A boy at fifteen : before and after

;ru
!ru

The B.P.B. BOOKLETS

Are Published Quarterly

THEY are issued to meet the
growing need for booklets for
our boys ; dealing with various
matters which affect their lives.

The support of Sunday School
Teachers, Boys' Brigade, Scout
and Crusade Leaders, and all
who are interested in the wel
fare of our boys is solicited, that
this effort maybe made a success.

6d. per doz. ; postage, id. extra
100 for 35. ; postage, 4d. extra

B. M'CALL BARBOUR

"Ube JBo^s' purity 36an&"

37 Chambers Street

EDINBURGH

Presented to the

LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

by

ALAN MANINGTON

A BOY AT FIFTEEN:

Before and After.

" S~*OOD spirits guard that young boy, and give
\~7 him grace in this his hour of trial! Open
his eyes that he may see the fiery horses and
the fiery chariots of the angels who would defend him,
and the dark array of spiritual foes who throng around
his bed. Point a pitying finger to the yawning abyss
of shame, ruin, and despair that even now perhaps is
being cleft under his feet. In pity, in pity show him
the canker which he is introducing into the sap of the
tree of life, which shall cause its root to be hereafter as
bitterness, and its blossom to go up as dust. "

DEAN FARRAR,
In " Eric; or, Little by Little."

A BOY AT FIFTEEN :

BEFORE AND AFTER.

BY

B. M'CALL BARBOUR,

Author of

"FOR A BOY," "WHAT'S THE HARM?" "RED AND WHITE," ETC.
AND EDITOR OF " BITS FOR OUR BOYS."

Fifth Edition

EDINBURGH: B. M'CALL BARBOUR, 37 CHAMBERS STREET.
LONDON: S. W, PARTRIDGE & CO., 9 PATERNOSTER Row.

TO

MY BOYS:
ALL OF THEM,

SYDNEY HOUSE,
AMPTHILL,

BEDFORD.

Dear Mr M'Call Barbour,— I feel deeply thankful
for the brave efforts you are making to deal with an
evil whi(h has assumed appalling proportions. This
little book of yours will, I pray and believe, speak the
enlightening word which will save many a dear lad
from disastrous evil and misery. From facts which
have come to my knoivledge, I am convinced that the
moral perils of our young folks to-day are much graver
than they were thirty years ago. It is simply cruel of
parents to allow their boys to go out into school and
business life uninstructed and unwarned. The father
who will read through your book chapter by chapter
with his son, will easily find opportunity to say all that
needs to be said, and by so doing will earn, his boy's
deep and lasting gratitude. If he cannot venture so
much, at any rate let him put the book into the boy's
hands. God bless our lads, and use your words to save
multitudes of them from sin and practices which have
blighted countless lives. — Heartily yours in the Masters
service,

CHARLES G. MOORE.

July 8, 1903.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

A BOY AT FIFTEEN : BEFORE AND

AFTER 7

CHRIST AND THE BOYS- ... 15

BOYS AND THE BlBLE 2O

A BOY'S FRIEND ----- 25

A BOY'S SPECIAL TROUBLES - - 32

RECREATION 39

LETTERS TO LADS.

ON THE BOY AT BUSINESS 43

ON GOING WITH GIRLS « • • 49

ON GAMBLING - * • 53

ON SMOKING 57

ON SLANG AND SWEARING 61

ON DECISION 65

A BOY AT FIFTEEN
Before and After.

BOY AT FIFTEEN is little
understood. He little understands
himself. He is often much mis
understood.

Perhaps, my boy reader, you are
not yet fifteen. If not, you are
getting nearer that age every day,
<£ & and it is well to be warned about,
and helped to understand some of
the things regarding yourself at that period of
your life.

It is my hope that when you do reach fifteen,
what you may learn from these pages will
help you to understand what all these strange
new strivings mean — mentally, morally, and
physically — which take place in you at that age.
To be "forewarned is to be forearmed," and
so by carefully heeding the few words of warning
given, you may be able to master and control
these new sensations which arise in every boy
at such an age, and so be saved from the bane
ful results, so frequent, of sinning and suffering
through ignorance.

Perhaps you are beyond fifteen. If so, doubt
less these pages will help you to better under
stand now that strange period of fifteen through
which you have already passed, and "the after"
which to-day you are passing through.

If you have gone astray through ignorance,
through youthful indiscretion and lack of control,
it may be it is not yet too late to rectify some
of the mistakes you have fallen into, and to stop
the follies and habits contracted in the heat
of wilfulness and passion. Thus you may be
helped to save your life from further foolishness,
and by the grace of God, in some measure be
a help to other boys who need a word of caution
or a helping hand at fifteen— before and after.

For you, my lad at fifteen, we cannot wish
you better than that you seek from God the

8

grace that is needed to give your strictest heed
to this, the most difficult to manage of all the
periods of life.

However difficult it may be, it is possible to
come through it with the sweetest, highest, and
best results. Its peculiar temptations can be
overcome ; its pitfalls can be passed in safety.
There is one way, one only. It is by facing
facts and dealing with them honestly and meet
ing all that comes, in the grace and strength
provided by God to carry us through.

We must give God His place in our life even
at fifteen. Only so is it possible to pass through
this difficult and dangerous period of a boy's
life unscathed.

The first fact, then, to be faced is, that a boy
at fifteen is passing through a change in his life.
Not every boy, indeed, we think, few boys are
made aware that life has its stages of transition,
its periods of change.

About fifteen is one of these periods of change,
and when a boy has reached his fifteenth year
he is usually fairly into it.

Let me quote to you from some of those who
have made " Boy Life " a special study, some of
the facts and well-grounded opinions regarding
this period in the life of a boy.

W. Byron Forbush, in his book, "The Boy
Problem," says : —

" It (the age of fifteen) is the time of change. By
fifteen the brain stops growing, the large arteries
increase one-third, the temperature rises one degree,
the reproductive organs have functioned, the voice
deepens, the stature grows by bounds, and the body
needs more sleep and food than ever before. It is
the emotional age. No songs are too gay, no sorrows
are so tearful. It is the time for 'slang,' because
no words in any dictionary can possibly express all
that crowds to utterance. It is the time for ' falling
in love ' most thoughtlessly and most unselfishly.
The child wants to be entertained constantly. This
is a natural condition. It is the enthusiastic age.
The mask-like impressive face at this age is a sign of
loss of youth or of purity.

"This emotional, restless disposition, which is so
closely associated with rapid and uneven growth ; the
new sense of power and of self-life and dreams of
adventure, is often manifested in a craving to roam,
to run away from home, to go to sea. The boy is
simply seeking his place in the world. Ambitions

are strongly evident now, though often irrational and
fantastic. Their nurture is the determining factor in
the choice of the life work.

" Physical restlessness is often associated with in
tellectual restlessness and curiosity. It is a time of
stubborn doubts, painful and dangerous, but signs of
mental and moral health.

"Together with the doubts there is frequently an
obstinate positiveness.

" For several years after twelve a boy is apt to be
filled with the feeling that there is something about
himself that needs to be settled."

Sylvanus Stall, D.D., in his invaluable volume,
" What a Young Boy ought to Know," writes :—

" When this time (about the age of fourteen) arrives,
the boy begins to leave behind him the characteristics
of childhood. The body grows rapidly. The
shoulders become broader, the chest deeper. The
voice loses its boyish tones and becomes deeper and
stronger. The skin becomes coarser. The beard
starts to grow. The bones become harder. The
sexual parts begin to develop, and in a few years the
wisdom teeth appear.

"At first the boy feels awkward. His voice
breaks. His hands and his feet seem to be in his
way. He is sensitive and bashful under circumstances
where formerly he was at ease and at home. He be
comes the subject of new sensations and new desires,
which he is not able to interpret or to comprehend.
He becomes more polite, and more manly in his
bearing towards strangers and especially towards
women. He begins to seek the companionship of
girls of about his own age. All this time there is
being awakened within him a divinely implanted
nature, which is designed to make him more noble
and more perfect in every respect than he could
possibly be without it.

" But it is now that sexual passion begins to assert
itself. If the boy is ignorant, has a weak moral
sense, or is under the influence of evil companions,
serious dangers are likely to follow.

'' It is also at this critical time, between the ages of
thirteen and twenty-one, that boys become irritable
and petulant. They experience a feeling of contrari
ness. They are untractable, and at times even
rebellious. It is during this period that many boys,
whose parents do not understand their condition,
and who have forgotten their own feelings and
experiences at the same age, desire to break loose
from all restraint, and sometimes even to run away
from home.

"It is at this time that the boy who was formerly

10

obedient and studious often becomes restive, dis
obedient, and unruly.

"Boys between the years of fourteen and eighteen
are more likely to be disobedient to their teachers in
the day school, and it is just at this age that they are
likely to feel that they are too old to go to Sunday
school, and not so likely to go willingly to church or
attend to their religious duties. The entire nature
feels the revolution that is taking place, and all the
worst qualities in the boy's composition appear upon
the surface. This is the period in the boy's experience
which the Germans call 'the period of storm and
stress.' If the boy is made intelligent, and his
parents and teachers understand and appreciate what
the boy is passing through, all will eventually turn out
better than the indications seem to promise ; and as
the young man approaches the age of twenty and
upwards the storms will have passed by. And if he
has been guarded from evil and kept from sin, his
future will be increasingly calm, blessed, and
prosperous. But if vice and evil have come into his
life, the years will bring an increasing instalment of
passion and sin, of disappointment and suffering.

"You see, my dear boy, how important it is at this
time, which is usually the most trying in one's life,
that a boy should not be left to grope in darkness and
ignorance among physical and moral dangers of the
most serious nature."

Dr Lymen B. Sperry, in his "Confidential
Talks to Young Men," says :—

"Sometimes budding, unsettled manhood exhibits
itself in eccentric and objectionable ways. _ A rapidly
developing boy hardly knows what to do with himself;
new emotions, ambitions, and impulses come over
him, sometimes faster than he can master them ; he
becomes restive under restraints, resents the efforts of
parents and teachers to direct him, refuses to be
disciplined, and on slight provocation, runs away from
school or from home. He may have an ambition to
become a 'cow boy' or a 'Texan Ranger' or a
'Buffalo Jack' or 'The Terror of the Sierras.' At
least he wants to be independent of all restraints, and
is ambitious for adventure and conquest. The desires
that lead to running away from home and kindred
conduct, are but the effervescence or the ' slopping-
over ' of a life that is too full of impulse and energy,
for the amount of controlling good sense that has yet
come into it."

M. E. Sangster, in writing of " the first great
milestone" in a boy's life, says : —

"You boys reach your first great milestone some-

I J

where along between your fourteenth and seventeenth
birthdays. You never know exactly where, but there
comes a time, you realise later, when you resented
being treated like a child by your mother and older
sister, especially in public. Changes there had been
earlier, and important ones, such as the losing of your
baby curls, the obtaining of jackets with pockets, and
being asked to run errands, and to lend a helping
hand whenever needed, but you did not think much
of them at that time. Youth in the earlier stage is
not an easy period for a boy. He is apt to be a little
conceited, then to swagger boastfully, and to speak
with too much certainty in matters on which he has
no experience. People lose patience with him,
especially fathers and older brothers."

Dr Elias G. Brown, A.B., says : —

"The most characteristic thing about boyhood is
that in the life of every boy, at a certain period, a
remarkable change takes place. Physically, the small
boy begins to grow more rapidly. His height
increases surprisingly ; his weight goes up, though the
roundness of the small boy quite frequently gives place
to the lankiness of youth, the growth in height at first
being out of proportion to the increase in weight.
These things are easily noticed by any one. But
internally, rapid changes are going on as well. Most
important are the great increase in size and in power
of the heart, and the rapid development of the
reproductive system. And this latter is most important
of all, for with this development there takes place the
most remarkable change of all, a change in the boy's
very nature. New feelings and desires are awakened
in the boy's mind. Great longings arise ; and the boy
feels a power that did not exist before. New mental
qualities develop. He becomes critical and desires
to judge things for himself; but at the same time, his
emotions are most easily stirred ; he is most easily
influenced. . . . During this period of rapid develop
ment and of change in nature, known as puberty, and
sometimes aptly spoken of as the critical period in the
life of a boy, he is most susceptible to strong emotional
influences, and his whole future life may sometimes be
changed in a day."

