The colt of the wild ass is really the most untamable and intractable of animals. Even when captured very young it can scarcely ever be brought to bear a burden or draw a vehicle. Its wild nature is constantly breaking out, and like the asses which Saul the son of Kish went to seek, it is always in danger of going astray. Love of freedom and hatred of restraint are its main characteristics, and Zophar the Naamathite reminded Job that something very similar is true of man. "Vain man is void of understanding, yea, man is born _as a wild ass’s colt_" (Job xi. 12). Of course, there is wildness _and_ wildness. If boys are merely running over with fresh animal spirits, like the young lambs trying to jump over their mother’s head, we cannot think there is any great harm in their mirth. It is thus that lungs are exercised and limbs made strong, and the whole body and mind kept healthy and happy. Black care, alas! will leap into the saddle behind them soon enough. And therefore, while the days of youth last, let all the young people run and jump like the wild ass’s colt. Buoyancy of fresh young life is not to be regarded as exuberance in sin. If the wildness, however, is inclined to pass over into what is called "a sowing of wild oats," the circumstances are altered. Innocent pleasures are good, but pleasures which are forbidden are quite another thing. And if the young life is in danger of drifting into the latter, the sooner the curb or drag is applied, the better for all concerned. If one could sow his wild oats and then run away and leave them, it wouldn’t so much matter; but alas! a reaping-time is sure to be treading on the heels of the sowing. And as no one ever yet gathered grapes of thorns or figs of thistles, it will not do for any of you young people to expect to gather fruit where you have only sown weeds. No, no, this is a kind of wildness which ought not to be tolerated. This is a piece of folly which must either be tamed or punished. And if we would only introduce the custom they have in Palestine of clipping a bit out of the ear of those asses that go astray, a fresh clip for every new offence, it might then be seen that the wildness which means mischief is not so pleasant an experience after all, and perhaps not a few sowers of wild oats would be found who had scarcely an ear on their head. Some punishment like this is sorely needed, for while mere exuberance of spirits is not sinful, the exuberance that leads to forbidden pleasures ought firmly to be condemned. II.—ITS USEFULNESS.