Many of my readers who have boys of fourteen and upwards to whom they have hitherto given no instruction will, I hope, feel that they must now do this.  I venture, therefore, to give a detailed account of the manner in which I should myself act in similar circumstances.  I should arrange to be with the lad when there was no danger of interruption, and in such circumstances as would put him at his ease.  I should tell him that I was conscious of unwisdom in not speaking to him before about a subject of supreme importance to him; that I took upon myself all blame for anything he might, in ignorance, have said or done; that through ignorance I had myself fallen and suffered, and that I should like him now to sit down and read through this pamphlet slowly and carefully.  When he finished I should try by every possible means to make him sensible of my affection for him.  I should associate myself in a few words with the sentiments of the writer, and should invite the lad to tell me whether he had fallen into temptation, and if so to what extent.  A confidence of this kind assists a boy greatly and establishes a delightful intimacy.

There are several points with regard to purity-teaching which need to be emphasised.

Such teaching can hardly be too explicit.  “Beating about the bush” is always indicative of the absence of self-possession.  The embarrassment manifested is quickly perceived even by a young child, and is certain to communicate itself to the recipient.  It is of paramount importance that the child should, from the first, feel that the knowledge imparted is pure; anything which suggests that it is indelicate should be studiously avoided.  The introduction of a few science terms is advantageous in several ways:  amongst others it relieves the tension which the spiritual aspect of the question may engender, it gives a lad a terminology which is free from filthy contamination.

It is important that the information given should be full, otherwise the boy lives in a chronic state of curiosity, which, to his great detriment, he is ever trying to satisfy.  If the reader feels that the information is dangerous, and aims, therefore, at imparting as little as possible, he is not fitted to do the work at all.

No greater mistake can be made than that of taxing a boy with impurity as though it were a conscious and egregious fault.  I have already expressed my strong opinion that, in almost every instance, the boy is a victim to be sympathised with, not a culprit to be punished.  This opinion is shared, I believe, by everyone who has investigated the subject.  It is certainly the opinion of Canon Lyttelton and Dr. Dukes.  It is, indeed, easy to exaggerate the conscious guilt even of boys who have initiated others into masturbation.  Apart from the injustice to the boy of an attitude of severity, it is certain to shut the boy’s heart up with a snap.

If a pamphlet is used it should, without fail, be taken from a boy when he has read it.  Much harm may, I fear, result from supplying boys with the cheap pamphlets which well-meaning but inexperienced persons are producing.