FOR GIRLS: 
A SPECIAL PHYSIOLOGY: 
BEING A 
SUPPLEMENT TO THE STUDY 
OF 
G-ENERAL PHYSIOLOG-Y 
Mrs. E. R. SHEPHERD. 
BY 
ILLUSTRA TED. 
TWELFTH EDITION. 
FOWLER & WELLS CO., PUBLISHERS, 
NEW YORK 
753 Broadway. 
SANITARY PUBLISHING CO., 
159 LaSalle St., Chicago. 
1886. COPYRIGHT, 1882, BY 
FOWLER & WELLE. 
Edward O. Jenkins, 
Printer and Stereotyped, 
S3 Kerth William Street, New York, CONTENTS. 
PAGB 
Preface, 3 
To Mothers and Teachers 5 
Chapter I.—Opening Address 13 
“ ll.—Opening Address—Concluded, . . 22 
“ lll.—Physiology of Woman, . . . .30 
“ IV.—Physiology of Woman—Concluded, . 48 
“ VA Fine Figure 67 
“ Vl.—How we should Dress, . . .77 
“ Vll.—Besides the Dress, . . . 101 
“ VIII.—Menstruation, 122 
“ IX.—Leucorrhcea, 140 
“ X.—Reproduction 146 
“ XL—Five Great Laws, 154 
“ XlL—Something about Motherhood, . .158 
“ Xlll,—Self-Abuse, 167 
" XlV—Constipation—Constitutional, . .178 
" XV.—As to Young Men, iBg 
“ XVl.—Love, Passion, Marriage: for Mar- 
riageable Young Ladies, . .198 
Addendum 211 
Appendix to Third Edition, . . . .215 PREFACE. 
The author of this book lays no claim to origi- 
nality of subject-matter. She has nothing new to say. 
She does, however, claim originality upon one ground, 
that of making selections from the writings and teach- 
ing of others, and from observation and experience; 
that of culling here and there knowledge, facts, mo- 
tives, ideas, and grouping them into practical form. 
Seeking to make the material for instruction as 
complete as possible, she has seized upon and ap- 
propriated anything which could contribute to the 
general design. She has only sought to adapt what 
others have said to the good of the class for whom 
she has written. 
She herewith submits her efforts to the common 
sense of her audience, and the common need of out 
common natures. TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 
It is only fair; it is, in fact, the natural and proper way 
to reach the daughter through the mother, or the teacher 
who stands in the place of the parent. The mother has 
a right—and if she feels a lively interest in the welfare 
of the daughter, will demand the right—to first, herself, 
examine that which persons outside the home-circle desire 
to press upon the attention of the daughter. It is in recog- 
nition of this right, and also in the hope of obtaining your 
co-operation, that this circular is addressed to you. 
There have been, inside of fifty years, many works on 
anatomy, physiology, and hygiene, prepared expressly for 
schools and colleges, and a rather extensive introduction 
of this study into our institutions of learning. There is 
one branch of this subject of a private nature which, on 
that account, can never occupy a place in recitations ad- 
mitting both sexes at the same time. A knowledge of 
special and private subjects pertaining to the health and 
being of a girl is of vital importance to her. This knowl- 
edge, more or less of it, must come to her, if she lives to 
womanhood. Hitherto the only available means for ob- 
taining it was by experience, accident, or stealth. These 
are three poor teachers; if the first, the child will, in nine 
cases out of ten, damage and perhaps sacrifice health be- 
fore she will learn; if the second, then the danger is in 
learning only a part, and of having much that is impure 8 
TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 
and untrue mixed with it; if the third, then the child’s in- 
nate purity and sense of honor will be injured and perhaps 
ruined. 
In medical works and in private lectures to women, 
mothers are urged to instruct their daughters in regard to 
these things, as though it were the easiest matter in the 
world, when it is one of the most difficult, frequently re- 
quiring more courage and skill than the mother possesses. 
Upon two subjects mothers most strangely shrink from 
conversing with their daughters. One is religion, and the 
)ther is certain functions which have to do with the estab- 
lishment of womanhood. The girls themselves are not go- 
ing to broach the subject—it is not their place ; although 
a natural, God-implanted curiosity, and not sinful deprav- 
ity, as many suppose, incites a desire to learn about them. 
I had supposed it was because mothers by not beginning 
-vith the first lispings of the little one to give proper an- 
swers to childish questionings, failed to secure and to retain 
its full confidence, until a mother spoke of having this same 
dread, and at the same time of there being perfect famili- 
arity between herself and daughter. An educated physi- 
cian, having a good practice and the mother of several 
daughters, said the hardest thing she ever attempted was 
to give her girls this necessary information. 
Mothers would like to put books treating of these topics 
in the hands of their girls ; there are plenty of medical 
works which present them well enough, but there are so 
many other themes introduced that they hesitate to give 
them the book at all. 
In some communities, especially in towns and villages, 
the children exhibit a remarkable precocity in this and 
kindred matters, so that it is hardly possible to find a girl 
eight years old who does not know something about men- TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 
9 
struation. Many a mother who supposes her daughter 
wrapped in the innocence of ignorance would be shocked to 
learn the amount of information which she possesses. In 
other communities this state of affairs is fully equalled by 
the almost criminal ignorance among the young people. 
Since I have been engaged in this work I have met num- 
bers of women, and some of them young, who knew noth- 
ing of their coming “ courses ” until they were upon them. 
One in particular I remember, who said : “ It has taken 
me a lifetime to forgive my mother for sending me away 
to boarding-school without telling me about it.” And well 
she might have so felt, for the course she pursued from 
fright originated an indurated uterine cancer, which was 
incurable, and which caused constant suffering protracted 
through her lifetime. She was forty years old when she 
told me the circumstance. Others described the shock 
which their nervous systems received, the effects lasting 
for weeks, because so frightened at the appearance of un- 
looked-for blood, not knowing what to do to save theii 
clothing from the stains which would surely betray them, 
fearing they would be subjected to blame, or suspected o) 
some improper conduct or other, they hardly knew what 
One thought that certainly a blood-vessel had burst, and 
became frantic with fear lest she should bleed to death. 
Others told of washing in cold water, or bathing in some 
stream, and being made severely sick in consequence at 
once, or else thrown into a lingering condition of ill health 
lasting for months, sometimes attended with periods of 
insanity. In these cases the sickness and suffering made 
known to the mother what the daughter had been trying 
to conceal, who after thus having her life jeopardized, 
learned what was the matter. Sometimes the narration 
was simply ludicrous, but it is very cruel as well as im- 10 
TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 
moral to allow girls to come to this period of their lives 
without information of what is before them. It is no less 
blaraable to allow them to get snatches of stolen informa- 
tion from companions who generally either lack moral 
principle or are ill-informed by reading purloined books, 
or in any other haphazard way. This clandestinely-obtained 
knowledge is almost invariably mixed with a great deal 
that is low, vulgar, and harmful, nor does it prepare them 
to take care of themselves during the flow : an intelligent 
understanding of which is fully as important as knowledge 
of the function itself. In this way, too, a false and conse- 
quently unnecessary shame is produced, which some mis- 
take for modesty, and which requires years to overcome 
and replace by a true modesty. 
Mothers, do you feel the need of help to tell your girls 
these things ? 
Again, mothers can overlook and control the habits and 
health of their daughters while children ; as, for instance, 
>n their clothing. Then the girl goes away to school, or 
otherwise mingles with young ladies. She begins to feel 
«he dignity of young ladyhood, and imagining her mother’s 
notions of dress are rather old-fogyish, her advice not to 
wear thin shoes and tight dresses passes almost unheeded. 
If that mother could have shown her girl her physiological 
structure, explaining how and why her health was endan- 
gered, obedience to this advice would follow' almost un- 
asked. One day, after a lesson upon the hygiene of the respi- 
ratory organs, the teacher and pupils engaged in a familiar 
talk upon the lesson of the hour. Said one : “ I never wore 
tight dresses ; mother won’t make them tight for us, nor 
get us corsets.” Said the teacher ; “ You have wanted cor- 
sets, have you? ” She hung her head, and blushing, said ; 
“There was a great deal of fussing in the family on this TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 
11 
account, and that an older sister, when she got big enough 
to do as she pleased, bought herself a pair of corsets with 
the first money she earned.” The mother doubtless had 
very good ideas on the subject, but did not know how to 
impart an intelligent understanding of them to her girls. 
It is one thing to possess knowledge, but quite another to 
communicate it. Before girls will learn to be careful of 
their physical natures they must be inspired with a sense 
of the duty and desirableness of good health. 
The subject of maternity is another hard one for moth- 
ers to manage. Many of the foremost thinkers of to-day 
consider it to be the mother’s duty to impart instruction 
to their daughters upon this topic also; but how to do it, 
and to get the courage to do it, are the questions. In too 
many cases the duty is procrastinated until the girls have 
obtained a crude knowledge from questionable sources, 
and the mother has almost lost a fine opportunity for ob- 
taining or increasing her child’s confidence and love. 
Perhaps I address some mother who still believes that 
it is best for girls to be kept in ignorance of all these subjects 
as long as possible, fearing that instruction will injure their 
morals; that somehow it will rub off the delicate, beauti- 
ful bloom of modesty and purity that should overspread 
their souls. Let me ask such a mother to look back to her 
own childhood and inquire whether proper teaching by a 
proper person would have hurt herself; whether it would 
not have been of lasting benefit. I think she will agree with 
me that it would have done her no harm. Surely, mother, 
your daughter is as trustworthy as yourself. Ignorance is 
not innocence, nor is it a safeguard of virtue. We teach a 
child beforehand that it is wrong to steal. We do not pre- 
sume that its ignorance of that sin will prevent it from com- 
mitting a theft. How are modesty and purity most endan- 12 
TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 
gered ? By correct teaching, or by the leadings of a pruri- 
ent curiosity, and the teachings acquired by stealth and 
immoral companions? In one of these ways a knowledge 
of these things must come to the majority, unless, indeed, 
it is taught by ruined health and suffering through igno- 
rance. 
“for girls” 
is a book designed as a supplement to the study of general 
physiology. As hinted in its title, it contains that informa- 
tion, and that only, which every girl should possess on sub- 
jects of private interest. 
Every girl between the ages of ten and twenty-one 
should read it. The anatomy, physiology, and hygiene of 
the female organism, puberty, menstruation, leucorrhosa, 
self-abuse, reproduction, motherhood, dress, exercise, and 
rest are among the topics of instruction. Each subject is 
of vital importance, and is treated in such a manner as not 
to violate the most delicate sense of propriety. The main 
facts and principles are adapted to the understanding of 
quite young girls, while a full comprehension of details can 
only be obtained by the older girls and young ladies,* 
Believing that mothers and teachers may without hesi- 
tancy place this book directly in the hands of their daugh- 
ters and young lady pupils, or if they prefer, give oral in- 
struction, using it as a guide : the author respectfully urges 
you to examine it. 
Hoping that it will meet your approval, and aid in sup- 
plying a long-lacked necessity, I subscribe myself 
The Girls’ Friend, 
E. R. S. 
* This book may be placed by trustees of female seminaries in 
the list of text-books required, that it may be read privately by the 
scholars, after having finished the study of general physiology, oj 
in connection with it. FOR GIRLS. 
CHAPTER I. 
OPENING ADDRESS. 
WELL, girls, here we find ourselves, in this living 
breathing, moving world. We did not ask to live, 
we did not beg to be born, neither shall we be con- 
sulted as to the time nor way we should like to die. 
To some of us life seems a joyous, happy thing, and 
we look forward to coming years with hope and 
pleasure. Some of us, at times weary of life, see 
nothing in the future but toil and hardship; and, in 
moments of despair, wish we could die. But no mat- 
ter how we feel about it, we must live on. 
We may put a stop to our breathing; we may jump 
into the water, or take poison, and so end our lives 
as far as this world is concerned, but we have no right 
thus knowingly to destroy another’s property, for we 
do not own our lives in the sense that we own many 
things, i. e., to do with them what we please. We 
own life as a little girl owns her shoes or shawl. Her 
father gave them to her to wear. If the child wishes 
to cut them to pieces, or to give them away, or to 14 
FOR GIRLS. 
use them for any other purpose than the one fof 
which her father designed her to use them, she must 
ask his permission. If she does not, she will soon find 
that her things are not hers. Avery small child learns 
to make this distinction, and so will often ask when 
articles are given about which it is in doubt, “ Is it 
all my own, to do what I please with ? ” It is so with 
living. In one sense our lives are our own, and in an- 
other sense our lives are not our own. They are our 
own to spend as we choose, to make them good or 
bad, happy or miserable, useful or worthless, healthy 
or diseased, as we choose. But the fact that we were 
not consulted as to whether we should like to live, 
nor how long, proves that another being—God, our 
heavenly Father—has a prior ownership, and this is 
why it is wrong to commit suicide. 
Life is a mystery to us. We are a mystery to our- 
selves. But as a sense of the obligation to live is in- 
nate with us, our first consideration commonly is, how 
in fulfilling this obligation may we compass the most 
comfort, pleasure, happiness in our lives? In what 
manner shall we control the most respect and love? 
We take our position in the world, and our surround- 
ings into account and calculate how we can make the 
most of them. To some the paths of learning seem 
to present the highest inducements; and literature, 
or teaching, or authorship is their chosen pursuit. 
Others are allured by artistic callings; music, the stage 
sculpture, or painting claim their ardent following. 
Then, again, some dream of a Utopia of their creat- 
ing, and strive with all their human might to lessen OPE VING ADDRESS. 
the sum of human woe. Some theorize, and some act 
Others, too many, alas! have no taste for learning, 
no love for aesthetic pursuits, no wish to help the 
world along to better times; no desire to mitigate 
the evils that deform society; they care alone for 
dress, display, gaiety, and the most foolish things of 
this world. Another class, with a listlessness difficult 
to account for in people born to stand upright, 
breathe pure air, and with reasoning brains, have no 
apparent aim; they are listless and idle, living in 
human forms the lives of jellyfish. But the most of 
people have no choice but to unite the two problems, 
how to live, and how to live most happily; and with 
this class the problem of food, clothes, and sheltei 
includes that of happiness. They have time for little 
else than the consideration of how to earn a living. 
Thus we see life presents various phases to young 
girls, modified by their surroundings and personal 
peculiarities. 
For the most part life is sweet, and it does not 
seem much of a hardship to be obliged to live. If 
dissatisfaction arises, it is not, generally, that life is 
felt to be a burden, but because of the surroundings 
of the individual. The gay, the light-hearted, the 
affectionate, the serious, the earnest, the proud, the 
ambitious, the intellectual, and the needy—all these 
are among my readers. These are looking forward to 
life, even to long life, and Hope, life’s “bright star,” 
points to continuance of all present good, or else the 
attainment of happiness which the present withholds. 
The girls of this country have a greater variety of 16 
FOR GIRLS. 
pursuits to choose from, and a wider scope for the 
exercise of their particular inclinations, than those of 
other lands. 
A great deal of pains, too, is taken with their edu- 
cation. Schools are supplied with whatever appli- 
ances are designed to aid in mental culture. Almost 
numberless books are written expressly for girls, hav- 
ing in view the best good of the class for whom they 
are prepared. 
Large sums of money are expended by doting 
parents upon their daughters, that they may be 
trained in whatever is prescribed by fthe highest 
standard of the present age, or by the society in 
which they move. Only convince the people that a 
certain course is best for woman, and the majority 
are willing to give it to her. 
And it is well, for the influence that women wield 
is tremendous. They are bound to exert an influ 
ence for good or evil upon society. The mothers of 
both civilized and uncivilized nations have to do with 
the little children in the most important period of 
their being. The ideas of right, truth, and justice 
which they instill, or fail to instill, into the youthful 
mind greatly determines their moral characters when 
grown to be men and women, who in their turn make 
nations what they are. It has often been said that 
an artful, unprincipled woman can excel the meanest 
man in wickedness; while, on the other hand, some 
one has estimated that two-thirds of the Christian 
work of the world is done by women. Woman can 
not do man’s work, but her work is quite as necessary OPENING ADDRESS. 
17 
and comprises fully one-half of human responsibility. 
I repeat, it is well, considering the influence that 
women must exercise for good or for evil that their 
facilities for education should be the very best. It is 
scarcely possible to over-cultivate love of truth and 
perception of right principles, or to take too much 
care that the faculties of intellect in which they pecul- 
iarly excel be directed into the highest channels. 
But it seems to me that in this very needful in- 
struction, so bountifully provided, a most necessary 
branch has been well-nigh overlooked, and that, too, 
one which is the very basis, the foundation of edu- 
cation. Too much attention has been paid to the 
superstructure. The foundation to which I refer is 
physical training. I put good health as the very first 
requisite for a life of usefulness and happiness; the 
corner-stone in the grand structure of the noblest 
womanhood. To strive for perfect health should be 
the first duty of a Christian. Some one may demur 
at this and put a Christian character at the helm, but 
I maintain that we can not have the best Christian char- 
acter without good health. Again, you may revert to 
some sick friend of yours who is so resigned to her 
lot, so sweet, so gentle, so lovely on her sick-bed. 
You envy her her heavenly frame of mind; would 
almost be willing to be sick yourself for the sake of 
making the same acquisition. Ah! but it is not the 
suffering which makes your friend so lovely. It is 
because she has learned to be patient with it. I 
think in every case of confirmed invalidism, where 
this happy resignation exists, could its developing FOR GIRLS. 
process be shown it would be found that previous 
to its attainment, the person had passed through a 
dark season of discontent, and perhaps fretfulness 
at the hard lot which only through strong effort was 
finally overcome. There is enough in the conflicting, 
stirring elements of the world to discipline the char- 
acter if sickness never comes. 
The notion is prevalent that sickness is sent as a 
special dispensation of Providence, but that is a very 
unphilosophical notion. Good health is the result of 
our obedience to God’s laws, and disease is the result 
of disobedience of God’s laws. The following story 
is to the point: 
“ An honest deacon, living in , frequently held 
a discussion with a physician belonging to the same 
religious society—the deacon declaring that all pains 
and disease were produced by the mysterious ways of 
Divine Providence, and the doctor as sturdily declar- 
ing that they were produced by mankind themselves, 
by violating the laws of health. One evening the 
deacon ate heartily of buckwheat cakes and sausages, 
and was seized during the night with a severe fit of 
colic. He sent for the doctor, who very promptly 
refused to go, sending him word that if God thought 
proper to afflict him, providentially, with the colic, it 
was his duty to grin and bear it and not complain ; at 
all events, he thought it was not his place to give 
medicine that would interfere with the operations of 
Providence ! In an hour or two the servant returned, 
declaring that his master could live only a short time 
if he did not obtain relief; and the physician, know- OPENING ADDRESS. 
ing that God’s laws were just and inexorable, and 
that He would not suspend them to relieve a thou- 
sand deacons, thought his brother had been punished 
enough for his folly, and concluded to try the effect 
of a little medicine. As he entered the room he saw, 
at a glance, the nature and cause of the difficulty, 
and giving him a small quantity of tartar emetic, he 
soon found relief. The worthy deacon learned from 
sad experience to recognize God’s laws for man’s 
physical as well as man’s moral government.” 
Do not let us make a pack-horse of Providence to 
carry blame that should rest on human shoulders. 
We know that the mind is greatly affected and 
controlled by bodily conditions. Business and pleas- 
ure, work and study, must be suspended entirely 
when we are prostrated upon beds of sickness. That 
is plain to all. But perhaps it is not so evident that 
every departure, however slight, from perfect obedi- 
ence to the laws of health has an effect upon the 
mind. Yet so it is. The intellect can not perceive 
so clearly, nor the disposition be so cheerful and 
patient, nor our work done so efficiently, when the 
physical system is even partially out of order. Many 
a blemish of temper that is charged to the natural 
depravity of the human heart should be laid to dis- 
ordered digestion, or a superabundance of carbonic 
acid gas. 
A musical instrument that has bent, or loosened, or 
rusty, or broken strings, can produce no harmonious 
melodics. And this human “harp of a thousand 
strings,” that might ever exult in clear, thrilling 20 
FOR GIRLS. 
harmonious, soul music will inevitably sigh and groan 
and squeak unendurable discords if its bodily frame 
is allowed to go unstrung. One single string out of 
tune will spoil a whole otherwise artistic performance. 
It is just as essential that each part of this exquisitely 
and sympathetically sensitive human organism be un 
derstood and kept in health, and for the same reason 
Christ, the greatest practical philosopher that ever 
lived, Himself recognized and worked in accordance 
with the principle that the mind is affected by the 
body. He knew that a soul lodged in a suffering and 
diseased frame could not flourish in spiritual vigor 
and beauty; therefore, He made the blind to see, the 
deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the sick to be well; 
He cleansed lepers, cast out devils, fed the hungry; 
then, and not till then, He took their sin-sick souls in 
hand and preached the Gospel to them. He first 
made the body a “ fit temple for the indwelling of 
the Holy Spirit ” before He gave that Spirit. A fine, 
well-developed soul needs a good, strong body by 
means of which to carry out its schemes. The 
better the health, if other things correspond, the 
better will be the Christian. 
Again, we are at birth endowed with a certain 
amount of vitality, sometimes called “constitution.” 
The amount of vitality with which each starts out in 
life, other things being equal, determines the number 
of years we shall live. When our vitality is destroyed, 
or used up, we die. But very few people live as long 
as their vitality promises, or as long as their Creator 
intended they should live, judged by the constitution OPENING stDDRESS. 
21 
which He gave them. There are many ways of de- 
stroying the vitality too soon. It may be done 
gradually or suddenly. The man who commits sui- 
cide is an example of one who destroys it with a 
single act suddenly. The man who drinks intoxicat- 
ing liquors, and dies of delirium tremens, illustrates 
how the vitality may be destroyed gradually by a 
long series of acts. Every time we violate a law of 
health we help break down the constitution. Each 
cold that settles on the lungs makes the lungs weaker 
than they were before, and less able to withstand ex- 
posure. The more we sit in a stooping posture the 
weaker the spine becomes and the more difficult it is 
for the shoulders to take an erect position. A foot 
or an ear once frozen is made tender and freezes more 
easily the second time. 
If we would live out the full length of our days a? 
indicated by our constitutions, we must obey the 
laws of health. We have seen that the suicide does 
wrong, because he destroys another’s property. If it 
is sin to take our own lives by a single and deliberate 
act, it becomes no less suicidal to cut them short by 
a series of violations of the laws and conditions upon 
which we have learned that life depends. If we un- 
derstand that we can not be well when the blood is 
impure, and that we can not have pure blood with- 
out breathing pure air, it becomes just as much a sin 
to breathe bad air, which is certain to cause premature 
death, as it does to breathe chloroform on purpose, to 
kill ourselves. We have no right to destroy prop 
erty belonging to another. CHAPTER 11. 
OPENING ADDRESS—(CONCLUDED). 
I WILL select but one more out of many other 
reasons which might be given to show that one of our 
first and highest duties is to learn and obey the laws 
of health. Whatever your efforts, girls, to get pleas- 
ure and happiness, as girls, out of your present sur- 
roundings; whatever your dreams as to what the 
future may have in store, which the present denies ; 
doubtless, as women, the ultimate destiny of the ma- 
jority of you will be marriage. Of course this state- 
ment will be met with a variety of expressions, from 
the sneer to the look of disgust. The fact will remain 
the same, however. Facts never change, but some- 
times the opinions of girls do. 
It is a fact that the majority of women are married, 
and for generations to come the same will be true. 
The wise girl will prepare herself as well as she can 
to be happy and to perform her duties well in the 
relations which marriage entails. Marriage is held up 
before the eyes of girls—tacitly—as a life object. 
The length and kind of their education, the nature 
of their accomplishments, their dress, their debut in OPENING ADDRESS. 
23 
society, all too often speak in unmistakable language 
that they are arranged with particular reference to 
catching a husband. Now this object held out as the 
one a young lady should seek to gain may be all right; 
for, should she not try to make hetself as worthy as 
possible of a good husband, seeing that her destiny is 
to be married? I would not find fault with this aim 
of a woman’s life, but I do find fault with the 
preparation she receives for actual service in that life. 
The range of thought which this book intends to 
follow forbids my enlarging upon any but the one 
point of health and physical training, in which it 
seems to me there is a lack of sufficient preparation 
for marriage. How true a picture is the following ; 
“ The great danger of our day is forcing the intellect 
of woman beyond what her physical organization will 
possibly bear. We put our daughters at school at six, 
and expect to have their education completed at eight- 
een The average girl would be mortified not to be 
through her schooling by the time she reaches that 
age. In these years the poor thing has her brain 
crowded with history, grammar, arithmetic, geogra- 
phy, natural history, chemistry, physiology, botany, 
astronomy, rhetoric, natural and moral philosophy, 
metaphysics, French, often German, Latin, perhaps 
Greek, reading, spelling, committing poetry, writing 
compositions, drawing, painting, etc., etc., ad in jin i 
turn. Then out of school hours, from three to six 
hours of severe toil at the piano. She must be on the 
strain all the school hours, study in the evening till 
her eyes ache, her brain whirls, her spine yields and 24 
FOR GIRLS. 
gives way, and she comes through the process of edu- 
cation enervated, feeble, without cou rage or vigor, elas- 
ticity or strength. Languid and nervous, easily dis- 
pirited, instead of feeling within herself the freshness 
and bouyancy of youth, what wonder if she draw back 
appalled from the new responsibilities at marriage.” 
Many efforts are being made to remedy these palpa- 
ble defects in prevailing systems of education. Books 
are written on health and physical training, and occa- 
sionally we hear of schools in which the care of the 
health and education of the body is made an object 
of especial attention. Dr. Dio Lewis gives the fol- 
lowing among the items of results obtained with him, 
where physical education constituted a part of the 
regular system : “Girls came to our school with the 
stipulation that they should not room above the third 
story, not being able to climb higher, who within 
five months walked ten miles in three hours without 
fatigue. We measured them about the chest under 
the arms on entering the school, and again on leaving, 
and found that a common increase in eight months 
was three inches. There was a still more remarkable 
enlargement of the arms and shoulders, while the 
change in their manner of walking never failed to im- 
press us all. Female weaknesses, which, in some form, 
nearly all of them brought to the school, were quickly 
relieved, and headaches, after the first month of the 
school year, were almost unknown among us. It is 
my deliberate conviction that ninety-nine in every 
hundred girls may be so developed physically in two 
years of school life that they can walk ten miles with- OPENING ADDRESS. 
25 
out fatigue, be free from aches and weaknesses, and 
be nobly fitted for the grave responsibilities of citi- 
zenship and motherhood.” 
It is in connection with marriage that I would re- 
peat and emphasize the importance of considering 
good health and a full physical development as the 
foundation or corner-stone in the foundation of happi- 
ness and usefulness. Nowhere is health more impor- 
tant. Young men are, as a rule, strong and vigorous. 
From early boyhood they are physically better train- 
ed than girls. They are far more out ol doors, breath- 
ing pure air, exercising and strengthening their mus- 
cles, thereby keeping their nervous systems in tone 
and duly balanced. Their mode of dress allows free 
use and full expansion of all parts of the body and 
they arrive at manhood healthy and fully developed. 
Consequently they are not adapted to mate with un- 
developed, dwarfed, nervous, ailing, delicate young 
ladies; wholly unable to understand and sympathize 
with their weaknesses or to have patience with their 
nervous fancies and requirements. The result that 
would naturally be expected from such unions, we 
too often see—disappointment and unhappiness on 
both sides. The husband is disappointed because 
where he expected a companion, a helpmeet, he finds 
only an invalid, unable to accompany or assist him as 
he would like. The wife is disappointed because 
where she expected quick sympathy, instinctive ap- 
preciation of her sensitive, delicate nature—having 
heard so much about the “ union of souls ”—she finds 
herself misunderstood and seemingly neglected. FOR GIRLS. 
Let me tell you, girls, men don’t marry sickly 
women more than once, not if they can help it. Nor 
at all if they are sensible. Sometimes delicate girls 
make healthy women after marriage, but no one is 
sure of such a happy result, and it is true that sfrong 
girls sometimes make invalid wives; but that is the 
exception, not the rule, and is generally a needless 
change that a little hygienic knowledge might pre~ 
vent. It requires a great deal of love—a great deal— 
to enable one to go through years of watching and 
caring for a sick one and find in it real pleasure. 
There are many such cases. There are many more 
where it is done out of a sense of duty, and the task 
performed with patience simply, a forced patience. 
There are others where it is done with impatient un- 
willingness, felt if not spoken. 
There was once a young lady in delicate health, also 
a cripple. She received the attentions of a gentle- 
man who was devotedly attached to her. He asked 
her to marry him. She told him freely the state of 
her health, keeping nothing from him, and said : 
“ Shall you be satisfied to take me as lam ? Do 
you still want me to marry you ? I’m afraid in a 
little while you will tire of me when you see how 
poorly I am, and of how little assistance I can be to 
you. I’m afraid I shall be a burden instead of a 
help.” “ Oh, no, no,” he earnestly, and as far as he 
then knew himself, sincerely answered, “ I couldn’t 
live without you at all,” and promised constant and 
unending love and care and watchfulness. They 
were engaged, and finally married. She left her OPENING ADDRESS. 
27 
father’s house, where she might have remained sur- 
rounded with every care and luxury. She loved 
her husband and banished the fears that made her 
hesitate at first, putting all her faith and trust in the 
one who had promised so much. The years rolled on. 
Gradually she began to see that his devotion was 
changing, and all her fears revived. More and still 
more plainly, without realizing it himself, he showed 
that he was getting tired of a sickly, crippled wife. 
He remained longer and more frequently away from 
home, and instead of being satisfied with her society, 
sought other company. One link of love after another 
snapped asunder, till, as one expressed it, “ He would 
keep her awake night after night, and scold and find 
fault with her because she was sick.” A life thus 
tender and sensitive, that might have been long a 
blessing to him had he continued the same love and 
gentleness he had once bestowed, could not long sur- 
vive such harsh treatment. When she was on he* 
dying bed she looked at him and said, “ Will, yon 
won’t scold me any more. I shall soon be gone.’ 
He burst into tears, and seemed at last to realize hr* 
cruelty, and to remember his broken promises. 
A man of principle would have done differently per 
haps, yet even he would have been happier, and his 
love more likely to hold out, with a healthy than a 
feeble wife. The most disinterested love will tire of 
constant trial in a sick-room. Human nature is weak, 
and though men promise fairly, and in pet feet sin- 
cerity, don’t you believe them, girls. Remembei 
that they don’t know what they can do, for they have 28 
FOR GIRLS. 
never been tried. I once heard a physician say, “ It’s 
no use talking. A wife that is not physically a 
woman can not make a man happy.” Another esti- 
mated “ that not one girl in fifty of marriageable age 
is of marriageable health.” Another said, “ that the 
sickness of wives in directions peculiar to their sex 
was one great source of unhappiness in married life 
—was often the cause, directly or indirectly, of many 
divorces.” 
Now, girls, if you marry you want to be well. Not 
that you should necessarily use your strength in 
manual labor, but in order that you may be happy. 
The main source of the happiness of a woman who 
loves her husband, consists in the assurance that she 
is making him happy. Her constant wish is to please 
him, that she may retain his love. She needs to be 
well in order to do this. There are many noble men 
who bear patiently with feeble wives, but all men 
are not so ; and these men would be just as noble 
and far happier with healthy wives. If you marry a 
truly noble man you want to be well. 
If you marry a man who fails to be all you expect 
of him, if you do not receive that sympathy and con- 
sideration which your love craves, then you certainly 
want to be well, that you may not be utterly crushed, 
and can turn your attention into other channels, where 
you may do much good, find solace, and perhaps a 
great deal of happiness.. 
And above all, if you never marry at all—and young 
girls are noted for their declarations to this effect—you 
need most emphatically to be well. You don’t want 
to be laid by, a useless, pining, puny, ailing old maid, OPENING ADDRESS. 
29 
to be waited on by those who could be better em- 
ployed. You may have a very beautiful mind, but it 
will not be worth one-half as much to you as it might, 
unless with it you have beautiful health. “A sound 
mind in a sound body” is the sound logic. 
It is a fact that between the ages of thirteen and 
eighteen the foundation is laid for most of the suffer- 
ings of maturity. Not one woman in one hundred 
is in the enjoyment of the same perfect health she 
had before she was ten years old. This ought not so 
to be. It is in the teens that, if ever, this foundation 
of physical culture must be laid, upon which is to be 
reared the superstructure of intellectual vigor and 
spiritual beauty; of happiness and usefulness. 
And there is yet another motive higher and nobler 
than those which I have mentioned. These are selfish 
motives, because they refer mainly to the seeking of 
health, simply for your own sakes, and your own 
comfort and happiness in the world. You are to 
exert an influence over others. Girls, the redemption 
of the race from ignorance and sin lies chiefly in your 
hands! A better physical education, more than any- 
thing else, is, at present, needed to forward that work. 
To explain fully how the accomplishment of this 
work depends upon physical development would re- 
quire several volumes as large as this. 
Therefore, only one branch can be attempted here. 
It is on this subject I feel that I have something to 
say to you while you are girls; to all girls whatever 
their station now, or whatever it is to be in woman- 
hood. I believe it will do you good, and assist in our 
mission to the race. CHAPTER 111. 
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
As life and death come to us unsought, so we were 
not consulted in regard to the material and arrange- 
ment of the complicated machine which we call our- 
selves, We are not responsible as to the form of our 
physical being. Our bodies as well as our souls were 
fashioned to the liking of the Creator. We were 
made in the “ image of God,” “ a little lower than the 
angels,” “ wonderfully and fearfully made.” When 
we study the structure and functions of our physical 
natures, we are studying one of the works of God just 
as much as when we are engaged in analyzing a flower, 
or in penetrating the depth of the starry heavens. 
In studying ourselves we discover what we find in 
no other production of the Divine Mind. We find 
not merely life and instinct united to inanimate matter 
—we see that in lower animals and plants—but in 
addition to that we find united the imperishable soul. 
To the gross, visible, senseless, and decaying body is 
allied the invisible, spiritual, ethereal, undying mind. 
In man alone is found a highly developed sense of 
right and wrong, reason, invention, love, and will 
which manifest their existence by means of flesh THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
31 
blood, bones, and nerves. It is this union of soul and 
body which constitutes man the most wonderful of 
all the creations of God—the crowning work of the 
universe. 
I confidently expect that every girl who reads this 
book will do so with earnest, serious thoughts and 
proper motives, remembering that she is studying the 
most wonderful creation of her heavenly Father, for 
the sake of learning how to be well, that she may 
make the most of herself in her opportunities for use- 
fulness and happiness. I expect her modesty, thus 
enlightened, will become a true, not a spurious article, 
and her virtue will be purified and strengthened. 
We will now begin the study of the subject 
OF THIS CHAPTER. 
I shall proceed on the supposition that my reader 
has studied the rudiments at least of anatomy and 
physiology. At the age of ten or twelve a girl ought 
to have acquired a general knowledge of this subject. 
Should my reader know nothing about it, I urge her 
to procure a book and read it carefully cither before 
going on with this or in connection with it. 
Important as every one who has given the subject 
of general physiology any attention admits it to be, 
I have long felt that a knowledge of private physi- 
ology was quite as important. To be complete, the 
latter should follow the former as a supplement. For 
want of some arrangement by which a girl may 
acquire a special knowledge of what she ought to 
know about herself she fails to obtain the full benefit 
of what she has learned. 32 
FOR GIRLS. 
For instance, girls have heard over and over again, 
for years and years, warnings against corsets and tight 
lacing, yet they will go right on disregarding the cau- 
tion day after day, year after year. I have been aston- 
ished, inexpressibly astonished, to find girls, directly 
from the best seminaries of learning, who I knew had 
been thoroughly taught in anatomy, physiology, and 
hygiene, from text-books prepared for general use, 
still persist in practicing this most pernicious habit of 
tight lacing, and then, astonishment upon astonish- 
Fig. I. 
