material from the ,google ,print project47 ,illustration3 ,mary ,wood-,allen1 ,m4 ,d4 ,,teaching ,,truth ,,series ,,almost ,a ,,woman ,by ,mary ,wood-,allen1 ,m4 ,d4 ,author of ,teaching ,truth2 ,almost a ,man2 ,child-,confidence ,rewarded2 ,caring for the ,baby2 ,the ,man ,wonderful2 ,ideal ,married ,life2 ,etc4 ,standing with reluctant feet ,where the brook and river meet1 ,womanhood and childhood fleet6 99 99 99 99 99 ,like the swell of some sweet tune ,morning rises into noon1 ,may glides onward into ,june4 --,longfellow4 ,earth's noblest thing1 a woman perfected4 --,james ,russell ,lowell4 ,,published ,,by ,,the ,,arthur ,h4 ,,crist ,,co4 ,cooperstown1 ,n4 ,y4 #aiaa ,copyrighted by ,,crist1 ,,scott ,,parshall #aijg ,all ,rights ,reserved4 ,entered at ,stationer's ,hall4 ,,contents4 ,prelude4 #e ,chapter ,i4 #i ,chapter ,,ii4 #bi ,chapter ,,iii4 #ch ,chapter ,,iv4 #fi ,,prelude4 ,mr4 ,wayne1 glancing out of the window1 saw some one passing down the front steps4 ,suddenly a look of recognition came into his face1 and he turned to his wife with the exclamation1 ,i declare1 ,mary1 our daughter ,helen is almost a woman1 isn't she8 ,yes1 replied ,mrs4 ,wayne1 coming to his side and watching the slender figure going down the street4 ,her face bore a look of motherly pride1 but she sighed1 as she said1 ,yes1 ,time and ,death are equally inexorable2 they both take our babies from us4 ,but not after the same fashion1 replied ,mr4 ,wayne4 ,death takes them from our sight1 where we cannot witness their growth and development1 cannot know into what beauty they have blossomed4 ,still1 said ,mrs4 ,wayne1 we do not recognize the changes ,time makes until they are accomplished4 ,so gradually does the blossom unfold that there is no day to which we can point as the day on which the bud became the full blown flower4 ,on what day did ,helen cease to be a baby and become a child8 ,on what day will she cease to be a child and become a woman8 ,we will know when the actual physical change takes place1 but even after that ,i trust there will remain to us something of our little girl4 ,i do not like to think of her approaching the sentimental age4 ,how old is she8 ,thirteen4 ,well1 we need have no present fear of a sudden development of sentimentality4 ,fortunately1 no1 replied ,mrs4 ,wayne1 though many a mother of girls no older than ,helen is troubled with the question of beaux4 ,helen1 however1 has had the good fortune to have for friends boys who seemed to enjoy her comradeship1 and ,i have been very careful not to suggest that their relation could possibly border on the sentimental4 ,so far1 she has been perfectly obedient and ever ready to adopt my ideas on all subjects4 ,we have been such close friends that ,i believe ,i am acquainted with her inmost thoughts1 and if she had felt any romantic emotions ,i believe she would have confessed them to me4 ,happy mother6 said ,mr4 ,wayne approvingly1 ,i wish all girls found in their mothers their closest friends and confidants4 ,by the way1 you have always talked freely to her about life's mysteries2 have you explained her approaching womanhood to her8 ,not yet1 was the reply4 ,perhaps ,i have been a little unwilling to believe that she is really nearing that crisis4 ,i cannot bear to lose my little girl1 and ,mrs4 ,wayne looked into her husband's face1 smiling through her tears4 ,yes1 ,i can understand that1 he said1 and yet we believe that only through the normal development of her physical nature can she be the 'woman perfected4' ,i beg of you not to postpone your instruction too long4 ,i am more and more convinced that right knowledge not only safeguards purity1 but really produces true modesty4 ,to give a young person a reverent knowledge of self is to insure that delicacy of thought which preserves the bloom of modesty4 ,if the girls who are engaged in street flirtations could only be taught the lesson of true womanhood1 ,i am sure they would become quiet and lady-like in conduct4 ,i would rather lose my little girl altogether than have her fall into this error4 ,you have no hesitancy about speaking to her8 ,not in the least4 ,but ,i have thought that perhaps she would indicate by some question that her mind was becoming ready for the disclosure4 ,it always seems to me that to force information before the mind is ready to receive it1 is to jeopardize its reception4 ,don't wait1 ,mary4 ,you risk too much by allowing some one else the opportunity to give her the knowledge with the taint of evil suggestion4 ,you are right1--and ,i could not bear that anyone else should explain to her all these mysteries4 ,i have always been her teacher and ,i will not relinquish that privilege4 ,i will seize the very first that will allow us uninterrupted time4 ,but do you not think that you as a father should have some part in this blessed work of guiding our daughter8 ,i believe that it will be most helpful to her to get the man's view on the problems of her life4 ,you know1 one never gets a true perspective of material objects with only one eye2 and ,i believe this is equally true of life4 ,i can give her the woman's view1 but she needs to know also how men look upon life4 ,she will be better able to judge of the right or wrong of conduct if she knows that my view is supported by your own4 ,you are right1 as usual1 replied ,mr4 ,wayne smiling1 and you may rest assured that ,i will always be glad to supplement your counsel by my own4 ,almost a ,woman ,,chapter ,i4 ,mother4 ,the clear girlish voice rang through the house with persistent intensity but awakened no responsive call4 ,mr4 ,wayne1 coming up the steps1 heard the repeated summons for ,mother and sent out his answering cry1 ,father's here4 ,quick1 light steps answered his call and an urgent young voice demanded1 ,where's mother8 ,mother has been called away for tonight1 so you'll have to put up with father4 ,o1 dear6 sighed the girl despondently4 ,is father such a poor substitute1 then8 inquired ,mr4 ,wayne in an aggrieved tone4 ,o1 no1 responded ,helen1 quickly4 ,you're usually as good as mother2 but there were some special things ,i wanted to ask her about this evening4 ,i suppose ,i can wait1 she added1 dolorously4 ,try me and see if ,i won't answer tolerably well4 ,what are these weighty problems8 drawing his daughter to his knee as he spoke4 ,that's it1 pouted ,helen4 ,you always make fun1--mother doesn't4 ,pardon me1 daughter1 ,i had no intention of making fun4 ,i only wanted you to feel at home with me4 ,it was a clumsy attempt1 ,i'll admit1 but really and truly ,i would like to be in your confidence--to feel that you trust me1 too4 ,i can't fill mother's place1 ,i know1 but ,i can do what mother can't1 ,i can give you the man's view of things1 and that is sometimes of great value for a girl to know4 ,yes1 said ,helen1 snuggling down in her father's lap1 for they were great friends and she felt his sympathy4 ,i often wish we could know how things look to other people4 ,i know boys don't look at matters as girls do1 but we can't always tell just what they do think4 ,that is true1 replied ,mr4 ,wayne1 gravely4 ,i often think that if girls knew just what boys say among themselves it would make them more careful of their conduct4 ,for instance1 not long ago ,i was on a steamer where there was dancing4 ,i went into the smoking room1 and there ,i heard the comments of the young men4 ,i am sure the girls had no idea how their dress1 figures1 freedom and flirtatiousness were criticised and laughed at by these young men1 who seemed to them1 doubtless1 so very nice and polite4 ,of course1 these girls were mostly strangers to the young men and were getting acquainted without introductions1 probably thinking it fine fun4 ,yes1 father4 ,i've heard some of the real nice girls talk about getting acquainted in that way1 and they seem to think it all right4 ,someway1 it never seemed quite nice to me4 ,i hope not1 my daughter4 ,i should be sorry to have you form acquaintances in that way4 ,you never can tell what a man's character is by his clothes or manners4 ,indeed1 you may think you know a man pretty well1 and yet be mistaken4 ,i suppose girls who are familiar with young men and allow them liberties imagine that they are trustworthy4 ,i sat in front of two young men on a train not long ago4 ,they appeared well and really were nice1 as boys go1 but they had the usual boy's idea as to honor4 ,they were talking freely of the girls they knew1 discussing their merits and charms1 saying that this one was soft and 'huggable1' that another was sweet to kiss-- ,o1 father6 exclaimed ,helen1 in a fury of surprise and anger4 ,they didn't talk that way so that you could hear6 ,and call the girls by name1 too8 ,yes1 they did1 dear4 ,then after they had discussed several1 who all seemed to allow great freedom1 they mentioned another name1 and their whole manner changed4 ',ah1' said one1 'there's no nonsense about her4 ,it's 'hands off' there every time and'--he went on1 with great emphasis1 'that's the kind of a girl ,i mean to marry4 ,a man doesn't want to feel that his wife's been slobbered over by all the young men of her acquaintance4' ,helen hid her face on her father's shoulder4 ,how perfectly dreadful6 she said4 ,they were not gentlemen4 ,i'll admit that1--and yet the conduct of the girls in permitting such freedom was really an excuse for their speaking so discourteously of them4 ,the girls had not maintained their own self-respect1 and therefore had not secured the respect of the young men4 ,the girl who respected herself compelled respect from them1 and that is the idea ,i wish to impress on your mind4 ,never expect any one to respect you more than you respect yourself1 nor to shield your honor if you have placed yourself in their power4 ,but1 father1 said ,helen hesitatingly1 most of the girls and boys think it no harm to kiss each other good night1 and the girls say the boys would be offended if a girl refused4 ,they are mistaken4 ,of course1 the boys like to have the girls think so2 but they don't talk that way among themselves1 you may be sure4 ,but1 you see1 father1 urged ,helen1 hesitatingly1 they say they are engaged1 and that makes it all right4 ,how long do they stay engaged8 asked ,mr4 ,wayne4 ,do they really consider it a true engagement1 to end ultimately in marriage1 or is it merely an excuse for freedom of association8 ,o1 they're all the time breaking their engagements4 ,i don't believe they expect them to last very long4 ,now1 there's ,dora ,ills4 ,she's only sixteen and she says she's been engaged four times1 and when she breaks the engagement she doesn't give back the ring4 ,she's making a collection of engagement rings1 she says4 ,it is very evident that she cannot have the highest respect for herself4 ,i knew of a girl whose sister had been engaged several times and who said to her1 ',why1 ,lida1 you've never been engaged yet1 have you8' ,and ,lida replied1 ',no1 and ,i have made up my mind that ,i'll not be one of your pawed-over girls4' ,her expression was not an elegant one1 but it showed that she respected herself1 and of course1 she will be more truly respected by the young men if she does not permit them to approach too closely4 ,a girl is very much mistaken if she fancies that a young man thinks more of her if she lets him be familiar4 ,on the other hand1 it is always true that he thinks more of her if she makes him feel that she is not to be carelessly approached4 ,as one boy said to me1 ',girls ought to know that boys always want most that which is hardest to get4' ,but1 father1 if it's so difficult for boys and girls to be together and act as they should1 wouldn't it be best to keep them entirely apart until they are old enough to marry8 ,that is what they think in the old world1 and girls are kept shut up in schools and convents until they are grown2 then their parents select a husband for them1 and after they are married they are allowed to go into society4 ,i am afraid our girls wouldn't like that1--they'd want to select their own husbands4 ,they could do that after they got out of school4 ,my observation is that the girl who has been shut up away from young men1 is the very one who doesn't know how to act when she comes out of school4 ,she has very romantic ideas1 and is quite apt to be misled by a glittering exterior4 ,she is less able to judge wisely or to guide her own conduct judiciously than the girl who1 having been educated with boys1 has less romantic ideas concerning them4 ,no1 ,i believe in co-education and in the common social life for both sexes2 but with it ,i should ask that all young people should be taught to respect themselves and each other1 and to understand their responsibility to future generations4 ,and what is that responsibility8 ,what have we young people to do with future generations8 ,just exactly what we older people once had4 ,we didn't think of it in our youth1 but we can see now that even then we were creating our own characters and at the same time the characters of our future children4 ,now1 ,i can see in you many of my own youthful characteristics4 ,i can understand why you find it hard to do things that ,i'd like you to do1 and easy to do some ,i'd rather you wouldn't do4 ,and if1 in the years to come1 you have a daughter1 she will be apt to be largely what you are now4 ,all the efforts you make now to overcome your own faults are in reality helping to overcome those faults for her also4 ,suppose the young people knew and thought of these things2 don't