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[Illustration:

TELLING THE STORY OF LIFE; THE PRESENT DAY IDEA OF SEX INSTRUCTION.

    “O, THOU CHILD OF MANY PRAYERS,”]




                            SELF KNOWLEDGE
                                  AND
                       GUIDE TO SEX INSTRUCTION

                   VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR ALL AGES

     A Complete and Comprehensive Guide to Parents for the Proper
        Instruction of Their Children, Concerning the Delicate
         Questions of Life; Timely Help for the Boy and Girl,
             at the Ages of Greatest Danger, with Warnings
                  of the Pitfalls which Lie Hidden in
                            Their Pathway,

                             TOGETHER WITH

    Vital Information for the Marriageable; Safe, Sane, Scientific
       Counsel for the Married of all Ages, including Knowledge
              Vital to those in Middle Life and Declining
         Years, with a Word of Warning Against the Prevailing
                   Ignorance of God’s Sacred Laws of
                           Sex and Heredity

                                  BY
                     PROFESSOR T. W. SHANNON, A.M.

International Lecturer on Moral, Social and Reform Topics; Member of Advisory
Board World’s Purity Federation; also Author of Eight other Purity Books

 With Special Chapters by Hon. Stanley Finch, Special Commissioner for
The Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, U. S. Department of Justice;
       B. S. Steadwell, President World’s Purity Federation and
         Charles W. Eliot, Former President Harvard University

                             INTRODUCED BY

                            B. S. STEADWELL

Publisher “The Light,” Official Organ of The World’s Purity Federation

                       PUBLISHED EXCLUSIVELY BY

                      THE S. A. MULLIKIN COMPANY
                             MARIETTA OHIO


                         COPYRIGHTED, 1913, BY
                        THE S. A. MULLIKIN CO.

  Agents wanted in all English-speaking countries. Address publishers
                        at foot of title page.




                            Dedicated

                TO THE GRANDFATHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS,
                TO THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS,
                TO THE HUSBANDS AND WIVES,
                TO THE BACHELORS AND MAIDS,
                TO THE YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN,
                TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS,
                TO THE BABES THAT BE AND ARE TO BE,
                THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
                BY THE AUTHOR.

[Illustration: YOURS FOR THE UPLIFT OF HUMANITY

T.W. Shannon]




PREFACE


Truth like gold is unaffected in quality by its environment, but the
environment of truth does affect the character of the person receiving
it. Half truths clothed in obscene language and imparted by the ignorant
or vicious have made mental, moral and physical wrecks of millions. The
same truth received from a pure mother, noble father, a good book or a
wise teacher, safeguards the youth and accomplishes untold good.

The purpose of this book is not only to enable parents, teachers and all
matured people, to inform themselves more fully concerning the vital
facts of life, but it furnishes a specific guide to all parents, who
would know how to tell their children the sacred story of life, and
counsel intelligently with their sons and daughters at the ages of
greatest danger and give them clean, concise and scientific sex
instruction with a view to safeguarding them against the demoralizing
half truths of vicious or ignorant schoolmates, servants or companions;
and to all others of sufficient age, who have an opportunity for service
to innocent and helpless children, who would have a wise word at the
right time; and to the young man