“I’m delighted to know you make such high grades. Take care of your health. Don’t get wet. Never let your feet stay wet. Your health is your first duty to yourself.
You are now at a critical age, passing from boyhood to manhood, the period of adolescence. When you reach your sixteenth birthday, you will be able to be a father. Restrain yourself. Keep Hercules clean and cool. Never tamper with him till he gets beyond control. If your body is abused, it will be weakened probably for life. If it is abused during adolescence, it often blunts the mind for life. Keep your thoughts pure.
You will find among my books, upstairs in book-box, I think, a hygiene volume by Dr. Aspheys (sp). Read it. You are now old enough to understand a little about such matters. You should be informed as you are able to comprehend. Millions of boys are injured or ruined yearly because of their sexual nature.”
-Letter (above left) written between 1920-26 by my great-grandfather, Aurelius Adorno Mooney, Ordained Methodist Preacher in Nashville (above right), to one of his fours sons