you think they would judge more wisely of what they ought to do8 ,why1 yes1 ,i know what ,i'd want my daughter to do1 it seems to me1 even better than ,i could tell what ,i ought to do myself4 ,wouldn't that be a good way to decide your own conduct--to do only those things which you'd be perfectly willing your daughter should do8 ,but1 father1 tell me why it's so much more important for girls to be particular about what they do than for boys4 ,it's not more important4 ,well1 people seem to think it is4 ,the other day ,johnnie ,webster was going to a show and his little sister ,carrie wanted to go1 too1 and he told her it was no place for girls1 and she said1 ',then it is no place for boys'2 and he said1 ',but boys don't have to be as good as girls4' ,and his father and mother both heard it and never said a word4 ,they only laughed4 ,it is unfortunately quite a common idea that boys and men do not have to be as good as girls and women2 but it is not ,god's idea4 ,he doesn't have two standards of morals1 and ,i think the time is coming when men will be glad to live up to the highest level of purity4 ,don't you think it seems worse for girls to swear or drink or gamble than for boys8 ,it does seem worse1 because we have had such high ideals for women2 but to ,god it must seem no worse1 because he judges of us as souls1 not as men and women1 and ,he has laid down only one rule of conduct for all souls4 ,i'd like to know how the idea ever grew that it was not so bad for men to do wrong as for women4 ,perhaps we cannot now see all the reasons for this state of things1 but we can see at least one reason4 ,many1 many years ago men bought their wives1 or took them by force from others1 so they felt that they owned their wives4 ,of course1 each man liked to feel that his wife was above reproach1 that she really did belong to him2 therefore1 he held any lack of fidelity as a great sin against himself4 ,but he did not think that he belonged to her4 ,she had neither bought nor captured him1 so she had no power over him1 except such as she could gain by her fascinations4 ,naturally1 he didn't care to be bound by the same rigid ideas to which he held her4 ,he felt himself free to do what fancy dictated4 ,the general level of morals was low1 so he followed the pleasures of sense1 and the wife could only submit1 or try to be more fascinating to him than any one else4 ,but if he was great and influential or handsome1 and was not bound by any moral restraints1 there would be other women desirous of gaining his attentions and the material comforts he might be able to give1 and he would quite willingly think himself free to follow his fancy without censure4 ,in this way has grown up the double moral standard1 the pure woman holding herself to the strictest morality1 and men imagining themselves not so sternly held to the narrow path of absolute purity4 ,women are not now slaves1 bought as wives and valued for their personal charms alone4 ,they have intellectual power and moral force and social influence1 and they can1 if they will1 create the single moral standard1--that is1 the one high ideal for both men and women4 ,o1 father1 do you think girls have as much power as that8 ,it always seems to me as if girls might be of value when they are grown up1 but that while we are girls we can't do much to make the world better4 ,that is the mistake girls generally make1 when in fact the most important time of life is youth4 ,it is while you are girls that you are forming your own character1 and at the same time you are helping to form the character of the generations to come4 ,you are of far more value to the nation now1 while you are young and can make of yourselves almost anything you please1 than you will be when you are old and your habits are fixed4 ,if girls all lived nobly and exacted noble conduct of all their associates1 boys as well as girls1 it would not take long to settle all questions of reform4 ,young men will be what young women ask them to be1 and that1 you see1 makes girls of great importance4 ,do you remember what we were reading in ,sesame and ,lilies the other day about woman's queenly power8 ,get the book and let us read it again4 ,helen brought the book1 and1 finding the place1 read3 ,woman's power is for rule1 not for battle1 and her intellect is not for invention or creation1 but for sweet ordering1 arrangement and decision4 ,her great function is ,praise4 ,there is not a war in the world1 no1 nor an injustice1 but you women are answerable for it1 not in that you have provoked1 but in that you have not hindered4 ,men1 by their nature1 are prone to fight4 ,they will fight for any cause or none4 ,it is for you to choose their cause for them1 and to forbid when there is no cause4 ,there is no suffering1 no injustice1 no misery in the earth1 but the guilt of it lies with you4 ,queens you must always be3 queens to your lovers3 queens to your husbands and sons3 queens of higher mystery to the world beyond1 which bows itself and will forever bow before the myrtle crown and the stainless sceptre of womanhood4 ,helen leaned her head on her father's shoulder in silence4 ,then she said1 softly3 ,it makes me almost afraid to become a woman4 ,mr4 ,wayne kissed his daughter tenderly1 saying3 ,it is worthy your highest ambition to be a noble woman4 ,i would be glad to see you such an one as is pictured in ,lowell's poem of ,irene4 ,would you like to read it to me8 ,helen took the book from her father's hand and read4 ,,irene4 ,hers is a spirit deep1 and crystal-clear2 ,calmly beneath her earnest face it lies1 ,free without boldness1 meek without a fear1 ,quicker to look than speak its sympathies2 ,far down into her large and patient eyes ,i gaze1 deep-drinking of the infinite1 ,as1 in the mid-watch of a clear1 still night1 ,i look into the fathomless blue skies4 ,so circled lives she with ,love's holy light1 ,that from the shade of self she walketh free3 ,the garden of her soul still keepeth she ,an ,eden where the snake did never enter2 ,she hath a natural1 wise sincerity1 ,a simple truthfulness1 and these have lent her ,a dignity as moveless as the center3 ,so that no influence of earth can stir ,her steadfast courage1 nor can take away ,the holy peacefulness1 which1 night and day1 ,unto her queenly soul doth minister4 ,most gentle is she2 her large charity 7,an all unwitting1 childlike gift to her7 ,not freer is to give than meek to bear2 ,and1 though herself not unacquaint with care1 ,hath in her heart wide room for all that be-- ,her heart that hath no secrets of its own1 ,but open as an eglantine full blown4 ,cloudless forever is her brow serene1 ,speaking calm hope and trust within her1 whence ,welleth a noiseless spring of patience1 ,that keepeth all her life so fresh1 so green ,and full of holiness1 that every look1 ,the greatness of her woman's soul revealing1 ,unto me bringeth blessing1 and a feeling ,as when ,i read in ,god's own holy book4 ,a graciousness in giving that doth make ,the small gift greatest1 and a sense most meek ,of worthiness1 that doth not fear to take ,from others1 but which always fears to speak ,its thanks in utterance1 for the giver's sake2 ,the deep religion of a thankful heart1 ,which rests instinctively in heaven's clear law ,with a full peace1 that never can depart ,from its own steadfastness2--a holy awe ,for holy things1--not those which men call holy1 ,but such as are revealed to the eyes ,of a true woman's soul bent down and lowly ,before the face of daily mysteries3 ,a love that blossoms soon1 but ripens slowly ,to the full goldenness of fruitful prime1 ,enduring with a firmness that defies ,all shallow tricks of circumstance and time1 ,by a sure insight knowing where to cling1 ,and where it clingeth never withering3 ,these are ,irene's dowry1 which no fate ,can shake from their serene1 deep-builded state4 ,in-seeing sympathy is hers1 which chasteneth ,no less than loveth1 scorning to be bound ,with fear of blame1 and yet which ever hasteneth ,to pour the balm of kind looks on the wound1 ,if they be wounds which such sweet teaching makes1 ,giving itself a pang for others' sakes3 ,no want of faith1 that chills with sidelong eye1 ,hath she2 no jealousy1 no ,levite pride ,that passeth by upon the other side3 ,for in her soul there never dwelt a lie4 ,right from the hand of ,god her spirit came ,unstained1 and she hath ne'er forgotten whence ,it came1 nor wandered far from thence1 ,but labored to keep her still the same1 ,near to her place of birth1 that she may not ,soil her white raiment with an earthly spot4 ,yet sets she not her soul so steadily ,above1 that she forgets her ties to earth1 ,but her whole thought would almost seem to be ,how to make glad one lowly human hearth2 ,and to make earth next heaven2 and her heart ,herein doth show its most exceeding worth1 ,that1 bearing in our frailty her just part1 ,she hath not shrunk from evils of this life1 ,but hath gone calmly forth into the strife1 ,and all its sin and sorrows hath withstood ,with lofty strength of patient womanhood3 ,for this ,i love her great soul more than all1 ,that1 being bound1 like us1 with earthy thrall1 ,for with a gentle courage she doth strive ,in thought and word and feeling so to live4 ,she walks so bright and heaven-like therein1-- ,too wise1 too meek1 too womanly1 to sin4 ,like a lone star through riven storm-clouds seen ,by sailors1 tempest-tost upon the sea1 ,telling of rest and peaceful havens nigh1 ,unto my soul her star-like soul hath been1 ,her sight as full of hope and calm to me2 ,for she unto herself hath builded high ,a home serene1 wherein to lay her head1 ,earth's noblest thing1 a ,woman perfected4 ,that is a beautiful picture of what a girl may be1 and ,i'd be glad to see you making it your model4 ,yes1 said ,helen1 slowly4 ,then1 with more enthusiasm1 ,you know1 father1 ,i've always wished ,i were a boy4 ,it seems so much grander to be a man than a woman4 ,a man's life is so much freer1 and he can do so much greater things1 you know4 ,of course1 ,i shall try to be a good woman1 but ,i wish women could do big things1 the way men can4 ,what wondrous things can men do that women can't do8 asked ,mr4 ,wayne with a smile4 ,oh1 replied ,helen1 clasping her hands with enthusiasm1 just see what men do4 ,they build immense houses1 and great bridges--,oh1 they make the world1 and women just sit in the house and look on4 ,i'd like to do something4 ,mr4 ,wayne smoothed back the hair from the forehead of his enthusiastic daughter with a tender smile1 as he replied1 ,it does seem on the surface as if men did greater things than women1 but it is only seeming1 my dear4 ,it is just as grand a thing to be a woman as to be a man4 ,true1 woman's work does not show on the surface so plainly1 but she works with more enduring material than does man in creating the world of things4 ,we can see the great works of man's hands and they impress us with a sense of his power2 but it is mind that does the real work1 and women have minds1 or are minds1 you know4 ,yes1 ,i know1 but they must devote their minds to cooking and dishwashing4 ,i have seen women doing other things4 ,in the old world ,i saw women digging ditches1 carrying brick and mortar to the top of high buildings1 ploughing in the fields2 in fact1 working just like men4 ,the great buildings of the ,world's ,exposition erected in ,vienna in #ahgc1 were largely the work of women's hands4 ,you are not anxious to exchange dishwashing for such work1 are you8 ,o1 no1 indeed2 but it is man who plans such work and superintends its doing4 ,a woman could not have planned ,brooklyn bridge1 for example4 ,it is quite true that a woman did not plan it1 but did you know that it was completed under a woman's supervision8 ,no1 was it8 ,how did that happen8 ,tell me all about it4 ,it happened this way4 ,mr4 ,roebling1 who was superintending its construction1 was taken ill1 and his wife took his place and personally gave oversight to every part of the work until it was done4 ,you see1 her being a woman did not prevent her doing the work4 ,but if she had been only a careless or an ignorant woman she could not have done it4 ,it was mind1 you see1 and cultured mind at that1 which was the master power4 ,if she had not been working with him in making the plans1 she could not have worked for him in carrying them out4 ,instead of lamenting over your sex1 you would better rejoice in the fact that you are a spirit1 and realize that your power in all spheres of activity will be measured by the cultivation of your mental and spiritual powers4 ,but1 father1 even if ,i do cultivate my mind1 ,i shall probably never have an opportunity to do such a grand thing as help to build a ,brooklyn bridge4 ,probably not1 but you can do a greater thing4 ,you can fit yourself to work on finer material than insensate stones4 ,you can mould plastic minds4 ,it is a far greater thing to wield spiritual forces than to manipulate inorganic matter4 ,but1 all men do not merely make things4 ,there are great statesmen1 great soldiers1 great writers4 ,true1 but you would not want to be a soldier1 ,i am sure4 ,to kill is not a glorious profession4 ,and to be a great statesman or writer is not merely a question of sex2 it is a question of mind4 ,do you think women have as much ability as men8 ,aren't men really smarter than women8 ,mr4 ,wayne smiled at the girl's eagerness4 ,i do not compare men and women to decide their relative ability1 he answered4 ,i believe their minds differ1 but