Fig. 11. 
ment! declare that their dresses were not a particle 
too tight. These are the words which some of them 
have recited to their teachers : 
“ In children and also in adults the ribs are very 
flexible, and a small amount of pressure will increase 
their curvature, particularly at the lower part of the 
chest, and thus lessen the size of this cavity. The 
lower ribs are united to the breast bone by long, yield- 
ing cartilages, and compression may not only con- 
tract the chest, but an unseemly and painful ridge 
may be produced by the bending of the cartilages on 
one or both sides of the breast bone. Again the card- THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
33 
lages on one side may be bent outward, while those 
on the opposite side are bent inward, thus forming a 
depression parallel with the sternum. In some in- 
stances the anterior extremity of the lower ribs on 
each side are brought nearly or quite together. In 
these instances the movable extremities of the ribs 
are drawn down toward the haunch bones, while the 
space between the ribs is lessened.” 
Why, the examination of these figures ought alone 
to frighten any girl out of corsets. Further on -they 
recite: “So numerous are the bronchial or air-cells 
that the aggregate extent of their lining membrane in 
man has been computed to exceed a surface of 20,000 
square inches, and Munro states that it is thirty times 
the surface of the human body. The chest is not only 
most expanded at its lower part, but the portion of 
the lungs that occupies this space of the thoracic cav- 
ity contains the greater part of the air-cells, and from 
the lower two-thirds of the lungs the greatest amount 
of carbonic acid is abstracted from the blood, and the 
greatest amount of oxygen gas is conveyed into the 
circulating fluid. Hence, contracting the lower ribs 
is far more injurious to the health than diminishing 
the size of the upper part of the chest. If the lungs 
were diminished in size, the amount of carbonic acid 
would not and could not be eliminated from the sys- 
tem. Under such circumstances the blood would not 
be purified. When the lungs are properly filled with 
air the chest is enlarged in every direction. If any 
article of apparel is worn so tight as to prevent the 
full expansion of the chest ar,d abdomen, the lungs in 34 
FOR GIRLS. 
consequence do not receive air sufficient to purify the 
blood. The effect of firm, unyielding clothing when 
worn tight is to prevent a due supply of air to the 
lungs. The impure blood will be returned to the left 
side of the heart, and the whole system will suffer. 
When the air-cells have become partially impervious 
to air from pressure upon the lungs, these organs be- 
come consolidated and still more unable to allow a 
sufficiency of air even thou-gh pure, and scrofula 01 
consumption follows.” So much for the effect of lac- 
ing upon the ribs and lungs. 
With regard to its effect upon the digestive organs 
they recite this : “ Restricting the movements of the 
ribs and diaphragm impairs digestion. It is noted of 
individuals who restrain the free movements of the 
abdominal muscles by tight dresses, that the tone 
and vigor of the digestive organs are diminished. 
The restricted waist will not admit of a full and deep 
inspiration. Pure air is necessary to give a keen ap- 
petite and vigorous digestion.” Again: “The chest 
can be deformed by making the linings of the waists 
of the dresses tight, as well as by corsets.” One of 
my professors used to illustrate by taking hold of his 
vest, how some girls would do, to prove that their 
clothes were loose enough. By drawing in the breath 
the tightest dress will still allow the insertion of two 
fingers, and some girls seem to think if they can do 
that with a dress, it must be very loose, while the true 
test is to see if you can, while in a sitting position, 
inflate your lungs without straining your dress. “ Any 
woman dresses tight whose dress parts far enough to THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WO MAH. 
35 
show its hooks and eyes; and how few dresses but 
do this.” 
Just here I stop to count up the number of writers 
upon health and authors of text-books that I have 
read since Cutter’s (1850), from which I have copied 
all but the last of the preceding extracts. I count 
over twenty who have treated upon exactly the same 
principles in various ways, and I presume that I have 
not read half the number. And still, though tight 
lacing is not as prevalent as formerly, the clothing, as 
a general thing, is worn altogether too tight even by 
hundreds who suppose themselves free from this error 
in dress. I have often wondered what could be the 
reason that girls who have been so well instructed 
will persist in practices directly at variance with it. 
Perhaps, although they know that tight lacing pro- 
duces consumption and causes dyspepsia, they also 
know that nature has wonderful recuperative power, 
and they infer that when incipient consumption de- 
clares itself, and their stomachs begin to distress 
them, that they can then reform their manner of 
dressing—having learned from their books that the 
ribs and chest will resume their proper shape if the 
pressure is removed. And so it will; but why do 
girls tax nature like that ? Every sickness, every 
overstrained part, every departure from nature’s laws, 
helps to weaken and break down the constitution, 
and it is wdeked to knowingly break those laws— 
God’s laws—on that account. 
Do girls persist in dressing as they do to please the 
boys and young men ? They have often been ac- FOR GIRLS. 
cused of doing so, and the girls always deny it; do 
daring they dress solely to please themselves. With- 
out entering upon the pros and cons of the case, I 
will state it as my belief that this is the reason—yes, 
the real reason after all. But lam glad to see this. 
It seems to me a very beautiful thing that young la- 
dies and gentlemen like to make themselves attractive 
to one another; .and the more careful they are to 
make this attractiveness genuine and not merely a 
surface show, the more beautiful it is. I would not 
say one word to lessen the strength of this motive, 
but all I could to increase it. 
Girls, a small waist, artificially obtained, is a sham. 
But boys do not seem to know that any more than 
you do. Somehow they have got the idea that it in- 
dicates refinement and good taste in dress, or that it 
belongs to a good form, which is one essential of a 
good-looking woman ; and, as you want their favor- 
able opinion, you seek to please in a point so easily 
obtained—a small waist. This, then, I take to be the 
reason all correct teaching, all pleadings for health 
and comfort, all motives of right and wrong, in the 
matter are so universally set aside. 
The attraction of the sexes is well-nigh the strong- 
est motive power in the world. I can think of but 
one stronger, and that is love of right. Occasionally 
love of sex and love of right conflict, when the latter 
should prevail. Generally they harmonize, and it is 
right to like the society and good opinion of the 
other sex, and to seek to please them in personal ap- 
pearance. But just here comes the important point. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
37 
Boys ought to be so taught that they will be pleased 
only with that which is naturally, not artificially beau- 
tiful ; with the solid, pure, and good. By books and 
in many other ways they are learning fast to distin- 
guish between a natural waist, and an unnatural, de- 
formed one. As soon as they become convinced 
that a natural form and sound health and vigorous 
strength can belong to a real lady, and that she can 
not possess an exquisite mental susceptibility with- 
out, they will show a decided preference for the so- 
ciety of such. You can help them to form a correct 
taste by showing that you can have gentility of man- 
ners, a fine bearing and address, and a true ladyhood 
united to glorious physical culture. 
These are still more of my reasons for believing 
that girls ought to receive instruction in special phys- 
iology and hygiene; that they should know all the 
whys and wherefores of the evils of improper modes 
of dress; that they be taught the whole method of 
becoming genuinely beautiful in person, and all about 
themselves as girls. 
Therefore, girls, I propose to give you the re- 
mainder of the reasons, and they are vital ones, for 
allowing yourselves to grow as nature intended. 
Will you give your serious attention to the following 
description of the peculiar 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN? 
Tne controlling organ in the female structure is the 
womb. The word woman is only a contraction of the 
two words womb-man; the first part of the word 38 
FOR GIRLS. 
describing what kind of man is meant—the man that 
carries the womb. The scientific name of this organ 
is the uterus. This is the nucleus of womanhood, the 
most important and sacred of all her organs. 
Fig. 111. represents the uterus and its appendages. 
1, 2, 3, is the uterus. The upper part, 1, is called 
the body; the lower part, 2, is called the neck. 
In the neck is a small opening, 3, called the os 
uteri, or mouth of the womb. The uterus is about 
Fig. in. 
one inch thick, two and a half or three inches long, 
one and a half or two inches broad in the widest part, 
and less than an inch in the narrowest. It is not 
round, but somewhat flattened back and front. The 
whole is in shape like a balloon or an inverted pear, 
and in size rather larger than the nose. The neck, 2, 
enters the top of a narrow passage, 4, called the va- 
gina. This is from four to six inches long, and is 
lined with folds of mucous membrane. It has an ex- 
ternal opening or mouth called the vulva (see 11, 
Fig. IV.) THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
Fig. IV. represents the side view of the uterus. 4 is 
the bladder into which the urine is secreted from the 
kidneys, 6 is the outlet of the bladder or meatus uri- 
narius. The vulva and meatus urinarius are covered 
externally by two broad, thick, fleshy substances, 
called the labia or lips (see 9, 7. which shows the labia 
Fig. iv. 
of one side only). The organs which have been thus 
described are sometimes termed the sexual organs 
Bometimes the “privates.” 
19 is the rectum or lower end of the intestines, 
which discharges residuum or waste solids; 20 is the 
outlet of the rectum called the anus. 
The reader will see that the uterus, o, and vagina, 
12, are placed between the bladder and rectum—the 40 
FOR GIRLS. 
body of the uterus lying nearly on the top of the 
bladder. In some persons it lies naturally lower 
down than in others. 
The uterus is kept in its place partially by the com- 
pactness and tension of the muscles of the vagina and 
those that surround it, partially by its own buoyancy, 
and partially by eight ligaments. Four of these liga- 
ments are represented among the appendages in Fig. 
111. 5, 5, are two round ligaments, the lower ends 
of which are attached to the pubic bone, shown at 3, 
Fig. IV. 6, Fig. 111., is a broad ligament. There 
are two of these, one on each side, only one of which 
is shown in the engraving. They extend nearly the 
whole length of the womb and grow fast to the sides 
of the pelvis. The remaining four ligaments can not 
be shown in the plates,- but consist of two connect- 
ing the womb with the bladder in front, and two 
others which connect it with the rectum behind. It 
is imperative to the health of the possessor that this 
little organ should constantly maintain its normal 
position ; and, while the strength and buoyancy in- 
herent in it and the vagina enable it to be partially 
self-supporting, it is the chief office of the ligaments 
to aid in securing that important result, hence we 
find that 
THESE EIGHT LIGAMENTS ARE VERY STRONG, 
as of course they must be, in order to assist in sustain- 
ing the womb in its place against the pressure of the 
organs above and surrounding it. Let us consider a 
moment what that pressure would be. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
41 
First, the pressure from weight.—l do not know the 
actual weight of that part of the body lying above 
the womb, but suppose it must be about one-third 
the weight of the whole body. The liver—the larg- 
est organ in the system—weighs about four pounds. 
The brain is very heavy, weighing about three 
pounds. The lungs about the same as the brain. 
The heart, stomach, and kidneys together about one 
pound. The bony framework surrounded with mus- 
cles and fat, the blood and intestines which form the 
main bulk, make up the remainder of the weight; 
and it is near enough to our purpose to suppose it 
to be almost one-third. Therefore, a person whose 
weight is one hundred pounds, will have over thirty 
pounds of sheer weight lying over the uterus, resting, 
it is true, largely upon the pelvic bones while the 
body remains erect; but in the various positions we 
assume daily of bending, crouching, and so on, this 
support is nearly removed, and there must be great 
strength in the ligaments to help sustain the womb 
under all this weight. 
Second, the pressure from motion.—Within this up- 
per half of the body an immense amount of is 
constantly being performed. So, not only is there 
the weight of each organ to be taken into account, 
but also the constant jar or motion which gives addi- 
tional pressure. , Greater strength is needed to stand 
up under a weight that is continually in motion than 
a weight that is at rest. It is upon this principle that 
trains of cars are made to slacken their speed and run 
slowly over bridges. Let us stop a moment to con- 42 
FOR GIRLS 
sider what the pressure from this motion would be 
The heart sends throughout the system nearly two 
hundred ounces of blood every minute, or some seven 
hundred pints per hour, and over eight tons every 
twenty-four hours. Think what tremendous power 
is required to withdraw from the pulmonary veins, 
and then send round the system—thus handling these 
eight tons four times over, equal to imparting motion 
to above thirty tons diurnally—these eight tons of 
blood! 
A vast amount of power must be expended by the 
diaphragm also. Every time the lungs are filled with 
air, the diaphragm contracts and forces the liver, 
stomach, pancreas, intestines, etc., downward toward 
the uterus: and every time the air is expelled from 
the lungs, the diaphragm relaxes and forces the ribs 
and lungs upward and outward—the liver, stomach, 
etc., springing back to position, only to be pushed 
down again at the next inspiration. And this alter- 
nate contraction and relaxation forcing organs down 
and up occurs about eighteen times a minute through 
life. The stomach, liver, intestines, lacteals, etc., are 
almost constantly engaged also in the work of diges- 
tion, secretion, and assimilation, and, of course, all the 
time in action. 
The womb is amply provided with power to main- 
tain its proper position in spite of the immense strain 
and weight that would otherwise crush it. Besides 
being very strong, THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
43 
THE LIGAMENTS ARE VERY ELASTIC. 
Let us look a moment at the necessity for this qual- 
ity. How often do we sit in a stooping posture with 
the head, shoulders, stomach, and abdomen thrown 
forward and down, of course crowding all down upon 
the womb. The ligaments must accommodate them- 
selves to the weight and lessened space, and so draw 
together and bend, which they do, and at the same 
time be all ready to spring out again at a moment’s 
warning when the body straightens into position. 
Then, in reaching, running, stepping up and down, 
bending over, climbing, jumping, and so forth, in the 
quick and varied movements of a day—how wonder- 
fully elastic must these ligaments be to allow the 
uterus to accommodate itself easily to all unusual 
and rapid change of position without damage from 
concussion and friction. 
Nature has bountifully provided for the safety of 
this little organ. It is placed in the center of the 
pelvis, away from all hard and unyielding bones, sur- 
rounded with soft parts, supplied with an abundance 
of nerves and arteries which give it its buoyancy, and 
furnished with strong and elastic ligaments for its 
support. 
The Creator, in making these ligaments and the 
muscles of the vagina and surrounding parts—for 
these likewise are strong and elastic, able to support 
a great deal of weight and pressure—evidently did not 
provide for the squeezing and weight and whalebones 
that fashion’s tyrannical hand would add. No doubt 44 
FOR GIRLS. 
He might have made the ligaments far more strong 
and elastic even than they are—so much so, that if the 
waist was squeezed tighter and tighter daily, and the 
intestines were crowded down with whalebones and 
steels, and pounds and pounds of cotton and dry- 
goods, and kept crowded down for years upon the 
womb, making the ligaments and vagina shrink into 
a space less than one-third their natural length, or 
else stretched into an unnatural position, so that when 
the pressure was removed, all would suddenly resume 
their natural position and health. No doubt He 
could have done this—but, for some reason or other, 
He did not; and, although the human system has 
almost unlimited recuperative power, and will recover 
from the strain and suffering induced by exposure to 
varying circumstances —as extremes of heat and 
cold, damp and dry; fasting and feasting, cutting and 
jamming—there is a limit beyond which its powers 
will never rally. 
There are, too, many changes to which the system 
can become accustomed if the alteration be brought 
about gradually—as, from being fatigued with one 
hour of hard labor to ten hours of hard labor with no 
more fatigue; from sleeping on feathers in the house 
without taking cold, to sleeping on the ground out of 
doors without taking cold. 
But there are some things to which the system will 
never habituate itself, no matter how gradually and 
carefully we undertake to bring about a change—and 
forcing these organs of the pelvis, about which we are 
studying, to sustain the weight of tight clothing, is THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
45 
one of them. The ligaments never can “get used ”to 
it; and, the consequence is, they will gradually give 
way. They will struggle nobly to bear up under the 
new pressure; but, like spent india-rubber, like the 
elastic cord on a hat, they will lose their elasticity, 
and become weakened and stretched to spring back 
no more, unable to return the uterus to position or 
hold it in its place. This condition is called 
Fig. v. 
PROLAPSUS UTERI, OR FALLING OF THE WOMB 
Figs. V. and VI. represent two, out of many, dif- 
ferent positions which the misplaced womb will take. 
Sometimes in the early stages of the complaint ita 46 
FOR GIRLS. 
body will be thrown backward, and the neck forward, 
as seen in Fig. V. Sometimes, vice versa, as seen in 
Fig. VI., slipping down a little way into the vagina, 
Fig. VI. 
Sometimes, without moving out of place, it will 
double upon itself forward or backward, as the case 
may be. Sometimes only one ligament will fail to do 
its part, sometimes two, and so on. Only in ad- 
vanced stages of the malady do they all together 
give way. In the latter case the womb will fall clear 
down and out of the vagina, partially appearing out* 
side of the body, dragging the appendages downward 
with it, and stretching the ligaments most fearfully THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
47 
Physicians have corresponding names for the different 
positions. 
From a simple examination of the plates, one 
would suppose that so small a part of the body, 
weighing a little more than two ounces (only as 
much or a little more than four common letters), 
merely turned to one side, or slipped down a little 
or tipped over, would make no difference in the gen- 
eral health. But that it does actually cause suffering, 
and often severe suffering, many a woman can testify 
from experience; all physicians know, and every 
girl ought to be taught, as well as the reason for it, 
that she may be prevented from having to learn 
through suffering. CHAPTER IV. 
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN—(CONCLUDED). 
The uterus, as I have already affirmed, and as might 
be inferred from the care with which nature has pro- 
vided for its safety, though small, is an exceedingly 
important organ. It exercises, as it were, a control- 
ling influence over the whole being, body and mind. 
It is very sensitive also, being in its turn easily in- 
fluenced by bodily and mental conditions, A girl 
having disease of this organ is seldom free from dis- 
tress in other directions, or happy and cheerful in mind. 
Or if she is afflicted with severe grief or trouble, or 
some weakening bodily ailment, this organ is liable 
to be implicated, or by its sensitiveness readily ex- 
posed to participation in the general suffering. This 
being so, how plain it is to be seen that the womb 
should be kept from disease and in its natural posi- 
tion. Let us now enter into a more minute discus- 
sion of 
Those of my readers who have obtained some gen- 
eral knowledge of Physiology, undoubtedly became 
much interested in the study of the brain and nerv- 
ous system, finding it a description of a far more 
marvellous telegraphic system than that invented by 
WHY. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
Morse. The nerves that ramify the body, dividing 
and subdividing until they permeate every part in such 
numerous and minute filaments, that the finest cam- 
bric needle can not be thrust into the flesh without 
touching one, corresponds to the wires that carry 
messages over the country. The brain corresponds 
to the offices or headquarters where messages are re- 
ceived and transmitted. A single illustration will 
give an idea of the amount and kind of work done 
in this office, A barefooted boy steps upon a nail. 
That nail causes him exquisite pain while his foot is 
on it, which is but for a moment. But in that mo- 
ment, and by means of that pain, let us see what has 
been done. That nail touched a nerve. That pain 
was a telegram sent to the brain through one part of 
the nerve, that the foot was in trouble. But before 
the boy could take his foot away, the muscles that 
move his foot must first receive orders to do so from 
the headquarters, which presently reach them through 
another line or part of the nerve. And this whole 
transaction is accomplished in a second. 
Perhaps this wound, although done in an intstant, 
was severe. Nature now sets to work to restore the 
lacerated flesh and heal the wound. The news of the 
disaster and need of help are telegraphed by means of 
another set of nerves—the sympathetic—through the 
adjoining neighborhoods, each of which has its sub- 
office— a ganglion and at once the needed help 
pours in from all directions, in the shape of blood 
and nervous fluids, the arrival of which is evinced by 
the swelling and inflammation of the wounded part. 50 
for girls. 
Sometimes the whole organism is drawn on for help 
or is sympathetically affected, and lockjaw sets in. 
Every portion of the system is intimately connected 
with the brain and with one another, by means of 
this complicated and wonderful telegraphic system. 
Every motion, from the winking of the eyelid to a 
jump, en masse, must each go through the process of 
sending notice to the brain, and the brain returning 
orders to the muscles to move. 
One portion of the brain is noticeable on account 
of its extreme sensitiveness. It is the top of the 
spinal column imbedded in the lower part of the 
head, and called the medulla oblongata. As all the 
nerves are ultimately connected with the spine, the 
gathered nerve-force of the body must all center here 
on its way to and from the sensorium. Parts of the 
brain proper may be taken away without endanger- 
ing life or sense, but the medulla oblongata differs 
from the brain in being more highly sensitive ; if but 
slightly pierced spasms follow, and if much injured 
death instantly ensues. 
I have introduced these remarks about the nervous 
system, in order to make plain one of the reasons 
why the little organ of the uterus has such an in- 
fluence on the health when out of place. This whole 
machineiy is permeated with nerves, and connected 
with all the neighboring organs by means of nerves. 
Nerves connect it with the spine, the medulla, and 
the brain. By referring to o, Fig. IV., it will be 
seen at once with what part of the spine the womb 
is connected—with the “ small of the back.” THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
51 
The nerves of sensation are most abundant on the 
surface of the body, and but few in number, com- 
paratively, within ; so that pain from any diseased 
organ is not felt in the organ so much as on or near 
the surface. A diseased liver causes pain around the 
shoulder-blade and at the side, rather than in the 
organ itself. A disease, after long standing or of un- 
usual severity, will produce inward pain, but even 
then it will seem greatest on the outside. It might 
be expected then that prolapsus uteri would produce 
BACKACHE. 
And so it does generally, though not invariably. 
When the womb is bent up or down, in or out, to 
one side or the other, by the failure of one or more 
ligaments to do their part, of course it lies in a dif- 
ferent way from that intended by Nature, and the 
nerves must pull and draw and strain on one side, 
and bend and cramp on the other. The hurt will not 
be felt at the place where the difficulty originates, 
but at the nearest surface-nerve, which, in many cases, 
is located in this part of the spine. But few Amer- 
ican women, or even girls, can say they do not know 
what backache is, periodically at least, if not con- 
stantly. Not a sharp, lancinating pain, as when a 
nerve is laid bare, but a dull, dragging, steady pain ; 
though sometimes this sort of pain may become acute, 
with soreness of the muscles and flesh. Sometimes 
the ache, instead of being in the small of the back, 
will, from the same cause, be located between the 
shoulders, and confounded with liver-complaint back- 52 
FDR GIRLS. 
ache ; sometimes it will be in the lower part of the 
head and back of the neck; sometimes in the tip end 
of the spine, felt only in the act of rising up or sit- 
ting down ; sometimes two or three .nches above the 
tip end of the spine. When the womb draws, draws, 
draws upon the nerves in a wrong direction, after a 
while, besides backaches, will come 
HEADACHES. 
Physicians often tell from the location of a head- 
ache, by what organ it is caused. Thus, bilious head- 
aches and sick headaches from disordered stomach 
and liver, are located in the part of the head corre- 
sponding to their organs. Nervous headaches have 
their peculiarities, and so on. Headaches from uter- 
ine misplacements are located in the top of the head. 
The heat and pain just in a spot no larger than a 
silver dollar, is often continued for years, until the 
hair all falls out, never to grow again. Oftentimes, 
instead of being confined to this one spot, it will be 
united with a general nervous headache, involving the 
whole brain. With all such headaches the power of 
thought is more or less confused, the effort to control 
the thoughts and keep them from wandering becomes 
painful and trying, and connected reading and con- 
versation almost impossible. Some describe the aching 
sensation as if all the nerves of the head were being 
pulled upon and drawn down. Some, as if the top of 
the head would come off. Some, as though a tight 
band were drawn across it; and some, as if a good 
squeezing and pounding would bring relief. “ Seems as THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WO MAH. 
53 
if I should go crazy,” is the common exclamation ; and 
this is no idle phrase, for many a woman has become 
insane, and hopelessly insane, from this cause. Nerves 
thus constantly irritated will soon extend their irrita- 
bility to the disposition, and 
will be one of the troublesome effects of prolapsus. 
That disposition which is the sweetest in health will 
become correspondingly the sourest in disease. The 
whole world looks dark and upside down to a girl whose 
nerves are thus sick. Every little failure crushes her 
courage. Every little obstacle appearing in her way is 
magnified many times and fills her with alarm. “ Mole 
hills seem like mountains,” and she “ crosses the 
stream before she gets to it.” Any outward circum- 
stance that is depressing looks doubly hard to bear, 
and she has no resolution to meet and fight difficul- 
ties. She is sure that she can not succeed, that some 
evil will befall her, that misfortune is on her track. 
She cries easily, is timid, shrinking, and “blue.” 
Sometimes, indeed, the misery is removed for a time, 
and the victim experiences an extreme happiness that 
is quite unnatural, only to be again plunged into sad- 
ness quite as intense. If she is so situated that she 
feeds obliged to keep her feelings to herself, she is only 
nervous, her nervousness intensified by the fact that 
there is no outlet. But if she is at home or is not re- 
strained by her surroundings, her overstrung feelings 
will find vent, her nervous conditions will be apt to 
develop into crossness, scolding, fault-finding. She is 
NERVOUSNESS 54 
FOR GIRLS. 
at swords-points mentally at least, and most likely 
openly, with her nearest and dearest friends, dissatisfied 
with the neighbors and society in general, frequently 
indulging in distrustful and rebellious thoughts against 
her Maker. Mental suffering, though it may be im- 
aginary, is yet real, and is often harder to bear than 
physical pain. If this girl were well, imaginary 
troubles would flee away. Real troubles she would be 
stimulated to bear bravely and cheerfully. Difficul- 
ties that before threatened to crush her would only 
seem, then, to afford occasions for new triumph. 
Sprightliness, courage, and patience would take the 
place of ennui, timidity, and impatience. She would 
look back and wonder how she could have felt so sad 
and melancholy. The effect upon the 
is no less marked than upon the character. Skillful 
physicians can detect these female troubles by the 
appearance of the face. The eyes, those “ windows of 
the soul,” have a dejected and unhappy expression, 
corresponding to the mental state, and blue or dark 
streaks surround the under lids. The corners of the 
mouth are drawn down, pointing in an opposite direc- 
tion from that they indicate in health. 
COUNTENANCE AND BEARING 
Laughing draws them up; crying draws them down 
A happy, cheerful disposition is indicated by the cor 
ners of the mouth. A naturally sad and melancholy 
one is manifested in the same way. But disease will 
draw the corners of a sad mouth downward farther 
still, and for the time being the cheerful one; and il THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
55 
long continued the expression with the disease will 
become chronic, or second nature. The whole face 
has a downcast, woe-begone expression. There is no 
spring or elasticity of gait, no life and animation ot 
manner. Animal spirits, of which none of us can get 
rid in this world, manifest themselves through a drag- 
ging and burdensome demeanor, instead of giving an 
air of light-hearted gaiety common to healthy youth, 
that in after years tones down to quiet cheerfulness 
and steady good nature. In giving location of the 
uterus the fact was mentioned that with some per- 
sons it lies naturally higher up than in others. I ven- 
ture the conjecture, that when it is placed high, its 
possessor will be naturally more cheerful and happy 
than one in whom it lies low. And in any one more 
than usually low-spirited and irritable, we may be 
pretty certain of the cause. But there are some peo- 
ple who have prolapsus uteri without backache or 
headache or any very marked nervousness. In such 
cases the womb will be bent forward instead of back- 
ward, thus pulling or pressing upon nerves in front of 
the body, rather than those connected more immedi- 
ately with the spine and brain. In some cases nerves 
leading to the lungs will be the ones attacked, pro- 
ducing a disease which simulates 
CONSUMPTION. 
The better to illustrate this, I will select and de- 
scribe a case from among a number that have come 
to my notice. I once met a lady who had for a long 
time received medical treatment for consumption 56 
FOR GIRLS. 
She had a severe cough and every appearance of lung 
complaint. Many doctors had employed their art to 
effect a cure. She had tried different climates to no 
purpose. At last she met with one physician who 
pronounced the trouble prolapsus uteri, and pre- 
scribed for that alone. Effecting a cure in that direc- 
tion, the cough left of its own accord, as did all the 
other symptoms. Doubtless consumption proper 
would have followed in time; consumption has been 
induced quite as often, probably, by womb disease, a •. 
by want of pure air. 
Goitre is a disease developed by this, and some oi 
the most incurable cases of throat disease, and many 
voice difficulties also. Constant drawing of the nerves 
in connection with the throat and lungs irritates and 
inflames them, thus rendering them liable to be easily 
attacked with colds and humors. With some the 
nerves of the heart are involved, and they suppose 
they have 
HEART DISEASE. 
A young lady had what her physicians pronounced 
palpitation of the heart. It was not the opinion of 
one, but of several, as she tried every doctor within 
reach, and every new remedy that she heard of; all 
without relief. The difficulty began before she was 
ten years of age, and continued till she was about 
eighteen. At that time a cousin of hers, a young 
man, had just graduated, and was about to commence 
the practice of medicine. Of course he was much in- 
terested in his cousin’s case, they supposed to be in 
curable. The more he examined the case the more THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
57 
he became convinced it was not palpitation at all. 
He finally induced her to try medical treatment foi 
female complaint, when, to the astonishment of every 
one, her heart disease entirely left her. I once met ? 
lady afflicted, as she supposed, with 
DYSPEPSIA. 
Certain kinds of food distressed her. An apple, 1 
remember, was one thing she did not dare to eat. 
She had taken medicine, electrical and other baths ; 
had dieted and so forth, for dyspepsia. Finally a 
physician, wiser than the rest, suggested the real 
cause—trouble with the uterus—and confined the 
treatment to this disease alone, when with a cure of 
this the dyspepsia disappeared. Almost always the 
fallen uterus presses against the rectum, causing « 
train of evils in its turn. 
CONSTIPATION—(LOCAL) 
is one form of evil. There are two kinds of consti- 
pation, which I will designate as constitutional and 
local. The former demands a separate chapter for 
its consideration. Local constipation is caused by the 
pressure of the womb against the rectum, almost 
dosing the passage, and when united, as it is in 
the majority of cases, with the constitutional form, is 
a prolific cause of suffering. As I mean to make this 
book useful, I shall use plain language, so that all can 
understand. With constipation in either case, at any 
time, the inclination is to strain in order to help 
nature expel the contents; but in the local form this FOR GIRLS. 
straining affords little relief or none, and, indeed, pre* 
vents rather than assists the accomplishment of the 
end sought. In straining, the abdominal viscera is 
crowded upon the womb, forcing it with greater 
pressure than ever upon the rectum, and closing the 
passage still more tightly. The matter which hap- 
pens to be below this point may be forced out, but 
there will still be a feeling of unrelief. Straining 
should never be practiced. This of itself will often 
cause prolapsus. Injections of clear, warm water will 
give easy and full relief. But sometimes it will not 
be convenient to use the syringe ; as, for instance, 
being detained from home. At such times let the 
individual take such a position as will allow her to 
press with the fingers of both hands hard around the 
anus, at the same time giving a slight strain from 
above. This will give tolerable relief, is far better 
than straining en masse, and is useful in any kind of 
constipation, where a syringe can not be obtained. 
The foeces should never be retained, for then this col- 
lection of effete and really poisonous matter wi*l re- 
turn to the circulation, seeking egress some other 
way, causing biliousness, skin eruptions, bad blood, 
weak lungs, and other diseases. There is also trouble 
with the 
URINE 
when the womb is thrown forward on to the bladder, 
as it often is. I have known young girls immensely 
troubled in this direction, the bladder so losing its 
tone as to fail of giving the usual warning sensation 
and need of relief. Every laugh, cough, sneeze, or THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WO MAH. 
other sudden exertion, being attended with an unfore 
warned discharge of urine ; going to church, out shop- 
ping, on pleasure trips, etc., becoming simply impos- 
sible. Here I would emphasize the danger of putting 
off attending to the calls of nature, while the organs 
are still in health. The bladder will, otherwise, be- 
come filled to its utmost capacity, thus requiring 
more than its ordinary amount of space, tend to crowd 
upon the uterus ; then, if at the same time the per- 
son engages in dancing, running, jumping, or riding 
there is great danger that the overloaded bladder will 
throw the womb out of place. All such sudden 
misplacements cause the most excruciating pain. Be- 
sides, frequently repeated efforts to “put off” will 
soon paralyze all power to retain the urine, even for 
an instant. A young girl once went into a wild coun- 
try place to teach school. Her room lacked a conven- 
ience to which she had all her life been accustomed. 
She was timid, and did not like to ask for it; besides, 
it was a dozen miles to the nearest store. What to do 
she did not know, unless it was to force herself to 
“ wait ” till she was dressed. In thus forcing nature 
to change this simple habit she suffered untold mis- 
ery, and induced the weakness mentioned above. As 
some of my readers may be similarly situated, I want 
to advise them, rather than suffer in like manner, to 
provide themselves with an old tin can in case oI 
emergency. 
These are some of the difficulties and sufferings to 
which the upper half of the body will be subjected 
when that little organ gets out of place, by the pres- FOR GIRLS. 
sure of the clothing forcing the abdominal contents 
down upon it. But this is only half of the body. Let 
Fig. VII. 
us look at the other half. There will be inevitably 
and invariably such a time with 
COLD FEET. 
And this is no slight affliction, as many a woman will 
declare, who can testify from experience. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
61 
Fig.Vl I. represents a front view of the course of the 
main arteries. Fig. VIII. represents a back view of the 
main nerves. Close by the side of each artery runs a 
Fig. vm. 
nerve, all through the body. The large artery passing 
from the throat down the center of the chest, divides 
into two large branches, each branch carrying the 
blood into a limb. The same division occurs with th<e 62 
FOR GIRLS. 
spinal cord, and nervous fluid is thus also carried into 
the lower limbs. Now, the womb, though small, is 
several times larger than an artery, and being a rather 
hard substance, when thrown against an artery 
or tissues lying between, it presses with so much force 
as to flatten the walls till the sides almost meet. The 
consequence will be at once seen. The blood can not 
all pass along the flattened blood-vessel; the circula- 
tion is impeded. Much of the blood that should go 
to the feet can not get there, but remains in the upper 
half of the body. No wonder the feet are cold. No 
wonder the heart palpitates, the lungs are surcharged, 
the stomach is out of order, and the head aches. 
They have a double reason for so doing. The 
attendant nerve is likewise pressed almost together, 
preventing a free circulation of nervous matter. 
That, too, is sent back to the upper half of the body, 
increasing and causing much of the nervousness. 
Lack of nervous stimuli in the limbs causes a numb- 
ness, soreness, and aching of the bones between the 
knee and hip, which is felt particularly on going up- 
stairs, and after standing a long time. 
SCIATICA 
is sometimes produced from this cause. A good way, 
in fact the only way, to warm feet made cold by pro- 
lapsus, is to lie down upon a sofa, or a patient’s chair, 
with the feet to the fire. A recumbent attitude 
allows the uterus to move into some other position, 
or to press with less force against the arteries and 
nerves, so that the blood can circulate more freely THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
63 
and become somewhat equalized. Bathing and rub- 
bing the feet—a splendid way to warm them when 
cold from other causes—does little good here, for the 
reason that the exercise of the arms and chest in rub- 
bing calls so much blood into them away from the 
feet, that it takes only so much longer for it to be 
come equally distributed after getting into bed, and 
the feet invariably get cold again before that can take 
place. There would be no objection to bathing and 
rubbing if done by another person, the possessor of 
the cold feet meanwhile lying down. The reader 
will readily understand the cause of a 
BEARING-DOWN 
sensation, often severe, located in the lower part of 
the abdomen, which many women experience with 
uterine difficulties; also 
CRAMPS. 
Sometimes the blood will circulate so imperfectly 
as to cause this difficulty. It generally occurs in the 
night; the individual being unable to move that part 
of the body affected. The recumbent position in this 
case throwing the womb upon the main arteries and 
closing the passage. 
These different forms of suffering seldom all unite 
at once in the same individual. When the spine and 
head are badly affected, the organs in the front of the 
body—i. e., stomach, heart, lungs, etc.—perform 
their functions seemingly without interruption, and 
vice versa. There are many cases of severe female  FOR GIRLS. 
complaints, in which the patient never suffers the 
bearing-down sensation. There are others which 
never have the form of nervousness represented by 
ennui or low spirits. Three or four symptoms as a 
general thing only appear together. 
These sufferings do not come on suddenly, but 
very gradually. Physicians repeatedly tell their pa- 
tients, after a diagnosis and first decision upon the 
nature of the disorder, “This trouble commenced 
years ago, probably when you were a little girl.” 
These diseases do not kill women outright. They 
live on for years, dragging out miserable lives, and 
dying by inches. 
