young 
 man of the chapter: ''It is hard; it doesn't seem fair; 
 I can't understand it; why should the Lord send these 
 afflictions upon me? I have lived a correct life. Where 
 are the rewards of a virtuous and upright life? I can't 
 enjoy anything. I feel no interest in life, no pleasure any- 
 where for me." 
 
 Poor fellow; he is to be pitied. There are causes; 
 he hasn't discovered them. Nor has he discovered that 
 the Lord doesn't interfere with the laws of nature or with 
 the relation of effect to cause. 
 
 The exactions of his vocation proved too great for the 
 manufacturing capacity of his system, that is, supply and 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 39 
 
 demand were not equal. In other words, his vocation 
 used up his energy faster than his system could manu- 
 facture it. He was a night operator, and an excessive 
 smoker. Night work plus smoking, plus a delicate and 
 sensitive nervous system, accomplished his breakdown. 
 
 The lesson I wish to press home here is the fact that it 
 doesn't pay to work during the night. But few can stand 
 it any length of time. It is contrary to the laws of nature. 
 Nature cannot be imposed on with impunity. Nor does 
 it pay to work to excess at any time. 
 
 Had this young man's antecedents lived lives of prudence 
 and moderation, there is no doubt he would have held 
 out longer; but even then, the penalty of broken law would 
 have had to be paid. 
 
 Dozens of cases similar to this might be cited, but this 
 one should suffice. 
 
 Remember it pays handsomely to live close to nature, 
 and is fearfully costly to transgress her laws. 
 
 In consideration of the increasing number of neuras- 
 thenics everywhere observable, I would add another word 
 to what I have already said relative to excessive toil. 
 
 ''Work," says Geo. Sand, "is not man's punishment; 
 but his reward and his strength, his glory and his 
 pleasure." 
 
 "Life would be as tedious as a twice-told tale, if man's 
 food were placed ready before him," says another. 
 
 My views are in perfect accord with these remarks. 
 If man had nothing to do; no useful employment; no 
 wholesome way of spending his time, he would find life 
 burdensome and monotonous, and would be much more 
 miserable than he is. 
 
 There would be no progress; no improvement; man 
 would retrograde, degenerate, and disappear from the 
 earth, leaving it to the undisputed sway of the denizens 
 of the forest. 
 
 But there is a wide difference between work within 
 physiological limits, and excessive and exhaustive toil. 
 
 It is wofully true that the circumstances of a great 
 number render it necessary to work late and early; but 
 in many instances in these cases, a little foresight would 
 have prevented much of the strain and stress. 
 
40 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 And it is also true, many work to excess because they 
 are, too often, impelled by greed and ambition. 
 
 Certainly one should work, when young and able, and 
 try to save something for rainy days and old age, and other 
 good purposes. It is not against work in season and 
 reason, I would warn you, but it is against excessive work, 
 I speak. 
 
 It is a great mistake to keep one's nose to the grindstone 
 or the ground all the time. One's time, when pra:ticable, 
 should be divided into three parts: one part for work; 
 another or sleep and rest; and the remaining part for 
 recreation and improvement — self-culture. 
 
 One of the indications of the present that the world 
 is growing better, as well as wiser, is the fact that shorter 
 — or rather fewer — hours of labor are being adopted 
 throughout the civiHzed world. 
 
 I beheve in work, but I don't believe in working one- 
 self into the grave, as thousands are doing. 
 
 "Nor love, nor honor, wealth nor power 
 Can give the heart a cheerful hour 
 Where health is lost. Be timely wise: 
 With health all taste of pleasure flies." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 STRAINING— WIFE— FAILURE 
 
 SCENE I. 
 
 A plump, rosy, sprightly girl tripping along to a country 
 school. 
 
 Books, recess, running, romping, jumping, laughing, make 
 up the history of school life in the country, as a rule. Bright 
 and happy days quickly come and go. It is a joyous 
 season, as a rule. 
 
 SCENE 2. 
 
 The country school-girl on her way to college. 
 
 Ambitious Mother: "May, you led your class at your 
 home school, and I am proud of it, and have bright and 
 high expectations of your future. I expect you to make 
 an equally brilliant record at the college to which you are 
 going. And, I have no doubt, with a little extra study, 
 you will do even better. My one ambition is to make of 
 you a cultured and refined woman, that you may occupy 
 a high position in society. A bright star in the social 
 galaxy, I would have you eclipse them all. With such 
 position and attainments, there is no reason in the world 
 that you shouldn't marry a man of means and social posi- 
 tion. 
 I "Good-bye, and remember, you are to win the prize." 
 
 Poor child; foolish mother! 
 
 SCENE 3. 
 
 May: I'll master these lessons tonight, if day finds 
 me still bending over my books." The clock strikes one. 
 "My head aches," she remarks, "but I reckon it will be 
 all right, after a few hours of sleep. Mamma expects 
 me to win the prize. I must not disappoint her; it would 
 be aw^ul. Moreover, I should Hke to be the accompHshed 
 woman Mamma desires me to be. Oh, my; it is two 
 o'clock. My head; my eyes; I shall have to quit and go 
 to bed." 
 
 41 
 
42 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 SCENE 4. 
 
 Doctor: ''How do you feel this morning, May?" 
 
 May: ''Better, Doctor, thank you, and if you will 
 brace me up to finish the race, I shall be a happy girl." 
 
 Doctor: "Tonics, plus nervines, will brace you up. 
 May, long enough I think for that, but after the strain, 
 great will be the collapse." 
 
 May: "O, Doctor, please don't talk that way. I 
 must reach the goal." 
 
 Doctor: I will do the best I can for you." (Aside — 
 "But, O, the cost! A neurasthenic already, she will leave 
 school a pitiable wreck." the Doctor remarks to himself.) 
 
 SCENE 5. 
 
 "Hurry, Doctor, Miss May is having fits or some- 
 thing; every stroke of the church bell excites her into 
 spasms. They think she is dying." 
 
 Anxious Mother: "Come in. Doctor, May is in a 
 frightful condition. I don't know what in the world is 
 the matter with her. A slam of the door or a bark of the 
 dog makes her jerk and snatch so violently, she almost 
 shakes the bed down. I fear she is taking some dreadful 
 disease." 
 
 Doctor: "Calm yourself, Mrs. W. May's condition 
 is truly pitiable, but I can assure you, I think, she will be 
 better shortly." 
 
 May: "O, Doctor, I am so miserable, weak, nervous, 
 excitable; can't sleep; no appetite, and feel all the time 
 as though something dreadful is going to happen to me. 
 Life is a burden. Can't you do something for me?" 
 
 Doctor: "Calm yourself. May; you are reaping what 
 you sowed, but despair not, there is hope ahead. I can't 
 promise to restore you fully, but you will get better. You 
 are deep in the valley of despondency. The shadows, 
 fogs and mists of despair hang, now, around and about 
 you. All is dark, but heed: Dry your tears, radiant, 
 smiling hope sits, with outstretched hands, at the top of 
 the mountain, beckoning you to climb." 
 
 May: "Doctor, I shall never get there." 
 
 Doctor: "Don't say that again. Two boys once came 
 to a stream, it was necessary for them to cross, in order to 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 43 
 
 reach home. They had been without food for several days; 
 night was approaching, and it was very cold. How to get 
 across the stream was an anxious question with them. 
 A little up the stream, they discovered a grape vine, reach- 
 ing from one side to the other. They stood, looking and 
 wondering whether or not they could get over on that vine. 
 Something had to be done. Their situation was desperate. 
 One of the boys started, repeating, with every step, 'I 
 shall fall, I shall fall.' And fall he did, and was drowned. 
 
 "The situation of the remaining iDoy was truly des- 
 perate. But there was one thing in his favor. He pos- 
 sessed more of the positive element than the other. He 
 started, and instead of repeating, 'I shall fall,' he repeated, 
 'I shall get across, I shall get across.' And he did get 
 across, and home. 
 
 ''If you should fail to reach the top, May, you will find 
 many between the base of the mountain and the crown, and 
 you may dwell with them. Inhale this preparation and go 
 to sleep, tomorrow you'll be better." 
 
 SCENE 6. 
 
 May: "Yes, John, I know you love me." 
 
 John: "Love is too tame a word, May. I adore 
 you. Every grain of sand your pretty foot presses " 
 
 May: "Hush, John, nonsense." 
 
 John: " I'll wait, sweetheart, but the time seems long." 
 
 Results: Dead child, and well-nigh dead mother, 
 tedious and imperfect recovery. Later: 
 
 Wife: "John, the Doctor says another pregnancy will 
 mean my death." Tears, sobs. Removing handkerchief 
 from tear-stained cheek and swollen eyes with pale, trem- 
 bling hands, she continued, "Jane has six children, and 
 has never had to have a doctor with her." 
 
 More tears and more sobs. 
 
 Poor wife! Poor husband! They have some bitter 
 lessons to learn; this is one of them. Their life will never 
 be brightened nor blessed by the presence, prattle, nor 
 merry laugh of children of their own flesh and blood. Their 
 ears will never be gladdened by the sweet and soul-quick- 
 ening words, Mamma, Papa. Their hearts will never 
 throb with the joy nor the pride of parenthood. Two 
 
44 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 little bright, expectant eyes will never look up from mother's 
 nor father's knees, into mother's nor father's face, for 
 answer to eager questions. Two little round arms will 
 never encircle their necks in guileless child-affection. 
 
 Why these failures and disappointments? Why this 
 barren and monotonous life ? W^as it decreed or designed, 
 by the Author of the Universe? Emphatically no! All 
 nature cries no! Are these results and experiences the 
 work and fruits of intelligence? Again, no! Ignorance 
 stands out in bold and challenging posture as the author 
 and parent. 
 
 The following lines further explain. Jane, of the 
 chapter, was a strong, healthy, well-developed young 
 woman. Little need had she of doctors or nurses. Happy 
 state! With one child on her arm, another by the hand, 
 a bucket of water on her head, she could quickly measure 
 a mile. 
 
 When May, of the page, was burning the midnight 
 oil over Greek, Latin, etc., Jane was reposing peacefully 
 on the bosom of Morpheus, in the mystic dreamland, 
 wholly oblivious of the cares and perplexities of this world. 
 Nature was having a chance to thoroughly knit her frame, 
 and build up a constitution worthy of parenthood. 
 
 When May was bending over her books in the school 
 room, giving up her vitality and energy, thwarting Nature 
 in her efforts to build up a woman, worthy of parentage, 
 Jane was making muscle, bone and nerve in the sunshine. 
 
 Inordinate ambition, plus excessive study, implying 
 too little sleep; too little exercise in the sunshine and air, 
 plus a thousand other things and conditions, predjudicial 
 to health, growth and longevity, explain the dreary, monot- 
 onous, childless life of the couple of the page, and answer 
 the questions propounded. 
 
 Stand forth, mother! You who encouraged — impelled, 
 I should say — your daughter to lead her class, to win the 
 prize, to burn the midnight oil; to strive for a brilliant 
 literary triumph and social position; to give up sunshine 
 and fresh air; to give up sleep, muscle, bone, nerve, form, 
 health, comfort, strength, girlhood, womanhood, mother- 
 hood — all — to satisfy an inordinate ambition. Appalling 
 the cost! 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 45 
 
 Thus taxing a girl's physical powers and forces, at an 
 age when nature is trying to make a woman of her, is 
 a tremendous and grave mistake. May won the prize, 
 reached the goal, won applause, won position, and a hus- 
 band. But did he win a wife? In name only. Having 
 sacrificed womanhood, motherhood and wifehood upon 
 the altar of learning, she is unable to respond to the natural 
 demands of a husband (or motherhood). 
 
 Upon the altar of rampant ambition, burn peace, 
 sleep, health, happiness — all. 
 
 "O dire ambition! What Infernal Power 
 Unchained thee from thy native depths of hell 
 To stalk the earth with thy destructive train, 
 Murder and lust! to waste domestic peace 
 And every heart-felt joy?" 
 
 John's situation is little different from that of some 
 others of the volume. He has a cause, sufficient, to make 
 him scratch his head and look depressed. The words, 
 "failure" and "disappointment" assume colossal pro- 
 portions before him. The means and methods of the 
 prevention of conception, practiced by the ignorant and 
 corrupt, suggest themselves to his mind. He is not in- 
 formed as to the best and most approved means of pre- 
 vention, nor as to the ruinous effects of those of the ignorant. 
 
 His wife must not again become pregnant. Poor 
 fellow! He is "up against it." Stubborn and perplexing 
 facts face him. He needs a wise friend. Heaven guide 
 him. 
 
 But it is recognized that he must find help here, if 
 at all. Will he find it? 
 
 These are more stubborn facts, mildly and sanely put. 
 And these are facts, under varying circumstances, the world 
 over. From remotest ages, men and women have been 
 going down and out, aforetime, because of sexual sins. 
 
 The world is told, they died of heart failure, kidney 
 disease, etc., etc. Again the preacher is called on to 
 preach a funeral sermon. Again, he shouts from the 
 pulpit, "It is the work of the Lord." Again, clods cover 
 the remains of the victim of sexual sins and ignorance. 
 Again, turn away, survivors, friends and relatives, from 
 
46 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 a prematurely filled grave, apparently as blind as ever. 
 Appalling is the cost of ignorance! 
 
 And still we beat the drums to drown the cries of the 
 pitiable victims of insatiable Moloch. Prudery, prejudice, 
 and superstition have stood, as uncompromising obstruc- 
 tionists, if not insuperable barriers, in the road of progress, 
 long enough, and must clear the track. Truth, in time, 
 will prevail. Prudery, prejudice, nor superstition can 
 forever withstand the impact of the battering rams of 
 indomitable Truth. 
 
 From the mountain's peak, Truth shouts to the sinning, 
 suffering, sorrowing and dying nations of the earth : Free- 
 dom! Peace! Happiness, ahead! 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 SLEEP— IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 Without sleep, one will soon pass into what has been 
 termed the ''long sleep." All animals have their time for 
 sleep, and any encroachment on that time, or disturbance 
 of the regular and needed sleep, quickly tells on the dis- 
 turbed. Sleep is essential to health and life, and he who 
 imposes on nature, by curtaiUng the needed hours of 
 sleep, does it at tremendous cost. 
 
 The new-born infant, if well, will sleep eleven- twelfths 
 of the time. At twelve years of age, the child will sleep 
 twelve hours — and should. From twelve to eighteen, ten 
 hours should be the rule. After eighteen up to thirty, 
 nine hours will suffice, and should be contended for. The 
 boy or girl who has to rise early, should retire early, other- 
 wise he or she will draw on their future, an exceedingly 
 high price to pay. 
 
 Mothers should remember that the child should sleep 
 till it naturally wakes, and that school children need more 
 sleep during school term than during vacation, and that 
 it is a great mistake to hurry them up mornings. 
 
 Thousands and thousands of adults allow themselves 
 too little sleep and pay the cost in short lives, nervous and 
 physical breakdowns. 
 
 The man of fair constitution who lives right, allowing 
 himself plenty of sleep, will be walking and whistling 
 about on this whirling old globe long after his early and 
 less wise companions have given up their bodies to the 
 graves and the skin- worms. 
 
 Is life worth living? If you are wise and live right, 
 it is. 
 
 Shakespeare speaks of sleep as tired nature's sweet 
 restorer. And surely it is. Through sleep, body and 
 mind are rested and restored to a normal state. And 
 during sickness, the patient who sleeps enough, usually 
 does well, improvement taking place most frequently 
 during sleep. But alas! for the poor fellow who can't 
 
 47 
 
48 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 sleep; his chances of recovery diminish with the increasing 
 hours of sleeplessness. 
 
 In all serious cases, the wise doctor wants to know how 
 the patient rested last night. Of course, there are cases 
 in which persistent drowsiness augurs a fatal termination, 
 but I am speaking of the rule. 
 
 Insomnia may well be feared, and it pays handsomely 
 to shun the causes. None, save the victim of insomnia, 
 has adequate appreciation of normal sleep. Insomnia 
 expresses and involves so much of serious import, many 
 lines could be written without exhausting the subject or 
 writing to excess. Like thousands of other things and 
 conditions, the less personal experience one has with it, 
 the better. But, without knowledge of the causes of in- 
 somnia, how may one avoid it? 
 
 To go into details and write you relative to the fruits and 
 results of irregular and insufficient sleep, would cover 
 much space and time. Suffice it to say, in addition to 
 what I have already said, that the robbing of nature of 
 regular and needed sleep, is disastrous and costly in the 
 extreme. The person, old or young, who thus imposes 
 upon nature, is drawing heavily on the future, with a 
 certainty of a day of reckoning, drawing hourly nearer, 
 nearer. The young man or woman who frequently spends 
 all of the first half of the night in the ball-room, dance- 
 hall, or anywhere else, with a number of others as silly 
 and as short-sighted as himself, pays dearly for the giggling, 
 frivolity and nonsense with which the hours are passed. 
 The young man or woman who has a head strong enough 
 and sufficiently long-sighted to resist these inane pleasures, 
 other things being equal, will reap a rich reward in the 
 years of comfort and activity with which nature will bless 
 him. -■■ ^T'^ - P' 
 
 Here is no fiction; I am writing stubborn facts; facts 
 replete with meaning to the wise, but empty to the empty. 
 
 Sleep the first half of night is worth more than the 
 latter half. Sleep during the day is a good deal better 
 than no sleep, but sleep at night is worth a great deal more 
 — is the best sleep. 
 
 A few more words relative to the causes of insomnia. 
 You have already learned that the gospel that appeals 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 49 
 
 to me with the greatest force, and that never fails to win 
 from me enthusiastic support, is the gospel of Prevention. 
 This to my mind, is the grandest gospel the world has 
 yet produced. Yeiy few entertain any doubt as to the 
 truth of these remarks, but how many profit by the fact? 
 
 Here are the most important conditions with which 
 sleeplessness is associated: Cerebral (brain) excitement, 
 or exhaustion, or mental disquietude, resulting from undue 
 mental strain or excessive study; mental anxiety or worry 
 in connection with business or other matters. Tobacco, cof- 
 fee, tea, etc., being the causes of a number of cases, mat- 
 ever disturbs the circulation of the brain, tends to induce 
 insomnia; heavy suppers, indigestion, irregularity m re- 
 tiring having a number of cases to their credit. Mental 
 effort up to the retiring hour, with many, makes poor sleep. 
 The last hour before retiring should be quietly and pleas- 
 antly spent. 
 
 Insomnia sometimes possesses a very senous meaning, 
 frequently developing into insanity. I would advise you 
 to keep on good terms with Somnus, the god of sleep, by 
 eschewing all those practices and things which are offensive 
 
 to him. . , • J 4. 
 
 French scientists are now asserting that m order to 
 secure the best and most refreshing sleep, it is necessary 
 to sleep with the head towards the north. This, they 
 claim (avoiding technical terms), puts the body m line 
 and harmonv with the magnetic attraction of the earth 
 or the poles, which means a tranquil condition of the system 
 
 favorable to sleep. , • i j- 
 
 I might here enter into a scientific and technical dis- 
 cussion of the theories relative to the real condition of the 
 brain during sleep, but it would be of little profit. 
 
 Whether it be true or not that the position of the body 
 with respect to the polarity of the earth, influence in any 
 degree the character of our sleep, no harm can result 
 from sleeping with the head towards the north, and in case 
 of an advantage, we will be in position to receive it. 
 
 Wisdom says: Shun the causes of insomnia. Do this 
 and you will have no occasion to concern yourself about 
 the remedies for insomnia. As I say elsewhere, prevention 
 is the sovereign remedy. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE EVIL EFFECTS OF TOBACCO 
 
 All boys who have been to school and studied physiol- 
 ogy have some knowledge of the evil effects of tobacco 
 and have learned, perhaps, that it contains a poison 
 (nicotine) a drop of which on the tongue of a large dog 
 will kill him. A small percentage of these boys may have 
 the good sense to refrain from the use of a substance so 
 powerful and deadly; but there is a much larger per cent 
 that will not heed the lessons, and those who paid appre- 
 ciative attention to the lessons, owing to the fact that the 
 temptation faces them on every corner and turn of life, 
 may need to be reminded of the deceptive character of the 
 weed. 
 
 "1*11 never chew tobacco, No! 
 
 It is a filthy weed. 
 I'll never put it in my mouth," 
 
 Said little Robert Reid. 
 
 How many little Robert Reid's are there? It is to 
 be hoped that the land will soon be full of them. He 
 hadn't seen enough of the bad and deplorable effects of 
 tobacco to sicken and disgust him — he was too young for 
 that — but he had seen enough to turn him from it and 
 induce him to resolve he would never use it; that it should 
 never obtain the mastery of him, a position and relation 
 it would surely attain, if begun with. And that boy who 
 boasts that he can use it or not, little knows of what he 
 is talking, and is simply repeating what thousands before 
 him have thought and boasted. 
 
 Too much can not be said against the use of tobacco, 
 and especially by the young. It is bad enough for those 
 to use it who have reached the "sear and yellow leaf" of 
 life, and have left behind them the period of procrea- 
 tion. Having nothing more to do with the propagation 
 of the species, the pernicious effects of the poison will 
 remain with them, and not be .transmitted to innocent 
 posterity. 
 
 61 
 
52 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 If the cost of tobacco to the human family in pain, 
 weakness, disease, death and money could be presented 
 to the mind, in the aggregate, in visible and ponderable 
 form, it would surely be sufficient to awaken the most 
 indifferent. 
 
 Those whose concern extends not beyond the narrow 
 circle of their own miserly selfishness, will continue blind 
 to the presence, proximity, and enormity of the mountain 
 that obstructs and circumscribes their view; blind to the 
 fact that posterity has any claim on them; blind to the 
 fact that there is an evil to be shunned. 
 
 It is said that Napoleon, the great warrior and bril- 
 liant man of history, who was the idol of his friends, a 
 terror to his enemies, the conqueror of peoples, and the 
 sound of whose dread name paled the faces of nations and 
 struck terror t the hearts of those whose subjugation 
 the pointing of his imperious nose indicated he contem- 
 plated, succumbed to the snuff-box at the age of fifty-two. 
 His doctors said he went down into a premature grave, 
 the victim of nicotine. 
 
 Many others might be mentioned. 
 
 I shall here mention the chief reasons for rejecting 
 tobacco : 
 
 Because the habit is without one redeeming feature, 
 is filthy, and detrimental to health. It is an intoxicant, 
 a part of the merchandise of dram shops, and incitant to 
 drunkenness, that is, creates an appetite for intoxicants. 
 The quid, cigar, glass of whisky bear a close relationship. 
 
 Because the habit is a self-indulgence in conflict with 
 the self-denying spirit of the Divine Founder of Christianity. 
 And yet its slaves exceed two hundred millions of human 
 beings. 
 
 It hinders moral reforms and impedes progress. 
 
 Because it is injurious to every organ of the body and 
 is, in every sense, very costly. Statistics show that more 
 money is spent in the United States in a year for tobacco 
 than for bread. 
 
 Because it weakens the mind, the heart, the nerves, 
 deadens the sensibilities, induces paralysis, and in many 
 other ways lowers vitality and degrades manhood. 
 
 " Because the habit is in rebellion against conscience." 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 53 
 
 The user knows it is a waste of money, strength and 
 life; a transgression of the laws of nature and the laws of 
 God. The laws of nature are as much the laws of God 
 as any other law. 
 
 Because the habit is contagious. Every old smoker or 
 chewer infects dozens of youths with a desire to acquire 
 the same pernicious haljit. Thus the evil spreads. 
 
 The use of tobacco in the case of the young tends to 
 impair and dwarf the entire organism, and the boy or girl 
 who contracts and indulges the habit will never be the 
 man or woman, physically or mentally, that he or she 
 would have been. And what is a deplorable fact, the bad 
 effects will not be limited to the victim and guilty, but will 
 be transmitted to posterit}', making it more difficult for 
 them to refrain. In closing the chapter, I would add: 
 Before beginning the use of the poison, before yielding 
 your freedom to the mastery of the enslaving habit, answer 
 the c^uestion: Is it wrong? Is it wise to do that which 
 will weaken and demoralize my system, and exert a bane- 
 ful influence upon my progeny?^ There can be but one 
 answer to these questions. 
 
 It has always been wrong and will continue to be wrong 
 to do that which will impose a weakness and a burden upon 
 the unborn child, and thereby render it more difficult for 
 it to live right and wage a successful warfare with the 
 inimical forces of the world and environment. Remember 
 your duty to the coming generations. Remember that 
 every child has a right to be born well, with a strong, well 
 and happy body. 
 
 If what I have written on the subject won't influence 
 you to refrain from using tobacco, volumes would not. 
 
 Here are names of a few of the prominent medical 
 men who have spoken out against it: 
 
 Dr. x\gnus says, "Let it alone.'' Dr. Mott says, 
 "Don't touch it." Dr. Barnes says, "Shun it." Dr. 
 Rush says, "Refrain from it." Drs. Olcott, Harvey, etc., 
 etc., preach the same doctrine. It would be superfluous 
 to say more. 
 
 A hint to the wise is sufficient. Is anything accom- 
 plished by preaching to the foolish ? "The wise may suffer 
 wreck, the foolish must." 
 
54 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 ^'- I close the chapter with a case from real life. I could 
 add quite*'a number from my own experience and obser- 
 vation, but what I have written should suffice. You are 
 under obligations to the Author of your being, to yourself 
 and to your progeny, to preserve your body and forces in 
 the best possible condition. 
 
 TOBACCO — HEART FAILURE 
 
 Man of sixty-five: "Doctor, do you think tobacco 
 weakens the heart?" 
 
 Doctor: ''If I could present to you in figures, the 
 number of days tobacco has cost the world, since man began 
 to use it, you would not now be asking the question." 
 
 "I'll quit forever," the man replies. 
 
 The question was asked by a man who was threatened 
 with heart-failure, and who had used tobacco from his 
 boyhood. He wasn't sick; all the other organs of his 
 body were in fair condition, and no doubt, barring acci- 
 dents, plus the weak heart, he would have lived several 
 years longer. 
 
 Here's the point: When it was wholly too late to bene- 
 fit, in the least degree, by leaving off tobacco, the man was 
 ready to quit. It was too late. And, in fact, it was unsafe 
 for him to leave it off then. It had put in its work — could 
 do no more — his end was near — but quit he would — all 
 in vain. 
 
 In these few words, we have volumes. When it is 
 too late, man wants to reform, with the foolish notion that 
 the effects of years of sin and error may be overcome in 
 a moment. The time to quit is before one begins. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 INFLUENCE LIVES, GOOD OR BAD 
 
 Physics teaches that the ripple of a pebl^le that is cast 
 into the ocean, extends and widens to the utmost limits 
 of the ocean. 
 
 In no ver)' dissimilar manner does personal influence 
 spread over the civilized world. 
 
 This is accomphshed, of course, through the influence 
 of mind over mind-psychologic and mental influence, 
 plus the force of example. 
 
 Science also teaches that the pebble that is cast into 
 the ocean, sinking to the bottom, disturbs by displacement, 
 and continued extension of displacement, even,' drop of 
 water in the ocean. 
 
 Shall we doubt that there is less precision, uniformity, 
 and inexorability in the metaphysical realm than in the 
 physical? We must believe in the uniformity and im- 
 mutabilit)' of all universal laws. 
 
 Then may we not assert that the influence of even,' 
 word of good or evil import, that reaches the mind of 
 another, will, through the word or act of another, pass on 
 ad infinitum, through succeeding generations ? Prodigious 
 and appalling will be the multiplied and accumulated re- 
 sults of an e\il thought put in motion. 
 
 Isn't this reflection sufficient to render us exceedingly 
 careful in regard to what we say and do? 
 
 This is a serious matter, and requires but little reflec- 
 tion to convince us of it. We should ponder it. Is the 
 world to be worse because of our ha\'ing lived in it? Or 
 shall it be better? Answer the questions for yourselves. 
 Think of the widening and multiplication of e^il influences 
 for ages. WTiy not send out on the waves of time holy and 
 wholesome influences? ''As a man soweth, so shall he 
 reap." 
 
 Let us hope that in the contest between good and evil, 
 that ever goes on, that the e\il influences will be finally, 
 if not speedily, vanquished and counteracted. Without 
 
 55 
 
56 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 this thought and hope, life would hardly be bearable. Is 
 the contest between good and evil to continue forever? 
 I The thought that the evil influences that find their way 
 from one to another, from generation to generation, will 
 continue to grow and spread, ad infinitum, unchecked, 
 blighting, withering, marking, disfiguring, debauching, 
 damning, would be sufficient, it would seem, to render 
 hoary the blackest head — yea, to blanch the faces of the 
 angels of heaven — yea, to strike with palsy the fingers 
 upon the chords of the harps of heaven. You can not 
 afford to put in motion evil influences. Sowing hatred and 
 unkindness, means the reaping of hatred and unkindness. 
 Send out waves of love, kindness and charity, and you 
 will receive waves of love, kindness and charity. You 
 have hints here of priceless value. Profit by them. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 DON'T HURRY 
 
 ''Do nothing in a hurry; nature never does. 
 
 " 'More haste, worse speed,' says the old proverb. 
 If you are in doubt, sleep over it. But, above all, never 
 quarrel in a hurry; think it over well. Take time. How- 
 ever vexed you may be overnight, things will often look 
 different in the morning. If you have written a clever 
 and conclusive, but scathing letter, keep it back till the 
 next day, and it will very often never go at all." 
 
 These hnes express, in a few words, so much of the 
 crystallized wisdom of the ages — sound, valuable, whole- 
 some advice — they cannot be made too prominent in these 
 pages, nor read too often. Hastiness, rashness, impetuosity, 
 are responsible for so much trouble, we should resolve, 
 with all the force and earnestness of our being, that we will 
 take time to cool and reflect. 
 
 Lincoln, whose name grows brighter, larger, and more 
 illustrious with the passing of years, said to a friend, who 
 had called in a rage over the course of an official. "Sit 
 down, and with your pen, give him h-1." 
 
 And after his friend had written a burning and scath- 
 ing letter to the offender, Mr. Lincoln added: "Now 
 throw it in the fire." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was right, and all others whose council 
 agrees with his, are right. And, if all persons and peoples 
 would do as the above hnes advise, incalculable trouble 
 would be avoided. 
 
 I (your father), in earlier life, made mistakes with the 
 pen, and otherwise — not fatal mistakes, but regrettable 
 and grievous, that such advice, as I am giving you, would 
 have saved him from; for I was impressionable and appre- 
 ciable of good advice. The advice of Lincoln, or others of 
 foresight and wisdom, would have influenced me powerfully. 
 
 "Make haste slowly," as another has said. Take time 
 to reflect, and remember, it is much wiser to shun trouble 
 than to encourage or invite it. 
 
 57 
 
58 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Understand me not to mean that you shall never hurry 
 under no circumstances. There come times, when it is 
 necessary to hurry — hustle — when it would be costly to 
 saunter. But in the most of cases the necessity for rush, 
 results from procrastination and late starting — lack of 
 promptness and disposition to be in time. Always be 
 ahead of time, and there will be no occasion to run. The 
 habitual rush of Americans is profitable to nobody but 
 the doctors, druggists and undertakers. I have often 
 found that "haste makes waste," and my advice to you 
 is, take time to do things properly and well. Remember, 
 when you are rushing, that you are rushing to the grave, 
 and that it pays handsomely to take time. The habitual 
 rush and strain of Americans rush the doctors and the 
 undertakers. Could one pursue a more myopic or foolish 
 course? Burn out the candle of life slowly. The oil 
 that we see in the pan of the candlestick represents wasted 
 energy, and means a shorter lived candle. When you are 
 rushing and straining or indulging to excess in any respect or 
 sense, the oil of life is being used up, or is running down 
 into the pan of the candlestick. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 " SUCCESS— GARFIELD" 
 
 "Poets may be born, but success is made, therefore let 
 me beg of you in the outset of your career, to dismiss from 
 your mind all ideas of succeeding by luck. 
 
 ''There is no more common thought among young 
 people than that foolish one that by and by something 
 will turn up by which they will suddenly achieve fame or 
 fortune. Luck is an ignis fatuus. You may follow it 
 to ruin but not to success. The Great Napoleon, who 
 believed in his destiny, followed it until he saw his star go 
 down in blackest night, when the Old Guard perished 
 around him, and Waterloo was lost. A pound of pluck 
 is worth Ja ton of luck. 
 
 ''Young men talk of trusting to the spur of the occasion. 
 That trust is vain. Occasion cannot make spurs. If 
 you expect to wear spurs, you must win them. If you wish 
 to use them, you must buckle them to your own heels 
 before you go into the fight. Any success you may achieve 
 is not worth the having unless you fight for it. Whatever 
 you win in life you must conquer by your own efforts 
 and then it is yours, a part of yourself. 
 
 "In giving you being, God locked up in your nature 
 certain forces and capabilities. What will you do with 
 them? 
 
 "Look at the mechanism of a clock. Take off the 
 pendulum and ratchet and the wheels go rattling down, 
 and all its force is expended in a moment; but properly 
 balanced, regulated, it will go on letting out its force tick 
 by tick, measuring hours and days, and doing faithfully 
 the service for which it was designed. I implore you to 
 cherish and guard and use well the forces that God has 
 given you. You may let them run down in a year, if you 
 will. Take off the strong curb of discipline and morality 
 and you will be an old man before your twenties are passed. 
 Preserve these forces. Do not burn them out with brandy, 
 or waste them in idleness and crime. Do not destroy them. 
 
 59 
 
6o LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Do not use them unworthily. Save and protect them, 
 that they may save for you fortune and fame. Honestly 
 resolve to do this, and you will be an honor to yourself 
 and to your country." 
 
 "I implore you," he writes, "to cherish and guard and 
 use well the forces that God has given you." 
 
