True Manliness: A Pocket Companion for Boys and Young Men 1897 by C.E. Walker - Christian Health Wellness Manners Grooming Sex

Title: True Manliness: A Pocket Companion for Boys and Young Men

Author: C. E. [Cornelius Edwin] Walker

Description: Light blue cloth boards with gilt title on front. Top edge gilt. Boards are heavily soiled. Pages have a few minor spots of soiling, but are generally clean. One page has a closed tear that's been archivally repaired. 110, 6, [2], 6 pp. 6.25 x 4.25 inches. No copies noted on OCLC.

Christian advice for young men regarding personal character, hygiene, sexual relations, masturbation, socialization, entertainment and education. Specific topics, for example, include the care of the mouth, bowels, clothing, mental hygiene, friendship, determination, etc. It cautions against harmful amusements such as the theater. It concludes with a six-page "Private Letter to Parents, Physicians, and Men Principals of Schools" which discusses the functions of boys' sexual organs and the release of semen and wrongful ideas of the necessity of regular release of "tears" and the destructive habit of masturbation, promiscuity, and prostitution. Published by the National Purity Association of Chicago.

Interestingly, it includes a reference to the tragic murder of the pregnant 22 year old woman Pearl Bryan and regards her as a victim of those who are led astray and end up being destroyed. She was decapitated in 1896, the year before this was published, in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in an attempt to cover-up of a botched abortion.

The author, the Rev. Cornelius E. Walker (1858-1949), appears to have been active in Minnesota for many decades as a Congregational (or Prebyterian) minister. Austin, Glyndon, Renville, and Rushford were some of the many places in Minnesota he served. He also served in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, from 1915-1917. The title page of indicates that Walker, in the 1890's, was affiliated with the Herron Institute of Economic and Social Reform, also called the Herron Institute of Christian Sociology, in Glyndon, Minnesota.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fair
Jacket Condition: None

Publisher: National Purity Association
Place: Chicago
Year: 1897

Language: English

ISBN: n/a

Keywords: National Purity Association, Cornelius Edwin Walker, Pearl Bryan, Glyndon, Minnesota, Herron Institute, sex, etiquette, grooming, manners, Christian, sexual relations, personal character, boys, masturbation,