We can now understand the propriety of calling 
the womb a very important, a controlling organ. T 
it exerts so much influence over the whole body 
when diseased, of course it will exert a correspond- 
ingly good influence if kept in health. It is utterly 
impossible to keep it in health, unless it can have 
room enough in which to maintain an upright posi- 
tion. Here, then, is a vital reason that tight cloth- 
ing should not be worn. In the next chapter an- 
other vital reason will be given. 
I can not forbear closing this chapter with a quota- 
tion from Catharine E. Beecher, a woman of large ex- 
perience in dealing with young ladies as a teacher 
and having ample opportunities for becoming ac- 
quainted with the subject, on which she says: “ These 
internal displacements bring upon women peculiar 
distresses. The pressure of the whole superincum- 
bent mass on the pelvic organs induces sufferings pro- THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WOMAN. 
65 
portioned in acuteness to the extreme delicacy and 
sensitiveness of the parts thus crushed. And the in- 
timate connection of these organs with the brain and 
whole nervous system renders injuries thus inflicted 
the causes of the most extreme anguish both of body 
and mind. This evil is becoming so common, not 
only among married women, but among young girls, 
as to be a just cause for universal alarm. How very 
common these sufferings are, few but the medical pro- 
fession can realize, because they are troubles that 
must be concealed. Many a woman is moving about 
in uncomplaining agony, who, with any other trouble 
involving equal suffering, would be on her bed sur 
rounded by sympathetic friends. The terrible suffei 
ings that are sometimes thus induced can never be 
conceived of or at all appreciated from any use ol 
language. Nothing that the public can be made to 
believe on this subject will ever equal the reality. 
Not only mature persons and mothers, but fair young 
girls sometimes are shut up for months and years as 
helpless and suffering invalids from this cause. This 
maybe found all over the land. And there frequently 
is a horrible extremity of suffering in certain forms 
of this evil which no woman, dressing in present fash- 
ion, can ever be certain may not be her doom. Not 
that in all cases this extremity is involved, but none 
can say who will escape it. In regard to this, if one 
must choose for a friend or a child on the one hand 
the horrible torments inflicted by savage Indians or 
cruel inquisitors on their victims, or on the other the 
protracted agonies that result from such deformities 66 
FOR GIRLS. 
and displacements, sometimes the former would be a 
merciful exchange. And yet this is the fate that is 
coming to meet the young as well as the mature in 
every direction. And tender parents are uncon- 
sciously leading their lovely and hapless daughters 
to this awful doom. There is no excitement of the 
imagination in what is here indicated. If the facts 
and details could be presented, they would send a 
groan of terror all over the land.” CHAPTER V. 
A FINE FIGURE. 
*‘A BEAUTIFUL face and form,” “ handsome feat- 
ures and fine figure.”—We meet with these or similar 
phrases in nearly every story book. The heroine is 
always so described. Each of us has a different no- 
tion of what constitutes a beautiful face, but with al- 
most every one a small waist is the main point of 
beauty in a fine figure. Let us see what science says 
concerning this, and if her decision in the matter cor- 
responds with the almost universal opinion upon it. 
In studying the writings of scientific men upon the 
subject, we find in substance the following; 
Beauty in the figure of a man and beauty in the 
figure of a woman has each its own and a separate 
standard. A finely-formed man has broad shoulders 
and narrow hips. He is broader at the shoulders 
than anywhere else, tapering from them to the feet. 
Whether he be tall or short, large or small, he can 
yet be well proportioned, and full chest and broad 
shoulders is the measuring point. 
Science finds that a well-proportioned, finely-devel- 
oped woman will invariably have a full bust and ab- 68 
FOR GIRLS. 
domen and comparatively narrow shoulders. A 
woman is broad at the hips—from there she tapers 
both ways. Whether she be tall or short, large or 
small, she can yet be well proportioned, and broad 
hips is the point of measurement. Full, plump 
breasts are also an indication of fine development, 
and, therefore, of a fine form. A woman with full 
bust and abdomen will, by contrast, seem to have a 
small waist. She does not really have, but it only 
appears to be small, because put by the side of larger 
parts. Place the largest house you ever saw by the 
side of the main building on the Centennial grounds. 
By contrast, the house you once thought immense 
seems very small indeed; it is not really small, but 
only seems so by contrast. So it is with a small 
waist on a well-proportioned woman. 
Science does, then, coincide exactly with the popu- 
lar taste for a small waist. An apparently small 
waist is a concomitant of a fine figure. But there 
comes a point at which science and popular taste 
disagree. One says, Give us the small waist by 
contrast; give us large breasts and abdomen. 
The other says, If you have not large breasts and 
abdomen, make believe you have by squeezing up 
your waist. 
Women admire manly beauty, breadth of chest, 
and fine proportions, because it indicates strength 
and courage. Men, in their turn, admire womanly 
beauty, fullness and plumpness, because it gives an 
air of gracefulness and comeliness. Men and women 
were made to admire one another, to be attractive A FINE FIGURE. 
to one another. It is right that they should try 
to please each other in appearance. 
Women, who know that men like to see in them 
this sign of physical beauty, a small waist, do wrong 
just here; instead of inquiring into nature’s method 
of making a small waist, i.e., by contrast, they set to 
work to make one their own way, and in so doing 
produce a hideous distortion, that not only never 
deceives an observant or well-taught man, but brings 
on all those sufferings which make them unlovely in 
mind and disposition, and useless in body. 
Now, girls, science will teach us how we can form a 
naturally small waist, one really worth having. Let 
us study her teachings together. No doubt you are 
quite interested to know them, and will give good 
attention, meanwhile remembering that we are study- 
ing one of the creations of God. 
o 
PUBERTY. 
At about the age of fourteen a great change begins 
to take place in the physical structure of a girl. It 
up to that time she grows as nature intended she 
should, without tight clothing, it will be found that 
the width of shoulders, waist, and hips are about the 
same, the shoulders perhaps a little the broadest. 
She has no waist and no hips upon which any article 
of clothing will hang. She is all the way of a size 
like a beanpole. Turn to Plate 111. Besides the 
womb, about which we have already studied, and the 
broad and round ligaments, which constitute a part of 
the appendages, will be seen two tubes (9, 9,) extend- 70 
FOR GIRLS. 
ing from the upper part of the womb in a horizontal 
position, protruding on each side farther than any of 
the other appendages. These are called the Fallopian 
tubes. Below each of them, enveloped in the broad liga- 
ments, is a small oval-shaped organ called the ovary, 
y repiesents one of them. In childhood all these 
organs are very small and grow but little. About the 
age of fourteen, however, they take a new start. 
The Fallopian tubes begin to expand and throw 
themselves out, and the ovaries underneath enlarge. 
The bones of the pelvis consequently must grow 
larger and wider, in order to give them room. The 
muscular and other soft tissues of the viscera al?u 
increase in size, and the pelvic bones necessarily grow 
large in order that they may continue to perform 
the office of support to the soft parts. This period 
in the girl’s life is called the age of puberty. 
At this time, also, the breasts begin to enlarge, and 
sometimes grow so fast as to cause pain and soreness 
in them. A covering of hair makes its appearance 
upon the labia and in the armpits. The limbs grow 
plumper and rounder, and the fat begins to fill out 
all bony and angular places. The girl in a measure 
stops growing tall, and grows full for a while. Before 
long she realizes, if nature is unhindered, that she 
has new strength ; she finds that she can lift heavier 
articles than before, that she can do many kinds of 
work with much more ease than formerly. Her voice 
also acquires more sweetness and power. 
Not only is a great physical change taking place, 
but the mind receives a new impulse. Her whole A FINE FIGURE. 
mental nature moves with quickened activity and 
power. Ability to understand the metaphysical and 
abstract commences to develop, and her school 
studies, if she is intellectually inclined, are pursued 
with new interest. She reads books and papers that 
heretofore had been passed by, because she then 
thought them dry, dull, and uninteresting, finding 
now many beauties of thought in them before unseen. 
Perhaps she likes to go to church better than ever 
before, because she can now comprehend the sermoi . 
A new light of intelligence beams in her eye, indi- 
cating the new baptism of thought and redoubled 
mental vigor. Her manners take on an air of reserve 
and self-consciousness. She lays aside dolls and 
trivial plays, and engages in more womanly amuse- 
ments. The girl is emerging into a woman. Child- 
hood’s sweet buds are opening into womanhood’s full 
bloom and beauty. 
The time of puberty is the most critical season in a 
woman’s life. Then, or never, must be laid, or rather 
perfected, the foundation of all after attainments; 
the foundation of physical culture, vigor of body, 
strength, and health ; the base upon which to rear the 
superstructure of mental culture and spiritual strength. 
So, also, must then, or never, be laid the foundation ol 
physical beauty, a “ fine form,” a “beautiful figure,” 
so much admired by the other sex. Without this 
foundation, considered simply on the ground of 
beauty, we have no basis for lifelong delicacy, and 
sensitiveness and sweetness of manner, which are the 
outward indication of soul beauty. 72 
FOR GIRLS. 
Physical beauty amounts to nothing, is not ieauty 
if the mind is coarse and ungainly. A soul that 
might otherwise be lovely will become sour and un 
strung, and warped if attached to a dwarfed and 
sickly body. Now and then, it is true, we find a 
patient loveliness in a diseased frame, but that same 
loveliness would be far more lovely if its owner were 
in health. 
But I commenced this talk about puberty to show 
how girls might obtain a scientifically small waist; 
one that though large by nature would be small 
by contrast. 
When the Chinese mother desires her daughter to 
have small feet, she takes the feet while they are yet 
small, about the size she wishes them to remain, and 
t* nds them with strips of cloth, keeping them bound 
diy and night for years. The little baby cries with 
(i din, but the bandages are never removed till the infant 
has come to be a woman and stops growing. There 
is no danger then that the little feet will take a start 
to grow again. The mother has succeeded in her 
aim. Her daughter has, and will always have, small 
feet. 
When the mothers among the Carib tribes of Gui- 
ana wish their daughters to have what they suppose 
to be a beautiful leg, they apply, while the girls are 
young, what is called the saparu ; that is, two bands 
of rattan, bound tightly, one under the knee and the 
other above the ankle. This converts the limb into 
a mere spindle, thicker in the middle than at each 
end. A historian thus describes it - “Take an ordi A FINE FIGURE. 
73 
nary broomstick eighteen inches in length, and push 
it through the middle of a rather small Stilton cheese, 
wrap the stick above and below the cheese with a red 
bandage, adorn the cheese with a number of blue spots. 
This will give a very good idea of the extraordinary 
shape which is assumed by the leg of a Carib female.’’ 
Some of the Indian tribes admire human heads so 
flattened that a straight line can be drawn from the 
crown to the nose ; and in order that their children 
may possess heads of this shape, the mothers of the 
tribe fasten a board to the upper part of the infant’s 
cradle (which cradle is made by bandaging the infant 
to a flat board), so that one end lies on the child’s 
forehead. The other end is then tied firmly down 
with strings, and every day for several months the 
pressure is slightly increased, until the peculiar shape 
is acquired which gives to the tribe the name of Flat- 
head Indians. 
So we see that it has been demonstrated that parts 
of the body may be dwarfed and stopped from grow- 
ing by outside pressure. 
1 his is precisely the same result as hanging heavy 
clothing upon the expanding hips of a girl at the age 
of puberty obtains. Whether it be tight or loose, is 
little to this point. The trouble is in the weight 
pressing down upon the contents of the abdominal 
region. They need expanding room, and do not get it. 
The appendages of the uterus are growing, and would 
make a round, plump, full appearance if they had a 
chance. Strong as is the inherent vitality of the girl 
to overcome the pressure of intestines, bones, and  FOR GIRLS. 
flesh, and force them to accommodate themselves to 
the enlarging uterine apparatus, it has no power to 
move quilts and skirts and whale-bones. So these 
parts drag down and remain small. And the breasts 
Fig, IX.—Perfect Male and Female Figure 
sympathetically drag down and are prevented from 
growing. A full bosom, that every girl should be 
proud to possess, is inspired, as it were, to grow, and 
depends for its growth upon these organs below. 
There will be some expansion, of course, because the A FINE FIGURE. 
75 
organs are not absolutely and completely bound, but 
what should be a magnificent development, will be 
only a partial and misshapen formation. If in addi- 
tion to this weight is added tight-lacing, zuhat can we 
expect? Just what we repeatedly see around us— 
nervous, ailing, puny, inefficient, unhappy, slimsy 
girls, bustled and padded, to make us think they 
possess in form what they do not. With such bodies 
as these, diseased and dragged down, how is it possi- 
ble to obtain or manifest, if it should be obtained, 
mental development and equipose ? It is simply im- 
possible. 
I have said that men admire personal beauty in 
woman. A man whose admiration would be worth 
anything to a pure-minded and intellectual woman , 
a man whose purity and intellect is equal to her own 
—if it is not she does not care for his admiration— 
admires physical beauty in a woman because it is an 
indication of mental beauty. It ought to be, at least: 
it is natural for him to look for it there. It is not 
always there, I am aware. We often meet women 
who have fine forms, and are simpletons. Such a man 
finding the simpleton will cease to admire the form. 
Such a man finding a sound mind in a sound body, 
will admire both, as we rejoice in harmony and com- 
pleteness anywhere. 
The next thing in order will be to give girls a test 
or standard of 
MEASUREMENT, 
by which they may know whether they have a well- 
proportioned form or not. Give to a naturalist a  FOR GIRLS. 
single bone, any that you please, without telling him 
the name of the animal of which it is a part. The 
naturalist will tell you not only the name of the ani- 
mal, and what particular bone that is, but he can tell 
the size and height and breadth of the animal. The 
law of proportion enables him to do so. Any well- 
informed person, by the same law of proportion, can 
tell whether a girl’s waist is naturally or artificially 
formed. We are often referred to the celebrated statue 
of Venus de Medici as a beau-ideal of female symme- 
try of form, because the law of proportion of one part 
to another, as well as the faultless shape of each part, 
was so thoroughly carried out in the construction of 
the image. 
The law is this: A woman’s waist should be two- 
fifths of her height. According to this, a woman five 
feet three inches high should measure twenty-five and 
a quarter inches round the waist; one five feet five 
inches should measure twenty-six inches, and so forth. 
Another test: Stand, heels together and toes apart, 
measure around the top of the lower limbs, and also 
around the waist. There should be nine inches differ- 
ence between the two measurements. This test can 
only be used, of course, by girls who have come to full 
growth, as before the age of puberty the hips, waist, 
and limbs are nearly of a size. The basis of this test 
is the size around the top of the thighs. For instance : 
thirty-four inches thigh measurement should give 
twenty-five inches waist measurement; if the waist is 
found to be twenty-seven inches, it shows that the full 
growth of hips has not been reached ; if twenty-three 
inches, that the person has worn foo tight clothing. CHAPTER VI. 
HOW WE SHOULD DRESS.* 
After so much has been said about the way we 
should not dress, this work would be very incomplete 
without a chapter giving practical directions as to how 
we should dress. 
It is with great pleasure that I can refer my readers 
to the marked change that has been taking place of 
late in many prominent circles in regard to dress. It 
is slowly but surely becoming fashionable to wear 
many articles of clothing that have been introduced, 
not because they originated in Paris, but on the sim 
pie score that they were in accordance with the re- 
quirements of physiology and hygiene. Many ladies 
of wealth, culture, and social standing are giving this 
subject their close attention, constantly experiment- 
ing and improving upon the first trials of the new re- 
form dress, and some of the styles have even found 
their way into the popular fashion magazines. 
To many of my young readers the contents of this 
chapter will be nothing new, they being familiar with 
the modern styles by actually wearing them, and they 
*The illustrations used in this chapter are from the catalogue of 
Hygienic Under-garments of Mrs. A. Fletcher, of No. 6 East Four 
teenth Street, who will send it to any address on application. 78 
FOR GIRLS. 
may even be better informed in the very latest im 
provements’ than is this chapter, as the modes will 
doubtless continue to change while this book is be- 
ing prepared for the public. 
But there are hundreds and thousands of those who 
should be among my readers who, while they may be 
ever studying the newest fashions for the outside 
apparel, know nothing whatever of the reform under- 
garments; who still wear the old-time chemises, draw- 
ers, garters, quilts, etc., of a hundred years ago. I 
believe that the majority of girls still belong to the 
latter class; let me assure them that they need not 
fear to adopt the changes herein recommended, for 
Mother Grundy lends her influence to the new side 
sufficiently to carry them safely through. It is to be 
hoped, besides, that there will independence enough 
prow out of the good sense that can not but be awak- 
ened after this study of the formation and require- 
ments of a woman’s body, to lead every reader to 
dress as she should, regardless of anybody else. 
Tight lacing is not the only thing that needs reform 
ing, but many other parts of the dress require chang 
ing. We will examine each one, showing how we 
should dress; and I will try to be so explicit that 
those who have never before heard of anything of the 
kind, will be able at once to put it to practical use. 
First, then, girls, you should 
SUSPEND YOUR CLOTHING FROM YOUR SHOULDERS, 
instead of fastening them upon your hips. Before I 
can say another word I am met with the exclamation HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
“Oh! my shoulders aren’t as strong as my hips. Why! 
I couldn’t stand all that weight on my shoulders.” I 
have actually heard this said, but always by those 
who had never given it a trial, and only imagined it 
would be so, or else by those who had never arranged 
their clothing in a proper manner upon their shoul- 
ders. “ Take a common neck and shoulder yoke,” ex- 
plains Dr. J. C. Jackson, “such as water-carriers some- 
times use, and fastening weights to it see how much 
you can carry a little distance with ease. Then take 
just»such a yoke and make it large enough to fit 
around the body, resting on the hips as it did on the 
shoulders, and fastening weights to it, see how much 
you can carry at that point wdth ease the same dis- 
tance, and you will find that you can not carry more 
than one-fourth as much as you can on the shoulders.” 
Another physician says: “ In attaching a horse to 
a load we never draw a strap about its body and at- 
tach to that for draft purposes, but we seek some part 
of the body where the draft may come at right angles, 
or nearly so. That we find at the shoulder, and it is 
the only part of the animal upon which without great 
harm a considerable draft may be made. When we 
wash to support the several pounds of skirts, etc., we 
look over the woman’s body to determine at what 
point such support or draft, if you please, may be 
applied. To apply it about her legs or about her 
waist, is precisely the same mistake that would be 
made if the draft were attached to the girth of the 
harness. There is only one point of support, and that 
is her shoulder.” FOR GIRLS. 
THE DRAWERS. 
Even so light an article as the drawers hung upon 
the expanding hips of a growing girl is too much. If 
it be fastened loosely, the weight is just the same. 
“ What! the drawers ? Well! I don’t believe that! ” 
I hear from all quarters, so I must stop again to quell 
this breeze I have raised. Dentists who wish to draw 
together two teeth that have grown too far apart, 
sometimes wind around them a thread of fine elastic 
rubber, and in a few days the work is done. If we 
obtain this result upon the hard substance of the 
teeth, so firmly set in the unyielding jaw, we should 
not be surprised that a firm, inelastic band of cotton 
worn for years upon the hips before they have come 
to their growth, would greatly hinder that growth. 
At mature age a woman might begin to bear this 
weight on the hips if her health was firm, but even 
she would not endure its discomfort after having 
practiced the better way. 
THE STOCKINGS, 
instead of being kept smooth by bands of elastic or 
tape, which hinder free circulation of blood and nerv- 
ous fluid, and so cause numbness, cramps, and cold 
feet, should be attached to some arrangement of straps 
that pass upward to the waist. Such stocking sup- 
porters are sold ready-made at the stores, but some 
of them are objectionable because made to fasten 
around the hips. I have met women wearing them 
who would not have done so, I am sure, if they had HO IV WE SHOULD DRESS. 
only remembered that this merely transferred the 
cause of stoppage of circulation and cold feet from 
the limbs to the waist, with the additional pressure to 
the hips. A stocking supporter that answers every 
purpose can be made at home. A piece of stout cot- 
ton tape about a third or half of a yard long may be 
sewed to the underwaist just in front of the hips, and 
a button-hole made at the other end of it. Then take 
a piece of broad elastic tape of sufficient length, fold 
it over at the middle so as to make the shape of the 
Fig. x. 
letter V. Sew a button on to the point of the V, 
and button it on to the cotton tape. Put a button 
on to each end of the V, and button them on to the 
tops of the stockings, by means of loops or button- 
holes made in each side over the ankles. A movable 
slide, where they can be obtained, or a buckle, to 
attach the elastic at the point of the V with the other 
tape in such a manner that it can be made longer or 
shorter to accommodate the different lengths of stock 82 
FOR GIRLS. 
ings, would be a convenience. They can also be sus- 
pended from the shoulders, as shown by Fig. X. 
In winter, when the stockings pass over the bottom 
of the drawers, they may be simply fastened to it at 
the knee with safety-pins or buttons. 
Is there any need that I enlarge further upon the 
harm, the wickedness of wearing underskirts and over- 
skirts, ever so light, or ever so few, supported upon 
the hips? Whether worn tight or loose the zveight 
is still there, dragging down the pelvic organs and 
preventing expansion of the hips. Many suppose it 
is all-sufficient to wear their clothing loose. I hope 
no one will continue to think so after reading this 
book; but that all will be convinced of the need of 
some kind of support from the shoulders for every 
article worn. Some girls complain that straps are 
uncomfortable, and keep slipping off their shoulders, 
and that waists are too thick and bunchy. Shoulder 
straps should be crossed behind like a gentleman’s 
suspenders, and then they will remain in place, also 
buttoned in front quite near the arms, back of the 
breasts, so as not to injure them by undue pressure. 
It is a good plan to buy men’s suspenders, if one 
prefers straps, ready-made at the gentlemen’s fur- 
nishing stores. They may be found light, white, and 
washable; the boys’ sizes will fit ordinary-sized 
women. Some sew up the button-holes and put 
buttons in their places, making button-holes in the 
bands. Others buy two or more pairs, one for each 
SHOULDER STRAPS. HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
83 
skirt, which saves time and need of changing with 
different skirts. A form that does just as well may 
be home-made. Two straight strips of broad tape, 
three-quarters, or so, of a yard in length, joined 
between the shoulders by a cross-piece five or six 
inches long. It is to be sewed on to the skirt bands 
behind, and attached to the front with buttons. See 
the following cuts: 
Fig. XT. 
THE CHEMILETTE. 
As to waists of which complaint has been made, 
it is just here that the greatest change has taken 
place in the underdress. The chemise has been 
discarded altogether. It has been found that 
although it is a time-honored, it is by no means an 
indispensable article of clothing, and that it is possi- 
ble for women to live, move, and have their being 
without it, in far greater ease and comfort than with 
it. The skirt of it has been cut off; the waist, made 
somewhat close fitting, thus doing away with its FOR GIRLS. 
numerous folds that gathered about the form under 
the dress waist, equalled at least three thicknesses of 
cloth—useless cloth—and it was this that made so 
many waists thick and bunchy. Now there is but 
one thickness—a simple waist—attached to the 
drawers, and the two old-fashioned garments worn 
as one, and christened with the name of chemilette. 
FLANNEL. 
LINEN OR COTTON. 
Fig. XII. 
Fig. XIII. 
The stockings, or stocking supporter, may be fastened 
to the waist of this. Patterns for the chemilette may 
now be obtained as other patterns are, by sending 
to the fashion establishments. Flannel chemilettes 
should be worn in winter, with long sleeves, long legs 
and high neck. These are manufactured ready for 
wear, or may be made at home. Those who wear 
the chemilette, with straps or suspenders for the skirts, 
or another waist for them—which is to be more HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
85 
thoroughly discussed further on—will find the “ thick 
b vchy waist ” question satisfactorily solved. 
Next comes the dressing of the bosom. It is the 
universal testimony of physicians and physiologists, 
fhat cotton, or a thick heavy padding of any other 
material, worn over the breasts of matured women, 
heats and weakens them, causing them to lose their 
elasticity and strength ; to become flabby and shrink 
away; if worn by young girls it effectually prevents 
their full development. Most girls would develop 
well-proportioned breasts if they would not heat, and 
press with cotton, or other injurious substances, these 
parts, which begin to expand at the same time with 
the abdomen and hips. These glands, moreover, are 
so intimately connected with the uterine apparatus 
by means of the sympathetic nerves, that whatever 
enfeebles the one enfeebles the other. When the 
organs of the abdominal viscera are weakened and 
balked in their efforts to widen and strengthen; 
when they are dragged down by heavy clothing, the 
breasts will be dragged down and dwarfed even 
if no cotton or other stuffing should be put directly 
upon them. Occasionally, however, as a freak 
of nature, without any apparent cause there are 
large hips and abdomen and small breasts found to- 
gether. These persons are almost obliged to add 
something to their dress at this point. There are 
false busts made of light, harmless material, ready 
for sale at the stores, which also give a more natural 
A FALSE BUST. 86 
FOR GIRLS. 
appearance to the breast than cotton or anything 
made at home. And now we come to 
The corset! What a strong hold this has upon 
the affections of people ! What pages and pages of 
logic, health, conscience, and common sense have 
been hurled at it ! Yet there they hang in every dry- 
goods window in the civilized world, and upon the 
hips of whole armies of well-read women. We might 
suppose that eloquence utterly wasted did we not hear 
every purchaser say, “ Oh, I do not wear them tight. 
/never lace.” Ye corset-haters have not written quite 
in vain; at last the lesson has been impressed upon 
the public mind, that tight lacing is injurious. Wheth- 
er ladies do still lace too tightly is another matter; 
according to their own acknowledgment they know 
better. As though lacing was the only danger in a 
corset ! Tight lacing is evil No. I, lurking in a cor- 
set. But we can lace without wearing a corset. As 
Dr. Cutter says, “ The chest can be deformed by mak- 
ing the linings of the waist tight as well as by cor- 
sets.” As it has come to be the universal ac- 
knowledgment that corsets are not bought in order 
to compress the waist: there must be some other 
attraction about them which makes them so alluring 
to the masses. After we have considered the other 
evils which attend a corset, we will try to find zvhat 
that attraction is. Evil No. 2 is the steels in front. 
Few realize the magnitude of this evil, which remains 
the same whether or not the corset is laced. These 
THE CORSET. HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
87 
steels that are about straight when the corset is 
new, after a little while adapt themselves to the shape 
of the wearer, and become curved. Now, I must 
confess to having worn corsets once in my life, so I 
write from the stand-point of experience. I put them 
on thinking if they were only tied loosely it would 
be all right. I bore the steels very well while re- 
maining in a perpendicular position, but when I 
undertook a stooping or sitting posture, and writing 
or sewing for half a day, I began to rebel against 
them, and soon deliberately took them out and threw 
them beyond reach of any tortured mortal. Just think 
of girls buying two and three pairs of steels for a sin- 
gle corset, because they wear it so tight as not only to 
curve, but actually to break them. The steels do not 
prevent expansion of the hips nor hurt the ribs 
especially, but they jam right against the abdomen, 
pushing the contents upon the womb, effectually 
helping to dislodge it, particularly in delicate women, 
and as not one in a thousand of those who declare 
they wear their corsets loose, do wear them loose, just 
in that proportion is this evil extended. Then there 
are a number of whalebones running parallel with the 
steels, so that the pressure upon the abdomen be- 
comes doubly and trebly aggravated, thus aiding the 
skirts to prevent abdominal expansion. Evil No. 3 
is the resting of the corset upon the hips and abdo- 
men, instead of hanging it upon the shoulders. Per- 
haps, if writers against corsets had directed some 
of their shots against these two evils, instead of 
at evil No. 1 entirely, the corset would by this 88 
FOR GIRLS. 
time have had more open enemies and fewer secret 
friends. 
But there is an attraction about the corset which 
threatens to outweigh all its objections. This con- 
sists in the fact that it makes the outside dress waist 
sit smooth and unwrinkled, and supports the breasts, 
giving a neat, trim appearance to the person. With- 
out substituting something that will do the same, we 
Fig. XIV. 
Fig. XV. 
corset-fighters may as well consider ourselves beaten 
in the combat until such time as wrinkles in a lady’s 
dress waist will be considered no more untidy than 
wrinkles in a gentleman’s vest, or until the plain, 
biased waist goes out of style. 
UNDERWAIST. 
Figs. XIV., XV., XVI., are styles of waists retaining 
all the advantages of the corset, without any of its evils, 
and may also serve as a support to the skirts. Many HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
girls would prefer such waists and omit suspenders. 
Either waist must be at first fitted to the form with 
corsets—put on loose—beneath it, just as a dress 
waist is fitted. Then a very few, and very delicate, 
whalebones can be used to stiffen it, to give it proper 
shape, when the corset will be no longer needed. 
There should be no stiff bones in front, and the gar- 
ment, when completed, should be so loose as to allow 
Fig. XVI. 
a full breath to be taken with perfect ease while sitting 
The buttons below are to be used to button skirts 
upon, so arranged that all the bands will not lie on one 
another, which might prove uncomfortable. The 
pieces passing over the shoulders bring the weight of 
the skirts upon them, and the fullness allowed at the 
bust gives support in that direction. A certain 
young lady had her wedding outfit made up by a 
fashionable milliner in Paris, and every dress was pei- 
fectly fitted to the form, loose, healthful, and com fortable, without the use of corsets ; the only stiffen- 
ing used being these delicate whalebones. 
FOR GIRLS. 
A very good substitute for a corset is the corded 
waist. The shoulder straps are so arranged that 
they can not slip up on the back or down on the 
arm. In the place of bones are inserted rows of very 
stiff card, which, whilst supporting, yields to every 
Fig. XVII.—The Corded Waist. 
Fig. XVlll.—Waist and Skirt Combined. 
movement of the form. It can be washed without 
changing the fitting of the garment. Dresses fit as 
well over these waists as over corsets; the drawers and 
skirts can be buttoned on as on the other waists, or the 
drawers buttoned on the waist, and over this worn a 
very pretty garment (see Fig. XVIII.), which is a waist 
and underskirt combined. The outside skirt should 
buttoned on this garment. 
The Madame Foy corset could be altered so as to HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
91 
be comparatively harmless. Take out the steels and 
all the whalebones, except one or two, which may be 
left for support to the bust, and put buttons upon 
the front, to which attach the skirts. The skirt sup- 
porter behind will hold the back of the skirts without 
buttons. This corset has shoulder straps, and if the 
lacings are fastened, half an inch or an inch by meas- 
ure larger than the waist, and made larger as the 
waist enlarges, it will do very well. 
Quilts are a nuisance—an utter nuisance—without 
one good quality to recommend them that may not 
be outruled by a better substitute. A lot of petti- 
coats worn together are worse, because they have so 
many belts. A flannel chemilette, and outside of that 
another made of muslin or cotton flannel, one short, 
scant cotton or flannel skirt, to be changed weekly 
for the wash, and over that a warm balmoral or some 
other woolen material, made into an outside petti- 
toat—each buttoned to the underwaist—will be an 
all-sufficient supply of warm underclothing. The 
warmth will be more evenly distributed over the 
body, and be light at the same time, which are two 
very important ends to gain. It used to be thought 
that a quilt must be worn to give a full appearance to 
the top of the skirts, or, in other words, to the abdo- 
men and back, but of late years fashion decrees a 
slenderer appearance. Nature, if allowed to grow free, 
will develop all the fullness needful to a well-pro- 
portioned form; and fashion should and does at 
SKIRTS. 92 
FOR GIRLS. 
present, sanction but few skirts, and they, even, gored 
at the top. “One evening,” relates a friend, 
“ twenty years ago, to cover my imagined lankness, 
I donned eleven skirts, two of them quilts, and ap- 
peared at a party. In the dressing-room the girls 
told me I looked splendidly, and I thought so too. 
It is my devout belief that my subsequent inferiority 
to the rising college student, by whose side I dragged 
myself that evening, is due to my weight of petticoats 
more than to any other five causes. There is not a 
word of excuse to be offered ; I was an unmitigated 
ninny. Heaven speed the day when such ninnies 
shall be enlightened or ostracised.” It is said that 
fashion repeats itself once in about so many years. 
May fortune prevent that style from ever coming 
round again, and keep it always as reasonable in the 
line of underskirts as now (1882). 
should be cut half off, and this though it may cause 
the arch of the foot to seem low, will not make it 
really so. A girl who takes pride in a well-shaped foot, 
and wears high heels thinking to deceive the observ- 
er, deceives only herself. For one who really cares to 
stop and examine the shape of her foot, and who 
understands the law of proportion, never makes a mis- 
take here. These high heels throw the body too fai 
forward, of course disturbing the equilibrium of all the 
organs, the womb with the others, and so while a girl 
loses nothing, in the estimation of those whose good 
opinion is worth having, by wearing properly-shaped 
HIGH HEELS HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
93 
heels, she will render herself less liable to have a uterine 
prolapsus, corns, and bunions. Merchants will take 
off as much of the shoe heel as may be desired, if so 
requested at the time a purchase is made. 
THE OUTSIDE DRESS. 
It now remains to speak of the outer garments. 
The dress is liable still to be so fitted, with all this 
change beneath, as to wholly counteract all the good 
intended to be derived from it, unless one has for a 
guiding principle the firm determination to give full 
play and room for all the organs in the body. There 
are fortunately a great many different modes, all 
equally fashionable, and some of them less objection- 
able than the rest. The close-fitting basque that 
looks well only if tight, the street-train, the heavily- 
trimmed overskirt may be omitted forever from the 
toilet without exciting the unfavorable notice of the 
fashionable world. The Gabrielle pattern may be 
cut over into a healthful and modish suit, making it 
narrower in some of the gores and omitting the train. 
It answers well for a house dress made of calico or 
gingham, and for the street, made of alpaca, cash- 
mere, or silk, with a half-fitting polonaise of the same 
or a different material superadded. Some would pre- 
fer a single skirt with some form of loose sacque, of 
which there is an infinite variety of pretty styles and 
trimming; others might choose to add an overskirt. 
Then there are plaited and yoked waists sometimes 
in style for young ladies. The trimming of skirts 
should not be multitudinous and heavy. The richer 
the material the less trimming is required. 94 
FOR GIRLS. 
It is a good plan to have a pair of these on hand, 
patterns of which may be obtained at the fashion es- 
tablishments. They may even be lengthened into 
over-drawers. These are to be put on in the winter 
when going out for a long cold ride, or to attend 
evening meetings and lectures in halls proverbially 
cold—as most of them are; or to wear whenever one 
is not certain of spending a length of time in a com- 
fortable temperature. 
LEGGINS. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
Now and then fashion may take a freak to adopt 
some style of outside gear that one must wear, or be 
strongly marked as odd in not wearing it. But even 
in this we may often favor ourselves by choosing ma- 
terial that is more healthful than some other. Foi 
instance: when fashion demands bustles, we car 
choose those which are light and cool, made of wire 
or steel—being sure to suspend them from the 
shoulders; instead of those made of paper or stuffed 
with hair or cotton, so heavy and heating, and resting 
upon the back and hips. 
The padding of the bust is also subject to choice 
in selection, as has been explained in another place. 
We can make selection for outer garments of those 
colors which are the most healthful. Black is the 
most unwholesome color that can be worn. It is 
warm in the sunlight, because it draws and absorbs 
the sun’s rays, but cold in the absence of the sun. It 
is nearly the same as being in a dark room when HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
95 
dressed in black. It is not so much the heat 
of the sun as its light that we wish to secure, for we 
can make up for the former by increase of clothing. 
The light colors are warmer in cold days and cooler 
in hot days, for they reflect heat and transmit light. 
The following is a description of an experiment once 
tried with four different-colored pieces of cotton cloth 
spread upon the grass in May. White, black, yellow, 
and green were the colors, spread side by side, fast- 
ened with pegs, and allowed to stay a month. The 
latter two pieces were faded nearly white. Under 
the black, the grass was either dead or yellow, like 
that under a board or rock; while, under the white, 
it was growing finely—green and fresh as ever. Ma/ 
we not learn an important lesson? 
The clothing should be equally distributed over 
the body. This point is of infinite importance. It 
seems so plain, that the allusion made to it in the 
page on skirts might be thought sufficient. Much 
has been written on the subject, yet observation 
shows there is still need of talking it up. Those 
parts of the body which nature provides with fat and 
muscle need less extra covering than those in which 
bones and nerves lie near the surface. The ankles 
and wrists, then, ought to be protected more than 
the top of the head and small of the back. The 
head needs rather to be kept cool. “ Keep the head 
cool and the feet warm ” is the true philosophy, which 
is oftener reversed than otherwise, the despot Fashion 
decreeing a mass of false hair on the head and thin 
shoes on the feet. FOR GIRLS. 