 Why should President Garfield concern himself about 
 the boys and young men of no relation to him? That he 
 didn't even know ? Why should many other great and 
 good men put themselves to the trouble to write for the 
 benefit of the young ? They got over the road in some way, 
 though marked and scarred from rough encounters and 
 grave mistakes. Leave them to fate; let them find their 
 way through the maze of life as best they can; let them 
 suffer the consequences of their folly, say the unconcerned. 
 This is not the attitude of the wise, the good, the altru- 
 istic. They have traveled the road of the young and 
 knovv^ where the pitfalls and snares await. They have 
 sailed the sea of life and know the whereabouts of Scylla 
 and Charybdis. They have felt the influence of the Siren's 
 seductive strains and sympathize with the inexperienced. 
 They know much of the appalling cost of ignorance. And, 
 moreover, they know what kind of men and women the 
 world stands in need of, and would help you to measure 
 up to those requirements, and to attain the manhood the 
 times demand, and that will prove a growing and widening 
 blessing to the world. 
 
 When Mr. Garfield wrote: "Cherish and guard and 
 use well the forces that God has given you," he surely 
 meant that you should not only guard against excesses of 
 all kinds, but that you should refrain from the improper 
 and unnatural use of those forces. 
 
 Let us be a little more explicit. I fear you will fail 
 to derive the intended benefit from these remarks without 
 a clearer rendering. 
 
 That Mr. Garfield's remarks imply more than they 
 express, there can be little doubt. They comprehend and 
 introduce matters requiring vigorous, if not heroic treat- 
 ment; matters that many, through false modesty and 
 misconception, would leave undisturbed, to continue their 
 deadly work. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 6i 
 
 That President Garfield had in mind the secret prac- 
 tices and vices that sap the vitaHty of so many boys, and 
 wreck the constitutions of so many promising young men, 
 there is every reason for believing. And whether he did 
 or not, the unna,tural, abominable, degrading, unmanning 
 practices to which I am referring, have constituted the 
 basis — fons et origo — of more failures, weaknesses, un- 
 happiness and, indirectly, more deaths, divorces, and 
 suicides, than any other one cause, alcohol a possil^le 
 exception. 
 
 Is it necessary for me to try to be plainer? Do you fail 
 to catch the meaning? Do you not know anything about 
 the practice and sin against nature, and the God of nature, 
 known generally as masturbation, self-abuse, etc.? If 
 you do not, thank heaven for it, and resolve that you never 
 will. Stick to your resolution and instead of the deplor- 
 able results from such practices, blessings rich and rare 
 will be your reward. If, unfortunately, you have in any 
 way become the victim of this abominable, unmanly and 
 ruinous practice, in the name of all that is good and pure 
 and beautiful and sacred and desirable, break loose, free 
 yourself from the leech, the dragon, the consuming fire; 
 cease not to struggle till your efforts are crowned with 
 success, and you can look the w^orld in the face with the 
 courage and confidence of one who is free. 
 
 The poor ignorant boy w^ho has become a victim of 
 this worse than beastly practice, is truly an object of com- 
 miseration, as well as abhorence. Such is not worthy of 
 the respect of a pure-minded and good girl. Nor has he 
 any claim on respectable society; nor is he a fit companion 
 for the pure and unsophisticated; nor will he ever be, 
 until he has freed and cleansed himself by manly thoughts 
 and efforts, long continued. 
 
 Think of children coming into the world, handicapped 
 by predisposition to w^eakness and viciousness, results of 
 the ignorance, indifference, and sins of parents. It is a 
 serious matter. 
 
 Remember nature rewards abundantly those who live 
 in harmony wath her laws, but woe unto the transgressor; 
 he may not realize it immediately, but heed: 
 
(>2 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 "The mills of God grind slowly, 
 
 Yet they grind exceedingly small; 
 
 Though with patience he stands waiting, 
 With exactness grinds he all." 
 
 Volumes could be written on these themes without exhaust- 
 ing the subject. 
 
 It would seem to be an unkind dispensation, but nature 
 excuses not because of ignorance. She rules with inex- 
 orable authority. 
 
 Whose fault is it that our children are so densely and 
 disastrously ignorant in regard to sexual matters? Mat- 
 ters of supreme and paramount importance. Did our 
 ancestors discharge their duty to us in these matters? 
 No, left us to the mercy of ignorance and corrupt associates. 
 Are we, parents, performing our duty towards our children ? 
 Are you going to fail in duty to your children ? Remember, 
 your duty begins now. As long as possible before the 
 child is begotten, is the best time to begin to do one's duty 
 towards it:^iM\^x-^ 
 
 To know one's duty, and to do it, seem to be the all 
 of philosophy, the all of religion, the all of life. 
 
 There goes a young man, face covered with pimples, 
 hands cold and clammy, eyes dull and weak, intellect 
 uncapable of much effort or concentration; he smokes, 
 chews, drinks, sits up late nights, rises late mornings, gaps 
 and "loafs" around with no ambition, an uninteresting 
 and unattractive person. It is not at all likely he will 
 ever amount to anything. 
 
 What's the matter? Why this ambitionless and un- 
 prepossessing young man? The answer is not far to find. 
 I have answered it over and over on other pages. 
 
 He is the sad victim of a secret practice and vice that 
 saps the vitality, weakens, unmans, degrades, and robs 
 of all that is near and dear to noble and proud manhood, 
 leaving him a slave to the morbid cravings of an appetite 
 for tobacco, stimulants, narcotics, etc. 
 
 Heed: it is largely from this class that the recruits for 
 prisons, almshouses, insane asylums, and penitentiaries 
 come.l^ P p-i p 
 
 Before closing the chapter, I would add a few lines 
 from a little book* I have just finished reading. The 
 
 *By Butler. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 63 
 
 book teaches that the more of the vital substance (semen) 
 peculiar to the male reproductive organs, and without 
 which there could be no propagation of the human species, 
 is retained in the system, the stronger, brighter, happier, 
 the more brilliant, energetic and successful will be the 
 individual, thus observing continence. To what extent 
 this is true, I am not now prepared to say, but that there 
 is a great deal more truth in it than is generally recognized, 
 there is not the least doubt. 
 
 There are thousands of men today seeking a remedy 
 for lost manhood, due entirely to unnatural practices in 
 their youth, and excessive indulgence in sexual intercourse 
 later in life. These are stubborn and deplorable facts. 
 
 But whether or not indulgence should be Hmited to 
 the demands of procreation, is a question the world is not 
 yet ready to accept, but the wise are ready to accept and 
 voice in stentorian tones the sentiment concerning modera- 
 tion. The word moderation embodies and implies so 
 much of deepest interest to the human family; is so preg- 
 nant with richest blessings to those who will receive them; 
 conceals within its magic circle the key to a treasure-house 
 of jewels richer, fairer, and more prolific of health, happi- 
 ness, longevity and prosperity, that all the diamonds of the 
 earth, the word, moderation can not be too deeply impressed 
 upon you, or made too prominent in these pages. And 
 if you (?ould realize the full value of moderation to the 
 individual and the race, you would want to erect a temple 
 of imperishable structure and dedicate it to the goddess 
 Moderation, that you might worship at her shrine. "Our 
 physical well being, our moral worth, our social happiness, 
 our political tranquillity, all depend on that control of all 
 our appetites and passions, which the ancients designed 
 by the cardinal virtue of temperance." Burke, the author 
 of the lines just quoted, was a brilliant man and eminent 
 statesman, and judging from his utterances, he was wise 
 as well as brilliant. 
 
 All great, wise and good men recognize the value of 
 moderation, preach and sing its praises. 
 
 What is the matter with the people? One would cer- 
 tainly infer from their course and stolid indifference to 
 the appeals, alike, of the altruistic and Mother Nature, 
 
64 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 that they prefer the ephemeral and suicidal pleasures of 
 the hour, to long life, enduring comfort and prosperity. 
 
 I am determined, if possible, to put the plain truth 
 before you, as I see and understand it. You shall know 
 as much of the truth as I am able to impart. Then, if 
 you will go to hades, or live a life which will fit you only 
 for association here and hereafter with the impure and 
 degraded, you will go with your father's warning voice 
 ringing in your ears. 
 
 I here insert lines from a medical journal. They are 
 corroborative of the utterances of my own pen. "I would 
 like to say in relation to Dr. Johnson's case of masturba- 
 tion, on page 30, last issue, that I have successfully treated 
 a case where the habit had continued for ten years and 
 the young man was so run down that the clocks in the house 
 had to be stopped and conversation carried on in an al- 
 most inaudible tone of voice. He could not read or write 
 and had hallucinations of a most serious character, in 
 fact, was supposed to be going insane, by his relatives, 
 as the habit was not suspected. When he fell into my 
 hands he was in a most deplorable state. He was emaciated 
 almost beyond conception, with tremblings and hesitating, 
 incoherent speech. Pupils widely dilated, vision much 
 impaired, seeing bugs, etc., in the air. Erectile power 
 gone, involuntary emissions almost constant and genitals 
 much diminished and flabby, and a peculiar cold feeling 
 at the end of the penis. He was subject to attacks of 
 hysterical screaming and passion, when his condition 
 became so alarming that his consignment to an asylurn 
 was seriously considered. 
 
 These cases vary in degree and form from cold, clammy 
 hands and physical weakness, to mental wreckage. 
 
 Whose fault? Who is responsible for this fellow's 
 condition? The practice was, no doubt, begun in ignor- 
 ance. He knew no better. Wreckage resulted. Did 
 his parents discharge their duty towards him? In all 
 probability he will marry. Should he ? Not until some 
 intelligent and conscientious doctor pronounces him to 
 be fit. Will he ever be? Hardly. Think of the effect 
 upon the children of which he may be the father. Will 
 he discharge his duty along these lines to his children? 
 Extremely doubtful. Sad, isn't it? Going to do your 
 duty toward your children? 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 IGNORANCE— COST 
 
 How many persons pause long enough in the mad rush 
 from the cradle to the grave to reflect upon the cost of 
 ignorance to the race in life, blood, pain, money, anguish 
 and woe, since man first appeared upon the earth ? 
 
 No wonder if the thought of undertaking so prodigious 
 a task, overwhelmed the bravest pen. Obviously the 
 undertaking of such task, with the expectation of accom- 
 plishment, would savor of Quixotism. Slight retrospec- 
 tion through the pages of history, sufl&ces to convince one 
 of the absurdity of such undertaking. 
 
 Wars, plagues, pestilences, dire and deplorable, plus 
 the innumerable and nameless ills, accidents, hardships, 
 etc., etc., have been the fate of man, all directly, or in- 
 directly, attributable to ignorance. Of course, a per cent 
 of the disasters and resulting suffering must be attributed 
 to reckless indifference. 
 
 One may know better than one does; that is, one may 
 possess more sense than one exercises, results, however, 
 will be the same. Such person cannot be said to be wise. 
 The course of the wise harmonizes with wisdom. A 
 wise head implies wise action; that is, wisdom implies 
 the right use of knowledge. 
 
 The poet says: 
 
 "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 
 
 Have ofttimcs no connection. 
 Knowledge dwells in heads replete with thoughts of other men; 
 
 Wisdom in those attentive to their own." 
 
 It follows, then, that a foolish head may be a full head 
 — paradoxical, though it may seem — ^fuU of book-lore, 
 poorly digested; full of the thoughts of other men, unas- 
 similated. And may be likened to one with a kit of tools 
 without the knowledge to use them. 
 
 There may be brilliancy without profundity. Bril- 
 liancy plus profundity constitute a happy and rare combina- 
 tion, and when originality exists with it, we have an eK- 
 
 66 
 
66 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 traordinaiy combination and personality, whose name 
 will be written high in the halls of Fame; whose *' foot- 
 prints" will remain for ages on the "sands of time," in- 
 fluencing immeasurably the course and conduct of suc- 
 cessors — posterity. Many centuries ago, an albatross, 
 tired of following a boat at sea, lighted upon the crest of 
 a wave to rest. Soon the rising and rolling waves rocked 
 it to sleep. Presently it awoke, and discovering that the 
 sea was calm, and the waters so transparent that the fishes 
 beneath could be plainly seen, resolved then and there, 
 that it would figure out with its beak, on the placid bosom 
 of the ocean, the number of fish that had appeared in the 
 ocean, since the ocean began, ere it raised again its wings 
 to the winds. Forthwith it began to figure, and as fast 
 as it covered the surface around and about it, the ever 
 moving and shifting waves swept the figures along, leaving 
 fresh surface in the place of that with figures already 
 covered. 
 
 Ruddy Phoebus rose from behind the distant hills and 
 poured his fiery darts upon the bird. The queen of night 
 came forth from her royal retreat and overspread the ocean 
 with her dazzHng sheen. Murky clouds gathered on the 
 broad and boundless sky and opured in torrents the waters 
 of the heavens upon the sea and the bird. Mighty winds 
 swept the face 6f the deep, piling billows mountain high. 
 Centuries grew into ages, and ages into eons, still sits and 
 figures the albatross upon the sea. 
 
 And so it would be with one who attempted to figure 
 out the cost of ignorance to the world. 
 
 I make the little story of the albatross to illustrate the 
 impossibility of computing the cost of ignorance to the 
 human family. 
 
 We should strive to acquire all the good and useful 
 knowledge possible, and then sow it with a generous hand. 
 
 "Ignorance — pure inexcusable, indefensible ignorance — 
 is the hotbed from which spring, mushroom-like, all the 
 curses of mankind. Watch the young man whose highest 
 ambition is to drive a transfer wagon, sit on the high seat 
 and sleep in the stench-laden staU of his horse, and you 
 will see the voter who makes the trust a possibility and the 
 politician a white slave driver. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 67 
 
 Watch the business man whose sole ambition is cen- 
 tered on ''the Dutchman's one per cent" and you will see 
 one of the moulders of the same two masters of human 
 destiny. Look at the multitude who sit with folded hands 
 and hanging jaws, and you will see the flower garden of 
 human ills in full bloom. One glance at the drunken 
 brawler will reveal to you a true artist in the act of painting 
 a hideous picture of the woes of wedded life, the withering 
 drouth which robs childhood of its sweetness and manhood 
 of its fruits. As he covers the canvas, high walls with 
 watch towers rise to cast the shadows over the hnes of 
 teeming crowds behind them, who, were they asked to 
 say what monster it was that dragged them there, 
 would howl in a deafening chorus one word, Ignor- 
 ance! 
 
 Ask the kings of finance for the name of their "Alad- 
 din's lamp," and they will smile and answer — ignorance. 
 Ask the doctor to tell you from what inexhaustible foun- 
 tain flows the stream of disease and he, speaking the 
 truth, will answer — ignorance. Search the courts for the 
 causes of divorce and across each page you will see written 
 — ignorance. 
 
 Dig down to the roots of the tree of human unhappi- 
 ness, and you will find there imbedded in the soil, ignor- 
 ance. " 
 
 If you are learning nothing, my work is in vain; I may 
 as well put up my pen. But I will assume that you are 
 learning something. And I want to say, you can not 
 read and reflect upon the lines just quoted without becoming 
 wiser, and that every additional reading will add to your 
 wisdom. 
 
 The word, ignorance, occurs quite frequently in these 
 pages, but you are not to infer from that fact that I am 
 afflicted with "swelled head." I am trying to put before 
 you lessons that have cost me years of toil and pain. Ig- 
 norance has cost me more than it is necessary to tell. I 
 am trying to guard you against mine and the errors and 
 mistakes of others. Wit is frequently bought at a ruinous 
 price. Quite a number, it seems, can secure it no other 
 way. Advice before the fair escutcheon of youth has been 
 besmirched is the time of its greatest value. Too late, 
 
68 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 loo late, after the constitution and character have been 
 wrecked. 
 
 Of all the sad vvords of tongue or pen, 
 The -saddest are these: It might have been." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 IMPURE MILK 
 
 If all the children whose mundane career has been 
 curtailed to a few short weeks or months, at most, by 
 impure milk, could hold up hands before you to be counted, 
 the greatness of the number and task would affright you. 
 And if that great concourse of infants could open their 
 mouths and blend their voices in one long, loud yell, pro- 
 portioned to their number, the hills of old Earth would 
 quake, and the valleys and caves of terrestial association 
 would resound with the sound. The number of appealing 
 and impeaching hands that would be upward extended 
 would be sufficient to strike terror to the most insensible 
 heart. 
 
 These remarks may savor of exaggeration to the unin- 
 formed, but facts are facts, and the truth is the truth, 
 regardless of seeming hyperbole. With a disposition to 
 exaggerate, it would not be an easy matter in this 
 case. 
 
 Over the white-robed and flower-bedecked forms of 
 thousands of milk-killed babies, weeping and wailing 
 mothers have bowed v/ith the impression that the Author 
 of their being — the All-wise Ruler of the Universe — for 
 wise and benevolent reasons, had taken their little ones 
 from them, when the fact is, germ-laden milk cut short 
 their earthly career. Again the good and w^ell-meaning 
 pastor, in efforts to console and soothe the bereaved and 
 grief -stricken parents, shouts from the pulpit: "The 
 Heavenly Father, seeing that the world was too harsh a 
 place for so fair and sweet a flower, sent a white-winged 
 angel to bear it away to a fairer clime." 
 
 It is all right and proper to try to console and soothe 
 the sad and sorrowing, but the crying need of humanity 
 is the light of the truth. 
 
 I would not decry the work of those whose duty it is 
 to comfort and cheer, but for suffering humanity's sake, 
 pour the saving light of truth upon our pathway; in the 
 
 69 
 
70 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 dark, pestiferous corners around and about us, that we 
 may see and live. 
 
 Nor does the importance of the milk-killing question 
 end with infancy and childhood, but reaches from the cradle 
 to the grave; from toothless infancy to toothless old age. 
 Thousands of adults have succumbed to typhoid fever, 
 due to germ-laden milk and water. 
 
 There lies a poor fellow, wild, restless, burning up with 
 fever (typhoid). Whence his fever? What the causes? 
 Contaminated milk and water. 
 
 The attending physician instructs the nurse to give 
 him milk to drink: glass every third hour — little else, in 
 the way of nourishment, is given him. 
 
 And, as has often been the case, the sick man was given 
 milk containing disease-germs. Worse and worse he grew, 
 and no wonder. Impure milk had been the cause of 
 his fever, and to make the matter worse, they continued 
 to pour impure milk down his throat. What chance had 
 the poor fellow to recover? He died, as thousands before 
 him had done. Shut your eyes, while I write the cause 
 of his death — don't look — I-g-n-o-r-a-n-c-e. There, you 
 have it. That's the word. And if a lighted lantern 
 swung from the headstone of every grave, in the grave- 
 yards of the earth at night, dug through ignorance, there 
 would be no need of stumbling over graves. 
 
 Nature's laws are immutable and inexorable. Science 
 says: Milk, teeming with bacteria — disease-germs — caused 
 the death of the typhoid-fever patient. 
 
 Science says: Better remove all sources of water and 
 milk contamination. When this can't be done, boil the 
 water and milk before drinking or using them. 
 
 My philosophy reads: Being begotten, every man has 
 a right to life, health and freedom, till he surrenders them 
 by forfeiture to the laws of his land or nature. 
 
 Nature cannot be cheated. Nature will have her own. 
 
 All the prayers of Christendom cannot save the person 
 who knowingly or ignorantly pours the lethal germs of 
 disease into his stomach. The truth is what we need. 
 Knowledge vs. Ignorance constitutes the great cosmic 
 warfare. The ceaseless conflict between Knowledge and 
 Ignorance — right and wrong — embraces all others. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 71 
 
 Apart from these, as I understand the cognizable 
 phenomena and activities of materiality and psychological 
 adjustment, there is naught to consider. In this conflict, 
 we see all there is between heaven and hell; the cradle 
 and the grave; now and eternity. 
 
 Prayyionitiis prcennmilus is a Latin phrase freighted 
 with much significance in connection with the lessons I 
 have here been trying to put before you. There is a great 
 advantage in knowing there is a snake in the grass, before 
 treading upon it. 
 
 The intelligent will profit by the experience of others. 
 A fool, 'tis said, will learn from personal experience, or 
 he is dull indeed. 
 
 Be thankful that you have, at least, ordinary intelli- 
 gence, and try to preserve all your faculties in their integrity, 
 and add to your fund of useful and desirable information 
 as opportunity presents itself. 
 
 Where no danger is known, no danger is feared. Pour- 
 ing disease-laden milk down the throat is a foolish thing 
 to do, and being ignorant of it counts nothing; the germs 
 will do their deadly work just the same. 
 
 ELnowing and acting in harmony with one's knowledge, 
 mark the course of the wise. 
 
 You will find much iteration and reiteration in these 
 pages, but mark you, time and experience will convince 
 you that repetition often fails to impress the needed lesson, 
 and if not wise, you may have cause to regret that repeti- 
 tion ceased w^here it did. 
 
 That which was designed by the God of Nature to 
 nourish and sustain, proved to be a potent agent of destruc- 
 tion, but not through any fault of nature. Nature, 
 untrammelled, furnishes pure milk. Disease-germs are 
 extraneous, and the product of artificiality, plus unsanitary 
 environment. 
 
 Thousands and thousands of babies, plus older children 
 have succumbed to the insidious and unrecognized rav- 
 ages of disease germs. Thousands and thousands of 
 mothers have wept over the bier of their little ones till 
 the fount of their tears ran dry, and would not be com- 
 forted, because of the visitations of cruel death, believing 
 that it was the work of the Lord, when the fact is, it was the 
 
72 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 work of the death-dealing bacteria, born of filth and 
 ignorance. Oh, the fearful cost of ignorance! 
 
 Science was born of work; is the child of work. Eman- 
 cipation from the dwarfing and fettering influences of 
 ignorance and superstition must be attributed to science. 
 As to the origin of science, we must look to innate inquis- 
 itiveness. 
 
 Long before man became cognizant of the existence of 
 disease-germs, they were gnawing at his vitals and laying 
 him in the dust. Wholly ignorant of their presence and 
 character, he was in no wise prepared to cope with them, 
 and proved an easy prey. 
 
 It would seem that the malignity of the avenging deities 
 has not yet been appeased. 
 
 Man is still contending with his bacterial adversaries; 
 still piling his quivering flesh upon the altar of Moloch. 
 His wife, his children — all — contribute to the funeral pyre. 
 Fate shouts mockingly from inaccessable heights: Be 
 thou prosperous and happy! and then strews man's pathway 
 with dire disasters, and, when man falls a victim to one 
 of these. Fate laughs with ghoulish glee. Why is it thus? 
 Looking at it from the standpoint of what is termed the 
 orthodox church, I look in vain for fullness of answer. 
 Looking at it from the standpoint of science, we read: 
 All nature is governed by immutable and inexorable law. 
 What we know, we owe to bitter experience. Experience 
 has been our teacher. By slow and painful processes man 
 has gathered the knowledge he possesses. The cost is 
 terrible and incomputable. Has he value received? What 
 can he show for what he has given and endured ? Granting 
 that he came from the creative hand of Omnipotency a 
 perfect man, physically, mentally, psychologically, do his 
 attainments represent fair and adequate remuneration 
 for what he has come through? 
 
 Regarding him as the product of evolution, has he so 
 nearly attained the ideal state of being that the joy, alone, 
 of living, abundantly compensates him for all he has en- 
 dured? I cannot answer these questions in the affirma- 
 tive. Very few, even now, after ages of struggle and strain 
 and stress, find life one beautiful, unmarred dream of 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 73 
 
 bliss. True, the world is not without roses, but every rose 
 has its thorn. 
 
 "The show of joy it wears is but a show, 
 All, all a frightful mockery of bliss." 
 
 Again the poet says: 
 
 "I've seen yon weary winter sun 
 
 Twice forty times return, 
 And every time has added proofs 
 
 That man was made to mourn." 
 
 How any one can read the history of the past, and re- 
 flect upon the heart-rending and soul-harrowing scenes 
 and experiences of the world, and still shout from the 
 mountain top, Pessimist! Stand aside! the world is all 
 right! is incomprehensible to me. 
 
 But I am digressing again. 
 
 ''Let the dead past bury its dead." May w^e not be 
 here in our present form because of the desire and stri\dngs 
 of an imperishable soul for higher, holier, and fuller ex- 
 pression? A lost waif in search of home and congenial 
 associations, which can only be attained by gradual un- 
 foldment and ascension? 
 
 Whether man sprang, full-grown, from the hand of 
 God, as Minerva is fabled to have sprung from the brain 
 of Jove, or according to evolution, developed (unfolded) 
 slowly through ages from the lowest forms of life, he surely 
 began his earthly career without experience, and has had 
 to learn his mission on earth. Has he learned it? 
 
 As a foe, the bear and the lion are preferable to the 
 imdsible, insidious and lethal microbes. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 ALCOHOL— INTEMPERANCE 
 
 The subject I here undertake to introduce and discuss, 
 and to which I implore your earnest attention, is one that 
 has paled more cheeks, broken more hearts, unstrung 
 more nerves, blasted more homes and blighted more lives, 
 than all other agents the world has ever seen. 
 
 The devastation of all the wars, pestilences, disasters of 
 land and sea, since the world began, falls far beolw that 
 of alcohol. 
 
 Fanatic, is the epithet which has been hurled at the 
 prohibitionist and temperance-preaching people from time 
 immemorial. 
 
 Fortunate it is for the world that there are such creatures 
 as fanatics. The world has always needed them and had 
 much work for them to do. And it is to be hoped that of 
 such parentage will issue a numerous progeny. 
 
 I shall here enumerate some of the accomplishments 
 of the tyrant, alcohol. 
 
 *'I have buried thousands upon thousands in the sea. 
 I have defeated armies, ruined senators, legislators, and 
 a great number of other officials, and laid them in the dust. 
 I have kindled more fires in the soul and out of the soul, 
 wrecked more trains, made more coffins, filled more peni- 
 tentiaries, broken more hearts, ruined more homes, blasted 
 more lives, and filled more graves than all other agents 
 combined." And if I could present to your mind, in a body 
 all the children, men and women, that alcohol has dressed 
 in rags and deprived of needed food, unless dead to all 
 pity and sympathy, you would be constrained to cry out 
 in anguish of soul, ''Thou art indeed, oh! Alcohol, the 
 Champion Arch Fiend of the world! The fire of thy breath 
 blighteth the land. Thou art the arch enemy of man and 
 the greatest curse of the world." 
 
 And if I could call back the departed spirits of all the 
 mothers and wives who have gone down with sad, sorrow- 
 ing, and broken hearts into premature graves — the work 
 
 76 
 
76 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 of dissipated sons and husbands — and could place them 
 before you in visible form, the great throng that would 
 face you with tear-stained, sorrow-stricken, pinched, 
 wrinkled, and pallid visages, many appareled in rags, 
 tattered and faded garments; some with disheveled and 
 whitened hair, all exhibiting the countenance and mien of 
 anguish and despair, the sight would overvv^helm you with 
 astonishment and awe, and you would want to flee from 
 such a scene. 
 
 Isn't the army of mothers in sackcloth and ashes a 
 picture over which the angels gather and weep? Isn't it 
 a picture that should melt the most adamantine heart, 
 and lead to reflection the most reckless and thoughtless 
 man or boy? Where lies the responsibility? Is there 
 a sane mother in the world today who wishes her son or 
 husband to be an inebriate? No one will answer this 
 question in the afi&rmative. 
 
 I fear that the man or boy who can contemplate the 
 sad picture presented by this pathetic army of withered 
 mothers and wives, with all it implies and signifies, with- 
 out a quake or shudder, with equanimity and indifference, 
 is possessed of more of the brute than the human, and will 
 fail in attaining a higher heaven than that of the brute 
 heaven. 
 
 The pain and travail of child-birth, the sleepless, anxious 
 night-and-day vigils over the sicknesses of infantile and 
 childhood life, are not sufficient punishment for the poor, 
 doting and self-sacrificing mother; no, there are other 
 cups of bitterness prepared for her, that she must drink 
 to the dregs, and by the hand of those for whose life 
 she has risked her own, and upon whom she has 
 lavished the great unselfish and undying love of a mother's 
 heart. 
 
 'Tis said that Bacchus has drowned more people than 
 Neptune. According to fable, Neptune is the king or 
 god of the sea, and the world well knows he has many 
 victims to his credit. Many souls have gone down into 
 the rapacious, merciless and insatiable maw of the sea. 
 Bacchus, according to fable, is the god of wine and revelry, 
 and is fully entitled to the credit of having drowned more 
 people than Neptune. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 77 
 
 And to Bacchus for the population, and popularization 
 of his kingdom, Satan is more largely indebted than to all 
 other agents combined. 
 
 The kingdom of Neptune extends not beyond the con- 
 fines of the sea. Nor is he an ally of Satan. He has 
 ushered a great many into eternity, but he is in no way 
 responsible for the condition of those whom he lands in 
 Elysium (temporary abode of the spirits). But this much 
 cannot be said in favor of Bacchus. His domain is co- 
 extensive with civilization, encompassing land and sea. 
 And, if the extensiveness of his reign were the worst feature 
 of it, it would have been fortunate indeed, for the human 
 family, but alas! he not only hurries his votaries into eterni- 
 ty, but prepares and fits them for permanent abode in 
 the realm of Pluto (king of Hades, hell). And according 
 to the history and description of Hades, it is a place it 
 behooves us to try hard to shun. 
 
 I would hardly be transcending rational and allowable 
 bounds to state that the generations that have preceded 
 us into the spiritual world, if permitted to look back and 
 speak to the present inhabitants of the earth, concerning 
 the drink-curse, would shout with all their "might and 
 main," Don't! In the name of mercy, Don't! 
 
 And if such things were possible, the unborn and un- 
 begotten countless millions would take up the cry and the 
 hills and the valleys would echo and re-echo the cry, Don't, 
 in the name of mercy, Don't! 
 
 And what shall we say of those who handle the stuff 
 and seek to promote its consumption and sale? With 
 all that can be said in extenuation of the nefarious business 
 — and it appears to me, it is very little — they are the allies 
 and recruiting agents of his satanic majesty, the devil. 
 
 THE POWER OF HABIT — ALCOHOL INTEMPERANCE 
 
 I remember once riding from Buffalo to the Niagara 
 Falls. I said to a gentleman, "What river is that, 
 sir?" 
 
 "That," said he, "is Niagara river." 
 
 "Well, it is a beautiful stream," said I, "bright, and 
 fair and glassy. How far off are the rapids?" 
 
 " Only a mile or two," was the reply. 
 
78 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 "Is it possible that only a mile from us we shall find 
 the water in the turbulence which it must show near the 
 falls?" 
 
 "You will find it so, sir." 
 
 And so I found it, and the first sight of Niagara I 
 shall never forget. 
 
 Now launch your bark on the Niagara river; it is 
 bright, smooth, beautiful and glassy. There is a ripple at 
 the bow; the silver wake you leave behind adds to your 
 enjoyment. Down the stream you glide, oars, sails, and 
 helm in proper trim, and you set out on your pleasure 
 excursion. Suddenly someone cries out from the bank, 
 "Young men, ahoy!" 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "The rapids are below you!" 
 
 "Ha! ha! we will laugh and quafif; all things delight 
 us. What care we for the future! No man ever saw it. 
 Sufiicient for the day is the evil thereof. We will enjoy 
 life while we may, we will catch pleasure as it flies. This 
 is enjoyment; time enough to steer out of danger when 
 we are sailing swiftly with the current." 
 
 "Young men, ahoy!" 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Beware! beware! The rapids are below you!" 
 
 Now you see the water foaming all around. See how 
 fast you pass that point! Up with the helm! Now turn! 
 Pull hard! Quick! quick! quick! pull for your lives! 
 pull till the blood starts from your nostrils and the veins 
 stand like whipcords upon your brow! Set the mast in 
 the socket! hoist the sail! Ah! ah! it is too late! Shriek- 
 ing, howling, blaspheming, over they go! 
 
 Thousands go over the rapids of intemperance every 
 year, through the power of habit, crying all the while "When 
 I find out that it is injuring me, I will give it up!" 
 
 These lines under the heading, "The Power of Habit," 
 were written by John B. Gough, the great temperance 
 lecturer. They are eloquent and replete with meaning 
 and importance to the young man and boy. 
 
 Resolve that the warning shall come not to you in vain; 
 that you will heed it, live it, and pass it on to the coming 
 generations. I close my remarks to you on the temperance 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 7^ 
 
 question with lines from the pen of Edwin Higgins. Read 
 them: ponder them; try to imbibe the beautiful and noble 
 spirit which inspired them and runs all through them. 
 
 OUR COUNTRY 
 
 "Her glorious mountains kiss the skies, 
 The seas chant at her feet; 
 For her, days weave their Orient dyes, 
 And nights their jewles keep. 
 
 "For her, pure fountains pour their rills 
 Advion the fragrant plain; 
 Majestic rivers cleave the hills 
 Resistless to the main. 
 
 "Rich harvest field and prairie land, 
 Great lakes and glens of green, 
 With wooded heights and heavens grand, 
 Make up the matchless scene. 
 
 "Here's home and school and sacred spire, 
 And ways of stone and steel; 
 The whirl of wheel and flame of fire; 
 Ten thousand anvils peal. 
 
 "Here learning rears her stately crest; 
 
 Science her altar fire. 
 The ages bring the offerings blest 
 
 To lift our country higher. 
 
 "O'er our broad land no monarch reigns, 
 To dazzle or to awe; 
 Brave justice human rights maintains 
 In majesty of law. 
 
 "A hallowed love about her clmgs, 
 Its fragrance ne'er can die; 
 The memory of her heroes brings 
 The tears to every eye. 
 
 "For her, ten millions sons would bare 
 The breast to foreign foe; 
 Would seal the lips with praise and prayer, 
 And let the Ufe blood flow. 
 
 "Her flag sweeps o'er the boundless deep, 
 Her eagles build on high, 
 O, God of love, our country keep, 
 And lift her to the sky. 
 
8o LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 "Ah, yet there is a monster grim, 
 Fresh blood is on his hand; 
 The people fall — they worship him — 
 They let him curse the land. 
 
 "Oft he hath crushed the bleeding heart, 
 And helpless thousands slain, 
 By creed and insidious art — 
 Aye, even, now for gain. 
 
 "When will we hail the joyful hour, 
 Our life work not in vain — 
 When righteousness shall reign in power, 
 And rum-fiend shall be slain? 
 
 "When patient spirit of our sires, 
 Their deathless deeds again, 
 Shall stir our hearts with patriot-fires. 
 And make us live like men. 
 
 "There's growing light on Eastern hills. 
 Radiance in Southern sky, 
 The morning star our bosom thrills — 
 Redemption's day draws nigh. 
 
