d him to a hatred and abhorrence of the base, filthy, and
bestial, to a healthy fear and detestation of all that despoils and
degrades manhood, and to a reverence for purity, beauty, and life.[41]

Be prepared to give him, on the basis of reverence, the clean, clear
facts. Be sure you have the facts. Do not think he is ignorant; he is in
a world seething with conversation, stories, pictures, and experiences
of evil. The trouble is that his facts are partial, distorted, and
unbalanced by positive errors; his knowledge is gained from the street
and the school-yard. Only a personal teacher can help him unravel the
good from the bad, the true from the false. Do not trust to your own
general knowledge; take time to read one of the simple and sane books on
this subject.[42] Be ready to lead him aright. Remember this subject has
provoked a large number of books, many of which are foolish and others
unwholesome. Do not try to deputize your duty to some doubtful book.

Sec. 4. FATHERING THE BOY

But the boy needs more than instruction on a special subject; he needs
personality, he needs the time and thought of, and _personal contact_
with, his father. Men who do not live with boys never know what they
lose. And alas, see what the boy misses! He has been his mother's boy up
to school age when school takes him and gives him a woman's guidance,
while the Sunday school is likely to keep him--for a while only--under
the eye of some dear sister who "just loves boys." The system is a
vicious one. The lad needs developed masculinity. If he gets it neither
in school nor in the home he will find it on the street corner, through
the vicious boy-leader of the degrading poolroom or the alleys.

The boy who finds his father eager to talk over the game, to discuss the
merits of peg-tops, to walk, row, play, and work with him, finds it as
simple and natural to talk with him over his moral and religious
questionings as it is to talk over the daily happenings. To live with
the boy is to find the youth with you. But it is hard work discovering
your young men if you lost your boys.[43]

Sec. 5. THE GROWING GIRL

Almost all that has been said about the boy applies to the girl of the
same years. Let _a special plea_ be entered here against the notion that
girls are favored when sheltered from a share in the activities of the
home. They desire to express their ideals as much as do boys. Much of
the so-called craze for amusements is due to the