The spine should be well protected. We see here 
the absurdity of supposing that if the head is covered 
when we are doing short outdoor errands it is suffi- 
cient. The back should be covered as well; and if only 
one can be covered, let it by all means be the spine. 
I should not advise one who has always worn only a 
bonnet when running on errands in the back-yard to 
leave it off suddenly in the middle of winter; but if a 
person should begin in the fall of the year to make 
these little trips with bare head, and shoulders pro- 
tected, she could go out in the coldest day without 
harm, but the spine can never get accustomed to be- 
ing chilled, and many a cold will be the result of its 
constant exposure. 
Nubias or tippets should never be worn over the 
ears in winter, nor the throat bundled; that is. for 
constant wear. They may be used occasionally, for 
a day or two during some severe cold snap, or for a 
long cold ride. A great deal of sore throat and gather- 
ings in the head and ears are caused by dressing them 
daily in this way, making them so tender that acci- 
dental exposure when uncovered will inevitably pro- 
duce disease. 
A sack or shawl or some extra over-garment should 
be always at hand summer and winter, to throw over 
the shoulders and back when one is attacked with a 
feeling of chilliness. 
Chilliness is nature’s warning that the insensible 
perspiration of the body is being checked and thrown 
inward upon the vitals, instead of passing off through 
the pores of the skin; it is dangerous to allow one’s HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
self to sit or stand and bear it because it would look 
fussy or foolish to get the extra garment. Ma* v in- 
stances of fever and bowel complaint as well as t vo- 
thirds of all colds could be warded off by attention to 
this one thing, as experiment will prove to one who 
takes cold easily. The other third of all colds arise 
from a low state of vitality in the system, with which 
dress has less direct, though always an indirect, influ 
ence. 
The pride in having small feet, in which so many 
indulge, may be an innocent one, until it is carried so 
far as to prevent dressing the feet warmly in winter, 
when it becomes absolutely wicked. 
Many girls have undertaken to wear different 
articles of the reform dress separately, retaining all 
the remainder unchanged. This does not work well, 
because that one garment would not be in harmony 
with the rest of the dress, and the result often is 
a return to the old style with prejudice against the 
new one. The better way is to change altogether, 
and be sure that you have a pattern that properly 
fits yourself, and not put on something made for 
another individual “just to see how I shall like it.” 
You will be almost sure not to like it, and to blame 
the style instead of the misfit. I know a girl who 
will be always, I am afraid, an enemy to the chemilette, 
because she made a suit after a pattern belonging to 
a much smaller' person, without succeeding well in 
enlarging it. It pulled in one place, drew in another, 
and tore in still another. She now declares it is the 
most “ horrid thing ” she ever had on. ROR GIRLS. 
Then it is very frequently the case that girls take 
off their corset and wear their clothing loose for a 
day or two; at the end of that time declaring em- 
phatically, “ Well, I can’t wear my clothes loose. 
Say what you please, I feel as though I should fall 
all to pieces. I’ve tried it. I’m obliged to have 
stays to keep me up.” At first, when I heard this 
complaint, I thought it was all nonsense, and had no 
patience with such an excuse, until I heard the follow- 
ing story related by a doctor’s wife: 
A stout, healthy German girl came over to 
America, and hired out to do housework. Of course 
she soon began to ape the puny, delicate, native girls 
in dress, bought a corset, and learned the art of lacing. 
She would draw the strings as tight as she could with 
her hands, then put them over the bedpost and 
tighten them still more, after the most approved 
method. For fear she might lose some of this 
acquired smallness during the night she wore it to 
bed, and as she put it on under all her clothing 
did not touch it except to tighten the strings as 
she grew smaller. I was not informed whether she 
changed it for the wash or not. In a very few 
months her health began to fail. (Strange, wasn’t it? 
The climate didn’t agree with her, some thought). 
Soon the marked symptoms of consumption set in, 
and after a while she was confined to her bed, when 
my friend’s husband was called to prescribe for her. 
Her darling corset still girted her wasting frame until 
she became too weak to change her linen without 
help, when it was discovered by her attendant, wh« HOW WE SHOULD DRESS. 
told the doctor. He ordered it taken off, which was 
done. This at once threw the girl into the most acute 
suffering. She screamed with pain and could not be 
eased and they were obliged to put it on again. Several 
attempts were afterward made to take it off, but with 
like results; and soon after, the girl died with her 
corset on, a martyr to fashion. Then a post mortem 
examination revealed the awful fact that the ribs 
were imbedded in the inflamed and suppurated lungs. 
The historian tells us that infants undergoing the 
head-flattening process among the flat-head Indian., 
give no indication of suffering except when the board 
is removed, and then they cry as if in distress, onlp 
becoming quiet when the board is replaced. Some 
times a very sore boil will feel easy while a finger iu 
pressed upon it; but when the finger is removed, the 
pain becomes more intense than ever for a few 
minutes. 
Now, we may better understand the suffering of 
the sick girl, when attempts were made to remove 
her stays. The inward pressure upon the ribs caused 
by the corset had gradually become second nature to 
her lungs, and as these lost their natural elasticity 
by disease, rested for artificial support upon them. 
When the whalebone and steel upon which the ribs 
had in turn learned to lean were suddenly removed 
the sore lungs fell with the relieved ribs, and caused 
the pain. The corset first prevented the air from 
getting into the most minute air-cells in the lower 
part of the lungs, rendering them an easy prey to the 
disease, which extended very soon to the whole lung. FOR GIRLS. 
This incident is not exaggerated in any particular; it 
rather, is not painted in half the horrible colors it 
deserves. 
It is not mere pretence, then, that those who have 
worn corsets for some time do not feel comfortable 
without them. The way for such to get rid of them 
is to loosen the strings gradually. Do not try to 
take them off all at once, if it is too uncomfortable to 
go without them, though many girls would rather 
bear with the unpleasant feelings a little while than 
to make frequent changes in belts and waists. 
There are many bad habits which it is better to 
remove by degrees than to drop suddenly. CHAPTER VII. 
BESIDES THE DRESS. 
In this chapter we will consider other causes of 
prolapsus uteri besides bad habits in dress. Girls 
may wear their clothing just right, yet from want of 
knowledge break some other laws of health which 
will induce these diseases. One of the most common 
ways of breaking down the health comes through in- 
dulging in 
VIOLENT, EXTREME, AND UNUSUAL EXERCISE. 
I. Hecny Lifting 
comes under this head. A girl, with whom I am 
well acquainted, was once helping an old man to lift 
a stove. He was rather stupid and did not work to 
suit her, so she just gave one lift alone. Instantly 
something snapped in her back, so it seemed to her 
making a noise so loud as to be heard. (He prob- 
ably thought it a whalebone). Since that time, 
seven years ago, she has not seen a well day. 
Another girl wanted to have a ten-gallon keg full 
of syrup taken out of a room she was scrubbing. 
Being somewhat provoked because her brother would 102 
FOR GIRLS. 
not stop then to do it, she carried it out herself, and 
immediately felt something give way near her 
stomach. From this act she dated sufferings to 
which she was ever afterward subject. Young nurse 
girls should never lift and carry around heavy 
children. 
2. Running. 
The ovaries (7 in Fig. III.), to which attention has 
already been called, are subject to a variety of dis- 
eases. Hundreds of women and girls, little girls, too, 
have experienced sideache right in that spot, gener- 
ally on the left side. Sometimes people have side- 
ache in the chest, but this particular sideache in the 
ovary is all we will speak about here. Running too 
rar and too long will almost always produce it, be- 
cause the womb is jolted a little out of place, and 
draws on the ligament which attaches the ovary to 
ft, and consequently pulls down upon the ovary, 
which, situated quite near the surface of the abdomen 
where the nerves are most sensitive, feels the strain 
instead of the womb, which lies farther within. If any 
mother after reading this page hears her little daughter 
complain of sideache, let her inquire where the side- 
ache is, and if it is in that place, instead of saying to 
her, “ Never mind, you will get over it soon,” require 
her to lie down, or at least sit down, until the pain is 
over. This position and rest will allow the womb to 
get back to its place, when the pain will cease. A great 
many little girls run all the way to school, their whole 
nervous systems wrought up to—as we might say— 
boiling point, from fear of being tardy. A very injuri BESIDES THE DRESS. 
103 
ous proceeding. Mothers should see to it that their 
girls start in time to prevent this, instead of keeping 
them back till the last minute, saying when the little 
one expresses a fear of being late: “Well, you can 
run.” The recupeiative power of most children is 
wonderful, and they will get over these sideaches for 
a good many years, without heeding the precaution 
to require rest when they have them, or, without try- 
ing to prevent them ; but the ligaments become weak- 
ened by every attack, and after a while the pain will 
recur on less provocation than violent running, or the 
ovaries will become inflamed, givingconstant pain and 
sometimes lead to the terrible ovarian tumor. 
3. Jumping the Rope 
too long at a time is a frequent cause of this ovarian 
fideache, and should either not be allowed by parents 
■ nd teachers, or watched very carefully. 
4. Riding 
over rough ground in wagons without springs, especi- 
ally over the “ hind wheels,” and when the horses are 
driven at high speed, will produce this sideache. This 
sort of riding is known principally in country places 
in the West. But girls that have such sideaches 
should not be allowed to subject themselves to it. 
The pain sometimes produced in this way is excruci- 
ating, with a very great and weakening strain on the 
ligaments. The young girls are most generally seated 
over the back wheels when the wagon is full. Grown 
women and men had better be put there instead. FOR GIRLS. 
I hope now, after reading of the danger of lifting, 
running, etc., my readers will not rush to the other 
extreme. Lifting, running, jumping the rope, and 
riding are excellent exercise. The danger in them 
lies in their being carried to extreme, or made unusu- 
ally violent. Mothers should encourage their children 
to lift and to run, but always caution them not to do 
too much; tell them why, and try to show them how 
they may know when to stop. Jumping the rope is 
only likely to become an injurious play when the chi) 
dren try to see who can jump the longest withou 
stopping, counting up to too or 200 meantime. But 
if children persist in carrying their ambition too far, 
then the play should be forbidden. 
5. Running Up and Down Stairs 
Is liable to the same objections and abuses. And 
when any of these excesses are practiced in clothing 
which hangs unsupported by the shoulders, directly 
pressing upon the abdomen and hips, and also in 
clothing which is tight, these sufferings are three 
times as likely to occur as when the dress is properly 
adjusted. Many girls imagine that the reason their 
health failed was because at boarding-school they 
were obliged to go up and down so many flights of 
stairs. If they had added : in laced corsets and skirts 
fastened round their hips, the statement would more 
likely be true. Boys run up and down stairs without 
harm; girls ought to do so, and if their dress was as 
loose and as evenly distributed over the body as that 
of boys, they could. Indeed it is more frequently the BESIDES THE DRESS. 
dress than the lack of strength which forbids girls from 
participating in exercises which render boys so ro- 
bust. By both boys and girls the ability to engage in 
severe and protracted exercise should be acquired by 
constant practice, increasing gradually in severity, but 
never undertaken spasmodically. 
daily, for weeks in succession, is another way by which 
prolapsus uteri may be produced. The preceding 
paragraph advising that the ability to engage in severe 
and protracted exercise should be acquired gradually 
means within the bounds of certain limits, i. e., keep- 
ing within the inherent strength possessed by the per- 
son. Such exercise is healthful and strengthening 
but to go beyond the strength is sickening and de 
bilitating. We will now consider some of the most 
common ways of doing this. 
GOING BEYOND THE STRENGTH 
I. Ambition 
leads many girls to go beyond their strength. The 
work which mothers require their girls to perform 
while at home seldom hurts them—is good for them 
But when girls get away from home they will often do 
or themselves what they do not do for their mothers. 
Among this class of girls are those who are anxious 
to get an education. These, by working for their 
board or by boarding themselves, doing their own 
sewing, and studying out of school hours besides, 
will often encroach on vitality that belongs to future 
years. Another class are those who are learning a FOR GIRLS. 
rade. These often deprive themselves of all physi- 
cal exercise, strain every nerve to get through appren- 
ticeship and set up business for themselves. When 
that time arrives the temptation to overdo becomes 
still greater, because then they get into a hurry to 
make money, or into a worry to please the public and 
secure custom. So besides depriving themselves of 
needful exercise, they often deprive themselves of 
needful sleep. Another class are housekeepers. House- 
cleaning time furnishes a good opportunity for going 
neyond the strength. Instead of taking it by easy 
stages, they will rush it through, doing in three days 
v/hat would, if timed according to the strength, re- 
quire six. The result is, often, a doctor’s bill to pay. 
t have known servant-girls to work hard in the kitch- 
en all day, which would not hurt them in the least 
If they rested afterward ; but instead of that, at least 
once a week, they would go to a ball and dance all 
night. 
Teachers furnish another and a large class of those 
who go beyond their strength daily, spurred on by 
ambition. There can scarcely be found a more ex- 
hausting occupation than teaching. And it is often 
more than a temptation, even a positive necessity 
that the teacher do too much. Teachers should 
sleep all they can. Such a thing as a faithful teacher 
sleeping too much is next to impossible. They 
should make it a point to sleep all they can. Teachers 
should be careful about taking too much physical ex- 
ercise, unless, indeed, their schools are small and easy. 
The notion prevails extensively that teaching being BESIDES THE DRESS. 
a sedentary employment, therefore long walks and 
much exercise, out of school hours, is desirable 
Some may be so constituted and so situated as to 
receive benefit by such a course, but generally the 
kind of exercise which a teacher needs is something 
that, without calling the nerves to still farther strain, 
gives recreation, relaxation, pleasure; like light, face- 
tious reading, merry conversation, jolly company, 
music (though I should not advise running the organ 
pedals long at a time when tired), etc.; anything 
which relieves the mind of school anxieties without 
taxing the system. Recreation rather than down- 
right exercise is what the teacher needs. Of course 
I do not mean to take the very utmost extreme, and 
.vay no exercise. It is the right kind of exercise to 
v/hich I would call attention. I dwell upon this 
particularly because so many young girls enter the 
teachers’ ranks invariably to break down after a few 
years, that might longer retain health if they would 
observe these two precautions in regard to sleep and 
recreation. 
is one way of going beyond the strength with others 
as well as teachers. A great many physicians make 
a mistake in this thing, advising their patients to walk 
for exercise when they would do them greater service 
by advising them to use the chest and arms for exer- 
cise. I know of nothing more insipid than walking 
for the sake of walking, or, in other words, taking set 
walks for the health. If united to this object, there is 
2. Too much walking 108 
FOR GIRLS. 
another ; as, going to see a friend, going on errands 
of benevolence, searching for botanical or other speci- 
mens, or walking with pleasant company; then, if 
one’s strength has not been previously overtaxed, a 
walk will be beneficial. Milliners, dressmakers, book- 
keepers, and those who sit all day long, would be 
greatly profited in this way. But clerks, teachers, 
and those who feel exhausted after a day’s work, may 
be still further wearied instead of refreshed, and all 
classes should contrive to find some way of calling 
the muscles of the upper extremities into action. The 
health-lift, and some of the gymnastic exercises, are 
good for this. The tendency of a great deal of ex • 
haustive exercise is to draw the muscles and internail 
organs downward. This is why too much walking ij 
objectionable. The womb especially tends to fah 
Calling the arms and chest into action counteract 
this tendency. It draws upward, and helps better 
than anything else to bring the womb to its place 
when it has prolapsed ; strengthens the ligaments so 
that it will remain in place and prevent prolapsus if it 
has never occurred. No one should depend wholly 
upon walking for exercise, but alternate k with arm 
exercise. 
3. Standing on the Feet 
all day is very injurious for women, because it keeps 
one set of muscles and nerves upon constant strain, 
and gives other sets no chance for exercise. I can 
not but pronounce it barbarous in merchants not to 
allow their lady clerks to sit while waiting for custom- BESIDES THE DRESS. 
109 
ers to come in. Teachers should sit a part of the day. 
It is this standing in one position which makes iron- 
ing the most tiresome part of housekeeping, though 
it in this case seldom becomes injurious because not 
long continued. 
A TEST. 
How shall I know when I have gone beyond my 
strength ? is a question which might be asked with a 
great deal of propriety. No specific rule can be laid 
down that can apply to every person and every case, 
for work and exercise that would weary one, would 
only be sport for another. To say we should not 
allow ourselves to become fatigued would be poor 
philosophy, because fatigue is promotive of health. 
“ How good it does seem to go to bed tired,” said a 
girl to me once; ‘‘to feel that one has accomplished 
something through the day. My life now is so much 
more satisfactory than it used to be: when all 1 had 
to do was to make my bed, sew a little, play on the 
piano—l love music, but one can not play all day—- 
read, but one can’t read all the time—paint, write, 
embroider—anything to pass away time. How good 
it does seem to go to bed tired.” I could not help 
thinking while she spoke of many another girl who 
doubtless at that moment were wishing that she 
“might go to bed once in a while without being ah 
tired out.” • 
Some people, because the text-book says that exer- 
cise is indispensable to health, draw the inference that 
the more we walk, the more work we do, the more FOR GIRLS. 
exercise we take, the healthier we shall be. The\ 
seem to forget that the text-book also says: “ The 
muscles should be used and then restedTo be often 
downright tired is healthful, but to feel every night 
dispirited, dragged out; to feel when one has once 
sat down as though she could never rise again, and as 
though she cared little whether or not she ever did ; 
to rise in the morning still with a feeling of weariness; 
to be unable to move out of just such a pace, as run- 
ning down-stairs, or the distance of a block without 
causing lameness for two days afterward, then one has 
gone too far; beyond her strength. She is using up 
nervous force faster than the system can manufacture it. 
The result will soon be nervous prostration. The 
nerves will let down their tone; they will lose their 
power of recuperation, and the uterus will be one of 
the first organs to suffer, because the ligaments will 
have no strength, and the womb itself no elasticity. 
Chapters 111. and IV. give an account of sufferings 
that will follow. 
Every one must judge for herself how much she 
can do, always stopping short of a feeling of being 
“ all give out.” If teachers and others would apply 
this test they could judge for themselves whether 
a walk after school, working in the garden, or any 
other physical exercise, is the sort they need in 
their particular case, and how much. All could know 
how far to run, how much to jump the rope, how 
much to run up and down stairs, how heavy weights 
to lift, how long to stand in one position, how much 
work to do, and so forth. No one need be afraid of BESIDES THE DRESS. 
being tired, real tired, but to be “all used up,” “tired 
to death,” every day for weeks, is very wrong. 
To unite bad habits in dress with too much exer- 
cise, doubles the danger. Women would not get tired 
so soon if they would dress properly. A part of their 
strength is used in struggling against the weight and 
tightness of their clothing, though with proper dress 
and wrong ways of exercising female difficulties may be 
produced. “ Tired to death ” is a common expression, 
used by many persons thoughtlessly, when, in fact, 
at the time they may simply be a good, healthy tired. 
I linger upon this point, fearing that the ones I would 
like to assist will think I do not mean them. Am- 
bitious, earnest, patient souls, straining every nerve 
to do all they can in the world, adopting the (for them) 
wicked motto, “ It is better to wear out than to rust 
out.” Besides a full week of secular work, attending 
church and teaching in one or two Sunday-schools on 
the day of rest. Such ought to remember that in this 
way they are rendering themselves liable to be laid up 
—a burden to friends and a care for others—to linger- 
ing invalidism. They have no right to impose such 
ill health upon others, which a judicious observance of 
the laws of exercise and rest would prevent. To labor 
all we can consistently with the laws of health is all 
we shall be required to answer for. The Lord will 
look after what we can not do. The trouble with such 
too often is, that they overdo before they are aware 
of it; still, such, if put upon the right track, will, with 
a little observation, learn to time their efforts with 
physical ability. 112 
FOR GIRLS. 
I have also lingered upon this point fearing that 
some will think I mean them when I do not. A great 
many people think they are working themselves to 
death and deplore the injustice of fate for making 
them work too hard, when in reality they could do a 
great deal more with decided benefit. There is more 
danger that such may think I have intended the fore- 
going remarks for them than that the ones whom I 
really would like to warn and assist will be willing to 
admit that they are overworking. 
TOO INACTIVE A LIFE 
renders women and girls subject to prolapsus uteri. 
This is the other extreme. Where one gets tired to 
death with work, five get tired “ doing nothing,” that 
is, nothing useful, satisfactory to themselves or any- 
body else. This is a source of female difficulties. 
Through another method the same result is reached. 
The blacksmith who would keep his arm in a sling 
day and night for a week, would find it as weak and 
lame as the blacksmith who should use his arm day 
and night for a week, without stopping a moment to 
rest. Use wears anything out. A broom, a carpet, 
a shoe, a coat by use loses some of its particles. A 
muscle, a bone, a nerve by use loses some of its parti- 
cles. Unless they are used, these particles remain 
stationary and get old and flabby, and lose their vigor. 
Fresh, new particles are more healthful and desirable 
than stagnant ones. Spry, quick, vigorous action uses 
up, wears out, displaces particles already ripe for use, 
and therefore space is created for fresh matter to be BESIDES THE DRESS. 
deposited where the old had been. If the waste goes 
on rapidly, and the needed rest and sleep are allowed 
in order that repairs may succeed to waste, the replac- 
ing of new particles will take place rapidly, and vigor 
and elasticity will be the result. 
If the movements of the individual are slow and 
aimless and scant, the waste will be correspondingly 
imperfect. The supply will correspond to this in turn 
and be meager and feeble. Flabbiness, weakness, dull- 
ness will be the physical and mental manifestations. 
The unused fibers will give a sense of weight and 
weariness, so that “ tired doing nothing ” is a most ap- 
propriate description of the facts in this case. If, on 
the one hand, the vigorous action is carried so far as to 
prevent rest and sleep, the newly manufactured parti 
cles can get no chance to set, to build up and on ; an} 
more than one can easily put a delicate hook upon a 
swiftly swinging pendulum. Stop the pendulum, and 
it can be put on. So stop the active mind and body 
when fatigue indicates that old paticles are worn out. 
Lie down and sleep, and busy nature will load up with 
a fresh set. If one does not sleep, but continues the 
exertion past the point of fatigue, then only weakness 
and exhaustion will be the result. 
The same result precisely occurs when, on the other 
hand, the old particles of matter remain to get stag- 
nant from want of agitation and action, and the acci- 
dental use of that word stagnant, carries me at once 
to an apt illustration: that of a stagnant pond of 
water. Running streams never get stagnant. A stag- 
nant body and mind become clogged and weakened  FOR GIRLS. 
debilitated and sick, and the uterus of such a woman 
is affected likewise, and oftentimes becomes diseased, 
ulcerated, or cancerous perhaps ; and if she wears her 
clothing wrong, or if obliged to make hasty exertion, 
as from accident or fire or fright, ten to one she will 
be prostrated with sudden prolapsus. 
I must stop here to beg of any mother chancing to 
read this, who having a child ordinarily and especially 
more than ordinarily active, never to awaken it in the 
morning; never. Because, in a growing child, the 
work of construction as well as reconstruction is going 
forward during the hours of sleep. Put the child to 
bed early, nature will do the rest. 
Also, I would urge upon mothers the duty they 
owe to their daughters, to see that they have suffi- 
cient and proper exercise previous to and during the 
age of puberty. Good, round, sound, hard work is far 
less injurious than a lazy, aimless, do-nothing and 
good-for-nothing life, spent indoors, over books and 
embroidery. The foundation for long life, healthy life, 
vigorous manifestations, sparkling, animated manners, 
sweetness of disposition, spring and “ get up,” is grand, 
solid, protracted physical culture. The order of nat- 
ure is first the body, then the mind. Give the physi- 
cal a chance in youth—there will never be another op- 
portunity. 
If I could, I would induce every mother to take 
her girls into the kitchen. There is no other place so 
well calculated to give them the right kind of exer- 
cise. I would have them every week do such a part of 
the housework ; such a part of the washing and iron- BESIDES THE DRESS. 
ing, cooking, dish-washing, sweeping, lifting, making 
beds, etc., etc.; on the same principle that leads some 
parents to send their boys on to a farm for the spring 
and summer of two or three years, at about the age 
of fourteen, and see that they work there, too, just on 
purpose that their frames and muscles as they set for 
life, may set strong and vigorous. Allow the body all 
the foundation it can have during the years of devel- 
opment, and then the mind can be worked and drawn 
on, ad libitum, without harm in after years. 
1 want to say a word in praise of, as a means of health, 
that much-despised and dreaded part of the house- 
work done in the wash-tub. If I should be required 
to choose one part of the housework only for exercise, 
as a health measure I should by all means choose to 
do the washing. It gives variety of motion—for that 
reason it excels ironing—it gives action of the chest 
and arms, and quick, vigorous motion of all the mus- 
i les. It makes one tired, but that, if not carried to 
excess, is desirable. It cleanses the hands and softens 
them. Those who handle slates, books, chalk, ink, 
brooms, fuel, or do any work that keeps the hands out 
of water, will find that an hour or two of rubbing at 
the wash-tub will cleanse and soften them as nothing 
else will. 
Care should be taken to dry the hands before going 
out of doors in raw, windy weather, or else they will 
chap. The only complaint that seems at all plausible 
against washing is, that it makes the back ache. But 
it is not the work which makes it ache. It is the 
position. Some put their tubs on benches so low that FOR GIRLS. 
they are obliged to stoop entirely too far down to 
reach them. It is this which makes the back ache. 
The tubs should be so high that but little bending is 
required, and that little easy and natural. Some say 
that the stooping posture is the only one which allows 
‘‘ purchase ” enough to get the dirt out of the clothes. 
A little practice would soon convince them of the 
error of this notion. The tight dress and weight on 
the hips doubtless has much to do with the backache? 
as well as the position. It would be well if some oi 
the noted health and strength possessed by profes 
sional washerwomen could be obtained by the delicate 
daughters of wealth and ease, and in the same way. 
Girls should never be kept in the kitchen all day, 
but should be sent out of doors to play a great deal. 
Should be kept as merry and happy as possible at all 
times, particularly when about the work. The house- 
work that they may be required to do, if considered as 
a stint, and positively required to be well done, will 
stimulate to quickness of motion, so desirable, and 
will be, although sometimes irksome, still performed 
cheerfully, if the child knows it must be done, and 
done well, after which a play-time comes. Exercise 
is of little account unless the heart and vim are in it. 
An unpleasant task if useful and proper will, if per- 
sisted in, soon become comparatively pleasant and 
beneficial. 
There will doubtless be among my readers mothers 
who will not send their daughters into the kitchen 
The next best thing for them to do is to provide some 
sort of exercise which shall call the muscles of the BESIDES THE DRESS. 
mns and chest into use. And I hope that all listless, 
aimless young ladies among my readers for the sake 
of their own health and happiness will stir about and 
do something—do something useful. If at first it 
seems unpleasant, no matter, it will seem different 
after a while, and you will “ feel so much better ” 
physically and mentally that you will be thankful 
that you made the effort. 
Here I will give a bit of my own experience, hop- 
ing that it will be of practical service to somebody. 
After teaching school eight years in succession, ten 
months in each year, four years of that time “ keeping 
bach ” that a younger sister might attend school ; do- 
ing a large part of our sewing ; taking music lessons; 
reviewing studies for yearly examinations; attending 
evening meetings, Sunday-schools, socials, etc.; all 
crowded in partly from a sense of duty; boarding a 
mile from school; subjected to exposure and nervous 
taxation from inconvenient, ill - constructed, over- 
crowded school-houses ; my health completely failed. 
Nervous prostration and female ailments combined. I 
was determined to take no medicines for cure, knowing 
that I needed rest and change first, then to contrive 
some way to recruit my strength. I was all nerve, 
and had no muscular base for them to build upon ; 
was so reduced, that if I worked or thought steadily 
upon any subject for two hours, it always brought on 
a nervous headache; any unusual excitement or 
anxiety did the same thing. I could not sweep a 
room, ride in a buggy very far, or walk a short dis- 
tance without headache. Finally it came about that 118 
FOR GIRLS. 
if I did not sleep at a certain time every day, ahead- 
ache came on which lasted the remainder of the day. 
One whole summer I did nothing but rest and sleep. 
Then, as the weather grew colder, found that I felt a 
little stronger, some days taking no nap through the 
day, finally gomg without altogether. I used my 
strength gradually as it returned, thus gaining more, 
and believing that I had made a mistake in not exer- 
cising my chest and arms more, and walking less, 
resolved to go into the kitchen and at the washtub, 
which I did. I determined to stay there until 1 was 
able to accomplish a hard day’s work without harm, 
accustoming myself to it by degrees. My expecta- 
tions of the result did not fail me. The first year mj’ 
strength slowly increased, but I did not gain an 
ounce in weight. The second year I began to weigh 
more, and rapidly from 105 pounds came up to 125, 
which from my stature and build was my normal 
weight. In two years my health and strength had re- 
turned. Meantime other teachers were breaking down, 
and I had an opportunity of observing the result of 
the various plans which they pursued to regain health. 
Some took a course of medicine; some of baths ; 
some went to the mountains or to some other climate. 
1 did housework for my health, and recovered faster 
than any of them. As will be seen, therefore, I have 
based my advice to other girls upon personal experi- 
ence and observation, and not upon a fine-spun 
theory. I was myself led to try this course by the 
teachings of others whose ideas I thus proved to be 
true. BESIDES THE DRESS. 
SLEEPING UPON HIGH PILLOWS 
is another way of inducing prolapsus uteri, or of in- 
creasing it, and preventing a cure where one is under 
taken. The pillow should be no higher than the 
shoulder is wide from the neck out; many prefer to 
sleep with no pillow at all* The level position allows 
the intestines and organs above to press their weight 
in some other direction, than as, through the day, 
upon the uterine apparatus, thus allowing the womb 
to come up to its place or to tend in that directior 
This is a valuable aid in perfecting a cure, and also is 
a preventive measure. 
A CONSTANT STOOPING POSTURE 
is, for the same reasons, a bad habit to contract. Falls 
will often produce prolapsus uteri. An acquaintance 
of mine, when she was a little girl, fell down-stairs. 
She did not receive any injury that was supposed to 
be worth noticing at the time, any more than to get 
a smart bump on the head. She had a constant side- 
ache, however, for some time afterward, which gradu- 
ally wore away, but years later it was found that an 
obstinate prolapsus of long standing, undoubtedly 
dating back to that fall, was the cause of much peri- 
odical suffering during the years of puberty. The 
sideache experienced after the fall was located in the 
ovary, caused by an acute prolapsus, resulting from 
the fall, and which in time came to be chronic; and 
as the new situation of these organs became second 
nature, that kind of pain ceased, but other troubles 
took its place. Sometimes the sudden jerk of a wagon FOR GIRLS. 
ovei rough places, rocks, or ditches, has produced this 
sideache, indicating prolapsus. Sometimes physi- 
cians suppose the individual to be suffering from in- 
flammation of the bowels or bilious colic, when the 
pain is, instead, caused by sudden uterine misplace- 
ment. 
I. throw out these suggestions that mothers may 
have an eye to the welfare of their young daughters 
in this direction. These sudden attacks are always 
easily cured by physicians who understand their busi- 
ness. In the absence of a doctor let a mother stand 
ner little girl on her head a minute; sometimes that 
will bring instant relief. Or, if too large for that, re- 
quire her to lie down with her feet and abdomen very 
much higher than her head. The pain attending sud- 
den prolapsus is excruciating and deathly, nearly or 
quite producing spasms. It does not always cause 
sideache, but sometimes a bearing-down sensation in 
front and around the rectum. Little girls as young 
a.s three years old and upward have been known to 
suffer with these things, though if properly dressed 
are not very liable to do so. The majority of those 
suffering from this trouble had it commence and con- 
tinue a long time with no pain at all, and often go 
through the whole list of consequences to other parts 
of the body or the mind without pain in the womb or 
its immediate vicinity. 
And now a few words in regard to the 
METHOD OF CURE. 
In the majority of cases it will cure itself, only give it BESIDES THE DRESS. 
121 
a chance. Proper exercise and rest, proper position 
day and night, proper food and dress is the prescrip- 
tion. In very bad cases where there is little muscular 
strength or nervous stimuli, a simple mechanical sup- 
port of a soft cotton ball, around which a thread is 
tied for easy removal, and which is inserted through 
a speculum with a stick or some other article about 
the size of a lead pencil, may give relief to bad head- 
aches and backaches, and worn with great comfort 
occasionally twenty-four hours at a time, until the 
natural strength returns. Pessaries and abdominal 
supporters for general use are justly voted by the fore- 
most physicians as abominations. 
I want here to warn all ladies against those doctors 
who will undertake to cure female diseases by local 
treatment alone; who make no inquiries, or give no 
directions about dress, exercise, etc. CHAPTER VIII. 
MENSTRUATION 
In a previous chapter we studied about some of the 
changes which took place in a girl’s physical struct- 
ure at the age of puberty. Turn again to the same 
engraving (Fig. III.), to which we then referred. 7, 
one of the ovaries, corresponds to the ovary of the 
flower, as described in text-books on botany. Like 
that, these ovaries are filled with little ovules. At the 
age of puberty these ovaries begin—as we have already 
learned—to expand, and the abdomen to enlarge, to 
make room for them. The ovules at the same time 
begin to grow, and each month one of them reached 
its full development, bursts, and is thrown out of the 
system. They are at full size very small indeed, be- 
ing no larger than the point of a pin. 
8, 8 represent finger-like extremities about as large 
as hairs, called fimbriae, or fringe, which reach down 
and grasp the bursted ovule, and convey it to the 
Fallopian tubes, 9, 9. The interior of these passages is 
covered with fine threads like hair, which point to- 
ward the womb. These little threads are constantly 
shrinking up and throwing themselves out, so that 
anything which lodges on them can not remain, but MENSTRUATION. 
is thrown downward toward the uterus. The Fallo- 
pian tubes likewise are in continual motion, contract- 
ing and expanding with a worm-like or wave-like 
movement, and always downward toward the womb 
Thus the ovule, which is taken up by the fimbrice, is 
carried to the tube and passes along that to the womb, 
which being hollow in the center, allows it still to go 
on through its mouth, where it enters the vagina and 
escapes through the vulva. 
The motion of the tubes and their thread-like cov- 
ering are a beautiful provision of nature to keep the 
parts in health. Otherwise the ovule might go the 
wrong way or lodge in some of the threads and 
remain, or some of the mucous discharges, in- 
stead of passing out of the womb and vagina, accu- 
mulate upon the ovary, and that become diseased, 
and infect with disease all the surrounding parts. As 
it is, if nature is undisturbed in her functions, it is nof 
possible for disease to take place in that way. Every- 
thing which enters the tubes from the end next to the 
ovary must pass on through them, and it is not possi- 
ble for anything to get into the tubes from the end 
next to the womb. But disease often attacks the 
tubes and the ovary. Sometimes the tubes become 
inflamed or paralyzed or thrown out of place ; in which 
case the contents will lodge and remain or pass the 
other way, or fail to act at all upon the ovules. And 
in this way often arise inflammation or dropsy of the 
ovaries, tumors, and abscesses. Here, again, we see the 
great danger of preventing the expansion of the hips 
by hanging skirts and other garments upon them ; the 124 
FOR GIRLS. 
dange; of wearing corset steels and of lacing; the 
danger of doing anything which causes prolapsus 
uteri. This is one way of producing paralysis of the 
tubes; the fallen womb not only straining and pull- 
ing the ligaments out of place, but straining and pull- 
ing and weakening the tubes, and rendering them un- 
able to perform their motions, and thus clear the sys- 
tem of impediments which nature intended should be 
thrown off in that way. 
We have :.ow described but one-half, and practically 
the most unimportanfhalf, of the process by which the 
ripened ovule is discharged from the system. It re- 
quires usually three or four days for this to take place, 
and it is always aided and accompanied with a dis- 
charge of blood. The blood as it were washes out 
the ovule. The tubes and ovaries are supposed to be- 
come congested, and the blood to rush up and to 
ooze through the parts, and thus accelerate the clear- 
ing of the passages. This part of the process is of 
great practical importance to girls. This is the great- 
est of all the changes which take place in their physi- 
cal structures at the age of puberty. It is this which 
separates girlhood from womanhood. Gradually, but 
surely, if nature has her own way, the girl will acquire 
the plump, full, well-proportioned form, physical vigor 
and endurance, mental strength and acumen, spark- 
ling attractiveness of animal spirits and cordiality of 
manner which matures into the grand stateliness, in 
tellectual ability, and personal loveliness of middle life. 
