Otterbein Oscar Smith

“ The mind is at rest, because the music lulls it into quiet and makes the dominant element in the life the feelings, for we do not think music, we feel it. Just here you must recall, that the sex nerve center is the brain of the physical life and continually sends forth the most exquisite impulses of feeling, which manifest themselves in all the glory and beauty of bodily charm and these must of necessity mingle in their outgoings with the vibrations of the music and the feelings which it induces. ”

“ How easy it will be for all the feelings of the being to become inoculated with impurity and place before this picture mind of the child such distorted views of life as will vitiate the entire organism! How important it is that a higher intelligence, that is the father and mother, create pure, noble and beautiful pictures and place them before this picture, or seeing mind, of the child. ”

“ You have known this all the time and you have sat idly by and seen your daughters go out into dangers far more deadly than wet feet or inflamed throat without ever saying a word to them about how to protect themselves. Why not sit down by your daughter of fourteen and tell her these truths; tell her there is a vital connection between the bosom and the sex nerve center which is more sensitive than the most delicate electric impulse and explain to her how wonderfully God has arranged the body of woman and why? ”

“ Because of these facts God has wisely wrapped the intellectual faculties of the child within its life, as he does the rose-buds in the rose-bush, that when the body work is completed, that crown of all His creation, the self conscious life of man, may manifest itself in all its glory through a perfect instrument and that instrument remain strong and proficient through the years. ”

“ Tell her, with the wifely love upflooding from your heart, why her father has a right to kiss and embrace you and why it will mean the lowering of her character, if not its ultimate loss, for her to give these jewels of hers, even for a moment, into the hands of any man other than he who will be her husband, and as such has the loving right to them. ”

“ In like manner boys should be taught to carefully respect the person of girls and told in a plain, frank way the truth about their relations to the opposite sex.
I believe, as a rule young people love to dance with the purest of motives. They are attracted to this form of amusement because of their love for music and the natural desire to keep time to it. The most zealous religionist finds himself patting his foot when a bit of lively music is played, which is but an evidence of the natural desire of any human being to keep time to music. ”

“ Why not teach your son the sacredness of womanhood and the manliness of protecting it? Pardon me, if I say I am not writing a theory, but am speaking out of my own heart. I commenced teaching my own son when he was twelve years old and had my last talk with him a month before he was married. ”

“ Sometimes the impulse comes from our bodies; again the feelings are in control, and at times the memory asserts itself. Then again the intellect is the dominating factor. Of this we may be sure, from whatever element of being comes the strongest impulse, there for the time being is the seat of government. We are also scientifically certain, that the more finely attenuated an impulse is, and the more rapid the vibrations are which carry such an impulse, the more powerful it is and the more surely will it prevail over the slower impulses carried at a lower rate of vibration. ”

“ God was wise in creating this sex nerve center, or physical brain, by which the organism builds and paints in glorious beauty and charming grace the wonderful machine, the human body, and makes it strong and tense so that when the work [13] is complete the ego or spirit of man will have a perfect instrument through which to manifest itself to the world and perform its mission and live its life in highest nobleness upon the earth. ”

“ Suppose you could unsex every child in this city under six years of age; this would be before the sex nerve center had time to flood the life with the sense of beauty. Then build a wall about the city and leave these children to themselves, simply supplying them with food and clothing, but keeping away from them, as far as possible, all human beings, who through sex impulses were filled with thoughts of beauty. ”

“ At this age the intelligence is but a mere pigmy in their lives as compared to the giants of feeling and physical life.
[28]
Ignorance Brings Ruin
Seeing and knowing no danger in it, they follow out the natural sex impulse to touch one another and to caress each other. Why not? Have they not read in the love story of the lover and the sweetheart kissing and caressing each other, and furthermore, and the strongest possible evidence in the case, have they not seen father and mother kiss and caress each other? ”

“ I know many a girl has lived through this period of ignorant familiarity with young men without having her character wholly ruined, and she appears before those of us who know the danger through which she has passed, as a living miracle. ”

“ The natural outcome of the child reasoning will be, if one woman can kiss a man and sit upon his lap, then all women can kiss men and sit upon their laps. Why not reason in this way? No one has ever taken the trouble to explain the difference between the married and the unmarried state and the rights and privileges that belong to the wedded pair, which rights are recognized by both God and the laws of our land. ”