 "Rise, glorious sun! Time's greatest need — 
 In full-orbed splendor shine. 
 Dry all our tears, bind hearts that bleed, 
 With love that is divine. 
 
 "Then joys will bloom where sorrows grow, 
 Then rose without a thorn. 
 And peace will in great rivers flow, 
 The world will be new-bom. 
 
 "Columbia then will lead the world. 
 The fairest land e'er given, 
 Her starry banner wide unfurled. 
 Will make of earth a heaven. 
 
 "Come, patriots, lend a helping hand, 
 The ballot for our sword, 
 Lift to the sky our native land, 
 An ofi"ering to the Lord." 
 
 "Wine is a mocker, it biteth like a serpent and sting- 
 eth like an adder." The only safe course is to refuse to 
 taste it. Taste not, touch not, I warn you. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 8i 
 
 THE MAN WHO WINS 
 "The man who wins is the man who wears 
 A smile to cover his burden of cares; 
 Who buckles down to a pile of work 
 And never gives up and never will shirk. 
 The man who wins is the man who d es, 
 The man who makes things hum and buzz, 
 The man who works and the man who acts, 
 Who builds on a basis of solid facts; 
 Who doesn't sit down to mope and dream, 
 Who humps ahead with the force of steam. 
 Who hasn't the time to fuss and fret, 
 But gets there every time — you bet." 
 
 Another says, "I owe all my success in life to having 
 been always a quarter of an hour beforehand." 
 
 There is a very significant parallelism in these lines to 
 which I call your attention. I refer to the similarity in 
 meaning of the answers of successful men to the question: 
 To what do you attribute your success? 
 " 'Tis not in birth, nor rank nor state, 
 But get up and get, that makes men great," 
 
 They do not all put it that way, but their words possess 
 the same meaning; their answers spell persistence, plus 
 punctuality, plus push, plus reliability. With these quali- 
 ties, plus health, what is it, the young man cannot ac- 
 complish ? 
 
 The boy who looks to the world to make a success of 
 him will be a long time getting there. The boy who de- 
 pends upon circumstances to bear him on rapid wing to 
 the crest of fame, will have to pass through many re-in- 
 carnations before reaching the Hall of Fame. 
 
 Mastering circumstances and hewing a way to the 
 coveted goal, seem to be to many boys an unthought-of 
 proposition. They seem to think that Fortune has favor- 
 ites upon whom she bestows her richest gifts, and that 
 they may be among the fortunate. 
 
 Fortune has to be wooed and won. She is a coy god- 
 dess, and cannot be caught with traps. Deceptive baits 
 tempt her not. 
 
 SMILE AND WAIT 
 
 One of the hardest, and yet one of the most useful 
 lessons we can ever learn, is to smile and wait after we 
 have done our level best. 
 
82 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 It is a finely trained mind that can struggle with energy 
 and cheerfulness toward the goal which he cannot see. 
 But he is not a great philosopher who has not learned the 
 secret of smiling and waiting. 
 
 A great many people can smile at difficulties who cannot 
 wait, who lack patience; but the man who can both smile 
 and wait, if he has that tenacity of purpose which never 
 turns back will surely win. 
 
 The fact is, large things can only be done by optimists. 
 Little successes are left to pessimistic people who cannot 
 set their teeth, clench their fists, and smile at hardships 
 or misfortunes and patiently wait. 
 
 Smile and wait — there are whole volumes in this sen- 
 tence. 
 
 I can add nothing to the above lines. They speak 
 for themselves; I don't understand the author to mean 
 that smiling and waiting without work will accomplish 
 anything, and would put it thus: Work, smile, wait. 
 Don't be impatient for results; try to get pleasure out of 
 your work, smile and wait, results will come in due season. 
 
 "Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." 
 
 ASPIRATIONS 
 
 The world, seen through the eyes of the young and 
 inexperienced, appears so different from what it does to 
 those who have reached the retrospective side of the fiftieth 
 mile-post of life, and whose vision has long since pierced 
 the veil with its varying shades and sheens of pretense, 
 sham, hypocricy and pharisaism, which hangs between 
 the future and the young, no wonder when contemplating 
 the proffering of advice to the young, if one approximate 
 the state of despair. 
 
 Some are appreciative and responsive; that is, some 
 will hear and heed. To these, I address myself. 
 
 If one had the wisdom and ambition at the beginning 
 of one's career, to concentrate on a work of substantial, 
 intrinsic and enduring worth, how different would be one's 
 history and achievements at the end of one's journey. 
 
 Unfortunately, many of Earth's children find them- 
 selves face to face with poverty and want, as their sole 
 legacy and inheritance; their struggle for existence im- 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 83 
 
 poverishes and stints the growth of the nobler ambitions 
 and aspirations. 
 
 Work, work, at any and all things to keep the wolf 
 from the door, with little time for dreaming, air-castle- 
 building, or the attainment of high and praiseworthy 
 ideals. 
 
 But while this is true, it is also true, some of the brightest 
 stars that sparkle in the crown of science, literature and 
 the arts, rose from the humblest spheres of pauperism and 
 obscurity. And further, it may be remarked, to be born 
 a son of wealthy parents is the greatest misfortune that 
 could attend some boys. Poverty has often been the 
 parent of some of the best, most brilliant and useful citi- 
 zens. 
 
 We sometimes hear: ''Oh, he's a dreamer;" but don't 
 often stop to compute or acknowledge the indebtedness 
 of the world to the dreamer, air-castle builder and visionary. 
 
 Certainly concentrated effort, constant and continued, 
 must pursue the vision, but the vision must precede the 
 efforts at realization. The idea of a thing must be worked 
 out before it can be materialized. In the case of all in- 
 ventions, the idea precedes construction. 
 
 The thing constructed, in time, goes to pieces, the idea 
 continues. Which is the real? 
 
 A few lines here from a little book by James Allen, 
 entitled ''As a Man Thinketh." It is a grand little book. 
 Every boy in the world should read it and try to profit 
 by its inspiring lessons and precepts. 
 
 "The dreamers are the saviours of the world. 
 
 "As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, 
 so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid voca- 
 tions, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their Soli- 
 tary dreamers. Humanity can not forget its dreamers; 
 it cannot let their ideals fade and die, it lives in them; 
 it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see 
 and know. 
 
 "Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, 
 these are the makers of the after world, the architects of 
 heaven. The world is beautiful because they have lived, 
 without them, laboring humanity would perish." 
 
 Beautiful thoughts, replete with truth. 
 
84 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 May it not be asserted that he who cherishes the beau- 
 tiful vision, a lofty ideal, will some day realize it? 
 
 How different would be the world, and how glorious 
 its achievements, and how fair its record, if the following 
 lines had ever been its motto and highest ambition: "Do 
 without thought of winning or achievement; serve without 
 hope of gratitude or recognition; accept the task and 
 opportunity of the day, and ask only strength to do it well; 
 complain of nothing; live openly and self-containedly a 
 life of moderation free from ambition." 
 
 He who has succeeded in attaining the philosophic, 
 spiritual and supernal heights depicted in the preceding 
 lines, has surely succeeded in effecting entrance into a 
 grand, glorious and beautiful sphere, attained by few. 
 To such individual, heaven is not a place of any tomorrow 
 but one of today — a daily reaHzation. 
 
 To such individual has come, not only the mastery 
 of himself, but of the world, in a sense. To such indi- 
 vidual there is no cause for worry, fear or concern. Such 
 individual has surely reached the acme of human attain- 
 ment and desire. Surely, such individual is at peace 
 with the world, his Creator and himself. 
 
 "Thou art the chooser of thy thoughts and deeds; 
 Thou are the maker of thy inward state; 
 The power is thine to be what thou wilt be; 
 
 Thou buildest Truth and Love, or lies and hate." 
 
 Here, I would remark: Our thoughts and deeds are 
 we; without thoughts and deeds, we should be naught. 
 
 As has been said, "we cannot prevent the birds from 
 flying over our heads, but we can prevent their building 
 nests in our hair," meaning we cannot prevent thoughts 
 from passing through our minds, but we can refuse to 
 entertain those that are of evil import. 
 
 "Thou art the chooser of thy thoughts," and should 
 carefully discriminate between the good and evil, for it 
 is a veritable fact, that evil thoughts, entertained, will 
 lead to one's complete undoing. Permit none save the 
 wholesome and praiseworthy to remain with you. 
 
 "Thou art the chooser of thy thoughts and deeds:" 
 Thoughts are the parents of deeds. Significant words. 
 How grand a text to preach from, 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 8$ 
 
 In order to encourage you to think, and to impress 
 upon you the importance of right thinking, I shall here 
 quote from the metaphysicians: 
 
 "Our thoughts do not succeed each other at random, 
 but according to certain laws, or relations existing be- 
 tween them. The relations most influential are those of 
 resemblance, contrast, contiguity in time or place, and 
 cause and effect. 
 
 "Thoughts have a tendency to introduce resembling 
 thoughts, or are naturally followed by resembling thoughts. 
 The resemblance may be striking, or it may be slight. 
 
 **A building or person may remind you of another 
 building or person." 
 
 "Thoughts also have a tendency to introduce their 
 opposites. The palace suggests the hovel; the desert 
 the luxuriant field; Thermopylae, Leonidas; an event 
 its cause. 
 
 "When we store the mind with choice thoughts, they 
 will by the law of resemblance introduce similar ones. 
 Hence we should become familiar with the best thoughts 
 of the best authors. We become like those with whose 
 works we are familiar, and like those with whom we asso- 
 ciate." 
 
 These are facts you can not afford to ignore. 
 
 "Association is a term expressive of our own thoughts 
 as successive and related. 
 
 "The repetition of an act increases the tendency to 
 the performance of that act, and increased facility in per- 
 forming it." (Drive a nail in that.) 
 
 Thus it is, habit results. Hence the importance of 
 watching the tendency of thought, and of guarding against 
 improper and unwholesome thoughts. 
 
 "Right habits increase our power to do right, and 
 lessen the difficulties in the way." (Hammer and nail 
 again.) 
 
 Our great business here is the formation of right habits. 
 
 The chief object of education is the formation of right 
 mental habits. 
 
 Thales, being asked what was the most difficult thing 
 in the world, replied, "To know oneself." Thales was 
 one of the seven wise men of Greece, and lived about six 
 
S6 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 centuries B. C. The centuries since that day have failed 
 to prove Thales wrong. 
 
 Another philosopher says: "To know oneself is to 
 know all there is to know." 
 
 Whether this be true or not, you are building your 
 future. Heed : 
 
 "Thou buildest Truth and Love, or lies and hate." 
 
 Which? Pause and reflect. If you are building 
 "Truth and Love," you need have no fears for the future. 
 Whoever is engaged in building "Truth and Love" or 
 with "Truth and Love," is building a future of glory and 
 joy; nor will such one have to wait for the rewards of 
 such building; the building and rewards will progress 
 hand in hand. The reflections of the glory and bliss of 
 such construction will everywhere illuminate the path of 
 the constructor, beautifying and glorifying his being. 
 
 "Dwell in thought upon the grandest, 
 And the grandest you shall see; 
 Fix your mind upon the highest, 
 And the highest you shall be." 
 
 If one would become strong, one must conform to the 
 laws of strength. 
 
 If one would become good, one must cultivate goodness. 
 
 If one would become spiritual, one must cultivate the 
 spiritual. 
 
 And thus it is in regard to whatever one would become. 
 
 I shall close this subject with lines from "As a Man 
 Thinketh:" 
 
 "Mind is the master-power that moulds and makes, 
 And man is mind, and ever more he takes 
 The tool of thought, and shaping what he wills, 
 Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills — 
 He thinks in secret and it comes to pass: 
 Environment is but his looking-glass." 
 
 If I could impress upon your minds the full meaning 
 and importance of these lines of James Allen, the author 
 of that grand little book, "As a Man Thinketh," and 
 could know that you would square your lives by them, 
 observe and apply them, I should feel that, if you should 
 ignore the balance of my writings, I had been well rewarded 
 for my pains. Read them, ponder them, profit by them, 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 87 
 
 there is joy in them, peace in them, health in them, long 
 life and glory in them, nor have I been able to tell half 
 of the goodness or worth of the book. Strive to under- 
 stand the lessons and precepts of the lines and make them 
 the rule and guide of your life. 
 
 Before closing the chapter, I would add these lines 
 from Lowell: 
 
 "God give us men! A time like this demands 
 
 Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; 
 Men whom the lusts of office do not kill; 
 
 Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
 Men who possess opinions and a will; 
 
 Men who have honor, men who will not lie; 
 Men who can stand before a demagogue 
 
 And scorn his threats and treacheries without winking; 
 Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog 
 
 In public duty and in private thinking." 
 
 These are the men the world needs, and these are the 
 men I would have you strive to become. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE WASTE OF LIVES 
 
 I here insert lines from a medical journal. They con- 
 tain lessons of too much importance to be ignored; lessons 
 it behooves us to ponder and apply; that is, if life and 
 health and comfort and progress and prosperity are worth 
 anything and if they are not, all creation is a dismal 
 failure, and the Author of all things erred wofuUy and 
 
 ruefully. . 
 
 "A startling statement: that of Dr. McCormacb, Chair- 
 man of the Committee of organization of the American 
 Medical Association to the effect that one-third of the 
 5,700,000 people who were ill or died during the last year 
 might have remained in perfect health. 
 
 "A startling illustration of the devastation wrought by 
 disease is found in the statement that while 210,000 men 
 fell in battle during the civil war, at the present time we 
 are losing every four years more than 750,000 persons from 
 tuberculosis alone— and this is a preventable disease! If 
 we should add to this the unnecessary deaths from typhoid 
 fever, smallpox, diphtheria, cholera infantum and other 
 diseases which result from ignorance, filth and carelessness, 
 what an appalling Hst it would make." 
 
 It hardly seems necessary to comment, the facts and 
 figures speak for themselves. If you catch nothing from 
 these revelations, my labor is in vain. Presenting these 
 momentous facts to the careless and unappreciative, sug- 
 gest the ''Casting of pearls before swine." 
 
 I am placing facts and lessons of incalculable value 
 before you, and trying to impress upon you the importance 
 of heeding them. 
 
 I can do no more ;it lies with you whether or not you 
 will profit by my efforts. 
 
 It does seem there are some— a goodly number- 
 doomed, judging by their course, to utter ruin. Which 
 way are you steering? Downward or upward is your 
 course ? 
 
 89 
 
90 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 *' Nature is neither kind nor cruel. Her ways (laws) 
 are unalterable. She pursues her course irrespective of 
 littleness or bigness. To her, there is no bigness nor lit- 
 tleness." Whether king or serf fall into the rock-paved cave 
 makes no difference with Nature. Whether president or 
 humble toiler swallow disease-germs, concerns her not. 
 She never excuses because of ignorance. 
 
 When I say there should be no short graves in the ceme- 
 teries, nor any graves containing bodies that had not 
 breathed the air of old earth for at least a hundred years, 
 I feel myself within bounds. 
 
 In time, barring accidents, opprobrium will attach to 
 the death of one who dies before reaching the centenarian 
 mile-post. Nor should a hundred years be regarded as 
 the limit. We are just beginning to learn how to live, 
 and man's possibilities along these lines. 
 
 There are no insuperable barrier's to a much greater 
 age. The man who now defies the decree that went forth 
 that man's years should not exceed four score years, and 
 goes tripping merrily by the hundredth mile-post, wins a 
 prominent place in the reporter's note-book and news- 
 papers of the day, if not the fame of the prodigy. And 
 everybody wants to interview him, and learn, if possible, 
 the secret of his wonderful age. Is not the time coming, 
 when this will be reversed, and people will wonder that 
 the man who dies at a hundred, died so young? We are 
 beginning to realize that it is thought, in part at least, that 
 kills, the thought that our parents and friends began to 
 impress upon our minds at an early age. Their parents 
 killed them, and they thought it their duty to plant the 
 same seed in their children's minds. 
 
 The moil and toil, strain and stress, bitterness and 
 acrimony of the suicidal and murderous competitive sys- 
 tem, under which we live, hinders very materially progress 
 along the lines of longevity, and the attainment of the 
 dreamer's millennium. 
 
 We hardly, at present, live long enough to learn how 
 to live, due largely to ignorance, false modesty, and errone- 
 ous views of life, on the part of parents, teachers, etc. The 
 lessons most closely related to the very foundation of life 
 and health, and that should be impressed early in life, are 
 
Ok IGNOkANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE gt 
 
 usually neglected, and, if taught at all, frequently after 
 ignorance has sown the seeds of blight and decay. 
 
 Let the race once become aroused from its ages of 
 somnolent ignorance and indifiference, and conscious of 
 the fact that the number of one's days is largely a matter 
 of election, and the preacher of the four-score-years doc- 
 trine, will have to revise his theology or take it to another 
 planet. Sprightly centenarians will be too much in evi- 
 dence to attract attention. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 A STRIP OF PAPER 
 
 Two boys, passing along the street, came to a strip of 
 paper and a half -smoked cigar. One of these boys makes 
 a dash for the cigar: the other picks up the piece of paper 
 and begins to read: "Good character," etc. The boy 
 who had been left behind, lighting the cigar, overtakes the 
 boy with the strip of paper, and with the ejaculation, 
 ''Throw the old piece of paper in the gutter," knocks it 
 out of his hand; but something had caught the reader's 
 eye, he picked it up again and began to read: ''Earn 
 
 money before you " down went the paper again from 
 
 the same cause, simultaneously with the remark: "You 
 shant read it." But Jimmie had read a line which had 
 touched a responsive chord; he picks it up again, and, this 
 time, puts it in his pocket. His companion puffs away at 
 his cigar stump. 
 
 The cigar stump attracted one of these boys; the 
 printed lines the other. Here was a difference. Puff — 
 smoke — puff — smoke — seemed to be the height of one's 
 ambition; the lines: "Be a man," made an impression 
 on the other. 
 
 Is it necessary to invoke the aid of the prophet to pre- 
 dict the probable course of these two boys? 
 
 Twenty years — fifteen years — ten years, will exhibit 
 a vast difference in the condition and circumstances of 
 these boys. 
 
 And, again, if a man were needing the help of a good 
 and smart boy, which one would he want to employ? 
 
 There is no hope of improvement for the self-sufficient 
 and self-satisfied individual. If one is without desire to 
 improve oneself, and such desire cannot be awakened, 
 it is likely to be a down-grade run with that individual, 
 from the cradle to the grave, and love's labor lost to the 
 friends who try to change his course. 
 
 You cannot prize too highly the following lines. They 
 
 93 
 
94 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 are pearls on threads of gold. Every successive reading 
 will discover added beauty and wisdom. 
 
 HAVE A PURPOSE ; 
 
 "Live for something, have a purpose, 
 And that purpose keep in view; 
 Drifting like a helpless vessel, 
 Thou canst ne'er to life be true; 
 Half the wrecks that strew life's ocean, 
 If some star had been their guide. 
 Might have long been riding safely — 
 But they drifted with the tide." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Shakespeare says: 
 
 "There is a tide in the afifairs of men, 
 Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune: 
 Omitted, all the voyage if their life 
 Is bound in shallows and in miseries." 
 
 And again we hear: "Fortune knocks once at every 
 man's door." 
 
 I would remark, relative to these fatalistic lines that, 
 without the ability to recognize Fortune, it avails little, 
 whether Fortune knocks once or thrice. Where there are 
 no eyes to see, there is nothing to be seen. To seize For- 
 tune, it is necessary to be able to recognize the presence 
 of Fortune. And, it is mere mockery for Fortune to knock 
 at a door in unrecognizable attire. Fortune is everywhere — 
 there are eyes to see Fortune, and nowhere to the blind. 
 Fortune, doubtless, everywhere displays her bewitching 
 form; trips, sportive and gay, about the path of all, but 
 Fate has decreed that Fortune shall be seen by but few. 
 Fortune, or Fate, is partial; has favorites. 
 
 But we will discard both Fortune and Fate, and sub- 
 stitute Ignorance, or pit Ignorance against Fortune and 
 Fate for the crown of sovereignty in the realm of the ap- 
 portionment and dispensation of favors. Will Ignorance 
 be able to vanquish contestants so venerable, potent and 
 redoubtable as Fortune and Fate, and wrest from them 
 the enchanted sceptre and their prestige? 
 
 Note the fruits of Ignorance, Blindness, stupidity, 
 impotency, unpreparedness, insensibility — in a word, 
 deadness. These are the burdens with which Ignorance 
 loads and manacles her subjects and progeny. These 
 are the weapons with which Ignorance arms her warriors. 
 These are the obstacles and obstructions that appear 
 between the children of Earth and Fortune. 
 
 Thus manacled and loaded, the visitations of Fortune 
 avail nothing. Thus manacled and loaded. Fortune may 
 not be seen nor heard. 
 
 95 
 
96 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Both Fortune and Fate are powerless to remove the 
 burdens and shackles of Ignorance. Ignorance, then, 
 stands king. 
 
 Instead of ascribing all our failures and hardships to 
 Fortune and Fate, let us place them at the right door. 
 Hear Opportunity: 
 
 "They do me wrong who say I come no more 
 When once I knock and fail to find you in; 
 For every day I stand outside your door 
 And bid you wake and rise to fight and win. 
 
 "Wait not for precious chances passed away, 
 Weep not for golden ages on the wane. 
 Each night I burn the records of the day; 
 At sunrise every soul is born again. 
 
 "Laugh like a boy at splendors that have sped; 
 To vanished joys be blind and deaf and dumb, 
 My judgments seal the dead past with its dead, 
 But never bind a moment yet to come. 
 
 "Though deep in mire wring not your hands and weep; 
 I lend my arm to all who say 'I can;' 
 No shame-faced outcast ever sank so deep 
 But yet could rise and be again a man. 
 
 "Dost thou behold thy lost youth all aghast? 
 Dost reel from righteous retribution's blow? 
 Then turn from blotted archives of the past 
 And find the future's pages white as snow." 
 
 Isn't that a grand sermon? The pages of the past 
 may be as black and unsightly as the walls of Hades, but 
 those of the future present the spotlessness of the robes 
 of angels. Isn't this an inspiring thought? From a 
 blackened and sullied past, one may turn to a bright and 
 cheering future. 
 
 But while this is true, and a grand and inspiring privi- 
 lege, the past is irretrievable, and it is inexpressably grander 
 and more fortunate to have a spotless and ungrievous past. 
 See that the winding reel of Time rolls up no sullied pages 
 for you. 
 
 But let us re-read the first lines of "Opportunity:" 
 
 "They do me wrong who say I come no more 
 When once I knock and fail to find you in.; 
 For every day I stand outside your door 
 And bid you wake and rise to fight and win." 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 97 
 
 These lines do not agree with Shakespeare, with which 
 this page begins. Instead of one visit during a life-time, 
 instead of one tide in a life-time, Opportunity stands ever 
 waiting at the door. The tide leading on to fortune, 
 every moment leaves the shore. Opportunity awaits 
 you. The auspicious Now calls you. 
 
 The spirit which impels is within. We have it, or 
 we haven't it, depending on ancestry, heredity and environ- 
 ment, the arch-obstructionist, and Father of Failure, being 
 Ignorance. 
 
 Heed again: 
 
 "Master of human destinies am I, 
 Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait, 
 Cities and fields I walk, I penetrate deserts and lands remote, 
 and passing by wood and marsh and palace, soon or late— 
 I knock unbidden once at every gate; 
 If sleeping, wake; 
 
 If feasting, rise before I turn away. 
 It is the hour of fate. 
 And those who doubt or hesitate, condemned to failure, penury 
 
 and woe, 
 Seek me in vain, and uselesslessly unplore, 
 I answer not and I return no more." 
 
 These lines ring in harmony with Shakespeare's. 
 What I said relative to Shakespeare's is applicable to these. 
 If these lines be true, Shakespeare is right, and all who 
 fail to recognize and seize Fortune or Opportunity, when 
 she appears, will of necessity be failures. 
 
 "I knock unbidden, once at every gate." ^^ 
 "For every day I stand outside your door. 
 
 Who is right? Which doctrine will you accept? How 
 can both be right? Whether Fortune knocks once or 
 always, there must be eyes to see and ears to hear and 
 hands to seize. 
 
 Let writers and speakers say their say, but keep you 
 it ever in mind that "mind is the master-power that moulds 
 and makes." And masters time and circumstances. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 HUMAN WILL 
 
 Remember that 
 
 "You will be what you will to be; 
 
 Let failure find its false content 
 In that poor word, environment, 
 Spirt scorns it and is free. 
 
 "It masters time, it conquers space; 
 
 It cowes that boastful trickster, Chance, 
 And bids the tyrant, Circumstance, 
 Uncrown and fill a servant's place. 
 
 "The Human Will, that force unseen. 
 The ofi'spring of a deathless soul, 
 Can hew away to any goal, 
 
 Though walls of granite intervene. 
 
 "Be not impatient in delay, 
 
 But wait as one w^ho understands, 
 When spirit rises and commands, 
 The Gods are ready to obey." 
 
 Could you grasp the meaning of these lines fully, and 
 had the desire and willingness to make the many little 
 necessary sacrifices, "granite walls" could not bar you from 
 the goal. There must be an aim, then concentration, plus 
 persistency and determination, plus judgment. You 
 see pluses play an important part, and constitute an essen- 
 tial element. So many boys lack these pluses. To so 
 many boys an hour's pleasure, sport, fun, so-called, ap- 
 peals with much more force than all the glory of high and 
 honorable achievement. 
 
 Boys should be boys; nor am I objecting to needed 
 sport and fun, innocent and wholesome in character, but 
 boys will go too far, and will waste their time and energy, 
 and contract vicious and ruinous habits, if not checked 
 and guided. 
 
 Heed! "You will be what you will to be." Now, 
 what do you will to be? What does it mean? It means 
 that a thought persisted in will crystallize into efforts 
 
 99 
 
loo LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 which will be repeated and continued till the goal is at- 
 tained. And isn't this a grand thought? Surely it is in 
 consonance with right and justice that one should become 
 what one desires to be. But desire alone will not suffice. 
 The desire must possess sufficient force and constancy to 
 impell one to action and concentration upon the thing or 
 object desired. A momentary wish or desire will not 
 accomplish anything. 
 
 "The heights by great men gained and kept, 
 Were not attained by sudden flight; 
 But they while their companions slept, 
 Were toiling upwards in the light." 
 
 If the boys and young men of the land could be made 
 to realize fully the truth of these remarks, how different 
 would be their earthly career and their end; that is, pro- 
 vided they were moved in the right direction, by a recog- 
 nition of the meaning of these remarks; and how beautiful 
 and grand would be the character they would build, and 
 how glorious would be their achievements. Their progeny 
 and posterity would have cause to bless their names and 
 chant their praises through the coming ages. 
 
 Boys, there is a wide gap between a gentleman and a 
 ruffian. One stands with high and noble purposes on 
 the peak of the radiant mountain, gazing ofif upon the 
 enthralling beauties of nature, absorbed in the contempla- 
 tion of the grandeur and sublimity of the scenes which 
 ravish his vision; overwhelmed with the recognition of 
 his lofty and monumental relationship to the universe. 
 
 The other stands in mud and filth to his knees in the 
 valley of foul and festering atmosphere, peering with be- 
 fogged vision into murky environment ;"! sinking deeper 
 and deeper into the mire which is fast engulfing him. 
 
 Begin now the building of a character which by virtue 
 of entrinsic worth and collossal grandeur will command 
 the esteem and admiration of the world. Then you will 
 not have lived in vain. 
 
 Now, this doesn't mean ceaseless toil, for that would 
 quickly wreck one of stoutest and toughest fiber — one 
 must have recreation — but it does mean toil, fixedness of 
 purpose, and dogged persistency. 
 
OR IG'NORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE loi 
 
 "A particular train of thought persisted in, be it 
 good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results upon the 
 character and circumstances." 
 
 This last paragraph I quote from the little book, "As 
 a Man Thinketh." And it is a grand little book; I hope 
 you will have an opportunity to read it. I would that 
 I could have read it when I was a boy and understood it. 
 It would have been worth much to me. It is a priceless 
 jewel, and would have illumined many dark corners for 
 me, and enabled me to understand much that was enig- 
 matical to me, and more over, would have helped me to 
 be a better man and more worthy husband and father. 
 Not that I have been, in the eyes of the world, a bad man, 
 but I have made many mistakes which it would have helped 
 me avoid. 
 
 *'You will be what you will to be." Will, in the first 
 place, to be a man of unimpeachable character. ''Nature 
 helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts he 
 most encourages," whether good or bad. Think of that, 
 and if you have been encouraging evil thoughts, away with 
 them immediately, they are deadly enemies. 
 
 "A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but 
 he can choose his thoughts and so indirectly, yet surely, 
 shape his course." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 CONSUMPTION 
 
 That you may have intelligent comprehension of the 
 nature of consumption and its causes, and be able fo pro- 
 tect yourself from this lethal and dread disease, I shall 
 here insert a few lines relative to the same. 
 
 I quote here from a medical journal: "Science has 
 demonstrated that tuberculosis, known as the White 
 Plague, consumption, scrofula, lupus, marasmus, white 
 swelling, etc., is an infectious and contagious disease. 
 
 "The infecting agent is the bacillus tuberculosis. With- 
 out this bacillus tuberculosis does not exist, every new 
 case is the product of a preceding one. The source of 
 infection is in the pus from tuberculous sores or abscesses, 
 wherever situated, in lung, bone, gland, etc. It is well 
 to note some of the principal methods by which the infec- 
 tion is spread and brought into contact with the uninfected, 
 with the human race, with the whole animal kingdom. 
 
 "The chief source of infection is the sputa of tuberculous 
 persons, which is most dangerous in its dried state — dust; 
 in the moist state it is only dangerous by contact. The 
 innumerable moist particles thrown in the air in the act 
 of coughing, where they float for a time, are a source of 
 danger to those in the immediate vicinity. Tuberculous 
 persons are met with everywhere, in every profession, 
 every business, trade and occupation. They handle our 
 food supplies, and cough over our groceries. The hands 
 of the consumptive are seldom free from the disease germ, 
 their mouth never. The sputum of consumptives is 
 scattered broadcast wherever consumptives go. Gener- 
 ally, they are not particular where they spit. The germ- 
 laden expectorated matter is deposited on streets, in pub- 
 lic conveyances, about railway stations, all places where 
 people congregate, often to a nauseating extent. When 
 dried, and in the dust form, it finds its way into all places 
 where air and dust penetrate. 
 
 103 
 
104 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 "In our educational institutions tuberculous teachers 
 and tuberculous pupils are often found; many of these 
 institutions — especially among the lower grade schools — are 
 incubators and centers of distribution for infectious dis- 
 eases and are a menace to health and life, not only to those 
 attending them, but to the whole community." 
 
 The trailing skirts with which ladies sweep the streets 
 gather disease germs and turn them loose in the homes, 
 where they quickly avail themselves of the opportunity 
 to begin gnawing at the vitals of unsuspecting victims. 
 Short skirts should be adopted for the street. Promis- 
 cuous kissing is another effective way of communicating 
 disease, and should be discouraged. The rapturous kiss 
 is not always unalloyed bliss. No guardian angel hovers 
 over innocent babe, with drawn sword, to protect it from 
 the germ-laden and blighting kiss. 
 
 Infection from tuberculous flesh and milk should be kept 
 in mind. The increasing death-rate among children, as 
 stated elsewhere in these lines, is attributable to infected 
 milk. Tuberculous meat and milk are unfit for use. 
 
 Predisposition to tuberculosis is either inherited or 
 acquired. Strong children are not to be expected from 
 consumptive, or otherwise diseased parents. The weak- 
 nesses of parents are likely to be transmitted to offspring. 
 
 I dwell on these points elsewhere. Their importance 
 justifies iteration and reiteration. Again and again, 
 through life will circumstances emphasize the facts I am 
 here and elsewhere trying to impress upon you. Without 
 alertness and vigilance, on your part, the voice of circum- 
 stances, the lessons of Nature, will fail of purpose. 
 
 Whatever depresses the system and lowers vitality, 
 invites tuberculosis, and other diseases. Living close to 
 Nature and keeping up as high a state of health as possible, 
 insures most against disease, and contributes most to 
 longevity and a successful life. 
 
 Could I write upon the broad blue canopy of heaven, 
 in letters that would reach from the eastern to the western 
 horizon, the word Tuberculosis, I should not be giving it 
 undue display or prominence, or thereby exaggerate its 
 significance to the human family. Countless the sweet 
 voices this universal scourge has hushed, the bright eyes 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE to$ 
 
 it has closed, the fair cheeks it has blanched, the warm 
 hearts it has stilled forever— forever ?— I call to the skies. 
 Forever? The seething, sleepless sun answers me not. 
 The silent moon grows paler and hides her face in the sea. 
 The twinkling and blinking stars refuse me answer. I 
 strain my ears to catch a sound from the abysmal depths of 
 infinite space — all in vain. I cry in anguish and travail 
 of soul to the depths of boundless space. Oh, Allah! Zeusl! 
 God!!! where art Thou? Why answerest Thou me not? 
 But let us write under the word Tuberculosis the word 
 Preventable, and under this word, the word Ignorance, 
 and the starry page of the heavens will persent to the in- 
 habitants of these nether regions a record and a lesson 
 that should impress themselves ineradically upon the 
 page of memory. 
 
 All through these pages I am trying to inform you as 
 to the appalling cost of ignorance, and to impress upon 
 you the importance of knowledge. 
 
 From time unascertainable and non-computable, the so- 
 called Great White Plague has been striking its lethal 
 fangs into the vitals of the sons and daughters of the 
 earth; often in the very bloom of womanhood and man- 
 hood, thousands of the fairest and brightest have suc- 
 cumbed to the omnivorous monster. No age possesses 
 immunity from its insidious attacks. 
 
 Science, the bright-visaged angel of hope and peace, 
 and salvation, whose birth and welcome arrival were long 
 delayed, it would seem, smiles benignly upon the land, 
 and tells us tuberculosis is preventable. Glad and joyous 
 news to the race that has had to contend so long, blind- 
 folded, with so formidable and deadly a foe. A thousand 
 times welcome thou lovely and lovable goddess! The 
 message thou bringest is one of joy and cheer, gladness 
 and inspiration. 
 
 With a knowledge of the character and causes of a 
 disease, one is prepared to guard one's self against that 
 disease. 
 