How important that nature should have her own way: 
plenty of expanding room about the hips if she has MEN STR UA TION. 
125 
her way; plenty of sleep she needs, as we saw in Chap- 
ter VII. ; plenty of exercise, as in Chapters V. and VII. 
This point of exercise is of great importance. He 
who would increase his talent must not hide it in a nap- 
kin, but put it to use, that it may grow. So the girl who 
begins to find that she can lift heavier articles (see Ch. 
V.) and to do many kinds of work more easily than ever 
before, and feels a disposition to jump, skip, and run, 
should use the newly-developing talent of strength it 
she would become still stronger. And while her mus- 
cles are growing and setting for life, make them set as 
deep in strength as possible. Over-exercise, however, 
should be carefully guarded against during all the years 
before she stops growing. It is far less injurious in 
mature life to overdo than at that age. Hold back the 
intellect if it seems more active in proportion than 
me body, although it is not necessary to restrain it 
altogether. The body dies at threescore years and ten, 
but the soul lives forever, and what it misses in this 
world it can make-up in the next. But the body can 
never make up in later life the stamina and caliber if 
fails to acquire in youth. 
This discharge of blood of which we have spoken 
is called the menses, the Latin word for month, from 
which is derived the term menstruation, which refers 
to the same thing. Catamenia means the same. 
Courses, monthly turns, spells, and periods are all 
words in common use for this function. With the 
majority of girls, the age at which this occurs is four 
teen and fifteen, though some are as young as eleven 
and some as old as eighteen, I believe there will be 126 
FOR GIRLS. 
found, where it occurs young, a correspondingly prema- 
ture condition of the whole person. The bodily frame 
may be unusually large for the age, though sometimes 
it is unusually small. But there is a certain maturity 
of manner and mind which indicates its approach; 
and, on the other hand, where it occurs later in life, 
there will be found a certain unripeness in both body 
and mind. It is better that it take place too late than 
too early, on the principle of “ Late ripe, late rotten,” 
and no forcing medicines or processes should ever be 
resorted to, unless disease or malformation be the re- 
tarding cause, and then only under the supervision of 
the physician. This occasion should be 
PAINLESS. 
Nature so intended it. In perfect health there is not 
the least symptom of its approach, nor is it attended 
with the smallest degree of unpleasant or painful 
sensations. This I know from personal experience, 
and from being told the experience of others. This I 
know from observing how in my own case and that 
of others, as the general health fails or improves, pain 
at this time increases or decreases. I suppose not one 
in one thousand can say they have always been free 
from suffering at this time, though every one ought 
to be able to say h, and would, were she otherwise in 
perfect health. Some, who are perfectly well for a 
few of the first years, afterward meet with a change 
in this respect, and grow gradually worse. Many are 
utterly prostrated, are obliged to take drugs—such as 
laudanum—to render themselves insensible to pain MENS TR UA TTON. 
127 
are sick a number of days before the flow commences, 
and feel very weak after it ceases. Sometimes the flow 
continues for a fortnight, and then after two weeks it 
comes on again. In the two weeks of respite, a con- 
tinual dread of the next spell, caused by a recollection 
of what they endured during the preceding period, 
makes life an almost insupportable burden. So almost 
universally is this experience attended with more or 
less suffering, that many—physicians included—sup- 
pose pain to be an unavoidable part of the function. 
The commonest signs that this period is near at hand 
nre pains in the small of the back, or a bearing-down 
sensation in the lower part of the bowels. Sometimes 
there will be no bodily suffering, but extreme nerv- 
ousness, wakefulness, irritability, or mental depression. 
The first digression from a state of complete health is 
accompanied with either a disturbance of the mental 
balance, or a feeling of physical weakness, and that it 
is more comfortable to sit than to move about for the 
first half day. The better the general health, the less 
noticeable difference in feeling between these days 
and any others, and it should be so little as not to 
deter one from going anywhere or doing anything she 
wishes. Also, if the health is good the menses will be 
REGULAR, 
returning with perfect precision once in about twenty- 
eight days. Regularity is a point to be secured. Some 
never know when to look for their courses, sometimes 
going without them for six weeks, then again but two 
or three. Some have them every three weeks instead 128 
FOR GIRLS. 
of four, and some regularly pass a few days over foui 
weeks. But if the general health is good and no suf- 
fering is experienced at the time, no notice should be 
taken of this, as long as good health, painlessness, 
and regularity are maintained. 
Where irregularity is an habitual condition, how- 
ever, the individual should consult some physician, 
if one can be found who does not rely on medicine 
alone, but who will give hygienic directions for bring- 
ing about a change in this state of affairs. 
Occasional irregularity may occur, which need 
cause no alarm, or resort to medication. Sometimes 
persons who are generally regular, may be thrown 
into intense mental excitement which will cause the 
menses to appear out of season. Great joy and un- 
expected happiness, severe disappointment, anxietyv 
fright, anger, or bad news, may do it. Overwork, 
producing exhaustion and fatigue, sometimes has the 
same effect. As much rest and quiet as it is possible 
to secure should be obtained, and no medicines what- 
ever used unless prescribed by a doctor. 
Should a day or two more or less than the usual 
number sometimes intervene, even a week, without 
any apparent cause, if the health remains as usual, 
it need excite little anxiety. It is only constant 
irregularity which should receive particular attention. 
The 
LENGTH OF TIME 
required to complete this discharge varies with dif- 
ferent persons—three or four days being the usual 
number. The quantity discharged also varies in the MENSTR UA TION. 
same way. Sometimes both quantity and time are 
too much, exhausting and prostrating the individual. 
Sometimes both are insufficient, and the system, being 
unrelieved from matter that should pass off, becomes 
diseased. 
The time and quantity required to keep one in 
health might make another sick, so that one can not 
judge from her own experience what another’s should 
be. The only test is to consider whether the general 
health is good; if it is, then the time and quantity 
ordinarily experienced is the normal condition for 
that individual, be it more or less than the usual rule. 
NAPKINS 
are almost universally worn at this time to protect 
the clothing as much as possible from becoming 
soiled. They are usually square, folded corner-wise 
into a narrow strip and worn between the limbs, 
fastened by the two remaining diagonal corners to 
some part of the clothing, back and front. Some 
button them on to belts, some fasten them by strings 
drawn through eyelet-holes made in the corners, but no 
arrangement should be tolerated for a moment which 
rests the weight on the hips. Like the other part 
of the clothing, it should be attached to something 
which carries the weight to the shoulders. 
Linen is the best material out of which to make 
napkins, being more easily cleansed than cotton. 
They should be, at least, one-half yard square, and a 
few inches larger for tall persons. In cleaning these 
articles they should never be plunged into hot water, 130 
for girls. 
as that will set the stains, but should first be put 
to soak in cold or tepid water a few hours before 
washing. 
In most of those cases where great suffering is a 
continual accompaniment of this function, it is caused 
by some misplacement of the uterus. (Turn to Figs. V. 
and VI.) When the body of the womb is bent upon its 
neck at right or acute angles, as seen in these figures, 
the internal passageway is often almost closed. Some- 
times this happens, the neck keeping its proper place, 
the body only getting out of position. Sometimes 
united to this position the whole organ will prolapse, 
in both cases stretching or cramping the tubes more 
or less. In this condition of the parts, what else 
could be expected but severe pain; the nerves of the 
passages becoming, as they must be, strained with 
the surcharge of blood, dammed up, as it were, at 
these points, passing off in driblets instead of flowing 
freely as it should do. What wonder that menstrua- 
tion proceeds with pain and suffering! What won- 
der that those who arc subject to backache find that 
their back aches worse than ever! What wonder 
that the dyspeptic is sick at her stomach, vomits 
freely, and loses her appetite ! What wonder that 
the nervous girl has severe attacks of ennui, exhibits 
strange freaks of disposition, and seems almost un- 
able to control her feelings ! What wonder that all 
the sufferings attending prolapsus uteri, described in 
Chapters 111. and IV., are aggravated at this time! 
CAUSES OF PAINFUL MENSTRUATION. MENSTR UA TION. 
Whatever causes this disease causes painful men- 
struation. Injurious methods of dress, tight lacing 
and hanging the clothing upon the hips, is the prin- 
cipal cause. Reverse the cause, and a cure may be 
obtained. Gradually, if sudden change is unpleasant, 
loosen the clothing and suspend from the shoulders. 
I have known radical cures of painful menstruation 
take place after a simple following out of the above 
direction. It will do little good to merely loosen the 
clothing at the time, but it must be so worn through- 
out the month, if benefit is to be obtained. 
Sometimes painful menstruation is caused by the 
formation of membranes and clots which irritate 
in passing away. Some of them are as large as 
the hand. Application of hot water will oftentimes 
relieve the pain when this is the case, and with some 
persons cold applications are more soothing than hot. 
I can not speak with certainty upon this point, but 
should judge that a cure might be obtained per- 
manently by constitutional treatment ; that is, such 
obedience to the laws of health in regard to diet, pure 
air, exercise, sleep, etc,, as nature always requires, if 
we would be well. There must be some cause for the 
blood to clot and membranes to form; and if the 
resulting pain is as severe as described, it would be 
worth while to try the hygienic method of living. 
Let my reader who is a victim of the troubles under 
discussion first adjust her clothing as it should be, 
then if she does not obtain relief, consult a good 
physician, who can give constitutional treatment 
without, or in connection with, medicine, meantime 132 
FOR girls. 
using hot or cold applications for temporary relief 
If all this fails to cure, there probably exists some 
malformation of the organ which causes the diffi- 
culty, and which can only be removed by surgery 
Girls should avoid 
TAKING COLD 
at this particular time. Omi girl ran out in the early 
morning dew and cold barefoot to milk the cows; 
another stood barefooted on a damp cellar floor 
while churning ; another stood a few minutes on the 
wet grass in slippers—in each case respectively the 
feet being unused to going bare and thinly shod. 
Before night they each came down with fever and 
excruciating agony, and their menses stopped en- 
tirely. Unless something is done at once to bring 
them on again, most generally a few hours of suf- 
fering will terminate life. Sometimes the flow is 
checked by taking cold in such a way as not to pro- 
duce immediate danger, but, instead, will cause dropsy 
or quick consumption. 
We can see from these examples how necessary it 
is to guard against taking cold at this time, and many 
exposures that one could pass through with impunity 
at any other time should be guarded against now. 
Here is a little experience given by a friend illus- 
trative of this point, and showing, also, how to deal 
with sufferings caused by such means. She says : 
“ I once awoke in the night suddenly in the utmost 
distress. I could not help groaning outright, and 
celt very faint and weak, yet could not be still. For MENS TR UA ETON. 
tunately I was at home, and mother a good nurse. 
I aroused my sister, and she awoke mother. They 
built a fire in a trice, made some hot drink, and put- 
ting hot applications upon the bowels and feet, started 
up a perspiration, and in about half an hour I felt 
much relieved, but was not able to be up for two 
days. Had I been obliged to wait for relief till a 
physician could be called it seemed to me I should 
have died. This was an obstruction caused by taking 
cold. The only way I could possibly have taken cold 
was two days before ; I had made an afternoon visit 
to a neighboring house. Being a very warm day, I 
had neglected to take an extra garment to weai 
home. The air had suddenly cooled, and I remem- 
bered of having felt quite chilly before reaching 
home.” 
At any other time this chilliness might have don« 
no harm. Still, chilliness prolonged many minutes 
and repeated many times in close succession at an)' 
time, is dangerous. So long as a person prevents s. 
feeling of chilliness, so long are they safe from taking 
cold. It is imprudent to sit with wet feet and damp 
skirts. Keep warm by dressing warmly. Keep out 
of drafts of air. These precautions, well to observe 
at all times, demand almost imperative attention on 
these special occasions. 
It is possible that we may at some time be travel- 
ing, or be surrounded by circumstances beyond con- 
trol, so that unavoidably the health may be exposed 
to peril. A knowledge of what ought to be done may 
enable one to remedy, before it is too late, any harm  FOR girls. 
that would be likely to develop itself. For instance, 
if we accidentally get our feet wet, we should keep 
moving until we have a chance to dry them. If we 
have reason to fear we have taken cold, we should 
get up a perspiration immediately. It is often easy 
by the use of some simple means to counteract the 
influence of the most untoward circumstances. 
The following is related as an example : A young 
lady, a school-teacher, went skating one day at noon 
in company with others. She broke in near the edge, 
where it was just deep enough to wet her under- 
clothing quite to the waist. Her skirts did not get 
wet, as they floated on the ice. She was helped out 
jy the others, went back to school, taught the rest 
if the day, walked a mile or more home at night, all 
without drying herself; and although she was unwell 
'n this way at the time, she did not receive a particle 
of injury. Her keeping in motion and keeping warm 
aaved her, and probably no chilly wind was blowing 
which was in her favor. Had she been pupil instead 
of teacher, obliged to sit instead of having a chance 
to move around the room, she might not have escaped 
so easily. We should remember, when exposed to 
cold or wet, to keep in motion if possible; should not 
sit nor stand still, but keep stirring until we can 
change the clothing, rubbing the feet or other ex- 
posed members briskly, dry off, and get warm as 
soon as possible; if in a pespiration, should cool off 
gradually. 
As has been stated on another page, immediate 
suffering is not always produced by a sudden check MENS TR UA TION. 
of the monthly flow. One may pass over three oi 
four months without its recurrence, feeling no par- 
ticular change in the general health. I will relate 
such a case, for the purpose of describing the simple 
and effective cure, from which some may derive profit. 
It was of a young lady who from having caught cold 
at this time, had no appearance of the menses for 
three months. The only effect upon her so far had 
been to make her listless, melancholy, and weak. At 
last she joined a class in gymnastics. To vary the 
exercises, one evening the professor drew up his class 
in two columns, and placed them on opposite sides 
of the room. The two who stood at the head were 
then to try a race down the long hall, and see which 
should win ; then the next two, and so on. When 
it came her turn, she summoned all her energy, ran 
with all her might, and won the race. It was the 
best thing she could have done, for that same night 
menstruation set in freely; her health, which was 
verging on a decline, was rescued. The next month 
nature seemed to be forgetting its duty again, and 
she had already passed over several days without its 
putting in an appearance. Just at this time she was 
caught on her way home one day as a thunder-storm 
was coming up. She was obliged to hasten her steps 
into a run to keep out of the rain. This was the 
needed remedy again; better than any medicine. 
She had no trouble afterward. 
Taking cold during the monthly period seems to 
cause inflammation sometimes, which produces sud- 
den and severe distress that requires hot drinks and 136 
FOR girls. 
hot applications that will cure as suddenly as caused 
Sometimes taking cold seems to cause a sort of partial 
paralysis, or deadening of the sensibilities and power tc 
perform the function. Dropsy sometimes follows 
taking cold. The electric battery, properly applied, 
will oftentimes give a new start to the delinquent 
forces, and is an excellent remedy for dropsy. Be- 
sides avoiding exposure to cold at these periods, 
there are other 
EXPOSURES 
which should be avoided. Heavy lifting, for one 
thing. The girl that was mentioned in a previous 
chapter who lifted the stove, did it while in this situ, 
ation, hurting herself so that her menses did not 
return for seven years. It is very seldom that an 
individual lives so long after a stoppage of this kind. 
I will mention that the persistent application of elec- 
tricity restored this girl to health at last. Exposuru 
to extreme fatigue from overwork should be avoided 
While one should be able to perform a usual amount 
of labor, she should not plan to do more. 
Some at this time are obliged to be careful about 
what they eat and drink, many articles producing 
great distress then, taken freely at other times. 
These vary with different individuals, and no one 
should try to force her stomach to contend with 
that which some previous trial has shown disagrees 
with it. 
Singers are sometimes troubled with a partial fail, 
ure of the voice during menstruation. A lady told MENSTRUA TION. 
me that she very materially injured her voice by 
forcing herself to practice when it was difficult for 
her to do so. A hint to the prudent girl will be suf 
ficient. 
A life of inaction—want of exercise—is another 
reason so many girls suffer pain. An acquaintance 
of mine was always so sick that she had to spend the 
first half day, at least, in bed, and suffered a great 
deal during the whole time. She at length engaged 
in an occupation which took her from home on a daily 
walk of a mile or more. Her health in this respect 
began at once to improve, and after a few months 
she experienced little or no discomfort throughout 
the time, plainly showing that the trouble in her case 
was insufficient exercise. Two-thirds of these pains, 
irregularities, excesses, and suppressions would be 
unknown if girls would wear their clothing as they 
should, take proper food and drink, and sufficient 
exercise in the pure air. The other third would be 
produced by malformations and by accidents and 
exposures beyond one’s power to evade. The latter, 
as has been seen, may be generally offset or subdued 
by use of the proper means. For mental accidents, 
frights, bad news, etc., rendering one suddenly un- 
nerved, we should try to realize a Heavenly Father’s 
presence and power, and calm ourselves with rekgious 
consolations. 
The function of menstruation seems to relieve the 
system of a surplus accumulation of blood and bad 
humors, although the worst blood is not especially 
devoted to the purpose. But it is noticeable that one 138 
FOR girls. 
afflicted with pimples on the face will be rid of them 
at this time for a week or two ; that sore throats and 
colds which are contracted during the month seldom 
entirely disappear until the next monthly turn. In a 
day or two, then, the system will rid itself of disorder 
faster than in a full week before. Sores, wounds, and 
bruises heal sooner then than at any other time. The 
whole system seems to be relieved, if not cleansed, of 
many impurities. This adds to the danger of having 
the flow checked. The bad blood and humors that 
may be lurking in the system, failing of partial relief 
Trough the natural outlet, are returned to the circu- 
lation, and often strike the vitals. 
MENOPAUSE. 
When women reach the age of forty-five, menstru- 
ation usually ceases altogether. This period is called 
the menopause, or change of life. It is considered a 
critical season. For, as was just stated, when this 
outlet, which keeps at bay impurities that collect in 
the system and tend to breed disease, is obstructed or 
ceases entirely, they are thrown back into the circula- 
tion. 
So now, if there is scrofula in the blood, or liability 
to any other disease, it is likely to renew its appearance 
in all its strength, and unless some course of medica- 
tion or hygiene is resorted to—the blood cleansed and 
the disease destroyed—fatal effects are apt to follow. 
Women who have observed the laws of health during 
all their past life, and suffered little or none at each 
menstrual period, will have no difficulty now. It wil' MENSTRUA TION. 
end as it began, with no alteration of the usual feel- 
ing of comfort and good health. Those who are 
feeble during this change, but can be safely carried 
through, will be likely to live to a ripe old age, and 
be stronger and healthier than ever before. 
The daughter, whose mother arrives at this age 
and is in a delicate state of health, should seek, by 
every means in her power, to lighten her cares, to 
share her labors, and treat her ever with the utmost 
consideration and tenderness. With good nursing 
and care at this eventful period she may be spared 
»nany years. 
Thoughtfulness and kindness on the daughter’s 
part is no more than due in return for all the anxiety 
vith which the mother watched over her while she 
vas blooming into womanhood. CHAPTER IX. 
LEUCORRHCEA. 
We are now to consider a distinct disease, almost as 
universal among women as it is common among them 
to experience various disturbances of mind and body 
while menstruating. It will generally be found that 
painful or irregular menstruation is accompanied with 
leucorrhoea. This is a discharge likewise from the 
vagina, of a mucous character, and of a whitish color, 
much resembling in appearance the white of an egg 
The name in common use for it is “whites.” Al 
first it is thin and watery. Where it is of long stand 
ing it thickens and becomes more abundant. In its 
later stages it may have a reddish, a green, a yellow 
or a brown appearance. It is generally attended with 
a great deal of languor, especially in the early part of 
the day; with fainting, changeable appetite, palpita- 
tion of the heart, shortness of breath, paleness, dark 
circles round the eyes, and pain in the back and loins. 
Occasionally a woman may be found who has a dis- 
charge of this kind constantly, yet who seems to feel, 
and looks, well; but such cases are rare. 
The fact is, leucorrhoea is not a disease in itself, 
but only a sign that disease is existing in some of the 
internal organs, or a sign that the whole system lacks LEUCORRHCEA. 
vitality or vigor. This discharge is to the pelvic or- 
ganization what a catarrhal discharge is to the head, or 
expectoration is to the lungs, a sign of inflammation, 
irritation, or weakness; and the difference in consis- 
tency reveals to the physician what part is affected 
and of how long standing. 
Misplacement of the uterus is usually attended with 
leucorrhoea. Common colds, affecting the mucous 
membranes of the whole system, extend their influ- 
ence to the mucous lining of the womb, vagina, etc., 
creating this discharge, similar to that of the lungs 
and nostrils. Catarrh of the head might be classed 
with this in the same way. Inflammation or conges- 
tion originates the whites. So does fatigue from too 
long continued and steady application to one object 
of pursuit. Sometimes over-anxiety and other strong 
mental excitement will produce it. A lady, whose 
husband was conductor on a railroad train, told me 
that, when he failed to come home at the time ap- 
pointed, her anxiety lest some accident had happened, 
became so great, as always to bring on an attack of 
whites. Anything that overtaxes and debilitates the 
nervous system is apt to be followed with this result. 
Many times there will break out around the mouth 
of the uterus little pimples similar to those which 
come upon the lips and face. These mature and 
break, and of course throw off matter. This condi- 
tion is called ulceration. These ulcers will keep form- 
ing, breaking and discharging, and in time may unite 
into one large sore. If not cured or attended to ia 
time, it may become an abscess, or even cancer. 142 
FOR GIRLS. 
When the womb prolapses, its mouth presses 
against the walls of the cavity surrounding it. The 
jar and motions of the body cause it to rub back and 
forth a great deal. Such friction applied to any part 
of the body, no matter in how healthy a condition it 
may be, will produce irritation, and in time ulcera- 
tion; therefore improper modes of dress, by first 
bringing on prolapsus uteri, which causes the womb 
to rub against the sides of the pelvis, generates ul- 
ceration, and from that one kind of leucorrhoea. An 
ulcerated condition is not always produced in this 
way, but sometimes from humors in the blood, and 
also from general debility. How foolish it is to think 
of trying to cure leucorrhoea by simply taking medi- 
cines, or by injections and washes, which only reach 
the surface. Outward applications alone for surface 
discharges are worse than nothing—are absolutely 
dangerous. Such discharges, of course, must come 
from disease inside the body. To cure that discharge 
with washes may strengthen the parts to which it is 
applied, so that the flow may be prevented from com 
ing that way, but the cause remains untouched and 
still at work, and will find some other outlet for its load 
of matter. If it can not find its way out through the 
proper organs, it may go to the lungs, or form an in- 
ternal abscess or cancer. 
1 have met with a lady who said she spent hun- 
dreds of dollars in trying to get cured of leucorrhoea. 
At last a doctor prescribed injections of some prep- 
aration of iron. After two or three applications the 
leucon hcea stopped entirely, but soon afterward she LEUCORRHCEA. 
143 
commenced having severe ovarian side-aches, with fre- 
quent spells of bloating like dropsy. The wise way 
to restore the health is to remove the cause of the 
disease first, when some little medical assistance will 
hasten the end sought. No permanent relief can be 
obtained when this disease is induced by wearing 
laced corsets until they are removed, or, if the system 
is run down with general debility and nervous pros- 
tration, until the nerves are toned and invigorated 
and the strength renewed. 
Leucorrhoea has no special periods of recurrence, 
but varies with different individuals. Some are not 
free for a day. Others will have it a few days befori 
the regular monthly flow; others immediately after. 
Others still, for a few days about half way between 
times; others only upon occasions of mental excit* - 
ment, fright, or fatigue. Some have all the bad feel- 
ings and symptoms, yet so little of the discharge th: t 
their attention is hardly called to it. Some have so 
free a discharge that there are no bad feelings except 
weakness and loss of animation. This is a prevailing 
characteristic, for it is very weakening. Weakness is 
always a result, and oftentimes it is a cause. Men- 
struation is a natural process, a function promotive of 
health; but leucorrhoea is an unnatural process, a re- 
sult of disease. 
Often in its beginning the whites originates, not 
exactly from disease, but from uncleanliness of the 
parts, and if unchecked will become so aggravated as 
to induce disease by excoriation. For instance, at 
the close of each monthly flow some of the blood 144 
FOR GIRLS- 
will still remain in the folds of the vagina, and unite 
with the natural oily secretions and mucus, which are 
thrown off by the glands provided by nature to keep 
up a healthy moisture of the labia and other parts. 
The irritation produced by the presence of a foreign 
and, as we might term it, a corroding substance, and 
the effort of nature to rid herself of it may result in 
leucorrhoea. If the blood was always pure, and all 
the functions of the whole organism performed ac- 
cording to the plans of nature, taking into account 
pure air, proper food, sleep, and exercise, there would 
be no trouble here. The blood and mucus meeting 
in the vagina would not interfere with one another, 
but would be cleansed by the provisions of nature. 
But where her operations are interfered with we must 
introduce some foreign aid, and the common-sense 
remedy which would suggest itself to the mind is—• 
soap and water. 
Within forty-eight hours after their close a thor- 
ough cleansing with castile soap-suds followed by 
clear water should be given with a syringe. Thus all 
acid and irritating secretions would be cleared out of 
the passage-way, which might otherwise remain to do 
mischief, and leucorrhoea in its first stages be cor- 
rected by this simple means. When the whites are 
the result of disease in the system, such as nervous 
debility, prolapsus uteri, and ulceration, these injec- 
tions are also beneficial, but should never be wholly 
relied upon to effect a cure. It should be united to 
treatment intended to influence the constitution, or 
hygienic treatment. LE UCORRHCEA. 
145 
Many physicians oppose the wearing of closed 
drawers by women. In bad cases of leucorrhoea the 
odor arising from the discharge confined from the air 
in this way becomes extremely offensive to the pa- 
tient at least, and may extend beyond the confines of 
the dress, and when she comes near the stove or 
register, if at no other time, be detected by the by- 
standers. A free circulation of air by open drawers 
is wholesome to the parts, as well as a deodorizer. It 
is well enough for little girls, and even advisable for 
them to wear tight drawers, but it is probably best 
for young ladies and women to wear them open. 
A recapitulation of the important points contained 
in this and the preceding chapter will close the sub- 
ject : 
1. Menstruation is a natural, healthful function of 
womanhood. 
2. It should be painless, and should occur regu- 
larly every month. 
3. Whatever tends to enfeeble the nervous system 
impair the circulation, destroy the tissues, or other- 
wise undermine the constitution, will produce a va- 
riety of disturbances at this period. 
4. Leucorrhoea is a usual sign and attendant of vio- 
lations of the laws of nature. 
5, Take care to secure the natural conditions—i. e., 
painlessness and regularity at the menstrual period— 
and the health will be good at all other times; also 
vice versa. 
6. Those who would do this must study and prac 
tice the laws of health. CHAPTER X. 
REPRODUCTION. 
Any girl with an inquiring mind, to whom these 
chapters have presented entirely new subjects, has no 
doubt wondered why we were made with these sexual 
organs ; of what use the womb is ; and why this flow 
of blood called menstruation must take place. Every 
organ, she reflects, has its use: the ear is the organ 
used forbearing; the stomach for digestion ; the feet 
for locomotion, and so on; and she asks, Now, of 
what use are these ? It is the object of this chapter 
to answer these inquiries. 
Every plant and every animal has within itself the 
power of reproduction—that is, of producing more 
plants or animals like themselves. The process differs 
with different species, but the result is the same in 
all—viz., a new being similar to the old one. 
Birds and fishes lay eggs which are hatched into 
young ones afterward. The cat has kittens, the cow 
a calf, the horse a colt, born alive. All plants beaf 
seed, which must be put into the ground, sunned and 
watered, before they will reproduce their kind. 
The Creator made these arrangements, so that 
when the old ones died, or were killed, or were used REPRODUCTION. 
for anything, more might take their places. If He 
had not, this earth would soon be a bare and desolate 
place, instead of the beautiful world it is now. 
Human beings, likewise, have within themselves 
the power of reproduction, or the power of keeping 
the race alive. Accordingly, as one generation passes 
away, another succeeds it. The sexual organs are the 
organs of reproduction. Their use is to bring chil- 
dren—little babies—into the world. You and I and 
all of us were little babies once, and were developed 
or formed within the uterus, and born by means of 
the sexual organs. On page 38 we called the womb 
the most important and sacred of all the organs in a 
woman’s body, and now you can see why we did so. 
Do you not think it very important that men and 
women should be born into the world ? Is not your 
own life of great importance to you? Is it not of 
great importance that your parents and brothers and 
sisters are alive ? How lonely your days would pas.* 
without your playmates and friends ! Then as the 
older you grow, and become men and women engag- 
ing in the world’s work, the more important will hu- 
man life seem than even it does now. It is very im- 
portant that the Creator planned to have a succession 
of men and women, so that when people die from old 
age, disease, or accident, others can take their places 
If He had not, there would soon be nobody to enjoy 
the beautiful things that fill the earth. Trees, vege- 
tables, animals, metals, and other things that are of 
use to make us comfortable, would all go to waste. 
Man is the head of creation; he has dominion over  for girls. 
all; and, if there were no means of keeping the race 
alive, earth would soon be without a master. 
Human life, too, is a very sacred thing. We are 
taught that we possess souls which are to exist for- 
ever ; that we have feelings capable of experiencing 
always joy or sorrow, peace or misery, happiness or 
anguish ; that we have minds which may continue to 
acquire knowledge throughout eternity, and how 
much there will be to learn—all about the millions 
of stars that may be, many of them, inhabited planets 
similar to ours—all about how flowers grow, the habits 
of birds and insects, how mountains were formed, 
what causes the lightning and the aurora borealis, 
what God is, and what the soul is, and all about a 
thousand other things that now we do not fully 
understand. 
It is in view of the fact that it is by means of the 
womb that useful, important lives, and sacred, undy- 
ing souls are brought into the world, that we have 
sailed it the most important and sacred of all the 
organs. 
Doubtless my reader will next wish to make in- 
quiries as to how little children are formed in the 
items and born into the world. As there are many 
reasons which make it proper for an earnest, honest- 
minded young girl to know something about these 
things, I will proceed to explain to her as much as 
she can understand. 
Ncai the beginning of Chapter VIII., the ovaries 
are referred to as corresponding to the ovaries of 
flowers. As the process of reproduction in human REPRODUCTION. 
beings resembles in many respects the same process 
in plants, we will carry out the parallel. 
Little babies must have both a father and a mother, 
as must the baby rosebuds and the baby buds of all 
other flowers and plants. When a gentleman and 
lady marry, they usually next make for themselves a 
home, and it is in the home that their little children 
are born. We might compare the calyx and corolla 
of the blossoms of the flowers to the homes of people, 
and call the stamens and pistils the father and mother 
of the little children of the flowers. What beautiful 
homes some of the flowers have ! Mr. Rose sur- 
rounds himself and wife with scores of lovely, bright- 
colored petals, some painted damask, some yellow, 
some tinted a delicate pink, some pure white, and so 
on, according to the taste of the owner. Mr. Colum- 
bine lives in a house composed of but one row of 
petals, divided into several long, tube-shaped com- 
partments. Red and yellow are the chosen colors of 
the dweller in the lowlands; while his cousin, who 
lives in the mountains, chooses a delicate lavender 
hue. Mr. Sunflower gets his name from having such 
a gaudily-painted house like the rays of the sun. Mr. 
Violet gets his name from having selected that color 
of the rainbow for his home. 
But I leave my reader to follow out at her leisure 
the various tints and shades, and the innumerable 
shapes of the homes in the plant country, and I will 
go on to compare the parents in that land with those 
in our own. 
The flower mother is called a pistil. At the lowei FOR GIRLS. 
part of the pistil is situated the ovary filled with 
ovules or seeds, or rather the rudiments or beginning 
of seeds. You all know that unless flower-seeds are 
fully ripe they will not grow. In order that they may 
ripen, a certain process must always take place. The 
flower father has a part to perform before the seeds 
can ripen. We will call the stamens the flower father. 
The anther of the stamens produces what is called 
pollen, a yellow, dust-like substance. This must fall 
upon the top of the pistil, called the stigma, be car- 
ried down the slender stem beneath, called the style, 
and lodged among the unripe ovules in the ovary. The 
pollen is brought to the stigma in different ways. 
Sometimes the winds shake the blossoms and blow 
the pollen over; sometimes the wings of insects brush 
it off. 
The pollen has a fertilizing power, and as soon as 
the ovules receive it they begin at once to develop. 
They take a new start, and as they gradually grow 
plump and round, the ovary becomes larger and 
larger to give them room. It expands immensely, 
until by and by it gets so large we call it a pod. 
After a while the seeds become fully ripe and able to 
grow alone, each one by itself, and then the pod 
bursts open, letting the seeds fall to the ground. 
If you dig up a seed that has been in the ground 
a few days, or soak one in water until i' swells—a 
bean or grain of corn are good examples—and then 
open them, you will find two tiny leaves and a stem. 
This is called the germ or embryo, and is the true 
baby plant that now needs only proper conditions of REPRODUCTION. 
food and sunlight—good care and nursing—to make 
a full-grown plant. 
The ovules which in the human female fill the 
ovaries, are the rudiments or beginnings of more 
human beings, and, if subjected to certain conditions, 
will each become an infant. They will not all de- 
velop at once as flower ovules do, but only one at a 
time in the majority of cases, though sometimes two 
or three develop at once, and twins or triplets are 
born. Neither do they remain in the ovary as flower 
ovules do, but are thrown out one every month and 
carried through the Fallopian tubes into the uterus. 
All of the' ovules not designed to become human 
beings pass on through the womb, down the vagina, 
and out of the body by means of the blood of men- 
struation, which washes them away; these ovules are 
at once destroyed and can never be further developed. 
Like the ovules of the plant, the ovules to be devel- 
oped need a fertilizing power, similar to the pollen, 
before they can become human beings, and this power 
must likewise be furnished by the father, which con- 
sists of a fluid called semen. This semen, when car- 
ried in an act called copulation through the vagina 
and brought in contact with the ovule, after it passes 
into the womb, and while it is still there, will have 
the same effect upon it that the pollen does upon the 
flower ovules, or, as we might say, will fertilize it. 
The semen and the ovule are composed of the 
richest and strongest elements of the blood—the 
most precious portions of the human system—and 
when brought in contact with each other in this way 152 
FOR girls. 
in the uterus in some mysterious manner still undis 
covered commences at once a new process, and be- 
comes the embryo of a little child. The womb closes 
so that this ovule can not escape as the others have 
done; menstruation ceases ; many changes take place 
one after another to the imprisoned ovule, which is 
now called a germ, embryo, or foetus. This embryo 
is nourished by the mother’s blood, and the little 
ovule, at first about the size of the point of a pin, 
gradually grows larger and larger. As the embryo 
increases in size the womb will also expand until i 
reaches an enormous size, and may, in this, be likened 
to the seed-pod of the blossom. At the #nd of nine 
months this embryo has developed to a full-grown in- 
fant, able to continue to grow outside of the uterus, 
and so it next makes its escape through the mouth of 
the womb down the vagina and out of the vulva 
which all spread open as it passes along to give it 
egress. This helpless, innocent, new-born infant, this 
miniature individual, now only needs good care and 
nursing to become a full-grown man or woman. 
At the age of puberty, when the monthly period of 
menstruation has become established, it is possible 
for a girl to have children—to become a mother. 
Women can not have any more children after the 
menopause or change of life. 
We have seen how necessary it is that the race 
should be kept alive, and how valuable are our own 
lives and the lives of our friends, both in this world 
and in the next. The same Creator who made the 
flowers and who planned how we should be born, also REPRODUCTION. 
153 
sanctioned the institution of marriage, in order that 
one man and one woman could be brought together 
in such a way that children should be born in the 
home and have a mother’s tender, loving care, and a 
father’s strong arm to provide food, shelter, and pro- 
tection. 