“ We should not lose sight of the fact, however, that, because of the important part that is played in the organism during the teens by the impulses from a given nerve center, all feelings will be colored more or less by the outfloodings of that nerve center. As we have suggested, the child till well advanced in years is largely a creature of feeling, and what mind it has is what may be called a picture mind, or a mind for seeing things. ”

“ Vain hope was his, for in less than a year after their marriage the physicians were compelled to perform an operation to save the young woman’s life, which forever left that home childless and the young husband carrying in his heart an awful shadow which would never lift till the grave received him. ”

“ Then comes the awful awakening, and he recognizes the fact, that the blighting leprosy of the sin of lewdness has fastened itself upon him. But after the first shock his heart is lightened, because some physician assures him that he can cure him. But that man is either ignorant or he is wilfully deceiving this young man, for the Almighty himself cannot assure him that this plague will ever entirely leave his body. God will forgive his soul, but no one can honestly assure him that his body is not damned for all time. ”

“ She has, unwittingly of course, multiplied the sex impulses in his life till they sweep over him like a fire in the forest. He is a manly young fellow and would scorn the thought even of allowing these impulses to expend [29] themselves upon the one who had awakened them and increased their outflooding. In the midst of these experiences he falls in with some young man older than himself, and they talk it over. This fellow prides himself on being worldly wise, and so the younger man is influenced by him. ”

“ Music tends to quiet thought and under such conditions they will follow the sex impulse and unconsciously draw near to each other, and they are far more sure to do so while ignorant of the dangers in it. ”

“ But still I have a hope that the world will not be wholly unkind to it and that it will find its place and accomplish that which has been hoped for it, in helping human lives and adding to the sum of purity in the world. ”

“ To determine this we must make a brief study of the unfolding human life and note some of its component parts and their relative relations and values in the organism.
We can best do this by a study of the accompanying chart. The lower line of the triangle represents the body, or physical life; the left side the feelings; the right side the intellect. If body, feelings and intellect were equal in any human being, then, we would have a perfect triangle, or a normal human life. ”

“ May I close this little message then, which goes out with a prayer for God’s blessings to rest upon all who read it, that it may be a helpful message [43] to them; by urging frankness and candor upon the part of you, the parents, with your children, and if you are uninstructed inform yourselves and put such books in the hands of your children as will give them pure, wholesome information upon this most important subject in all the world, and God will bless you and them, and in joy and thankfulness you will see them grow up in the purity and nobleness of strong, helpful men and women. ”

“ You can be frank, intelligent and human with your children. Let me tell you, if I may, some things you can do. Let us think of the daughter first, but not because she needs more protection than the son, for God knows they are both in need of all the protection loving, intelligent parents can give them. ”

“ As you will see, the baby has three inches of physical, three inches of feeling and but one-fourth of an inch of intellect. This makes six inches of physical and feeling pitted against one-fourth of an inch of intellect. The child of six years has six inches of physical and feeling and one-half an inch of intellect. The child of fourteen has six inches of physical and feeling and but one inch of intellect. Even at eighteen the proportion is six inches of physical and feeling and but two inches of intellect. ”

“ As children grow up in the home, if it is a right home, they often see father and mother kiss each other, and perhaps they see the mother sometimes lovingly drop down upon the lap of father and put her arms about his neck. ”

“ Scarcely anyone has ever been taught any thing right about it, but most, if not all, have been left to stumble along in the dark, as you and I were, and if by chance they happened to hit upon a plan, or stumbled onto knowledge, which enabled them to live together happily after marriage, well and good ”

“ Of this I am sure, if young people are to dance they should have proper chaperonage and a right knowledge of the possible dangers and how to avoid them. No greater mistake could be made than to allow young people to attend public dances. ”

“ And the appalling facts are that a large majority of them can be charged to a lack of education by the parents. Thousands of dollars are spent to educate the children in books and music, but not a moment of time given to teach them the truth about this one most important subject. ”

“ It is true some men seem to recover entirely, but no one can give them any assurance in this matter. The best medical science tells us that these germs may remain in the body for years and then show themselves in various forms and diseases. ”

“ I would not, however, have you think you can literally measure a child in yards and inches or that they will all measure the same, for no two children develope alike, but in a general way this scale holds good. ”

“ It may be in our zeal in this matter we are making a mistake and taking a wrong view of the question and by vicious, and sometimes senseless, attacks upon many good young people and this particular form of amusement in which they engage, doing both them and ourselves an injustice and keeping many of them out of the Kingdom. ”