 By proper and adequate and systematic methods of 
 prevention, it is the opinion of the medical profession to- 
 day, that in one generation tuberculosis might be reduced 
 to a rare and unfeared disease. 
 
io6 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 As already remarked, the chief source of danger is in 
 the dried sputa. The germs take wings and fill the air, 
 and whoever happens to be compelled to breathe the air, 
 thus freighted, unless in a fair state of health, and invul- 
 nerable to the attacks of tubercle bacilli, have cause to 
 tremble. Hence the importance of teaching the public 
 that all expectorated matter from the tuberculous is dan- 
 gerous, and should be forthwith destroyed. 
 
 Indiscriminate spitting should be prohibited by law. 
 
 All food products should be protected from infection. 
 
 No tuberculous person should be permitted to handle 
 food-stuffs. Nor should anyone be allowed to expose 
 on the streets any article of food, as is a common practice 
 of our cities, about the doors of grocery and fruit houses. 
 
 No tuberculous teachers or pupils should be allowed 
 in the school-room. All should be required to present 
 a certificate of health. 
 
 The world is waking up to the fact that Ignorance is 
 the curse of the world. The microscope has enabled man 
 to penetrate the bacteriological world and discover count- 
 less billions of insidious foes of which, hitherto, he had had 
 no knowledge. This blight had, from time immemorial, 
 been striking down the young and the fair, the aged and 
 the hoary, but as to character, origin or habitat, man groped 
 in darkness. 
 
 As already stated, whatever depresses the vital forces, 
 invites disease, and where there exists a predisposition, 
 tuberculosis takes hold. 
 
 But to particularize, masturbation, excessive venery 
 (sexual indulgence), irregular life, exposure, tobacco, 
 alcohol, dark, damp and poorly ventilated rooms, etc., 
 originate tuberculosis. 
 
 But, according to science, there can be no tuberculosis 
 where there are no tubercle bacilli. If this be true, to 
 avoid tuberculosis, it is only necessary to steer clear of the 
 bacilli. But where are they not, except where man is 
 not? 
 
 It may not be said, they are omnipresent, but few 
 inhabited places are unhonored by their presence. Indeed, 
 save where the '' bittern dwells," we may not say, tubercle 
 bacilli dwell not. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 107 
 
 Sunshine and air constitute the most-approved treat- 
 ment of the day. This means a sedentary life indoors, is 
 productive of the disease, and should be avoided. 
 
 I pushed aside these hnes to fill up a death certificate 
 for the interment of the remains of a young married woman 
 of twenty-nine years of age, who died yesterday of pul- 
 monary consumption. Only twenty-nine years of age, the 
 mother of four children, and dead — the history of thou- 
 sands of young mothers. This particular mother lived 
 and died in the countr}'. 
 
 While engaged in filling up the death certificate of this 
 woman, news reaches me that the remains of another 
 mother — now on the train — who died in Philadelphia, 
 yesterday, of the same disease, will be buried at the same 
 church and hour, as the former. In addition to these 
 cases, I know of others on the same road. 
 
 You see, the Great White Plague is still abroad in the 
 land, striking down, right and left, old and young, good 
 and bad alike — no respecter of persons — regardless of cir- 
 cumstances. And this is going on the Vv^orld over. This 
 hour witnesses the burial of many of the victims of the 
 merciless bacilli. 
 
 And science tells us that tuberculosis is preventable, 
 and how. Shall we go on with blinded eyes, deafened 
 ears, and callous hearts, unmindful of the fact that tuber- 
 culosis is burying hourly, so large a number of our fellow- 
 beings. Wake up, ye denizens of the insensate old Earth, 
 and train your guns upon your foes. They are now in 
 sight, and are charging on you with deadly effect. The 
 sun of the day of salvation appears above the hills of the 
 nearing future. Intelligence will win. 
 
 Hoping I have said enough to awaken you to adequate 
 appreciation of the subject, and enable you to help in the 
 great work of prevention, the country is now engaged in, 
 I close the chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 SEMINAL EMISSIONS 
 
 "Doctor, I — I— I would like to have something — some- 
 thing for — for bad — dreams." 
 
 "Something for bad dreams?" I repeat after him. 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "bad dreams disturb my sleep. I 
 feel bad and dull mornings." 
 
 "Any confusion of mind," I ask. 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "I can't fix my mind on anything." 
 
 "Inability to concentrate the mind," I reply. 
 
 "What do you mean by 'bad dreams,'" I ask. "What 
 do you dream about?" 
 
 Seeing his embarrassment and hesitation, and to help 
 him out, I ask, "Do you sleep on your back?" 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "mostly." 
 
 "And you are usually on your back, when the discharge 
 occurs," I added. 
 
 "Yes," he replied. 
 
 "And sometimes these discharges occur twice a night?" 
 I suggested. 
 
 "Yes," again. 
 
 "Nor is your memory very good," I added. 
 
 "No," he replied. 
 
 "I see, I see, you need a little plain, straight talk. You 
 have been neglected. You need a friend," I said to him. 
 
 "How long have you been ha\dng such dreams and 
 discharges?" I asked him. 
 
 "About six months," he answered. 
 
 "For several years previously you practiced masturba- 
 tion — self-abuse?" I added. 
 
 "Yes," he replied. 
 
 "And why did you quit," I asked. 
 
 "^th much embarrassment and nervousness, he 
 answered, "I found out it was hurting me." 
 
 "Then," I remarked, "began your 'bad dreams,'" etc. 
 
 "Neither parents nor friends had enlightened you in 
 regard to the ruinous effects of such practices," I suggested. 
 
 109 
 
no LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 ''No," he replied, "I learned it from other boys and 
 knew no better." 
 
 ''Ignorance," I said, "is appallingly costly. Your 
 parents left you to do in ignorance, as they had done; 
 commit all sorts of sexual sins and abominations; run a 
 feverish and unhappy course, and go down into a prema- 
 ture grave, leaving behind you a few weakly, sickly-minded 
 children to do as you had done." Terrible! Terrible! 
 "Terrible, Doctor, as you say, but what is to be done," 
 he queried? 
 
 "We can't recall the past," I said to him, "nor undo, 
 wholly, the mischief that has been wrought, but we, who 
 still have opportunities, may begin to do our duty in these 
 matters, starting an influence that will spread and extend 
 and accomphsh much good. The damage wrought to the 
 delicate and complex sexual and nervous system may not 
 be removed in a day, a week, nor a month, but persistency 
 and time will do much towards restoring you to a normal 
 condition. You can never be the man that you would have 
 been, but you will not realize it. We can't miss that which 
 we have never had. We can discover our weakness and 
 defects, and life may be a failure, but vain regrets accom- 
 plish . nothing. The wail, "If I had known." will not 
 counteract the evil effects of self-abuse. Making the best 
 of our knowledge and opportunities is the best that we can 
 do," I said to him. 
 
 Here treatment: Too much reliance must not be 
 placed in drugs. Swallowing drugs is not the all of treat- 
 ment. 
 
 In the first place, the mental department must be 
 cleansed and cleared up. Wholesome and interesting — 
 absorbing, if possible — employment must be found. The 
 mind must be occupied with wholesome thoughts, to the 
 exclusion of everything that pertains to sexual matters and 
 indulgences. To such individual, sexual matters should 
 be as though they were .not. 
 
 With clean hands, clean head, and clean heart, the 
 victim may turn with radiant hope and confidence toward 
 brighter days. 
 
 Secondly: The character of the diet must receive 
 attention; The allowance of meat must be light and as 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE ill 
 
 Kttle heating and stimulating as possible. Pork, in any 
 form, is objectionable. Fruits, vegetables, etc., may be 
 eaten and made to constitute a large part of the diet. 
 Certainly tobacco and all stimulating drinks should be 
 eschewed. In case of constipation, the bowels should be 
 cleared out with epsom salt, at least twice a week. 
 
 Thirdly: The penis and scrotum should be well bathed 
 before retiring, with a solution of epsom salt and potassium 
 bromide. Pour into a suitable bowl or basin, half gallon 
 of water, throw in single handful of salt (epsom), half tea- 
 spoonful of potassium bromide. Before retiring, bath the 
 genitals (privates), around the hips, and lower part of the 
 spine, with the prepared solution, for from fifteen to thirty 
 minutes. Rub dry with a Turkish towel and retire, repeat- 
 ing to yourself, "I shall sleep all right tonight; I shall have 
 no bad dreams; I shall feel all right tomorrow morning;" 
 nor permit yourself to doubt, for a m.oment, the truth of 
 these suggestions. (The influence of mind over matter and 
 the power of suggestion, haven't yet been worked out, but 
 it appears, the time is approaching, when the mastery of 
 mind over matter will be a daily demonstrated fact.) 
 
 But heed! No feathers under you. Sleep on a firm 
 mattress, and on your right side, never on your back, till 
 lascivious dreams are no more. 
 
 In case of turning on the back during sleep, tie a string 
 or a strip of muslin to a rough, irregular- surfaced stone, 
 about as large as a green walnut or hen egg, and adjust 
 it to the back, by tying the string around the waist in a way 
 that will prevent turning on the back during sleep, or rather 
 wake the individual who turns on the back, under the cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 In the event of failure of the means thus far advised, 
 what then ? Make a ring of a piece of stout leather, about 
 a half inch wide (don't lap the ends of the leather in mak- 
 ing the ring; fit these together and fasten). Make several 
 holes in the ring with an awl, and into these holes push 
 sharpened wooden pegs, about a quarter of an inch apart, 
 projecting from the inner surface of the ring about three- 
 sixteenths of an inch. Such a ring of the proper size, 
 placed on the penis, when retiring, and held there by a 
 string which encircles the waist, will cause no pain until 
 
tii LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 erection occurs, when the projecting pegs will surely rouse 
 the sleeper in time to prevent an emission. 
 
 Relative to internal treatment. Hyoscine, hydrobromide 
 in pill, gr. 1-120 to i-ioo, at bed-time, will generally check 
 seminal emissions, and is safe, provided you observe 
 directions as to the quantity. 
 
 Many physicians regard hyoscine hydrobromide as the 
 king of all preparations for seminal emissions. 
 
 Belladonna tincture, gradually increased, from five to 
 fifteen drops, is quite effective. 
 
 Next in importance and effectiveness, comes potassium 
 bromide, which may be taken in twenty-grain doses, well 
 diluted, at bed-time, occasionally, except where there is 
 weakness. 
 
 Many others might be mentioned, but to no advantage. 
 I have mentioned the best. 
 
 Many a poor, ignorant boy has been frightened out of 
 his wits by finding out that he had been wrecking himself 
 by self-abuse. And a little plain and kind talk would have 
 saved many a boy weeks and months of anxiety and 
 dread, and sent him on the road to health and happiness. 
 
 Alas! Alas! ! the boy! the boy! ! the hand! the hand! ! 
 the penis! the penis! ! To what unrighteous and degrad- 
 ing uses the organs and members of the body may be put! 
 Shame! Pity! Oh, Ignorance! thou art truly the Arch- 
 Fiend of the human race. When will parents and those 
 in authority wake up to a sense of their duty in these matters 
 to their charges! Children look to their parents for en- 
 lightenment and guidance and construe their silence and 
 indifference into approval. 
 
 They learn ruinous habits from the ignorant, vicious, 
 and unfortunate, and reason that, if wrong, their parents 
 would have informed them. Their reasoning seems logical, 
 but alas! for results. 
 
 A question: If all parents lived right, and performed 
 their duty towards the young, how many ignorant and 
 vicious would there be to corrupt the innocent and unsus- 
 pecting? Let Mr. and Mrs. Prudery answer. Many 
 sexual sins, plus wretchedness and woe, plus wasted energy, 
 plus wasted lives, lie at their door. Where there is chastity, 
 there is little need of medicine for seminal emissions. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 1x3 
 
 Seimnal emissions result from disturbance and excitation 
 of the sexual apparatus. And, moreover, an occasional 
 emission (once a week or less) with the strong and well, 
 need occasion no alarm, and, with right living, will soon 
 cease. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 LIBERTINISM— FAILURE 
 
 I have heard thoughtless and carnal-minded men 
 boast, in the presence of boys, of the number of times 
 they had repeated the sexual act in a month, a week, a 
 night, with seemingly no more regard for decency or 
 results, than their half brother, the hog, whose exploits, 
 on these lines, exhibit more respect for virtue and temper- 
 ance, than these men. . 
 
 All intelligent and well-informed physicians and inves- 
 tigators know that Hbertinism and failure are synonomous 
 terms; that sexual excesses weaken, lower, degrade, and 
 rob one of the proudest and best attributes of man- 
 Such men as these referred to here, do incalculable 
 harm. Such remarks as theirs sink deep into the mmds 
 of the young and, later, bear fruit, and such fruit Un- 
 fortunate the day to that poor, ignorant, susceptible boy 
 who hears those damnable and damning remarks. Instead 
 of preaching chastity and temperance, and boasting of self- 
 mastery, and their abiUty to practice continence, and 
 expatiate on the riches and blessings of chastity and tem- 
 perance, they preach the ruinous doctrine of debauchery. 
 Otempora! O mores'. 
 
 And you will hear other remarks of other men, and they 
 will be as damnable and damning as these I have cited. 
 Stop your ears and turn from them. The hope of the 
 race lies not with the libertine, nor is it at all likely you will 
 learn one grand lesson from them. Could you follow 
 such to the terminus of their earthly career, and weigh 
 and measure heartaches, pangs of remorse, the bitterness 
 of the fruits of a misspent life, you would learn a valuable 
 lesson, and be enabled to realize the importance of these 
 remarks of mine. 
 
 Instead of trying how many times the sexual act may 
 be repeated, the really wise person will adopt the opposite 
 course, and try how temperate he can be. Whoever doubts 
 
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n6 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 the wisdom of these remarks, hasn't learned all there is 
 to learn. 
 
 The remarks of this page refer to the married. I am 
 not here writing relative to illegitimate indulgence outside 
 of wedlock, though some of these remarks are specially 
 applicable to unlawful indulgence. 
 
 Many men have yielded to the sex-instinct till the 
 phrase, sexual slavery, expresses fully and appropriately 
 their state and condition in life. 
 
 The sex-instinct in man's case, has been cultivated and 
 abused till it can no longer be trusted; and may be likened 
 to a capricious and treacherous tyrant. 
 
 What we know, we have to learn, and, as a rule, the 
 young find it easier to learn what they shouldn't know, 
 than what they should, and, unfortunately, in the great 
 school of the world, they often have vicious, and corrupt 
 teachers. Be careful of whom you learn. 
 
 The scent of the pole-cat, due to the secretion of an oily 
 substance at the base of the tail, is said to be quite unbear- 
 able to the human olfactories. This odorous substance, 
 'tis said, they throw on an unwelcome intruder with their 
 tails, and that it is a scent exceedingly difficult to get rid of. 
 
 This may be — and doubtless is — all true, but mark 
 you, the odor of the pole-cat is far preferable to the odor 
 of some men and much easier gotten rid of, if it took ten 
 year's washing, a ton of soap, and a change of climate to 
 free one's-self from it. 
 
 Flee from the libertine and corrupt. The pole-cat 
 may destroy a suit of clothes, and render it necessary to 
 shave the head — time will remedy all this — but the All- 
 Wise only knows whether or not time will ever counteract 
 the ruinous impressions of evil associates. 
 
 I say unto you with the anxiety, and authority, and 
 solicitude of a father, flee from such as you would from 
 the tiger, the lessons they are teaching you will certainly 
 prove your ruin. 
 
 If I could present to you, in a body, the great number 
 of moral, mental and physical wrecks — due to sexual 
 excesses and abuses — now going from doctor to doctor, 
 drugstore to drugstore, in search of a remedy for "lost 
 ijaai^hood^" and you could hear their's and the doctor's 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 117 
 
 talk, unless already doomed by impenetrable stupidity or 
 perverseness, you would learn a lesson, I think, that would 
 last you to the grave, and beyond the grave, if lessons 
 extend so far. Nor is that all, but lessons which would 
 enable you to preserve your health and life to an age never 
 attained by the sexual pervert or libertine. 
 
 Nor should I omit the fact that thousands of dollars 
 pass annually, through the mails, to those people who 
 advertise so extensively in the newspapers, etc., their rem- 
 edies for "lost manhood," impotency, etc. The adver- 
 tisers of such remedies do a thriving business, due solely 
 to man's ignorance — sexual sins, beginning often during 
 the tender years of boyhood. 
 
 You shall not drift, through ignorance, into this class. 
 If you should drift at all, it shall be per force of perverse- 
 ness. In case of innate, dominant, and incorrigible per- 
 verseness, you will have to grind out the grist. And may 
 the Great Spirit look upon you with a pitying eye. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 CONSTIPATION 
 
 Auto-toxemia, auto-toxia, auto-intoxication, auto-infec- 
 tion are terms that are now frequently found in prominent 
 places in medical literature, and all mean about the same — 
 seK-poisoning from constipation. 
 
 Constipation means inertia — torpidity of the bowels 
 — involving the retention of excrement — refuse matter — 
 feces in the bowel, such retained matter being absorbed into 
 the system, poisoning it. 
 
 You know there are organs in the body whose function 
 it is to collect and discharge from the body, worn out and 
 waste material, which, if retained in the system, produces 
 various morbid conditions, termed disease; pains, aches, 
 muscular soreness, rheumatism, neuralgia, weakness, feted 
 breath, indigestion, and indirectly, death, constituting 
 some of the symptoms and effects of constipation. Surely, 
 if constipation causes all these troubles and suffering, it is 
 worthy of earnest attention. Even as grave diseases as 
 cancer and tuberculosis have been attributed to retention 
 in the system of poisonous fecal matter. 
 
 Pages on pages have been written in recent years on 
 this subject, in efforts to win attention to the matter pro- 
 portioned to its importance. 
 
 If the millions of persons who have gone down into 
 premature graves — indirect results of constipation — had 
 had comprehension of the causes and effects of costiveness 
 of the bowels, plus a willingness to shun the causes, they 
 would have lived to attain a much more advanced age, 
 and been worth much more to themselves and the 
 world. 
 
 To consistently and intelligently shun a trouble, it is 
 necessary to know the cause of the trouble. 
 
 Here a brief enumeration of the causes of constipation: 
 Dyspepsia; character of the food; habits of the patient; 
 diseases of the stomach and liver; malaria; lead poisoning; 
 etc., etc. 
 
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xao LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 It seems desirable to be more explicit, and to go more 
 into detail. One prolific cause of constipation is putting 
 off till a more convenient time. This is a great mistake. 
 Natural inclinations and sensations may be resisted and 
 ignored till nature will cease to knock. Promptness and 
 regularity in responding to the demands of nature, pay 
 handsomely. 
 
 Nature's demands may not be ignored with im- 
 punity. 
 
 Nature will surely, sooner or later, in one way or another, 
 punish the offender. Nature cannot be cheated. 
 
 Much sitting, that is, a sedentary life usually induces 
 constipation. The system becomes sluggish and slow in 
 action. 
 
 Superfine flour, coffee, tea, etc. induce constipation. 
 Fast eating with imperfect mastication constitutes another 
 fruitful cause. 
 
 Hoping I have said enough to enable you to appreciate 
 the importance of the subject and guard against the evils 
 and ills of constipation, I shall close the chapter with a 
 few remarks relative to treatment. 
 
 For immediate relief, when the matter has been ne- 
 glected, a quart, or less, of warm water from a syringe of 
 sufl&cient size — ^none better than a fountain syringe — will 
 do the work speedily. 
 
 To avoid irritation of the bowel, the point of the tube 
 should be well oiled with some bland substance — lard, 
 vaseline, or castor-oil will answer the purpose. Before 
 being introduced into the bowel, a little water should be 
 allowed to escape from the tube, that all air may be ex- 
 pelled. 
 
 No harm — and often much benefits-will result from 
 an occasional use of the syringe, but it is far better to be 
 without occasion for it use. 
 
 In regard to the use of pills, etc., for constipation, I 
 here insert the formula of a good, effective tablet I've been 
 prescribing for years, with very satisfactory results. 
 
 An anti-constipation pill or tablet, composed of the 
 Extract cascara sagrada 
 Extract nux vomica 
 Extract belladonna leaves 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE lai 
 
 Powdered ipecac 
 Podophyllum resin. 
 
 Dose: One or two at bedtime. 
 
 One may be taken before each meal, when needed. 
 
 This is a good tablet and may be procured at any- 
 up-to-date drug store. 
 
 The fluid extract of cascara sagrada, in J teaspoonful 
 doses or less is harmless and good, for habitual consti- 
 pation. 
 
 Or equal parts of sublimed sulphur and socotrine 
 aloes, one No. i capsule at bed time. That is, one No. i 
 capsule filled with the mixture of aloes and sulphur. 
 
 And this brings to mind a great number of persons, 
 male and female, all over the world, who suffer from 
 hemorrhoids (piles) unnecessarily. 
 
 Hemorrhoids is one of the results of constipation, and, 
 like most of the ills of human creatures, is avoidable. If 
 avoidable, why so many cases? In the answer to that 
 question may be found the answer to many which arise in 
 connection with the afflictions of humanity — ignorance plus 
 indifference, an answer I have written before in this book. 
 Not always ignorance; often perserveness and unwilling- 
 ness to practice self-denial. 
 
 To avoid the piles, it is only necessary as a rule, to 
 avoid constipation. Keeping the bowels regular, the first 
 noticeable irritation about the anus should receive, after 
 bathing with water and drying, an application of a good 
 pile-ointment, which should be repeated twice or thrice 
 a day, if necessary. Indeed, if applied in the incipient 
 stage, plain vaseline will prove sufficient. Attention to 
 these simple directions will often save from a great deal 
 of trouble. I have just read an article in a paper so closely 
 related to the lines I have just written, I am induced to 
 include, that you may profit by them. 
 
 "Thoughtlessness Brings Premature Death." 
 
 An old schoolmate of mine passed away lately. 
 She was 64 years old. She was an active woman and 
 certainly should have lived 20 or 30 years longer. 
 
 "Her mother is still living, well and strong, and came 
 on the cars to the funeral. 
 
 "This woman did not die of any well-defineddisease. 
 One doctor pronounced it one thing, and another, another. 
 
122 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 The fact is, she had long been a sufferer from neglected 
 constipation, and the piles. There you have it in plain 
 English. This woman was well educated and intelligent 
 and yet, died prematurely, and of a preventable disease. 
 
 "She died of self -poisoning from constipation — the 
 absorption of poisonous waste retained in the bowel. 
 
 "Better take an injection, or pills, than to be constipated. 
 
 "But it is vastly better yet to so live that the bowels will 
 always move freely and fully in a natural way. 
 
 "And there are hundreds of thousands of people in ill 
 health, in various forms, from continued constipation, 
 self -poisoning." 
 
 The gospel I have preached to you, all through this 
 book, in my feeble and faulty way is: Learn Nature and 
 follow her. Live close to Nature. 
 
 I thought I had written my last word under this chapter, 
 but it seems proper to add a few more — lines from a Health 
 Journal: 
 
 "The colon (lowest part of the bowels) is a veritable 
 Pandora's box out of which springs a multitude of human 
 ills. 
 
 "Roger, in a recent work, tabulates i6o different species 
 of bacteria which grow in the human intestine. Nearly- 
 half of these are poison — forming germs which produce 
 deadly toxins in great variety. 
 
 "Quite a large number of diseases are thought to result 
 from the absorption of these poisons. Hence the im- 
 portance of keeping the bowels in a sanitary condition. 
 In addition to keeping the bowels regular by the means 
 elsewhere mentioned, a thorough washing out of the colon 
 (lower bowel) with slightly salt water as warm as can be 
 borne, administered through a fountain syringe, at least 
 once a week, will materially aid in maintaining a healthy 
 state of the alimentary canal." 
 
 As a parting word, shun the causes of constipation, 
 and in so doing you well escape the ills which result from 
 constipation, which further means better health, longer 
 life, and more money in your pocket. Better pay the 
 doctor to keep you will, than to have to employ him to 
 cure you. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 FETID BREATH 
 
 The breath of very few adults is, at all limes, pleasant, 
 and in many cases, never, and in quite a number, fetid- 
 foul. Nor is the breath of all children free from fetor. 
 And the breath of not a few adults and children, is quite 
 unbearable. It is needless to say, such condition of the 
 breath is unnatural, undesirable, and an indication that 
 there is something wrong somewhere, and that it is time 
 to pause and overhaul the body for the cause or causes. 
 
 Nor is the fetor of the breath the only feature of the 
 matter worthy of attention. The relation it bears to the 
 physical welfare of the individual, becomes a matter of 
 anxious concern. 
 
 Such breath is due to several causes, and frequently 
 means that the health is at stake, and is being insidiously 
 underminded, and that one is surely hastening the day 
 when the undertaker and grave-digger will be called into 
 requisition. 
 
 The normal man says Hfe is worth living, and if it is, 
 it is worth li\'ing as long as possible. 
 
 So, in looking after the causes of bad breath, one is 
 looking also after the health and Hfe. 
 
 The causes of bad breath: Decayed teeth, nasal 
 catarrh, and indigestion, plus constipation. 
 
 The proper treatment and removal of these causes will 
 reheve )ou of the .effects, fetid breath being one of them. 
 
 I write you elsewhere relative to treatment. 
 
 No matter how beautiful, accomplished, and entrancing 
 a young woman may be, offensive breath will cool the 
 ardor of the most infatuated captive and wooer. 
 
 Nor is less to be said in regard to oft'ensive breath on 
 the part of the young man w^hen it has to be endured by 
 a young woman. There are many reasons that fetid 
 breath should be remedied. 
 
 The breath of the lower animals never acquires the 
 fetor of that of human beings. WTiy is this? Untram- 
 
 123 
 
134 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 melled, they are guided by unerring instinct; live closer 
 to nature. Shall we say that instinct is superior to human 
 judgment and a wiser guide? In these matters, it would 
 seem to be the case. 
 
 Man has abused and perverted his nature, and ignored 
 the warnings, promptings, and urgings of nature, till 
 instinct, in his case, has ceased to point, with unerring 
 finger, the way he should go. Instinct has been an infal- 
 lible guide within the province of its operations, but man*s 
 perverseness and heedlessness, and head-longness, have 
 suppressed and distorted instinct, in his own case, till 
 instinct has become an atrophied, if not a negative factor. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 A SHORT-SIGHTED MARRIAGE 
 
 As remarked elsewhere in these pages, "Parentage is 
 a privilege of which few, indeed, are worthy." 
 
 He is a dull farmer and stock-raiser indeed, who, when 
 looking for animals with which to renew or increase his 
 stock, pays no attention to pedigree or physical condition. 
 
 Should one exercise all of his faculties in the selection 
 of stock for breeding purposes, and put down the brakes 
 on the intellect when looHng for a wife and mother for his 
 children ? 
 
 Such course implies marvelous myopia and blindest 
 disregard for the highest interests of the human family. 
 
 Do physical and mental conditions, plus symmetry and 
 poise, play so insignificant a part in the progress and hap- 
 piness of the human race, the blindness of Cupid becomes 
 a matter of supreme indifference? On the contrary, the 
 race cannot put out of the question physical and mental 
 conditions and progress. The eyeless condition of Cupid 
 is a matter of supremest importance. We cannot look to 
 degenerates and defectives for the highest ideals or loftiest 
 attainments, or even an ordinary life. Costly in the 
 extreme has been the course of the short-sighted and 
 thoughtless in this extremely momentous matter. Pain, 
 disease, suffering, sorrow, disappointment, death, are a 
 part of the fruits of such course. 
 
 Here is a pertinent case from my own observation: 
 **ril marry her if she has to be held on her feet while the 
 nuptials are performed." These words were spoken by 
 a young man just on the threshold of his career, with all 
 the grand and glorious possibilities of life ahead of him. 
 He was blessed with health and strength and fine constitu- 
 tion. And with concentration, fixedness of purpose, 
 determination, plus prudent living, a high mark in the 
 temple of fame was attainable. 
 
 But marry the invalid, he would and did. Handi- 
 capped himself at the very portals of young manhood. 
 
 13^ 
 
126 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Took upon bis shoulders a burden that was sure to bear 
 him down and weight his wings, so to speak, and impede 
 his progress. 
 
 In an attempt to compute results, I pause. I cannot 
 see far enough into the future. The intervening veil is 
 impenetrable. The waves on which the seed have been 
 sown, spread, widen and extend to the eternal shore. As 
 to immediate and measurable results, I may speak: 
 Weakly, sickly, children: pain, want, suffering, doctors; 
 medicine, medicine, medicine; work, work for the medi- 
 cine, for the doctors; work without sleep, rain or shine. 
 Work on poorly prepared food, and not infrequently 
 scanty, to say nothing about quality. 
 
 Dirt, rags, over the floor, in the corners; pigs, chickens, 
 eating with the children. Enough, though only a part. 
 When and where will the mischief of that ill-starred mar- 
 riage end ? 
 
 This is one case of many, with slight variations. 
 
 This young man who would marry the frail girl and 
 invalid, complains: ^'I am having hard luck. It seems 
 to me it is not fair. My early companions appear to 
 prosper and are getting something out of life. I can't under- 
 stand why fate should be so hard on me." 
 
 Poor fellow! he hasn't yet learned the difference between 
 the exercise of intelligence and the predomination of blind 
 passion. When unfit and unworthy persons become 
 parents, has intelligence triumphed — been the moulding 
 and making power ? Should matters of so much importance 
 be left to lust? When children are born with a predis- 
 position to viciousness and depravity, hasn't some one 
 sinned? Where lies the blame? Shall we rigidly and 
 determinedly close our eyes to the obvious facts of the pres- 
 ent and the future, and walk with hand over ears into the 
 fitch ? Are we impelled in these matters by inexorable 
 date? 
 
 If the defective children of the world, whose lives must, 
 perforcs of inheritance and environment, prove failures, 
 were to turn upon their parents and exclaim: Look at usl 
 Behold your sins ! Aren't you ashamed of them! Remove 
 them from us! We don't want them! They are not of 
 our willing or doing! Free us of them! We are entitled 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 127 
 
 to strong, healthy, happy bodies! Oui defects and fail- 
 ures lie at your door! They (the parents) would begin to 
 realize the extent and enormity of their sinning plus that 
 of their parents. 
 
 The defective and unhappy children of the world con- 
 stitute an accusing nemesis which should bring us to reflec- 
 tion. But how many read aright the pathetic page pre- 
 sented by these children? Many, alas! still looking 
 through the veil of superstition, see it all as the work of 
 God. 
 
 The fact that, properly mated, you have the power to 
 beget and launch upon the trying sea of life, a new crea- 
 ture, is a tremendous fact. Think of the pain, sorrow and 
 suffering that may result from the act — face the question: 
 Are you living a fife that will fit you for the great responsi- 
 bilities of parenthood ? Too little thought is given these 
 matters. 
 
 Shouldn't we, first, well consider so important a matter 
 before taking the step? I am trying to induce you to 
 think. There is no hope for the boy who will not think. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 FLIES— INFECTION 
 
 For ages, the fly with which we are so familiar, and 
 that has accompanied man through all his mundane 
 meanderings, has been carrying, unsuspected, the germs 
 of disease and death from one to another, and from the 
 excreta of the lower animals, and man, to man. 
 
 By slow and painful and costly processes man has had 
 to discover his enemies and learn how to protect and guard 
 himself against the innumerable and multidentate foes that 
 everywhere beset his path. 
 
 In ancient times, according to Greek legend, when an 
 infant was born, the gods and goddesses visited it, and 
 bestowed upon it rich gifts and blessings. Zeus bestowed 
 majesty; Aphrodite, beauty and grace; Hercules, strength; 
 Diana, chastity and virtue; and Athene, knowledge and 
 wisdom — the best of all. 
 
 That is a beautiful Httle story; I love to dwell on it, and 
 could wish that this little story was true, and that all the 
 children of men could be thus highly favored. But instead, 
 man begins his career with few of these blessings. While 
 lying asleep in the cradle, along comes a fly from the cess- 
 pool, hog-pen, moribund, plague-stricken patient, freighted 
 with death-dealing germs, and deposits a number up the 
 child's nose, corners of the child's eyes, mouth, or in 
 a brake of the skin, or some exposed part of the child's 
 body. Nor has the infant been the sole victim of the fly's 
 deadly work; no age has possessed immunity: hoary heads; 
 heads of the teen-period-all-have been sacrificed upon the 
 altar of ignorance — all ages have contributed freely to the 
 sacrificial altar in homage to the fly. 
 
 We now know that these apparently innocent creatures, 
 so difficult to debar from our homes, and to keep from our 
 food, have not persisted in accompanying us to bless and 
 protect us, as good genii are fabled to do, and have to their 
 credit an appalling mortality list. 
 
 129 
 
130 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 We see again that knowledge is the beautiful and de- 
 sirable thing of the world, and that the absence of it means 
 disease and death. 
 
 Conformity to law insures life and health. But how 
 is one to conform to law, without knowledge of the law? 
 One may conform, accidently, to law and benefit thereby, 
 but risking one's safety and well-being to accident, would 
 seem out of harmony with the law of wisdom. Making 
 life and well-being dependent upon the observance of 
 unknown lav/, would seem to be a cruel dispensation, and 
 yet this seems to have been the fate of man. 
 
 The ancients believed disease to be caused by evil 
 spirits, and prayed to Jehovah or the idols for deliverance. 
 Oftimes the fly was the winged spirit that brought the 
 devils that possessed them. Through long ages of travail, 
 poor, ignorant man has struggled. 
 
 Seeing that nature punishes her children for the dis- 
 regard of laws of which they have no knowledge, would 
 seem to warrant us in charging her with cruelty to her 
 children. The blow frequently precedes the warning — 
 cruel fate. 
 
 And here, I would quote, 'Tt is perfectly right that 
 ignorance should have oppressive concomitants, else there 
 would be nothing gained by the acquisition of knowledge. 
 'AH is good,' when considered from the universal view- 
 point, but all is not good in the sense that is conducive to 
 the welfare of the individual, as the good of the race de- 
 mands that the inferior individual must at times be sac- 
 rificed that the superior individual may receive due reward." 
 
