By the time he had attained the age of 24 years, there were few depths of depravity that David Thornbush had not plumbed . He was a seducer, fornicator, adulterer, and sometime sodomite. His lust was uncontrollable and insatiable. He took no thought for the fate of his immortal soul except to say jokingly that by now he ought to have qualified for an executive position in Hell.

He associated with a group of rakehells like himself who sought to assure that the number of virgins in town be kept to a minimum. Curiously enough, and surely not for lack of trying, he had never impregnated a young woman. His luck was better than he deserved, for he also had never contracted a venereal disease. He considered himself a most well-favored and lucky young man.

One day, he chanced upon a handbill advertising a camp meeting to be held that evening by the Evangelist, Willy Mundy on the subject "Hell's Punishments for Lust" FOR MEN ONLY. Amused, David decided to go to the meeting for a good laugh and perhaps to heckle the Evangelist.

He had reckoned without Mr. Mundy's eloquence and his vividly graphic depiction of the horrors of Hell. Once, when a skeptic had asked him if he

had ever visited Hell, Mr. Mundy replied. "No, but Jesus did, for three days, and he has told me."

For amusement , then, and out of prurient interest, David Thornbush paid his 20¢ admission at the gate and entered the huge tent. On this tour, Mr. Mundy appeared alone. His wife, Mother Mundy, was indisposed, and his choir under its director Hosmer Rodhurler, were occupied in making recordings for Conquistador Records.

Actually, he needed neither. His voice and his careful choice of words for the greatest emotional impact were quite sufficient.

Beneath David's case-hardened exterior lurked a much-suppressed, but very guilty conscience. Willy Mundy possessed the emotional keys to the doors behind which David Thornbush had imprisoned his conscience. David had always had a vivid imagination and Mr. Mundy played upon it as upon a stringed instrument.

Soon he was visualizing, in terrifying detail, the unspeakable horrors which Willy Mundy depicted verbally with such skill.

David found himself being overwhelmed by guilt and fear such as he had not felt since childhood. He wanted desperately to run out of that tent and hear no more, but he was seated in the middle of a row. It is very doubtful that Mr. Mundy noticed David in particular, but he pointed dramatically out into the crowd and thundered "I see you out there, tryin' to git up and run away. You kin run away from me, but you cain't run away from yore conscience and YOU CAIN'T RUN AWAY FROM GOD !

There's nowhere to hide. God sees all and knows all. How will you hide your filthy thoughts ? How will you hide those sins which GOD ALREADY KNOWS ? !

Only by penitence, only by throwin' yoreself before God as a suppliant kin you ever hope to escape his WRATH !

You stay here and listen, and you will learn the way to redemption. God knows the weakness of the flesh. God knows the weakness of man's will. He has provided help for you to redeem yourself in his eyes. Wait, hear me out and you will learn what it is."

So, David waited. Finally, Brother Mundy came to the point he had been awaiting.

" Brother, even if you are one of those vile sinners, do not despair. Despair is lack of faith. Always, Jesus makes clear before you a pathway to redemption. Even you can be saved. Are there some here who do not know what a eunuch is ?" A number of hands were raised. "A eunuch is a gelded man, just like a steer is a gelded bull.

Hear what Matthew [19:12] has to say about eunuchs, quoting Our Lord's own words 'There be those who were born eunuchs out of their mothers' wombs, and there be those who are made eunuchs of men , and there be those who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake . He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.' These are our Saviour's own words. Clearly, he don't disapprove of men makin' themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. If he did, would he not have said so ? Instead, he says 'He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.'

There, brother is the pathway to redemption. In every town where I have preached, there is at least one good Christian surgeon who is willing to help sinners control their lust by making them eunuchs. If you want to know the name of the surgeon here who will help you in this way, speak to me after the sermon." After exhorting the sinners to abandon their evil ways and accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour, Mr. Mundy left the stage.

David was one of about a dozen men who sought Mr. Mundy out after the sermon. Mr. Mundy gave him the doctor's name and address: "Dr. Randolph Parsons, 240 Eastway Ave. God bless you, brother." He shook hands with David and turned to the next in line.

