How little the youth who, in his ignorance of the terrible consequences of his vice, steals away to the secrecy of his chamber or his bed, leaving his happy, healthy and playful companions, in order that he may let the hot waves of lust and passion run riot in his mind, and dry up every spring of healthy thought and action--how little does he think of the after-time of misery and exhaustion that he is bringing upon himself--how little does he think that the vile demon that he is raising up will, like the vampire, suck his very life-blood, steal away his strength and life and vivacity, besmirch and weaken his mind, take the strength from his muscles, the courage from his heart, sap the very foundation of his existence, unsex and unnerve him, render him feeble, wavering and imbecile, dog his footsteps to the very steps of the altar, to curse and blacken and disappoint those joys of parentage and marital right that should be his. The shadow deepens with him as life advances, and follows him, bringing shame and misery and despair at every step, until the poor victim, driven too far, sinks into an early grave by disease or suicide, or is lost to the world and to all joys and friends behind the doors of an insane asylum. He died of no disease known to medical science. He simply faded away--weaker, more nerveless and hopeless day by day; he faded away until, almost before any one knew it, the grave yawned to receive him. Poor, miserable, hopeless wreck--poor suicide, for his own sin and crime were the real causes of his death. How many such there are at the present day. We meet them on the street, in business and at church. Our insane asylums are full of them. We find their wives unfaithful or unhappy; and their offspring--when they are cursed with any--poor, miserable, weak fledgelings, with aged, wasted faces, water on the brain, with rickets and softening of the bones--idiots or imbeciles--dying early and scarcely regretted even by the parent whose progeny they are, for every wail of the little suffering voice pierced his heart and reminded him of his lustful sin, and passionate, inexcusable indulgence that caused all this misery. "And the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children, even to the third and fourth generations." Alas, how true! how indisputable! The imperative Laws of Nature once broken, the consequences are _inevitable_.