N. B.—ln preparing this theme it was taken for 
granted that the reader understood the rudiments of 
botany. If one should be ignorant of the subject 
she should read some “ First Lessons in Botany,” 
and, though but ten years old, she will find it of itself 
a pleasant and instructive study, and will be more 
able to get a clear understanding of this subject. CHAPTER XI. 
FIVE* GREAT LAWS. 
I„F/ »’.3 consider several important lessons that may 
be learned in connection with the subject of repro- 
duction ; 
i. Transmission is a law of nature. This means to 
pass through or hand down from one generation to an- 
other. Inherit and hereditary descent are words which 
have the same meaning. To illustrate: when the fa- 
ther dies, the children inherit the property, or they 
receive it by hereditary descent—that is, it descends 
(rom father to son, or we sometimes say the father 
transmits, hands over, or gives his property to his 
children. The same law holds good with his mental, 
moral, and physical possessions. They, too, descend 
from father to son. The color of eyes, hair, and com- 
plexion ; the disposition, smartness, and tastes of par- 
ents are transmitted to children, and we say that 
children have inherited them. A belief in this law is 
very common, and is often expressed in such remarks 
as; “John has a very quick temper; takes after his 
father.” “James is a true chip of the old block.” 
“ Laziness runs in the family.” 
2. Culture improves species is another law of nature 
The wild sour apple-tree may be cultivated until it FIVE GREA T LA IVS. 
brings forth a large, luscious fruit. Any fruit, flower, 
vegetable, or plant whatever, if properly planted, wa- 
tered, weeded, and pruned, will become larger, sweeter, 
better every way than the original. Cows, sheep, 
fowls, horses, and other domestic animals have been 
tamed, trained, and improved in appearance, disposi- 
tion, strength, flesh, size, and use, becoming much 
higher and better than they were in a wild state. As 
it is with animals and plants, so it is with man, only 
in a far greater degree. The early history of Eng- 
land furnishes a good illustration of what cultivation 
will do for men. Its first settlers were wild, uncouth, 
ignorant people. To-day the inhabitants of England 
rank with the foremost of enlightened, civilized na- 
tions. 
3. Neglect degenerates species. Degenerate means to 
revert, or go back again to a wild, uncultivated condi- 
tion. “It is a poor rule that will not work both 
ways.” Keep the sunshine out of an orchard by neg- 
lecting to prune the branches; permit the weeds to 
grow thick upon the roots and tall about the trunk, 
absorbing the moisture and nutriment of the soil, and 
in a few seasons it will become so degenerated that it 
will bear sour, gnarly apples, no better than wild 
fruit. Allow domestic animals to run at large awhile 
in forests unfed and uncared for by man, they will 
soon get to be rough in fur, thin in flesh, and wild 
and unmanageable as at first. Let England neglect 
to educate the present rising generation, and become 
slack in applying means for cultivating the masses, in 
making and enforcing wise laws, and the country 156 
FOR girls. 
would gradually degenerate until a few generations 
hence would present barbarians like the earliest set- 
tlers. 
4. Succeeding generations improve faster than the 
first. Although the tendency of seeds if left to 
themselves is to produce plants not quite so good as 
the plant on which they grew, and sometimes to re- 
vert entirely back to the old stock, still, cultivation 
counteracts this tendency, and the plant will improve 
much faster and with less care, as a general thing, 
than did the first one, or the one that bore the seed. 
Train an intelligent dog to perform certain tricks; 
her pups will learn those tricks with far less teaching 
than the mother dog required—it will come to them 
almost instinctively. Capture a colt on the plains 
tame and break it to the harness. Her colt at the 
same age may be broken much easier than its mothei. 
This law like the preceding may be equally applicable 
to mankind. It may be very hard work to teach the 
first generation, and may require a large outlay of 
time and money. But the children of those people- 
will learn much easier, and the same amount of 
money will go farther and educate more persons in 
the same length of time. The capabilities of the 
third generation will still be an increase upon the 
second. For example: give a set of persons extra 
physical training, so that the muscles of arms and legs 
increase much in size and strength, their children will 
naturally be strong and muscular and require less 
training to surpass the parents. The children of 
those who possess musical taste and culture will FIVE GREA T LA IVS. 
have a natural musical tendency very easily deveh 
oped. 
5. It is more important to improve tJie mother than 
the father. This law has been abundantly tested and 
found applicable alike to plants, animals, and man. 
It is better that both parents should be equal in im- 
provement, but if the father be good and the mother 
poor, as the offspring partakes most of the mother’s 
nature, being influenced by her before its birth during 
the nine months she carries it beneath her heart, it 
will be poor like her. But if the father be poor and 
the mother good the offspring will be good. So that 
if but one sex can receive culture, training, education, 
it should be the women. 
We will in the next chapter so combine these five; 
laws as to make them of practical benefit to girl; 
and draw one grand far-reaching lesson from them. CHAPTER XII. 
SOMETHING ABOUT MOTHERHOOD. 
We must each one exert an influence over others. 
"No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to him- 
self.” Girls should not only obey the laws of health 
for the benefit it is to be to themselves individually, 
in order that they may be more lovely in person, 
because more healthy; more attractive in mental 
manifestations, because good health makes sweeter, 
brighter d spositions; more happy, because more 
healthy and attractive; but mainly should they obey 
these law*', because, in so doing, they may secure 
qualities of body and mind which will lead them to 
exercise a better influence over others than they 
otherwise could. The former are selfish motives, the 
latter unselfish—Godlike. We must throw out some 
kind of av. influence over others. The archer who 
aims at a mountain-top will strike higher than one 
who aims it a fence. The girl who goes about say- 
ing, by he • actions, she don’t care what others think 
of her, or how they are influenced by her, makes an 
unpleasant impression upon them. But one who 
tries to make the most of herself and her talents can 
never forget others, and though she may adhere to 
the good and true, even among those who oppose the SOMETHING ABO ITT MOTHERHOOD. 
good and true, not caring if they do disapprove of 
her, realizes she impresses them, hopes she may do 
them good, and has a feeling of satisfaction the selfish 
girl never experiences. 
But there is another way in which we may exert 
an influence over others besides in the impressions 
we make upon those around us. The majority of 
girls will marry. The majority of those who marry 
will become mothers. It is through the great laws 
of Transmission and Improvement, or Degeneracy of 
Species, that girls are to effect a tremendous influence 
upon others for evil or for good. It is necessary to 
have good health, so as not only to be able to make 
a husband happy, and to have a pleasant influence 
over him, but so that they may exercise a good influ- 
ence over their children, not only after they are born, 
but before. Whatever quality is desirable for a child 
to possess must be commenced in the mother. The 
child will inherit this, and, according to law fourth, 
a little more with it, which it can still add to after it is 
born, and the more it has to start with, the faster it 
will improve. During the nine months that the 
mother is carrying the embryo beneath her heart, she 
is. constantly influencing its little growing body and 
mind. It is daily feeding on her blood. As she is, 
so will her offspring be. Even as mothers exert the 
most influence over children, so it is of the utmost 
importance that girls should be strong in body and 
perfect in mind. 
Neglect degenerates species through the law of 
transmission, If muscles are not exercised they be- FOR GIRLS. 
come weak and flabby. If fresh air do not freely 
penetrate to the most minute air-cells of the lungs, 
that part of the lungs becomes enfeebled, an easy prey 
to consumption. Let the eyes become sore, the liver 
torpid, the stomach dyspeptic, their several organs 
lose their tone and vigor; the next generation will 
inherit a tendency to the same diseases, and will con- 
tract them much more easily than did the parents. 
How common are such expressions as these : “ He 
has heart disease, his father died with it, it is likely 
he will”; “consumption runs in the family”; “she 
is nervous, like her mother.” Now, girls, these are 
among the important reasons that some of your 
mothers will not buy corsets for you, and a grea'. 
reason that you should not buy them for yourselvej 
when you come to an age that you may dress as you 
choose. It is because some were taught to lace when 
they were little girls, in the days when less was known 
about Physiology than at present, that some of you 
have frail, weak constitutions. 
This reminds me of what a lady physician, also 
the mother of eight children, told me. She was born 
in England, where she lived until twenty years of age. 
When less than ten years old her mother had her go 
to the stay-maker’s, where her clothing was removed, 
except the first garment, and her measure taken for 
stays just as tight as possible. The stiffening then 
used was thin, stout boards, two and three inches 
wide for the back and front, with whalebones inter- 
vening. This process was followed for every new 
corset till a number of years afterward, when she SOME THING ABOUT MO THEE HOOD. 
161 
learned better and abolished the stays. “ But,” said 
she, “ my form was ruined for life, and I have not a 
child as strong as I was.” I have heard many othci 
mothers make the same remark: “ I have not a child 
as strong as I was ” at such or such an age. 
Tight lacing is one of the main causes, although 
not the only cause, of this degeneracy. A great- 
great-grandmother wore these board-stiffened stays 
all her life. It did not kill her, for she lived to a 
good old age. Her daughter—the great-grand- 
mother— laced with steels, whalebones, and strings, 
and it did not kill her, but she did not live to be 
quite as old as her mother. The daughter—the 
grandmother—laced, was somewhat weaker than the 
other two, and lived only to middle age. Her 
daughter the mother, yours, perhaps laced, and 
was sick half of the time; had to be very careful the 
other half; “ couldn’t stand anything,” and probably 
dies much younger still than any of the preceding 
generations. 
What kind of a constitution could she transmit to 
her daughter, to you ? An inheritance of weakness, 
delicacy, and easy liability to sickness. Therefore 
you are suffering from the folly of your mother, 
grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great- 
grandmother ; and your child, unless you study and 
practice the laws by which you may assist in restor- 
ing the old stock, will be more puny, short-lived, and 
effeminate than yourself. 
Some one asks, “Must disease, consumption, weak 
eyes, nervousness, etc., etc., inevitably be transmitted 162 
FOR GIRLS. 
to children ? Is there no way to prevent it ?” Yes 
there is a way to prevent it, wholly, or in a great 
measure. If a person is of consumptive tendency, 
or possesses any other defect, let her begin at once to 
cure it, not by relying upon medicines, but by finding 
out nature’s way of strengthening weak parts and 
driving out disease. 
Species may be improved. Fill the lungs with fresh 
air, even to the minutest air-cells, and this can not be 
done in tight clothing. Exercise the muscles and 
they will grow strong; and this can not be done if 
clothing hangs upon the hips. Sleep sufficiently to 
cure nervousness. Eat proper food, etc., and any one 
may become healthy and well who has any consti- 
tution left to begin upon. The next generation will 
be stronger than the preceding, and each succeeding 
one will be still better if the laws of health continue 
be observed through all of them. 
Many a young lady, perhaps every one, reads these 
lines referring to her duty to a future generation with 
little interest, possibly with scorn, and dismisses that 
part of the subject as though it were beneath her no- 
tice, with the exclamation—mental at least—“ I don’t 
care for that! I’m not going to have any children 
when I marry!” Don’t, girls, don’t say theff. You 
don’t know what you are talking about. The whole 
subject may look differently to you one of these 
years. I know how it seems to you now, and do not 
much wonder that you feel so. 
I know that young ladies free from care, free to go 
and come, feeling pleasure in sight-seeing and com- SOMETHING ABOUT MOTHERHOOD. 
pany, look upon their mother’s life—what they know 
of it—and that of other married women who have 
families, with pity, considering them to be lives of 
drudgery and hardship. They mark the hollow 
check, the weary eye, the bent form, the old, faded 
look, the spiritless manner, the intellect that docs not 
keep pace with the times. 
They see them tied down at home almost con- 
stantly, year after year, their time never their own, 
but repeatedly broken in upon by the demands first 
of this child, then of that, then of another. They 
infer from all this that it is the number of children 
which brings about such a change in the personal ap- 
pearance of young ladies so soon after marriage ; that 
causes them to give up all the freedom that before 
yielded them pleasure. They do not know that they 
may find a new kind of pleasure in love, in a home of 
one’s own, and even in doing and caring for their 
children, that may far exceed the pleasures of girl- 
hood. They do not know that much of the drudgery 
and confinement within doors is wholly needless 
that it is not necessary to grow old and faded in 
raising a family; that it should be a woman’s study 
to avoid this. 
I know there is little in the children themselves which, 
to such casual observers as girls, makes motherhood 
look desirable. And the more intimate the acquaint- 
ance by persons that never had children, the more 
certain it becomes that children are not angels ; rough, 
saucy, lazy, heedless, untidy, impolite, mischievous— 
why, I have seen but few—now and then a child FOR GIRLS. 
seemed nearly perfect, about five in a thousand hy 
actual count—that did not have at least one fault, and 
that carried to an unpleasant extreme. 
I know that some girls would avoid motherhood 
because they have obtained in some way an indistinct 
notion, much exaggerated in their imaginations, that 
the bearing of children must be attended with an im- 
mense amount of terrible pain and suffering. 
I know how it looks to girls. I have tried to see 
how the other side, the mother’s side, looks. Said an 
invalid mother a few days before her death, “ They 
talk about the care and trouble of children. If I 
could only be spared to train Allie, I should ask for 
no more beautiful or satisfactory lot. I do not 
know what will become of him. I can only trust him 
to God.” Now Allie was a romping, wide-awake boy, 
as full of failings as the majority of children, and no 
more attractive than they. His mother saw in him what 
she had never seen in any child during her girlhood. 
An old lady of sixty years was one day talking 
with some younger women about the troubles of her 
life; her husband’s business failures, poverty, deaths 
of friends, etc., when one suggested, “ Yes, and then 
you have raised a large family of children, and that 
must have brought a great deal of trouble.” 
“ Oh ! Tnever count having my children among my 
troubles. If I had never seen any more trouble than 
that I should think I had had none. Ido not think 
what I have suffered on their account is to be com- 
pared to all the comfort they’ve given me. What 
should I do without my children ! ” SOMETHING ABOUT MOTHERHOOD. 
165 
One writes: “ And what are the joys of parties of 
fashion, or freedom from the sufferings which God 
lias appointed, compared with those of a true mother 
with a large family of children around her! I could 
mention such a mother, who reared up a large family 
of sons and daughters. On one occasion she was 
found with her four sons sitting on stools at her feet, 
as they sat when boys. One was a governor, a sec- 
ond was a judge, the third sat in Congress, and the 
fourth was a general in the U. S. regular army. The 
daughters (four) moved in silver orbits also. Can any 
language describe the joys of that widowed mother? ” 
It is a fact, other things being equal, that women 
who have had children are healthier and stronger than 
before. Only a few days since I heard a woman 
volunteer this thought, as being her experience. I 
frequently hear mothers make similar expressions. 
As to the pain and suffering accompanying the birth 
of children, let me assure girls 'that they have no 
need to fear motherhood on that account. It is true 
women have and do suffer extreme anguish, and often 
lose their lives, but it has mainly been caused by ig- 
norance. Science has made such advances in these 
days, even on this subject, as to show those women 
who will study and practice her precepts, how most 
of the suffering and all of the danger attending child- 
birth maybe avoided. I can not help referring again 
to the dreadful corset, or tight dressing without cor- 
sets, and clothing hung loose upon the hips, as being 
greatly responsible for this suffering and death. And 
1 would earnestly exhort girls once more to dress 166 
FOR GIRLS. 
properly in these respects, in view of the probability 
—the almost certainty—that they will marry and be- 
come mothers; for, in addition to all the previously- 
named benefits arising from such a course, the last 
but not the least is the safety and comparative ease 
with which children may be borne. 
Perhaps, girls, you will some time see that there is 
no position in the world more sacred, more noble, 
more beautiful, more enviable, and with proper prep- 
aration and education for it, as little to be dreaded as 
that occupied by the successful head and guide of a 
true home. 
Then don’t, don’t allow yourselves to indulge in 
words and feelings against maternity. Prepare your- 
selves, rather, whether or not the blessed lot be yours, 
to become a judicious, honored, loved, and loving 
mother. CHAPTER XIII. 
SELF-ABUSE. 
There is another way of undermining the consti- 
tution, ruining the health, and finally causing death, 
called secret bad habits or self-abuse, in regard to 
which girls should receive especial instruction. Hun- 
dreds of my readers do not need this chapter for their 
own sakes, but they should read it, as they may learn 
something which may assist them in their intercourse 
with other girls. There are girls who need to read it 
for their own good, and I shall endeavor to write sc 
plainly that the youngest reader may understand the 
most of these pages. 
Self-abuse means a fingering and handling or play- 
ing with the sexual organs, and is given that name 
because the whole body and mind is affected and 
abused by it. This practice will cause more blood to 
flow to the sexual organs than would naturally go 
there—blood that ought to go to nourish and sustain 
some other part of the body—which, being thus 
robbed, will constantly grow weaker. 
The face will lose its fresh, rosy complexion for 
want of blood, and become a dead pale with a green- 
ish hue, the lips fade, and the ears become white, like 
marble. The eyes will lose their bright, sparkling 168 
FOR GIRLS. 
look, and become dull and sunken, and surrounded 
by dark, purplish rings. The muscles of the body 
will become soft and flabby, and a young child or a 
young lady that ought to be plump and fresh and 
gay will begin to laok old, faded, and worn out. 
The extra amount of blood called to the privates 
causes them to swell and inflame, creating a desire to 
still handle and rub them for relief, but this only 
makes them feel worse instead of better, and in- 
creases the difficulty. 
After a while a discharge of whitish matter passes 
away from them daily. This discharge is very weak- 
ening, and the whole system suffers from it. 
We have already learned how closely the sexual 
system is connected with the brain by means of the 
nervous system. The sexual nerves become irritated 
by the swelling and inflammation, and this irritation 
is communicated to the brain-nerves, causing the per- 
son to manifest a nervous, cross, irritable temper. 
The memory becomes poor, so that lessons can not 
be learned easily, or remembered when learned, and 
there will be a dislike of books and reading, and the 
pupil will never pay attention to what her teacher 
says. Soon she becomes so weak and listless that 
she can not play as long nor walk as far as the other 
children, because she tires so easily. 
So great a change takes place in the eye, the face, 
the skin, the muscles, the temper, the mind, and the 
actions, from loss of blood and by nervous irritation, 
that no person need hope to conceal this habit from 
others. Every physician and a great many other SELF-ABUSE. 
169 
people can tell by the looks and actions what is the 
matter, although they may say nothing about it. 
Gradually, but surely, the constitution gives way, 
and, unless the practice is abandoned, disease in some 
form will lay the victim upon a bed of suffering. 
Perhaps a sudden cold will settle on the lungs and 
bring on consumption, or dyspepsia attack the stomach 
with its excruciating pains, or St. Vitus’ dance strike 
the nerves, or a fever the brain. It is true these dis- 
eases may come upon one who does not abuse her- 
self, but the difference is that the one who has been 
addicted to this habit has so weakened her constitu- 
tion and used up her vitality that she has little power 
to throw off the disease ; the remedies used to effect 
a recovery have little left to work upon, and she will 
be far more likely to sink and die than the other one. 
If, possibly, the patient lives through a severe sick- 
ness, she will be shattered and weakened for life be- 
yond the possibility of a full recovery of the health 
and vigor she ought to enjoy, unable to accomplish 
any great object in life, or effect much good in the 
world ; and, worse than all, insanity is often the re- 
sult of self-abuse upon those who practice it. Think 
how terrible it must be to lose one’s mind and be- 
come wild and delirious! The insane asylums have 
many persons in them crazy from this cause. 
Besides being a practice hurtful to the health and 
mind, it is a sinful practice, because it is putting organs 
that are intended for a sacred and important pur- 
pose—that of bringing human beings into existence—• 
to a vile, selfish, vulgar use. If you let them entirely FOR GIRLS. 
alone, except to keep them clean, now while you are 
young, so that they can grow properly and arrive at 
a state of perfect development, when you come to 
maturity they may be the means of the greatest 
blessing to you. 
But, if this practice be persisted in, you will never 
be fitted to marry and have charge of a family and a 
home, or, if able to marry, you will be so weakened 
and diseased that you can not have children, which 
may sometime seem to be a great misfortune, how- 
ever it may appear to you now. Or, if you have 
children, they may be born diseased, constitutionless, 
liable to suffer for the mother’s error all their lives, to 
that mother an additional source of unhappiness and 
sorrow. 
And think what will be your feelings of remorse, if 
married to a pure and honorable man, to reflect that 
there was in your past life a practice like this, that 
you were once guilty of, that you can not speak about 
without hiding your face, burning with blushes of 
shame. 
Any little girl who has never touched this part of 
her body, except for the purpose of cleanliness, 
should be very thankful. I am sure she is out of 
danger of ever doing so after she reads this chapter. 
Any others who have learned to do so can stop right 
away if they will, before any further harm comes from 
it. Determine with all your might that you will 
never do so again, no matter how strongly you may be 
tempted. And you can ask God to help you break 
off this bad habit. With His assistance you can do it SELF-ABUSE. 
171 
much more easily. The next thing to be done in 
correcting this evil is not to allow yourselves to even 
think about it, and He will also help you to control 
your thoughts. 
The next thing is, bathe the inflamed parts in cool 
water, or warm water, whichever gives the most re- 
lief, as often as they feel disagreeable and irritated. 
Servants and other grown people who tell children 
to practice this habit are very ignorant, vulgar, and 
wicked. You should have as little to do with them 
vis possible, and always run away when they begin to 
say anything which you know they would not say it 
your mother was within hearing. Some of these peo- 
ple may seem to be kind and polite when with grown 
folks, but at heart they are very mean. Pure, refined 
ladies and gentlemen are always careful to talk and 
behave as well when with children as when with those 
of their own age. It is sometimes right to talk abou* 
some of these things; always when we wish to learr 
to preserve the health of the bodies God has given 
us. A mother, a sister, or some dear friend, who has 
not a sneaking, nv way, are the ones, and the only 
ones, you should trust yourselves to talk with. The 
best earthly friend a girl can have is her mother. She 
will never intentionally do, or say, or advise anything 
that will lead a daughter to harm. A good way to 
get rid of bad girls when they say, “ I will tell you 
something if you’ll promise not to tell anybody, not 
even your mother,” is to answer, “ I’ll promise not to 
tell anybody, except my mother.” The girls will 
generally get angry when you say that, and will not  FOR GIRLS. 
tell you at all. But girls should remember two things 
■—first, that it is not treating their best friend well to 
listen to anything they can not tell their mother 
and, second, that it will only be some impure, vulgar 
thing which they are ashamed of when they want you 
to promise not to tell her, so you will not lose any- 
thing important. All proper knowledge will come 
in due time when you are old enough to under- 
stand it. 
In almost every school are some vulgar girls who 
teach the younger ones this hurtful practice. If you 
know any such, of about your own age, you should tell 
them what the consequences will be, and try to break 
them of it. Sometimes you may be obliged to sleep 
with such girls ; you should never sleep with them if 
you can help it; but, if you must, do not allow them 
to talk in the low, vulgar, mean manner that so many 
girls like to do every chance they have. They may 
laugh at you, and try to prejudice your mates against 
vou, and get them to make fun of you, too, for not 
doing as they do; but no matter for that. Probably 
you will find among them one or two nice girls, who 
will think as you do, and be on your side. If not, 
you had better have no friends at all than the others. 
You can find a great deal of pleasure alone, if you 
try, and by and by you will get acquainted with some 
nice girl if you are on the watch for one. 
Most girls, however, if they were plainly told that 
self-abuse will make them sick, perhaps crazy, would 
stop at once and be sorry they did not know it be- 
fore ; instead of hating and ridiculing you, would be- SELF-ABUSE. 
come your firm friends, thanking you for trying to 
save them. 
Should any one tell you she does not believe there 
is any harm in it, for she has done so a long time and 
is not sick yet, you can tell her that some are more 
easily affected than others, owing to the difference in 
the natural constitution. Some will be sick in a few 
weeks, others not for months, and others not for 
years. The more delicate and sensitive the organiza- 
tion, the sooner will the results be seen, and it is be- 
cause she has such a tough and strong constitution 
that it does not affect her so soon; but she will 
sometime certainly suffer the consequences if she 
continues the habit. 
' What a beautiful opportunity comes in just here 
for older sisters to do good. Too many older sisters* 
are so full of their own plans and enjoyments as 
practically to ignore the presence of the younger 
members of the family. Many, too, are sighing foi 
some field of usefulness, overlooking, or not knowing 
about, this occasion of doing good right at home. 
They can secure the love and confidence of their 
younger sisters by manifesting an interest in the 
games and conversations of their little schoolmates, 
by leading them to converse freely on all the details 
of play, and cause them to feel they have no right 
to keep secrets from such a friend as a mother or a 
true sister. Some mothers and sisters effectually seal 
forever the lips of the little one who, in unsuspecting 
innocence, comes to them repeating the first vulgar 
words they have overheard, by saying, “ Oh, hush .  FOR GIRLS- 
174 
Aren’t you ashamed ! Where did you hear such 
nasty talk ? Don’t ever let me hear the like again.” 
Ah ! that mother or sister misses a golden oppor- 
tunity ; first, for securing the child’s confidence, 
which, if once obtained, will be easy to hold ; and 
second, for teaching the child its first lesson in purity. 
This golden opportunity! How many have thus 
been thrown away ! How almost criminal the course 
which some parents pursue in summarily punishing 
the son or daughter caught in some censurable act, 
without a kindly word of explanation or warning. 
When the child comes with its first improper words, 
it may be well to have an air of being unutter- 
3oly shocked; but it should not stop there. Kindly 
nake inquiries into the circumstances, ending with 
serious, earnest, yet loving advice. In this way, one 
bathful older sister might influence a whole neigh- 
borhood. She would ascertain if the little ones were 
f oing wrong, and either inform their mothers or del- 
egate her sister to warn her little associates. It 
night require some moral courage, but if undertaken 
iu a spirit of love, with a realization that it may be 
the means of preserving a loved one from moral and 
physical ruin, the necessary strength needed to per- 
form the task would be sure to come. 
The foregoing has been written in the interest of 
those who have been, or may be, led astray through 
the influence of evil-minded individuals. There 
are, or may be others led into the habit through 
the influence of disease. One of the diseases which 
originates self-abuse is called pruritus. This is an SELF-ABUSE. 
external eruption appearing between and upon the 
labia. We can readily see how this habit might 
almost unconsciously follow, when we think what an 
intolerable itching this must cause. It is sometimes 
incessant and distressing, and nothing seems to be 
able to allay it. Sometimes the patient is so bad 
that she can not go out or see company. She is 
tormented nearly to death. Some in their agony 
have fainting spells, catalepsy, or spasms, or become 
delirious. Some are obliged to have their hands tied 
to prevent them from tearing themselves to pieces. 
Sometimes there is a similar irritation of the parts 
Adthout any eruption. 
There may be a burning or inflammation of the 
:>arts caused by the menstrual blood lodging and 
emaining in the folds of the vagina, which, together 
vith the natural secretions of the surrounding glands, 
oecomes acrid, with an excoriating tendency on every 
part it touches, causing them to become raw, with 
great swelling and tenderness. If unchecked, it will 
create a discharge of offensive matter, terminating in 
external ulcers or abscesses, and even mortification 
may set in. Those who are very fleshy are, perhaps, 
more inclined to be troubled in this way. 
Leucorrhoea, produced by constitutional disease, 
may be of an acrid and excoriating nature, inflaming 
and irritating the parts. 
Unnatural growths of different parts, amounting 
to malformation, may cause much inconvenience, dis- 
comfort, and disease. 
Pin-worms may pass from the anus to the vulva 
and labia, producing irritation and inflammation. 176 
FOR GIRLS. 
These are some of the ways in which, through dis- 
ease, the practice of self-abuse may become estab- 
lished. The patient, naturally seeking to relieve the 
bad feelings by manipulation with the hand, may 
cieate a new and pleasant sensation. The desire to 
produce it again becomes irresistible, and repeated in- 
dulgence strengthens the habit. Once commenced it 
not only aggravates all the difficulties at first existing, 
but leads to others utterly ruinous to the physical and 
mental being. 
Those who are troubled with unpleasant sensations 
in their sexual organs, so that their attention is fre- 
quently attracted to them, and who find that they 
are growing worse, should not tolerate and endure as 
long as possible in silence, but should go to their 
mother and tell her that something is the matter. It 
is no more disgraceful to have disease strike this part, 
than any other part, of the body. Your mother 
knows it is not; you can tell her freely, and she will 
not blame you or be ashamed of you. 
Salt-and-water washes, sitz baths, and injections 
are excellent outward applications for all these diffi- 
culties. Salt and water will destroy, at once, pin- 
worms that come to the surface. 
I will close this subject by relating what might be 
termed a representative case of self-abuse caused by 
disease. A young girl, after the death of her mother, 
was placed in the care of her grandmother. She was 
a good girl, loved school, was the pride of her father, 
a model of behavior for her associates. A disease— 
not a vice—a disease such as has been described, SELF-ABUSE. 
177 
gradually fastened itself upon her. She was afraid to 
speak to her grandmother or to any one about it, but 
took her Bible, went by herself and prayed, thinking 
to be relieved in that way. She only grew worse. 
Her instinctive efforts to allay the itching and inflam- 
mation actually produced the vice of self-abuse. The 
first thing her friends knew, besides a general failure 
of health, which I suppose they must have observed, 
she became partially insane. Then they bestirred 
themselves for medical aid. After trying different 
methods without avail, a lady physician took her into 
her own family. Suspecting the cause, she treated 
the girl in such a manner as to win her confidence ; 
slept with her, and kept her in sight the most of the 
day for three months. Besides administering bodily 
remedies, she explained these things to her, and found 
she had not sinned morally, not thinking of any wrong 
in the practice. In a few months the health and rea- 
son of the young lady were perfectly restored. She 
exhibits the most unbounded gratitude toward her 
physician for her recovery, and is to-day an ornament 
ta the society in which she moves. CHAPTER XIV 
CONSTIPATION—CONSTITUTIONAL. 
Every one believes constipation to be an unda 
sirable condition, but few know any other method of 
overcoming it than by taking medicine. From time 
immemorial it has been the custom to take pills, castor- 
oil, salts, seidlitz powders, rhubarb, or some equally 
disgusting preparation to “ move the bowels,” It is 
quite appalling to think what valuable time and emi- 
nent brains have been employed in inventing some 
potion that should surpass everything preceding it in 
the line of physic. It is most astonishing to contem- 
plate the fact that so many smart, learned men—phy- 
sicians whose life-work was to care for the health of 
the body, should for so many years have overlooked 
nature’s remedy for constipation, and to-day hundreds 
of doctors still give purgatives, not only in acute at. 
tacks of disease, but to be taken every day in mild 
doses when the person is in usual health, as a pre- 
ventive. 
Some have progressed a step, and have substituted 
the syringe for medicine. This is far better and often 
useful, but it is not nature’s remedy, and can in no 
possible way be made a complete substitute for nat- 
ure. What is nature’s remedy? To ascertain this CONSTIPA TION— CONSTITUTIONAL. 
we must first do as we should do in every case of dis- 
ease—we must find the cause. Then remove the 
cause, and a cure will be effected. 
Some persons in casting about for the cause of this 
trouble have supposed it to originate in frequent neg- 
lect to attend to the calls of nature, and for a cure 
recommend setting apart regularly each day a certain 
time to attend to this duty, waiting an hour or two if 
need be till accomplished, and “ give the mind to it.” 
But nature’s way is to make the call so imperative that 
it can not be set aside. Some have thought sedentary 
occupations caused it, but persons who exercise a great 
deal are troubled with it. No doubt an inactive life 
aggravates it, but the first cause lies back of that. 
Some have thought it was a result of growing old, 
those of advanced age being more subject to it than 
children. Many imagine it was caused by some pre- 
vious attack of illness which left its effects in that 
way. But all of these are erroneous notions, as any 
one may prove to complete satisfaction who will try 
nature’s remedy. 
It has been found by the investigations of some of 
the more advanced scientific medical men, and con- 
firmed by experience, that the cause of constipation 
lies chiefly in the food. 
The principal article of diet is wheat. This is gen- 
erally made into white flour, and cooked in different 
ways. Now wheat is the product of nature, but white 
flour is not. Wheat is robbed of properties very es- 
sential to health when it is made into white or bolted 
flour. Let us see. Take common starch, sugar, glue FOR GIRLS. 
the white of an egg; add in imagination gastric juice 
mix—what an impenetrable, immovable mass closely 
adhering together! It will not move unless diluted. 
Introduce such a concentrated mass into the human 
stomach—and this is done by white-flour eaters, as only 
ingredients answering to the articles we imagined 
mixed together are left after bolting—what must be 
the inevitable consequence ? Indigestion in the stom- 
ach and obstruction of the bowels—constipation. We 
need a diluent. What should it be ? Water would 
be an aid ; but water penetrates slowly and with diffi- 
culty, and when, as is common, tea is steeped in it, its 
diluent power is lessened, for chemistry informs us 
that the leading property of tea is tannic acid, which 
is an astringent; therefore tea helps to bind instead 
of loosen. 
Coffee paralyzes the liver, and helps to create 
“ biliousness.” The juice of fruits aids greatly in cut- 
ting up this collection of solid matter, its acid char- 
acter rendering it more easily penetrative than water; 
but the fact is, such a mass should never be allowed 
to get in to the stomach, and never would if 
way was observed. Wheat contains natural diluents 
which, if used, would prevent this. If the food con- 
tained in kernels of wheat was all ground up and eaten 
together, a concentrated, impenetrable bulk would be 
impossible. Nature’s true diluent of wheat is the dark 
nutriment which lies next below the woody and sili- 
ceous bark or shell. It is also noticeable that this 
food prevents summer complaint, diarrhoea, cholera, 
etc., the bowels being loose enough, but never too CONSTIPA TION— CONSTITUTIONAL. 
181 
loose. It is well known that some of the worst cases 
of diarrhoea follow suddenly the most obstinate cos- 
tiveness. 
“ There are cases where persons can not use coarse 
bread on account of its irritating action on inflamed 
coats of the stomach." Modern science has shown 
that coarse food, as such, is not necessary to good 
digestion, and that good health which commonly ac- 
companies regular movements of the bowels. The 
food must be fine enough to be perfectly appropriated in 
digestion, or much of it is wasted in the excrement. 
Wheat is a typical food-substance, containing all the 
chemical elements which a human being contains. 
White flour is not a typical food-substance, and does 
not contain all the elements in a human being. 
Moreover, white flour of wheat is rich in the least po- 
tent of food-elements and poor in those most valu- 
able. In white-flour-making the method is nicely 
planned so as to save the white inside part, which 
contains little besides starch, and to exclude the dark 
food-layers which are albuminous and nitrogenous, 
and carry the minerals of the grain, which are never 
found in starch. 
What we need is a fine WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR, free 
from shucks and shells and useless hulls and trash, 
and this it is now possible to obtain in all large cities. 
New York city supplies it to all parts of the world, 
and has for seven or eight years. It is as fine as the 
starch-flour of commerce, but it contains no hulls and 
skins and shells. It makes a dark, sweet, acceptable 
bread, which contains all that there is in the body o/ 182 
FOR GIRLS. 
man, in nature’s own proportions. It is made by first 
rubbing off the four outside bran-coats of the grain, 
and then reducing the remainder to a fine flour with- 
out the use of millstones or any frictional devices 
which generate heat. The hulling is done by ma- 
chines, but it can be done by hand very easily. Fill 
a collander with choice wheat and pour cold water 
through it until each grain is moistened. Then rub 
it by handfuls until the woody shells are rubbed off, 
which will quickly follow; then pour the wheat into 
water and the shells will rise to the surface, leaving 
the food-portion of the wheat at the bottom. Pour 
off the top water and the shells, then drain the grain, 
and it is ready for boiling in place of “ wheaten grits ” 
and other harsh, insoluble foods. If a perfect and 
easily digested bread-flour is required, this hulled 
wheat should be dried in an oven or in the sun, and 
may then be ground in a simple mill, as will be here- 
after described. 
