itted to
his children.

Dr. Guernsey says: "I do not overdraw the picture when I declare that
millions of human beings die annually from the effects of poison
contracted in this way, in some form of suffering or other; for, by
insinuating its effects into and poisoning the whole man, it
complicates various disorders and renders them incurable. This
horrible infection sometimes becomes engrafted upon other acute
diseases, when lingering disorders follow, causing years of misery,
and only terminating in death. Sometimes the poison attacks the
throat, causing most destructive alterations therein. Sometimes it
seizes upon the nasal bones, resulting in their entire destruction and
an awful disfigurement of the face. Sometimes it ultimates itself in
the ulceration and destruction of other osseous tissues in different
portions of the body. Living examples of these facts are too
frequently witnessed in the streets of any large city. Young men
marrying with the slightest taint of this poison in the blood will
surely transmit the disease to their children. Thousands of abortions
transpire every year from this cause alone, the poison being so
destructive as to kill the child _in utero_, before it is matured for
birth; and even if the child be born alive, it is liable to break down
with most loathsome disorders of some kind and die during dentition;
the few that survive this period are short-lived, and are unhealthy so
long as they do live. The first unchaste connection of a man with a
woman may be attended with a contamination entailing upon him a life
of suffering, and even death itself. Almost imperceptible in its
origin, it corrupts the whole body, makes the very air offensive to
surrounding friends, and lays multitudes literally to rot in the
grave. It commences in one part of the body, and usually, in more or
less degree, extends to the whole system, and is said by most eminent
physicians to be a morbid poison, having the power of extending itself
to every part of the body into which it is infused, and to other
persons with whom it in any way comes in contact, so that even its
moisture, communicated by linen or otherwise, may corrupt those who
unfortunately touch it."

If girls were aware of all this they would not only be careful how
they marry immoral men, but they would shrink from personal contact
with them as from a viper. Not one, but many girls who have held
somewhat lax ideas concerning the propriety of allowing yo