Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Sylvanus Stall’s What a Young Boy Ought to Know, first published in 1897, is a Christian guide to the questions of life, reproduction, bodily development, and sexual purity written especially for boys. Beginning with creation and the reproductive order in plants, animals, and mankind, Stall gradually introduces the origin of human life, the purpose of the reproductive organs, the dangers of sexual vice, the cultivation of purity in body and mind, healthy habits, and the changes accompanying puberty. His aim is to replace secrecy and corrupt instruction with frank, reverent, age-appropriate teaching rooted in Scripture, parental guidance, and the conviction that the body and its reproductive powers are gifts of God to be treated with honor. Presented as a series of simple conversations with a young boy, the book was designed either for children to read themselves or for parents to read with them, making it especially suited to families seeking an older Protestant approach to instruction in chastity, self-discipline, and preparation for Christian manhood. Its remarkable literary form also makes it something of a proto-audiobook: Stall presents the work as a succession of talks recorded upon phonograph cylinders for a young boy to hear each evening: an extraordinarily early conception of delivering a book through recorded speech.
6×9
Hardcover
418 pages
Sylvanus Stall’s What a Young Boy Ought to Know, first published in 1897, is a Christian guide to the questions of life, reproduction, bodily development, and sexual purity written especially for boys. Beginning with creation and the reproductive order in plants, animals, and mankind, Stall gradually introduces the origin of human life, the purpose of the reproductive organs, the dangers of sexual vice, the cultivation of purity in body and mind, healthy habits, and the changes accompanying puberty. His aim is to replace secrecy and corrupt instruction with frank, reverent, age-appropriate teaching rooted in Scripture, parental guidance, and the conviction that the body and its reproductive powers are gifts of God to be treated with honor. Presented as a series of simple conversations with a young boy, the book was designed either for children to read themselves or for parents to read with them, making it especially suited to families seeking an older Protestant approach to instruction in chastity, self-discipline, and preparation for Christian manhood. Its remarkable literary form also makes it something of a proto-audiobook: Stall presents the work as a succession of talks recorded upon phonograph cylinders for a young boy to hear each evening: an extraordinarily early conception of delivering a book through recorded speech.
6×9
Hardcover
418 pages