It is the nitrogenous and the mineral elements of 
wheat which are excluded from white flour, because 
they are not white, because they darken the flour and 
render it unsalable. It is these elements which nour- 
ish the nervous system and the brain, and which pro- 
vide substances for the up-building and repair of 
muscles and bones. It took years upon years to show 
that wheat ground up was not the best food for hu- 
man beings. Sylvester Graham detested white flour, 
as he should ; but he did not know that coarse wheat- 
meal, while containing all the useful food-elements, 
was largely wasted by reason of its association with CONSTIPA TION—CONSTITUTIONAL. 
indigestible shelly substances. Analyses of excreta 
proved this; and now advanced hygienists are dis- 
carding most of the “ grits ” and “ grahams,” and using 
decorticated wheat and whole-wheat flour instead 
They find that coarseness is, as we before remarked, 
not required, not desirable, in fact, but simply that 
all the food of the grain should enter into the flour. By 
the use of a fine flour, a superfine flour, indeed, 
made without heating (such as what is called “ Cold- 
Blast Whole-Wheat Flour,”* for example) and with- 
out bolting, intestinal torpor is entirely averted and 
constipation never occurs, unless some other cause 
exists. Nerve-food is thereby supplied to the rectal 
motor nerves, and the foeces are expelled before they 
become hard and dry and impacted. 
Pin-worms are effectually destroyed by such a course 
of living. None are troubled with them who are not 
constipated. Fruit and whole-wheat flour bread fed 
to children would do more to rid them of worms 
than all the panaceas in the drug-store. 
Now, flour ground fine and sifted is robbed of very 
essential ingredients, the gluten and the minerals. Be- 
sides, the grinding of the grain between two ponderous 
stones moving swiftly produces friction. This fric- 
tion heats the flour as it passes through, and heat 
takes the life out of anything more or less. A baked 
apple has not such a lively taste as a raw one. Cold- 
slaw is considered by many to be superior to cooked 
cabbage, and it is because it has more vim, freshness, 
* Supplied by the Health Food Company 74 Fourth Avenue 
New York. 184 
FOR GIRLS. 
and life that heat takes out. The heating process 
destroys some of the sweetness as well as freshness of 
the flour. What an insipid article commercial white 
flour is! The reason people do not realize it is, they 
have “got used to it.” Let them live on whole-wheat 
bread exclusively for a few months, and they would 
see the difference. 
Again, white flour lacks phosphorus. Phosphorus 
feeds the brain and nerves, and in wheat and other 
grains is contained in the germ and in the gluten, 
which are nearly all thrown out by bolting. 
Again, the bones, teeth, hair, nails, and muscles 
are robbed of their means of nourishment, when the 
gluten is sifted out. White flour is the main cause of 
decayed teeth. A lady had a daughter four or five 
years old, who had always been sickly, and whose 
teeth had all decayed. She was placed under the 
treatment of a physician whose ideas were in har- 
mony with these views. He made inquiries as to the 
girl’s diet, and found she had eaten food, mostly cake, 
made of the whitest flour, and confectionery without 
limit. He made a complete change in her diet, for- 
bidding white flour in every shape, substituting whole- 
wheat bread, mush, grits, etc. In a year and a half 
the child had not only entirely recovered, grown strong 
and hearty, but the new teeth had made their appear- 
ance, with a splendid coating of enamel, which set 
decay at defiance. 
Many might attribute the child’s poor health and 
decayed teeth to confectionery, but I am acquainted 
with persons who never indulged in candir.s, cakes CONSTIPA TION— CONSTITUTIONAL. 
and other sweets, but whose bread did consist of white 
flour, and whose teeth decayed early in life. White 
flour has nearly all of the bone-making material bolted 
out of it, so that teeth and some other parts of the 
system must suffer in consequence if much is eaten. 
Piles are very often produced by constipation, and 
when this is the case can be cured by removing the 
cause and prevented by preventing the latter. An 
unpleasant fullness in the lower part of the abdomen, 
a bearing-down sensation similar to that experienced 
in uterine misplacements, is caused by piles and con- 
stipation. Women often suppose they have prolap- 
sus, when in reality it is piles which causes the pain. 
Headaches and pimples on the face are sometimes 
produced, and biliousness, lung, liver, and heart dis- 
eases increased by impeded intestinal circulation 
The terrible straining which constipation instigate., 
has doubtless caused misplacements of the uterus. 
For this reason a syringe should be used or directions 
followed as given in Chapter IV. Curing some uterine 
difficulties will cure local constipation. Regulating 
the diet is nature’s remedy for curing the other kind. 
This is not a cook-book, but a few recipes are inserted 
for those to commence with who for health’s sake 
would like to try the new kind of food: 
1. Hulled wheat boiled whole is a most palatable 
dish. It requires long cooking, from a half to a 
whole day. Cracked or crushed, it may be boiled 
after the following rule : 
2. Two cups of crushed hulled wheat, wet with 
scalding water, to which add four cups of water, 186 
FOR GIRLS. 
either cold or hot. Place the vessel containing this 
into a kettle of boiling water. Cover and boil twc 
hours. (Or, better still, use the farina boiler.) When 
done pour into dishes first dipped into water to pre- 
vent sticking. It may be served with cream and 
sugar, and is considered most delicious. 
3. Crushed oats cooked in the same way are excel- 
lent, and may be used for variety’s sake. This recipe 
requires, it will be observed, twice the quantity of wa- 
ter as of crushed grain. Sometimes more water may 
be used, especially with wheat, so that when cooked 
?t will be quite liquid. When cooled, however, it will 
be of the consistency of blanc-mange. It may be 
molded in like manner, being careful to first dip the 
mold in writer. 
4. Granulated oats are relished by some when 
united with water, spread very thin upon a tin, and 
baked. 
5. Whole-wheat flour may be made into mush. It 
should be stirred very thin into boiling water, and left 
on the top of the stove two or three hours. This will 
thicken and thoroughly cook it. 
6. Whole-wheat flour may be made into bread with 
yeast as is white flour, except that it requires no 
kneading. It should be stirred with a spoon and left 
as thin and moist as it is possible and keep loaf- 
shape. 
7. It may be made into gems. “ Into cold water 
stir flour sufficient to make a batter a trifle thicker 
than that used for ordinary griddle-cakes. Bake from 
one-half to three-quarters of an hour in a hot oven in CONSTIPA TION—CONSTITUTIONAL. 
gem-pans. If iron pans are used they must be heated 
hot each time before filling.” 
The different grains can be prepared in a great va- 
riety of other ways for the table. I am very happy 
to say that gems, whole-wheat flour bread, and mush 
are becoming fashionable, but there are still many 
sections of the country where such things are un- 
heard of. One who knows the value of this kind of 
food is sometimes troubled on being placed in situa- 
tions where it can not be procured. In such cases eat 
more freely than usual of vegetables and fruits if they 
can be obtained. Fine flour bread and molasses or 
syrup alone will prevent this trouble with many 
persons. 
Figs are also useful when proper dietetic habits 
are not possible. 
An itinerant preacher once used to take bran in 
his saddle bags to use as a medicine upon his jour- 
neys, stirring a portion of it in water, and drinking it 
every morning before breakfast. 
But no American traveler at this day gets very 
far away from wheat, and a little trouble will secure 
the best food in the world. A small hand-mill, costing 
only $2.50 in New York city, can be obtained from 
Messrs. Fowler & Wells, the publishers of this work, 
by the use of which and a little trouble in hulling, 
enough perfect wheat flour and crushed wheat can be 
made in ten minutes to last a family twenty-four 
hours, and it will cost very little in wheat regions. 
Grinding and regrinding will give a flour sufficiently 
fine, and the coarser particles can be reserved for 188 
FOR GIRLS. 
mush-making, in which more perfect solution is se- 
cured by reason of the presence of an excess of 
water. 
Buttermilk is an excellent laxative drink. 
To substitute medicines for diet in constipation is 
about as blind and senseless an operation as that of a 
man who “ steps over a dollar to pick up twenty-five 
cents,” 
There are some so constituted that they can con- 
sume bread made of white flour without suffering 
from constipation; but such are liable to be diseased 
in some other way. They lose valuable brain and 
nerve, bone and teeth nourishment, and will grow 
very fleshy and phlegmatic, or else thin and dys< 
peptic. CHAPTER XV. 
AS TO YOUNG MEN. 
YOUNG men and women ought to have 
opportunities for becoming acquainted with one an- 
other. I agree with those who advocate the associa- 
tion of the sexes as freely everywhere as in the home 
circle. Girls having extensive acquaintance with 
young men will not be as liable to repose confidence 
in some false suitor and be led to ruin, or to suffer 
with bashful timidity, which in many becomes ridicu- 
lous prudery, reserve, and false modesty. 
By extensive acquaintance is not meant a lax, loose 
familiarity, but the same friendly, respectful inter- 
course with the brothers of young lady friends as, if 
well brought up, a girl has with her own brothers. 
Tae remembrance that a given young lady or gentle- 
man is some one else’s sister or brother may be 
some guide to one who is at a loss to know how to 
act in the presence of strangers. Think how you 
would like to see a brother treated, not as though he 
were a criminal or unworthy of respect surely, unless 
deserving of such treatment. Be yourself, therefore 
cordial and polite, until you have proved them con 
temptible. 
A girl whose moral nature has been well cultivated,  FOR GIRLS. 
so that it leads off in her character and actions, as it 
should do, and who has this opportunity for becom- 
ing acquainted with young men, will know by intui- 
tion when she is in the presence of one who can not 
be trusted. Dr. Napheys calls this intuition a “ mys- 
terious instinct beyond all analysis—a tact which men 
do not possess and do not readily believe in. She 
feels in a moment the presence of a base, unworthy 
nature. Where a suitor is not a man of low motive, 
but merely quite incongruous in temper and disposi- 
tion, this same instinct acts, and the man, without 
being able to say just why, feels that he is laboring in 
vain. If he blindly insists in his wooing, he has no 
one to chide but himself when he is finally dis- 
carded. But if the man is worthy and suitable, does 
this blessed instinct whisper the happy news with 
like promptness to the maiden’s soul.” 
A young lady of fine mental organization will 
so delicately and instinctively manifest her repug 
nance that a sensitive man will take the hint. And 
if he is not sensitive, does not understand hints, but 
persists in manifestations that are offensive to her, 
she should not hesitate to speak as plainly as the 
case may require. In regard to laxness and famili- 
arity between the sexes, the following excellent re- 
marks apply from “What Women Should Know”: 
“ Much has been written concerning undue famili- 
arity between the sexes, and there can not be too 
urgent caution given to young girls on this matter. 
They should consider themselves sacred from the 
touch even of the other sex ; and most young men AS TO YOUNG MEN. 
who have a due regard for virtuous womanhood will 
respect this sacredness upon the merest intimation of 
such desire upon the girl’s part. 
“ Yet such is the laxity of society in this particular, 
that a young girl is frequently placed in a difficult 
position. Kisses are freely proffered and freely ac- 
cepted between the sexes, and the girl whc refuses 
them is too often set down as a coquette or a prude. 
This refusal is, in many cases, considered as a mere 
challenge to take a kiss unasked. When this is the 
case, it is better to submit quietly and passively, than 
to keep up any prolonged resistance; but it is well, 
if possible, to make the giver feel that he has incurred 
displeasure. 
“ I would have a girl in no case give a kiss except 
to her betrothed, and to be chary of such caresses 
even to him. If a girl can not refuse a kiss without 
placing herself in an awkward predicament (as, for in- 
stance, in games in which kisses are the forfeit), let 
her be entirely passive in the matter. 
“Now all this is not for the sole purpose of pre- 
serving men’s future wives for them pure and chaste, 
but to protect the purity of men themselves. Young 
girls do not know, but sometimes I think they ought 
to know, that the passions of men are much stronger 
and more easily inflamed than their own. A levity 
of behavior thoughtlessly and inasmuch as she 
does not know the consequences—innocently pursued 
by a young girl, has excited the passions of her male 
companion almost beyond his control, so that, though 
he has given no evidence of it in her presence, he may  FOR GIRLS. 
have gone from her side directly to the arms of a 
fallen woman. This is a difficult subject to discuss, 
and one through false modesty seldom or never ap- 
proached. 
“ But girls ought to be made aware of their respon- 
sibilities in this matter. Many a young girl would 
undoubtedly stand aghast if the ruin she may have 
thus wrought were brought home to her. So let 
young girls be very careful, and feel that they have 
not only their own moral safety, but that of their 
companions of the other sex in their keeping.” 
The question which puzzles some girls, when young 
men do attempt liberties, is how to object, what to 
say ? Bold, rude advances they would be at no loss 
to know how to rspel; but when some man, gentle 
and amiable in manner, proffers attentions which girls 
have been taught should not be allowed, it seems to 
them harsh and impolite to say or do anything which 
would look like reproof or suspicion that another was 
in the wrong. They can not make it seem possible 
that he, so mild and complaisant, could be actuated 
by mean, low thoughts; and while they feel the im- 
propriety of his conduct, do not want to hurt his 
feelings by objecting to his actions, in case they do 
really proceed—as he would make them believe— 
from friendly, brotherly interest. 
There are other girls who always seem to know 
just what to say and do under such circumstances. 
They are not afraid of speaking their minds, no mat- 
ter whether it hurts the feelings or not. Such might 
only laugh at the fears of a timid girl, and think the AS TO YOUNG MEN. 
space devoted to this topic all wasted It is not for 
such that these directions are intended, but for those 
who are ignorant of the evils which grow out of too 
great familiarity between the sexes, and for those 
timid natures who are really troubled about how to 
meet improper advances from gentlemen. 
First, fix this simple rule in your mind : Do not 
allow a young man to take the first liberties with 
your person. It is a safe rule to follow, for your own 
sake, as well, as has been seen, for his own. 
There are men who, just out of simple curiosity, 
try to see how far they can go. They like to test 
girls, without really meaning any harm. If you stand 
on your dignity, they will find you are to be trusted, 
knowing that if you allow nothing of the kind in 
them, of course you would not in any one else. 
There is little danger of hurting the feelings of such 
men ; indeed, they are watching to see if you will 
repulse them, and will respect you for so doing, and 
ever after hold you high in their estimation. 
You can in a great many quiet ways, without a 
word, make them feel they can take no liberties with 
you. “ Don’t, please,” may often be sufficient to say. 
If they make a pretext to look at your breastpin or 
necklace, say, “If you wish to look at this, I will take 
it off,” proceeding at once to do it; taking it off, even 
if they object then to putting you to so much 
trouble. 
A friend gave me the following experience of her 
own: There was once a social gathering of young 
people at the house of an acquaintance, herself among  FOR GIRLS. 
the number. During the evening she sat in earnest 
conversation by the side of an excellent young man. 
Before long up went his arm to the frame of her 
chair. She did not mind that, as she was not leaning 
back. Pretty soon his arm slipped down nearer to 
her waist. She was in the midst of a sentence, but 
arose immediately, still talking as though nothing had 
happened. She remained standing, still facing him, 
conversing pleasantly. “ Sit down, sit down,” said 
he; “what’s the matter? What makes you stand?” 
“ Oh, nothing,” she replied ; “ I thought you wanted 
my chair.” “ What do you mean ? ” said he. “ What 
do you mean?” “ Well, I thought your arm was a 
little out of place, that’s all,” and she took her chair 
again, and all was as pleasant as before. The young 
man thought all the more of her for this, and never 
afterward attempted the least impropriety. 
It is not necessary to be stiff and distant to keep 
men in their right places. One can be perfectly free, 
easy, and pleasant, yet be delicately persistent in re- 
quiring them to let one’s person alone. That man 
who repeats, and insists upon repeating, attempts of 
this kind, in spite of plain intimations that it is 
against one’s wishes, may be set down at once as 
lacking either in virtuous, pure motives or fine feel- 
ings, no matter how smooth and attractive his man- 
ners or plausible his excuses. Never yield to him in 
anything. Be sure, though you can not fathom his 
intentions, there is something wrong with hint, and 
shun him as much as possible. Do not delude your- 
self that some man of your acquaintance is an ex- AS TO YOUNG MEN. 
ception to this. There is no exception. This very 
method of resisting advances is to some men only a 
strong temptation to persist until they finally win 
their wishes. Remember this: be firm, yield not a 
single atom. A pure, noble-min ied man will respect 
and be guided by the slightest token of disapproval 
on this point by the lady in whose company he 
may be. 
Young ladies realize too little the influence they 
may exert over the other sex. They can lead them 
just where they please. When in their society they 
can entertain them with frivolous nonsense, or can 
weave fun and frolic with common-sense, high-toned 
culture, and appreciation of the fine and beautiful in 
nature and art. That girl especially with wealth, po- 
sition, and independence of character at her com- 
mand, has great responsibility resting upon her, both 
as leader for other girls and in personal influence di- 
rectly over young men. In a certain town the women 
clubbed together and drew up a set of resolutions to 
the effect that they would not keep company with 
any gentleman known to use tobacco in any form or 
who was not strictly temperate. The document was 
circulated. At first the young men ridiculed the un- 
dertaking with a great air of bravado, and declared 
they could hold out as long as the girls could. Quiet- 
ly, but persistently, the girls went on their way. The 
first excitement died down; still the girls were firm. 
By and by one young man after another left off his 
wine and dropped his cigar, and these disgusting and 
ruinous habits were effectually banished from that  FOR GIRLS. 
circle. Closely allied to this subject is another, no 
less than the “ social evil,” on which I shall introduce 
some remarks by Dr. Dio Lewis: 
“ Men go prowling about, seeking to seduce and 
ruin girls, and will stand by each other, even in this 
infamous business. When a poor girl, overcome by 
the arts of an oily-tongued villain, perhaps by a prom- 
ise of marriage, consents to sin, how you drop her, 
and shun her, and sneer at her. A hundred times I 
have heard chivalrous men declare that * women have 
no honor; they never stand by each other. If one 
gets into trouble the rest forsake her and run away.’ 
Girls, if you care to commend yourselves to men, 
stand by these unfortunate ones, encourage them, 
help them. You needn’t fear being soiled ; the spirit 
in which you would engage in this angelic service 
would serve as a perfect shield. I know something 
of men. I have lived in many countries. I have 
been much in society, have been to some extent what 
is called a man of the world, and have talked with 
men about women hundreds of times. I am confi- 
dent that nothing would so elevate a young woman in 
the estimation of all noble men as the brave defense 
of an unfortunate sister. It would thrill us all, and 
lift you into a heroine. 
“ If a few hundred of you would join hands around 
the social evil, even in a city like this, where it has 
attained huge proportions, you could bring it within 
reach of Christian aid. Nothing, this side of God. 
do men revere as they revere virtuous women. Let 
it be known among men that the victims of their lust AS TO YOUNG MEN. 
have been taken under your protection, and the whole 
aspect of the question would instantly change. In- 
stead of looking upon the unhappy ones as fair game, 
men would suddenly become conscious that they were 
dealing with your friends, and therefore with you.” CHAPTER XVI. 
LOVE PASSION MARRIAGE. 
For Marriageable Young Ladies. 
A "RUE marriage is the perfect union of soul and 
body. The marriage ceremony is not the marriage; 
it is only the form by which the public are notified 
that certain persons intend henceforth to live together 
in the closest possible union. 
A mutual love is, by common consent, made an essen- 
tial condition of marriage. And what is love ? The 
love that leads to marriage is an altogether different 
sentiment from that love which persons of the same 
sex entertain for each other. As young gentlemen 
and ladies approach the years of maturity, they be- 
come conscious of a new and strong attraction for 
each other’s society that differs materially from the 
boy and girl friendships of their early school-days. 
They find an influence, or magnetism, unconsciously 
thrown by one sex over the other. It would be more 
exact to say, there is an attraction felt by persons of 
one sex toward some certain ones of the other sex, 
while toward certain others there is felt a repugnance, 
or, at least, indifference. To this attraction, influ- 
ence, or magnetism, when it exists in its strongest L 0 VE—PA SSION—MARRIA OE. 
form between one man and one woman, has been 
given the name of Love. 
This attraction is based upon the fact of sex and 
physical adaptation of temperaments, heightened and 
deepened, when the mental and moral nature, with 
general culture and tastes, are similar. Some suppose 
it to be based upon the mental adaptation of indi- 
viduals, but the same culture, the same mental and 
spiritual suitableness, and the same temperamental 
fitness may exist between persons of the same sex, 
and but little or none of the peculiar pleasure expe- 
rienced that is felt when in the society of those of 
the opposite sex, conclusively showing that sex is the 
real cause of the attraction. The question then fol- 
lows, Why is it the case ? It is because the sexual 
nature, which begins to develop at the age of puberty— 
and there is an age of puberty in boys as well as in 
girls, though unlike in its character—requires satisfac- 
tion. The sexual nature creates wants that must be 
met before the fullest development of persons can 
take place. 
Marriage is the heaven-ordained way for men and 
women to associate, so that all the longings and needs 
of their whole being may be gratified. For, people 
have an instinctive sense that not only the physical 
nature, but that even the purely intellectual and 
spiritual elements of soul will flourish best in the 
companionship of one chosen and cherished above 
all others of the sex. In a perfect union this will be 
the case. What one lacks in character the other will 
supply. Faults will be remedied, because criticised 200 
FOR GIRLS. 
as the world does not criticise, in love. Rough ten- 
dencies will be smoothed down ; self-control, patience, 
industry, and many other virtues induced or strength- 
ened. The soul, with all its capabilities, is spurred 
to its fullest development, discipline and ripeness in 
a complete marriage, as it can be in no other form of 
life. The promptings of the soul, rather than of the 
senses, will constantly remain uppermost, governing all 
its actions, keeping the body under subjection, with 
all the lowering tendencies thereof. In this way only 
will mutual respect—without which love will be short- 
lived—be awakened and continued. 
But the sexual nature—the attraction based on 
sex—has in the history of the world exerted no small 
share in the marriage relation. To this part of thf 
attraction we will give the name of passion. Passion 
is supposed to form a part of love; that love and 
passion are so mingled together that it is hard to tell 
where one ends and the other begins. All marriages 
are not perfect or true marriages. Many of them are 
contracted for the sole purpose of gratifying passion. 
It is lust, then, instead of love ; body, instead of soul, 
which leads off as the motive of all actions in that 
relation. The opposite of health, long life, and hap- 
piness will be the final result of such a marriage. 
The united sentiments of love and passion, or at- 
traction, exist in the hearts of both men and women 
—God-implanted. It is only when passion is per- 
verted from its legitimate use, or becomes a control- 
ing rather than a subordinate power, that it should 
meet with reproach. LO VE-PA SSI ON—MA RRIA GE. 
201 
The majority of authors—all that I know anything 
about have declared that the passion of men is 
much stronger than that of women. It may seem 
like presumption in me to venture an opinion that 
may even appear at variance with this. I may be 
mistaken, but I surmise that it is the early training— 
or want of training—and the whole training of men 
which has led them to give their passions greater 
prominence than nature intended ; that law and pub- 
lic opinion have both favored this prominence. If all 
this was changed to what it should be, men would 
suddenly find their passions were not half so strong 
nor hard to control as they had been only too glad 
to believe them. I surmise that giving both sexes 
the same and proper training in the matter, it would 
be found there was an innate difference in the mental 
constitution of men and women, extending even to 
their passions, rendering them unlike in manifestation 
—not strength, I surmise that if men’s passions 
are the strongest, it is not a natural, but an acquired 
strength, and ought not so to be. They should be 
about the same. If, in reality, lam in error, and it 
can be proved that, as certain physical conditions 
operate to make the muscles and voices of men 
stronger, their bony framework larger, with a heavier 
growth of hair, and, perhaps, with stronger minds 
than women, therefore their passions would likewise 
be stronger; then I would reply that the same physi- 
cal conditions should operate to give a corresponding 
strength of self-control, so that they would be just 
as easy to keep within bounds as those of women. 202 
FOR GIRLS. 
Let us consider a little the difference in the mental 
manifestations of the two sexes. There is in the 
nature of the generality of women, and girls as well, 
an acute and all-pervading sense of the aesthetic. Her 
home, her family, and social relations, her daily toil 
and even the grosser necessities and functions of hei 
physical being, are clothed in roseate tints ; enveloped 
in a fine subtle atmosphere; surrounded with a high, 
pure sense of delicacy and refinement that few 
or none of the opposite sex though equal and 
surpassing in many other qualities, do not possess and 
can scarcely understand. It sheds a beautiful charm 
over society, so that men are forced to conclude that 
women are nearer heaven than themselves, and 
caused some one to remark that “ Woman was a 
link in the chain between man and heaven.” If a 
woman has a strong moral and intellectual nature, 
and this finer sense that idealizes and beautifies every- 
thing, she may possess passion and not know it—she 
will call it all love. Let such a woman fix her affec- 
tions upon one of the opposite sex, her whole being 
becomes transported with the love she gives and that 
which she receives. No sensual, vulgar thought ever 
mingles with her almost angelic affection ; a love that 
would nearly lead her to give her life to save the one 
she loves. Passion that in a mind of an opposite stamp 
becomes beastly lust, is so transformed in her that she 
believes it to be only an intense, unadulterated love. 
But, then, if it is only love, why may she not be af- 
fected similarly by the bodily presence and society of 
another woman ? And withal, whatever she may try L 0 VE—PA SSI ON—MARRIA GE. 
203 
to persuade herself to believe, she can not but realize 
that it is his physical presence—his manliness that 
thrills her ; that the slightest touch of his hand mag- 
netizes, as it were, her whole frame. She shuns tc 
analyze the feeling, but indistinctly desires to drink 
in more and more of this magnetism, and feels that it 
would do her good to come closer and closer to his 
person. She scorns any thought of passion and the 
like, but it is there nevertheless, and its consumma- 
tion is what she unconsciously craves. If anything oc- 
curs to prevent marrying him, it may make her misera- 
ble or cause a fit of sickness, and perhaps to die of 
a broken heart. 
There probably are a few women who enjoy certain 
men’s society, and are devoid of passion, who actually 
ftave no capacity for that experience. The sentiment 
thfty do entertain for them is rather admiration than 
love, because they possess some quality of mind or 
ooint of culture that gratifies the taste. These 
.romen should never marry until they meet with one 
whose physical as well as mental nature pleases them 
as above described. If they never meet him there 
will be some other place in the world for them to oc- 
cupy instead of the married state. It would be well 
enough for such a one to marry a man with as little 
passion as herself if she could be sure of finding one, 
but otherwise I fear she would not be happy. 
We have considered the woman’s peculiarity of 
mind. Let us look at the man. He all this while 
may have similar experiences of thrills and magnetic 
touches under the influence of her presence while he 204 
FOR GIRLS. 
is engaged in courtship, but he makes no mistake as 
to the nature and origin of these sensations, but owns 
up at once that he wishes to possess her person in 
physical union. His mind lacks ideality; is given tc 
dealing with facts rather than fancies, with realities 
more than sentiments; takes things as they are, and 
not as they should be; is self-centered, practical, cal- 
culating. His training has been, very likely, such as 
to increase rather than offset his natural bent of mind 
in regard to sexual matters. He has heard the rough 
talk and coarse stories of men ; has found out some of 
the wicked ways of society. His out-door life has led 
him to become acquainted with the habits of some 
domestic animals, and to make his own comparisons. 
We are not to suppose that because he does not 
have the same mental characteristics he therefore 
can not fully appreciate, admire, love, the refinement 
of thought, keen intuitions, delicate sensibilities, 
which distinguish the chosen one of his heart. He 
may love them all the more because he does not pos- 
sess them, even as, though he can not sing soprano, 
he can enjoy the exquisite tones of her voice perhaps 
more than if able to execute the same himself. He 
may also, in spite of his want of ideality, be thor- 
oughly honorable and conscientious in all his dealings 
with women. 
What is my reason for bringing up this subject in 
this way? To explain: Society is often startled by 
the birth of illegitimate children, and what makes the 
news more shocking is that the child’s mother, prob- 
ably, was one ot the choicest girls in that society LO VE—PASSION—MARRIA GE. 
205 
Sometimes a coarse, bold, fast girl commits the same 
offense, and people all exclaim, “Just what I ex- 
pected ! ” but when a gentle, retiring, religious, smart 
young lady from some of the best families falls, no 
body can understand it. Least of all can the girl 
herself understand it, except to know at last that she 
was most wofully deceived. 
Much harm to both sexes has resulted from the 
wide-spread teaching that the passion of men was 
made by God to be stronger than that of women. It 
has led millions of men to feel justified in gratifying 
lust, under the name of passion, at any cost, sacrifice, 
ar suffering to their victims, both within the marriage 
pale and outside of it. Men stand by each other and 
shield each other in it all; for have they not been 
taught—and women have echoed the same idea, add 
ing to the mischief—that men have sexual needs that 
women know nothing about. Hundreds of women 
will say, and say it because they believe it, that if a 
woman carries herself straight—that is, makes no im 
proper advances in the society of gentlemen—she will 
never be imposed upon or insulted. Happily for tin; 
safety of women—l was going to say for the honor of 
men, but I don’t think him much deserving of honor 
who can not resist such a temptation—this is generally 
the case, but it is far, very far from being always so. 
The consequence of this belief is, that when a girl 
is seduced, all the women, and most of the men, will 
take the seducer’s part, throwing all the blame upon 
her, saying, “ Well, if she had behaved herself, and 
not tempted him, she would not have got into trouble.” FOR GIRLS. 
God knows, and that seducer knows, if the public do 
not, how unjust and untrue that accusation generally is, 
If the teaching on this subject had been that men 
and women were made of the same clay, subject to 
the same temptations, pleasures and vices, and an- 
swerable each for himself and herself when we allow 
ourselves to fall into temptation, then men would be 
thrown upon their own responsibility for sinning, and 
not blame some innocent, ignorant girl for his evil 
deeds, saying, “ She kissed me and raised the devil in 
me.” I refer all girls who read this to the previous 
chapter, and beg of them to follow the advice there 
given, to be careful in regard to kisses, caresses, and 
liberties allowed from men. It is well to heed it in 
the present state of society, because men have been 
so badly taught in several matters that no girl can be 
certain she may not lead some man to ruin, uninten- 
tionally, by doing otherwise. But at the same time 
girls would be perfectly justifiable in asking, “ What 
did he allow me to kiss him for if he could not stand 
it ? He should know what the consequence would 
be to himself, and not expect me to guard his purity.” 
It certainly is not fair to expect women to govern 
their own passions and men’s too, and then, when 
they fail to do so, heap the sins of both upon her 
head alone—she who belongs to the weaker sex (?). 
Ah! when men from babyhood have been taught the 
sacredness of their own bodies, the beauty of modes- 
ty, the duty of keeping their health good and their 
thoughts pure, the true use of their sexual natures, 
and the sexual rights of women, I feel sure they will LO VE—PA SSION—MARRIA GE. 
find self-control to be quite as easy and natural for 
them as fo’. women, and certainly as incumbent upon 
them. 
Let us see now if we can understand how it is pos- 
sible for a good girl to be seduced. I have heard 
their recitals of the methods used to lead them to 
ruin—recitals that would make angels weep. They 
have told how honorable and upright their would-be 
lover has made himself appear to be; how carefully 
he studied her mental tastes, and tried to gratify 
them ; how genial and courteous his manner, and un 
wearying his attentions; hiding with hellish tact his 
demoniacal character, making himself appear verily 
as an angel of light, until he got her to confess her 
love for him—a real love, that was just ripe, ready 
and waiting to bestow itself with almost deathless 
grip upon some one who could supply her longings 
for companionship and love returned. Had he been 
a conscientious, honorable man this would have been 
quite proper for her to do. Now the wily villain, 
knowing he has her complete confidence, talks of 
marriage and engagement; that they should be nearer 
and plainer-spoken on that account; enlarges upon 
the “ true ” woman ; and she, poor thing, avows her 
love to be true as steel and lasting as eternity, and he 
proceeds to test her love by breaking down her virtue, 
meeting all her arguments and protests, perhaps, by 
telling her she does not love him, or assuring her that 
all engaged couples live the same as married, or rep- 
resenting to her what an angelic influence she wields 
over him, that he can not be good or do good withou< 208 
FOR GIRLS. 
her as he ought, and intends to stay with her always 
why, then, wait ? why not be all in all to each other 
at once ? perhaps brings up the Bible, reading pas- 
sages that suit his purpose. 
And so after a long time and long effort, with a 
perseverance worthy a better purpose, he gains his 
object. She knows she loves him, and would make 
almost any sacrifice to help him be good, to prove 
how true and single-hearted her love, never doubting 
for a moment that his love for her is as pure and una- 
dulterated as she believes hers to be for him, and that 
he will never forsake her, finally yields, as it were, be- 
cause she must. The sequel to this is better known 
to the public than the part just related. She now is 
forsaken and blamed by her family and friends, scorned 
by society, branded by the world, hunted down by any 
common scavenger, who now thinks her fair prey for 
the gratification of his beastliness, and, worst of all, 
deserted by the lover for whom she sacrificed herself 
and all that the world held dear. That must be a heart 
of stone that does not bleed at the contemplation of her 
broken heart, broken hope, and broken life. Most 
likely, after the excitement dies down, she sees him 
welcomed into the society that will never again open 
its doors to her, though she is far more worthy in 
reality. (I do not here refer to the avowed prostitute.) 
But then, society believes that a man’s passion is 
greater than a woman’s, with little power of self-con- 
trol ; and, if women did not lead them astray, they 
vvould never do wrong. At any rate, if he will prom- 
ise to do better in future, they can easily forgive the LOVE—PASSION—MARRIAGE. 
past offenses, especially when led to it by the wiles 
and arts of a woman, who should control both her 
own passion and his too. 
The harm resulting to men from wrong teaching on 
this subject we have already considered ; now we are 
prepared to see the harm resulting to women. It 
leads them to blame and misjudge the girl who falls. 
In nine cases out of ten “they are more sinned against 
than sinning.” 
Girls are misled on this account. They believe 
their love to be without passion. They suppose them 
selves to have no passion, and to their susceptibility 
to the magnetism of the other sex they give the name 
of love—scorning, hating anything so vulgar as pas- 
sion. Now, they ought to understand that it is pas- 
sion which forms a part of the love that would lead 
them to marry a certain man. They ought to know 
that passion is a God-given instinct, which if properly 
exercised is nothing to be ashamed of, but will con- 
duce to health, long life, and happiness. It is as sa- 
cred an instinct as any we possess, for by its exercise 
human beings are called into existence, which are to 
suffer or enjoy forever. And what can be more sacred 
or important than this or the means that bring it about. 
A girl should fix it immovably in her mind that the 
only proper time to exercise this instinct is after a 
marriage that is announced to all the world by some 
lawful ceremony, and then when the man who has 
won her love tries by his artful, specious sophistry to 
make her believe something short of marriage will do 
as well, her indignation will be at once aroused ; or, if 210 
FOR GIRLS. 
he promises marriage afterward when he has obtained 
this test of her love, she would be likely to tell him 
that a man who cared so little for the law or for her 
wishes would care very little for his promise. And 
this is the case generally; men will not marry—prom- 
ise or no promise—girls who will be the same as wives 
to them without marriage. 
Taught in this way girls will not be deceived about 
the nature of their regard to their suitors, and 1 think 
not half as likely to be led astray, for they will pen- 
etrate immediately the smoothest language when 
backed by a wicked motive, and they will never be so 
love-bound and love-blinded that they can not break 
the chain when they find it woven about an unworthy 
object. 
Let no one suppose such teaching will rub off the 
delicate, beautiful plush of modesty and purity that 
should overspread a girl’s soul, or do away with the 
'deal, the aesthetic in her character. No danger of 
that. It will be increased rather than diminished, 
and so will her moral courage and self-control. Pe 
member, ignorance is not innocence, nor is it a safe- 
guard of virtue. 
If girls shall receive a truer idea of their own 
natures than they have had heretofore; if they shah 
be led to feel and act more leniently toward the un- 
fortunate ones of the sex; if, in consequence of read- 
ing this chapter, one girl shall be prevented from go 
ng astray, the end for which it was written will have 
been attained. 
And now in closing I should like to recommend to ADDENDUM. 
211 
all young ladies about to be married, or lately mar- 
ried—and I do it without the knowledge of either 
publisher or author, so it is not an advertisement, but 
out of an earnest desire to do good—the continuance 
of this chapter and this book in two books written 
by Mrs. E. B. Duffey, called “ What Woman Should 
Know ” and “ The Relations of the Sexes.” 
ADDENDUM. 
(Which only the older readers will need, care for, and understand.) 
