h relation to
the windows as to cause the wind to blow directly on it, a screen can
be used to divert it or a sheet hung up as protection. Good, fresh,
cool air is a splendid tonic. In winter open windows are a splendid
preparation for camping out in summer.

Conservation

In this chapter much has been said of the active measures which a boy
should take in order to become strong and well. We should be equally
concerned in saving and storing up natural forces we already have. In
the body of every boy, who has reached his teens, the Creator of the
universe has sown a very important fluid. This fluid is the most
wonderful material in all the physical world. Some parts of it find
their way into the blood, and through the blood give tone to the
muscles, power to the brain, and strength to the nerves. This fluid is
the sex fluid. When this fluid appears in a boy's body, it works a
wonderful change in him. His chest deepens, his shoulders broaden, his
voice changes, his ideals are changed and enlarged. It gives him the
capacity for deep feeling, for rich emotion. Pity the boy, therefore,
who has wrong ideas of this important function, because they will
lower his ideals of life. These organs actually secrete into the blood
material that makes a boy manly, strong, and noble. Any habit which a
boy has that causes this fluid to be discharged from the body tends to
weaken his strength, to make him less able to resist disease, and
often unfortunately fastens upon him habits which later in life he
{233} cannot break. Even several years before this fluid appears in
the body such habits are harmful to a growing boy.

To become strong, therefore, one must be pure in thought and clean in
habit. This power which I have spoken of must be conserved, because
this sex function is so deep and strong that there will come times
when temptation to wrong habits will be very powerful. But remember
that to yield means to sacrifice strength and power and manliness.

For boys who desire to know more of this subject we would suggest a
splendid book by Dr. Winfield S. Hall, entitled, "From Youth into
Manhood." Every boy in his teens who wants to know the secret of
strength, power, and endurance should read this book.

NOTES

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Notes

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Notes

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Notes

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CHAPTER VI

CHIVALRY

_By John L. Alexander, Boy Scouts of America_

Ancient Knighthood

A little over fifteen hundred years ago the great