that does not imply that one is superior and the other inferior4 ,each is superior in its own place4 ,but men's minds are so much stronger1 father4 ,women never can be on the same level as men4 ,bring me two needles of different sizes from your work basket4 ,now1 tell me1 which is superior to the other4 ,that depends on what you want to do with them1 replied ,helen4 ,if you were going to sew on shoe buttons1 you'd use this big one4 ,if you wanted to hem a cambric handkerchief1 you'd take this fine one4 ,just so4 ,each is superior in its special place1 and both are necessary4 ,this is just as it seems to me in regard to the ability of men and women4 ,they are both minds2 one strong1 robust1 enduring rough usage2 the other fine1 delicate1 going where the first cannot go1 and therefore supplementing it1 and increasing the range of work that can be accomplished4 ,the fine needle might complain that it could not do hard work1 but do you think the complaint would be justifiable8 ,why1 no1 ,i don't2 but tell me what great things a woman can do--things that are worth while1 ,i mean2 something besides keep house and take care of children4 ,it seems to me that merely to be a cook and nurse girl is not a very high calling4 ,she might be a chemist1 suggested ,mr4 ,wayne4 ,oh1 yes1 a few women might2 but ,i mean something that ,i could be1 or other girls like me who have no special talent4 ,there is a great need of scientific knowledge among women4 ,every housekeeper needs to know something of chemistry4 ,the woman who knows the chemical action of acids and alkalies on each other will never use soda with sweet milk1 nor make the mistake of using an excess of soda with sour milk4 ,and every day1 in a myriad of ways1 her knowledge of chemistry will be called into use4 ,then every woman should be a psychologist1 most especially if she is to have the care of children4 ,o1 father1 you use such big words4 ,tell me just what you mean4 ,i mean that the office of nurse or mother demands the highest study of mental evolution4 ,more big words1 but ,i'll try to make you understand4 ,it seems to you that any one can take care of a baby4 ,but what is a baby8 ,not just a helpless little animal1 to be fed and clothed and kept warm4 ,a baby is a spirit in the process of development4 ,from the moment of birth it is being educated by everything around it2 the very tones of voice used in speaking to it are educating it4 ,it is a great thing to be ,president of the ,united ,states1 but that president was once a baby4 ,his life depended on the way he was fed and cared for2 his character was largely created by the circumstances of his life2 and his mental powers--which he inherited from both parents--were in his babyhood and early childhood largely under the training of some woman4 ,that woman1 whether mother or nurse1 had the first chance to develop him1 to make him worthy or unworthy4 ,john ,quincy ,adams said1 ',all ,i am ,i owe to my mother1' and that is the testimony of many of earth's greatest men4 ,garfield's first kiss after his inauguration was very justly given to his mother4 ,god has entrusted mothers with life's grandest work1 the moulding of humanity in its plastic stage4 ,you have done clay modelling in school1 and you know that when the clay is fresh and moist you can make of it almost anything you will1 but when it has hardened it is past remodelling4 ,it is just the same with humanity4 ,in babyhood the mind is plastic2 when one has grown to maturity1 it is hard and unyielding4 ,man makes things2 woman makes men4 ,which is the greater work8 ,helen hesitated4 ,it seems very noble as you talk of it1 to train a child2 but you know people don't feel that way4 ,mothers cuddle their babies1 to be sure1 but men think caring for babies is beneath them4 ,they sneer at it as woman's work4 ,not all men1 dear4 ,some of the great men of the world have spent years in the study of infancy1 realizing that to know how the baby develops will enable them to understand better how to train it1 and rightly to train babies is in reality to make the nation4 ,helen1 leaning her head back on her father's shoulder1 was silent for a while1 then she kissed him softly1 saying1 ,thank you1 father dear4 ,it has been a beautiful talk together4 ,i am sure it will help me to be a better woman4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,well1 daughter1 said ,mr4 ,wayne1 as ,helen and he were sitting by the fire one ,sabbath afternoon while ,mrs4 ,wayne had gone to her room to rest4 ,why1-- said ,helen hesitatingly1 there is something ,i have been thinking about1 but ,i'm afraid you'll think it silly to ask you about it4 ,you'll think ,i ought to be able to decide it for myself4 ,nothing that is of enough importance to be a problem to my daughter is silly to me4 ,state your difficulty1 and we'll see if we cannot clear it away4 ,well1 father1 ,i'd like to know what you think about boys and girls writing to each other4 ,of course1 ,i don't mean the foolish notes they send back and forth in school4 ,i know that is silly1 but ,i mean correspond4 ,you see1 ,paul ,winslow and ,robert ,bates are going to move away and they're asking the girls to correspond with them1 and the girls all say it will be great fun2 but ,i don't know4 ,you know1 mother has taught me that things that seem funny at one time don't seem so at another1 and ,i've been wondering if this is one of those things4 ,when ,robert asked me if ,i'd write to him ,i said ,i'd ask mother1 and he seemed to get mad4 ,he said if it was such a dangerous thing to correspond with him that ,i had to ask my mother1 he guessed ,i'd better not write to him4 ,i said ,i asked my mother about everything4 ,and he said ',i suppose you show her your letters1' and ,i said ',of course1' and then he said he'd excuse me from writing to him4 ,the girls all said ,i was very foolish2 that it was perfectly right to correspond with boys you knew1 and that our mothers wouldn't want to be bothered to read all the letters we received4 ,but ,i know mother doesn't think it a bother1 and ,i wouldn't enjoy my letters if ,i didn't share them with her4 ,you are certainly much safer to keep in confidence with your mother1 said ,mr4 ,wayne1 and ,i should say that a young man who didn't want you to show his letters to your mother is one you wouldn't want to correspond with4 ,i should be afraid that he'd be one who would show your letters to his boy friends and perhaps make fun of them4 ,o1 father6 ,do you think that8 ,it seems to me that wouldn't be honorable4 ,boys do not always have the highest ideals of honor1 my dear4 ,i remember once1 when ,i was young1 ,i was camping with a lot of young fellows4 ,i think all of them were corresponding with girls1 and these letters were common property4 ,they were read aloud as we gathered around the camp fire in the evening2 their bad spelling was laughed at and their silly sentimentalities talked of in ways that ,i am sure would have made the girls' cheeks burn with shame4 ,they thought1 of course1 that the boy they wrote to would keep their letters as sweet secrets4 ,i learned a good deal that summer about girls whom ,i had never seen4 ,some of them ,i came to know afterwards1 and ,i often wondered what they would say if ,i should quote from their letters some foolish sentimentality which they imagined no one knew about except the one to whom it was written4 ,then1 father1 you'd say we ought never to correspond with boys8 ,no1 ,i didn't quite say that4 ,i can see that a friendly correspondence might be helpful4 ,it seems to me that girls and boys can be a great help and inspiration to each other4 ,i once had a girl correspondent who wrote most charming letters1 simple recitals of her daily life with some of her little moralizings thrown in4 ,perhaps ,i would smile at them now1 but they surely helped me to have higher ideals and made me have a great reverence for womanhood4 ,there was one thing about her letters that ,i thought strange then1 but ,i now think it very wise4 ,she always signed every letter with her full name1 never with her home pet name4 ,i have often thought of it1 and ,i believe it is a good plan4 ,certainly1 if you knew that you would sign your full name to every letter1 you would not be as apt to write foolishly as if your identity would be hidden under some nickname4 ,and you never know what will become of your letters4 ,a few days ago ,i read in the newspaper some foolish letters written by a girl to a man4 ,she never imagined that any one else would read them4 ,yet here they were1 in print1 and the whole country was commenting on them4 ,they were all signed by some soubriquet such as ',your darlingest ,babe1' or ',little ,jimmy1' and under the shield of such a signature she no doubt felt safe4 ,but a dark tragedy tore away the flimsy protection and every one saw all her foolishness and sin4 ,helen shuddered4 ,i believe ,i'll make it a rule1 she said1 soberly1 to write only such things in my letters that ,i'd be willing to have printed over my own name4 ,that's a good resolution1 and ,i hope you'll keep it4 ,you can feel quite certain that if you don't want to sign your own name to your letter you'd better not write it4 ,there are a number of suggestions ,i would like to make to you along the line of your association with young men1 said ,mr4 ,wayne1 after a pause4 ,you have had no experience as yet1 but in a few years you will be a woman and maybe then you'll have no father or mother to give you counsel4 ,as you know1 ,i don't want to shut you away from the society of young men1 but ,i want you to know how to make it of the greatest advantage to you and to them4 ,do you know1 dear1 that women and girls always make the moral standards which maintain in the society of which they form a part8 ,helen shook her head doubtfully4 ,i don't see how that can be1 she said1 for everybody says that women are better than men2 and ,i am sure boys do lots of things that we girls would never think of doing4 ,very true1 replied ,mr4 ,wayne1 but that is because the men and boys set higher standards for the women and girls than they in turn set for the men and boys4 ,no boy would be seen in the street with a girl who was smoking a cigar2 yet girls1 good girls too1 let boys smoke in their company4 ,no matter how immoral a man may be1 he always demands that the women who belong to him1 his wife1 mother1 sister or sweetheart1 shall be pure and above reproach4 ,he will even claim that a wife's misconduct sullies his honor2 but she never claims that his immorality is her responsibility4 ,she will even marry a man whom she knows to be dissipated1 foolishly trusting that her love will reform him4 ,a broken heart and degenerate children too often prove how seriously she has failed4 ,yes1 dear1 ,i am right in saying that women are to blame that men do not have higher ideals and live up to them4 ,ruskin says1 ',the soul's armor is never well set to a heart unless a woman's hand has braced it2 and it is only when she braces it loosely that the honor of manhood fails4' ,it's putting a great responsibility on women1 isn't it8 sighed ,helen4 ,yes1 daughter1 but no greater than is placed on man4 ,each sex should be the protector and inspirer of the other4 ,but instead of that1 they often tempt and mislead each other4 ,good girls don't tempt boys1 father4 ,i'm afraid that they do1 dear4 ,they may not be aware of what they are doing1 but nevertheless they may be sources of temptation4 ,i really don't see how4 ,probably not1 but ,i can tell you1 for ,i remember my own youth and know how girls may tempt boys unwittingly4 ,when in college ,i was a boarder in a family where there were several other students1 and two or three pretty ,high ,school girls4 ,one of them was very coquettish1 and was always 'making goo-goo eyes1' at the boys1 as they say now-a-days4 ,she couldn't talk in a straightforward manner1 but always with sidewise glances from downcast lids that seemed invitations to a nearer approach4 ,among the students was one who was very retiring and bashful4 ,he rarely spoke to the girls and seemed quite embarrassed if they spoke to him4 ,this girl seemed to set herself to work to flirt with him4 ,she would glance up at him so appealingly that we boys couldn't help guying him about it4 ,one evening when she was plying her arts--not with evil intent1 but she loved to flirt and did not understand what that might mean to a young man--all at once he seized her around the waist and kissed her furiously4 ,she was in a rage in a moment1 and said some pretty sharp things about his lack of gentlemanliness4 ,he stood his ground without flinching4 ',i'm as much of a gentleman as you are a lady1' he said4 ',i have let you alone1 but you have been tormenting me for weeks4 ,you liked to try how far you could go1 and thought yourself virtuous because you felt no temptation4 ,you didn't care how you tempted me1 or the other boys4 ,you have tried your powers in public4 ,o1 yes1 you are too good to be sly6 ,and so ,i determined to give you a public lesson1 and everybody here1 ,i am sure1 is thankful to me for it4 ,now1 perhaps1 you will let us alone4 ,we want to be good1 we want to treat all women with respect2 yet1 when you pretty pink-and-white creatures smile and smirk and set us on fire1 then you say we are bad1 we are not gentlemen4 ,maybe not4 ,but we are men1 and we should find in you the true womanhood which is our salvation4' ,i can see him now1 as he stood up so proudly1 forgetting his