TTNCHASTITY 321 



This topic should be especially interesting to parents j 

 for even those who are themselves sensual, have seen 

 enough of the evils of such a life to wish that their 

 children may remain pure. There are, indeed, rare 

 exceptions to this rule ; for we sometimes learn of par- 

 ents who have deliberately led their own children into 

 vice, as though they desired to make them share their 

 shame and wretchedness» 



Cultivate Chastity. — From earliest infancy, all 

 those influences and agencies which cultivate chastity, 

 should be brought into active exercise. These we need 

 not repeat here, having previously dwelt upon them so 

 fully. The reader is recommended to re-peruse the 

 portion of the work devoted to this subject, in connec- 

 tion with the present section. If parents have them- 

 selves indulged in this vice, they should use special 

 care that all the generative and gestative influences 

 brought to bear upon their children are the purest pos- 

 sible, so that they may not inherit a predisposition to 

 sin in this direction. 



Special care should be exercised to avoid corrupt 

 servants and associates. Every servant not known to 

 be pure should be suspected until proof of innocence 

 has been established. They should be especially in- 

 structed of the evil arising from manipulation of the 

 genitals, even in infants, as they may do immense harm 

 through simple ignorance. 



Timely Warning.— But in spite of chaste surround- 

 ings and all other favorable circumstances, if the child 

 is left in ignorance of his danger, he may yet fall a 

 victim to the devices of servants or corrupt playmates, 

 or may himself make a fatal discovery. Hence arises 

 the duty of warning children of the evil before the 

 habit has been formed. This is a duty that parents 



