with instant
reverence, as something sacred; not with shame, as something foul. I
venture once more to quote Canon Lyttelton, who sets forth his
experience and my own in language the beauty of which I cannot
imitate:

"There is something awe-inspiring in the innocent readiness of little
children to learn the explanation of by far the greatest fact within
the horizon of their minds. The way they receive it, with native
reverence, truthfulness of understanding, and guileless delicacy, is
nothing short of a revelation of the never-ceasing bounty of Nature,
who endows successive generations of children with this instinctive
ear for the deep harmonies of her laws. People sometimes speak of the
indescribable beauty of children's innocence, and insist that there is
nothing which calls for more constant thanksgiving than that influence
on mankind. But I will venture to say that no one quite knows what it
is who has foregone the privilege of being the first to set before
them the true meaning of life and birth and the mystery of their own
being."

To the arguments thus briefly indicated it is no answer to say that
sexual union is essentially physical, and that to regard it in any
other way is transcendental. Among primitive men eating and drinking
were merely animal. We have made them, in our meals, an accompaniment
to social pleasures, and in our religious life we have raised them to
a sacramental level.

CHAPTER VI.

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH PURITY TEACHING IS BEST GIVEN: REMEDIAL AND
CURATIVE MEASURES.

We have now seen that impurity is almost universal among boys who have
been left without warning and instruction; that, under these
conditions, it is practically inevitable; that its direct results are
lowered vitality and serious injury to character, its indirect results
an appalling amount of degradation and misery; finally, that there is
nothing in sex knowledge, when rightly presented, which can in the
least defile a child's mind. All that now remains is for us to
consider by whom and under what circumstances instruction on this
subject should be given, and what assistance can be rendered to boys
who desire to lead chaste lives.

Without doubt, instruction should be given to a boy by his parents in
the home. When young children ask questions with regard to
reproduction, parents should neither ignore these question nor give
the usual silly answers. If the occasion on which the question is
asked is not one i