bashfulness in his righteous indignation1--and we all applauded him1 ,i am glad to say4 ,the girl was offended with us all1 and left the house and sought another boarding place4 ,in her stead came a real1 true1 womanly girl4 ,full of fun1 a real comrade1 ready to join our sports1 to help us in every way possible1 but always making us feel that we were in honor bound to protect her from even a flirtatious thought4 ,every man in the house was her friend1 some of them1 ,i am sure1 her adorers1 but none ever ventured to approach her with familiarity4 ,if she should meet any of us to-day1 she would not have to blush in the presence of her husband and children at the memory of any happening of those days4 ,this is the kind of a woman ,i want you to be1 my daughter dear1 a woman realizing a woman's true place and power1 as ,ruskin says1 ',power to heal1 to redeem1 to guide1 to guard6' ,just hand me the book and let me read you a few words from his essay on ,war4 ',believe me6' he says1 'the whole course and character of your lovers' lives is in your hand4 ,what you would have them be they shall be1 if you not only desire but deserve to have them so2 for they are but mirrors in which you will see yourselves imaged4 ,if you are frivolous1 they will be so also2 if you have no understanding of the scope of their duty1 they will also forget it2 they will listen1--they can listen--to no other interpretation of it than that uttered from your lips4 ,bid them be brave2--they will be brave for you2 bid them be cowards1 and how noble soever they be1 they will quail for you4 ,bid them be wise1 and they will be wise for you2 mock at their counsels and they will be fools for you1 such1 and so absolute is your rule over them4' ,isn't that a wonderful power that is in woman's hands8 ,and it is true1 as he further says1 just here3 ',whatever of the best he can conceive1 it is her part to be2 whatever of the highest he can hope1 it is hers to promise2 all that is dark in him she must purge into purity2 all that is failing in him she must strengthen into truth2 from her1 through all the world's clamour1 he must win his praise2 in her1 through all the world's warfare1 he must find his peace4' ,helen sighed4 ,it is so much to ask1 she said4 ,has nothing been written to the men1 how they must help and protect women8 ,mr4 ,wayne smiled1 as he kissed his little daughter and said1 ,whatever has been written for men ,i will keep to tell my son1 and ,i trust it will help him to reverence all womanhood4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,as ,mrs4 ,wayne and her daughter sat at their window they saw a carriage dash by containing a handsomely dressed woman4 ,shortly after a very pretty girl passed the house1 talking busily with a boy of her own age4 ,how funny some mothers are1 said ,helen4 ,that was ,mrs4 ,eversman who rode by just now1 and that's ,corrinne1 her daughter4 ,mrs4 ,eversman pays no attention to ,corrinne except to buy her pretty clothes1 and scold her for carelessness4 ,corrinne goes where she pleases4 ,she has lots of beaux1 and when they call she won't let her mother come into the parlor1--she says she doesn't want her 'snooping' around1 and ,mrs4 ,eversman only laughs4 ,she seems to think it smart4 ,and1 mother1 ,corrinne has such lovely presents from boys and young men4 ,and when she goes to the theatre with a young man1 she insists on having a carriage and flowers and a supper afterward4 ,she says no fellow need come around her unless he has 'the spondulics1' she calls money4 ,poor child6 said ,mrs4 ,wayne thoughtfully4 ,how little she understands the purpose of life6 ,but she says she wants to have a good time1 urged ,helen4 ,surely1 was ,mrs4 ,wayne's reply4 ,every girl is entitled to a good time1 but that does not of necessity consist of spending money4 ,i should think she wouldn't like to be under such obligations to young men4 ,o1 ,i guess she doesn't think she is under obligations4 ,she thinks they are under obligation to her for condescending to go with them4 ,but1 mother1 ought a girl let a young man spend money on her8 ,i hope1 my dear1 when you are old enough to go out with young men that you will care too much for yourself to be willing to take expensive gifts4 ,a certain amount of expenditure is allowable4 ,a few flowers1 a book1 or a piece of music1 but never elegant jewelry or articles of clothing4 ,that is not only bad taste but it is often a direct incentive for young men of small salaries to be dishonest4 ,corrinne1 and girls like her1 do not know how much they may be responsible for young men becoming untrue to their business trusts1 nor how much they might do to strengthen young men in their purposes to be honest4 ,you remember ,aunt ,elsie and ,uncle ,harold4 ,he is a man of means now1 but he was once a poor young clerk4 ,he admired ,elsie and wanted to show her every attention1 but she knew his salary would not permit extravagance2 so when he first asked her to go to some public entertainment1 he said he would come with a carriage at the appointed time4 ,at once she said decidedly1 ',then ,i will not go4 ,it is not far4 ,if it is a fine night1 we can walk4 ,if it rains1 we can go on the street cars4 ,you may send me a few flowers1 but we will not have an opera supper nor indulge in needless carriages6' ,of course he objected1 and urged that he could afford it4 ',but ,i can't1' was her reply4 ,and years after1 when they were married1 he confessed that it was a great relief to him to be able to take her about in ways that suited his purse and yet have no fear of being thought mean4 ,now he can buy her everything her heart can desire2 but he acknowledges that he might not have been able to withstand the temptation had she in her younger days desired pleasures beyond his power honorably to provide4 ,mother1 said ,helen after a pause1 as two girls passed the house with their arms about each other's waists4 ,don't you think it silly for girls to be so 'spooney'8 ,i certainly think it is in bad taste for them to be so publicly demonstrative1 and ,i could wish that girls might be friends with each other more as boys are4 ,now1 there are ,paul and ,winfield4 ,surely no girls ever thought more of each other than these two boys1 and yet ,i fancy we would smile to see them embracing each other on all occasions1 as ,lucy and ,nellie do4 ,i should say so6 ,i've heard ,paul say1 ',old ,chap1' or seen ,winfield give ,paul a slap on the shoulder2 but they are never silly and they've been friends for years4 ,but ,lucy and ,nellie have only been so 'thick' for a few weeks1 and they'll fall out pretty soon4 ,lucy is always having such lover-like friends and then quarreling with them4 ,now1 she and ,nellie are going to have a mock wedding next week4 ,they call themselves husband and wife even now1--isn't that silly8 ,it is worse than silly1--,i call it wrong1 replied ,mrs4 ,wayne4 ,such morbid friendships are dangerous1 both to health and morals4 ,to the health1 mother8 ,i don't see how that can be4 ,no1 ,i doubt if you can1 but ,i hope that you will believe me when ,i tell you they are dangerous4 ,when girls are so demonstrative1 when they claim to stand to each other as man and woman1 you may feel assured that the relation is unnatural and that the drain upon the nervous system is very great4 ,i once knew a girl who actually destroyed the health of a number of girls in a school by such demonstrative friendships4 ,she always had one devoted friend who could not live without her4 ,i have known a girl to cry day after day and actually go home sick1 because her friendship with this girl was threatened4 ,and it is said that another girl took her own life from jealousy of this one4 ,friendship is a grand thing when it is true and worthy1 but a morbid1 unnatural sentimentality does not deserve the name of friendship and ,i should be very sorry to see you fall into the toils of a morbid1 unnatural relation with another girl4 ,yet ,i should be pleased to see you having a sincere1 womanly1 noble affection for another girl1 one which would not waste itself in sentimentality but be able to rise to heights of grand renunciation4 ,i think ,i understand you1 mother1 and ,i promise you ,i will try to hold the highest ideals of friendship4 ,such talks as these brought mother and daughter into such close companionship that ,helen was not afraid to bring her mother the deepest problems of her young life4 ,it was ,saturday afternoon1 and mother and daughter were sitting together sewing4 ,the rain was pouring1 so that there was little fear of visitors1 and while ,mrs4 ,wayne was discussing with herself how she could begin to talk to her daughter of her approaching womanhood1 ,helen suddenly said1 ,mother1 what is the matter with ,clara ,downs8 ,she is going into consumption1 they say1 and ,i heard ,sadie ,barker say to ,cora ,lee that it was because ,clara did not change into a woman4 ,what did she mean8 ,i thought we just grew into women4 ,isn't that the way8 ,you didn't ask ,sadie what she meant8 ,o1 no1 the girls acted as if they didn't want me to hear1 and then1 ,i'd always rather you'd tell me things1 for then ,i feel sure that ,i know them right4 ,this little testimony of her trust in her mother furnished ,mrs4 ,wayne with the desired opportunity1 and she said1 ,in order that you may clearly understand ,sadie's remark ,i shall have to make a long explanation of how girls become women4 ,why1 mother1 don't we just grow into women8 ,well1 my dear1 ,i shall have to say both yes and no to that question4 ,girls do grow and become women1 but women are something more than grown-up girls4 ,this house is much bigger than it was two years ago4 ,did it just grow bigger8 ,why1 no1 not exactly4 ,there are no more rooms now than there were before1 but some rooms have been finished off and are used now1 when before they weren't used at all1 and so the house seems bigger4 ,but it can't be that way with our bodies1 for we don't have any new organs added or finished off to make us women8 ,that is just what is done1 my daughter4 ,what6 ,new organs added1 mother8 ,what can you mean8 ,i mean1 dear1 that your bodily dwelling is enlarged1 not by the addition of new rooms1 but by the completing of rooms that have as yet not been fitted up for use4 ,i don't understand you1 mother4 ,i suppose not1 but ,i hope to be able to make you understand4 ,you have studied your bodily house and know of the rooms in the different stories1 the kitchen1 laundry1 dining-room1 picture-gallery and telegraph office1--in fact1 all the rooms or organs that keep you alive2 but there is one part of the house that you have not studied4 ,there are various rooms or organs which are not needed to keep you alive1 and which have1 therefore1 been closed4 ,as you approach womanhood1 these organs will wake up and become active1 and their activity is what will make you a woman4 ,why1 mother1 it sounds like a fairy story1 a tale of a wonderful magic palace1 doesn't it8 ,and ,clara ,downs hasn't got these marvelous rooms8 ,yes1 they are there1 but they are evidently not being finished off for use4 ,i think1 however1 the girls made the mistake of confounding cause and effect4 ,they say she is going into consumption because she does not become a woman4 ,i think she does not become a woman because she is going into consumption4 ,do you know why we did not finish off these rooms in our house sooner8 ,why1 father said he had not the money4 ,that is right4 ,he did not say that he did not have the money because he did not finish off the rooms4 ,my1 no1 that would have been absurd2 but ,i don't see how that applies to ,clara8 ,it needed money to finish off our house2 so it needs vitality to change from girl to woman1 and ,clara seems not to have the vitality4 ,she is failing in health1 hence she has not vital force to spend in completing her physical development4 ,but1 mother1 tell me more about this wonderful change4 ,where are the new rooms and what is their purpose8 ,i can't really believe that ,i have some bodily organs that ,i never heard of4 ,what are they and where are they2 when will they be finished off8 ,i am all curiosity4 ,didn't we study about them in our school physiology8 ,you have given me a good many questions to answer1 little girl1 and ,i hardly know where to begin answering them4 ,in your school physiology you studied all about the organs that keep you alive4 ,what did you learn about your bodily house8 ,how many stories is it8 ,three stories high1 and then there is a cupola on the top of all4 ,i like to think of the head as a cupola or observatory1 resting on the tower of the neck and turning from side to side as we want to look around us4 ,and what is the furniture in the different stories8 ,o1 the upper story is called the thorax1 and the one big room in it is the thoracic cavity4 ,it contains the heart and lungs4 ,the next story below is the abdominal cavity and it has a number of articles of furniture1 the liver1 the stomach1 the spleen1 the bowels1 etc4 ,then the lower story is--,o1 ,i've forgotten what it is called4 ,the lower story is called the pelvis4 ,o1 yes1 and the pelvic cavity contains the reservoirs for waste material4 ,i remember you told me that once4 ,that is right4 ,the pelvic cavity contains the bladder1 which is the reservoir for waste fluid1 and the rectum1 the outlet for waste solids4 ,but it contains more than these4 ,it is here in the pelvis that these organs of which you have not heard are located4 ,you remember when you