 As I have already stated, the fly has ever been man's 
 enemy — is found most abundant where filth is most abun- 
 dant — and has worked in conjunction with the other in- 
 numerable foes at man's destruction. 
 
 'Tis said that flies cause, in New York City annually, 
 650 deaths from typhoid fever and about 7,000 deaths from 
 other diseases. A pretty creditable showing for the flies 
 of one city. Add to these their work of all the cities of 
 the upion, and you will begin to realize the destructiveness 
 and cost of the fly to the human family, and their worth 
 to the doctor and the undertaker, plus the fact that it would 
 be much cheaper to kill flies. Remember, flies thrive best 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 131 
 
 in filth; flies and cleanliness dwell not together. When 
 you see the fly crawHng about on your victuals, he still has 
 his boots on, remember, and that his latest feasts, as a 
 pedestrian, were not accomplished on a sweet greensward. 
 By all means, keep files from food. 
 
 Relative to the number of deaths of babies due to 
 fly-infected-milk, conservative estimates put the number 
 at 200,000 annually in this country, saying nothing about 
 the deaths of older children and '' grown-ups." Isn't that 
 something to think about? 
 
 Dogs, cats, and other animals should not be allowed 
 to stay where people stay. As another has said, "the 
 indictment of our invisible foes might be extended in- 
 definitely," but what I have said should suffice. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 ''WEARY WILLIE" 
 
 ''You lazy, worthless, good-for-nothing fellow; you are 
 not worth the salt you eat." 
 
 These remarks were made by a farmer to a young 
 fellow he had hired to help him on the farm. 
 
 Poor fellow! He must look elsewhere for bread, the 
 farmer dosen't want him any longer. 
 
 He belongs to the "Weary Willie" class. 
 
 There being no effect without a cause, there must be 
 a cause for this fellow's weariness and worthlessness. 
 
 Why should there be a "Weary Willie" class? Is the 
 "Weary Willie" class a normal and essential constituent 
 of the human race? These are significant questions, and 
 he who sees nothing in them, should look again, and again, 
 and with the assurance that the more he looks, the more 
 he will see. The truth often blazes all over the surface, but 
 there are no eyes to see it. Again, we have to go down, 
 down, deep to find it. 
 
 Full answer to the preceding questions is desirable, 
 and would be highly profitable, and would be answer to 
 many other important and appealing questions. 
 
 The "Weary Willie" fellow was self-created. O no! 
 According to the so-called orthodox theology, he was 
 created by God. Then, shall we say, God created "Weary 
 WiUie," but did not create him. What sort of paradox 
 is this? "Weary WiUie" exists, but was not self -created, 
 nor created by God. "Nonsense," says orthodoxy. God 
 created "Weary Willie." 
 
 God created "Weary Willie." Then if God created 
 "Weary Willie," God must be responsible for "Weary 
 Willie." The creator of a thing must be responsible for 
 the thing. "But hold on, God created Willie, but not 
 " Weary Willie," says orthodoxy. " God's creations," says 
 orthodoxy, "are perfect; God doeth all things well." 
 
 Here, it seems, we encounter difficulty. "God's 
 works," say the orthodox, "are perfect." God created all 
 
 133 
 
134 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 things, including ''Willie," but not ''Weary Willie." 
 Then if God didn't create the "Weary" part of Willie, we 
 must look elsewhere for the author of this part of the name, 
 and this defect of the boy, for defect it surely is. And here 
 is where we so often err in judgment and in unkindness 
 of treatment. 
 
 There is a cause for all things, weariness plus laziness, 
 plus wickedness, plus everything. 
 
 We hastily condemn without thinking of the cause. 
 
 In "Weary Willie's" case, the farmer didn't concern 
 himself the least in regard to the cause of "Weary WiUie's" 
 worthlessness, etc. And thus it is with the world to a 
 large extent. We should consider causes. A\1iy was 
 "Weary Willie" a worthless, ambitionless fellow? The 
 answer to this question throws a flood of light upon in- 
 numerable cases and conditions, and merits earnest atten- 
 tion and consideration. 
 
 Put all the questions pertaining to the "Weary Willie" 
 class into this one question: Who or what is responsible 
 for "Weary Willie's" worthlessness? 
 
 This is another question I desire to answer; this is 
 another question to which there is great need of answer. 
 
 The world sees, in part, conditions and states, con- 
 demns or approves, and passes on, never stopping to trace 
 effects to causes, and is necessarily unkind and unfair in 
 judgment and treatment. 
 
 Neither remedy nor justice is to be expected till causes 
 are recognized and their importance appreciated. 
 
 "Wearv Willie" was not responsible, nor blamable, 
 for his worthlessness. He did not create himself, nor 
 have anything to do with the fitting up of himseK. He 
 did not shape, mould nor construct any part of his body; 
 nor was he consulted as to the kind of disposition or pro- 
 clivities he was to have. Nature, plus environment, con- 
 structed him and put in his attributes, disposition, etc., 
 without his request, and without his knowledge. In other 
 words, he was the product of nature, plus environment, and 
 the best kind of boy that nature could make, under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 These are facts, I wish to drive home to the center of 
 your brain or cognitive faculties. Heed! ancestry, plus 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 135 
 
 environment, plus masturbation, plus ignorance, made this 
 poor fellow what he was. There is but one factor con- 
 nected with his case, over which he possessed any control 
 — masturbation — and relative to this, he practiced it in 
 ignorance of its sin and ruin. Poor fellow! more pitiable 
 than blamable. 
 
 And thus it is: the world goes on in its ignorance and 
 indifference, condemning, approving, suffering, dying. 
 
 I dare say, the farmer who discharged "Weary Willie" 
 with the words which begin the chapter, was then neglect- 
 ing to discharge his duty in these matters, to his own 
 progeny. 
 
 I once remarked to a preacher, your son is working at 
 the ruining of his constitution. "How so? WTiat do you 
 mean," he asked? "I mean," I said, "your son is practic- 
 ing masturbation, and it is beginning to exhibit its deadly 
 work." "No sir," he replied, "you are wrong. My son 
 has no such habit as that." "Have you ever talked with 
 him on the subject?" I asked. "No," he replied. 
 
 Time proved the truth of my remarks. Quite a num- 
 ber of similiar cases could be mientioned, but it is unneces- 
 sary. 
 
 A boy is not worthless from choice, but from neces- 
 sity; because of the operation of laws over which he has, 
 nor had, control. Through ignorance, he may have in- 
 duced worthlessness, but the worthlessness resulting from 
 the trend imparted by ancestry, plus environment, lies not 
 at his door. 
 
 Remove all the causes of worthlessness, worthlessness 
 will disappear. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 PNEUMONIA 
 
 Pneumonia is a very serious, because a very fatal 
 disease. A few words relative to the malady will not be 
 a mistake. Pneumonia prevails to an alarming extent 
 in some sections of the country, during some seasons of 
 the year, the cities coming in for a large share. 
 
 Every year this dread disease adds to its rapidly length- 
 ening Hst of slain. Pneumonia exhibits on its mortality 
 record the names of statesmen, lawyers, preachers, doc- 
 tors, farmers— names of persons of all ages, stations and 
 conditions of life. Tens of thousands of the children of 
 the earth have breathed their last in the grip of pneumonia. 
 Treatment to the present very unsatisfactory, and as varia- 
 ble and dissimilar as it could well be. 
 
 But my purpose is to instruct you in regard to the 
 causes of pneumonia. We again face bacteria, those 
 omnipresent creatures which seem to be man's unrelentmg 
 and unconquorable foe. 
 
 But the obvious and recognized causes of pneumonia 
 are those to which I would call your attention. Without 
 a knowledge of the causes of a thing or condition, one is 
 at the mercy of chance, a not very propitious situation. 
 
 Science insists that pneumonia is directly due to the 
 growth of a special germ in the lungs, and that these germs 
 are wide-spread, and may be encountered anywhere and 
 that no clime, age nor station of life, possesses immunity. 
 But as already stated, there are indirect causes— primary 
 causes— to be considered. What are they? Whatever 
 lowers vitality invites pneumonia. Living close to nature 
 and keeping up a high state of health repels disease of all 
 
 kinds. 
 
 Constipation, sedentary habits, feebleness of heart, 
 from imperfect use of the lungs, overheated rooms, breath- 
 ing vitiated air, overeating, the use of tobacco, stimulants, 
 etc., excessive venery (sexual indulgence), excessive toil, 
 exposure to inclement weather, sudden checking of per- 
 
 137 
 
138 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 spiration. These are the most potent and predisposing 
 causes of pneumonia. 
 
 Pneumonia germs cannot be destroyed, we are told, 
 but we may keep up a standard of health quite invulner- 
 able to their attacks. 
 
 A simple dietary, a clean alimentary canal, outdoor 
 exercise, plenty of sleep in cold pure air — temperance in all 
 things, and one may laugh at disease germs. 
 
 Man soon discovered that the lion and the bear and the 
 wolf, etc., were his enemies. These were obvious facts 
 and quickly learned, but for centuries, and centuries, dis- 
 ease germs fed upon his vitals before he became aware of 
 their existence. 
 
 If you would elude this dread disease and laugh at the 
 futile attacks of the pneumococci (pneumonia germ) and 
 continue to doff your hat with a glad and defiant smile 
 at the doctor and the undertaker, and go tripping sprightly 
 by the century milepost, shun the causes of disease and live 
 manfully for health and longevity. 
 
 A study of this chapter, plus the others, will enable you 
 to understand the causes of pneumonia and many other 
 diseases, and then, you will know how to avoid them. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 SEXUAL EXCESSES AND SINS 
 
 The following lines are addressed to you as married 
 men. Having seen, as a physician, so much of the de- 
 plorable results of sexual excesses, I realize the importance 
 of speaking to you on this vital and momentous subject, 
 with all the force and clearness at my command. 
 
 And those individuals, I may here remark, who object 
 to putting this class of literature in a book to young men 
 and youths, stand out as pitiable barriers and enemies 
 to human progress and attainment, and are making a 
 serious mistake. They, and we, are merely pigmies to 
 what we would have been, had previous ages and genera- 
 tions known, and performed their duty to their progeny- 
 posterity. 
 
 I say to you again— in the strongest and plainest words 
 possible— that you will make a grave mistake to regard 
 every sexual impulse or urge, that you may experience, as 
 a command of nature to indulge, or an indication that 
 you may safely indulge. AbiHty and readiness do not 
 necessarily imply need and advisabiUty. 
 
 Here is where thousands of men err. Thousands of 
 men, mistaking sexual urge for license and imperious 
 command of necessity, are hurrying themselves into de- 
 clining days and premature graves. 
 
 As a part of the fruits of cultivation and encourage- 
 ment of the sex-instinct, by your antecedents, the human 
 family is cursed with hyperesthesia (excessive sensibility) 
 and excitabihty of the sexual apparatus. Hence, instinct 
 can not now be trusted. Excessive venery, with its lengthen- 
 ing train of sorrowful attendants and fruitage, mark the 
 age. Without impressive warning and wholesome advice, 
 you will not be able to escape the woful results of un- 
 bridled passion. . 
 
 When streaks of gray begin to appear in your hair; 
 when wrinkles begin to depict upon your face the errors 
 of your life; when the decline of strength begins to declare 
 
 139 
 
140 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 the fact in tremulousness of arm and leg; when rigidity and 
 soreness of muscle begin to mark your movements, and 
 other evidences of decadence appear, you will then, per- 
 haps, begin to realize that you have been making mistakes, 
 forcing and imposing on nature, misinterpreting and other- 
 wise abusing nature; and you will them, doubtless, try 
 to reverse the wheel of time, and try to erase some of the 
 scars of an erroneous and artificial hfe, but it will be in 
 vain; you will not be able to accompHsh much. Too 
 late! Too late! will be the cry. Down and out, in a little 
 while, you vdll go as thousands before you, and the burden 
 of your lamentation will be: My father told me! My 
 father told me! Heed! Permit not sexuality to dominate 
 you. The sexual slave has a merciless master. Down, 
 down, down, is the course of the sexual slave. 
 
 The truth stares you in the face. Will you profit by 
 it ? The wise turn not away from facts that have cost the 
 world thousands of years and millions of money. Be 
 wise in time. 
 
 I insert here lines from a medical journal, relative to 
 sexual diseases, about which I have already written at 
 some length. It would not, however, be easy to exhaust 
 the subject, and it is one that has been sadly neglected, 
 which neglect has cost the world in suffering, life and 
 money, more than could, by any method, be measured. 
 But the world is waking up from its centuries of ignorance 
 and apathetic indifference, and is tearing the veil of false 
 modesty from its face, and beginning to recognize the 
 importance of grappling the sexual octopus. 
 
 "The shadow of the Period of Darkness — the Middle 
 Ages — ^is still upon us. Its cruel and perverted teachings 
 still have us in their grip. Its monkish asceticism, which 
 taught that our body is something worthless and particu- 
 larly that the genital system is something unclean, some- 
 thing to be ashamed of, notwithstanding that it is one of 
 the most important systems as far as the individual is 
 concerned and the most important system as far as our 
 social life and the perpetuation of the race is concerned. 
 Venereal diseases are at last beginning to be treated in 
 some colleges with that consideration which the importance 
 of the subject deserves; but purely sexual troubles, such 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 141 
 
 as masturbation, pollutions, spermatorrhea, sexual per- 
 version, etc., are still neglected. So far as suffering and 
 far-reaching importance is concerned, I declare emphatic- 
 ally that there is not a disease or a whole class of diseases 
 which is responsible for so much suffering, so much misery, 
 so much heart breaking as are the diseases of the sexual 
 system — and I do not except tuberculosis. 
 
 "Do you see yon disrupted home, where love and 
 peace reigned before and hell is reigning now? Do you 
 see that business man who is steadily and unexplainably 
 losing his grip on the details of his affairs, is losing his 
 appetite and his sleep and will soon have to be sent to 
 a sanitarium for repairs? See you that refined woman 
 who has every material comfort imaginable and is never- 
 theless wasting away, becoming pale, irritable, melancholic , 
 and will soon be — if nothing is done to help her — a con- 
 firmed hypochondriac? Do you see that wan-looking 
 bookkeeper, who, formerly an expert, is now unable to 
 keep a position for any length of time, because he is mixing 
 his figures so. Do you see that bright young boy who 
 is losing both brightness and energy to such an extent that 
 his parents are afraid he is running into consumption? 
 And how about that sweet young girl who was obliged to 
 give up college for reasons that nobody could explain? 
 And those hundreds of divorced couples? All this un- 
 speakable misery and suffering due to disorders of the 
 sexual system. And the pity of it is that all of it or the 
 greater part of it, could have been avoided, if not for two 
 things — ^if the patients had not been afraid, ashamed to 
 ask for advice. 
 
 "Let us throw off the stupid prudery of the Middle 
 Ages which is kilHng thousands and making wretched 
 nervous wrecks of hundreds of thousands; for the sake 
 of humanity, let us devote ourselves earnestly to the study 
 of sexual diseases." 
 
 There should be no more hesitation in seeking advice 
 relative to sexual matters than others. No more shame 
 attaches to the sexual organs, properly used, than to the 
 heart or the lungs. Ignorance, false modesty, plus prudery 
 have been the parents of incomputable pain, sorrow, sick- 
 ness, weeping, waiHng, death. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 "The ordinance of marriage emanates from the Creator, 
 by whom we are commanded to marry. For this reason 
 it is considered honorable and right and proper among men 
 and should not be entered upon carelessly or wantonly, 
 nor without due consideration of the objects for which it 
 was originally ordained." 
 
 Reason should rule in these matters as in others; and 
 those who thrust reason aside, and shut their eyes tight to 
 all consequences, will surely and quickly come to grief. 
 
 As another of intelligence and experience has well said: 
 "Marriage is the foundation upon which the weKare of 
 society rests, the primitive source of morals, the nurse of 
 virtue and patriotism, the stay and support of governments. 
 In a word, no other social institution exercises so profound 
 an influence on the well-being of society. The obligations 
 of marriage are mutual and imperative. If deception is 
 practiced, those culpable will, sooner or later, receive 
 punishment in the disappointment of their pleasures, the 
 loss of their health, and the remorse of their own reflec- 
 tions." 
 
 If a man makes a hasty or thoughtless selection, the 
 fault is surely his own. Though it cannot be doubted that 
 warm and mutual affection is an essential condition to 
 married felicity, it must be remembered that passion is a 
 blind and treacherous guide, when not founded on well- 
 merited and well-defined respect. Now in regard to the 
 proper age to marry. As a general rule, we find the happiest 
 unions, where the man marries between twenty-five and 
 thirty-five, a woman six to eight years younger. 
 
 Were people more robust, as they might be, did they 
 live close to nature, it might be safe for them to marry 
 earlier than the ages mentioned; but take them on an aver- 
 age, as they are indulgence brings with it a serious day 
 of reckoning. Heed! Those who early give way to their 
 passions, barter their youth for their enjoyment, and become 
 
 143 
 
144 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 old and weary of the world at an age when they should be 
 in the prime of life and the pleasures of existence. Read 
 those lines again and again. 
 
 These are stubborn facts; and facts of supreme im- 
 portance and happy will be the rewards of those boys — 
 and girls too — who read these lines and square their lives 
 by them! 
 
 Men who marry too young, unless of cold and phleg- 
 matic constitutions, and moderate in their conduct, grow 
 old in a few years. And the same may be said of woman. 
 
 An additional word here relative to the selection of a 
 wife, a matter of supreme importance, whether con- 
 sidered with reference to the present or the future; your 
 own happiness or the happiness of posterity; a matter you 
 should earnestly consider before assuming the grave respon- 
 sibiUties thereof. 
 
 Look up the ancestry of the good and useful men of 
 the world. How many of them are the sons of society 
 butterflies- vain, frivolous girls? A true, sensible, sym- 
 pathetic helpmate is the need of man. 
 
 Heed! "His Choice." 
 
 "He used to dance with Annabel, who waltzed with witching grace; 
 He called upon Elizabeth, who had a pretty face; 
 And Aurelia he much admired — she'd written once a book — 
 But Oh, he married Mary Ann, for she knew how to cook; 
 
 He brought bouquets to Beatrice, and bon-bons to Babette, 
 The songs once sung by Sylvia, he thought he'd ne'er forget; 
 He oft made love to Lillian in cozy-corner nook — 
 But Oh, he married Mary Ann, for she knew how to cook! 
 
 "The maids who dance and sing and play, and dress in stylish clothes, 
 Who smile and flirt, and oft coquet, all have their share of beaux; 
 But when in earnest for a bride, the swain begins to look, 
 'Tis Mary Ann who wins the game, for she knows how to cook." 
 
 And still another: 
 
 "We may live without poetry, music and art;^ 
 We may live without conscience, and live without heart; 
 We may live without friends; we may live without books; 
 But civilized man cannot live without cooks." 
 
 Cooking, these Hnes teach, is a matter of no little 
 moment; nor is it in the estimation of most men. Charles 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 145 
 
 Lamb traces cooking back into remote ages, and to the 
 accidental roasting of some pigs; since which time man 
 has preferred cooked to raw victuals; hence the demand 
 for cooks. 
 
 Whether the story be true or not, "Civilized man can- 
 not do without cooks." 
 
 The poor, young man who marries a butterfly will not 
 be long in discovering that he has made a colossal mis- 
 take. Better leave the butterflies for the moneyed men, 
 or wait until you are able to employ a cook and house- 
 keeper, and then you would do better to marry a woman. 
 
 Heed! The man of advanced years who marries a 
 young woman, makes a serious mistake. If I said, he was 
 a fool, I should not be using language too strong. It seems 
 that a man of ordinary intelligence would know better. 
 There are many who fail to prove it. Not long since, I 
 heard a man of age, who had married a young woman, 
 say, "I made a mistake." 
 
 Of all the subjects I have discussed, or contemplate 
 discussing, in these lines to you, none transcend or equal 
 in importance, marriage. Marriage involves so much, 
 reaches so far into the future, is freighted with so much 
 weal and woe for the human family, it behooves us, as 
 intelligent beings to weigh well the matter before assuming 
 the grave responsibilities. To what I have said elsewhere 
 on the subject, I would add a few more lines. 
 
 "There comes a time in most young people's lives 
 when they lose all their natural common sense, and act 
 generally as though they were beside themselves. In 
 other words, they have the courting fever. For such and 
 others who may be exposed to the contagion, the following 
 is written: In the first place, courtship is a time for get- 
 ting acquainted, for finding out each other's hopes, ambi- 
 tions, opinions, ideas and theories, on and about any matter 
 which is likely to come before them during their future 
 partnership. Many act as if it were a time for conceal- 
 ment, for putting on shams and keeping up pretenses 
 which must be taken down as soon as the knot is tied. 
 That is why so many marriages end in disillutionment. 
 Be sensible, be yourself. Whatever else you^do; during 
 your courtship, be frank. If you are poor, don't ride out 
 
146 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 in a rubber-tired buggy^ don't dress on borrowed money, 
 don't give expensive presents or treats. Courting can be 
 carried on without money if the parties concerned have 
 a reasonable amount of common sense. Don't be afraid 
 to have your intended see you at work, or in your working 
 clothes. Do you not expect to work after you are married ? 
 Do you think you can be dressed in your best clothes all 
 the time then? Dress according to your means and your 
 work, donH try to seem what you are not. 
 
 Know each other's faults as well as virtues. You will 
 have to see them sometime, and the sooner the better for 
 all concerned. Don't try to hide them from each other. 
 Love is usually stronger before marriage than after, in 
 expectation than in realization; it will condone more. But 
 if you feel that your friend would not marry you if he or 
 she knew your faults, is not that the strongest reason in 
 the world for frankness, that you may avoid a marriage 
 which can only end unhappily. 
 
 Make your courting a time for friendship, not for 
 "spooning," be comrades. Only in this way can you 
 know each other as you should. Make friends of the 
 other members of the family. Remember that in marry- 
 ing one of a family you, in a sense, unite yourself with the 
 others. Are you willing to do it ? Make your own friend- 
 ship for your intended so strong that it will last throughout 
 your lives, whether you marry or not. If you cannot do 
 this during your courtship, you ought not to marry. A 
 marriage founded on friendship and the community of 
 interests which that fosters will last longer than one based 
 on a strong, sentimental attachment. There is another 
 thing to remember: Marriage is a contract, a partner- 
 ship; moreover, it is a partnership for life. If you are 
 going into a business partnership with another person of 
 your own sex for a term of years, you would insist upon 
 seeing and understanding the terms of the contract, and to 
 avoid possible disagreements, you would wish to be certain 
 that the other party understood them as you did. Then, 
 how much more important such a frank understanding is 
 when two people of opposite sex are contemplating a life 
 partnership. Make up your minds what you want to put 
 into the contract, what you are going to contribute towards 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE i47 
 
 the business partnership which is to be owned and con- 
 trolled in common, and then abide by your contract. 
 Don't expect to reform each other, the chances are that it 
 can't be done outside of a novel. Don't expect the marnage 
 vow to take away all your troubles; maybe it will only 
 be the beginning of them. 
 
 Don't have an expensive wedding, unless you can afiord 
 it. Cut out the honeymoon trip, if unable to afford it. 
 There is another point— don't get the idea in your head 
 that one or the other of you must be boss. There is no 
 more unfortunate person in the world than a boss-ruled 
 woman or a hen-pecked man. If you have based your 
 marriage on friendship and comradeship, you probably 
 won't make such mistake, if not, you may. Give each 
 other the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. 
 Some married people don't live, they exist. Don't make 
 your partner one of them. Cultivate patriotism, love of 
 home and country. Make your home worth loving. 
 Don't require some of its inmates to sink their individuahty 
 for the benefit of others; talk things over among yourselves, 
 and then be careful how you act. You are partners. 
 Give each other the rights you claim for yourselves. 
 Turn about is fair play, you know. 
 
 There is another thing that a young man ought to 
 remember, both in choosing a wife and afterwards: Great 
 men are the sons of great women, women of spirit, energy, 
 brains and character. Choose for your life friend a person 
 of solid worth. A nation may rise to power and glory but 
 if it enslaves its women, it cannot long flourish. Its men 
 are the sons of its women, like mother, like son. Boss- 
 ruled women in the homes, boss-ruled voters at the polls. 
 Take away the spirit and individuality from your wife 
 and you take it from your sons. Let married men who 
 are tempted to act "Caesar in their own homes" think of 
 this.* If all would observe these rules, there would be 
 fewer divorces, fewer domestic conflicts, jars, disturbances, 
 etc., and many more happy marriages. 
 
 These lines, with what I have written elsewhere, will 
 be sufiicient I hope, to enable you to shun the mistakes 
 thousands have made, and assist you in making a \vise 
 *The £VUthor of the quoted lines unknown to me. 
 
148 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 choice; or will you, in spite of all counsel, warning, admoni- 
 tion, marry in haste and repent at leisure. 
 
 If I could marshal the unfortunate and unhappy of 
 the married state, and have the mpass en masse before 
 you, the vastness and heterogeneity of the sorrowful, 
 mottle-minded crowd would help you to a just and ade- 
 quate conception of the magnitude and gravity of the sub- 
 ject. A large per cent of young people rush into matri- 
 mony blindfolded; a day of sober reckoning speedily 
 follows. Look well before you leap. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 JEALOUSY 
 
 Don't! Don't! ! Don't! ! ! In the name of Heaven, 
 Don't! ! ! 
 
 The world is wide and everywhere are pure, noble and 
 true women. Remember there are as good fish in the sea 
 as have ever been caught. Take deep, long breaths. Calm 
 yourself. Look into the future. Don't act rashly. Rash- 
 ness means regret. There's a better and a happier way. 
 The future cries, Wait! Reason cries. Reflect! Hope 
 cries, Peace ahead! "Vengeance is mine; I will repay," 
 saith the Lord. Many times blessed and fortunate the 
 man who is master of himself and can face difficulties and 
 temptations with a defiant smile. 
 
 The following case speaks for itself. It is a sad one 
 from every conceivable standpoint; one that tries men's 
 souls; and one I relate in order to discuss and to reason 
 about, and to call attention to what, seems to me, would 
 have proved in time, a much happier course. 
 
 Your future is veiled; I cannot lift the veil; I know not 
 what awaits you; no one is preparing you to wrestle wisely 
 with such problems as these. A little good and timely 
 advice along these lines, may be worth a great deal to you 
 in time. Who knows? Remember there is a better way 
 than that suggested by rashness. 
 
 *"A young man of excellent moral, social and financial 
 standing in his community espoused a society debutante, 
 the daughter of highly respectable and wealthy parents. 
 The marriage was a brilliant aflfair, the alliance giving 
 every promise of an abundance of happiness and plenty. 
 A year later a little daughter was born, and, the mother 
 being still in society (so-called), the child was cared for 
 almost solely by a nurse. The husband, who was not a 
 "society" man, often returned home from his business in 
 the evening sometime before the wife arrived from the 
 
 *I can't recall the author of the quoted lines. 
 
 149 
 
i^o LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 fashionable tea, the luncheon, the afternoon euchre, the 
 reception, or the matinee. 
 
 Matters progressed in about this manner for five or six 
 years, when by change of residence all mail matter ad- 
 dressed to the family had to pass through the husband's 
 office. There arrived alm-ost daily a letter addressed in 
 masculine chirography to the servant, *'Mary," which, as 
 a matter of course, was carried home by the husband and 
 handed to his wife without question or suspicion. If these 
 missives did not arrive daily with consistent regularity, it 
 caused the wife to inquire if a letter had not arrived that 
 day ''for Mary," which aroused the husband's suspicion 
 for the time being and resulted in some questioning; but 
 as nothing of special import was developed thereby, the 
 incident was allowed to pass and was apparently for- 
 gotten. Not long thereafter a telegram addressed to 
 the wife was inadvertently delivered at the office to the 
 husband and as he quite naturally assumed it contained 
 tidings from his little daughter, who was then away from 
 home, he opened it. 
 
 Imagine his surprise and horror when he beheld the 
 following: ''I will be in town this afternoon, meet me 
 four o'clock at three-thirty-three." The message was 
 signed simply by the initials, "C. A. C." The envelope 
 was carefully resealed and sent to his wife. The English 
 language is incapable of adequately expressing the intensity 
 of the surprise, disgrace, anger, jealousy and humiliation 
 experienced by the wronged husband when the full intent 
 and meaning of the appointment by telegraph became 
 apparent. Determined, however, to satisfy himself as to 
 the genuineness of the message and the guilt of his wife, 
 he produced a ''44" six-shooter and stationed himself 
 where he presumed the destination intended by the figures 
 ^^333'" ^^ ^ short while his wife arrived in a closed cab, 
 and entered the building. To say that the husband was 
 frantic would be putting it mildly. What he had witnessed 
 was almost beyond the power of human to befieve. After 
 the lapse of a few minutes he followed and found his wife 
 in bed with another man. He ceased not shooting until 
 the last bullet passed out of the smoking pistol he held 
 in his hand, into the body of his wife or her paramour. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 151 
 
 A few minutes and both were dead. The earthly career 
 of two erring creatures was abruptly closed. Into eternity 
 they passed without warning and without preparation. 
 Awful! What shall I say? What can I say? The jury 
 who tried the wronged husband — and shall I say mur- 
 derer? — pronounced him justifiable and acquitted him. 
 I admit that from a human standpoint the husband was 
 justifiable; but, under the circumstances, was it not awful 
 to send two beings abruptly into eternity? ''To err is 
 human, to forgive divine." 
 
 My object is to try to show you the shooting was a 
 great mistake; a serious and grave mistake, and that 
 there was a better and far more commendable way to settle 
 the matter. It is an a^vful thing to usher two souls into 
 the next sphere under such circumstances. Save in self- 
 defense, I cannot find justification for the slayer of one's 
 fellow man; and when it comes to the killing of one's wife, 
 leaving out self-preservation — one of nature's first laws — 
 I say, no! 
 
 Now, would it not have been a thousand times better, 
 more commendable, and more promotive of enduring peace 
 of mind and comfort of soul, if, when he found his wife 
 on that ever-to-be-regretted occasion, he had said to them, 
 "Villians! Scalawags! You are caught! I will not kill 
 you, though you deserve it. I leave you to your fate. 
 Go! Never let me see you more!" Yea, a thousand 
 times better and more satisfactory. Along the pathway 
 of life the thorns and thistles of regret will spring up, ever 
 and anon, and prick him; while, otherwise, the flowers of 
 gladness, beauty and peace would everywhere have greeted 
 him as he passed along. I repeat the words with which 
 I began this chapter, Don't! Don't! ! Don't! ! ! 
 
 The husband, in this case, and in all others of similar 
 import, should have reflected that he was blameless; that 
 there was nothing for which he could upbraid himself; 
 that there was still much of his life ahead of him with 
 roseate promises of wholesome enjoyment and peace. 
 Think of it. He was the murderer of his child's mother. 
 
 My pity for the wayward and erring grows apace with 
 my years. I cannot contemplate the piteous tragedy just 
 related with calmness or impassivity of mind. Burdened 
 
152 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 with the sorrow, bom of the sad event, my heart cries to 
 the Great Spirit, "Mercy! Mercy!!" 
 
 Wronged, grievously wronged, had been the husband, 
 but no blame attached to him. His reputation remained 
 unsullied. Much of life remained to him. Time would 
 have healed the wound, and the white plumed dove of 
 peace had not winged its flight beyond return. Murderer 
 of his child's mother! Horrible! Appalling! 
 
 Who can say there were no grounds; not the slightest 
 excuse, for his wife's sinning? There might have been a 
 temperamental or physical barrier to her happiness with 
 her husband; or some other incompatibility hostile to 
 conjugal harmony and content. 
 
 Excuse or no excuse for her, her husband adopted 
 the rashest, harshest, and most reckless course possible, 
 and perpetrated a crime he will sooner or later sorely 
 repent. One crime doesn't justify another. 
 
 A prayer for mercy for all concerned, from my heart 
 goes out. 
 
 In regard to the fixedness and unalterability of the 
 destiny of those who die in sin, it appears to me that the 
 church with a purgatory extending hope beyond the grave, 
 exhibits a closer relationship to the God of infinite mercy 
 and goodness, than those churches that hold and teach 
 that there is no hope of redemption, mitigation or altera- 
 tion beyond the grave, regardless of circumstances or 
 conditions at, or previous to death. 
 
 Dogs kill fleas on one another, and hogs rush to the 
 assistance of one in distress. The man who can con- 
 template or witness prolonged torture in another, imper- 
 turbed, would be called a brute. Why should mercy be 
 limited to this little and short-lived sphere? 
 
 But I forbear. Doing the best one's opportunities and 
 light enable one to do, trusting results to the all-prevading 
 Spirit of Justice, Goodness and Mercy, is the rehgion I 
 teach. Duty constitutes the all of philosophy, religion 
 and life, as I understand it. A constant endeavor to live 
 up to duty, seeking ever the truth, should be the rule. 
 We are pretty sure, sooner or later, to repent wrong doing; 
 but never the performance of duty. 
 
 And it is usually better, wiser, to submit to a wrong 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE iS3 
 
 than to resent it. It is true, there occasionally comes a 
 time when "forbearance ceases to be a virtue." 
 
 This is one case of thousands, varying, of course, in 
 phases and features and degree of provocativeness. The 
 murders and lesser crimes attributable to jealousy, and 
 that have been perpetrated since I began to take notice 
 of the doings of the world, would make volumes, and yet, 
 I have never read one line in connection with these troubles 
 and crimes, suggestive of a conservative and wise course. 
 Wise and timely advice in regard to these matters would 
 have saved many lives, incomputable trouble, and scat- 
 tered the seeds of peace and happiness where thorns and 
 thistles grow. 
 
 Peradventure such conditions should sometime con- 
 front you, and you shall not be wholly unprepared to 
 maintain composure, possess your soul in peace, and 
 pursue a philosophic course, and one that time and con- 
 science will happily approve. 
 
 In the first place, shun marriage until your constitu- 
 tion has vrell matured and you are old enough to distinguish 
 a good and sensible woman from a society butterfly, a 
 fickle, frivolous, unstable creature, the antithesis of the 
 woman who possesses the requisites of a true helpmate, 
 and the qualities of heart and mind which distinguish the 
 true woman, and that are characteristic of a motherly 
 mother. And then marry the woman you love. If the 
 the woman you marry should prove to be destitute of 
 those qualities of head and heart vv^hich comnaand respect, 
 mark you, you will experience a rude awakening from_ the 
 hypnotism of an ill-advised marriage and a short-lived 
 honeymoon. 
 
