A Solemn Appeal

PREFACE

It is not a pleasing task to point out the sins of others. It is disagreeable to call attention to those sins of youth, and the abuses and excesses, even in the married life, which are ruining the souls and bodies of ten of thousands; especially so while feelings of great delicacy, relative to the subject, exist in the public mind. But disagreeable though the task may be, facts, terrible facts of everyday observation, fully justify a solemn and faithful warning to all. SOAP 3.1

We would cherish the profoundest respect for the delicate feelings of the truly modest, and the really virtuous; but we confess our want of respect for that false delicacy in many, which takes fright at the mention of those vices, in consequence of which, they themselves exhibit evident marks of rapid decay. The reader may as well prepare at the first, by laying aside feelings of false delicacy, if he is troubled with them, to be benefited by the painful facts, plainly stated, in the following pages. SOAP 3.2

The real value of the lengthy article on “Chastity” cannot be estimated by dollars and cents. Every youth in the land should read it. And not only the youth, but every parent and guardian should study it well, and be prepared in a proper way to warn those children under their immediate care. SOAP 3.3

And let every mother be stirred by the article under the caption of “Appeal to Mothers.” It comes from a mother’s heart - from one who has had experience in laboring for the unfortunate victims of secret vice, and is imbued with the importance of the subject. SOAP 3.4

And the extracts from the excellent work of E. P. Miller, M. D., entitled, “The Cause of Exhausted Vitality,” are of no less value than the articles that precede them. Dr. Miller’s preface opens thus: SOAP 4.1

“This little book is born of the idea that mankind are suffering for want of the knowledge it is designed to give. A medical experience, extending through several years, has convinced me that people of all ages and both sexes are suffering from abuses of the sexual function. In a majority of instances these abuses were begun and continued in ignorance of the results which were to follow.” SOAP 4.2

And then the lengthy and earnest appeal to men, women, youth and children, from the writer of the “Appeal to Mothers,” and her exhortations and warnings from a Bible stand-point, meet the wants of the people. SOAP 4.3

The extracts entitled “Evils and Remedy,” although unavailing many dark pictures, are entitled to consideration as the utterances of one whose extensive study of human nature has qualified him to speak to the point on this important subject. SOAP 4.4

The closing chapter, on treatment, is from the pen of one who sustains an intimate relation to the cause of health reform. Its instructions have the endorsement of the faculty of our Health Institute, and are entitled to the confidence of the reader. SOAP 4.5