Such, then, is a boy at fifteen.

We have quoted so much from different
sources in order that it may be plain and easy
to grasp the strange combination of changes and
forces that are working in a boy at this time.
And now, my boy reader, we doubt not but
already you have found some explanation and
enlightenment. True, you did not understand

12

what you were passing through. You could not.
No one ever told you. No one warned you of
this critical period. It may be no one seemed
to have sympathy enough with you to gain your
confidence and your heart in the midst of all
your boyhood's trials. Consequently you have
been puzzled and perplexed, maybe have grown
careless and indifferent. Perhaps in your boyish
ignorance and incapacity you have let the reins
of life hang loosely upon your passions, and may
be to-day you are careering rapidly along the
path of indulgence in secret and open sin. My
boy, will you draw up ? Will you ask God's help,
and believing that you get it will you yield up to
Him the reins and say, "Receive me, my Saviour,
for I have gone astray. Direct, control, and
keep me, for I cannot keep myself J'? Yield to
Him, and He will.

The facts already stated about a boy at fifteen
detail his natural condition. It is natural for
the boy to be so. This very fact demands that
attention be given to these changes, and the
growing forces in the boy be met by plain and
practical information regarding them, so that he
be guided and controlled aright. How very
much depends upon us who know these facts.

We must face the facts of natural develop
ment. We must help our boys to face them for
themselves. We must seek to strengthen them
in their boyhood's battles by arming them with
intelligent and wholesome information regarding
these forces and changes within them and around,
that they may be able to come through this
critical period of life with their strength un
impaired and purity untainted.

If we neglect to warn, we are responsible in
measure for their failure.

It seems to us, to meet the conditions of a
boy at fifteen, there are three great essential
needs which are fundamental : —

First, he needs Christ.
Second, he needs the Bible.
Third, he needs an honest, true, and sym
pathetic friend.

We do not overlook the fact that a boy at fif
teen also needs recreation for his body, food for
his mind, companionship, &c. &c., but we believe
these will follow in their right and proper course

13

and measure, when the fundamental needs have
been supplied.

Indeed, we have little hope of any true, well-
balanced success in any boy's life unless these
three great needs that we have noted be met as
a first and chief concern.

We do not say the boy "wants" these, but we
unhesitatingly affirm that he "needs" them.
If his "wants" were more in keeping with his
"needs," our boys would unquestionably get
through life with fewer falls, and success assured
and true in the best and highest way.

are, as a pule, rjof rjorfurally reli--
ejious eif ibje acre ©jjemrfeer), 0r)ly arjd
solely beeause l|~)ev Ijav'e rjoi Leer)
lerucmi io be so,

oy ccarj r)O rr)0re

il)G lif

op )e purpose

-, urjless rje i)ers err) ir)firr)<2tfe,
irjef pelafior) vSill) l)is Reciter1 irj
irjefr) er pouter car) li-^e -u^illjouf
; urjfil v5e rjav'e realised il)is,
fcd upor) if, boys vv'ill cor)li

r)uc

lo Joe ippeliqi0us arjirrjetls, errja rr)er) will
rjhrjue lo fry ar)<i liv'c wilr^ouf ll)c 0rjlv
peal r)ecessify o lije.

1 l®r)Cf fo ]oclie^?e irj as a
possibility is er f©r)C ir> public school lijc
l) rrjal^es if r)afural fo a boy fo acf
fo live purely occcruse rje
if is fl)c service l)e ow'es lo bis

C)ervi0ur.

ENNIS RICHMOND,
IN "THROUGH BOYHOOD TO MANHOOD."

15
CHRIST AND THE BOYS.

>HE boys need Christ.

Not so much knowledge about
Christ, as a knowledge of the Christ
Himself, as a personal Saviour and
ever-present Keeper and Friend.

When we place this need as the
first we are simply following the order
of God's Word which says, " Seek ye
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."

How true is this remark by one who has
studied well boy life : " Nowadays, education de
votes itself almost entirely to the head, and little
or not at all to the heart. The training of the
head without that of the heart simply begets
intellectual conceit, pride, and selfishness.
Youths should be accustomed to self-control,
for after all good manners, in their last analysis,
are simply self-control and self-denial."

With such absorption in an education which
is mostly of the head and for this world, it is
evident, if our boys are to be kept pure and free
from the world's entanglements, they need that
education of the heart, which simply means, to
be controlled by Christ.

Granted that our boys are taught religion, how
much of it is simply formality, or at best amounts
to the exhortation "be good."

Naturally we want our boys to "be good."
Doubtless the boys in many cases want to "be
good" themselves. But how sickening and
wearisome it is to the boy to perpetually try to
"be good" and as perpetually find his efforts
fail. He has a right to know the reason of that
perpetual failure. He must know if he is to gain
ultimate success and victory. The reason is
simple enough for every boy to understand. It
is nothing else than this, that without Christ
neither boys nor men can be truly good, as God
desires them and their consciences commend.

We firmly believe that many boys are honest
enough to be disgusted with that " being good,"
because what they know of it simply amounts to

i6

"goody goodyism." It is only surface show —
therefore hypocrisy.

On the other hand we firmly believe that the
intelligence of many honest boys would agree
with that form of "being good" which has its
basis in the possibility of its being done, not by
any of their " trying? but by their trusting the
Good One — Christ in them to accomplish it.

That this is God's way of the matter is plain.
This must be taught to them. Where it is taught
the boy will have had a fair chance to know how
his life, even as a boy, can be governed and kept
right. Till he is taught this, he is in ignorance
of the greatest power at his disposal and the
power he needs the most of all.

" Parents hate to talk religion with their boys,
in these latter conservative days. Even faithful
pastors do most of their religious talking with
the saints who do not need such talk. We all
of us fear —what ? That the boy will not like it,
and abstain."

How true this is ! Why, many a boy is
longing for some one to tell him how to get
victory in his life over the sins which so easily
beset him. He is yearning to know where
power to live a pure and upright life is to be
found. We could understand the silence about
Christ if we had other cures. But there is none.
Surely he is a boy's best friend who will intro
duce him to this One ; Christ who shed His
precious blood on Calvary to save him, and who
lives to keep him by His power.

We may reason " boys are young, and cannot
understand such deep teaching," " Boys will be
boys, and you cannot expect an old head on
young shoulders/' &c. We admit the reasoning
is reasonable to some extent, but we cannot
forget that in matters spiritual, even in a boy's
life, the Holy Spirit counts for something, to
ignore Him is fatal to all progress spiritual,
whether in boys or men. " Without Me ye can
do nothing." He can make clear and simple to
the mind and heart even of a boy, what other
wise would certainly be "too deep."

The boys need Christ, and Christ is for the
boys.

The devil is a power too much for any boy to
master, but joined to Christ there is certain
victory over the devil, for "greater is He."

Christ is God's gift held out to every boy.
Possessing Christ and yielding to Him con
tinually, it is blessedly possible for any and every
boy to "be good" and be "kept good" by the
power of the Holy Spirit within him, the Good
and Holy One. So it is we are "kept by the
power of God."

We do not doubt that religion to many boys
and young men has become a " humbug " and a
something to be avoided, simply because
according to most of the information they have
got, they have been asked to do that which to
them was practically impossible. We must be
clear in all our statements to our boys as well as
to men that in ourselves and by our own efforts
we never can be good. " Ye must be born
again."

Boys "must be born again" as well as men.
"All have sinned."

When we make this clear to the boys, we
believe the Holy Spirit will bless His own Word,
and use it to bring our boys to realise their need
for Christ, and to an acceptance of Him.

The Holy Spirit will never countenance the
error of "try to be good."

Our boys need Christ, and Christ is for the
boys.

Christ will solve the problem for our boys of
how to get rid of sin ; how to get right with
God ; how to obtain victory ; how to overcome ;
and how to live a healthy, holy, and a happy
life.

Will you, then, my dear boy reader, take
Christ ?

To have Him is to have your life under perfect
control and surest and safest guidance. He will
govern and direct and settle for you all the
questions that perplex and puzzle a boy. He
will tell you what you ought to do, and ought
not to do. Where you ought to go, and ought
not to go. He will be with you always, at
school and in the play-ground, at home and in
the office, in the busy market and the street.
He will be your counsellor in your choice of
companions, recreations, and occupations.

"The best friend to have is Jesus."

So, living to please Him, you shall be kept
from what is evil, and made strong in good.

Surely it is not too much to ask every boy
B

i8

who reads these pages to let Christ so rule his
life in all its details, when only so can it be lived
aright.

Such a surrender to Christ will never rob a
boy's life of one single joy or pleasure which is
pure and profitable to himself and others, and
as for all other sorts, the sooner he is spoiled of
them the better.

The boys need Christ — Christ is for the boys.

Only Christ can satisfy the great needs of a
boy's heart and life. Only Christ can keep him
pure, clean, honest and upright, healthy and
holy now, and only Christ will avail him at the
end.

My boy, take Christ !

rlrS crjild. w'r)© is brcuqrjf up ©r) frje
je>iJalej as GT wrjclc, will c©rne f©
l^rjQw ir> frje very kesf wVy p©s=
siialc wr)0;T cr crjild. 0uq_nf fo ^r)©w very eerr>ly
irj lije, if r>e is f o be. s<alequ0:rd.G0. ©rq©:ir)sl" ine
perils ir)af sur>r>0ur)d us ir> ©ur ^©dcpr) li^e.
/i crjild. J3p©uqr)l up or; frjc ircquerjf,
)? c©r)fir)u©us

01 irjc w

is rr)0i>c Ji^elv ii}<ar) etrjy ©
cr)ila 10 J3e pee p?0rr) irje -y'i

|fl) ©J ©UP laoj'-s
ctr)d. qirls ©:r)<a younq
rrjer) etrjd "wornen.
jlul lr}e cl)iU

wr)© is J3p©uqr)t

• £' 1 1
up ©r) irjjidel

lif eretf ur>® ernd.

ll)e easiest prey
frjere is 10 fj-je
seauoer. ^pb2
rjexf eetsiesl is ilje

r)eqlecf ©| il^e
pyilale is iep ir)

)®recr)ce 0J itje

•if 11 P i.p »>
pil|etlis 0| lije.

DR R. A. TORREY.

20

THE BOYS AND THE BIBLE.

doubt not that every boy who reads
these pages has a Bible. What use
is it to him personally if it is never
opened, if its precepts are not
studied and its promises are not
believed ?

A boy needs his Bible for the
light it gives on life and for the
strength and encouragement it im
parts to life.

He needs it to tell him that he was created for
God's glory ; that his body is not simply a
machine to be used or abused to gratify his
natural desires or his impure passions, but that
it is "the temple of God" into which He seeks
admission by the Holy Spirit that He may dwell
therein.

He needs his Bible to tell him that in his
natural state he is sinful, fallen— lost, indeed,
that he simply is in God's sight a sinner, and
therefore must "be born again."

He needs it to tell him God's remedy for this
lost condition ; that God has provided a Saviour
in Jesus Christ His Son and that there is forgive
ness and redemption through His precious blood
to all who will believe and receive Him as their
Saviour.

He needs it to tell him how he may live a pure
and holy, a healthy and happy life ; how he may
overcome sin and be kept by the power of God.
He needs it to tell him God's wonderful plan
and purpose in all that's going on around him, so
that he may know life is worth living when it is
lived after its Creator's plan.

He needs it to reveal to him the riches that
are his in Christ, indeed, to show him how to
get right with God, and keep right with Him
and experience the blessedness of being " a son
of God."