 "Degenerate sons — and daughters too— from noble 
 sires spring," 'tis true; but the child often inherits the 
 traits of character and temperamental qualities and pro- 
 pensities of the parents; hence the importance of acquaint- 
 ing oneself with the character and qualities of the parentage 
 of a young woman or man before entering with them any 
 "entangling alliances" of matrimonial or indeed, of other 
 import. But I have reference here to connubial expecta- 
 tions or intentions; percipitancy constitutes the rocks and 
 reefs of the matrimonial sea on which the gaudily bedecked 
 
iS4 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 bark of many a wedded pair has been stranded, while pen- 
 nants, gay, coquetted with the sportive breeze. 
 
 But suppose the woman you love loves not you; does 
 not reciprocate your love, what then? I shall not suppose 
 that you will entertain thought for a moment of doing her 
 harm. Nothing could be more foolhardy or senseless. 
 The man who would marry a woman who did not want 
 him, and cared nothing for him, must be a foolish fellow; 
 one whose bump of amativeness has attained abnormal 
 proportions to the detriment of the reasoning faculties. 
 
 Brain storms, cerebral hyperemia, etc., have real ex- 
 istence, that is, are conditions resulting from various 
 causes, and with which the physician has to contend; but 
 do they explain the causes of these awful crimes ? Perhaps 
 a few. 
 
 May I not assume that the lover, whose love is true and 
 unsophisticated would sooner see the object of his affections 
 happy as the wife of another, than unhappy as his own? 
 
 Is not there a love of mundane habitation so pure, so 
 holy, so ethereal, and so self-sacrificing, it seeks alone the 
 happiness of its recipient, and that is happiest when its 
 recipient is happiest? Is not the love that incites one to 
 destroy the recipient of that love more a madness than a 
 love? 
 
 A word or two more in regard to the man who murders 
 the woman who refuses to marry him. It would seem 
 that if he would stop to reflect, and could reason, he would 
 see the extreme rashness and irrationality of such a course. 
 What is to be gained? Nothing; and a great deal lost. 
 And if he fail to kill himself before the law undertakes the 
 job, the gallows will do the work for him; otherwise he will 
 take his place with the criminals of the penitentiary, where 
 he will have opportunity to reflect upon the enormity of 
 his crime, and to discover that the girl he killed was not the 
 only angel in the world. The young man whom a girl has 
 declined to marry, should be able to see that she is not the 
 girl for him. 
 
 According to fable, for the offense of stealing fire from 
 Heaven and bringing it to the Earth, Prometheus was 
 ordered by Jupiter, chained to a rock and a vulture sent 
 to devour his liver, which grew again as fast as it was con- 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE isS 
 
 sumed, thus perpetuating the torture, And thus it is 
 with the conscience of the worker of iniquity. 
 
 I here insert a few lines of an account of the elopement 
 of a man's wife with another man. , 
 
 The newspapers report that the husband of the fleemg 
 woman telegraphed and telephoned to every accessible 
 point to '^stop her," '^ arrest her," "detain her," if possible, 
 until he arrived, whose horse was then digging great holes 
 in the earth in hot pursuit of the fleeing woman. 
 
 I dislike the term fool, and admonish you to use it 
 sparingly, but in such cases as these, I find my articulate 
 organs engaged in putting together letters that are strongly 
 suggestive of the word. When a married woman wants 
 to run away with another man, my philosophy reads, 
 L-e-t h-e-r g-o, and the smiles of Heaven go with her, 
 and illuminate her path, that her flight may be swift and 
 sure If the wife elect to abandon husband and home 
 to accompany another, she must think she will be happier. 
 Throw no impediment in her path and wish her God- 
 speed. Unless she had an unappreciative and good-for- 
 nothing husband, the probabilities are, she will be the loser 
 nor will the silvery sheen of the queen of night overspread 
 the somnolent form of Mother Earth many times, ere she 
 will discover to her sorrow, the folly of her way. Some 
 must taste again the forbidden fruit of the "Tree of the 
 Knowledge of Good and Evil." 
 
 But let us not forget there are men wholly unworthy 
 of a wife, and whose wives exhibit commendable sense m 
 leaving them. That some wives, I have known, continued 
 so long with some husbands, I have known, excited my 
 wonder much. The amount of abuse and maltreatment 
 some wives will endure from their husbands is truly amaz- 
 ing, and exhibits a servility truly pitiable. 
 
 Here another story: j i . j 
 
 A young woman, the daughter of weU-to-do and kind 
 parents, by whom she had been carefully and tenderly 
 reared, and who had given her superior educational and 
 social advantages and sought in every available way to 
 promote her welfare and happiness, and to whom they 
 were devoted, eloped with a young man of unsavory reputa- 
 tion of the neighborhood and married him m spite of ail 
 
156 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SOI^ 
 
 her parents could do to dissuade her. Devoted and 
 indulgent parents, a home of luxury and ease, social and 
 other evironmental advantages and privileges were given 
 up for the man she loved, and if he had proved worthy of 
 her love and the great sacrifices she made, all might have 
 been well. But hear the sequel. They made their home 
 in another city, and for a while, notwithstanding the great 
 change in her circumstances; the fact that she had stepped 
 from a sphere of opulence and ease to one of penury and 
 want, and had not only incurred the displeasure of devoted 
 parents, but grieved them sorely, she was happy; but it 
 was a happiness of ephemeral existence. 
 
 Ere her first born was old enough to pronounce the 
 word, ma-ma, her husband, the man for whom she had 
 sacrificed home and parents and all, began to exhibit 
 unmistakable indications of dissipation and indifference 
 toward her. She, for a time, doubted her own senses; 
 could not believe what she saw with her own eyes, and 
 heard with her own ears. It could not be possible, she 
 reasoned, that "Willie," for whom she had sacrificed all 
 that was near and dear, and whom she had loved and 
 trusted with all the confiding faith of an unsuspecting 
 heart, had proved to be a libertine and sot. And when 
 she was fully convinced of the fact that Willie frequented 
 houses of fallen women and ill fame, her heart sank within 
 her; her blood ran cold; blanched to the pallor of death, 
 and well-nigh pulseless, she sank to the floor. Shall 
 we leave her there and pray to the God, the Father of 
 Goodness and Mercy, to dispatch the angel of death to 
 sever the ties that bind her to earth and set her bewailing 
 spirit free ? 
 
 A visible tremor passes over her body; she rouses from 
 the cataleptic state into which she had sunk. Thoughts 
 of her parents, her once happy home; her blithsome and 
 optimistic girlhood, flitted through her bewildered and 
 perturbed mind. Tears course down her pallid cheeks; her 
 aching bosom heaves; she slowly rises, wipes the tears 
 from her eyes and cheeks, and vows she will die of cold 
 and hunger sooner than remain where she is. 
 
 We will leave her for the present with kind friends in 
 a remote part of the city, and turn to her husband. To 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 157 
 
 him what shall I say? Thou brute! Villian! Rascall 
 Man in name only! Hang thyself to the first worthless 
 tree that thy body may become fertilizer to the grass, or 
 wrap thyself in the foulest rags obtainable and hie thee 
 to the foulest dungeon, and there remain until thou hast 
 succeeded in discovering a spark of manhood in thy de- 
 graded body ! 
 
 In time, her parents learned of her separation from 
 her husband and of her destitute circumstances and took 
 her back to the old home, a sadder and wiser woman. 
 
 Let us be glad and rejoice that the number of such 
 husbands as these is growing yearly smaller. There is no 
 dearth of good and noble men and women. Resolve that 
 you will be one of the good, noble, patient, intelligent and 
 considerate men that are worth so much to the world. 
 
 Having already presented and discussed some of the 
 most serious cases of jealousy plus results, before closing 
 the matter, I would make a few remarks relative to those 
 minor and more numerous cases; minor, true, but alto- 
 gether, really the cause of more conjugal disturbances and 
 infelicity than the graver and less numerous cases. I have 
 seen and had knowledge of a great deal of trouble between 
 couples where there was little cause, and where a little 
 patience and tact, frankness and consideration, would have 
 calmed the troubled waters and restored peace and happi- 
 ness in the home. 
 
 Some men, discovering that their wives are inclined to 
 jealousy, instead of being honest, considerate, and frank 
 with them, assuring them that they value the name of 
 their family, the happiness of their wives, and their own 
 reputation too highly to vary from the straight path of 
 rectitude and faithfulness, pursue an opposite course; 
 worry, provoke, and tease their wives. This is wrong and 
 a mistake. No sensible man with the proper regard for 
 his wife's feelings and happiness will do this. Such 
 course, persisted in, invariably results disastrously. 
 
 According to fable, Procris, suspicious of the constancy 
 of her husband, Cephalus, secreted herself in the thicket 
 near by where Cephalus was wont to rest from fatigue of 
 the chase and heat of the noonday sun. Cephalus, pos- 
 sessing an arrow that never missed the mark, hearing a 
 
IS8 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 slight noise where his wife sat watching him, and mis- 
 taking her for a wild animal, shot her through the heart. 
 
 In the case of Cephalus, who was the impersonation of 
 constancy, there was no occasion for jealousy, and the 
 groundless suspicions of Procris cost her, her life. 
 
 The heart of many a woman has been pierced by arrows 
 no less fatal to peace and happiness than was that of 
 Cephalus to the life of Procris. 
 
 "Trifles, light as air, 
 Are to the jealous, confirmations strong 
 As proofs of Holy writ. " 
 
 Agreeing with the author of the lines just quoted, it is, 
 nevertheless, a condition that has to be reckoned with 
 quite frequently. Put it down as a weakness, morbidity, 
 abnormality, neurosis, or what you will, it is a real condi- 
 tion, and there is a proper and wise way to treat it, and 
 an improper and unwise way. Nor is it a condition ex- 
 clusively associated with the base and illiterate. The 
 ** Green-eyed Monster" doesn't confine himself to the 
 ** humble walks of life," but frequently invades the palaces 
 and mansions of the refined and cultured. 
 
 Definers say, jealousy is suspicious fear or apprehen- 
 sion. Inside or outside, suspicion, selfishness, excessive 
 love, or what, it surely implies want of confidence. Where 
 there is implicit confidence in the integrity and virtue of 
 the object of one's affections, jealousy is hardly enter- 
 tainable. In other words, it is hardly conceivable that 
 jealousy may be found coupled with implicit confidence. 
 Then, in the absence of all cause of a lack of confidence, 
 reason asserts, there should be no jealousy. In case of a 
 cause, what then? First, be sure there is a cause; consider 
 the character of the cause. Don't act hastily. Possess 
 your soul in peace. Take time to weigh the matter and 
 reflect. Don't consider it in connection with revenge, but 
 with reference to the wisest and happiest course to pursue. 
 Having satisfied yourself that the offense was no greater 
 than a slight impropriety, thoughtlessness, or pardonable 
 misconduct, a request, couched in pleasant words, to 
 refrain from a repetition of the indiscretion or unbecoming 
 conduct, with a sensible person, will usually sufl^ce, 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE i59 
 
 If you are conducting yourself properly, you have 
 nothing to fear; abide your time; if you find her without 
 regard for your wishes and rights, and persistent in an 
 improper course, don't lose your head; affect indifference; 
 ''give her more 'rope' and she will hang herself;" that is, 
 she will soon furnish you legitimate means with which to 
 free yourself. Don't think for a moment of harsh meas- 
 ures; they mean more and greater trouble and fruitless 
 regrets. Let her go; you don't want her. 
 
 I shall close this chapter with Beathe's Golden Rules 
 of Three: 
 
 Three things to be — pure, just and honest. 
 
 Three things to govern — temper, tongue and conduct. 
 
 Three things to love — the wise, the virtuous and the 
 innocent. 
 
 Three things to commend— thrift, industry and prompt- 
 ness. 
 
 Three things about which to think — life, death and 
 
 eternity. 
 
 Three things to despise — cruelty, arrogance and ingrati- 
 tude. 
 
 Three things to admire — dignity, gracefulness and 
 intellectual power. 
 
 Three things to cherish— the true, the beautiful and 
 
 the good. 
 
 Three things for which to wish — health, friends 
 
 and contentment. 
 
 Three things for which to fight — honor, home and 
 country. 
 
 Three things to attain— goodness of heart, integrity of 
 purpose and cheerfulness of disposition. 
 
 Three things to give — alms to the needy, comfort to 
 the sad and appreciation to the w^orthy. 
 
 Three things to desire— the blessing of God, an approv- 
 ing conscience and the fellowship of the good. 
 
 Three things for which to work — a trained mind, a 
 skilled hand and a regulated heart. 
 
 Three things for which to hope— a haven of peace, a 
 robe of righteousness and the crown of life. 
 
 These rules of Mr. Beathe's w^re rightly named "Golden 
 Rules." And if they could be fully and strictly observed 
 
i6o LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 in all the departments and relations of life, a new and 
 happier era would be upon us. The time you devote to 
 a study of these rules will be well spent. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 STUBBORN FACTS 
 
 My aim is to put before you, naked, the stubborn facts 
 of the world and Hfe that you should know; those facts 
 that play so prodigious a part in connection with the weal 
 and woe of the human family, and that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Prudery say, I should leave you to learn by bitter and 
 costly experience: facts you cannot afford to ignore, and 
 without a knowledge of which you will not be able to steer 
 your frail bark safely through the shoals and rocks and 
 reefs, and drifting wreckage of the ill-fated crafts, you will 
 everywhere encounter. 
 
 If you would shun the grievous errors and deplorable 
 mistakes of your predecessors and contemporaries, and 
 rise above the necessity of writing on the last mile-post of 
 life the sorrowful word, Failure, heed the lessons. 
 
 To say that the world into which you have been pro- 
 jected, nolens volens, is a veritable paradisaical abode, 
 free from grievous errors and suicidal practices — heart- 
 aches and heart-breaks — would be a colossal falsehood, 
 the truth of which you would immediately begin to realize 
 in the bitterness of disappointment and the sting of indig- 
 nant nature. 
 
 A description of the ideal world, the ideal life, the 
 ideal home, though never so entrancing, would poorly 
 prepare you for successful encounter with the stern realities 
 of life. 
 
 Here is a page from real life; a page from the world 
 as it is; a page from the boiling, seething caldron of cosmic 
 groanings and strivings. 
 
 There stands a young man before me, who, in the 
 selection of a wife and life companion, surrendered himself 
 to the guidance of the blind god, Cupid. Since he led his 
 wife, a pretty girl, and blushing bride, from the hymeneal 
 altar, three summers have winged their flight over his 
 head. Focus your attention upon him. From his lips, 
 
 161 
 
1 62 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 if not from his appearance, you may learn something. 
 They now have two children. 
 
 I know his wife's m.other well — knew her l:)efore she 
 was married. She became an invalid — -nervous wreck — a 
 few years after slie was married; suffered in many ways, a 
 hundred deaths; had all the phobias, dreads, fears, evil 
 forebodings, hallucinations; all the real and imagined dis- 
 eases of the typical neunasthenic; was truly an object of 
 sincerest pit}^, and is still living, and the mother of several 
 children. And had her husband not been one of the 
 kindest, m.ost patient, sanguine, and optimistic of men, 
 Hades would have been preferable to her terrestrial abode. 
 And he, without his unconquerable optimism., would have 
 settled into the slough of despondency beyond the hope of 
 revival. 
 
 But what of the young man who is the subject of this 
 page? Hear his story. "Doctor, I came to see you about 
 my wife. When we were married, she was a sprightly, 
 rosy, comely girl, but now, only three years since we were 
 married, I fear she is going to break dov/n. She is weak, 
 nervous, excitable, can't sleep, has no appetite, has queer, 
 nervous spells, is extremely miserable, and we fear she will 
 again become pregnant. We are sorely perplexed; don't 
 know what to do; hence this visit to you." 
 
 Poor fellow; he is to be pitied. See what the blind 
 god has done for him. The same blind god who guided 
 his wife's father, guided him. 
 
 There he sits; look at him. He is a well-developed 
 fellow, and well informed. You couldn't easily fool him 
 into a bad bargain in the purchase of a horse or a cow, 
 but when it came to the selection of a wife, a matter of 
 un-reckonable importance, Cupid had no trouble in closing 
 his eyes or stopping his ears. 
 
 His wife's mother had several children, alas! notwith- 
 standing her invalidism from early married life. The 
 young man's wife is a child of her mother, and though 
 merging now into invalidism, would, in all probability, 
 approximate, if not equal, her mother in the number of 
 children. 
 
 Here is a stubborn fact of life — facts — what is to be 
 done? What should be done? What is my duty in the 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 163 
 
 case ? A weak, nervous, broken-down mother, the daughter 
 of a weak, nervous, broken-dov.'n mother, means what? 
 Alas! Alas! A full answer is impossible. In part, it 
 means more weak, nervous, broken-down mothers and 
 fathers, plus more weakly, sickly, good-for-nothing children, 
 plus still more weakly, sickly, good-for-nothing chil- 
 dren; this to be repeated and multiplied, on and on, in- 
 definitely. What should be done? Stand aside, I say, 
 Mrs. Prudery, with your antiquated notions and doctrines 
 born of superstition, and long out of date. The old chariot 
 of progress has wheeled us into a new era; light! more 
 light! rings throughout the world in rising tones. The 
 shadows of the dark ages no longer affright the inhabitants 
 of the earth, or I should say, rather, all of the inhabitants 
 of the earth. All of the earth hasn't yet been favored with 
 truth-illumination. There are many still groping in Cim- 
 merian darkness. They, according to evolution and the 
 God of evolution, must serve their time and hew their way 
 to the light. 
 
 Looking to the sky for succor and relief, belongs to a 
 time, now fleeing on rapid wings. 3,Ian is waking up to 
 a realization of the fact that he is the God of the world; 
 that is, that apart from his instrumentality and agency, 
 plus the benign operations of cosmic law, it were the acme 
 of folly to look for help. Help must come through man. 
 Praying to an unapproachable God away yonder in the 
 immeasurable depths of infinite space, v/ill not help the 
 young man of the chapter out of his difficulties. 
 
 His wife should bear no more children. Should he 
 be left to sin, and sin, and sin, till outraged nature, intoler- 
 ant of further perversion, inflicted a blow that rendered 
 him unable to repeat any further the offense? 
 
 Thus left, the poor fellow would go down and out, 
 without even knowing what rendered his life a failure, 
 and pushed him, a pitable wreck into a premature grave, 
 or, peradventure, he, in some way, learned the cause of 
 his wreckage, and went into his grave, repeating, ''If I 
 had known." 
 
 And while it is true, I feel myself a feeble and unworthy 
 instrument in the hands of the Great Spirit, still I shall 
 act in harmony with the light I possess, and give the young 
 man the best advice at my disposal. 
 
1 64 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 But where did his mistake begin ? This is an important 
 question, and has been answered, but should be answered 
 again. In the first place, having the history of the family, 
 and knowing what might follow — nay, was pretty sure to 
 follow — an alliance with a daughter of the family, in 
 behalf of posterity, his children, and himself, he should 
 have shunned the girl's society, and courted ceHbacy, if 
 she were the only girl in the world to him. Celibacy 
 a thousand times and years would have been preferable 
 to a union freighted with so much pain, sufifering, sorrow 
 and woe, with the end never in sight, but, on the con- 
 trary, growing longer and longer and more appalling in 
 meaning. 
 
 But there were other girls worthy of love, possessed 
 of the requisite physical and mental qualities, and free to 
 a greater extent from ancestral weakness and morbid pro- 
 pensities. And as love is largely a matter of association, 
 wisdom suggests a thorough survey of the field before 
 entering it; that is, probable results and issues of marital 
 alliance should be well considered before being assumed. 
 Common sense here, as in other matters, should be per- 
 mitted to guide. Unwise alliance is not the work of com- 
 mon sense. The sacrifice of the love of two is a small 
 matter when placed by the side of the untoward results of 
 unwise marriages. The gratification of sentiment is too 
 frequently an impulsive procedure. Unrestrained senti- 
 ment is too frequently a blind impulse, to be trusted with 
 one's future welfare and happiness. 
 
 The probable consequences and results of marriage 
 should be well weighed beforehand; or should one close his 
 eyes, stop his ears, and plunge into the uncertain depths 
 of the matrimonial sea? The latter course is pursued by 
 thousands, and with deplorable results. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 THE TRIUMPH OF SIN 
 
 As I came in this morning from a drive in the country, 
 I met a little curly haired girl of about eight summers, out 
 for a stroll through the village. She was the child of parents 
 I had known for years; and she was an only child. Bright, 
 gay, and happy, she skipped along without the slightest 
 concern as to what was going on in the great world in which 
 she was hardly a speck, apparently without the remotest 
 idea that Fate would ever be otherwise than kind to her. 
 That cruel Fate would ever on her frown, was a thought 
 that had never occurred to her. To her, the world was beau- 
 tiful, enchanting, kind and incapable of doing her harm. 
 
 In contemplating the present innocent and happy state 
 of this little girl, lines of Pope relative to the unsuspecting 
 lamb, come to mind and run as follows: 
 
 "The lamb thy riot dooms 
 
 To bleed today, 
 Had it thy reason, 
 
 Would it skip and play? 
 Pleased to the last, 
 
 It crops the flowery food, 
 And licks the hand 
 
 That's raised to shed its blood.". 
 
 What has Fate in store for this innocent child? But 
 it is of her mother I would write. It was the bard fate of 
 her mother, when I met this little girl this morning, that 
 suggested these remarks. In this httle girl's behalf, and 
 thousands of others, I would thunder to the world in peals 
 that would thrill the throne of heaven! Innocence Perishes! 
 Virtue cries aloud for protection! 
 
 This little girl's mother is now in the hospital — and 
 there the third time. Just think of it. This is the third 
 time that this poor unfortunate woman has had to go to 
 the hospital and be operated on. Horrors! and still a 
 young woman; but only in years. Health, comfort, happi- 
 ness, and wellnigh all hope, gone from her. 
 
 165 
 
1 66 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 What wrought this wreck? Who is the author of the 
 unsexed and miserable condition of this skeleton of former 
 womanhood, once so fair, bouyant and bhthe? Her hus- 
 band was the most promising boy of his parents, and 
 started out on the sea of life with sails aboom. He met, 
 wooed and won the hand and heart of a beautiful and 
 charming young woman. But alas! alas! before he married 
 this girl, he had yielded to the allurements of one who 
 had surrendered her virgim'ty to the libertine and contracted 
 a disease which had not been entirely cured, and as a matter 
 of course, infected his wife. 
 
 One child was born to them before it became necessary 
 to operate on his wife. 
 
 You now see and understand why the little girl, I met 
 this morning, moved my pen. You have friends and 
 sisters, and may you not sometime have wives and chil- 
 dren? Think of these sad, appealing facts, and profit by 
 them, and as opportunity presents, enlighten the unen- 
 lightened. 
 
 Had this young man known what you know, would he 
 not have pursued a different course? Ignorance again 
 stands out in boldest characters as the curse of the world. 
 
 The old Sphinx-like cannibal, Ignorance, still swallows 
 his victims by the score, and grins, with fiendish stare for 
 more. Happily the day of his sovereignty is on the wane. 
 
 We scent the redolence of a happier era? God speed 
 the day. Those who are blessed with a little more light 
 than others, should render what assistence they can in sow- 
 ing the seeds and spreading the light of Truth. 
 
 This is one case in thousands with even sadder and 
 more deplorable features, than this, He whose sympathies 
 are not quickened by a knowledge of these facts, I fear, 
 is more of the brute than the 20th century should be able 
 to exhibit in the form of a human being. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 KNOWLEDGE— TRLTH 
 
 As knowledge and truth are one and the same, and^the 
 source of all that is good and beautiful and pure, enduring 
 and desirable, we should strive in every worthy and com- 
 mendable way to possess ourselves of as much of it as pos- 
 sible. St. John begins his Gospel: "In the beginning 
 was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
 was God." 
 
 We learn from this passage — if I am not wrong — that 
 the Word, and God, and Truth, and Knowledge are one. 
 Hence, when we seek knovvdedge, we seek God and Truth. 
 It cannot be wrong to seek God and Truth. 
 
 A child of t^'O summers, the pride, joy and happiness 
 of fond and idoHzing parents, sickens and dies, in spite 
 of all that skill and affection can do for it. 
 
 The preacher is called and requested to preach the 
 funeral. As a part of his discourse, and in order to com- 
 fort and console the bereaved and grief-stricken parents, he 
 remarks: "The merciful, aU-wise, kind and loving 
 Heavenly Father, seeing that this world was too cold and 
 harsh a habitation for so sweet and fair a flower, sent a 
 white-winged angel to bear it away to heaven." All of 
 which is very pretty and consoHng, perhaps, to parents and 
 friends, but is it true ? As I see and understand the facts 
 in the case, the letters, N — O, spell the ansv/er. We are 
 looking for the naked truth. MilHons have died, and are 
 dying, because of erroneous views of life and one's relation- 
 ship to the universal. Out of harmony with nature, 
 means out of harmony with the Universal — the all — and 
 signifies discord and death. 
 
 WTiat are the facts in the case? The answer will be 
 found in what follows: 
 
 A tiny seed of a certain amount of energy — dropped, it 
 may be, by a bird in its flight over field — disappears in the 
 soil. In due course of time, environment plus the neces- 
 sary temperature, moisture, etc., being favorable, this little 
 
 167 
 
i6g LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SOM 
 
 seed sends down a tiny root, and up, a little later, a tiny 
 shoot, exhibiting in a little while all the characteristics of a 
 complete plant. 
 
 "A sensitive little plant, green and slender, 
 
 Veining delicate and fibres tender. 
 Bushes tall, and moss and grass grow round it; 
 
 Playful sunbeams dart in and find it, 
 Drops of dew steal down by night and crown it." 
 
 Circumstances and conditions continuing favorable, 
 this tiny and sensitive plant will duly attain full develop- 
 ment and fruition. 
 
 As to the significance of this little plant in the great 
 material universe, I shall not here discourse. Would 
 remark, however, in passing, that the ocean misses not the 
 drop that clings to the line of the fisherman, or climbs to 
 the clouds on the wings of the winds. Nor is the seashore 
 conscious of the departure of a grain of sand. 
 
 A plant disappears from the vegetable kingdom; a grain 
 of sand from the seashore; a child from the animal king- 
 dom; a drop of water from the ocean. A few tears and a 
 few years, and other birds sing in the trees. 
 
 The mighty, mysterious, restless, insatiable old ocean 
 goes on with its wooing, sighing, groaning, murmuring still. 
 No tears come to the earth from sun or moon. 
 
 Trees, plants, bushes, shrubbery, swing, sway and bow 
 to the breezes as of old. 
 
 The quaint old world goes on with its dreaming and 
 building; pretention and folly; hypocrisy and sham. We 
 come now to a reversal of the picture and history. Instead 
 of a sound and perfect seed, free from antecedent taint, 
 weakness, imperfection and unfavorable environment, we 
 have the reverse: A seed of little vitality or power of 
 resistance, falls upon a cold, stony, and inhospitable soil. 
 Chilling winds, biting frosts, and other inimical elements 
 begin the work of testing its right to existence. 
 
 A frail root makes an effort to penetrate the soil; a 
 sickly shoot appears above the surface; another twist of 
 the wind ; another bite of the frost, or slight dearth of mois- 
 ture, and the frail plant succumbs, the victim of antecedent 
 weakness, imperfection, plus unfavorable environment, 
 illustrating nature's methods of disposing of the unfit. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 169 
 
 Another plant tried for existence on the material plane, 
 and failed. Another seed gone back to Mother Earth. 
 Only the history of countless millions of predecessors that 
 had been unable to wrest from circumstances independent 
 existence. 
 
 Only the history of a countless number of embryonic 
 human beings that have tried for existence in \'isible form 
 and failed. 
 
 In the case of the aforementioned child, whom the 
 preacher said the Lord sent a white-winged angel to carry 
 to heaven, its history is Httle different from that of the seed 
 of Httle vitaHty and harsh environment. 
 
 Centuries before the child was born, its ancestors had, 
 by a Ufe of dissipation and wickedness, pre-doomed it to 
 failure, and woven its shroud. These are unchallengable 
 assertions. 
 
 When the frail and weakly little thing looked up from 
 its couch, where it lay languid and helpless, into its parents 
 eyes, it looked into the eyes of its slayers. This may appear 
 a terrible charge to present against the dying child's parents, 
 but we want the Truth; the world is crying and dying 
 because of the absence of the Truth. Absent because not 
 seen. 
 
 But, it would seem, the maw of old Ignorance is in- 
 satiable. MiUions more must be sacrificed upon his altar. 
 Moloch! Mammon! Thou art twins of Ignorance. Ignor- 
 ance! thou art the parent of monsters, hob-gobblins, 
 hideous creatures — disease and death; the digger of graves 
 and architect of graveyards. 
 
 Attributing the child's death to God, when Ignorance 
 should be the word, diverts the mind from the truth, and 
 contributes to the protraction of the reign of Ignorance, 
 to the great detriment of the human family. 
 
 Tell a mother that C-0-R-S-E-T-S don't spell God; 
 that she laced the life out of her child before it was begot- 
 ten, and you will be administering a chunk of the fruit of 
 the Tree of Knowledge that will help to open her eyes and 
 enable her to see the Truth. 
 
 TeU the father that he began, in secret, when a boy, to 
 weaken the constitution of his children. Later he added 
 tobacco and other devitalizing practices — Holy horrors! 
 
ijo LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Charge" the death of the child to God! Tell, I say, the 
 parents Jthese facts, and you will be serving God and 
 humanity. That's the kind of a sermon to preach. 
 f^l How much longer, O God! must the inhabitants of these 
 "nether regions" go on whining and pining and lying and 
 sighing and dying in ignorance? 
 
 In the ever upward, onward, and ceaseless movement, 
 of cosmic law (evolution) the supernumerary, useless and 
 unfit slough off and disappear into Mother Earth, merging 
 into other forms and activities, in helpless obedience to 
 inexorable law. When free from the bondage of asso- 
 ciation with one organism or compound, constituents flee 
 with electric rapidity to combine with attracting affinity. 
 
 The child of aging parents, who have reached the ''sear 
 and yellow leaf" of life, that period ''when our wishes, 
 like our shadows, lengthening as our sun declines," sickens 
 in infancy and dies. Again we hear that the Lord removed 
 if for "good and benevolent reasons." 
 
 The facts are these : The vigor and vivacity of meridian 
 manhood had gone with the winds. The aging couple 
 failed to impart to their off-spring sufficient vitality — 
 stamina — to enable it to wage a successful welfare with the 
 hostile forces of environment. 
 
 The runt of a litter of the lower animals, and the weak- 
 ling of the family of children are, alike, the product and 
 exposition of physical law, plus the influence of environ- 
 ment and conditions, previous to and during pregnancy. 
 Any other view, as far as I am able to see and understand, 
 is erroneous. 
 
 A word here relative to heredity. 
 
 Mr. T., whom I have lived near and known thirty odd 
 years, has never had any teeth, except two, commonly 
 called the eye teeth. Mr. T. married a woman with a full 
 set. Several children were born of this marriage; four 
 girls and two boys, and what seems quite remarkable, the 
 boys are the only ones of the children that have any teeth. 
 And further, the grand-children — of which there are several 
 — exhibit toothless gums. 
 
 Some dentist has facetiously remarked, "we are near- 
 ing the toothless age." Facetiously or not, this T.-family is 
 in evidence, obviously. But apart from these, the dentist is 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 171 
 
 not without grounds for his remark. The rapidily increas- 
 ing number of young people whose mouths are burdened 
 with false teeth, plenteously sustains him. 
 
 But there's a point, I'm about to leave unfinished. 
 The term heredity occurs quite frequently in these lines to 
 you, and means, as you understand, the influence of parents 
 on off-spring. 
 
 We have in the toothless family just mentioned, a 
 demonstration of the transmission of progenital peculiar- 
 ities and physical characteristics, impressive and con- 
 vincing. Mental characteristics are as surely impressed as 
 physical, but are less manifest, as a rule, because it is easier 
 to conceal a thought than a physical feature or peculiarity. 
 This is a monumental subject. And the longer you live 
 the greater in your minds will it grow. Better begm now 
 to strengthen any weak points that discover themselves to 
 you. Later in life it will be more difficult to do. Examine 
 yourself for faults that may grow and in time, give you 
 trouble, and your children's children trouble. 
 
 Many physical defects may be improved, and others 
 overcome ; and so may mental. The extent of the influence 
 of the mind over the body has yet to be worked out, but we 
 now know that we don't know the extent or limit, and with 
 this discovery, we are prepared to make progress. 
 
 Another point in connection with the toothless family, 
 it seems desirable to call your attention to, and it is this: 
 According to the showing in the case of the children of the 
 toothless family, boys usually inherit the characteristics 
 of the mother. And the girls, those of the father. There 
 are exceptions, of course, but this is the rule. Knowing 
 the mother, one may judge of the son. But, mark you, 
 I said, knowing the mother— whoever knows a woman is 
 smart. The mother often exhibits herself in the son. 
 To know the mother, study the son, and then you will 
 often err, for the mother frequently impresses her illegibility 
 
 upon the son. 
 
 But I hasten to say I mean no reflection upon woman. 
 
 "For I know that of all the years can bring, 
 A woman's love is the greatest thing." 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 "MAKE THE CHILDREN HAPPY" 
 
 Very few, unfortunately, have adequate appreciation 
 of the difficulty and importance of properly rearing chil- 
 dren. Though a father and doctor of years of experience, 
 I am frank to confess that I have lessons yet to learn before 
 I shall be prepared to say to the world, I am master of the 
 subject. And, as is too often the case, children marry and 
 assume the grave responsibilities of parenthood, checking 
 their own growth and development; launching weaklings 
 of immature parentage upon the tempestuous sea of life, 
 whose frail bark must quickly suffer wreckage — stranded 
 wrecks, of the toughest and most skilful, strew the coasts 
 of the sea of life. Poor the chances of a successful voyage 
 on the part of those who come, handicapped, into the 
 world with a frail constitution. 
 