David went home and to bed where he spent a miserable night, tormented by nightmares of demons thrusting white-hot iron rods up his behind, tearing out his privates (which immediately grew back so that he could suffer again) with glowing pincers, and of embracing desireable women who turned into white-hot iron mannekins. By morning, he was exhausted and even more distraught than he had been the night before.

David was at Dr. Parsons' office at 8:00 the following morning, but already there were a few before him. He noticed two of his associates in the waiting room who averted their faces from him as he did from them. David was especially surprised to recognize Roscoe Arbuthnot . Roscoe was a big man who insisted that any woman he went to bed with be a virgin. If any woman deceived him about that, he would beat her brutally before raping her.

What, wondered David, could Brother Mundy have said to bring this hulking brute to a surgeon, presumably to be castrated ? The other was Sylvain Burdette, whose preference ran to teenaged boys whom he corrupted, debauched, and ultimately buggered. Brother Mundy had had much to say about and to sodomites, enough to scare the living daylights out of them, successfully in Sylvain's case, judging from the way he was trembling. David gave his name to a bored-looking young man seated at a table beside the only other door in the room.

The door to Dr. Parsons' office opened and Tom Evans came out, walking very carefully with his legs well apart. There was a smile on his face as he walked through the anteroom and he said softly "I'm saved; I'm pure again." Dr. Parsons came to the door , a grey-haired bespectacled man, probably in his fifties. "Burdette", he called out. Sylvain jumped up and walked unsteadily into the doctor's office.

Roscoe still wouldn't meet David's eyes. He did, however speak without looking at David, almost as if speaking to himself. "This gal I knew who died, I saw her in Hell and she said she'd be waiting for me when I got there and she'd help make it good and hot for me. It wasn't no dream. I SAW her. Jesus is the only one who can save me and he won't even look at me if I keep sinnin' like this. I DON' WANNA GIVE UP MY BALLS. But I gotta."

David spoke, almost as if to no one in particular, though he and Roscoe were the only ones there, "After the things I've done, the only possible hope I have of avoiding the horrors of Hell is to 'Go and sin no more.' but I sure can't do that burning with lust the way I do."

They said no more. Sylvain entered the waiting room from Dr. Parsons' office and said "Well, that's over. I'll never look at another boy again. I couldn't do anything if I did." He left and the doctor poked his head into the waiting room and called "Arbuthnot." Rosco got up and , like a prisoner walking the "last mile" to his execution, trudged into Dr. Parsons' office.

David was alone for about ten minutes when the outer door opened and Timothy Grayson, the son of an Episcopalian priest, entered the waiting room nervously, carrying a Bible. After reading in it for a while, he looked up and said to David. "The words in Matthew 19:12 'He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.' have nothing to do with those 'who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake.' They refer to the previous teaching about matrimony which eunuchs cannot receive because it obviously wouldn't apply to them. It isn't an endorsement of self-castration."

"Then are we justified in taking this step ?" asked David. "I guess so." replied Timothy."I think that Mr. Mundy makes a good point in saying that 'If he did, [disapprove of men making themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's sake]

would he not have said so ?', but it does leave the whole matter rather vague. " David shook his head. "I find it hard that to believe that you're such a terrible sinner that you need to atone in such a drastic way as this."

"I haven't sinned in my body, but I have sinned in my mind and I continue to sin in my mind all day every day. I can't hold my mind on God's word for five consecutive minutes before I wander off into lustful imaginings. Although I don't abuse my body, I indulge in mental masturbation incessantly. I pray for strength to overcome my lust and think of Jesus. But, when I do think of Jesus I see his naked body on the cross and I am filled with filthy lust. The source of lust hangs between my thighs and I 'll tolerate it no more."

"Does your Church allow eunuchs to be priests ?" David asked. "I don't know, but it doesn't matter." replied Timothy. "I never intended to be a priest anyhow. I'm better suited to be a scholar than a priest. How is it with you ?" David smiled. "The sins of the mind are put into practise by the body as soon as possible." he answered.

" 'It is better to marry than to burn' I've read, but, considering my propensity for adultery, I'd make a very bad husband, so I burn and I fornicate."