He needs it for warning to steer clear of all
the pitfalls that abound on every hand, and to
tell him the unchanging fact that " whatsoever
a boy sows, that shall he also reap."

21

He needs it to tell him much more than all
this to meet the details of his daily life, and it
does tell it to him. Indeed there is no other
book does for a boy what this book does. It is
the best boy's book we know of.

Can we wonder then that life is such a puzzle
and perplexity to boys, if the only book which
has a proper explanation of it, and guidance
regarding it, is left unopened or treated with
comparative indifference. It is no wonder that
so many boys go down so easily into sin, even
with all their efforts by "healthy recreation"
and exercise to avoid it, when they do not heed
God's Word, for emphatically it is stated that the
power to keep from sin is God's Word hidden in
the heart (Ps. cxix. 9-11).

It is no wonder that so many boys fall easily
into an "unclean way" when the Bible is
neglected, for most clearly God has said "by
taking heed thereto according to Thy Word"
is the means to have our way made clean and to
keep it so.

It is no wonder the boys readily imbibe all
sorts of worldly, evil, and erroneous ideas when
they will not open God's Word to get to know
the truth about His way of things and so be
saved from error and crime. We know it is not
common to find boys at fifteen deeply interested
in the Bible. JTis a pity it is so, but the fact
has to be faced and the statement made, for
whether interested or not and common or no,
the fact remains, boys need the Bible for the
pure and proper conduct of their lives, and no
book more so.

All the books under the sun will not do more
for the health of a boy's body, for the beauty of
his conduct and the purity of his character than
the Bible, if he takes heed thereto.

When we seek to stir up interest in God's
Book in those who have sunk into sin for lack
of it, how often we are met with " it's too late
now, you should have told that to me sooner."

True, it seems "too late" where the seed of
impurity sown in boyhood is bearing its harvest
of "wild oats'"' but it is not too late. Thank
God it is not, and it is God's own Word says so.
" Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him re
turn unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon

22

him, and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon" (Isa. Iv. 7).

My boy of fifteen, let me beseech you to get
at your Bible now. You need it. What we
have just stated is strongest argument for our
entreaty.

God, who made the world and you, knew
best what needs would meet you in passing
through this world as child, as boy, as man.
In His wisdom and His love He has put into
your hands a guide book, inspired by Himself
to shed light on all your path of life and direct
you safely through it to the end.

Such is the Bible, and you will need it every
day, and all the day, and every step in life you
take if you would walk aright and in the way
that pleases God.

Of course you will need to read your Bible if
you are to know its contents. You will need to
obey its precepts and trust its promises if \ou
would know its practical use and keeping power.

There are lots of other books at hand claiming
your attention, and doubtless many of them are
getting it.

How is it with your Bible? Is this best and
most needful of all books seldom if ever touched?

Will you, my boy, bethink yourself, and see if
some place, indeed the first place, cannot be
given to this supremely important and most
needful book for you, the Bible ?

Do not say " when you are older you will give
heed to it." "When you are older" is a day
that is not yours, and even should it come it will
bring with it its own duties and responsibilities.
Your need is now, now is the time to meet it.
It is now you need God's Word, and now you
must apply it to your life and conduct if you
would be saved from boyish sins and indiscretions
which ever lay the foundations of manhood's
sufferings and regrets. The time for your Bible,
my boy, is now. " Thy Word have I hid in my
heart that I might not sin against Thee." Do
it now !

It is a fact that the Bible condemns sin, and
of course you will need to part with the one or
the other, for no boy can keep both his sin and
his Bible. The very straightforwardness of
God's Book is its blessedness. It is so honest
in its dealings with sin that when we read it we

23

are not left in doubt about the awful con
sequences of sin harboured and indulged. It is
made quite clear if we will go on in sin we
cannot go on with the Bible.

We do not doubt that many boys continue in
sin, simply because they do not read their Bible.
Of course it is also true that many do not read
their Bible because they choose to continue in
sin.

How blessed is the fact that the same Word of
God which reveals to us our sin and condemns
it, also provides for us an escape from it, a cure
for it, and a power over it in and through the
precious blood of God's own Son, " who loved
me and gave Himself for me." If boys will
only confess to God their sins, which His Word
reveals, and claim the cleansing of the precious
blood which it offers, there will be found a sure
deliverance from its awful bondage, and a power
to serve God with a liberty and freedom in
keeping with His will, which is the source of
truest and abiding joy.

It is blessedly possible for boys as well as
men to be saved from sin and kept from it.
Indeed, there is only one way for boys and men
to get right with God, and if any boy would be
saved, now is the time, and the way is through
Jesus Christ his Saviour. There is no other.
It is God's own Word that says so.

It is by God's Word we are " built up." "The
Word of His grace which is able to build you
up." It is only logical to consider that by the
lack of God's Word we shall " break down."
Such is the case. It is true to experience. The
boy who reverences, reads, and obeys God's
Word, has a character for trustworthiness that is
worth untold wealth to him and his relations
and employers. The boy who is heedless,
careless of, or antagonistic to God's Book, is
usually found amongst that class who are
" ungodly," " sinners," and scoffers," who grow
up in infidelity and selfishness, with little or no
respect for either God or man.

My boy, make your Bible your guide book
and your God your guide. Don't mind though
others talk about God, and live as if He didn't
exist. Make up your mind that, as for you, you
will "trust in the Living God," and make His
Word the law of your life. It is quite clear that

24

God's Word says, "Blessed is the man who
walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, or
standeth in the way of sinners, or sitteth in the
seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the
law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate
day and night'3 (Ps. i. i, 2). Every sensible
boy who reads these words, knows that it is no
more right for a boy at fifteen to company with
the " ungodly," with " sinners," and " scoffers,"
than it is for a man of twenty-five or fifty to do
so. It is wrong for all. He is a wise boy who
will take heed to that fact, and this other that
as it is "blessed "for the "man" to "meditate
in God's Word day and night," it cannot be less
beneficial for the boy to do the same.

Get at your Bible, my dear boys. It will keep
in order all the different spheres of your life,
and so it shall be rightly and beautifully
balanced. It will tell you that God loves you,
in a way no other book or person can. As you
yield to that pure, sweet, holy love of God as
manifested in Jesus Christ His Son, it will be to
you the constraining power to win you from the
ways of sin, and keep you in the paths of purity,
of pleasantness, and peace.

Boys, get at your Bible !

25

A BOY'S FRIEND.

:E have said that a boy at fifteen needs
a friend. It is not every one who
can fill this peculiar post. It de
mands one who has an intelligent
knowledge of a boy's needs and a
heart of sympathy toward him.

A boy needs such a friend as will
not fail to introduce him to Christ as his Saviour
and Keeper. One who will instruct him in the
contents of his Bible, so that he may be guided
aright in life, not according to the world's customs
or opinions, but according to God's mind.

He needs one who will inform him wisely and
well as to the development and the exercise of
his body, and who will warn him against its
abuse in every way.

He needs one who will be a guide regarding
the instruction for and education of his mind,
with a view to fit him for his work in the world.
He needs one whose heart will be tender and
yet firm toward his boyish mistakes and moods,
and who will sympathise with all his boyish
troubles and trials. Indeed he needs such a
friend as he can trust with all his heart with
out the slightest fear of being misunderstood or
misdirected.

We believe that it is God's purpose that such
a friend should be found for every boy in the
persons of his parents.

We do not say that all parents fulfil this high
and holy obligation of being such friends to their
boys. Nevertheless we believe it is expected that
they should.

We fear that too much of this friendly office
has been delegated by parents to others, with
the baneful result that neither boys nor parents
enjoy that liberty, confidence, and love which
ought to exist between them.

A boy's most intimate, most reliable, and most
sympathetic friend ought to be found in either or
both of his parents.

Happy indeed is the boy who needs not to go

A BOY'S FRIEND.

27

outside the circle of his home for the guidance,
sympathy, and help his heart and mind and body
needs. There are ever rising up within a boy
cravings for action, information, and sympathy
which are only natural, and the answers to which
he has a right to have, at first hand, from those
who brought him into this world.

However, as we must face things as they are,
rather than as they ought to be, it must be said,
that while a deep enough interest is usually
taken by parents in certain matters in the life
of their boys, others, and generally these, to the
boy, the most important of all, are almost entirely
disregarded.

Boys, in many cases, find very little sympathy
and honest practical help at home upon their
most perplexing problems of physical life. What
school they will attend, what clothes they will
wear, what business they will follow, what posi
tion they will hold, seem to be the all important
items in a boy's existence. He is left to fight
the battle against the world and the devil out
side, and the flesh inside him too often on the
strength of a formalistic religion, and of course
with no success.

It is this inability to find genuine help in his
difficulties on the deepest things of life, at home,
that begets wonderment and curiosity. The
help and information denied him by parents he
naturally seeks through other channels, outside,
which, alas, so often are corrupted by vice and
immorality.

How can we blame our boys for picking up
in impure ways that which has been withheld
from them in a pure, a proper, and a wholesome
course? Surely none ought to be more willing
to impart such information to their boys, and
none would be trusted more in the doing so, as
a loving father or mother ! What a safeguard
it is to a boy's life, in the midst of all his
temptations, when he can unburden himself to
his parents, and know that they understand him
and will be patient with and helpful to him.

Sometimes a boy has liberty to so trust one
of his parents more than the other— most fre
quently it is "mother" who gets the secrets of
his young heart, and is sought to bear with him
his troubles.

What a privilege ! It is one which every

28

mother ought to prize, to have the confidence
of her boy. She may become to him the very
channel through which he is to see the love, the
guidance, and the care of God in his young life,
an inspiration for all that is truly beautiful and
pure and manly, and a terror to all that is base
and unclean.

We do not wish to seem to throw the burden
of responsibility upon the mothers, for the fathers
have an equal share in this. However, when
facts are faced it is found that as a rule the
mothers do have an influence and a hold upon
their boys which the fathers cannot claim. Why
it is so may be explained in many ways. Im
patience and a lack of sympathy on the part of
the fathers, through forgetful ness of their own
boyish days, have, we think, much to do with it
generally. Whatever may be the reason, it is
true that "mother" is the one the boy's heart
yields to most readily, and has most confidence
in.

How needful then it is that "mother" should
be intelligent as to all the dangers and develop
ments that her boy is passing through, and that
she should be open and honest in all her ex
planations regarding himself, so that he may find
in her, indeed, his truest and most trusted friend.

"To many boys there is but one safeguard
from impure thoughts and acts, and that is
reverence and love for their mothers. This
reverence and love must be an incomplete thing
unless a boy can feel that his mother knows
what his dangers are."

We are conscious of much that might be pre
vented of way wardness and sin with their con
sequent suffering in the lives of our boys, if only
they whom God has given to be their " friends"
dealt more openly and intelligently with them
on all subjects.

It is not likely that boys will care much for
Christ and the Bible and religion — their greatest
needs — if these are made only names and empty
formalities before them. A Christ only spoken
about in church and neglected or forgotten all
the rest of the week makes the religion of Christ
to a boy a disgusting farce. He wants reality.
The Bible, that is treated as a book much less
important than the latest novel, the newspaper
or the magazine, cannot be expected to impress

29

the boy as the guide book for life and conduct.
Is it a wonder that he leaves it alone ?

It is a fact when Christ and the Bible and
religion are greater realities to ourselves, they
will become greater realities to our boys.

Nor is it to be expected that our boys will
readily seek our counsel about their bodily
troubles and temptations if we have never made
them aware of our knowledge that they have
such, or have deceived them in our answers to
their childish questions as to their origin and
birth.

We plead for an honest openness with our
boys on all subjects from those who are parents,
and who ought to be to their boys their truest
friends.

There must never be any excuse, that "the
boys won't heed them." Whether they heed or
not, it is the duty of the parent to help his or her
boy in every possible way to meet the needs and
coyiditions of his development. Even if they
seem to treat it with indifference now, we doubt
not, most boys will remember it some time.
Few wander so far away or grow so old as to
forget the warning of a mother's holy and tender
instruction and her prayers.

