The Intimate Life + Christian Bookmark

Title: The Intimate Life of The Individual, Society and the Race
Subtitle: Plain Talks to Parents and to Young People Establishing a Home
Genre: Relationships/Health & Sexuality
Author: Dr. Winfield Scott Hall (1861-?)
Publisher: The Midland Press, Chicago, Illinois
Year: 1926
Pages: 208
Format: Hardback with embossed leather cover.
Provenance: Unknown
Chapter Titles: Human Society and Its Needs; The Laws of Development; Building the Home; Parental Problems; Home Teaching of Life Truths; Queries About the Sex Life; Questions of a Home Builder; Personal Hygiene; Development of the Embryo Child; Eugenics—The Improvement of the Race; The Social Problem; Appendix; List of Questions; Index.
Opening Sentence: “Today human society is very complex in its construction and is becoming rapidly more and more complex.”
Random Passage: “As set forth in the previous chapter, the beginning of adolescence—at about fourteen for the boy and about thirteen for the girl—initiates a new era in their lives. At the start of adolescence the boy steps across the threshold from boyhood to developing manhood, and the girl similarly crosses the threshold from girlhood into developing womanhood.” (from Adolescent Youth)
Notes: A vintage sex and relationship book for young people, written in a chaste, overly simplistic manner. Of special interest: the eugenics chapter, which mostly deals with hereditary weaknesses such as alcoholism and epilepsy. The language is quaint: a child with Down Syndrome is referred to as a moron; the developmentally disabled are called imeciles; while the most severe cases are in a state of idiocy. As a bonus, I'm including a plastic-covered inspirational bookmark depicting a stylized Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Printed in Italy circa 1960s, the double-sided bookmark includes a “Consecration of Family” prayer on the back. Sex and religion, always an interesting combo.