asked me about yourself and how you came into the world ,i told you of a little room in mother's body where you lived and grew until you were large enough to live your own independent existence4 ,did you ever wonder where this room is8 ,why1 ,i never thought much about it4 ,i guess ,i just thought it was in the abdominal cavity4 ,isn't it8 ,illustration ,no1 the room is a little sac that lies here in the pelvis4 ,i can best explain it to you by a picture4 ,here it is4 ,you see it looks like a pear hanging with the small end down4 ,it lies just between the bladder and the rectum1 and a passage leads up to it4 ,o1 ,i see4 ,doesn't the bladder empty itself through that passage8 ,no1 the outlet to the bladder is just at the very entrance to this passage1 but does not open into the passage at all4 ,this passage is called the vagina1 and the little room has two names4 ,one is ,latin1 uterus2 the other is ,saxon1 womb--it means the place where things are brought to life4 ,the ,latin word is used by scientists1 but the ,saxon word is used in the ,bible and by poets4 ,do you remember when ,nicodemus came to ,jesus that he was told he must be born again1 and he said in surprise1 ',can a man enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born8' ,o1 ,i see now what he meant4 ,i could not understand it before4 ,of course1 he knew that was impossible1 and so he could not see what ,jesus meant4 ,david says1 ',thou hast covered me in my mother's womb4 ,i will praise thee1 for ,i am fearfully and wonderfully made4' ,poets sometimes speak of the womb of the morning1 meaning the place where morning lies and grows until it is ready to burst forth in beauty on the world4 ,i like the ,saxon word better than the ,latin one1 don't you8 ,yes1 but as scientists use the ,latin word we shall use that1 so that we will know how to talk on these subjects scientifically4 ,the uterus hangs suspended by two broad ligaments 7marked ll in the picture74 ,there are also round ligaments from the back and front which hold it loosely in place4 ,on the back of each broad ligament is an oval body called the ovary 7marked o74 ,do you remember once seeing in a hen that ,ellen was preparing for dinner a great number of eggs of all sizes8 ,that was the hen's ovary4 ,ovum means an egg1 and ovary means the place of the eggs4 ,o1 mother1 women don't have eggs1 do they8 ,i don't like that4 ,well1 if you do not like to use the word egg we can say ovum1 which1 you know1 is the ,latin word for egg4 ,the plural is ova4 ,or we may call the ovum the germ1 which means the primary source4 ,the ovum or germ is a very tiny thing1 so small that it cannot be seen without a microscope2 #bdj laid side by side would make only one inch in length4 ,o1 mother1 that is wonderful4 ,yes1 dear4 ,the whole process of life is very wonderful and very beautiful4 ,the uterus and ovaries belong to what is called the reproductive system4 ,as ,i said1 until now your vital forces have been employed in keeping you alive4 ,your nutritive system1 your muscular system1 your nervous system and so on1 have all been busy taking care of you only2 but soon your reproductive system will awaken and begin to take on activity4 ,and what does that mean1 mother8 ,illustration3 ,ova4 ,it means that you are entering on what is known as the maternal period of your life2 are actually becoming a woman with all a woman's power of becoming a mother4 ,but you don't mean that a girl of fourteen could become a mother8 ,yes1 it might be possible2 but no girl of fourteen should be a mother1 for she is not fully developed and her children will not be strong as if she had not married until after she were twenty4 ,but tell me1 mother1 all about it4 ,i don't see now how the baby grows8 ,well1 ,i was showing you the ovary in which are many ova4 ,as the girl nears the age of fourteen1 these ova start to grow and once a month one ripens and is thrown out of the ovary4 ,it is taken up by the ,fallopian tube1 marked od in the picture1 and it passes down the tube into the uterus and through the vagina out into the world4 ,can one tell when it passes8 ,no1 but there is a sign that this change has taken place4 ,the uterus is lined with a membrane in which are many blood vessels1 and when the girl has reached this stage of development and becomes a woman1 the vessels become very full of blood1 so full that it oozes out through the walls of the blood vessels into the cavity of the uterus1 and when it passes out of the vagina the girl becomes aware of it and knows that she has become a woman4 ,this process takes place once a month and is called menstruation1 from the ,latin mensum1 a month4 ,isn't it painful1 mother8 ,it ought not to be and is not1 if the girl is perfectly well4 ,but sometimes girls have dressed improperly and have displaced their internal organs1 or they have exhausted themselves with pleasure-seeking1 or in some other way have injured themselves1 in which case they may suffer much pain4 ,when girls get about this age mothers are very anxious about them1 very desirous that they shall naturally and easily step over into the land of womanhood4 ,i should think that girls ought to be taught about themselves1 so that they would not do the things which injure them4 ,i think they should1 and that is why ,i am telling you all this to-day so that when the change comes to you1 you will not be frightened and maybe do something from which you will suffer all your life long1 as many girls have done4 ,the question of tight clothing becomes now much more important than ever before4 ,you can see at once that the restriction of the clothing comes just over the part of the body where there is the least resistance4 ,oh1 yes1 ,i remember about the seven upper ribs1 that are fastened to both spine and breast-bone2 and the five lower ribs1 that are fastened directly only to the spine and are attached in front to the breast-bone by cartilage2 and the two floating ribs1 lowest of all1 and fastened only to the spine4 ,i have often wondered why the important organs of the abdominal cavity should not have been better protected4 ,it was needful to leave the front of the body covered only with muscular structure1 or it could not be bent and twisted about as we can now bend it1 and that would have hindered our activity4 ,just imagine yourself going about encased in bone from your shoulders to your hips4 ,helen laughed merrily4 ,i shouldn't like it1 she said1 but that is just what is done by the corset1 and folks get used to that4 ,yes1 they become accustomed to the pressure because the nerves lose their sensitiveness and no longer report their discomfort to the brain2 but the injury continues1 nevertheless4 ,mother1 ,i wish you'd tell me just how tight clothing is injurious4 ,so many of the girls laugh at me because ,i don't wear a corset1 and they declare it does not hurt them4 ,they all say they wear their clothes perfectly loose and they think they prove it by showing me how they can run their fists up under their dress waists4 ,certainly1 that can be done even with a very tight dress1 by just pressing a little more air out of the lungs2 but that is not a true measurement4 ,to learn if the dress is tight1 one should unfasten all of the clothing1 draw in the breath slowly until the lungs are filled to their utmost capacity4 ,then1 while the lungs are held full1 see if the clothing can be fastened without allowing any air to escape4 ,if it can1 then it is not tight2 but if the lungs must be compressed1 ever so little1 in order to allow the clothing to be fastened1 it is too tight4 ,you see1 the power we have to breathe is the measure of our power to do1 and to lessen our breathing capacity is to lessen our ability in all directions4 ,i saw a statement yesterday that will interest you4 ,it was a recital of an experiment made by ,dr4 ,sargent on twelve girls in running #edj yards in #b minutes #cj seconds4 ,the first time they ran without corsets and their waists measured #be inches4 ,the pulse was counted before running and found to beat #hd times a minute4 ,again1 it was counted after running and found to have risen to #aeb4 ,the second run was made in the same length of time1 but with corsets on1 which reduced the waist measure to #bd inches4 ,pulse before running #hd2 after running #afh1 showing the extra effort the heart was obliged to make because of the restriction of the waist and consequent lessening of the breathing power4 ,he also found that the corset reduced the breathing capacity one-fifth4 ,let me read you another little item3 ',dr4 ,dickenson has been studying the pressure of the corset4 ,he says that in the ordinary breathing we have to overcome in the resistance and elasticity of chest and lungs a force of #agj pounds4 ,if the woman whose waist measure is #bg inches wears a corset of the same size1 so that her waist is not compressed at all1 there is added a force of #dj pounds4 ,if her natural waist measure is #bg inches and is reduced by the corset to #be-a_/b inches1 the pressure is #gc pounds4' ,when ,dr4 ,lucy ,hall was physician at ,vassar ,college1 she made some observations as to the mental powers manifested by those who wore and those who did not wear corsets4 ,in a graduating class in which there were thirty-five girls1 nineteen wore no corsets2 eighteen members of the class took honors1 and of these thirteen wore no corsets2 seven of the class were appointed to take part in public on ,commencement ,day1 and six of these wore no corsets4 ,all who took prizes for essays wore no corsets2 five girls were class-day orators1 and four of these wore no corsets2 five had not missed a day in four years1 and one had not missed a day in six years4 ,that speaks pretty loudly in favor of doing without corsets1 doesn't it8 ,yes1 indeed2 but some of the girls care more for looks than for class honors4 ,they say a girl looks so queer without a corset4 ,that is because we have set up false standards of beauty4 ,if we examine the finest statuary of all ages1 we shall not find a single figure that has been accustomed to tight clothing4 ,the artist copies ,god's ideal figure of the woman1 not that of the fashion plate4 ,you see1 we have become so accustomed to the deformed figure that we call it beautiful1 just as the ,chinese woman thinks her deformed foot is beautiful4 ,o1 isn't it dreadful that the ,chinese bind up the feet of the little girls as they do8 ,it certainly is2 but not as dreadful as that ,christian women bind up the vital parts of the body and prevent their working as they should4 ,one can live without feet1 but one could not live without heart and lungs and other vital organs1 and can only half live when these organs are cramped and crowded together so they cannot work properly4 ,if we were all truly artistic we would be pained at the sight of the small waist1 for we should know that it was procured at the expense of the vital organs4 ,you have heard of the statue of the ,venus de ,medici1 renowned as being the most beautiful representation of a woman's figure8 ,o1 yes1 ,i have seen pictures of it4 ,a certain ,english actress was called a model of loveliness in form and feature4 ,some one has made a comparison between the two4 ,here are the pictures and measurements3 ,illustration ,bust measure #cf ,waist #bf ,hip #de ,fig4 #a ,bust measure #ch ,waist #cb ,hip #dc ,fig4 #b ,you see how graceful the curves of the ,venus 7,fig4 #b71 how abrupt those of the actress 7,fig4 #a71 and yet to most people her figure looks the more elegant4 ,but ,i want to call your attention to the fact that to create her figure is really to lose much space1 and to crowd together the important vital organs until their working power is greatly hindered4 ,this same actress has become enlightened and now says3 ',of course1 no woman can breathe properly in a tightly-laced corset4 ,i am horrified when ,i think of the way ,i used to compress my waist1 and look back at the pictures showing my hour-glass figure with positive amazement4' ,don't you think it strange that we never want little rooms with furniture huddled close together1 except in our bodily dwellings8 ,the ,divine ,architect has given us grand apartments1 with all the machinery harmoniously related1 and we think we improve things by putting everything into the closest possible quarters and disturbing the harmony6 ,but the damage is not done to the heart and lungs alone4 ,the liver is crowded out of place until it sometimes reaches clear across the abdomen and is creased with ruts from the pressure of the ribs upon it4 ,the stomach is also pressed out of place4 ,it belongs close up under the diaphragm1 but it is crowded by the pressure down until it lies in the abdominal cavity1 as low down1 sometimes1 as the umbilicus1 six or eight inches below where it belongs4 ,illustration3 ,showing how much space is lost by constriction of the waist4 ,o1 mother1 that seems awful4 ,it is awful1 my dear1 because the body is created to do certain work1 and to do that work well1 its laws should be regarded4 ,we would not think of interfering with the works of a watch or a piano1 because they are valuable1 but we do not hesitate to interfere with the more valuable organs of our bodies1 and we do not even think that we are offering an insult to the ,creator4 ,but ,i have not told you yet of the evil effects in the displacement of the bowels4 ,do you remember how many feet of intestines there are in the body8 ,about twenty feet of small and about four feet of large