What we have said about the "friendliness"
of fathers and mothers to their boys of course
implies that the boys will make them their friends.
For a boy to do so is simply to obey the Word of
God which says, " Honour thy father and thy
mother."

My dear boy reader, to this we ask you to give
earnest heed. Tell father and mother about all
your concerns, never be afraid to introduce your
companions to them, talk to them about your
recreations, your trials and temptations. Give
them an opportunity to be your friends. Don't
close your life and heart against them and then
say they have no interest in you. The way to
interest them in all that you are interested in is
to be open with them about all that concerns
you. It is never a good sign in a boy's life that
he has anything that must be hidden from his
parents' knowledge. There may be particular
exceptions, but as a general rule the wise words
of President Roosevelt are worthy of commen
dation to the attention of every boy : " Have all
the fun and pleasure you can get if you can go

30

to your mother and tell her about it. Take all
of this kind that you can find. It is due to you.
But don't take any of the kind you can't take to
your mother. Stamp it out."

If it be that any boy who reads these pages
has been bereft of parents, or has such parents
as are unworthy of the name, to such an one we
say most tenderly, do not consider yourself a
"friendless one." Yours is still the blessed
privilege of making Jesus Christ your dearest
friend.

To so make Him your choice and tell Him
and trust Him in all things, is to realise His
wonderful provision of friends for you on every
hand.

How often for such ones He has provided a
tender-hearted and wise elder brother or sister,
a master at school, or in business who has met
the needs of a boy in marvellous ways.

With such a God of love, of wisdom, and of
power, no boy needs to be without a friend. It
is His promise to supply— ask 1

cBovj- of sicc-ta-en -fa-Ufy wz-otz -to -fri
wfVo -6a9 et>e£- -Ge-e-n -fris cownse-Wo-z- an9
-teac-A.C't- : ' ol -fa-tefij- -too-& f torn a -pu-fc fie
•Ci-ttatu. a nnm-Ge-t of -Goo-fos tui-t-A. o-uc-A- -tit-fes as
' oBo-u-s' S'toGCe.mo/ ' €)lto^a-C cfno-t^-w-c-tio-H. |ot oBo-y-o,'
&c., an,9 -Ho-t one. of -t-fte^e- -fiai-^-doze.™ of -Goo4*
we-ivticm&S -tlie o-ne ^e^iouo pto^^ni of -601^3. 3n-
on-Ci^ otve- was -t-^e. tuo^9 'pu-^-ittj-' •men.-tioneS, cm9
-t'ficii' ontu- -v-n- a cpn^-ra-C •voai^. (9f cou-roe, aW
-t-fic^e -Goofio -t^e-ate9 of -Guoi-neos 'fiotve-c* taj,, ^'te^-&i-t'y-,
&c., 'Gn-'t -no-t one in-titna-teS -t-fia-t -fie- micp-fi-t So

taGi-to of -Go9i^,
faifu-te -to -t-ea-fioe
i-ttj/. (SL-te t-fi^e- •noJ ptoG-Cetnd of
-Gou^i ? d)-^, wiotfie^, i^on. 9o -not -finow -fiow -inant^
-Goy/s ate- cpitvcj, -to -tn-in evitifr 9aij/ fo-s -fac-ft- of
-ft-notoCectje.. 3f on-£vp aW -Go-i^i -A.a9 ao cj-oo9 a-n9
fai-tfvfwf a -teac^e-t- as I^O-M- -fvave -Gijc-n. -to me, -m-y-
oton 9c.a-& tno-t-A-e-t-, -vo-fia-t an atnown-t of oo-t--tou>
•miali/t -Gc- saveS -to -Goijo. 3 f^C ao if 3 wu-s-t
9^-uo-te -m-i^ life- -to -fieCpina tm^ companions -to
s-ta-t-t a-tia'fi.-t ; an9, -motn^t-, •p^-a^e 9on'-t oai^ -t-Aa-t
cl am 3oi-na to^ona in -tfvis.'

" Suc-fr -teotitnomj- f^om a -Goi^ tufao 4-novus,
f com -A.is oiun inne-& eacpe-t.ience an9 ft^on^ in-ti-
tna-tc- aca-uain-tance- -ivi^n -t-iVe c-ccpe'tience-s of -ft-is
f-tien9s, -uj-fiat a-te- -t-fie- neecs of -tfve- -Goi^, is of
fa't. -ntote- -ua-C-u-e. in fa-uou-t of inst-t-u-c-tion -t-nan
a-C-C -t-fie- -t-faeo-te-ticaC oGjec-tions o| a9u-£ts aaain,s-t
i-t. ^Iffvo -fi,-noios -Ge-t-tet -t-fvan a -Ci-ue -Gon -to-9a-u/
•tu-fia-t a^e. -tne- p-to-Gve-ms of -Govts ? Cln9 s-U'C-A. a
pCea s-f\oti-f9 r>ve.e--t tci-t-A- a p-totnp-t response.'

DR MARY WOOD ALLEN.

32
A BOY'S SPECIAL TROUBLES.

T is now that sexual passion begins to
assert itself."

We cannot ignore this fact. To deal
with any boy at fifteen and be indifferent
to this important change in his life,
either from so-called "modesty" or
ignorance, is to neglect that which to
the boy himself is the most puzzling of all his
problems.

True, there is sometimes a difficulty in dealing
plainly with our boys on this subject, and con
sequently it is usually let entirely alone. The
result is, the boys themselves, through ignorance
of physical facts, fall into sin and suffering,
having imbibed what information they do have
through the channels of impure talk, suggestion,
and practices of their companions.

That this is generally the case is abundantly
corroborated by the statements and experience
of those who are qualified to know.

My dear boy reader, if no one has ever told
you about the proper and holy use of the
members of your body, let me, as your friend,
impress upon you the vital importance of its
preservation for its proper and its high and holy
uses in all its various parts.

" No boy," says Dr Butler, " ought ever to be
allowed to go to school, without learning from
his father or his mother, or from some brother,
or tried friend considerably older than himself,
the simple facts as to the laws of birth, and the
terrible danger of ever coming to talk of these
phenomena, as matters of frivolous and filthy
conversation."

That many boys are not so warned, we are
aware. That many of them do fall into sin and
suffering because of not being warned, is a sad
fact which none can deny. It is therefore my
object to say this word of warning, so much
needed, that yoit, my boy reader, may be saved
from this shadow ever falling on your young
life, if it has not already done so.

33

Your body has its various parts for various
special purposes, and only in the rightful use of
these can you expect God's blessing.

The very highest possible privilege has been
given to you, namely, that of transmitting life
and bringing into being other immortal souls.

By the appointment of God, this has been
reserved for the marriage state, and any trespass
against this order is met by the severest judg
ment of God upon it.

For the carrying out of this most high and
holy object, God has provided certain organs or
members of the body, and all abuse of these
members for the purpose of sinful gratification
and lust, incurs physical suffering to those who
so indulge, and to their offspring after them.

To be plain, my dear boy, understand that
the private members of your body are meant by
God for this holy purpose of reproduction of the
race at such a time in life as He shall guide and
appoint to you, and in connection only with the
marriage state. Therefore, be most careful
NEVER to use these organs of your body for
any sinful indulgence. To so sinfully indulge is
to abuse your body, and will most certainly reap
the result of God's judgment upon the sinful
act, whether it be committed in solitude, alone,
or in company with others.

We impress upon you, get right with God's
thought about your body, and hold it as a sacred
charge in all its parts, to be used only for that
purpose for which God created and designed it.

Your body is the creation of God, and is to be
used for His glory, by letting God Himself
dwell within it and control it entirely. Here is
God's own word about the matter : " Know ye
not that your body is a temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have from God?
and ye are not your own ; for ye were bought
with a price ; glorify God, therefore, in your
body" (i Cor. vi. 19, R.V.). "Know ye not
that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you ? If any man destroyeth
the temple of God, him shall God destroy ; for
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Let no man deceive himself" (i Cor. iii. 16, 17,
R.V.).

Be most careful, therefore, to avoid all
thoughts and actions, sights and sounds, which

34

would in any way degrade this high purpose of
your body. Steer clear of all such places,
people, and things, which in any way would
suggest its degradation for selfish and sinful
purposes.

The Rev. George Everard, referring to this
subject in his capital book for boys, called
" Your Innings," says : " There is a snake or a
serpent, or whatever else you may call it, that
creeps into many a school, and leaves many of
the lads with a bite that injures them for life.
They never are the same as before. They carry
the mark of it to their graves. In many cases
it takes all the brightness out of their lives. It
always brings with it a bondage and tyranny
which follows them every step of their journey.
Only lately a few young men were talking over
the matter. They came from fifteen public
schools, and in every one of them this terrible
enemy was known to exist.

"I daresay many of you have guessed already
what I mean. If not, I will tell you. There is
a sin of secret impurity frequent among lads, and
the misery it causes no tongue can ever fully tell.
I know it for a fact. I have had numbers of letters
from themselves about it. I have the experience
of others which has been far greater than my
own. You may take it, my young friend, as a
truth that none can gainsay, that through this
sin a dark veil has been cast over the lives of
tens of thousands of schoolboys, and that all the
freshness and gladness and power of youth have
perished beneath it."

We feel sure your conscience will tell you most
plainly of the sinfulness of such indulgence in
secret sin. We do beseech you to take heed to
the warning voice. Otherwise, you will most
certainly reap the inevitable result of a shattered
frame, and possible insanity and early death.
To enforce the truth of these statements let me
quote to you the words of Dr S. Stall, whose
authority on this matter is unquestioned :
" Every young boy should be properly informed
upon this subject, for even those who may be
safely guarded from defilement of thought and
life from outward influences are nevertheless
exposed to those inward physical conditions
which may produce local irritation and disease ;
and where such a diseased condition is ignorantly

35

permitted to continue, masturbation soon be
comes a fixed habit, and is likely to be practised,
with such violence, that idiocy, and even death,
may, and often does come speedily."

"Nothing so muchfavours thecontinuanceand
spread of this awful vice as ignorance, and only
by being early and properly taught on this im
portant subject can the coming boys and men
be saved from the awful consequences which are
ruining morally, mentally, and physically,
thousands of boys every year."

See, my boy, what information you do get on
these vital matters is got from a pure source,
and not through the vitiated habits of immoral
school chums and work-fellows.

We have said enough to enlighten every boy
sufficiently on the subject of his body so as to
preserve it properly from sin, and lead him to
determine that as for him he will "keep himself
pure."

There is certain blessedness for every boy
who will take heed to the instruction given.
There is certain loss and misery to all who treat
it with indifference or opposition. " Be not de
ceived, God is not mocked : for whatsoever a
boy soweth that shall he also reap" (Gal. vi. 7).

But, what shall we say to the boy who has
sinned, to the boy who in ignorance or wilfulness
has fallen a prey to this filthy habit, and who to
day is bearing in misery the suffering of his body
and reproach of his conscience in solitude. This
is our word — nay, God's own word to you, my
dear lad — " Let the wicked forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him
return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy
upon him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon" (Isa. Iv. 7).

" He that covereth his sins shall not prosper ;
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall
have mercy" (Prov. xxviii. 13).

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness" (i John i. 9).

"The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son,
cleanseth us from all sin" (i John i. 7).

" Come now and let us reason together, saith
the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow ; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa. i iS).

36

"Washed white in the blood of the Lamb"
(Rev. vii. 14).

We cannot leave this subject without noting
some simple rules for the general guidance of
our boys regarding the care of their bodies and
their habits.