SOME time has elapsed since the above was planned 
and penned. Among the thoughts presented are 
some I considered at the time new and singular, and, 
doubtless, very many of my readers will so consider 
; but those who have kept pace with the for- 
ward march of ideas will find them to be somewhat in 
the rear. 
After thinking it over I have decided to let the 
chapter remain as it is, because the sentiments may 
be instructive to many, and will be a stepping-stone 
to the more radical ideas now coming to the front; 
ideas which I will here briefly present. 
Many earnest students of sexual ethics have lately 
begun to teach— 
I. That God’s primal law is that men and women 
should maintain pure continence, both before and 
after marriage; that the sexual function should never 
be exercised except for the purpose of procreation. 
2. That a chief object of marriage should be the 
perpetuation of the race; that the latter should never 212 
FOR GIRLS. 
be allowed until the most systematic, beautiful and 
healthy physical nature can be imparted to offspring; 
the best mental and moral condition, with a strong 
will and clear conscience to preside over all. 
3. That women should maintain the fullest liberty 
and control over their persons after marriage, the 
same as before it; that they alone should decide when 
procreation ought to take place. 
4. That the magnetic, passional attraction of the 
sexes for each other, which develops at the age of 
puberty, may find the most ample satisfaction by as* 
sociation upon the higher social, intellectual and spir- 
itual planes of life. 
5. That as a means of equalizing and tranquilizing 
passion, and of obtaining that true knowledge of each 
other which ought to precede marriage, the sexes* 
should associate freely everywhere, in educationa*, 
social, business and political circles, the same as in 
the family and home. 
Let us inquire what would be some of the result* 
if these views—which are directly the opposite of the. 
general belief and practice of to-day—should be uni- 
versally adopted and carried out. 
1. Prostitution—to find a cure for which has long 
puzzled the heads of the wisest statesmen in vain— 
would suddenly disappear of its own accord for lack 
of patronage, men having ascertained that their pas- 
sions are, by nature, no stronger than those of women ; 
that health, strength and “physical necessity” do not 
demand a special gratification, but on the contrary 
are promoted best by a life of continence and virtue. ADDENDUM. 
213 
2. The seduction and betrayal of girls and the birth 
of illegitimate children would cease, because girls will 
have been taught better than to believe that true love 
requires a physical basis of lust to make it binding 
and permanent. 
3. Divorce—now on the increase, and perplexing 
philanthropists to secure a remedy—would become 
very rare, because people will have better opportuni- 
ties for becoming acquainted with each other before 
marriage ; and because marriages would be contracted 
for higher, nobler purposes than at present—the ob- 
ject of securing legal gratification of the animal pas- 
sions being left entirely out of the calculation. 
4. The number of human beings born would be 
very much lessened, but their quality vastly improved, 
because the human race would be increased and. mul- 
tiplied by design, not by accident, and only by those 
capable of replenishing and subduing the earth, which 
is far from being the case now ; and because the costly 
and precious seminal secretion of men, and nerve force 
of women, would never be wasted for sensual and 
unholy purposes, but would, on the principle of con- 
servation of force, be transmitted to succeeding gen- 
erations, producing in them stronger constitutions 
and greater recuperative power. 
Of course those who promulgate these doctrines do 
so with the full knowledge that they are running coun- 
ter to old established beliefs and customs, but they 
are examining the subject in all its bearings, and suc- 
cessfully refuting all arguments brought against them 
They find that science and the Bible agree upon these 214 
FOR GIRLS- 
views and may be used in their defense and confirma- 
tion. They believe that the standard of virtue set up 
by Christ in Matt. v. 28—which doubtless was in- 
tended to shield wives as well as other women from 
the power of lust —is not only possible of attain- 
ment, but that actual sexual reform is at hand, and 
is merely a question of time. 
I greatly rejoice that the light of purity is dawn- 
ing upon this night of sexual slavery and degradation, 
and earnestly recommend my readers to make them 
selves thoroughly acquainted with the subject under 
consideration. 
It is obvious that this book is not the place to pre- 
sent proofs and answer objections ; the most that 
can be done here is to refer the reader to sources 
from which further information may be obtained. 
There are several Woman’s Moral Education So- 
cieties formed in different cities of the Union, for the 
purpose of studying these and kindred topics.* 
Young ladies, you who are to be the matrons of 
the future and the mothers of men, let me entreat 
you never to enter that most momentous of all the 
relations of life—marriage—until you have investi- 
gated this theme. Your own comfort and happiness 
will be enhanced thereby, and the duties devolving 
upon you will be more easily and satisf ictorily per- 
formed. 
* The Alpha is a periodical devoted to the discussion and dissem- 
ination of these principles, and is edited and published by Caroline 
B. Winslow, M.D., Washington, D.C., at $l.OO a year. APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 
I. 
THE MENSES. 
A number of years since one of the physicians of om 
town declared it his belief that the loss of blood accom- 
panying the escape of the ova in menstruation was not in- 
tended by nature ; that it was induced by false modes ot 
living, especially the dress, and aggravated by the napkins 
so universally worn at the time. 
Shortly afterward I met a tall, blooming young lady, 
over twenty years of age, with a remarkably clear com- 
plexion and red cheeks, and the most perfect health, who 
told me that the menstrual period with her had always 
been only a slight discharge of whitish matter unaccom- 
panied with blood. 
Within the last few months this subject has been agitated 
somewhat extensively by certain medical writers, and it is 
likely to become one of great interest and importance to 
the human race. The ground is by them taken that this 
monthly loss is unnatural, debilitating, and wholly useless. 
M. Roussel, a French physician, a writer in the early 
part of the present century, says : “ Originally, the men- 
strual flow did not occur in women, but was produced ar- 
tificially by too succulent and nutritious a regimen and aft- 
erward propagated from generation to generation.” To FOR GIRLS. 
these causes is added, by later physicians, the excesses of 
married life, as one which has had as much to do in bring- 
ing about this degeneracy as all the others combined. 
Scientific investigation has in the past been very meagre 
and unsatisfactory, but, so far as it has gone, tends to con- 
firm these views. 
It is known that “ our American squaws never suffer 
from menorrhagia or uterine hemorrhage. The peasant 
women of Germany and other European countries who 
labor in the fields seldom sustain any loss of vitality from 
this cause.” There are several instances known and on 
record, of perfectly healthy women in the more cultivated 
classes that never had any appearance of it. 
Some women have experimented with themselves, and 
find they can largely control it, preventing its return for 
months at a time by right habits of living, including— 
1. Wearing the clothing loose and evenly distributed 
over the body ; omitting heavy quilts and many skirts, so 
as not to overheat the pelvic region—which is naturally 
the warmest part of the body and needs the least clothing 
-—and warmly covering wrists, ankles, and spine—parts 
having nerves most exposed. 
2. Proper diet ; eschewing tea, coffee, etc. ; all warm 
drinks having a relaxing tendency ; also, all condiments, 
as peppers, spices, etc. Giving up the use of fine flour 
and flesh meats, as being stimulating, but not strengthen- 
ing, and everything tending to let down the tone of the 
nervous system, which natural food and drink keeps al- 
ways in a tonic condition. Common salt in particular is 
known to have a strong influence on the sexual natures of 
animals and man. 
3. Observing the laws of exercise and rest; fresh air 
and sunlight. APPENDIX. 
217 
Medical treatment has been given to others by doctors 
believing the discharge to be a disease, and proceeding 
on this assumption have cured their patients of it entirely. 
Chapter VIII. will be applicable to ninety-nine out of 
every one hundred girls, for many years, perhaps genera- 
tions hence, because they have inherited the tendepcy from 
their ancestors 
A sudden stoppage of the menses by cold baths, and 
other cold applications, by going barefooted when unac 
customed to it, by taking cold in anyway, are very danger 
ous, as previously explained, and unless brought on again 
immediately will prove fatal. This is not the way to pre- 
vent this flow of blood. Let no reader attempt such a 
thing. .The cure referred to here is to be obtained grad- 
ually, by a strengthening and building up of the physical 
forces, and this can take place only by degrees and in obe- 
dience to hygienic laws. 
There will be some thoughtful young ladies among my 
readers who may make good use of this knowledge if they 
will. 
Also, perchance, an occasional one who will fail to have 
the monthly turn as the other girls do. She will see by 
this there is no cause for alarm if her general health re- 
mains good. But if her complexion is sallow, or affected 
with humors, and she does not feel well, she should seek a 
physician, who will prescribe, not “to bring the menses 
on,” but to bring about general good health. Menstrua- 
tion will then take care of itself. 218 
FOR GIRLS. 
11. 
NO SEX IN DISEASE 
One critic fears that page 48 will aid in spreading “ the 
old masculine error of magnifying the sexual nature ol 
woman and making it dominate her whole being. We 
want to outgrow as fast as possible the idea that woman is 
more a sexual being than man. I have never been able to 
perceive that a diseased womb exercised a greater influ- 
ence on the imagination, nerves, and general health than a 
disordered stomach, liver, and spleen.” 
I think only readers who have been brought up under thu 
regime of that old masculine error will have it recalled to 
mind by the page referred to. But lest some of the young- 
er ones should in any way be led into that same mistake, 
1 will take this occasion to plainly state that man is as 
much influenced by his sexual nature as woman is by 
hers ; that in either case a misused and abused sexual sys- 
tem will bring dire consequences upon the whole organism 
■—mental and physical. A woman is no more liable to 
disease because she is a woman than a man is because he 
is a man. If we find that women are more feeble in health 
than man, we shall also find that it is because of their 
living indoors, without as much exercise in the fresh air 
and sunshine as men have; because of their improper 
modes of dress, and other barbarities, and not because of 
sex. Sex should never deter a woman from engaging in 
anything she is otherwise fitted to perform. 
Any diseased organ seems to capture the entire person 
in its sway of suffering ; even so small a thing as a boil APPENDIX. 
sending thrills of pain clear to the brain, and throwing a 
sickening influence over the whole being. 
With these cautions and additions, I think page '4B will 
still prove to be true. 
111. 
THE WASH-TUB. 
Again, one can not endorse what is said in praise of 
the wash-tub, on page 115. “ Experience and observation 
go against it,” she says. “I have myself suffered many 
weeks of cruel invalidism from attempted exploits in that 
direction, and I have a daughter whom I fear is invalided 
for life from a grandmother who endorsed the wash-tub 
theory, persuading her to do the family washing instead of 
having it sent out, as it ought to have been. I have yet to 
find the first woman who does much washing, who is not 
afflicted with prolapsus uteri.” 
I should be very sorry indeed to have written anything 
which will cause young women to undertake washing to 
their injury. It is quite possible this may happen, unless 
further explained, so easy is it to mistake a writer’s mean- 
ing and rush to some extreme not intended at all. 
Page 115 was not meant for half invalids, but especially 
for healthy, growing girls, as a means of developing the 
chest and furnishing exercise for the upper half of the 
body. If girls walk much during their minority, and use 
the arms comparatively little, the calf of the leg becomes 
well developed and will remain so through life, while the 
arms will be spindles, and no amount of labor in after-life FOR GfRLS. 
220 
will cause them to enlarge very materially, and vice versa. 
And, by-the-way, here is the secret of the much-admired 
small wrists and ankles ; they are small by contrast. It is 
this same arm and chest exercise which a great many ol 
our girls need—more particularly those who live in villages 
and cities—and 1 do not know of any more available way 
of obtaining it than at their mothers’ wash-tubs. 
But besides this, it is my firm conviction, based upon 
experience, that washing never did, nor never can, hurt 
even an invalid if performed in a proper position and 
dress, timing the labor to the strength, following the test 
given on page no, being sure to stop when tired, or, if 
the individual is very weak, a little before that. 
It is a most excellent counteractant (if that word is al- 
lowable) for a sedentary or inactive life, for nervous pros- 
tration arising from overtaxed nerves and neglected mus- 
cles, and for general devitalized conditions. Even where 
these cases—which mainly require a reviving of the vital- 
ity—are accompanied by prolapsus uteri, it is advantage- 
ous to wash and do other work, a little at a time, remem- 
ber, with the assistance of the contrivance described on 
page 121, until the strength returns. It is absolutely nec- 
essary to success that a cheerful, willing mind accompany 
the undertaking. Confirmative of these assertions are 
many known cases of women supposing themselves too 
weak and unwell to work, who, on being left widows with 
families to support, obliged to exert themselves at the 
wash-tub and other manual labor, have had health and 
strength restored thereby. 
Young mothers who are at the same time housekeepers 
and not very robust, have enough draft upon their strength 
without touching the washing. They do not need the ex 
ercise for their health, having exercise enough without it. 
Female difficulties are sure to afflict those who thus overdo. APPENDIX. 
221 
Then, there are others who do not heed nature’s warn- 
ing of weariness, and get similarly punished ; because, 
forsooth, the clothes must be hung out, the tubs emptied 
and put away, the floor mopped, and a dozen other things 
done first. I suspect the lady critic and daughter come 
under one of the two last-mentioned classes. This is not 
washing for the health, and is not recommended in these 
pages. One who really would make her work conducive 
to health, rather than destructive of it, should do only 
what she is able each day, leaving the remainder till to- 
morrow. 
IV 
■ STANDING ON THE FEET. 
Objection is also made to what is said on this subject, 
page 108, as not applicable to all women, some claiming to 
have better general health at work requiring them to be 
on foot from ten to eighteen hours per day, than when en- 
gaged in either housework or sedentary employment. One 
is strongly reminded by this of the old adage, “What is 
one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” I have lately 
met men who could not endure this position long at a time, 
and it may be a weakness common to some of both sexes. 
Those afflicted with it must keep out of stores, etc., as 
rlerks, unless they can accustom themselves to standing by 
degrees. If the discussion of this and kindred subjects 
arouses investigation in those who would blindly follow 
some calling to the detriment of their health, it will have 
answered its purpose. APPENDIX TO THIRD EDITION. 
THE CALL OF NATURE. 
A FRIEND, who has for many years been a great 
sufferer from the habit of constipation contracted in 
her youth, while attending school, thinks there is not 
enough stress laid upon this topic in the foregoing 
pages. 
It was the intention of the writer not to enlarge on 
subjects upon which girls could obtain information in 
school physiologies, but as the probabilities are that 
this work will be read by many who have no access 
to such books, I will yield to my friend’s entreaties 
and add a few words upon this point. 
The two causes already considered, viz.: improper 
dress and diet, will, with perhaps a few exceptions, 
cause this condition in every one, but there is proba- 
bly another way of producing it, even where the 
clothing and food are correct. 
This is when persons sitting much of the time, as 
students, sewing-girls, book-keepers, etc., persist in 
neglecting to attend to the call of nature. The in- 
active position of the body, the mind being engaged 
in other and often pressing duties, and at the same APPENDIX. 
223 
time using the will power, make it comparatively 
easy to conquer the desire. 
This, if repeated daily, causes the call to grow 
fainter and fainter, until by and by it becomes a 
habit. The intestines get to be, as it were, partially 
paralyzed and unable to perform their natural func- 
tions, and costiveness is the result, so confirmed that 
it is often very hard to cure. 
When once an abnormal state is induced in the 
system the tendency ever afterward is an easy recur- 
rence of the same disorder (see page 21), and many 
persons, after suffering severely in this respect, though 
they may readopt correct habits, find themselves sub- 
ject to frequent attacks, it may be for years following. 
Especially is this true of piles, a usual attendant of 
long-protracted constipation. 
Just consider for a moment what becomes of this 
foul, decaying, waste matter when retained. Why, it 
is returned to the circulation, reabsorbed by the 
blood, thus poisoning it, producing pimples, humors, 
and boils. Some of it passes through the pores of 
the skin in the shape of insensible perspiration. A 
part goes off through the lungs in the form of bad 
breath. 
Now the lungs, skin, blood, etc., have enough of 
their own work to perform without having this extra 
labor thrown upon them which belongs to the bowels 
to effect, and if thus constantly overloaded with 
double duty, will in time break down under the 
strain, and fevers, biliousness, headache, lung trouble, 
and almost every disease is produced. 224 
APPENDIX. 
Sometimes the individual will suffer immediately 
for breaking this law though generally nature is 
slow in hei punishment—from a gas arising in the in- 
testines filled with the putrid mass, which, not being 
able to escape through the plugged-up rectum, causes 
severe colic, and even inflammation of the bowels—a 
dangerous disease. 
Another point. Some people think their habits all 
right, when perhaps for months, or may be for years, 
there has only been a partial evacuation, always some 
fecal matter left remaining to become hard and dry, 
or forced back into the system. Let the 
SYRINGE 
be used freely in such cases, and in all cases of a con- 
firmed state. A syringe should be a part of every 
young lady’s wardrobe whenever she is to be placed 
in circumstances where she can not control her diet. 
Where this instrument can not be obtained, the 
SUPPOSITORY 
makes a very good substitute. This consists of a 
piece of soap, tallow, or molasses candy about the 
size of the finger, cut round and smooth, and intro- 
duced into the rectum. This will soon be expelled, 
followed by a movement of the bowels. Oftentimes 
the person’s own finger makes a tolerably good sup- 
pository, especially where only a partial action occurs, 
to force away all lumps of impacted matter. 
Both to break up constipation and to prevent it, APPENDIX. 
225 
let thfc. bowels be promptly discharged every day. 
Let no feeling of laziness, or wish to delay so disa- 
greeable a task to a more convenient time or better 
opportunity, lead to the neglect of this important 
duty. 
Even while the instinct of modesty should be re- 
garded whenever possible, and nature’s call may, if it 
can be, postponed occasionally a few hours without spe- 
cial harm where the habit is usually prompt, yet if work- 
men, travelers, and others are constantly passing in the 
vicinity of the water-closet, no attention whatever 
should be paid to them. Go right along as if no one 
were in sight. Most folks are too much occupied with 
their own affairs, or have too much good sense to no- 
tice you, and those that are mean enough to ridicule 
you are not worth minding, for they will not pity you, 
suffer for you, or pay your doctor bills if you get sick 
for your foolishness in fearing them. 
Next, for correcting the habit, eat plenty of ripe, 
uncooked fruit at meal-time, the more juicy the better, 
with coarse breadstuffs, and if of sedentary life, take 
all the exercise possible. 
Try all these things with persistency before resort- 
ing to medicine. In nine cases out of ten no medi- 
cine will be needed. FOR GIRLS. A Special Physiology; or. Sup 
PLEMENT TO THE STUDY OF GENERAL PHYSIOLCW. F(y Mrs 
E. R. Shepherd. i2mo, extra cloth, price, fi.oo. 
The following notices of this work are from Representative pwple, and arc <j 
sufficient guarantee as tu its nature ana value 
“Jennie June” says: New York, August 8, 1882. 
Gen tlfmen ;—I have read “ For Girls ” with care, ard feel personally obliged tc 
Jif author for writing a book that is very much needed, and that mothers not only 
ran, but ought to pL ein the hands of their daughters. Mrs. Shepherd has executed 
» difficult task with judgment and discretion. She has said many things which mother* 
find it difficult to say to their daughters, unless forced by some act or circumstances, 
which alas, may prove their warning comes too late. “ For Girls ”is free from the 
vices of most works of its kind, it is neither preachy nor didactic. It talks freely and 
familiarly with those it is written to benefit, and some of its counsels would be as well 
heeded by our boys, as our girls. Respectfully yours, 
Mrs. J. C. t '.ROLY. 
Mrs. Caroline B. Winslow, M.D., of Washington, D. C., in an editorial in the 
Alpha, says ; “ It is a book we most heartily and unreservedly recommend to parents, 
guardians, and friends of young girls to put in the hands of their daughters ami theii 
wards. It fully supplies a long existing need, and completes the instruction ordinarily 
given in physiology in out high-schools and seminaries. This book is rendered 
more valuable and important, as it treats with perfect freedom, and in a wise, 
ishastc, and dignified manner, subjects that are entirely neglected by most teachers of 
oopular physiology None but a woman with a crystalline intellect, and a pure 
bving heart, could have written this clean, thoughtful, and simply scientific description 
of our sexual system, and our moral obligation to study it thoroughly, and guard it 
from any impurity of thought or act, from injury through ignorance, abuse, or misuse. 
It has won our entire and hearty approval, and enlists us as a champion and friend, 
to do all in our power for its sale, not for the pecuniary compensation of its author, but 
more for the lasting good of our girls, who are to be the teachers, wives, mothers, and 
leaders, after we have laid aside our armor and have entered into rest.” 
Drs. S, W. & Mary Dodds, physicians, with a large practice in St. Louis, Mo., say : 
*’ The book ‘ For Grids,’ which we have carefully examined, is a valuable work, much 
needed, and it is difficult to say whether the daughters or their mothers would be most 
benefited by a perusal of it. You will no doubt find ready sale for it, all the more, a? 
there is hardly another book yet published that would take the place of it." 
Mary Jewett Telford, of Denver, Colorado, says: “Mrs. Shepherd has earned the 
title of ‘apostle to the girls.’ No careful mother need hesitate to place this little book 
n her daughter’s hands, and the probabilities are that she will herself learn some help- 
ful lessons by reading it. While there is no attempt made to solve all the mysteries 
of being, what every girl ought to know of her own organism, and the care of what is 
so ‘fearfully and wonderfully made,’ is here treated in a manner at once practical, 
modest, sensible, and reverent.” 
■fhe Phrenological Journal says : “ A book designed for girls should be written by 
a woman to be perfect; it being understood as a matter of course that she possesses » 
thorough familiarity with the subject she discusses. The author of this book indicart. 
an unusual acquaintance with the anatomy and physiology of the feminine organiza- 
tion, also a ready acquaintance with the other phases of social relationship belonging 
n woman in her every-day life ; with a more than common discrimination m gleaning 
just such material from general professional experience as is best adapted to ner pur 
poses. The style of tne book is clear, simply colloquial, and has nothing garish 
pm iish or morbid about it. It is bright without being flippant in thought, agreeable 
reading without awakening anything of the sensual or exciting. It concerns the health 
fulness and the well-being of the girls whoare soon to become wives and mothers of the 
world. There is no doubt but what many of the seeds of diseases in women are sowed 
in girlhood, and therefore this book should be placed in the hands of every young 
man. and of every mother of a daughter in the land.” OPINItXS OF REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE. 
Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, the celebrated woman lawyer of Washington, says; 
“Messrs, Fowler & Wells—Gents: I have carefully read and considered Mrs. R. R 
Shepherd's ‘ Physiology for Girls,’and And it a plain, simple, scientific, and rational 
guide for mothers and teachers in the education of carls. It is a useful and valuable 
Book that raay safely be placed in the hands of, and should be read by, every young girl 
in the land. It takes hold of the structure and the functions of the human system fust 
where the physiology of the schools leaves off, and in a clear and simple explanation, 
tolls what to do, and what not to do. The language is pure and chaste, and the writei 
h»» avoided the technical terms which would have rendered the book too intricate for 
Vue class it is designed to benefit. Mrs, Shepherd has conferred a practicable and avail- 
able blessing upon the world, and upon young girls in particular, in the production ano 
publication if this book. I have had an experience of fifteen years in the education of 
girls, and feel that the writer of this physiology has solved a problem over which many a 
teacher 's head and heart have ached. 
Sarah M. Ellis, M.D., of New York, says : 
“1 1 ave just read 1 For Girls’ with the utmost satisfaction. It is a book that every 
mother and daughter ought to read. The subjects are treated with the most consummate 
delicaiy, and yet with great force. Would that every word might be read and treasured 
as deferred. Really it is the book, for the aqe. I wish it could go fnnh freely. I feel ihat 
the needs of such abook are pressing. I have spoken of the book, and my friends are 
eager to possess it, have promised to send for it. 
Dr Dio Lewis, the well-known writer on Physiology and Health Topics, says : 
“ It is a long time since T have road any work on the subject of human health with as 
true! interest as your recent publication, ‘For Girls,’ by Mrs. Shepherd. 
‘ 1 have written at the conclusion of more than one chapter such words as, ‘ The best 
presentation of the theme extant.’ I trust you arc employing the most energetic meas- 
ures to place it in the hands of our American girls. A philanthropic person could M'end 
flO.Uin in no wi°er way than to place It in your hands for the distribution of this ines- 
timable little book.” 
Alex. M. Ross, M.D., F.R.S.L., of England, Medical Director of the “Society for the 
Diffusion of Physiological Knowledge, of Canada,” says: 
“ I thank you much for the brave little book. ‘ ForGirls,’ just received. Mrs. Shepherd 
has made the world her debtor by this valuable contribution to the literature of social 
science If a copy of this book could be placed in the hands of every girl between the 
aged of 12 and 20, in the land, it would prove a rich blessing to generations yet un- 
born, and do more toward the physical regeneration and improvement of women than all 
other existing agencies operating in that direction. 1 shall do all in my power to further 
the circulation of this book.” 
Dr. M. Augusta Fairchild, author of “ How to be Well,” says: 
“‘For Girls’ is a hook of unusual fitness for its mission. The best judve of a flue 
painting is often found to be one who is the least skilled in the rules of art. and so. per- 
haps. the highest praise an author covets, is that awarded by the appreciation of those 
to whom his books is a revelation. 
“A representative ol so large a class which ‘For Girls’ will reach and b’ess, a young 
.'ady of rare culture and high mental endowment, but very ignorant of just what she 
ought to know, was persuaded by my lecommendation to read this book with her mother. 
On returning it, she exclaimed with much earnestness, ‘ My rood doctor. I can never 
oe thankful enough that you placed this hook before me. I feel now th t my expensive 
education is worthless without the knowledge gained from the study of ibis good little 
messenger. Why. I was blindly groping my way, and this book revealed my position as 
on tne verge of a precipice, over which, thanks to the author of ‘‘For Girls,” and to 
tfeo Providence which led me to read it, I shall not fall.” 
“How did yonr mother like it f ‘ Oh, mother thinks it a wonderful hook, and wi.-hes to 
introduce it among her friends, thongu she has never before done sucli a thing as to talk 
of the subjects it discusses.’ 
“ There is just the strong point. The author is so very happy in her manner of saying 
exactly what should be said, that event he prejudiced, and 1 might add prudish, will listen 
and be helped I congratulate the woman who has the ability and the will to do sack a 
good work for girls and for matrona.” OPINIONS OF REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE. 
Mrs, C, F, Ballentine, the superintendent of the Somerville School on .he St. Olah 
Hirer, Mich., writes : 
“We have forty copies of Mrs. Shepherd’s book in use in this school—it seems to n« 
fte a strong and bright light illuminating many very dark pi ces in human knowledge. A 
Wide introduction of this valuable lit'le book into the schools for young ladies, in thl» 
Sand and over the seas, would bring out of the depths of human misery, multitudes ol 
poor women who have so sinned against their delicate organizations solely on account of 
ignorance ; and would save still greater numbers from ever bringing upon themselves the 
evils inddont'lo a blind warring against nature’s laws.” 
Dr. C. E. Page, the author of “ How to Feed the Baby,” says : 
“Of Mrs. Shepherd’s book I can not say too much in praise. This is the book I havt 
been waiting for, and wondering who would come to the front with just such advice for 
girls and their mothers. It is well calculated to open the eyes of many parents, and to 
fasten open many more who have been looking over and thinking of the points treated 
of in ‘For Girls,’ but who have been at a loss just what to say to their girls andhow to 
say it. I have read the book carefully, and could hardly suggest the addition of a 
word ; certainly I would not erase a single sentence, but put the book in the hands of any 
girls. Mothers should get this book; they need have no fear ol its harming their children 
They must make their girls wise, to prevent others from making them vulgar. For 
the promotion of the moral and the physical health of their daughters, the wholesome 
relations between them and their parents, I know of no work which will compare with 
his.” 
Sarah B. Stearns, a member of the “Board of Education,” at Duluth, Minn., says: 
“ I have had the pleasure of hastily glancing through your newly published work, en- 
titled * For Girls.’ 
“It is a book of inestimable value to the class for which it is intended—our precious 
girls. Every mother should get it for her daughter, and every lady interested in the cause 
of education should see to it that teachers have this ‘Supplement to Common-school 
Physiologv,’ to put into the hands of all girls who have become prepared to understand 
and appreciate it, by the partial knowledge given in the common-school course. 
“ If the book is as widely used as it deserves to be, thousands and tens of IbousaDcuj 
of women will have teason to be grateful to Mrs. Shepherd for writing, and to Fowler & 
Wells lor putting into print, this little epitome of all that young girls do most need U 
know concerning themselves, and what they may do toward keeping themselves well, pun, 
strong, and happy." 
“I have read ‘For Girls,’ and wish to give it my hearty sanc‘ion. Girls of to-day ar« 
the ‘coming women with them rests, to a large extent, the future health and well being 
of our families, and the race. This book, while it treats of questions of the most vita) 
Interest, is written with the utmost simplicity and plainness in purity of thought and 
diction.” 
Mrs. Clemence S. Lozier, M.D., of New York, says: 
“The work you have just published, 'For Girls,’ is a very valuable one. It presents 
the truths of Science in an attractive form. The writer of the work under consideration 
wil. attract many by the simplicity of her style. Every girl should possess a copy ol this 
excellent volume, lor much of the happiness of the human race is dependent upon the 
Intelligent action of our sex, in matters especially pertaining to girlhood, wifehood, 
and motherhood.” 
Mart L. Heard, M.D., of Healds’ Hygeian Home, says: 
Dr. Charles Ctjllis, of lo Somerset Street, Boston, Mass., the Piopnetor of the 
“Faith Cure," says: 
“ Thanks for the copy of ‘For Girls.’ I am sure the book will do much good, and I 
wish thousands of mothers might read it. To this end I pray.” 
Mrs. F. B. Duffey, the well-known writer, and author of “What WTomen should 
Know,” sayr : 
“ * tfor Girls’ has been received and has been read. It is precisely the very hook 
which every mother wants, and needs to give her young daughter ; that is what I shaL 
flo with my copy.” 
Agents Wasted, to whom liberal terms will be given. Sample copy sent to any addrcsi 
•n receipt of price, $l.OO. Address 
Fowler & Wells Co Publishers, 753 Broadway. New York -A. fTE W BOOS. 
HEALTH IN THE HOUSEHOLD; 
HYGIENIC COOKERY 
OR, 
SUSANNA W. DOBBS, M.I) 
Lme large i2mo vol., 600 pp., extra cloth or oil-cloth. Price, s2.oct 
The author of this work is specially qualified for her task, as she is both 
a physician and a practical housekeeper. It is unquestionably the best 
work ever written on the healthful preparation of food, and should be in 
the hands of every housekeeper who wishes to prepare food healthfully and 
palatably. The best way and the reason why are given. It is complete in 
every department. To show something of what is thought of this work, we 
copy a few brief extracts from the many 
NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 
“ This work contains a good deal of excellent advice about wholesome food, and 
gives directions for preparing many dishes in a way that will make luxuries for the 
palate out of many simple productions of Nature which are now lost by a vicious cook- 
ery.”— Home Journal. 
“ Another book on cookery, and one that appears to he fully the equal in all respects, 
and superior to many of its predecessors. Simplicity is sought to be blended with 
science, economy with all the enjoyments of the table, and health and happiness with an 
ample household liberality. Every purse and every taste will And in Mrs. Dodds’ book, 
material within its means of grasp for efficient kitchea administration.”—N. Y. Star. 
“ The book can not fail to be of great value in every household to those who will in- 
telligently appreciate the author’s stand-point. And there are but few who will not con- 
cede that it would be a public benefit if our people generally would become better in- 
formed as to the better mode of living than the author intends.”—Scientific American. 
“She evidently knows what she is writing about, and her book is eminently practi- 
cal upon every page. It is more than a hook of recipes for making soups, and pies, and 
take ; ii is an educator of how to make the home the abode of healthful people.”— The 
Daily Inter-Oct an, Chicago, 111. 
“ The book is a good one, and should be given a place in every well-regulated cuisine." 
—lndianapolis Journal. 
As a comprehensive work on the subject of healthful cookery, there is no other in 
print which is superior, and which brings the subject so clearly and squarely to the un- 
derstanding of an average housekeeper.”—Methodist Recorder. 
“In this book Dr. Dodds deals with the whole subject scientifically, and yet has 
made her instructions entirely practical. The book will certainly prove useful, and if 
Its precepts could be universally followed, without doubt human life would be consider- 
ably lengthened.”—Springfield Union. 
‘ Here is a cook-book prepared by an educated lady physician. It seems to be a 
vt*ry sensible addition to the voluminous literature on this subject, which ordinarily has 
If .tie reference to the hygienic character of the preparations which are described.”— 
Zion's Herald. 
“ This one seems to ns to be most sensible and practical, wh:!e yet based upon scien 
t'fle principles—in short, the best. If it were in every household, there would be far less 
misery in the world.”—South and West. 
“ There is much good sense in the book, and there is plenty of occasion for attacking 
Use ordinary methods of cooking, as well as the common style of diet.”—Morning Star. 
“ She sets forth the why and wherefore of c >okery, and devotes the larger poition of 
the work to those articles essential to good blood, strong bodies, and vigorous minds.”— 
New Haven Register. 
The work will be sent to any address, by mail, post-paid, on receipt ol 
price, $2.00. Agents Wanted, to whom special terms will be given, Sena 
for terms. Address 
FOWLER & WELLS CO.. Publishers, 7o‘d Broadway, Jiew Xorh, Hill IDIO iK | 
Or, The Right Relations of the Sexes—Disclosing the Laws of 
Conjugal Selection, and showing Who May and Who May Not Marry. 
A Scientific Treatise. By Samuel R. Wells. One vol., 12mo, 250 
pages; plain muslin, price, $1 50; in fancy gilt binding, $2. 
Among the subjects treated are the following: Marriage a Divine 
Institution; Qualifications for Matrimony; The Right Age to Marry; 
Motives for Marrying; Marriages of Consanguinity—of Cousins, when 
Justifiable; Conjugal Selection—Affinities; Courtship—Long or Short; 
Duty of Parents; Marriage Customs and Ceremonies of all Nations; 
El lues of Marriage; Second Marriages, are they Admissible; Jealousy— 
Its Cause and Cure ; Causes of Separation and Divorce ; Celibacy— 
Ancient and Modern; Polygamy and Pantagamy; Love Signs in the 
Features, and How to Read Them; Physiognomy; Sensible Love 
Letters—Examples; The Poet’s Wife; The Model Husband and the 
ModA Wife—their Mutual Obligations, Privileges, and Duties; The 
Poetry of Love, Courtship, and Marriage—Being a Practical Guide to all 
*he Relations of Happy Wedlock. 
Here are some of the contents, compiled from the Index, which give a 
more definite idea of the scope and objects of the work: 
Development and Renewal of the Social 
Affections; Inordinate Affection ; Function 
of Adhesiveness and Amativeness ; Admi- 
ration not Love; Addresses Declined, 
How to Do If ; The Bible on Marriage; 
Matrimonial Bargains ; True Beauty ; 
Celibacy and Health; Celibacy and Crime; 
Marrying for Money; Facts in Relation to 
Consanguineous Marriage—when Permis- 
sible; Law of Conjugal Selection; Conju- 
gal Harmony ; Conjugal Resemblances of 
Husbands and Wives; Pleasure of Court- 
ship ; Confidence in Love ; Duty of Cheer- 
fulness; Woman’s Constancy; Laws and 
Remedy for Divorce: Drifting; Economy; 
Etiquette of Long Engagements; Falling 
in Love; Forbearance : Whom Great Men 
Marry; Girls of the Period; Housekeep- 
ing ; Good Habits Essential; How to Win 
Love; Honeymoon; The Model Husband: 
Home, How to Make it Happy; Mutual 
Kelp ; Conjugal Harmony ; Hotel and 
Club Life; Inhabitiveness ; Terrible Effects 
of Morbid Jealousy ; Juliet’s Confession ; 
Kisses; Kate’s Proposal; Parental Love, 
How to Win it; Declarations of Love; Not 
to be Ashamed of it; Romantic Love; Sec- 
ond Love; Is Love Unchangeable ? Should 
Parents Interfere ? Love-Letters ; Love 
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MENTAL SCIENCE CONSIDERED IN ACCORDANCE 
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3STOTIC3ES OBP 
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•JSUJI IR3|IfOIOU3JI|d 31IX 
PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL 
th:e 
Is widely known in America and Europe, having been before the reading world fifty years, 
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