intestines4 ,and how are they held in place8 ,why1 ,i don't just remember4 ,the small intestines are encased in a membrane called the mesentery4 ,it is just as if ,i folded this strip of cloth in the middle lengthwise and put my finger inside of the fold4 ,the small intestines lie in the middle fold of the mesentery1 and the edges of the mesentery are gathered up like a ruffle and fastened to the spine in a space of about six inches1 leaving it to flare out like a very full ruffle4 ,in this way1 you see1 the intestines are left free1 and yet cannot tie themselves in knots as they might if but laid loosely in the abdominal cavity4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #a4--;,a natural figure and a normal pose4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #b4--;,corseted figure producing abnormal pose4 ,if the waist is constricted above them1 they sink down and pull on this attachment1 and that often causes backache and inability to stand or walk with comfort4 ,it may also press the reproductive organs out of place1 and so cause much pain and suffering at menstruation4 ,i am of the opinion that women were not intended to be invalids in any degree because of their womanhood2 and very likely there would be much less flow at menstrual periods if women and girls lived in accordance with ,nature's laws4 ,but1 mother1 you have not told me what this blood is for4 ,it seems as if it would not be necessary for women to go through such an experience every month4 ,perhaps we do not fully know why it should be so1 but we do know when the little child is growing in its little room1 the mother does not have the menstrual flow2 so we may suppose that it goes to nourish the child4 ,o1 ,i see1 and when not needed for the child1 it just passes away4 ,yes1 and every time this occurs it says to the woman that she is a perfect woman1 capable of all the duties of the wife and mother4 ,this thought should make her think very sacredly of herself4 ,for a few moments there was silence between mother and daughter1 broken only by the sound of the falling rain4 ,at length ,helen spoke4 ,mother1 there is something ,i want to ask you about4 ,you remember last summer1 when ,mrs4 ,vale and ,mrs4 ,odell called on you1 ,i was in the library and they did not see me4 ,while they were waiting for you they began to talk of ,edith ,chenowyth and of something dreadful she had been doing4 ,they called her a very bad girl4 ,when you came in they spoke to you about her and you said ',poor child1 ,i am sorry for her2' and they were quite angry that you should pity her4 ,just before they left ,i made some slight noise1 and ,mrs4 ,vale said1 ',i hope no one heard what we've said1' and you said1 ',i hope not1 ,i am sure4' ,so ,i thought you would not want me to know of it or ,i should have asked you about what it all meant4 ,yesterday ,i heard some of the girls talking and one said1 ',did you know that ,edith ,chenowyth had a baby last night8 ,she is down at old ,mrs4 ,fein's4 ,her folks have turned her out of the house4' ,then ,clara ,downs said1 ',well1 they ought to turn her out1 acting as she has4' ,then they all said such dreadful things of her6 ,and while they were talking1 ,cora ,lee came up and said1 ',o1 girls1 ,i am an ,auntie6 ,my sister ,ada had the loveliest baby boy last night and my father gave her #ejj because it is his first grandson2 and the baby's father opened a bank account in the name of ,charles ,wyndham ,bell4 ,ada is just as happy as she can be and we are all so proud4' ,now1 mother1 ,ada ,lee and ,edith ,chenowyth were in the same class at school2 they sang a duet together on the day of their graduation and ,edith was just as lovely as ,ada4 ,now she has a baby and every one scorns her1 while ,ada has one and she is honored and loved4 ,i wish you'd explain this to me4 ,well1 my daughter1 you see ,ada is married and ,edith is not4 ,yes1 ,i know that2 and yet that does not explain to me why a child should be an honor to one and a disgrace to the other4 ,i know people think so1 but ,i want to know why4 ,in order to make you understand why1 ,i shall have to take you back to your lessons in botany4 ,you recall how you learned there of the reproduction of plants4 ,you learned that the pollen must pass down the style and fertilize the seed before it would grow2 and you learned that the stamen1 anther and pollen were the male part of the plant and the ovary1 style and stigma the female part of the plant4 ,yes1 and ,i remember that ,i thought it rather silly that in a school book the plants should be spoken of as people1 as if it were a fairy story4 ,and yet1 my dear1 it was only stating an actual fact1 and was not1 as you fancied1 a fairy story4 ,there are really fathers and mothers among plants2 if there were not there could be no new plant life4 ,in some plants the male and female are united in the same flower2 in other plants there are male and female flowers1 but all growing on the same plant4 ,in a third species all the flowers of one plant will be male1 and all of another plant will be female4 ,the fertilization of plants is very interesting1 for the insects and the bees and the breezes often carry the pollen of the male flowers to the female flowers1 and so the seeds are fertilized4 ,when we come to study reproduction among the human race1 we find the same plan2 in fact1 we find it in all forms of organized life1 plants1 animals and man4 ,that is1 there must be fathers as well as mothers4 ,illustration3 ,,spermatozoa4 ,i told you of the germ or ovum that is produced by the ovary of the woman4 ,that ovum of itself could never become a new being4 ,it must be united with a life-giving principle furnished by the man4 ,this principle consists of a fluid in which float tiny little creatures called spermatozoa--one is a spermatozoon4 ,here is a picture of some4 ,they are too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope4 ,they are about #a_/ejj of an inch long1 that is1 #ejj of them laid end to end1 would cover only an inch in length4 ,if an ovum starts from the ovary and is not hindered1 it will pass on through the uterus and the vagina into the world1 and that is the end of it2 but if1 when the ovum starts from the ovary to make its way through the tube1 the spermatozoa are deposited here at the mouth of the uterus1 they will find their way up into the cavity1 and if one meets an ovum and enters into it1 a new life is begun4 ,the ovum will now fasten itself to the walls of the uterus and grow into the little child4 ,you can understand that1 for the spermatozoa to be placed where they can find their way into the uterus1 means a very close and familiar relation of the man and woman4 ,when two people have decided that they love each other so well that they are willing to leave all friends and ties of home1 and in the presence of witnesses promise to live together always1 and a clergymen has conducted a solemn ceremony and pronounced them husband and wife1 it is perfectly proper for them to do what before would not have been proper4 ,they may go and live in a house by themselves1 occupy the same room1 bear the same name and be1 in the eyes of the community1 as one person4 ,if they desire to call into life a little child of their own1 it is fully in accordance with the laws of ,god and man1 and no one can criticise them4 ,they have violated no ideas of purity or propriety4 ,but you can understand that if an unmarried woman has a child1 every one knows that she has had1 with some man1 an intimate relation to which they had no right1 either moral or legal4 ,they have sacrificed modesty and purity1 and the child is a badge of disgrace1 rather than of honor4 ,isn't it just as much of a disgrace to him as to her8 ,yes1 dear1 ,i think it is1 and so do many of the best people2 but1 unfortunately1 there are many who do not think so1 and blame the woman or girl altogether4 ,and the man1 very likely1 does not blame himself4 ,he says1 ',well1 she ought not to have permitted it1' and so he gets out of the way and leaves her to bear the shame alone4 ,it is a cowardly thing to do1 for in all probability he was the one who made the first advances and1 had she been wise1 she would have shunned the man who tried to lead her into wrong1 into doing that which would forfeit her self-respect and the respect of the world4 ,even the man scorns the woman whom he leads into disgrace4 ,i suppose girls don't understand it1 do they8 ,now1 ,i did not understand1 until just now as you have told me about it1 and ,i believe lots of the girls are going into danger and don't know it4 ,i must tell you something4 ,yesterday as ,i was walking home from school with ,belle ,dane--you know her1 don't you8 ,isn't she pretty8 ,yes1 she is pretty1 and ,i should imagine pert also4 ,she has no mother4 ,well1 as we were walking along1 a young man passed us4 ,belle smiled and bowed1 and he bowed too4 ,i said1 ',who is that8' ,she said1 ',i don't know1 but isn't he handsome8 ,i shouldn't wonder if he'd turn back and walk with us6' ,and sure enough1 in a moment he was walking at her side1 saying1 ',what a lovely day8 ,do you walk here every day8' and she said1 ',yes1 as ,i go from school4 ,on ,saturdays ,i walk by the lake4' ',ah1' he said1 ',i am thinking of walking there to-morrow4 ,at what hour do you walk8' ',about #d o'clock1' she said4 ,then he looked at me4 ',does your friend walk there1 too8 ,i have a friend who'd be glad to come4' ,then ,i broke in--',no1 ,i never walk by the lake4' ,then he bowed and left1 and ,belle said1 ',o1 you little goose6 ,why did you say you didn't walk by the lake8 ,he'd have brought his friend and we'd have had such a good time4 ,ten to one he'll bring flowers or candy1 and we could take a boat ride4 ,you were foolish4' ,and ,i said1 ',i don't want to walk with young men1 especially if ,i don't know them4' ,and she laughed and said1 ',o1 you'll get over that when you're older and learn what fun it is4 ,my1 he's a gentleman6 ,see how nice he dressed and what pretty teeth he had and what nice words he used4' ,now1 ,i thought maybe ,i was silly1 but after what you have told me to-day1 ,i think she is going in dangerous places and maybe don't know it4 ,i am so glad you told me4 ,yes1 poor child6 ,it was just so that ,edith began4 ,she met a handsome young man4 ,she thought him a gentleman because he dressed fine4 ,she let him hold her hand1 then put his arm around her and kiss her1 and so1 little by little1 he led her on1 and she thought it was all so nice1--and now she is friendless and in great trouble4 ,mother1 it makes me think of a little girl ,i saw at the seaside last summer4 ,she was dancing on the edge of the waves4 ,they came up and washed over her little pink toes and she laughed with delight4 ,after a time the tide rose a little higher and the waves dashed over her feet and still she thought it fun2 and then came one big wave and threw her down and carried her out to sea1 and if there hadn't been some sailors right there with a boat she would have been drowned1--and all the time she thought it fun till the last wave came1 and then she was frightened awfully4 ,your illustration is a very good one1 my daughter1 and ,i fear that poor ,belle is dancing in the gentle foam of a wave that will grow in power till it carries her out to sea1 a lost girl4 ,mother1 ,i really don't see how a girl can let a man become so familiar with her4 ,i should think it would disgust her at once2 and yet ,edith seemed like a perfect lady4 ,no doubt you will understand this puzzling matter better after a few years than you do now1 but ,i can explain it to you partly4 ,it is a part of human nature that men and women are very attractive to each other1 and in a way that does not exist between men and men or women and women4 ,it may be called a sort of personal magnetism4 ,as they begin to develop into men and women1 they begin to feel this new attraction4 ,they want to please each other4 ,new feelings and emotions are felt4 ,if their hands touch1 they feel a sort of electric thrill1 even the glance of the eye may cause the same thrill4 ,they enjoy it1 and they do not know what it means4 ,they do not know that1 while it is pleasant1 it is also dangerous4 ,girls are more ignorant than young men1 because1 as a rule1 they have been taught less4 ,the young men know more1 but in all probability they have not learned from sources that are pure4 ,the young girl does not understand that her coquettish glances and tossings of the head and simperings are so many intuitive efforts to awaken that sort of magnetic thrill in the young man4 ,if she knew it1 she would see that it is more maidenly to hold in check all actions that would tend to make the young man desire to be familiar with her4 ,but1 mother1 if it is not right to be familiar1 why does ,god make us with those desires8 ,god has given us many desires that are right under certain conditions and wrong under others and ,he has given us reason with which to control our desires4 ,it is right to eat when the food is our own1 but wrong to eat if we have stolen the food4 ,it is right to enjoy the attraction of one to whom our heart and life is given1 but otherwise we are defrauding some one else4 ,you can understand that you would not want the man you are to marry to have had familiarities with many other girls1 neither would he like to think that other men had been permitted to be free with you4 ,if you were going to select a dress that was to last all your life long1 you would not