 I would here insert a line relative to rearing children, 
 and to say a word in behalf of the children. You are not 
 now parents, but it is fair to presume that some of you, 
 if not all, will be in the not distant future. 
 
 There are a number of children who have had no 
 childhood. The fun-loving element has been crushed out 
 of them. They have been repressed and forbidden to do 
 this and that so long, they have lost the faculty of having 
 a good time. We see these little old men and women 
 everywhere. 
 
 Children should be kept children as long as possible. 
 What has responsibility, seriousness or sadness to do with 
 childhood. We always feel indignant, as well as sad, 
 when we see evidences of maturity, overseriousness, care 
 or anxiety in a child's face, for we know some one has 
 sinned somewhere. 
 
 The little ones should be kept strangers to anxious care, 
 reflective thoughts and subjective moods. Their lives 
 should be kept light, bright, buoyant, cheerful, full of sun- 
 shine, joy and gladness. They should be encouraged to 
 laugh and to play and to romp to their heart's content. 
 
 173 
 
174 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 The serious side of life will come soon enough, do what 
 we may to prolong childhood. 
 
 Here are lines from another: "For thousands of years 
 men have built upon the shifting sands. Most of them 
 were half dead to start with, the majority unwished for and 
 unwelcome, ushered into families that did not want them. 
 Of course, they were half dead when they were born. 
 And, as if that were not enough, precedent decreed that 
 the live half should immediately commence to die." 
 
 But to the point. "If you do this, you will be sick. 
 If you eat that, you will die. If you are not a good child 
 you cannot go to Heaven, etc., etc." 
 
 Children have to be corrected, checked, warned, guided, 
 but there is a proper way to do it; I agree with the "New 
 Thought" writer that the practice of awakening fear in 
 the child's mind, and the constant dinging into its ears 
 that it will be sick and that it will die, etc., etc., is a great 
 mistake and should be discontinued. Instead of im- 
 pressing upon the child's mind the fact that it will be sick, 
 and must die, the opposite course should be adopted. 
 Suggest to the child that it is good, truthful, strong or will 
 be, and results will be far more satisfactory. The child 
 should be made to understand that sickness is not a neces- 
 sity or inevitable, and that it is its privilege to live to a 
 good old age, even beyond the century mark. Why not? 
 The time is coming when the centenarian will be omni- 
 present and too much in evidence to win even a passing 
 glance. I venture the prediction that the matrix of the 
 near future holds within its mystic chamber the embryo 
 of a centenarian boy; that is the embryo of a man who will 
 still be young at the age of a hundred? Why not? Me- 
 thuselah lived to be 969 years of age. The race degen- 
 erated; traveled down grade till it reached the appallingly 
 low average of 25 years. By tremendous and immeasur- 
 able effort, the car that was wheeling the race at fearful 
 speed to the waters of oblivion, was checked and its course 
 reversed; since which time we have been climbing up- 
 grade, and I dare say the ascension will continue till we 
 have conquered death. 
 
 The child should be taught that to attain these ends, 
 it is necessary to live a simple life, close to the heart of 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 175 
 
 nature. This involves a turning of the back on the social 
 juggernaut, whose car wheels have ground the quivering 
 life out of countless millions. And involves and means 
 more milk and mush; less pies and tarts; more pure water 
 and fruits; less coffee, meat and tea; no stimulants, no 
 tobacco, no narcotics — in a word, a plain, clean, honest 
 life, and as much of it in the open sunshine and air as pos- 
 sible, minus strain and stress, worry and hurry, plus early 
 to bed and early to rise, plus abiding faith in the ruling 
 and guiding Spirit — Power which pervades all things and 
 is everywhere present. 
 
 Man has looked and prayed too long to the skies for 
 truth and guidance, and, as another has said, ''So long as 
 he depends upon an unapproachable God in the far away 
 realm of now^here, he will continue to sicken, grow old and 
 die. This lesson has seen taught by ages of suffering and 
 heartbreak." 
 
 It is to the God within that man must turn for light, 
 guidance, life. All things come to man through cultiva- 
 tion of the God-Power within. 
 
 Praying to the deaf ear of the sky proves fruitless and 
 vain — barren of results — save the waste of time and energy. 
 Putting one's self in harmony with nature, means putting 
 one's self in harmony with God, for what is nature but an 
 exhibition of God's activity and an expression of His will. 
 Man is fast coming to a recognition of the fact that Provi- 
 dence is no farther away from himself than the fish from 
 the sea, or the fruit from the tree. 
 
 "You've got to get up. 
 
 Or you've got to get out, 
 You can't be saved 
 
 By your tears, 
 Nor by praying to God 
 
 To ease your pain, 
 It's been tried for a thousand years. 
 
 "And the pain is still here 
 
 And the tears still flow — 
 And so they'll continue 
 
 To do — 
 Until you look into your 
 
 Soul and know 
 That your God is at home in you." 
 
176 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 With recognition of these facts, and observance of the 
 rules laid down, we may turn our faces and footsteps with 
 supreme confidence towards the eternal city of imper- 
 ishable verities, waving a glad good-bye to disease and death. 
 
 Man has begun the ascent of a mountain whose summit 
 waves a beckoning banner, exhibiting on either side the 
 inspiring inscription — Who Attains These Heights, Con- 
 quers Death. 
 
 Man will learn how to renew himself. The fountain of 
 youth will be discovered. Live right, striving and believ- 
 ing, the goal will be attained. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 HEART FAILURE 
 
 "Come immediately, Doctor, to Mr. W.'s. He^^grew 
 suddenly worse, and they asked me to come for you." 
 
 According to the clock on my mantel, it is now 3:30 
 a. m. Rather early to rise, but I get up. "In what 
 respect," I ask, "is Mr. W. worse?" 
 
 "Don't know," replies the messenger, "they said he 
 was 'bad off,' and asked me to come after you." 
 
 "All right, I'll be there," I reply. 
 
 Three weeks since he went to bed with typhoid fever — 
 no, was taken with typhoid fever, but wouldn't give up, 
 and dragged himself about, up and down, till he could 
 keep up no longer, a week from the time the fever 
 
 began. 
 
 V.Tien I saw Mr. W. yesterday, his temperature was very 
 little above normal; his condition in every respect was 
 favorable. I left with the impression that he would soon 
 be able to get along without further attention from me. 
 
 ^\Tjjy_the early and urgent call? The points I wish 
 to impress are involved in this question. When I reached 
 Mr. W.'s bedside this morning I found him with a very 
 weak heart— impending heart failure. Instead of the 
 bright and promising prospects of yesterday, his case pre- 
 sented a very serious aspect. His apparent proximity to 
 the fatal line warranted the opinion that he would soon 
 sever all connection with the visible world. 
 
 But why this sudden change in Mr. W.'s prospects? 
 Weakening of the heart, we answer. 
 
 "But why," you ask, "should Mr. W.'s heart weaken, 
 having had a mild attack of typhoid fever," you say? 
 "Weakening of the heart is not a necessary concomitant 
 of typhoid fever, is it," you ask? 
 
 That depends on the condition of the heart at the 
 onset, and the management of the case. Some are bom 
 with a weak heart; some acquire a weak heart, by the abuse 
 of nature and unfair treatment of the heart and body. 
 
 177 
 
178 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 A young man "falls in love" with a young woman, 
 courts and marries her without a moment's thought as to 
 consequences. Sooner or later, she becomes pregnant, 
 and still later, passes through the ordeal of child-birth, a 
 process which tries severely the strength of the heart, as 
 well as other organs of the body. During this process, 
 necessary concomitant strain develops weakness of the 
 heart; it is not able to bear the strain to which it is sub- 
 jected, a valve collapses, the poor woman swoons and 
 passes to that "bourne whence no traveller returns." 
 
 The thoughtless young man married a girl who was the 
 tenth child of aging parents, both of whom were inveterate 
 users of tobacco; both of whom had entered the period of 
 the "sear and yellow leaf" of life; both of whom were more 
 or less devitalized and enervated, and unable to impart 
 vigor and vitality to their last child, whom the young man 
 married. Before this young man's wife was born — ^yea, 
 and before she was begotten, her parents smoked her heart 
 away. 
 
 In her case, weak heart was congenital — in fact pre- 
 natal. And her history, alas! is the history of thousands. 
 The preacher said in his sermon, relative to the death 
 of this young woman, "an All- Wise, kind and loving 
 Heavenly Father called her away from this world of pain, 
 sickness and sorrow, to a home in heaven, that she might 
 join the heavenly choir, and sing with them the glad hosan- 
 nas forever," etc. 
 
 Did the Lord decree that her parents should smoke her 
 heart and life away, before she was born, and before she 
 was begotten? Decree that she should be begotten by 
 parents, at a time of life, when they were unfit and un- 
 worthy to be come parents ? Decree that she should marry, 
 and conceive, and die during child-birth of a ruptured heart, 
 in young womanhood? Preposterous! Nonsense! 
 
 But to return to the subject of this chapter, weak heart, 
 in Mr. W.'s case, was acquired, and, to be brief, was 
 attributable to the vices and errors of indiscreet youth, plus 
 irregular and late hours, plus tobacco, plus sexual excesses 
 after marriage, etc., etc. 
 
 Soon, soon, alas! as had been the case with countless 
 thousands, in the ignorance and thoughtlessness of early 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 179 
 
 boyhood, he began the work of self-degradation and self- 
 destruction. 
 
 Nature strove again, and again, to repair the damages 
 and cover up the cicatrices, but Nature, with all her re- 
 sources, ingenuity, persistency, and motherly love, is no 
 match for ignorance — cannot cope with the Arch-Destroyer, 
 Ignorance. 
 
 Tomorrow the choir will sing: 
 
 "Why should our tears in sorrow flow 
 When God recalls his own?" 
 
 And the preacher will say: "Through the providence of 
 an All- Wise God, our brother has been removed from this 
 world of sin and sorrow, to a happier one, etc." 
 
 And the clods will fall from the shovel of the grave- 
 digger, with a thud upon the coffin of a man of thirty-five, 
 who should have lived thrice that number of years, if not 
 more. Friends will remark: ''His time was up; it is the will 
 and work of the Lord." Others will charge his death^ to 
 the doctor. And the world will go on with its laughing 
 and lying, sobbing and sighing, dancing and dying. 
 
 I plead with the heart of the altruistic, for the begotten 
 and unbegotten boys and girls of the present and the 
 future. I plead for a wiser and stronger generation. 
 I plead for a nobler and happier race. I charge you, 
 fathers and mothers, of America — and of all lands— put 
 the Truth before your children. Enlighten them; leave 
 them not in the bondage of ignorance and sin. You cannot 
 escape responsibility. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 SHORT HONEYMOONS— DIVORCES 
 
 Had the lessons and hints I shall here try to present, 
 been put before the world, pershtently, in the early history 
 of the race, and their importance impressed upon the minds 
 of the young, the present generation are mere pigmies, 
 physically and mentally, to the race of giants who would 
 now possess the earth. 
 
 There are evidences, everywhere, that Nature's aim 
 is perfection. And if hindering forces had not interfered 
 with Nature's plan, the dreams of the poet and the idealist 
 would long since been realized. 
 
 It will be conceded that marriage, plus propagation, 
 possess a meaning and importance unequaled by any other 
 subject that could engage the attention of man. 
 
 But to the point. 
 
 According to Worcester, and other definers of no less 
 repute, the honey-moon embraces the first month of mar- 
 ried life, and implies much pleasure and bliss, but not 
 necessarily that all the pleasure and bliss of married life 
 go out with the setting of the honeymoon. 
 
 But the tide of connubial pleasure and felicity runs 
 so low, with so many couples, with the expiring hours of 
 the honeymoon, it behooves us to inquire as to the causes, 
 
 etc. 
 
 The honeymoon is regarded as a very happy period of 
 one's existence, and, as such, should be protracted to the 
 utmost hmit, and not lived out in a period of thirty days, 
 and even a shorter period than this, in not an insigmficant 
 number of cases. 
 
 And if couples have been prudent, and married wisely, 
 and the honeymoon is so sweet and glorious a period of 
 life— and it is, as a rule— it is surely desirable to make it, 
 if possible, coextensive with one's terrestrial existence. 
 
 Divorce has gotten to be alarmingly frequent, the 
 causes of which originating not infrequently during the 
 honeymoon. 
 
 181 
 
1 82 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 True, many of the causes of separations exist prior to 
 the beginning of the honeymoon; hence the importance 
 of a rigid examination of oneself for such causes, prior 
 to the assumption of the responsibiHties of married Ufe. 
 
 Time has proved that the doctrine that "marriages 
 are made in heaven" is fallacious; else heaven is a failure 
 as a match maker. Cupid, the blind god, does no worse. 
 Hands and hearts as dissimilar and as discordant as hands 
 and hearts could be, are bound by the holy bonds of wed- 
 lock. It would seem, indeed, that the goddess, Discordia, 
 had not been idle since she came to the earth, and had made 
 much work for the divorce courts. 
 
 Having subjected oneself to rigid and searching exam- 
 ination, with satisfactory results, other things being equal 
 and satisfactory, one is then prepared to advance a step 
 farther towards marriage. 
 
 Some one has said that the honeymoon is like a pot 
 of aloes covered with honey, and that with the consumption 
 of the honey, the bitterness of the aloes becomes very dis- 
 tinct and disagreeable. 
 
 There is too much truth in the remark, as we have had 
 the honeymoon for ages, and have it today. There should 
 be no aloes in the cup of the honeymoon; nor would there 
 be, if intelHgence ruled. Honey is sweet and nourishing, 
 taken under normal conditions, but to excess and too 
 frequently, it speedily begets loathing and disgust, and 
 deranges the digestive organs, which derangement reacts 
 upon the whole system. 
 
 The ancients entertained the superstitious notion that 
 the halcyon built its nest upon the water, and that during 
 the period of incubation the weather would continue so 
 fair and favorable, one might weigh anchor with safety 
 for any port, and that they would have a pleasant trip. 
 With a sense of fancied security, they launched their boats 
 and steered whither they would. 
 
 Their bright and pleasing fancies proved their ruin. 
 Those fancied halcyon days were illusions. 
 
 And likewise, those who embark upon the matrimonial 
 sea with the impression that they are starting out on a fair 
 and tranquil voyage, free from storms and rocks, are 
 laboring under a delusion, and will soon experience a rude 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 183 
 
 awakening. Before setting sail upon this sea, one should 
 weigh well conditions, prospects, and chances. 
 
 One's physical condition, plus that of the girl in mind, 
 should be well considered; ancestral character, weaknesses, 
 tendencies, etc., should not be overlooked. Many fail- 
 ures, disappointments, and sorrows are due to heredity. 
 With good and favorable ancestry, one's chances are, as 
 a rule, surely brighter. 
 
 Every event and every effect has a cause. There are 
 no causeless happenings, nor causeless effects. There 
 are causes for short honeymoons, as well as for other 
 things. In the first place, one or both of the contracting 
 couple may be unfit physically, psychologically and tem- 
 peramentally to enter into matrimony. And to marry 
 solely for sexual gratification is the height of folly. 
 
 TJnfitness plus incompatibility, plus ignorance, plus 
 precipitousness, plus excesses in the marital relations, 
 constitute the principal causes, not only of short honey- 
 moons, but of divorces; the chief cause of short honeymoons 
 being sexual excesses. Mark you, one cannot indulge 
 to excess in sexual intercourse and continue to feel the 
 affection and tenderness for his wife that should char- 
 acterize a husband or that he should experience. Nor 
 may he expect, under such course, to maintain the position 
 of the hero and beau-ideal in his wife's affections and 
 regard. It is without the pale of possibility for a woman 
 who is experiencing sexual satiety, to love and honor her 
 husband as she should. Each, under these circumstances 
 and conditions, will speedily begin to experience a decline 
 of amativeness and ardor; and this condition may progress 
 to loathing and disgust, to say nothing about the bitterness 
 of disappointment and the rude awakening. 
 
 Could I persuade you to contain yourselves within 
 wholesome and proper limits along these lines, as well 
 as all others, and could exhibit to you, at the end of the 
 journey, the blessings and joys that had resulted there- 
 from, you would "rise up and call me blessed." 
 
 Refrain, I entreat — nay, charge you — ^from sexual 
 excesses and abominations. Associated with these are 
 found the most withering and blasting curses affecting 
 
i84 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 humanity. If you are wise, you will prize these hints — 
 hold them in highest esteem. 
 
 Here, some of the effects of excessive venery (sexual 
 intercourse) upon the health : Weakness, dullness, nervous- 
 ness, despondency, paralysis, dyspepsia, want of ambi- 
 tion, timidity, irresolution, worthlessness and uncleanness, 
 premature old age, etc., etc. And so do all of these con- 
 ditions — and more — result from masturbation (self-abuse), 
 Onanism, etc., as elsewhere stated. 
 
 If all the graves of Mother Earth, containing the re- 
 mains of those whom excesses and unnatural practices 
 have prematurely buried, could open their mouths and 
 eject in visible form their bodies, and marshal them into 
 one mass before you, a stunning lesson would strike you. 
 Think of the number of what might have been useful 
 years, their lives were shortened; reflect upon the riches 
 and blessings, joys and comforts, the natural and unfailing 
 fruits of a life of temperance and moderation. How much 
 longer, O ignorant, passion-cursed, ill-fated man, must 
 thou be the willing slave of thy passions! 
 
 Go to the almshouses, penitentiaries, and insane asyl- 
 ums; trace the present condition and situation of the in- 
 mates to their real causes, and you will possess yourself 
 of a lesson that will register itself so deeply upon your 
 mind that naught, save the cancelling fingers of inexorable 
 Time, will be able to erase it. On the records of these 
 institutions, stand out in unchallengable characters the 
 words: Sexual excesses, plus sexual abnormalities — mas- 
 turbation, sodomy. Onanism, etc., etc., supply us with 
 a large per cent of those who become a charge and burden 
 to the state. 
 
 Would you be a man of steady eye, clear brain, effective 
 hand — courage and energy — a good and useful citizen, 
 worthy of the position of husband and father, and leave 
 behind you worthy "footprints on the sands of time;" 
 a name and influence that will redound to the honor and 
 glory of the Author of your being, and to the good of 
 humanity, guard with all your might against the abuses, hor- 
 rors, sins, and vices of which I have just written. Calam- 
 itous to an incomputable degree are the mistakes and 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 185 
 
 errors in sexual matters, on the part of the masses of the 
 people. 
 
 A re-reading of this chapter will bring clearly to your 
 mind the principal causes of short honeymoons and much 
 marital infelicity, as well as divorcement, and many other 
 dire calamities. 
 
 If you would be a man among men: a husband worthy 
 of the name; the father of robust, normal, enthusiastic 
 and happy children, an honor to your ancestors, and an 
 ornament to the human family, and live to a good and 
 honorable old age, and depart in peace, heed the lessons 
 of these pages. 
 
 Here are lines from Ralph Waldo Trine. Mr. Trine 
 is never guilty of presenting empty words: he fills them 
 with meaning, nourishing, edifying, enlightening, inspiring: 
 
 "Each is building his world from within. Thought is 
 the builder; for thoughts are forces — subtle, vital, irre- 
 sistible, omnipotent — and according as used do they bring 
 power or importance, peace or pain, success or failure." 
 Better read these lines again. They contain grains — nay, 
 nuggets of gold, philosophy — msdom. If you could grasp 
 the full meaning of these words, and all they imply, an 
 additional word from me would be superfluous. 
 
 Again: "As we give to the world so the world gives 
 back to us. Thoughts and forces, like inspires like, and 
 like creates like. If I give love, I inspire and receive love 
 in return. If I give hatred, I inspire and receive hatred. 
 The wise man loves; only the ignorant, the selfish, the 
 fool, hates." 
 
 "A thought — good or evil — an act, in time — a habit — 
 so runs Hfe's laws: What you live in your thought- world, 
 that, sooner or later, you will find objected in your life." 
 
 If I could enable you to reaUze the beauty, and harmony, 
 and wisdom, and joy of these lines, and induce you to 
 square your fives by them — five in harmony with them, 
 and in the spirit of them, I should regard my efforts as 
 having been eminently successful, and further effort 
 superfluous. 
 
 Another word relative to divorcement. 
 
 Suppose either party of the married couple has been 
 precipitous in entering into married fife and finds, when 
 
1 86 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 too late, that a great mistake has been made; that a con- 
 tinuation of the marital relation would mean hell on earth 
 the balance of their days, with the curses of their mistakes 
 and inharmonious life stamped indelibly upon their un- 
 born children, to be transmitted on and on indefinitely, 
 and, as it may be, increasing in force and virulence, punc- 
 tuating and emphasizing with murders, suicides, and divers 
 crimes, the folly of such alUance, where is the sanity in 
 decreeing that such couples shall continue to live together 
 till the angel of death shall sever the ties that bind ? 
 
 Chain a pure, true, and loving woman to a low, selfish, 
 brutal, unprincipled, and unfeeling husband, refuse to 
 release her, and you had better bury her alive. The tor- 
 ments of such Hfe defy description. 
 
 Divorcement has become entirely too frequent, and 
 menaces the sanctity of the home and the sacredness of 
 the marital state, but it were a thousand times better to 
 free some couples than to keep them in a bondage that 
 means the antithesis of all that is good and pure and lovable 
 and wholesome and desirable. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIll 
 
 PRE-NATAL INFLUENCE 
 
 A few more words relative to pre-natal inOuence, in 
 addition to what I have already written on the subject 
 The subject is one of pre-eminent importance and should 
 be accorded due space and consideration. 
 
 "To be born well is the right of every child, and the 
 fact that every child has the divine right to the best possible 
 birth its parents can give it, is being more and more recog- 
 nized, especially by the more intelUgent and progressive 
 people. There is no better or more effective way of im- 
 proving humanity than through heredity, pre-natal cul- 
 ture; and better environment. It is the firm conviction 
 of many people who have spent years of study along these 
 lines, that more may be accompHshed in the improvement 
 of the race, through these means than any other agency. 
 
 The thought of bringing into the world children ot 
 genius and high spirituality, by the cherished wish and con- 
 centrated ^nll of the parents, and especially the mother, 
 is no longer considered the dream of a visionary. On 
 the contrary, it is believed to be a demonstrable fact 
 And, if ancestors have Hved right, which implies nght 
 thinking, such desire is more fully and easily reahzed 
 
 ''It is a well estabUshed fact that the physical and 
 mental characteristics of a child are formed and moulded 
 by the rightly directed influence of the parents previous 
 to and during its pre-natal existence" (before birth). 
 
 Experience has demonstrated that the mental impres- 
 sions of the mother during pregnancy are registered upon 
 the nervous system of the unborn child; that the mflueiice 
 of a prevailing mental state is transmitted to the child 
 with as much certainty as any physical impression I he 
 child, during intra-uterine (womb) life, is under the con- 
 trol of the mother and cannot act independently. 
 
 The Spartans, believing in this doctrine, surrounded 
 their wives with beautiful pictures and statues representing 
 beauty and strength, etc. 
 
 187 
 
1^8 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Not a new doctrine, you see, but one little considered, 
 and to the great detriment of the human family. How 
 many, when contemplating, or are engaged in sexual 
 intercourse, realize that it is a great sin to bring into the 
 world children that are physically and mentally unable to 
 fight life's battles? 
 
 This is a large subject, prodigious in meaning and 
 far-reaching in effects, and should receive your earnest 
 attention and consideration. The obvious object of the 
 sexual act is the propagation of the species. Nature 
 nowhere exhibits or hints of any other end or aim. And 
 if it be true that the physical and mental condition of the 
 parents impresses or influences the physical or mental 
 character and disposition of the child — ^imparting to it the 
 predominating tendencies of the mother during the unborn 
 period of the child's life, we see how important it is that 
 the life of the mother, during this moulding and develop- 
 ing period, should be as beautiful, serene, and inspiring 
 as the circmustances can make it. 
 
 We further learn that, when a child is desired, the 
 parents should previously decide what character and 
 trend of mind — talent — they would have it possess, and 
 then, by prayer and study and contemplation, try to impress 
 upon the child, from conception, their desire. 
 
 Again, if a child is not what it should be, where lies 
 the blame? Better reflect upon these matters; they are 
 freighted vrith tremendous meaning. 
 
 And, if the sole object of the sexual act be propagation, 
 should one refrain from sexual intercourse during the 
 period of gestation (pregnancy)? 
 
 Permitting the lower animals to answer this question, 
 it is quickly done. We have much here to learn yet. I 
 would say to you here, as elsewhere, rigid temperance is 
 the parent of richest blessings. Let not your passions 
 rule. When passions drive, the gates of pandemonium 
 swing open. 
 
 It is now beginning to be recognized that, 
 though she may be married, a woman's body is her own, 
 and that she has the right of control; that her husband 
 should not demand of her submission against her inclina- 
 tions and will. When circumstances require it, turn 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE iBg 
 
 amourousness into useful thoughts and actions; results 
 will repay you. 
 
 I quote here from G. W. Grammer: Heed! "The 
 semen (a secretion of the male organs) contains the life 
 principle in greater ratio than any other secretion of the 
 human body. It is the only secretion known which will 
 germinate Hfe, or which may be used to beget an intelli- 
 gent living organism." This is a fact of tremendous 
 import and one you cannot afford to ignore or treat with 
 indifference. The substance — and only substance — that 
 can beget a new and intelligent creature and perpetuate 
 the species, should surely be held in highest esteem, and 
 expended with highest and holiest aspirations. 
 
 Again, "It is shameful in the highest degree, and 
 most unfortunate for the human race that man has so 
 long slept in ignorance upon this vital subject — the most 
 vital, in fact, of all earthly subjects." 
 
 A great many married couples are physically, mentally, 
 and temperamentally incompatible; not adapted to each 
 other. Ignorant of sexual physiology, temperaments, and 
 creative science, man has gone on propagating — pro- 
 pagating to the great detriment of the race; "bartering his 
 birth -rights for a mess of pottage," with appalling results. 
 "Be it said to his shame that man is the only intelligent 
 living organism of the animal kingdom who abuses him- 
 seK and consort sexually." "When the race is really civ- 
 ilized, there will be no use for penitentiaries, asylums, or 
 reformatories." 
 
 This generation walks in the light of Truth, where your 
 ancestors stumbled in the dense darkness of ignorance 
 to the great detriment of themselves and their progeny. 
 The advantages and blessings of a higher sun and fuller 
 light, hang around and about you with a plenteousness 
 never dreamed of by your antecedents. 
 
 They are within your reach; if you will not have them, 
 you and posterity must suffer the loss. We are marching 
 on through thick and thin, blood and flood, to higher 
 vantage ground ; and the day is coming when the children 
 of the earth will be able to throw up their hats, throw 
 down the burdens of ignorance, borne so long in the 
 sweat and heat of toil and anguish, and shout with all 
 
190 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 their might and main: Thank God and All Heaven, we 
 are free from the thraldom of ignorance, superstition] and 
 sin, and know we are the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, 
 
 Suppose there are good and sufficient reasons why 
 pregnancy should be avoided. What is to be done? 
 
 This is a question that conscientious doctors and 
 teachers long hesitated to answer. They feared that 
 putting such information in the hands of the public would 
 encourage immorality, licentiousness, and do much harm. 
 
 No one need hesitate any longer to discuss the question. 
 Married and unmarried, in every cHme, have outstripped 
 the medical profession, and the altruistic in this matter 
 and are thwarting nature with appalling destructiveness, 
 not only as to morals, but the physical and mental welfare 
 of the nations. No one realizes this so fully as the doctor. 
 
 In fact, the pervert and ignorant transgressor knows 
 not what he does; is unconscious of much of the mischief 
 wrought. Nature, sooner or later, applies the whip 
 unsparingly and without ear to the cries for mercy, but 
 like unto the dumb animal, he knows not why he is pun- 
 ished. 
 
 We read in Gen. 38, 9 and 10 vrs. that Onan, the son 
 of Judah, was slain by God because he "spilled his seed 
 upon the ground." 
 
 The premature withdrawal of the male organ in the 
 sexual act, by Onan, orignated the term Onanism. The 
 penalty in Onan's case was swift and sharp, and, it would 
 seem, amounted to a deterring warning. Did it in fact? 
 Did Onanism cease with Onan? Has any one dared 
 thus to offend since Onan's time ? Leaving out the offend- 
 ers, outside of wedlock, who are thus bringing upon them- 
 selves direst of calamities — bartering the best of life and 
 manhood for the moment's sensual gratification — sweets 
 that turn to "gall upon the lips" — the Onans of the year 
 of our Lord, 1908, within the bonds of wedlock, if not as 
 countless as the sands of the seashore, or the leaves of 
 the trees in a mass, would put to flight the armies of 
 Caesar, Napoleon, or Alexander. Not, however, by virtue 
 of courage or physical power, for sexual perverts and 
 transgressors have neither of these. The penalty in the 
 case of the imitators of Onan have not been so sharp and 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 191 
 
 swift as that of Onan, but they are none the less sure. 
 Nature cannot be cheated. 
 
 The case I present under Race Suicide is one of thou- 
 sands, and the number is rapidly increasing. All are not 
 affected in the same way, or to the same degree, but of all 
 the sins against nature, sexual sins are the most ruinous 
 and demoralizing. 
 
 What can be done to check, if not wholly arrest the 
 evil ? 
 
 As doctors, w^e know that much of these practices is 
 due to ignorance. We learn from those whose sins have 
 overtaken them, that they were uninformed; did not know 
 that Onanism, masturbation and all other forms of self- 
 abuse, were injurious to morals or health. Ignorance 
 is the curse of the world. The octopus that is sucking 
 the moral, physical and spiritual life out of the nation. 
 The stymphalides, with insatiable appetite for human flesh. 
 Enlightment is the remedy, the hope, the savior. 
 
 But where there are good and sufficient reasons why 
 conception should be avoided how may it be done with the 
 least detriment to those concerned? This is the question 
 that is now, everywhere, demanding answer, and which 
 no longer brooks delay. 
 
 The ignorant, the vile, and the conscienceless are an- 
 swering it — ^in their way — and at fearful cost to the race. 
 
 Should a matter of so much importance be left to these 
 classes? All cry "NOl" The answer should come from 
 the altruistic and best informed. 
 
 Did my parents discharge their duty in these matters 
 to me? No! Did their parents discharge their duty to 
 them. No! again. Am I discharging my duty to you ? I 
 am trying; I am writing of these matters with the hope of 
 saving you from the dire consequences — moral, physical 
 and mental wreckage, and in the interest of your progency 
 and posterity — all who may happen to see these lines. 
 
 I wish to make it plain to you, that Onanism is highly 
 injurious, and will not only seriouly impair your health, 
 usefulness as a father and a citizen, but will hurry you on 
 to a premature, if not an ignominious grave. Dragging out 
 a miserable ambitionless Hfe is a worse fate than that of 
 Onan. 
 
192 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 The use of the condom is little better, and attended 
 with very disagreeable and demoralizing results. 
 
 I have put briefly before you the results of Onanism 
 and the condom, that you may know what to expect, per 
 adventure circumstances should ever suggest these matters 
 to you. 
 
 In regard to the best and most approved methods 
 and means of prevention: When the question presents 
 itself to you, in a form, with a force, and under circum- 
 stances which will not brook delay, nor prevarication, go 
 to a good, respectable physician of experience, and state 
 your case. If he suggest measures I have condemned, 
 seek another. You want to conform as nearly to the laws 
 of nature as possible. And to the extent that you fail 
 in this, to that extent will nature punish you. 
 
 Sometimes, because of weakness, sickness, poor health, 
 nervous debility, etc., on the part of man or wife, it becomes 
 advisable — nay, necessary for man and wife to occupy 
 separate beds; and sometimes, separate apartments. I 
 advise separate beds all the time and separate apartments, 
 when necessary. 
 
 With the best of intentions, the best of hopes, and the 
 best of wishes, I have written these Hnes, and thus close 
 them. Your sins and sufferings, in connection with these 
 matters, shall not Ue at my door. And you will owe a duty 
 to your progeny and posterity. Fail not to discharge it. 
 
CHAPTER XXX IN 
 
 A GROWING EVIL 
 
 I am writing to instruct you; to prepare you K ^mm>- 
 fully contend with the grave problems and difficultieb tnat 
 await you; to light you out of the woods and logs ol ig- 
 norance, where so many grope in blindness, unaware cf 
 the fact that there are fields and mountains and plateaus 
 where one may bask in the wholesome, invigorating and 
 sa\dng light of the glorious sun of truth-intelligence. 
 
 Many have turned away from the task 1 have undei- 
 taken, lacking the courage to "beard the lion in his lair." 
 But few are willing to tackle the Augean and unsavoiy 
 tasks which confront one who assumes to turn the search- 
 light of truth upon the dark corners and cesspools of life 
 and society. 
 
 But the Augean stables could not have been cleansed 
 by turning from them; but would have gone from bad to 
 worse. Shall we leave the Itymphalides to continue, un- 
 molested, their deadly work? ''The greater the cross,, 
 the brighter the crown;" the greater the evil, the greater the 
 need of its annihilation. 
 
 There are evils and vicious practices which writers and 
 teachers studiously shun, regardless of deplorable results. 
 These evils and \aces constitute a growing menace to the 
 perpetuity and welfare of the race, and must be dealt with. 
 Putting them off for the future has already resulted in 
 their attainment of ominous proportions. Evils, left to 
 themselves, grow stronger. 
 
 Some of the evils of the age I have already considered 
 in a measure; there are others yet to be considered, and, 
 it would seem, that those yet to be considered present 
 greater difficulties and more disagreeable features than all 
 the others combined. But because of these difficulties 
 and disagreeable features, shall I ignore a matter of vital 
 and supreme importance, and leave you to grope in ig- 
 norance, and to learn, too late, and at tremendous cost, 
 the error and folly of the way? 
 
 193 
 
194 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 The lessons I am trying to teach you, if appreciatively 
 heeded, will prove a great blessing and benefit not only 
 to you, but to your progeny and the coming generations. 
 Indeed, it would not be easy to exaggerate the importance 
 of the matter, and this you will realize as you grow in 
 years and experience. 
 