First of all we would say accept Jesus Christ,
God's Son, as your Saviour and Keeper from all
sin. Without Him there is no hope of being
pure or keeping so. Thus belonging to Him
you may reckon that you are kept by the power
of God. Doing the will of God, seeking to please
Him in the daily conduct of your body, you can
then count on the help of God to support and
protect you. Watch, you will not be free from
temptation, but you will have given to you a
power to resist it. Do not be distressed because
you are tempted in a multitude of ways. Take
your stand on the word of God, that " greater is
He that is for you than all that can be against
you." Count on His strength and help. Con
sider the awfulness of sinning against the love
of God who gave Jesus Christ, His Son, to die
for you. Appeal for His aid, and by faith believe
you have it. " This is the victory that over-
coineth, even your faith." Such a determination
for purity, backed up by the power of God, will
keep you proof against all the wiles of the devil,
and make you strong.

" My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure."

Secondly, consider well what books you read.
What a mass of filthy, exciting, poisonous matter
is printed in these days. Boys, beware ! Read
nothing but what will add genuine and healthy
information to you. Avoid the rubbishy papers
and " comic " periodicals, which lend levity and
emptiness to life, and make the mind an easy
prey for the suggestions of unclean thoughts.
Read your Bible ; study it. Listen to God's own
word : " Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse
his way ? By taking heed thereto according to
Thy word."

('Thy word have I hid in my heart that I
might not sin against Thee."

To read the Bible, and live according to it by
vhe help of God, is the sure means of keeping

37

the heart from sin. Read, study, love, and live
your Bible.

Put away from you all pictures which incline
you to impure thoughts. If you have any, or
books with such in them, burn them.

This is a day in which the devil is peculiarly
busy presenting to the eye bills and advertise
ments which excite the passions and drag down
the life. Boys, beware ! Help God to keep you
pure. Close your eyes at the first glimpse of
such things. Turn away from them as you would
from deadly poison. They are the devil's "decoy
ducks" into his paths of vice and sin, death and
eternal woe,

Third, companions. Watch them. " Choose
companionships ; don't drift into them." One
bad companion will pollute a whole community
of innocent boys. If you have a bad companion
who talks about nasty stories, and suggests evil
indulgences, tell him of the sin and misery of
which we have tried to tell you in these pages.
If he will not desist, cut his company. Better—
a thousand times better — you should go through
the world companionless than have such an one
as shall pollute you, and others through you.
Watch your companions. Very frequently boys,
in their search for exercise and recreation, are
led into " cricket clubs," " football clubs." " cycle
clubs," and such like, which, while they give them
recreation and exercise, also bring them into
association with immoral companions. The talk
and manner of such companions act upon a boy,
and very often all the good he would get from
the exercise and recreation he seeks is over
balanced by the filthy, impure habits which he
contracts from his companions in the club with
which he associates. Avoid all such companions.
If you must have exercise and recreation, and
you cannot get it in such clubs without imbibing
moral filth, do without such, for God's sake, for
your own sake, and the sake of others, and God
Himself will make up for all you lose by greater
purity, strength, and happiness of life.

Fourth. Be careful in the following matters : —
Bathe the body frequently, especially the lower
parts of it, in cold water. Do not encourage
lassitude and laziness. A hard bed to sleep on
is best. Get up the moment you are awake. To
lie in bed awake is to make yourself an easy

38

prey to sin. Avoid all alcoholic drinks and stimu
lants. Do not smoke. Never be idle. "An
idle mind is the devil's workshop." Fill your
mind with " whatsoever things are pure." " Set
your affections on the things that are above."
During business —provided it is an honest calling
— let your mind be given to serving your master
with all honesty and faithfulness. When out of
business fill your time with some useful and
profitable occupation, something that will elevate
and help others, as well as glorify God.

Pray, lads, pray !

Never forget the purpose of your being is to
glorify God.

"Therefore, glorify God in your bodies which
are His."

39
RECREATION.

settlement of this we may quite
safely leave to every boy, without any
fear of his going astray in it, when
once he has accepted Christ as his
controller, and made Him his keeper,
and the Bible his guide.

There is a place for recreation in a
boy's life, but it is not the first place.

The boy who gives it the first place will very
soon find his life all out of order.

The first business of every boy, as of every
man, is "to seek the kingdom of God and His
righteousness." When that is done, the boy
has got into God's order, and in such a course
will have God's guidance as to his recreation as
well as all else, and His blessing upon it.

It will then be an easy matter to settle what
sort of recreation he ought to and can indulge
in, how often and how far he may go into it,
what sort of company he may keep, and what to
avoid regarding it.

When this difficult question is settled accord
ing to God's will, the boy shall be saved from
that selfishness which so often sets all else and
all others at nought to obtain its gratification.

The present is an age in which there is an
undue glorification of the physical side of our
being, and, therefore, a glorification of sport to
the hurt of the higher and more enduring
interests of soul and spirit.

It would seem that the general mind is that
the muscles must be exercised, and the limbs
developed that we may look well— no matter if
our morals be extremely lax, and our heart be
unregenerate.

We fear, with this passion for the cultivation
of the physical at the expense of neglecting the
spiritual, much of the advice and liberty given
to our boys to-day tends to " make them lovers
of pleasure more than lovers of God."

It is well for us to keep in mind that " bodily
exercise profiteth little " (for a little). We admit

40

there is profit in it, and it would be fanaticism
to ignore or deny it, but let us not be blinded to
the fact that its profit is only "for a little."
How very little is the span of physical existence
when we compare it to the eternity in which the
soul and spirit live.

It is on this ground of considering things in
their proper relationships that we plead for
greater interest in the concerns of greatest
import.

We most firmly believe that no boy's body
ever yet suffered by a right and proper concern
in, and attention to, the interests of his soul and
spirit.

On the other hand, many who have made
pleasure and physical development their only
end, have lost all that truly makes a man, and
have become weak through their follies and their
sins.

There is great need for our boys to weigh well
the very common advice given them to-day to
"go in for all the athletics possible.'3

We have no objection to "all the athletics
possible" if the boy will give as much attention
to the culture of his soul and spirit as he expends
on his body. When it comes to choice as to
which is to be pre-eminent, call halt, and re
member the only safe and proper standard for
success is God's. "Seek first the kingdom of
God."

How many boys are wrecked because of the
habits they contract from those they associate
with for the sake of their " recreations." No boy
should ever risk his soul's welfare for the sake
of any bodily advantage.

It is true that certain circumstances in the
lives of all of us, both boys and men, demand
that we move and mix amongst the ungodly and
unbelieving, " else we must go out of the world."
When, however, it comes to a matter of choice,
we must be careful, for we are responsible as to
where we go, what we do, and what companions
we select.

Is there not a principle to guide us all about
this ? We believe there is. It is in God's own
Word. " Blessed (happy) is the man (or boy)
who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
who standeth not in the way of sinners, nor sit-
teth in the seat of the scornful" (Ps. i. i). It

is questionable if that which we seem to gain
physically is not outweighed by what we lose
morally and spiritually. So, after all, we ask
" what will it profit a man (or boy) though he
srain in size of muscle or in length of limb, if he
lose his own soul."

We do advocate that a boy should have phy
sical exercise as recreation, but not at the expense
of neglecting or ignoring his higher interests.
We believe that if the higher interests are
attended to, the boy will have a guide to, and a
safeguard in all his physical recreations which
will build up the whole man proportionately and
make him strong in all the parts and spheres of
his being, spirit, soul, and body.

If our boys were trained to reverence in a real
way their Creator who gave them life, and were
led to live that life according to His standard for
them, "recreation" would be less the snare it is
and would be all the benefit it was meant to be.
Life for our boys would not be a bondage because
they were debarred from what is wrong, but a
blessed liberty in ever doing what is right.

1 cannot say. my boy reader, what line of recrea
tion you should take, or how far into it you should
go. There is, however, a rule for boys and men
alike, whether it be golf or cricket, cycling or
gymnastics, walking or reading, and it is made
for the schoolboy and the apprentice, for the rich
and the poor alike : " Whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God."

Beyond this no boy has any right to go, and he
goes beyond it to his hurt m every way.

To obey the will of God in all things, business
and pleasure alike, is no bondage but perfect
liberty. Only they who go the way prove it.

LETTERS TO LADS.

43
THE BOY AT BUSINESS.

IY DEAR LADS, — Few steps are more
important for any boy than this of
entering business, and it is well
that every boy should have a sense
of its importance.

It is good when a boy has made
up his mind as to what he is
"going to be." Then he is likely
to start right from the first. It is
not the best to drift into "anything."

We do not here purpose to help you in the
decision as to what business you should adopt ;
that, with the aid of your parents, you may best
settle for yourself. We rather desire to en
courage you to maintain a clean, honourable,
happy, and helpful course in the business upon
which you have decided or may yet decide.

Nearly all boys have to face the world of
business about the age of fourteen or fifteen.
This is just the period of life at which a boy
needs help and sympathy most, for not only are
the outward circumstances of his life changing,
but his nature, physical, mental, and moral, is
also in the process of transition.

To leave " the world of school " and enter
"the world of business" is for the boy to find a
quite new condition of affairs. Doubtless he
finds much that is unexpected, much to disap
point and discourage him.

The school and playground stand in decided
contrast to the office or the shop, the workroom
or the warehouse.

Be encouraged, my dear lads, the "new sen
sation" will soon pass away, and that all the
quicker, if into your new associations you can
carry the old principles of honesty and upright
ness, and the presence of your truest and abiding
friend, Jesus Christ, your Saviour.

Your future is now more than ever in your

own hands. Almost everything depends upon

how you start your business life. Start right

" Get right with God," and keep right with Him.

Your associates will doubtless be of both the

THE, BOY AT BUSINESS.

k

I

45

bad and good. Make it your aim to be kind and
obliging to both, and while you shun the habits
of the bad, seek to cultivate those of the good.

At such a time of life boys are most susceptible
to all sorts of influences. Be watchful that the
influences you yield to and receive are such as
make for purity and right and good. Avoid all
others.

Do not fall into the delusion that because you
are in business, you are now a "man." It will
save a deal of trouble to remember that you are
only an apprentice boy. Few things are more
disastrous to the boy at business than that
conceit which apes the ways of those above
them because they are considered "smart."
Such a disposition makes it easy to follow in the
paths of sin which may be frequented by their
older associates.

It may be you will be fortunate enough to find
yourself in an office or a shop where the bad
habits of your associates are few ; but while so
many situations of the opposite sort exist where
sin is made light of, and indulged in freely by
word, act, and suggestion, we must put you on
your guard and tell you to beware. Beware of
the first enticement to smoke, to swear, to
gamble, to bet, to drink, and have no part in the
unclean story or the impure joke or suggestion.

It needs no one to tell any boy to-day that
such habits are wrong because of their harmful
effects on both the individual and the community.

Then let it be known at once that as for you
it is settled that you have no part in such things.
Maintain your ground, and though at first the
struggle may be severe, when it is found by
those around you that you are no " humbug,"
but mean what you say, you will be respected
and let alone. Such a victory is well worth
winning. Hundreds of men of business have
been lost morally and socially because as boys
at business they lacked the courage to take
their stand in the endeavour to "keep themselves
pure."

It is possible that you may be asked in business
to do what is wrong. Be clear, my lads, about
this. IT IS NEVER RIGHT TO DO WRONG.
Whether it be master or workman who asks
you to do so, at once refuse to act against your
conscience and your God. Your character is at

46

stake. No matter what the cost may be, be no
party to wrong-doing for no one and no thing.
It is never necessary to do wrong. Your
character is the costliest thing you can lose, be
careful to preserve it blameless at all costs.

We have noticed that not unfrequently the
boy is not long at business till he assumes an
air of independence and superiority over others
at home and in social life.

This sometimes shows itself in matters of dress
and deportment. Now there are few persons
but delight in seeing their boys at business
smart and tidy, but this is a different thing from
their boys being conceited, snobbish, and over
bearing. It is at this stage that the boy usually
dons a high collar and develops a peculiar
taste in neckties. To his collar and necktie
there would be little objection, if only it did not
seem to send his head aloft with an air of inde
pendence that ill matches his slender salary of
three- and-six per week.