choose goods that had been handled and were shop-worn4 ,even so with husband and wife4 ,each likes to feel sure that the freshest1 purest love of the heart and modesty of person has been kept unstained from the slightest unwarrantable familiarity4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,o ,mother1 ,i am so glad you are at home again4 ,i had a lovely talk with father last evening1 but it wasn't you4 ,he gave me lots to think about1 though4 ,he said that mothers need to have such a broad education2 that they should even be chemists1 mother1 think of that6 ,does that seem such a strange idea to you8 ,really they need to be much more than that4 ,they should be good teachers1 to instruct their children1 wise judges1 in order to know what justice is1 doctors of medicine so as to understand the first symptoms of illness and how to treat it1 and surgeons so as to know how to bind up wounds1 treat cuts and bruises and even how to reduce a dislocated finger if necessary4 ,they should be physiologists so as to understand the laws of bodily health1 and psychologists so as to know and obey the laws of the mental development of their children4 ,o1 mother6 ,how can one girl learn all those hard things8 ,mrs4 ,wayne smiled indulgently as she replied1 ,o1 she won't have to learn all of them at once4 ,taken one at a time1 through all the years preceding her marriage1 she will find she can learn something of each without taxing herself too severely4 ,for example1 you can learn now how to take care of your own health1 and that will help you to care for the health of your children when they come4 ,you have already studied ,first ,aid to the injured in your physiology class4 ,when you go to ,college you will study psychology as a part of your course of study4 ,what does that big word mean1 mother8 ,psychology means the science of mind4 ,i said that mothers need to be psychologists2 that is1 students of the science of mind1 so that they will understand the indications of the development of mind in their babies4 ,a child gets the largest part of its education before it is six years old4 ,o1 mamma1 do you really mean that8 ,i certainly do4 ,in the first place1 it has to learn1 one by one1 and by repeated experiments1 its body4 ,you do not realize now that you had to learn1 one by one1 and by repeated experiments1 every one of the muscular movements that you can now make without thinking of them4 ,you remember what hard work it was to learn the piano and that was only learning to use a very few muscles in a certain way4 ,as a baby you had to practice hours a day before you could learn to hold anything in your fingers4 ,your little hands flew about very wildly at first1 but by constant practice you gained skill at last4 ,why1 mamma1 ,i never thought that a baby was practicing when it was throwing its hands about4 ,but it is practicing1 and it keeps it up hour after hour1 day after day1 until it has learned to hold things1 to pull itself up1 to sit up1 to hold its head up1 to creep1 to walk1 to climb4 ,have you any idea what a wonderful feat has been accomplished when a baby has learned to walk8 ,physiologists tell us that walking is continually beginning to fall and perpetual recovery from falling4 ,it is a greater thing for the baby than those acrobatic feats which so amazed you the other day4 ,then the mental education begins also at birth4 ,the baby is building his brain by everything he sees and does1 and it is the mother's duty to see that this brain-building goes on in accordance with the law of his nature4 ,every baby is a new being with a nature of his own1 and what was good for his brother may not be good for him4 ,the training that will give one child self-confidence will make a little tyrant of another2 what would render one merely amenable to control might make a coward of another4 ,so you see1 my dear1 that a mother needs to have great knowledge of the laws of mind and great insight in the applying of those laws to the particular cases she has in hand4 ,it really seems1 mamma1 as if girls ought to study all those things before they marry4 ,indeed they ought1 but ,i fear they never will until they come to have a clearer idea of the value and importance of the mother's work4 ,when they realize that the great and lasting work of the world is done in the homes1 by the mothers1 with their little children1 then we shall have men demanding that girls shall be prepared for that important work by previous education4 ,there is another way1 too1 in which women are given great power over the destiny of the world1 and that is through heredity4 ,what does that word mean1 mother8 ,i have heard it very often1 but people speak as if it were something undesirable4 ,heredity means the passing on of traits or talents from parents to children4 ,now1 your eyes are like papa's4 ,they are a part of your heredity from him4 ,you have other features like him1 and you have many of his traits4 ,it has been easy to teach you to be orderly because you have inherited his love of order4 ,then1 too1 you have many of my characteristics4 ,my hair1 my love of music1 my quick temper4 ,helen looked at her mother somewhat in surprise4 ,do you mean1 mamma1 that ,i have a quick temper because you had one8 ,i certainly do2 and if ,i had known1 when ,i was of your age1 what ,i know now1 ,i might have given you a different disposition4 ,will my children have a temper because ,i have one8 ,there will be a greater probability of their having quick tempers because you have one4 ,how can ,i help it1 if ,i got my temper from you and just passed it on to them8 ,certainly ,i am not to blame4 ,many people excuse themselves for their faults in just that way2 but that is to give evil greater power than good1 and we don't believe in that1 you know4 ,each one has the power to make himself over1 and in the process he may change the direction of the inheritance of his children4 ,you mean that if ,i overcome my temper1 my children will not be so likely to have tempers8 ,yes1 by controlling yourself you will have given them greater power of self-control2 that is worth working for1 isn't it8 ,if1 when ,i was of your age1 ,i had begun to govern my temper1 ,i should have been helping you4 ,so it is in every field of effort4 ,if you are a good student and cultivate your mental powers to the best of your ability1 you will make it easier for your children to be good students4 ,now1 in your young girlhood1 you are working to help future generations4 ,but maybe ,i'll never have any children1 mamma2 what then8 ,none of us can see our future1 but if we are wise we will prepare for the probabilities4 ,at your age ,i could not be sure that ,i would ever be a mother1 and now ,i have several children to call forth every power that ,i possess through inheritance or by education4 ,you are not sorry that in many ways ,i was wise enough so to cultivate myself that you have inherited desirable qualities2 and you have cause to regret that ,i did not know now to do better for you4 ,you can learn through my failures1 and be kinder to your children than ,i have been to you4 ,i can assure you of one thing1--even if you never have children1 you will never regret having cultivated yourself in every talent and virtue1 but you may have great cause for sorrow if you fail to develop the best in yourself4 ,there is no grief in the world like that caused by wilful or wicked sons and daughters4 ,their waywardness brings not only sorrow but self-condemnation on the parents who must feel that in some way they have been to blame1 either in the inheritance they passed on or the training they gave4 ,and there is no happiness equal to the just pride felt in honorable children4 ,as ,solomon says3 ',children's children are the crown of old men1 and the glory of children are their fathers4' ,helen was silent a moment and then asked1 ,don't you think the law of heredity a very cruel law8 ,it doesn't seem fair that children should be punished for the sins of their parents4 ,god's laws are never cruel1 dear4 ,they are always made for our good1 and they will be for our good1 if we use them rightly4 ,harry ,severn fell yesterday from a scaffold and broke his leg because of the law of gravitation4 ,you might say that was a cruel law1 and that ,god was unkind to make such a law whereby we can be so seriously injured4 ,but think for one moment what that law means in the universe4 ,if it were not for this mysterious force which we call gravitation1 the whole creation would be in chaos4 ,nothing would stay in place1 buildings could not be made1 people would fly off the earth and go1 no one knows whither4 ,why1 all the suns1 moons1 and stars of the universe are held in place by gravitation4 ,if we are ever hurt through the action of that law it is because we were not happily related to it1 that is all4 ,the law is good1 and what we have to do is to learn to work with it4 ,it is just so with this law of heredity4 ,it is the law of transmission4 ,it works right along and transmits good or evil4 ,it is our part to relate ourselves to it so that it will transmit mostly good4 ,when we come to think of it1 we see that that is what it principally does4 ,health1 and honesty1 and virtue1 all good traits1 are so constantly transmitted that we do not think of their coming through heredity1 just as we do not think of all order and stability coming through gravity2 but when undesirable traits are inherited we complain of the law1 just as we complain when we are hurt through the law of gravitation4 ,but do you not see that it is the very fact that the law is sure1 that it invariably transmits evil1 is one guarantee of its surety in transmitting good8 ,indeed1 the ,bible tells us that good is transmitted in greater degree than evil4 ,the third commandment gives us the law of heredity3 ',for ,i1 the ,lord thy ,god1 am a jealous ,god1 visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments4' ,that does not mean thousands of individuals1 but1 as the revised version gives it1 'thousands of generations4' ,so you see what encouragement this law gives us4 ,the evil in us is to be transient1 the good everlasting4 ,instead of being weighed down by our undesirable inheritances1 we should be encouraged to overcome them and to cultivate our good ones4 ,mamma1 don't you think the fathers have something to do as well as the mothers1 in trying to give a better inheritance to the children8 ,i surely do1 and that is where ,i think a girl needs to be especially wise in the choice of a husband4 ,if a man has traits or habits that she would not want her children to have1 she should remember that1 through the law of heredity1 that trait is one they will be very likely to inherit4 ,girls quite often think it does not matter if a young man smokes1 or even if he drinks a little1 but when we study heredity we see what a threat such habits are to the health and welfare of his children4 ,i remember when ,john ,orland was a handsome young man1 he drank1 sometimes to excess4 ,kittie ,claiborne knew this1 and her friends opposed her marrying him1 but she thought she could reform him1 and you know the result4 ,her husband is a confirmed drunkard1 as is her youngest son4 ,the oldest drinks1 too1 though not to such excess1 and you know that ,kitty ,orland1 such a beautiful girl1 has more than once been found under the influence of liquor4 ,the second girl died of consumption1 and the second son is weak-minded4 ,but1 mamma1 do you mean that this is all because ,mr4 ,orland drinks8 ,the observation of scientific men as to the effects of alcohol through inheritance would lead us to think so4 ,i find this little item in the paper4 ,you may read it4 ,helen read-- ,european scientists have recently given much attention to the physical degradation among children which they believe to be the result of intemperance on the part of the parents4 ,a startling example was recently published in the ,london ,daily ,news3 ,some months ago a workman and his wife1 accompanied by a small boy of four1 waited on ,doctor ,garnier1 the physician who presides over the insanity ward at the ,paris ,depot1 or ,central ,police ,station4 ,the parents were in great distress1 and the story they had to tell was that on two occasions the lad1 their son1 who was with them1 had attempted to murder his baby brother4 ,on the last occasion the mother had just arrived in time to prevent him from cutting the baby's throat with a pair of scissors4 ,examined by ,doctor ,garnier1 the child declared it was quite true that he wished to murder his brother1 and that it was his firm intention to accomplish his purpose1 sooner or later4 ,taking the parents into an adjoining room1 ,doctor ,garnier said to the father1 ',are you a drinker8' ,the man protested indignantly4 ,he had never been drunk in his life4 ,his wife backed up his assertion4 ,her husband1 she said1 was the most sober of men4 ',hold out your hand at arm's length1' said the doctor4 ,the man obeyed4 ,after a few seconds the hand began that devil's dance to which alcohol fiddles the tune4 ',as ,i thought1' said the doctor4 ',my poor fellow1 you are an alcoholique4' ,he questioned the man1 who1 with tears in his eyes1 related that1 being a brewer's drayman1 it was his duty to deliver casks of beer to his master's customers1 carrying the casks up to various stages4 ,a glass of wine was occasionally offered him as a pouboire4 ,the total quantity so absorbed by him amounted to a liter1 or a liter and a half per day4 ,this had