 Some well-meaning persons say, these are matters for 
 grown people of mature minds, and not on the surface 
 without some reason, but the reason is all on the surface. 
 What is accomphshed by telhng a man who has lost his 
 teeth how to preserve them; or the bald-headed how he 
 could have saved his hair? What will it profit the de- 
 bauchee and sensualist, whose life and physical powers 
 have been worse than wasted, to tell him how to preserve 
 his health ? The absurdity of such a course is too obvious 
 to require stating. 
 
 The time to profitably instruct and warn, in regard 
 to these matters, is before irremediable mischief has been 
 wrought. Race suicide is the question I propose here to 
 discuss under the heading; A Growing Evil. What these 
 words express and imply will appear as we proceed. 
 
 But before taking the beast by the horns, I would here 
 insert a few more fines relative to our duty toward our 
 progeny and posterity. 
 
 "Make it imxpossible for any degenerate of body or 
 mind to reproduce, to beget, to conceive, to bear, to suckle, 
 and in another century you may bum your penitentiary 
 and make a playground of your pesthouse." "Should we 
 not exterminate crime and disease? Is the criminal any 
 more to blame than the sick? Shall we blame the lark 
 because it sings, the bee because it stings, or the unburied 
 offal because it stinks?" "Our first great duty is to our 
 unborn." 
 
 Read and re-read the preceding fines and ponder them. 
 They contain much food for reflection. Inform yourself 
 and try to be intelfigent, and act intelfigently. 
 
 To return to Race Suicide. Thousands of men and 
 women have made grave mistakes along these lines. Thou- 
 sands of men and women have encountered trouble and 
 been rendered very unhappy and miserable because of 
 ignorance in regard to these matters. The fives of thou- 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 19S 
 
 sands of men and women have been failures, because of 
 lack of information concerning these matters. And 
 thousands of men and women have gone down into pre- 
 mature graves, as results of ignorance in connection with 
 these matters. 
 
 The chief and obvious object of marriage is the propa- 
 gation and perpetuation of the human species. 
 
 We have already considered, in a measure, the sad 
 and deplorable consequences of unwise marriages; mean- 
 ing by unwise marriages the assumption of the grave 
 responsibilities of married Hfe by physically, mentally, 
 and temperamentally unfit persons. 
 
 '* Our first great duty is to our unborn." This imphes 
 that those who expect to become sometime parents should 
 so live and deport themselves that they will be strong and 
 healthy, and worthy to become parents, parents of offspring 
 that will be strong and healthy, and free from^ ancestral 
 taint and predisposition to weakness and wickedness. 
 We turn again to the question of race suicide. 
 
 The time was when the writer (your father) of these 
 lines regarded it as a great sin to interfere, in any way, 
 with the laws and processes of nature, concerned in the 
 propagation of the human family, regardless of conditions 
 and circumstances, except to save the life of the mother. 
 In other words, that it was the duty of the married to rear 
 all the children it was the law of their nature to bear. 
 He was younger then. 
 
 For centuries before my advent into the world, and 
 during the years that my mind was undergoing a change 
 on the subject, a great number of persons had been, and 
 were trying in various ways, bad, worse, and worst, to 
 prevent conception, and to limit the number of children 
 that should be born to them; but not so_ many as now. 
 The practice has grown and spread in manifold and multi- 
 farious forms and ways until it has attained grave and 
 alarming proportions. 
 
 Nor is this all. There are grave phases and features 
 associated with the matter to be considered. The incon- 
 siderate and indiscrimmate prevention of conception is 
 not the only serious aspect of the case. The unnatural, 
 injurious, and disastrous means, methods, and practices 
 
196 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 resorted to, to defeat the normal object of cohabitation,, 
 demand vigorous and drastic treatment. 
 
 These matters, I am discussing, are grave and serious 
 matters, and questions that will, ere many years have 
 winged their flight over your head, confront you. Should 
 you be left to learn of the ignorant and depraved their 
 abominable and ruinous methods and practices, or should 
 you be prepared beforehand, to deal mth these matters 
 in an intelligent and wise manner? 
 
 ''These are conditions, and not theories," as someone 
 has said, that are vitally connected with your future happi- 
 ness and welfare, the effects of which will cease not with 
 yourselves, but will extend to and affect the lives of those 
 to follow you. 
 
 And while it is true, I am now, after years of experience, 
 observation, and reflection, in harm^ony with those who 
 hold and teach that we are justifiable in limiting the number 
 of children born to us, to the strength of the mother and 
 the ability of the parents to properly educate and rear, I 
 am fully cognizant of the fact that, in the treatment of 
 this matter, I am dealing with a subject that is freighted 
 with the gravest significance, and one that is exceedingly 
 difficult to properly and wisely handle. 
 
 These conditions are now on us and with us and just 
 ahead of you, and the doctor is daily meeting and con- 
 tending with the sad results of dense ignorance on these 
 subjects. 
 
 Here, a pertinent case. I was called a few months 
 since to see a man whose health had been failing for sev- 
 eral years. He was a married man, and had been married 
 about nine years. Previously to marriage, and for a year 
 or two subsequently, his health had been good and satis- 
 factory. But, as the years came and went, his health, 
 strength, energy seemed to go wdth them. He was not 
 the victim of a specific, acute disease, but from some cause 
 there was a gradual, general failure of his health, attended 
 with nervousness, weakness, worthlessness. And this 
 condition continued, growing gradually worse, till be 
 became a helpless invalid. And thus I found him. He 
 had consulted a number of physicians, and had taken a 
 great deal of medicine, but was going from bad to worse. 
 
GR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 197 
 
 What was the matter with him? He didn't know; had 
 been treated for dyspepsia, general debility, nervous pros- 
 tration, heart disease, etc., with little or no benefit. 
 
 Having gone over his case and finding no organic 
 trouble anywhere, I quickly came to the conclusion that 
 there was something wrong with this man's habits; that 
 he was not living right; was in some way transgressing 
 the laws of nature; and was paying the penalty of out- 
 raged nature. 
 
 Having ascertained how long he had been married, 
 I asked him how many children he had, and the age of 
 the youngest. In answer to these questions, a girl of 
 eight years came into the room. ''You have but one 
 child," I remarked, "and she seven or eight years of age." 
 "Yes," he replied. No further questioning was necessary. 
 All the information essential to a diagnosis was before me. 
 
 "And why have you no more children?" I asked. 
 
 "The doctor," he replied, "who was with my vdfe 
 when Miriam was born, told me another confinement 
 would cost my wife her life." 
 
 "And left you," I said, "to grope in the darkness of 
 ignorance till outraged nature laid you on the couch, an 
 invalid and an old man, long before you were such in 
 years." 
 
 "How so?" he asked. 
 
 After explaining to him the relation of effect to cause, he 
 acknowledged the cause, and admitted that I might be right. 
 
 The untrammeled brute, guided by unerring instinct, 
 seems more fortunate than many men. 
 
 Here was a man not only growing rapidly prematurely 
 old, but weak, unable to work, and miserable in the ex- 
 treme, who might have been strong, healthy and happy, 
 and doing things; all due to ignorance. 
 
 What would have been his subsequent history, had he 
 continued in the folly of his ignorance? He could not be 
 restored to the pristine vigor of normal manhood, but he 
 did, in time, recover sufficiently to resume work and his 
 place in the community as a useful citizen. This is one 
 case of many. Appalling is the cost of ignorance. 
 
 The doctor who launched this man on this sunless, 
 starless sea of chaos, without compass and without guide, 
 
198 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 failed signally of duty, and left his patient to the mercy 
 of the rocks and the shoals of the sea. 
 
 Having apprised this man that it would not be safe 
 for his wife to bear more children, he certainly should 
 have acquainted him with the least detrimental and most 
 approved means of protecting his wife and himself from 
 future risks and harm. Alas! how many of us measure 
 up to the requirements of duty. It should, however, be 
 our constant endeavor so to do. Duty, under all circum- 
 stances, should be the acme of our ambition and our goal. 
 Neither failures nor remoteness of attainment should dis- 
 courage us. Strength is born of effort. Grip and grin 
 and try again, should be our motto. Failures constitute 
 stepping stones to success, to those who have in them the 
 elements of accomplishment. The grandest lessons are 
 learned from failures. Having fallen, let us rise again, 
 determine to attain the end and reach the goal. But 
 first, let us be sure we are right. 
 
 How different would be the history of the human race, 
 had all, from the beginning of the human family, to the 
 present time, known and done their duty. Surely the 
 history of the race would be free from those unsightly 
 blotches and blurs which everywhere mar the beauty of 
 the page. Surely the history of the race would be incal- 
 culably fairer and happier, had Duty been the guiding 
 and directing star. Had mankind always given ear to 
 the insistent, affectionate calls of duty, the world would 
 now be a veritable paradise. The glorious and enraptur- 
 ing sun of the hoped-for millennium would, long ere this, 
 have risen upon the world, with heahng and gladness in 
 his smiles, and the world, long since, would have realized, 
 in all its fullness and beauty, harmony and joy, the sig- 
 nificance of the Messianic proclamation: *' Peace on earth, 
 good will toward men." 
 
 But, to return, it comes from some quarters, that some 
 of the information I am trying to communicate to my 
 children, may do harm; here is where we differ. I don't 
 think so. Shall we refuse to educate our children because 
 of the possibility of the improper application of the knowl- 
 edge imparted? Questions pertaining to sexual matters 
 now confront them, and if unprepared, as thousands can 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 199 
 
 testify, they will grievously err; make mistakes the remainder 
 of their lives will not suffice to correct. Knowing there 
 are snakes in the grass, shall we refuse to put the necessary 
 weapons of defense in the hands of our children, because 
 of the possibility of their doing themselves harm with 
 them? 
 
 ^ yp, v^ yp, 
 
 Heed the lesson of the following true and overwhelm- 
 ingly sad story: A beautiful and accomplished young 
 woman of good and. highly respected parents became 
 engaged to a young man in every way worthy of her. The 
 day for the happy consummation of their courtship ap- 
 peared in the near future. But before the arrival of that 
 blissful day an ominous cloud appeared upon their erst- 
 while resplendent horizon. Just ahead of them was 
 rapidly gathering a storm that was destined to break with 
 destructive and merciless fury upon the citadel of all their 
 hopes, expectations, and rose-tinted dreams. The castle 
 of all that was nearest and dearest to them was soon to 
 vanish in smoke. It was surely a cruel fate that on them 
 frowned, and especially the young woman. A few days 
 previous to the date for the solemnization of the nuptials, 
 a slight sore appeared upon the lower lip of the young 
 ■voman, w^hich rapidly assumed an ugly aspect. A doctor 
 was consulted and he pronounced it a syphilitic ulcer; 
 and as he was an uncle of the young woman's betrothed, 
 he felt it his duty to apprise the young man of the facts 
 in the case. As a matter of course, a clap of thunder 
 from a cloudless sky could not have caused greater aston- 
 ishment. Love, disappointment, surprise, despair, in- 
 credulity raged in head and heart, contending fiercely for 
 supremacy. Ha\ing recovered sufficiently from the shock 
 to think and act rationally, he, as was perfectly natural, 
 refused to marry the young woman, and declared the 
 marriage ofif. 
 
 Up to this time no one, save the doctor and his nephew, 
 had the remotest idea of the character of the sore on the 
 young woman's lip. But I have not yet explained to you 
 the nature and significance of a syphilitic or venereal sore. 
 Briefly, it is the local manifestation of a disease of which 
 sexually impure persons become the victims. The vie- 
 
200 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 tims of this terrible and loathsome disease communicate it 
 to all who mate sexually with them. It may be otherwise 
 contracted, but this is the usual way; and when one has 
 it, the presumption is, it was gotten by sexual contact 
 in the sexual act. 
 
 It is a loathsome disease, appaUing in its results, and 
 you are advised to keep as far from it as possible. 
 
 Its congener, gonorrhea, of which you will farther on 
 learn more, is another venereal disease, Httle less to be 
 feared than syphiUs. You will hear both these diseases 
 spoken of as a bad disorder. Shun them, and the houses, 
 dives, and dens where they originate, with the caution 
 and assiduity that you would exercise in shunning a den 
 of vipers. You now begin to realize, in a measure, the 
 situation and predicament of this young man, and the 
 seriousness of the charge against the young woman, he 
 was soon to have married. 
 
 Horrible! terrible! was the thought to him, that she, 
 the daughter of pious and refined parents, so carefully 
 reared and educated, against whose charatcer there had 
 never moved a breath of suspicion, on whose chastity 
 and honor he would have unhesitatingly staked his life, 
 should have been where and with whom no lady would 
 go. The thought that she, in and around whom centered 
 all his affections, ambition, and hope, and with whose 
 name was associated all that was nearest and dearest 
 to him, was not the sweet, pure, angelic creature of his 
 waking thoughts and ecstatic dreams, was to him a blight- 
 ing blow. But as subsequent events revealed, a greater 
 one to the young woman. 
 
 A long, costly, bitter, soul-harrowing, and heart-rend- 
 ing lawsuit followed his refusal to marry the -girl. Many 
 doctors and lawyers were engaged on the case, for and 
 against the respective parties to the suit. Briefly, it was 
 conclusively proved that the young woman was wholly 
 innocent and blameless. That so far as act or thought 
 .was concerned, she was as pure as a vestal virgin. Then 
 the doctor was wrong and had wrought irreparable mis- 
 chief? Yes, and no. He was right as to the character 
 ;of the sore, but the young woman was in no respect re- 
 sponsible or culpable. 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 201 
 
 Then who or what was responsible for all the bitter 
 tears, heart pangs, soul aches, anguish, disappointment, 
 chagrin, shame, and humiUation, these innocent people 
 had to endure? Innocent and not innocent. The para- 
 doxical character of this contradictive declaration will 
 clear up as we proceed. 
 
 Several days previous to the appearance of the sore 
 on the young woman's face, of whom I have been writing, 
 she w^as \isited by a young man who was her cousin, and 
 on his arrival he kissed her on the lips. Alas', a fatal 
 kiss, more deadly in a sense than a bite of the cobra. 
 
 The young woman happened to have a sHght fissure 
 or chap on the lower lip, and extremely, pathetically un- 
 fortunate for her, the young man, her cousin, whose kiss 
 was more fatal in a sense than that of Judas Iscariot, and 
 who was papng the penalty of association with disrep- 
 utable and diseased women, communicated the disease 
 to her through the break in the integument of her lip. 
 
 That is the story; and a sad one it is. Innocence con- 
 stitutes no safeguard against the \\ily approaches of the 
 \icious and depraved. That one kiss upon the lips of 
 the innocent and unsuspecting girl, blighted and blasted 
 a life whose future was radiant with hope and redolent of 
 peace and happiness. Awful! awful to contemplate! 
 But you have the storf, heed the lessons it teaches. 
 
 This trouble did not result from means or methods 
 against race propagation, but possesses a meaning and 
 teaches lessons it should concern you much to know. Life 
 is ahead of you; you have much to learn. To help you 
 avoid the great mistakes, so many have made, is the ob- 
 ject of my pen. ''On apparently tri\'ial matters often 
 hinge the greatest issues." 
 
 On so apparently small an act as a kiss hinged the 
 hopes, health, and happiness of the unfortunate young 
 woman of whom I have been writing. And her case is 
 only one of many. Virtue, alone, is not sufficient; knowl- 
 edge and wisdom must be associated with it. Knowledge, 
 coupled with wisdom, seems to be the crjing need of the 
 world. 
 
 Strive for knowledge, wisdom, virtue, for possessed of 
 these, all else desirable is easily attained. 
 
202 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 Would you have honor, you must pass first throughjthe 
 temple of Virtue. The ancients, we are told, not only 
 worshipped Virtue, but dedicated a temple to her and to 
 Honor, erecting the temple of Honor where it would be 
 necessary to pass through the temple of Virtue to reach it. 
 Hence, virtue, alone, leads to true honor. 
 
 s2£ ^^ ^^ ^ ^ Sits sk ^ «lc «k #)c ^C 
 
 Hear another story (true), not a whit less pathetic^ 
 instructive or important than the other. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 MAN, FORTY-FIVE, ''PLAYED OUT" 
 
 ''Doctor, I came to see you about myself. I am all 
 run down — played out. Can you do anything for played- 
 out men?" 
 
 "That depends," I replied. 
 
 "On what?" he asked. 
 
 "On several things," I replied again. 
 
 "Married man?" I asked. 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "and been married fifteen years.'*' 
 
 "Wife living?" I asked. 
 
 "Yes," he answered. 
 
 "How old are you?" I asked him. 
 
 "I am in my forty-fifth year," was his reply 
 
 "Forty-five and 'played out,' " I remarked. 
 
 "Yes, forty-five and 'played out,' " he repeated. 
 
 "A man should still be at his best," I said to him, "at 
 forty-five." 
 
 "I regret to say," he remarked, "it is not thus with me." 
 
 "A man should just be getting ready to live and ta 
 enjoy life at forty-five," I added. 
 
 "You may be right, doctor, but why isn't it true in 
 my case?" he asked. 
 
 "That's the question," I replied, "and the question 
 that is usually answered too late, and, I fear in your case, 
 it will be too late to be worth much to you." 
 
 (As I remark elsewhere, it avails little to instruct a 
 bald-headed man as to the causes of baldness, or a tooth- 
 less man as to the causes of the loss of teeth, or the pre- 
 maturely aged, as to the causes of premature senility. 
 The golden period for such instruction, is before ignorance 
 has wrought its deadly work.) 
 
 "I hope not, doctor, I hope not," he anxiously remarked. 
 
 I answer: Every individual comes into the world with 
 a pre-determined capacity for the generation or develop- 
 ment of energy. Under favorable circumstances, each 
 individual will develop his or her complement of energy. 
 
 203 
 
ao4 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 The purpose of which energy is, of course, to maintain 
 organic activity and enable the individual to be and to do, 
 that is, to play his part in the great cosmic drama. 
 
 The heart, the lungs, the liver, etc., etc., require a 
 certain amount of energy to enable them to perform their 
 function and part in the maintenance of the organism 
 in its integrity. And this is true of all the organs and 
 members of the body. 
 
 Circumstances continuing favorable, plus fair treat- 
 ment, each organism and organ will encompass its full 
 circle of years, which will depend, of course, upon heredity 
 and antecedents. 
 
 But suppose, as is generally the case, that through 
 ignorance, perverseness, or indifference, one begins early 
 in life to impose upon and maltreat his body, or an organ 
 or member of his body, and keeps at it, how many years, 
 think you, will come and go, before outraged Nature will 
 begin to punish the offender? 
 
 ''But in what particular respect are you 'run down?' " 
 I ask him. 
 
 "That's the question, Doctor, I wish to come to. I 
 scarcely ever have an erection, and when I do, it is feeble, 
 and often terminates with premature discharge." 
 
 "I see, I see, you were once a boy, and went with boys, 
 and learned of boys, and did as boys do, and kept at it 
 till you discovered that you were wrecking yourself. From 
 that time till you were married, you were troubled, more 
 or less, with seminal emissions during sleep. From mar- 
 riage, till tired and disgusted nature began to kick, you 
 kept the sexual apparatus under steam and pressure, strain 
 and stress," I said to him. 
 
 "Nor is there," I said, "a quadruped on the face of 
 the earth that could stand so much abuse." 
 
 "Doctor," he remarked, "you seem to know without 
 my telling you." 
 
 "Yours, my dear sir," I replied, "is the history of 
 thousands. Till man has reconstructed himself, he is an 
 easily read volume, notwithstanding that Thales puts 
 him down as an unreadable book." 
 
 Thousands, I continued, thus weakened and 
 wrecked, are yearly rushed out of sight into premature 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 205 
 
 graves, by a slight attack of disease; having no reserve 
 force or vitahty, they are unable to contend with disease 
 germs. And as disease germs prefer the weak and unfit, 
 those of least resistance prove most attractive. 
 
 "But, Doctor, can't you give me something," he anxious- 
 ly queried. 
 
 "Learn thou, this moment, my dear sir," I said, "that 
 right living, plus rest of those organs that you have so long 
 abused, constitute the sole remedy." 
 
 "Good-day, Doctor," he said, and forthwith departed. 
 
 "Good-day," I repeated after him. 
 
 He will, of course, ^dsit other doctors, and the adver- 
 tising quacks will hear from him, and won't they "bleed 
 him?" 
 
 Poor fellow! He seems more anxious about that part 
 of his anatomy than he does about his head or his heart. 
 He has some hard lessons to learn. 
 
 Boys! Young men! Are you learning anything? Is 
 this man's life a prophecy of yours? Better put these 
 lessons where they will knock you on the head every day 
 of the year, that you may not forget them. 
 
CHAPTER XLI 
 THE STORY OF ROSE AND EDWARD* 
 
 "Miss Rose was a little over twenty-two. She was a 
 bright, cheerful, happy girl and this was her happiest day, 
 not only because on that day she was graduated from 
 Barnard with high honors, but Edward, whom she loved 
 and looked up to for so many years, had proposed last 
 night, and the passion, romance, and aroma of that pro- 
 posal still lingered with her. 
 
 They were married in October. They expected to 
 stay away three months on their honeymoon, but they 
 returned after about three weeks. Rose was not feeling 
 well, and traveling and staying in hotels didn't agree with 
 her. She looked rather tired and fagged out, but that was 
 natural. It was not natural, however, that after a week's 
 rest she did not show any improvement. On the contrary 
 she began to look somewhat haggara. She had a little 
 irritation in the genito-urinary tract, increased frequency 
 of micturition, etc.; but as this is not unusual in newly 
 married women, it was not considered of sufi&cient im- 
 portance to consult a physician. 
 
 Things continued this way, getting a little better and 
 a little worse, until the beginning of January. On the 
 fifth of January she was taken violently and dangerously 
 ill. Severe abdominal pain, very rapid, but hard pulse 
 and threatened collapse. An operation was performed, 
 a dreadful disease had been communicated to her by her 
 husband, and one which rendered it necessary to remove 
 several of the organs of generation." 
 
 Rose recovered, but so changed from the pretty, happy 
 woman she was before marriage, her nearest friends hardly 
 knew her. 
 
 The cause of this terrible trouble was the imperfectly 
 cured disease of which her husband thought^ he had been 
 thoroughly cured some time before he married her. 
 
 ♦Critic and Guide. _.....-. x 
 
 207 
 
ao8 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 I have been trying in divers places and ways, to^wake 
 you to an appreciation of the cost of ignorance and the 
 worth of knowledge properly applied. The story I have 
 related is pregnant \vith food for reflection, and replete 
 with lessons of incomputable importance. 
 
 Think of this girl of whom I have been writing, once so 
 bright, cheerful, and happy, to whom the future had been 
 so roseate and radiant, who had looked forward so fondly 
 to the day when she should leave school and become the 
 wife of him who was to her a demi-god, a paragon, the 
 impersonation of all that was good and noble and true. 
 Motherhood with all its pride, pleasure and joy, hopes and 
 aspirations had Hngered in her dreams. Little did she 
 think that all these fond musings and pleasant dreams 
 were so soon to give place to wretchnedess and woe. How 
 different might have been the history of these two, had 
 they known. The pitiable cry is: If I had known. 
 
 Here we have a pale, weak, unsexed and unhappy 
 woman. Never will her life be brightened and rendered 
 happy by the presence of a child of her own flesh and 
 blood. She is doomed to drag out a miserable, joyless 
 and monotonous existence. Consider the mischief, trouble, 
 ruin, which resulted from only a slight attack of a venereal 
 disease, which her husband thought had been thoroughly 
 cured. And yet a number of well-meaning persons say, 
 the young should be kept in ignorance of sexual matters. 
 We see in these cases some of the fruits of keeping them in 
 ignorance. This couple must go down into their graves 
 repeating: "If I had known." The mischief wrought 
 could not be undone; it was irreparable. 
 
 WTiat must be the feelings and mental condition of 
 this woman's husband when he looks upon the pale, de- 
 jected, unsexed and unhappy woman, whose ruin was 
 accomplished by his ignorance and indiscretion? When 
 he reflects upon the fact that he is the author of hers and 
 his own undoing, and that I-G-N-O-R-A-N-C-E spell 
 the cause of all the trouble, we may not doubt that his 
 remorse will prove a heavy load to carry. Ignorance is a 
 costly legacy to bequeath to posterity. 
 
 And still the world goes on with its rushing and gush- 
 ing, laughing and lying, dancing and dying. At whose 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE 209 
 
 door lies the responsibility? Had Rose's and Edward's 
 predecessors done their duty toward posterity? We are 
 learning how costly it is to leave the acciuisition of knowl- 
 edge to chance and experience. 
 
 Fate, cruel fate, alias ignorance, has decreed that 
 poor Edward shall sit the remainder of his Ufe to a table 
 mostly supplied with the Apples of Sodom. These, in 
 silence, he is doomed to munch, without in the least re- 
 ducing the quantity. Finally into his grave repeating, 
 ''If I had known." 
 
 These are stubborn facts the world is daily, hourly 
 contending with. You cannot be too well prepared to 
 meet and deal with them. Heed the following: 
 
 "Another patient with primary syphilis (early stage 
 of pox) refused even charitable treatment, declaring that 
 she would not be treated until she had inoculated five 
 hundred men, and that she had already inoculated two 
 hundred and fifty." 
 
 Think of that, and the wide-spread wretchedness and 
 woe sure to result from it. Unborn children, innocent 
 mothers and wives, suffering in ignorance the dire penalties. 
 Nor is personal contact necessary to contract the disease. 
 It may be contracted through waterclosets, beds, towels, 
 cups, glasses, etc., etc. Many pure and innocent persons 
 have been thus infected. And the ''sins of the parents 
 shall descend unto the children to the third and the fourth 
 generation." And this is as unquestionable in respect 
 to venereal diseases as truth itself. 
 
 Many children, thus branded, come into the world 
 annually. A number lacking vitality and toughness of 
 fiber, soon succumb. Others drag on a while longer, the 
 sport and prey of every passing disease until death relieves 
 them of a halting and miserable existence. 
 
 The remains of the vi'ctims of congenital syphilis 
 (infection having occurred during intra-uterine life, through 
 the placental circulation, that is, through the circulation 
 between mother and child, before the child was born) 
 are daily affectionately and carefully placed in the grave; 
 and the bereaved and grief-stricken parents cry out in 
 anguish of heart, "O Lord! why dealest Thou so harshly 
 with me?" And again the good and well-meaning pastor 
 
210 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 tells the bereaved, ''It is the work of the Lord; a blessing 
 in disguise," when the truth is, it was the work ^of the 
 monster Lust, plus ignorance= 
 
 In every land, region and community appear unmis- 
 takable evidences of the ravages of venereal disease. 
 
 Chastity shouts from the sun-lit hills, "Worship- at 
 my shrine and fair will be your path." 
 
 Have I said enough on this subject? 
 
 A part of these stories I took from the writings of 
 others. I can't recall the authors. I know they were 
 physicians. I have aimed to put quoted matter in quota- 
 tion marks. 
 
CHAPTER XLII 
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 Sunday afternoon— I sit, alone, in a room of my home. 
 Everything is so quiet the fall of a pin on a bare floor, 
 could be heard. Naught, save the ticking of the clock on 
 the mantelpiece, disturbs the stillness of the hour. 
 
 The ticking of the clock reminds me of the ceaseless 
 passing of time. The tick-tack of the clock constitutes 
 the voice of one of the myriad and multiform tongues by 
 which man is reminded of the ephemeral character of the 
 things of mundane origin. 
 
 From the tick-tack of the clock my thoughts turn to the 
 pulsations of the heart. Fifty years— and more— accord- 
 ing to the family record, my heart has been working cease- 
 lessly, night and day. And this reminds me that the heart 
 has httle time to rest; just the short pause between the 
 systole (contraction) and the diastole (dilatation). Except 
 these sHght pauses, nature has denied this important organ 
 a period of rest — no hohday for this Kttle engine — it must 
 keep pumping away, or the circulation of the blood will 
 cease, the brilliancy of the eye will disappear, the warmth 
 of the body will fly away on the wings of the wind, and 
 rigor mortis will quickly seize the frame. 
 
 Think of the enormous work this httle organ does. It 
 pumps 2i ounces of blood over the whole body at every 
 beat of the pulse, which is 70 per minute, forcing out 
 252,000 ounces an hour, and at the end of the year, 91,- 
 980,000 ounces will have been pumped through the heart. 
 During a life of fifty years the heart has pumped out, 
 approximately, 56,424 hhds. Is it any wonder that the 
 hearts of thousands every year cease pumping from ex- 
 haustion. 
 
 But is there no way of resting the heart? Save the 
 intermissions, already mentioned, there is no rest for the 
 heart. But its work may be lightened. But instead of 
 being remembered and protected in every possible way by 
 
 211 
 
2X2 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 its possessor, the reverse of this is the rule. Tobacco, 
 alcohol, and other poisons to the blood and nerves are intro- 
 duced into the system, where they exert baleful influences 
 upon the heart, through the blood and the nerves. Add 
 to this the strain and stress of an irregular, intemperate and 
 unwholesome life, and you have no farther to seek for the 
 causes of the rapidly increasing number of heart failures 
 yearly. 
 
 How many hearts now pulsing in the world will be able 
 to continue to pump the red warm blood through the body 
 till fifty-five years have been doubled ? Not many. 
 
 Xerxes, once king of Persia, on an occasion, facing the 
 great concourse of people before him, was so affected by 
 the reflection that there wasn't one before him who would 
 be living a hundred years hence, turned away that his 
 tears might not be seen, and wept. 
 
 Xerxes lived 450 years before Christ, but must have 
 been a man of heart and sympathy. Surely he loved his 
 people and humanity, adverse criticism to the contrary, 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 It could not have been recognition of the fact that time 
 would, ere long, divest him of the regal power, pomp and 
 dominion, he then possessed. It could not have been 
 these reflections that touched his heart and forced the tears 
 to overflow his cheek. I prefer to believe that beneath a 
 rough and rigid exterior, throbbed a noble and generous 
 heart; a generous and kindly nature. I love to think of 
 men as being noble, good and generous. 
 
 But how much have we advanced in humanitarianism 
 and physical vigor since Xerxes' time? A great deal, and 
 not a great deal. But the world is progressing with acceler- 
 ated step. With the present vantage-ground, plus the 
 acquired momentum of modern times, the progress and 
 achievements of the next century will — I doubt not — eclipse 
 those of the centuries of the past. 
 
 With Xerxes, I could weep that man dies so young. 
 
 Poor man has been laboring under the impression, for 
 ages, that the Creator and Ruler of the Universe decrees 
 at his inception, that he shall live on earth a certain num- 
 ber of days — no more, nor less, regardless of course, con- 
 duct, prudence or recklessness, and that, when reverses and 
 
OR IGNORANCE VS. KNOWLEDGE ai3 
 
 disasters come upon him, they are sent by some avenging 
 deity. But glory and praise to the Power — be it in what- 
 ever form It may — that called man into existence and 
 guided him to where he now stands, and decreed that he 
 should not always live under the thralldom of ignorance. 
 Man has come to where he is, through wars and pestilences, 
 fire and blood. But he is learning. With the hammer 
 of science he is breaking the enslaving and dwarfing shackles 
 that have held him in pitiable bondage so long. The scales 
 that have obscured his vision, for ages, are faUing at his 
 feet; the searchlight of science has been turned on. The 
 fogs and mists of ignorance and superstition, that have 
 so long obscured the Truth, are fleeing as shadows before 
 the sun. 
 
 Being in a retrospective mood, my thoughts turn back- 
 ward. After fifty years of age, the thoughts often turn 
 backward. Previously to that age, one looks forward, and 
 continues thus to look, till that for which one has been 
 eagerly pressing forward, appears behind. With this dis- 
 covery comes the reflection that the object of life's chase is 
 fleet of foot and very elusive, and, instead of always beckon- 
 ing from the future, bobs up in time behind. The dis- 
 covery that one has passed that for which one has so 
 eagerly pressed forward, constitutes a painful awakening. 
 And when it is realized that one cannot retrace one's steps 
 to where the prize appears, one begins to also realize that 
 there is no backward nor forward, only an eternal Now, 
 and that all who happiness would win, must win it Now. 
 
 How fares your heart? 
 
CHAPTER XLIII 
 rHE TWENTY-FIVE COMMANDMENTS 
 
 Always speak the truth. 
 
 Never speak ill of anyone. 
 
 Keep good company or nonv.. 
 
 Live up to your engagements. 
 
 Be just before being generous. 
 
 Earn money before you spend it. 
 
 Drink no intoxicating drinks. 
 
 Good character is above all things else. 
 
 Keep your own secrets if you have any. 
 
 Never borrow if you can possibly avoid it. 
 
 Never play at any kind of games of chance. 
 
 Keep your promises if you would be happy. 
 
 Make no haste to be rich if you would prosper. 
 
 When you speak to a person, look him in the face. 
 
 Save when you are young, to spend when you are old. 
 
 Never run in debt unless you see a way to get out 
 again. (And not then, unless you have a good reason 
 for it.) 
 
 Avoid temptation through fear you may not withstand it. 
 
 Ever live (misfortune excepted) within your income. 
 ^ Small and steady gains give competency with tran- 
 quility of mind. 
 
 Good company and good conservation are the sinews 
 of virtue. 
 
 When y^u retire, think over what you have done during 
 the day. 
 
 Your cha ^"^ter cannot be essentially injured except by 
 yourself. 
 
 . If anyone iL^pe^^k evil of '"you, prove it untrue by^the 
 life you live. 
 
 When your ha!Lids can't be usefully employed, attend 
 to the cultivation of the mind. 
 
 These thoughts and sentiments did not originate in the 
 brain of an ignoranus. They are the secretions of a brain 
 of high ideals and noble aspirations. We have in these 
 
 215 
 
2i6 LINES FROM A DOCTOR TO HIS SON 
 
 rules much of the accumulated philosophy — wisdom — of 
 the countless ages of the ever-lengthening past. The 
 oftener and more attentively they are read, the larger, 
 more comprehensive, and significant they become. 
 
 Square your Hves by these rules, and the others of the 
 book, and you will not live in vain. On the contrary, your 
 lives will be a grand success. 
 
 Reading this book and giving it up to the worms and 
 the dust, will profit you little. Make it your vade tnecum 
 reference book and read it, at least, every six months. 
 
 And may the Ruling Spirit of the Universe guide us 
 airto a haven of rest. 
 

 Wi's' 
 
 S. 
 
 hi-