Such an independent air may creep in un
consciously, and so we draw attention to it, and
ask you, my dear lads, to discriminate between
"self-importance" and "self-respect."

When a boy becomes "self-important" the
truest " self-respect" has gone.

The next development along that line is seen
in a spirit of impatience at restraint and control,
and indifference to and rebellion against the
advice of parents and elders, and a general down
grade tendency from all that truly makes a man.

Often at business this tendency shows itself
in a disposition to do only his share of work and
not one stroke more, because "it's all he's paid
for, and he's not going to work for nothing."
Every right-thinking boy will at once see that
such a spirit is wrong. The interest of the
master ought to be the interest of his apprentice
also, and for the apprentice to help his master
even at personal inconvenience ought to be his
delight.

We want to say further to you, lads, avoid
" working by the clock."

It is indeed a saddening sight to see a boy
who is so selfishly interested in his own affairs
that his work is ever done with " his eye on the
clock," and who is weary to lay down his tools
or pen at the stroke of release.

47

There are some such boys, and almost invari
ably it is found that those are the very boys who
take advantage when the master's back is turned
to spend his time in idleness or frivolity.

It is good to cultivate the habit of willingness
to help in emergencies, when the work is exces
sive and business hours need to be extended.
Of course, "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep
/'/ holy."

We were struck by the following sentences
which we recently read regarding " working
boys " : " How difficult it is to teach boys care
and accuracy in their work, promptness and
punctuality in their relations with others. They
have frequently a way of dallying over their
work and of keeping their minds pre-occupied
with other things that retard their accomplish
ments, or they have a slipshod way of hurrying
through things that is wholly destructive of good
results."

The tendency of these days, with the love for
athletics, sports, and pleasures of all sorts, is
not unfrequently the cause of this unhealthy
state of affairs.

How often is a boy's mind so occupied with
the last and the next " football match," that he
cannot honestly concentrate his attention on his
work in hand. This means cost to his master
in time, money, and material. It is not fair for
any boy to give his best attention to the affairs
of the football field or other outside attractions,
so as to unfit him for his master's work in the
office or the shop. Remember, lads, it is your
"business" and not your "pleasure" to which
you look for your support for life. Then do not
let your business be overruled by pleasure to
the hindrance of your master's interests and
your own hurt.

This principle may be applied to many spheres
of " recreation," so-called, any form of which is
hurtful if it so absorbs the mind and attention
as to make us less fit for the work we have to do.

It is a common occurrence that the boy at
business seems to have no scruples about the
appropriation of certain articles of his master's
property for his own private purposes. My dear
lads, take care of this. The master's envelopes
and paper do not belong to you. They are his.
Use your own paper, pens, ink, and time for

48

your own purposes. Doubtless you have no
intention of being dishonest. Notwithstanding
your intention, such a habit can be termed
nothing else. Boys, be honest !

Now for all this watchfulness, tact, and un
selfishness which is demanded of the boy at
business, we are conscious we should fail to help
you, my lads, in the truest sense, if we did not
add that the secret of success in all these is
HAVING CHRIST.

Let me right here quote to you these wise
words of M. E. Sangster : " When you begin
to think about what you are to be by-and-by,
first of all decide that you will be a Christian.
Choose to be a doctor, a lawyer, a farmer, a
merchant, whatever you will, but first of all be
a Christian. I take it for granted that you will
choose some trade or profession, and learn it
from the bottom up, and stick to it. But what
says the Bible ? ' Seek ye FIRST the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you.' First get your
relation right with the Master."

It is surely the aim of every honest boy at
business to be something more than " an eye-
servant "and a "man-pleaser." The only way
to be more, and to go through business better,
is to give God the first place in your heart and
life, and to do all "as unto God" and for His
glory.

Let it then be a fixed principle in your life,
that for you God shall be acknowledged in all
your business, and that business which you
cannot do " as unto God " is not fit for you to
engage in for men. To so " acknowledge God
in all your ways " will most certainly promote
prosperity of the only sort that yields true joy,
and abides for ever — for thus saith the Lord,
" Them that honour Me I will honour ; and they
that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed"
(l Sam. ii. 30). Wishing you that success in
business which is pure and real as in God's sight.

Your true friend,

B. M'C. B.

49
ON GOING WITH GIRLS.

DEAR ALEC,— You ask me a
question — " If it is my opinion that
it is wrong to go a walk with a girl
(say once a week). Of course I
mean a good girl ? "

Well, Alec, my opinion on that
matter very much depends on cir
cumstances.
First, if you are the boy who intends to walk
put "a girl," even a "good girl," once a week,
it is decidedly wrong.
How ?

Well, because you are a boy of only fifteen
years of age, and at such a period of life neither
you nor "a girl" can have any properly formed
ideas of what you are doing, and the awful results
it may involve.

At such an age it is natural to have such
desires, but it is not proper to let such desires
control you. Your knowledge of your own life,
and the life of the world around you, is very
small. You have not lived long enough to know
yourself or others. A boy's life at your age is
in a state of transition both of body and mind,
and it is most important that the wisdom of
others who "know better" than you should be
listened to with respect and obedience.

Again, at the age of fifteen, your time should
be better employed than in " walking out a girl,"
even "once a week." Very soon you will need
to face the world in earnest, and what will be the
result if you have played away the hours in which
you ought to have been laying a solid and strong
foundation in your life. Very soon you will need
to contend with "the world, the devil, and the
flesh," in forms you little conceive of, or at
present understand, and how shall you meet and
overcome them, if the hours given you to pre
pare for the fight be frittered away in needless
occupations. Very soon for you the freedom of
the boy will pass into the responsibility of the
man, and to fit you for such you will need now
all your energies put to the best use, all the time
D

5°

Then I have been wondering, Alec, my lad,
what can a boy of fifteen want in walking out a
girl once a week ?

It cannot surely be that you at such an age
are thinking of " marriage." What then is your
object ? Is it just a little " harmless flirtation " ?
My dear lad, I want you to watch these two
words, and avoid everything that bears such a
title as " harmless flirtation."

There are few things which tend more to
destroy the purity and modesty of girls, and the
chivalry and honour of our boys, than this devil's
trap of " harmless flirtation."

The depths of depravity and destruction into
which it leads you cannot at your age possibly
know, but as one who has seen something of the
awful misery, I ask you, my dear lad, beware.
Behind it lie's the ruin of the body and the soul
of boys and girls alike, who indulge in it.

" But she is a good girl," you say. Well,
Alec, I don't forget that point. However, she
will best prove her "goodness" — the quantity
and quality of it— by her actions, and no " good
girl" spends her valuable time in "playing at
courtship," or indulging in "harmless flirtation."
If home has no demands upon her she will find
some other sensible and helpful employment for
these precious hours of early life.

Again, Alec, let me say, to have your mind so
taken up with such a matter at all at your age
will certainly unfit you for even your daily toil.
Whether you be in school or in the workshop, at
the counter or the desk, your mind is sure to be
affected by such engagements even "once a
week." Should you be hindered from carrying
them out by the duties of the moment, your
work will become irksome, and your sense of
bondage will be sure. It is better a thousand
times to be free from all such engagements at
such an age.

Again, I must impress upon you a fact which
is seldom considered in such a case. If you are
a boy who is battling for purity of life against
the passions of your nature which are rising up
with a new power within you at this age, by
associating yourself with a girl so needlessly,
you are only weakening your strength to resist
such forces, and making all your hope of victory
void.

Si

Another result of this indulgence in " walking
out a girl" very frequently is a growing dis
position to be heedless of parental control.
Beware of this.

Now, Alec, dear lad, I have written the fore
going simply on the ground of common-sense,
but I remember that you are a Christian boy.
That being so, my appeal to you is ever so much
stronger. Is there not some better business
YOU can be employed with than this time-wast
ing and soul-destroying foolishness. You did
not mean to make such a choice, I believe, my
lad, but now that it is put before you, surely
such a choice is not for you.

Think, my lad, if in these days of so much
pressure from " the world, the devil, and the
flesh," you cannot give the " once a week " to
the study of, and meditation on, God's Word.

The spiritual life of a boy, as much as a man,
needs nourishment. "Take time to be holy."
Consider the claims of Christ upon you as one
of His, and your responsibility to the world as a
Christian boy, and set your face to meet such in
the strength of the Lord.

Of course what I have written in no wise is
meant to convey that the NEEDFUL and RIGHT
FUL company and intercourse with girls has to
be avoided. It may be in God's plan for you
that you must daily mix with girls. In relation
ships of a social or business kind which are
needful, God your Feather will give you all needed
grace to act your part in a pure, manly, and
upright way toward such. So guided and kept
by the presence of God with you, such associa
tions will in no wise be harmful, but fraught
with highest mutual good.

If after all, that "walk once a week with
a girl" is a longing of your heart, let me
suggest perhaps you have some sister at
home who would not be the worse of such a
brotherly attention. I fear it is because so many
boys neglect their own sisters that other boys
desire to pay attentions. One thing I'm sure
of," Alec, is that when the proper time comes,
you will be all the better fitted to mind some
other boy's sister, because you have been,
throughout these years of boyhood, a reverent
respecter of the claims of your own.

Then my answer is, " Yes, in my opinion it is

52

wrong for a boy (of fifteen) to walk out a girl
once a week." Five years after this will be
time enough for any boy to think of such an
occupation.

God bless you, my lad. Seek grace to "trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to
thine own understanding.

" In all thy ways acknowledge God, and He
shall direct thy paths."

Your true friend,

B. M'C. B.

53
ON GAMBLING.

DEAR LADS,— Do not touch the
gambler's or the better's gains.
Don't gamble ! don't bet !
Why ? Because there is not
only the possibility of your losing
your money, but there is the
certainty of your losing your
character.

The character of a lad who gambles and bets
is worth nothing. It has gone. No amount
of money that you could ever gain by such a
means as betting and gambling will ever
recompense you for the loss of manliness and
honesty which you suffer by the transaction.

The fact is, when you take from another
anything, whether money or material, by such
means as gambling or betting, you are no
different to a thief, for you have taken that
which manifestly he does not want you to get,
and you have given him nothing in return for
it.

This process, once indulged in, rapidly
increases the hardening of your nature to all
that is good and pure and noble and true.

With such a loss, it is easy to see that all
other forms of sin will readily lay hold of you
and draw you down the path of destruction with
increasing rapidity, till you are a hopeless and
helpless wrecks.

Before me as I write is the following sad
record : —

ANOTHER GAMBLING VICTIM.

A young man of twenty-eight, methodical, punctual,
and zealous, and living apparently an irreproachable

life, — such is the description of G , the bank clerk,

who is wanted in connection with the robbery of
;£ 1 70,000 from the Bank of Liverpool. Unfortunately,
it is not quite complete. Behind the fair surface of
his daily life a fatal love of gambling lay hidden, and
at last he has been tempted to indulge in extensive
frauds. A large amount of sporting literature was
found amongst his property, and many telegrams re-

54

lating to betting and horse-racing, as well as other
papers referring to speculative business. It is believed

that G 's accomplices must have received more

benefit than he, but the fact remains that once again
a young fellow has ruined his career through yielding
to the seductive snare of gambling — an excitement
that naturally makes honest work distasteful, and
ruins the moral character of those who indulge in it.

Doubtless none of you lads who read these
lines would ever dream of perpetrating such
a crime, but remember, my dear lads, to take
a penny from your master s till to pay the price
of a lottery ticket or stake it on a game of cards,
is in God's sight just the same abominable sin
as appropriating ^ 1 70, ooo to lay it on the horses
in a race.

Dr Thain Davidson makes the following
appeal : — •

" Young men ! as you value your self-respect, as
you look forward to an honourable and successful
career, as you prize the comfort of a good conscience,
and as you shrink with horror from the prospect of a
death-bed of remorse, don't bet. I defy any man to
look me straight in the face, arid say that he could
kneel down and thank God for a shilling or for a hundred
pounds which he had acquired by a bet. No ; there
can be no blessing upon it. There is a curse upon it,
and you can't do better than fling such ill-gotten gain
into the sea. In nearly every other form of vice there
lurks some minute shade or semblance of good, some
microscopic atom of plea or excuse ; here there is
none; it is 'evil, only evil, and that continually.'
Set your face determinately against it. Refuse to
stake so much as a sixpence. Young men, whatever
you do, don't bet."