been going on steadily for several years4 ',with the result1' said the doctor1 'that you1 who have never been drunk1 have become so completely alcoholized that you have transmitted to that unfortunate baby in the next room a form of epilepsy which has developed into homicidal mania4' ,isn't it awful1 mamma8 ,i should not want to marry a man who drinks4 ,i sincerely hope you never will4 ,but there are other habits that are evil in their effects4 ,smoking1 for example4 ,o1 mamma1 smoking isn't inherited1 is it8 ,well1 ,i don't know but we might say that it is4 ,i knew a woman who was an inveterate smoker4 ,when her baby was born1 it cried night and day until one day the mother1 nearly distracted1 took the pipe from her mouth and put it between the baby's lips and it stopped crying at once1 and after that she took that method to still its cries4 ,you see1 it had been under the influence of tobacco all the time before it was born1 and when it no longer felt that influence it was uncomfortable until it had the tobacco again4 ,you know how hard it is for a man to give up smoking4 ,all poisons by long use make such an impression on the body that it suffers when the poisons are taken away4 ,tobacco paralyzes the nerves of sensation1 so that feeling is lessened4 ,that is why men like to use it4 ,they think they feel better1 when in reality they feel less1 or not at all2 and to have no feeling or power to feel is a dangerous condition4 ,pain1 or sensation1 is our great protection1 and to remove sensation by paralysis is to render ourselves open to danger4 ,this paralytic condition may become an inheritance4 ,many children have infantile paralysis because their fathers are users of tobacco4 ,i am glad my father doesn't use it1 exclaimed ,helen with emphasis4 ,indeed1 you may well be glad1 and you can see to it that your children have the same cause for rejoicing4 ,the girls of to-day have a wonderful influence on all time1 the present and the future4 ,i wish they knew how to use it wisely4 ,but girls think it is manly to smoke4 ,i've heard lots of them say so4 ,stella ,wilson says she wouldn't marry a man that didn't smoke2 and ,kate ,barrows said the other day that she thought girls had no right to interfere with the enjoyment of men by asking them to give up smoking4 ,she said she knew how nice it was1 for she had tried it2 and she said the most fashionable women smoke1 and she means to smoke when she has a home of her own4 ,all of which only proves that she is a poor1 ignorant girl who does not know her own value to herself1 or to the world4 ,she may yet have cause to weep over children made weak and nervous1 or who have died because of her ignorance4 ,isn't it sad that ignorance does not save us from punishment8 ,yes1 but it does not4 ,if you can't swim1 you may drown1 even while trying to save another4 ,god's laws cannot vary to save us from the penalty of ignorance4 ,i wonder now1 dear1 if you are not beginning to see the greatness of woman's work4 ,in her own vigor she creates health for the future of the nation4 ,so you see whether you wear your overshoes or not1 may be a question of importance to the race4 ,by her virtue1 courage1 patience1 purity1 she is storing up those qualities for the men and women of the future4 ,by her demanding of her future husband that he shall be without fear and without reproach1 as clean in life and thought as herself1 she is building up protections around the children of generations to come4 ,even the young girls of to-day are creating national conditions for the future1 are deciding the destiny of the nation1--yes1 of the race4 ,the great structures that men build will in time perish1 but character is eternal4 ,is it not even a greater thing to be a woman than to be a man8 ,i begin to think so1 and ,i think after this ,i'll try to feel that even ,i am of importance to the world1 instead of regretting that ,i am not a man4 ,,teaching ,,truth ,,series ,all these books have been written with the utmost care and thought by such widely known and trusted authorities as ,dr4 ,mary ,wood-,allen1 ,della ,thompson ,lutes1 ,dr4 ,emma ,f4 ,a4 ,drake1 and ,emma ,virginia ,fish4 ,prices are for books sent postpaid4 ,almost a ,woman #j4ej ,teaching ,truth 4#ej ,child ,confidence ,rewarded 4#be ,caring for the ,baby 4#ej ,preparation for ,parenthood 4#fe ,the ,boy and ,girl--,adolescence #a4jj ,child1 ,home and ,school #a4be ,parents' ,problems #a4aj ,ideal ,married ,life #a4ae ,,other ,,works ,bible ,stories for ,children #a4bj ,animal ,stories for ,children #a4ae ,four ,little ,fosters #a4ae ,mothers' ,manual 4#ij ,husband and ,wife 4#ij ,baby's ,record 4#ee ,just ,away 4#fj ,mothers' and ,teachers' ,club ,booklet 4#be ,the ,just ,away book is for mothers who have just lost a child--for such it is the most beautiful and helpful thing in the ,english language4 ,see elsewhere our list of #dd valuable leaflets4 ,address all orders to ,,american ,,motherhood1 #ahh ,main ,street ,cooperstown1 ,n4 ,y4 ,,ideal ,,married ,,life ,for one dollar and fifteen cents ,this book is one of the most valuable written by ,dr4 ,mary ,wood-,allen1 and consists of #dch closely printed pages4 ,price #a4ae postpaid4 ,a ,,baby',s ,,diary ,would make very interesting reading were he able to keep one4 ,by using our beautiful ,baby ,record any mother will find it easy and pleasant to record the development1 cute sayings and doings1 and important events in the little one's life4 ,,all ,,the ,,important ,,events ,in the baby's life are arranged for in the book and are illustrated by appropriate poems and half-tone pictures4 ,the book is five and one-half inches wide by eight inches long1 is bound in stiff leatherette1 either a beautiful white or a delicate blue1 with title in gold4 ,in addition to many pages of pictures and verses the book provides blank pages with printed headings for the following3 ,baby's name1 father's name1 mother's name1 place of birth1 date of first photograph1 ornamental frame inside first cover to hold photograph1 description of day on which baby was born1 weight at different ages1 gifts and names of givers1 first smile1 first tooth1 first outing1 baptism certificate1 first ,christmas1 first birthday1 change to short clothes1 date of creeping1 date of walking1 first words1 first day at school1 wise sayings and doings1 with six full blank pages in which to enter them4 ,out of the thousands of orders we have had for this book we have not had one dissatisfied customer4 ,price #ee cents ,postpaid ,american ,motherhood1 #ahh ,main ,st41 ,cooperstown1 ,n4 ,y4 ,valuable and ,inspiring ,reading for ,,mother ,,father ,,daughter ,,son ,,teacher--,your ,boys and ,girls ,need ,this ,information4 ,all the ,,leaflets have been revised and greatly improved4 ,the new leaflets are handsome in appearance1 printed on better and heavier paper1 uniform in size--#c-a_/d x #e-c_/d in4--and are especially adapted to go in an ordinary business envelope4 ,best of all the prices are lower than ever1 and include postage to home or foreign countries4 ,,how ,,to ,,order ,please order by number4 ,the #ajj price is never given on less than #ajj of one kind4 ,special prices quoted on quantities from #bj to #ge of one kind4 #ej leaflets assorted as you choose for #a4jj postpaid or #ajj for #a4ej4 #bj leaflets will be given as a reward for securing one more yearly subscription to ,american ,motherhood outside of your own home4 ,,just ,,away ,a ,story of ,hope ,by ,della ,thompson ,lutes ,this book is the story of a young woman and wife who suffered and lost4 ,from that time it portrays how she fought a noble fight and climbed to wonderful heights of happiness and helpfulness4 ,every mother who has lost a child will find in this book the greatest comfort to be had in printed language in the judgment of all who have read the book4 ,it is really and genuinely one of the finest books extant4 ,price #fj;c ,postpaid4 ,,leaflets ,no4 ,price ,title of ,leaflet each #ajj #a ,sacredness ,respon4 of ,motherhood #b;c 4#dj #b ,teaching ,obedience #b;c 4#dj #c ,proper ,diet ,children ,under #e years #b;c 4#dj #d ,purification of ,desire #b;c 4#dj #e ,pure ,life for ,two #b;c 4#dj #f ,helps for ,mothers of ,boys #c;c 4#fj #g ,a ,preventable ,disease #c;c 4#hj #h ,the ,chamber of ,peace #c;c 4#fj #i ,moral ,education ,through ,work #c;c 4#hj #aj ,a ,noble ,father #b;c 4#dj #aa ,parenthood and ,purity #c;c 4#fj #ab ,the ,bird with a ,broken ,pinion #c;c 4#fj #ac ,the ,angel's ,gift #b;c 4#dj #ad ,the ,cigarette and ,youth #d;c #a4jj #ae ,truth for ,lads #d;c #a4jj #af ,the ,ideal ,mother #b;c 4#dj #ag ,impurity in schools2 how deal with it #b;c 4#dj #ah ,what shall be taught who teach it #c;c 4#hj #ai ,training the ,appetite #c;c 4#fj #bj ,work as an element in char'ter bld'g #c;c 4#fj #ba ,the father as his son's counselor #b;c 4#dj #bb ,confi'l r'lat'ns tw'n mother dau'ter #b;c 4#dj #bc ,influ'ce of man'l train'g on character #b;c 4#dj #bd ,when does ,bodily ,education ,begin8 #b;c 4#dj #be ,johnnie and the ,microbes #b;c 4#dj #bf ,purity in the ,home #c;c 4#fj #bg ,the ,integrity of the ,sex ,nature #c;c 4#fj #bh ,the ,overthrow of ,coercion #b;c 4#dj #bi ,a ,friendly ,letter to ,boys #b;c 4#dj #cj ,conscientious ,compromises #b;c 4#dj #ca ,keep ,mother and ,me ,intimate #b;c 4#dj #cb ,adolescence #c;c 4#fj #cc ,to ,expectant ,fathers #c;c 4#fj #cd ,preparation for ,parenthood #e;c #a4cj #ce ,manual ,training in ,element4 ,schools #d;c #a4jj #cf ,the ,confessions of a ,mother #b;c 4#dj #cg ,the ,arm ,around the ,boy #c;c 4#fj #ch ,the ,punishment that ,educates #d;c #a4jj #ci ,the ,child of the ,poor #c;c 4#fj #dj ,sitting at ,childhood's ,feet to ,learn #c;c 4#fj #da ,the ,fussy ,mother #c;c 4#fj #db ,to ,fathers of ,sons #c;c 4#fj #dc ,the ,girl ,her ,relations ,with ,men #c;c 4#fj #dd ,truth for ,girls #d;c #a4jj #ej ,assorted for #a4jj #ajj ,assorted for #a4ej ,,booklets4 #cjj ,the ,cause of the ,child #h;c each #cja ,opening ,flower of ,manhood #g;c #cjb ,how to ,conduct ,mothers' ,clubs #h;c #cjc ,sex ,problems for ,young ,men #g;c #cjd ,mothers' and ,teachers' ,club ,booklet #be;c ,address ,,american ,,motherhood -- ,cooperstown1 ,new ,york4 ,,american ,,motherhood is a magazine for mothers1 edited by mothers4 ,it is a magazine with a purpose and that is to give mothers practical help in the solution of the problems they meet each day4 ,nor is the magazine lacking in interest to others besides mothers4 ,fathers find it worthy of their attention2 teachers find it full of helpful suggestions2 workers in ,mothers' ,clubs and similar organizations could hardly get along without it2 even the children look for it eagerly because of the things that can be read aloud to them4 ,young mothers with babies in their arms are not the only ones who need help and advice2 older mothers whose children are in the kindergarten1 the grade school or the high school1 feel their responsibility weighing on them with even greater force4 ,,special ,,features ,the problem of the boy is one of the greatest parents and teachers have to deal with1 therefore it receives especial attention in ,american ,motherhood4 ,it is surprising to learn how many fathers read this publication closely4 ,the adolescent period is to many the most trying and puzzling period in their children's lives4 ,in this magazine they find that which enables than to understand the boys and girls who are passing through this time of storm and stress2 so they are enabled to deal wisely with them1 guiding than safely into a strong1 noble maturity4 ,the heart of the magazine is the ,parents' ,problems department4 ,here is answered by the editor1 and by a woman physician of splendid training and long experience1 the questions submitted by the readers4 ,how to wean the baby2 what kind of clothes to dress him in2 what food the prospective mother should eat2 how to teach children to be truthful2 how to break a child of whining2 how to keep the active boy from wrong-doing2 how to overcome timidity2 how to secure obedience2 what to do with the boy who wants to smoke2 these and hundreds of other questions are answered with great care and thought4 ,some of the best known educators of the day are contributors to the magazine4 ,the articles are simple1 practical and to the point1 while the great aim of the magazine is to be helpful4 ,trial ,subscriptions for new ones only3 #ae ,months for #a4jj1 #d ,months for #be;c4 ,,just ,,away ,a ,story of ,hope ,by ,della ,thompson ,lutes ,this book is the story of a young woman and wife who suffered and lost4 ,from that time it portrays how she fought a noble fight and climbed to wonderful heights of happiness and helpfulness4 ,every mother who has lost a child will find in this book the greatest comfort to be had in printed language1 in the judgment of all who have read the book4 ,it is really and genuinely one of the finest books extant4 ,price1 #fj;c postpaid4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber ,notes ,punctuation problems have been resolved4 ,other typographical issues have been changed and are listed below4 ,author's archaic spelling and punctuation styles preserved4 ,table of ,contents added4 ,passages in italics indicated by underscores4 ,transcriber ,changes ,the following changes were made to the original text3 ,page #ba3 ,was jeaousy 7no jealousy1 no ,levite pride7 ,page #dg3 ,was fearfearfully 7for ,i am fearfully and wonderfully made47 ,page #fb3 ,was #a-ejj 7,they are about #a_/ejj of an inch long7 99 99 99 99 99