Just then, the door to Dr. Parsons' office opened and a rather grim-looking Roscoe Arbuthnot emerged. "Well, that takes care of that. Now if I can just get on the right side of Jesus, Carol will have a damn' long wait for me. " David, though not overly confident of Roscoe's ability to make a good Christian, made no comment. Dr. Parsons called his name, and it was time for him to atone for his sins.

David explained to Dr. Parsons that he had been sent by Willy Mundy to seek redemption by becoming a eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. "You must realize, young man" said Dr. Parsons, "that merely becoming a eunuch is not enough. You must genuinely repent of your sins. 'A broken and a contrite heart, Oh Lord, wilt thou not refuse .' 'Though thy sins be as scarlet, thou shalt be as white as snow', but only AFTER you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb."

"I consider" replied David "becoming a eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, thus assuring that I shall sin no more, to be a necessary preliminary step to expressing my repentance to the Lord. How can I appear before the Lord as a suppliant if distracted by lust ? Do you imagine that I would take this drastic step if I did not repent of my sins ?"

"Do you, then, regret sacrificing your manhood to assure that you sin no more ?" asked Dr. Parsons. "OF COURSE I DO." replied David. "What man would not ? And, what kind of a sacrifice would it be if I did not ? Would it be of any use to sacrifice something which was of no value to me ? Of course I regret sacrificing my manhood, just as I regret the sins which it led me to commit.

For the sake of avoiding future sins, I am giving up the love of a woman, marriage, parenthood, all of which, in the light of the way I have misused my manhood, I do not deserve. I dare to hope that this sacrifice will enable my plea that my past transgressions be forgiven to be looked upon favorably. NOW, may we proceed to the surgery ?"

Dr. Parsons nodded and opened the door to a short corridor which led to the operating room. There were clothes hooks on the walls. "Disrobe in the corridor before entering the operating room. I shall join you momentarily." David undressed in the corridor and entered the operating room. Dr. Parsons entered it through another door, attired in a white smock.

He trimmed David's pubic hair closely with scissors and then lathered the pubic area and the insides of his thighs and shaved off all the hair . "I have found that hair interferes with healing." he explained. He then had David lie on the operating table and strapped him down securely. "I shall use only local anæsthesia. You will see and hear all that occurs.

Inasmuch as castration does not always cause complete impotence, I intend to resect the sensory nerves of your membrum virile so that it will be devoid of all sensation henceforth. Thus, whether or not you can still achieve erection will become irrelevant." Dr. Parsons injected cocaine into the scrotum and through it into the spermatic cords, and then into the dorsal surface of the penis at the base and into the perineum. He then washed the pudendum and perineum with alcohol.

As soon as the local anæsthetic had taken effect, Dr. Parsons made two long incisions in the scrotum, on the dorsal surface, exposing the testicles, which he drew out through the incisions, pulling on them to expose as much as possible of the spermatic cords. He then clamped the spermatic cords with hæmostats and tied two silken ligatures on each cord, about 1/2 inch apart. Between them, he severed the cords with surgical scissors and held the testicles up by them so that David could see that they had been severed from his body.

David had now become a eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, but there was more to be done. Dr. Parsons sutured the incisions on the scrotum. Then he made a transverse incision on the dorsal surface of the penis close to the base exposing the sensory nerves, each of which he caught with a blunt hook which he twisted, winding up a skein of nerve fiber about an inch long, therefore containing about 2 inches of nerve. This procedure David could feel and it felt most unpleasant. Dr. Parsons snipped off each skein of nerve fiber as close to the incision as possible, thus resecting the sensory nerves of the dorsal surface of the penis.

The final procedure was to make an incision in the perineum exposing the pudendal nerve, the principle sensory nerve of the penis. Dr. Parsons then drew out as much of the pudendal nerve as possible and wound it up by twisting the blunt hook with which he had drawn it out.

He severed the twisted nerve close to the incision as possible, while holding the proximal end of it with his smallest hæmostat. To that end of the nerve, he applied lunar caustic to cauterize it and prevent re-growth of the nerve. Even after the anæsthetic wore off, no feeling would ever return to David's [formerly] virile member. Dr. Parsons sutured the incision, and the job was done.

"There", said Dr. Parsons, "you are now no longer a man. Now it is time to make your peace with God. " David nodded glumly, wondering what kind of a life lay ahead of him as a eunuch in a society which had no niche for a eunuch.