The meanest men on earth are those who
live on that which is gained through the
unrecompensed sufferings of others. All
gamblers and betters are of this class. Avoid
all such. Your only safety lies in absolute ab
horrence of all this evil way. Do not touch !

Keep no company with such as are ever ready
to " bet you this " and " I'll bet you that." The
possibility is that the devil will some day
ensnare you in his trap through them. Avoid
all such company, shun all such practices as
would tend to lead you in such a direction. You
will regret going too near the enticing and
enslaving evil, but you will never regret keeping

55

away from it and those who practise it as far as
possible.

Take no interest in the game that is played
for money, or the stake that is laid on the race,
whether it be run by horses, yachts, or men.
Steer clear of all " lottery tickets " and " bazaar
raffles." The principle in these last mentioned
is as clearly from the devil as the stake that is
laid on the horses on the racecourse on the
Derby day.

Around the habit of betting, circles all the
vile train of the devil's inventions,— drinking,
smoking, swearing, deceit, lust of the flesh,
delirium, and suicide. BOYS, BEWARE! Do
NOT TOUCH !

When you yield to place your first "bet,3
whether it be on a single game at cards at home
or on some favourite horse on the race-course,
you have let yourself go into the hands of the
devil, and you may be quite sure he will make it
his business to see you taste all the unhallowed
cups of sin which he proffers to the fools who
will not take God's warning word.

" The wages of sin is death."

We cannot now enlarge on this sinful in
dulgence further, but we are sure it is a door
way to all secret sins of thought and action,
and the lad who gives himself to gambling and
betting in any degree has made himself an easy
prey to enslavement in the whole range of sin
and vice invented by the devil.

But we cannot close this letter without
saying— there is a STRENGTH FOR EVERY LAD

WHEREWITH TO STAND AGAINST THIS SlN IN

CHRIST. THERE is A REMEDY FOR DELIVER
ANCE FROM IT IN CHRIST.

Let Him control your hearts and life, and
your desires shall be toward the things of God,
and you shall hate the " pleasures of sin," no
matter how enticing are their offers of gold or
gain.

If you have been gripped by this great and
growing snare — come to God in confession of
your sins— find cleansing in the precious blood
of Christ from all your sins (i John i. 9), and
trust Him to abide in you, by His Holy Spirit
and to keep you, for " He is able to keep you
from falling."

God's word to all lads is, "Provide things

56

honest in the sight of all men." It is impossible
lor the lad who bets or gambles to do so.

My dear lads, may "to please God" be more
precious to you than all the pennies and pounds
you can pocket in this way of ungodly gain
May purity of life and character, and a con
science at peace with God, and right with men,
be to you the highest prize.

Your true friend,

B. M'C. B.

57
ON SMOKING.

}Y DEAR LADS,— "Do not touch "
THE DEADLY CIGARETTE.

The warning is needed — sadly
needed. When our country in
various quarters is beginning to
move for the prohibition of the
sale of cigarettes to boys, surely
it is time that every lad took some
serious thought about the subject,
and displayed some patriotism in this direction.
Regarding smoking of all sorts, we say, "Do
not touch," but we specialise the cigarette, as it
is peculiarly fascinating, and not only dangerous
but disastrous to youth.

My dear lads, do not soil your hands, much
less your lips, your system, and your conscience,
by these tiny innocent-looking rolls wrapped up
in white. They are simply a devil's concoction
to ensnare and enslave the bodies and the souls
of boys and men. Their innocent look is their
most subtle delusion and snare.

But it is only the careless, the selfish, and the
foolish who will be entrapped by them. It is
very easy, however, to be careless, and selfish,
and foolish, and not think it, so beware.

How "careless" and "foolish" is the lad who
inhales into his system that poison which he
knows from warning voices all around can bear
only a harvest of disease and death. His foolish
ness is evident in the fact he spends his money
to purchase only that which creates nearly "all
the ills that mortal flesh is heir to."

How " selfish " he is who cares not for the in
fluence of his bad example upon younger lives,
or the infliction upon others of a poison-laden
atmosphere by the fumes from his deadly
cigarette.

Deadly ! yes, the cigarette is deadly, not
withstanding the fact that so many fine healthy-
looking fellows indulge in it. My dear lads,
don't be deceived, it is deadly.

The "fine healthy-looking" cigarette smoker

53

of to-day will not look so fine and healthy in a
few years hence. When pressure bears down
upon him, his reduced vitality and diseased
system will not stand it.

True it is, slowly but most surely, the poison
is sinking in and permeating the system, and
the seeds are being sown which can result in no
other form than a harvest of premature decay.

Why, we may ask, is it that the number of
our best soldiers who have died through disease
in South Africa far surpasses the number of
those who were killed? Is there not some
explanation in the fact that the most of them
have weakened their systems by excessive
smoking and other sins in their earlier days, with
the result that they were unable to combat with
the severe effects of hardship, fever, and climate.

But we need not go to South Africa for
examples. Around us there are those dropping
daily whose life would certainly have been pro
longed but for the enweakened systems through
their smoking habits.

Dear lads, "remember, appearances are de
ceptive. Many a rosy apple is rotten at the
core, and many a health y-lookin° smoker is
sowing seeds of disease in his frame. The
worst "of it is that the witcheries of tobacco
'are so seductive that the victim is willing to
attribute to any other cause the mischief which
it is working in his constitution.' Slowly but
surely the evil works. ' Little strokes fell great
oaks;' and as the hand of the clock, which
seems not to move, surely points at last to
the hour, so certainly do evil habits and out
rages against nature, such as smoking— 'sly,
treacherous miners working in the dark' — land
many a one in a premature grave."

My dear lads, there is one sure way to ward
off such evil effects, and the way to do it is,
" Do not touch" the deadly thing in any shape
or form. Neither sell it, nor buy it, nor use it.
Never once let your fingers hold the devil's trap
within their grip, and there will be little or no
fear of it ever being placed between your lips,
and its obnoxious fumes finding its way into
your frame. Lads, " do not touch."

To a Christian lad the sin of smoking is
doubly great. When a lad is washed in the
blood of Jesus, and has accepted Christ as his

59

Saviour, he belongs no longer to himself, but is
the property of Christ. How can he then yield
his hands as instruments of unrighteousness
unto uncleanness. Our hands are only ours to
be yielded up to God for that service which is
holy, pure, and good.

To disobey such facts so plainly stated in
God's Word is to close our eyes against the
light, and choose the results of a befogged
intellect, an enslaved will, a wasted body, and
an endangered if not a lost soul. Lads, "do
not touch."

The late Rev. J. Angell James said, " I never
see a lad with a cigar in his mouth, but I con
sider him at least on the first stage to ruin."

There is blessed victory for all over this
temptation and sin, as for all other sins, in the
pardoning blood of Jesus Christ, and His in
dwelling spirit, who empowers us to resist and
overcome.

To such as may be in the bondage of this
snare, we say by faith accept the living Christ
who died for you as your Saviour and
Sanctifier and yield your life to Him. Christ
is the certain deliverance and cure.

"The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son,
cleanseth us from all sin."

The following is a message from a boy to
boys, as he lay on his death -bed in agony, his
young life cut short through the effects of
cigarette smoking : —

"TELL THE OTHER BOYS."

One of the most terrible warnings against cigarette
smoking was given not long ago by a chorister boy
in one of the Brooklyn churches, who died in great
agony at St John's Hospital, This is the story as
given in the Laws oj Life : —

Almost his last words were: "Let any boy who
smokes cigarettes look at me now and know how
much I have suffered, and he will never put another
into his mouth." He was a bright boy, an exquisite
singer, and had many friends. He lived with his
grandmother and worked in a chandelier factory.

Here is his story as he told it to his nurse, Sister
Cornelia :—" To me he confessed that this trouble
had originated from cigarette smoking. Some days he
said he smoked twenty cigarettes. At first he kept
his grandmother in ignorance of his indulgence. As
he continued to smoke the appetite grew upon him

6o

with such force that he could not break it off, and it
began to affect his constitution.

' ' Why,' I asked him, ' did you not stop when you
saw what it was bringing you to ? '

' ' Oh, I could not,' he replied. 'If I could not
get to smoke I almost went wild. I could think of
nothing else. That my grandmother might not
suspect me, I would work extra hours instead of
spending my regular wages for cigarettes. For
months I kept up this excess, although I knew it was
killing me. Then I seemed to fall to pieces all of a
sudden. ' " His disease took the form of dropsy in the
legs, and was very painful.

Sister Cornelia continues the story: — "During all
his sufferings he never forgot what had brought him
to this terrible condition. He kept asking me to
warn all boys against their use. A few days before
he died he called me to his bedside and said that he
thought he had not lived in vain if only those boys
who are still alive would profit by his sufferings and
death." There is no other form of tobacco so dan
gerous ^as cigarettes, because the nicotine in the
smoke is not absorbed in the loose tobacco, smoked
clean up to the end, but is taken, unfiltered and
undiluted, into the lungs. It was not the poison in
the paper, but the poison of the tobacco which
killed Samuel Kimball, and is ruining the health of
thousands of other pale-faced boys.

May God bless this to you, my lad, and others
through you, in a determination in the power of
Christ never to touch the deadly cigarette.

Your true friend,

B. M'C. B.

P.S. — For further details on the evil of smoking see
Whafs the Harm ? A Word to our Boys on Smoking.
Price One Penny.

6f
ON SLANG AND SWEARING.

DEAR LADS,— "Evil is wrought
for want of thought." We are
sure the evil of using " slang " and
bad language is the result more
often of thoughtlessness than of
any direct desire to do wrong.

Of course that does not lessen
the evil. But we do want our
lads to give thought to this subject for a little,
for we believe that when the harm of it is seen,
every honest, right-minded lad will avoid the
indulgence.

There is no doubt whatever that the most of
boys who indulge in slang, and vulgar and
profane expressions, do so to "look big." If
only they knew how "very small" it really does
make them in the eyes of those who know the
real value of such talk, they would very quickly
lose all desire for " bigness."

More than anything else our words display
what is in our hearts, for " out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh." The boy or
man who habitually uses slang and vile expres
sions may not think so, but it is nevertheless
fact that he is simply displaying his ignorance.

To indulge in such talk is really to associate
himself with the lowest class of men.

Slang really is "THIEVES' LANGUAGE." It
derives its very name from the bad language
which the thieves were in the habit of letting
forth when they were bound in the "irons" or
the "SLANGS." This fact of its origin ought to
make every right-thinking lad drop the use of
slang at once.

Do not, my lad, think it loses any of its dis
gusting and foolish nature because crowds of
your school-fellows or office-fellows or work
mates do it. It is usual for the " crowds" to do
what is not right. Those who have manliness
enough to steer clear and stem the force of
such popular errors are very few. But right is
might.

62

Further, if we consider the utter nonsense
which is expressed in the slang phrases so
common, even amongst boys who in other
respects are most respectable, it will be seen
that the practice is most foolish and resentful.

For instance, what sense is there in calling
one's home or lodgings his "digs," or mother
"the old woman," or father "the Guv'ner"?
What sense is there in continually interpolat
ing in our conversation such expressions as
" Great Scot," " Great goodness," or " Goodness
gracious."

If any lad will carefully consider what relation
such expressions have to the topic of conversa
tion, they will find they usually have none.

We are much impressed about the use of
slang and empty expressions by our boys,
because we believe that it is an easy step from
it to openly bad and profane language.

Slang is very often the results in those boys
who, failing in wit, nevertheless desire to be
considered "smart" by others. It is such con
ceited boys as find it very easy to go a step
further and land themselves in open profanity.
This is inevitably the course of the boy who is
conceited about his " smart talk." The next
grade we find him in is telling, without a blush,
the indecent story and indulging in coarse jests.

If a certain sense of propriety does keep him
from lending his lips to tell it, he at least is
usually of the set who listen to it with their
ears from the lips of others without giving any
reproof.

Lads, we want to give a word of warning.
You may almost unconsciously imbibe this
empty and profane talk from the matter you
read. There is a mass of corrupt "comic"
literature poured forth from the press of to-day
which is nothing short of poison, and is largely
responsible for the widespread evil in the talk of
our boys. These publications in many cases
are nothing else than sinks of slang and lewd
and impure suggestions. Often these contain
suggestions most subtle, concealed in "puns"
and slang expressions.

Not a few of the "school stories" of to-day
are larded thick with this sort of talk. Some
of our so-called "high class" novels also, in
their desire to be "realistic," have filled the

63

minds and mouths of our boys and young men
with the talk of "the alley and the gutter."
Under the plea of being " true to life ); they have
poisoned many a young life by their polluted
pages. Granted it is " true to life " ; there are
some things "true to life" which it is highest
wisdom not to detail for the mere sake of
passing pleasure.

We ask our boys to carefully avoid all such
reading matter, and "think on whatsoever
things are lovely, pure, and of good report."
It is a fact, we grow like what we feed upon.
If we imbibe the foolish, empty, profane talk
so widely published to-day, we shall naturally
adopt it as our " course of conversation " too.

The mere fact that in certain companies we
desist from using slang and loose language is a
sufficient stigma on its use at all. What could
not be spoken in the presence of the purest, or
of our mother or sister, is no talk for our
school-fellows, our companions, or our office
mates.

Lads, remember that GOD'S presence is ever
about us. This fact should help to restrain
the conduct of your life and lips.

There are few prayers more comprehensive
and more suited to our daily life than that in
Psalm xix. verse 14, " Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable
in THY sight, O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer."

Prince Henry was the son of James I. He
died when he was only seventeen, to the grief
of the nation, as he was already a great
favourite. He seems to have had more char
acter than usual amongst the children of palaces.
Swearing was a very common practice in those
days, even amongst young boys when at their
play. The Archbishop of Canterbury mentioned
in his sermon, preached before the young
prince's death, that Henry had been asked
why he did not swear in play, as well as others,
and that he answered, " I know no game worthy
of an oath."

May the same high standard prevail with
every lad who reads these lines, in the matter
of slang as well as swearing, or the use of
lewd and impure talk, in the school, in play
ground, in office, street, or home.

64

We doubt not that such lads will enjoy life
all the more that it is unencumbered by habits
that need to be watched. Should the mind in
any way be weakened and control of thought
be lost, what is in our hearts and mind would
undoubtedly come out on our lips. The hidden
recesses of our heart would then give forth their
foul brood. It is best, boys, to have no " hidden
recesses," but to so act, and speak, and think
before God now as we will wish we had done
and will want to do when we stand before Him
face to face. If we live our life and speak our
words in the presence of God now, we shall be
kept all right as regards the presence of men.

Maybe some lad who reads these lines has
been guilty of foolish, impure, and improper
talk. What shall he do?

My dear lad, do the only thing you can.
Take your past impurity of life and speech to
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, for the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us
from ALL sin.

Tell Him all about it. Ask His forgiveness
for it. Accept it, and give your life and lips to
Him to keep for you. "Yield your lips as in
struments unto God."

Say, " Keep Thou the door of my lips." Let
Him, and He will.

" Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages for Thee."

Your true friend,

B. M'C. B.

65
ON DECISION.

,Y DEAR LADS,— Let me ask you a
question. Is there "a decision
day " in your life ?

What do I mean? This— Can
you point to a certain day when,
knowing yourself to be a sinner,
you came to Jesus Christ as your
Saviour, and believed that through
His precious blood your sins were all forgiven
and put away, and you decided to be His, and
His for ever ? Have you " a decision day " ?

How needful it is to be definite about this.
We are constantly meeting with dear lads who
are simply drifting along through life into all
sorts of sin, secret and open, because they have
no fixed, definite purpose — They have never
decided. They do not mean to be bad boys ;
they never expect to be the slaves of impurity
and the companions of the vicious and dishonest,
of the gambler and the drunkard. Nevertheless
they very soon find out that this is where they
land, simply because of their indecision. They
have never taken a definite stand.

If you want, my dear lads, to ensure safety
against all such "drifting," BE DECIDED 1
" A correspondence fixed wi' Heaven

Is sure a noble anchor."

It is a certain fact, if you are not decided you
will " drift." No power on earth can prevent it.
You may maintain an outward respectability to
some extent, but the principles of your inner
life can never be right and stable till they are
adjusted to God's way of things, and only then
are you safe.

With an experience of multitudes of young lives
wrecked through nothing else than indecision, I
beseech you, my dear lads, as you read these
lines, make up your mind that, as for others
they may drift if they choose, but you will now
decide

Decide for who ? and for what ?

Oh let it be for Christ, and for a pure, clean,

66

manly, useful, and uprighc life. It is the only
decision that befits a lad with reason. It is the
only decision that will yield true joy here in
time, and bliss in eternity. Decide for Christ !

Can you say now you have " a decision day " ?
Is this the day that is to be for you —

"The happy day that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Saviour and my God "?

My lad, let nothing keep you back. No
longer be deluded that it is not manly to decide
for Christ. For one boy who has the courage
of his convictions and boldly stands out for
Christ, and determines to live by His grace and
keep a pure and noble life and be a blessing to
his country and a glory to his God, there are
ninety-nine who in fear and cowardice are being
carried along in the flow of sin, and reaping its
consequent misery— suffering and death.

Think for yourself, my lad, which is the more
manly ? If either may be termed such, who is
the " soft " and the " weakling " ? Is it not the
one who will not exert his manhood to take and
make his stand, but rather "drifts"? It takes
all that makes a man to make a stand.

Be strong, my lad. Though all the other
lads you know are in the " drift," and you along
with them //// now, let this be your " decision
day." Right here and now, say, " Christ for
me."

DECIDE!!!

Be sure of this, my lad, there will be "a decision
day," and if you do not make it, it will make
itself, only then it will be settled on the wrong
side. It is your blessed privilege to fix it on
the right side now, and once fixed there, praise
God it is fixed for ever. If you say " Christ for
me," and yield to all that means, He says, " My
sheep . . . they shall never perish."

No lad ever yet " drifted " into heaven. It is
decision takes us there. That decision is based
upon God's directions in His Book. " This is
the record, that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life" (i John v. 11, 12). "As
many as received Him, to them gave He power
to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name" (John i. 12).

67

Have you, my lad, believed on His name ?
Have you received Him ? If not, do so now.

DECIDE ! ! !

We write these things plainly that there may
be no mistake. It is not going to church saves
you. It is not reading your Bible or saying
prayers or singing in a church choir saves you.
It is Jesus saves, and unless you have given your
life to Him and taken Him as your Saviour, you
are not saved. Be clear about this, my dear
lads, and be decided.

When it is done, it is done for ever, and
" being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ " (Rom. v. i).

Is there any little lad who reads these lines,
who scarcely understands what such a " decision
day " means, he is so young ? Well, my dear
boy, it is your right to ask father or mother to
explain it to you, and it is their privilege, and it
should be their joy, to tell you.

May be father or mother may not know for
themselves, therefore they cannot tell you. Then
ask somebody who does know Jesus, and who is
seeking to serve Him. As they tell you of Him
and His wonderful love, and you get to know
that it was for you He died upon the cross on
Calvary, then, my dear boy, let your young heart
yield to His love, and make thai your decision,
that you will there and then give your young
life to Him and take Him as your Saviour ;
" who so loved you and gave Himself for you."

Truly happy is the boy, whether young or
old, who can say —

' 'Tis done, the great transaction's done ;
I am my Lord's, and He is mine."

Then it is we are able to say further —

" He taught me how to watch and pray ;
And live rejoicing every day."

It is not an entrance on a life stripped of all
joy and filled with depression and gloom. No !
no ! It is the beginning of life in reality, filled
with the purest joy, because it is lived out under
the eye of God, and with the object of pleasing
Him, who is not only our Creator but Redeemer.
There never is any real joy in sin. There is no
satisfaction in indecision. The joyful life is the

68

life that is right with God and has a holy
decision and determination in it to be " ever,
only, all for Him."

My dear lad, let me ask you, if you have never
done so, decide now.

Will you in silent prayer yield now to Jesus,
and to be definite about it will you set down with
your own hand in this blank space your name
and date of your decision ?

" Jusl as I am, young, strong, and free,
To be the best that I can be,
For Truth, and Righteousness, and Thee,
Lord of my life, I come."

Name..
Date ..

It may be some dear lad who reads these
lines has tasted of the bitter fruit of sin. Through
indecision he has drifted far away from purity
and right. He cannot say with honesty " young,
strong, and free," because even now he feels
and knows the awful bondage of sin's chain, and
is reaping the misery of his misspent life.

Well, come, my lad, just as you are, this verse
may suit your special case, and praise God, for
you as for the others He is just the same Jesus
— the same wonderful Saviour, who in His
matchless love still says, "Him that cometh
unto Me, I will in no wise cast out" (John vi. 37).

" Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lnmb of God, I come."

Name.
Date .

That this may be " the decision day " for
many who have never yet decided, is the prayer
of

Your true friend,

B. M'CALL HARBOUR.

BOOKLETS for BOYS, &c,

ONE PENNY EACH. Post free, l*d.
Six Shillings per 100, Postage 6d, extra,

FOR A BOY— Keep Thyself Pure. For the use of

Boys, their Parents, Guardians, and Teachers.
" A wise and faithful word in Christ's name to boys, by one who
loves and understands them." — Life of Faith.

RED and WHITE.

" 'Red and White' is a talk on the highest things, conducted in
a striking and interesting manner. " — The Christian.

WHAT'S THE HARM? A Word to our Boys on

Smoking.

" By far the best little booklet for boys on the subject of smoking
that we have seen. . . . We would urge its wide circulation." —
Anti- Tobacco Journal.

WORDS OF HELP TO LADS AND YOUNG

MEN (on Purity).
LETTERS TO LADS.
" SCHOOL'S OUT." A Word to Schoolboys.

"The manly Christian tone of this beautifully got-up little book
will appeal straight to the hearts of all boys."— Methodist Times.

"NOT ONE DROP!" A Word to our Boys on

Drinking.
" IN THY YOUTH." By B. M'CALL BARBOUR.

Notes for Young Men on Purity. Containing Chapter

by Rev. F. B. MEYER.
"JACKIE," ONE OF "His" BOYS. A Memoir of

Jackie Scott, with Portraits.
A WORD TO TWENTIETH CENTURY PARENTS.

" I have read your pamphlet addressed to twentieth-century
parents with pleasure. It is a difficult task, and you have done it
well." — Dr SYLVANUS STALL.

"HAROLD," THE BOY MISSIONARY. A Memoir of

W. Harold Olliver, with Portraits.
"A BOY'S QUESTIONS." Instruction for Boys

concerning themselves. By B. M'CALL BARBOUR.
"THE CRY OF THE BOYS." For Parents, etc.

By B. M'CALL BARBOUR.

"BOYS' RIGHTS." By B. M'CALL BARBOUR.
PARENTS AND PURITY. Questions and

Answers Concerning their Boys.

"WHAT A BOY SOWS." By B. M'CALL BARBOUR.
"A BOY WANTED." For Message Boys.
A MESSAGE FROM THE LIFE OF KING

GEORGE V. to Young Men and Their Fathers.

By EDWIN R. MILES.

"WHEN I AM KING." By EDWIN R. MILES.
BOYS AND THE BIBLE. By B. M'CALL

BARBOUR.

The above may be had Jrom —
B. M'CALL BARBOUR, 37 Chambers St., Edinburgh.