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[Illustration:

TELLING THE STORY OF LIFE; THE PRESENT DAY IDEA OF SEX INSTRUCTION.

    “O, THOU CHILD OF MANY PRAYERS,”]




                            SELF KNOWLEDGE
                                  AND
                       GUIDE TO SEX INSTRUCTION

                   VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR ALL AGES

     A Complete and Comprehensive Guide to Parents for the Proper
        Instruction of Their Children, Concerning the Delicate
         Questions of Life; Timely Help for the Boy and Girl,
             at the Ages of Greatest Danger, with Warnings
                  of the Pitfalls which Lie Hidden in
                            Their Pathway,

                             TOGETHER WITH

    Vital Information for the Marriageable; Safe, Sane, Scientific
       Counsel for the Married of all Ages, including Knowledge
              Vital to those in Middle Life and Declining
         Years, with a Word of Warning Against the Prevailing
                   Ignorance of God’s Sacred Laws of
                           Sex and Heredity

                                  BY
                     PROFESSOR T. W. SHANNON, A.M.

International Lecturer on Moral, Social and Reform Topics; Member of Advisory
Board World’s Purity Federation; also Author of Eight other Purity Books

 With Special Chapters by Hon. Stanley Finch, Special Commissioner for
The Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, U. S. Department of Justice;
       B. S. Steadwell, President World’s Purity Federation and
         Charles W. Eliot, Former President Harvard University

                             INTRODUCED BY

                            B. S. STEADWELL

Publisher “The Light,” Official Organ of The World’s Purity Federation

                       PUBLISHED EXCLUSIVELY BY

                      THE S. A. MULLIKIN COMPANY
                             MARIETTA OHIO


                         COPYRIGHTED, 1913, BY
                        THE S. A. MULLIKIN CO.

  Agents wanted in all English-speaking countries. Address publishers
                        at foot of title page.




                            Dedicated

                TO THE GRANDFATHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS,
                TO THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS,
                TO THE HUSBANDS AND WIVES,
                TO THE BACHELORS AND MAIDS,
                TO THE YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN,
                TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS,
                TO THE BABES THAT BE AND ARE TO BE,
                THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
                BY THE AUTHOR.

[Illustration: YOURS FOR THE UPLIFT OF HUMANITY

T.W. Shannon]




PREFACE


Truth like gold is unaffected in quality by its environment, but the
environment of truth does affect the character of the person receiving
it. Half truths clothed in obscene language and imparted by the ignorant
or vicious have made mental, moral and physical wrecks of millions. The
same truth received from a pure mother, noble father, a good book or a
wise teacher, safeguards the youth and accomplishes untold good.

The purpose of this book is not only to enable parents, teachers and all
matured people, to inform themselves more fully concerning the vital
facts of life, but it furnishes a specific guide to all parents, who
would know how to tell their children the sacred story of life, and
counsel intelligently with their sons and daughters at the ages of
greatest danger and give them clean, concise and scientific sex
instruction with a view to safeguarding them against the demoralizing
half truths of vicious or ignorant schoolmates, servants or companions;
and to all others of sufficient age, who have an opportunity for service
to innocent and helpless children, who would have a wise word at the
right time; and to the young man and young woman, married or single,
who would avoid the pit-falls lying in the pathway of those ignorant of
God’s sacred laws of nature; and to all mankind who seek to make the
world better by more intelligent and better living.

The author of this book is sacrificing home life, financial interests,
and much that is dear to all human hearts, to humanity’s cause. He
lectures by day and works and travels by night and is unable to meet
half of the calls for service. During engagements of two or three days
he labors at night without money and without price in private interviews
with young men after his lectures until midnight, one, two, three and
four o’clock in the morning, hoping thereby to lend a helping hand to
thousands to the end of nobler, purer and better living. In this work he
has met with marvelous success. He now hopes to send his vital messages
to the four corners of the earth in book form in order that the
influence of his work may be felt in wider circles than he may ever hope
to reach in personal endeavors. The spirit in which this book has been
written is best expressed in the words of Henry Van <DW18>:

“There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It
is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher. There is a nobler
character than that which is merely incorruptible. It is the character
which acts as an antidote and preventive of corruption. Fearlessly to
speak the words which bear witness to righteousness and truth and
purity; patiently to do the deeds which strengthen virtue and kindle
hope in your fellow men; generously to lend a hand to those who are
trying to climb upward; faithfully to give your support and your
personal help to the efforts which are making to elevate and purify the
social life of the world.”

Prof. Shannon observes that the spirit of society and the attitude of
our government has been to protect our forests, inspect our swine and
neglect our children, but that a wiser and more hopeful day is dawning.
More interest in the study and application of the laws of Heredity has
been taken in the past ten years than in the previous ninety. Newspapers
and magazines contain articles by leaders of eugenic thought; purity
organizations are springing up throughout the country and sounding the
word of warning against the prevailing ignorance of these subjects;
books are being written; sermons and lectures delivered and the masses
are becoming interested. In this Prof. Shannon is doing his part. The
sale of his books to date have reached in excess of a quarter of a
million copies with no organized effort behind them. Each copy sold
seems to sell two others, and with the business growing by leaps and
bounds and getting beyond his control, the present publishers with a
sales system unexcelled, were selected as a medium for placing his
messages literally into the homes of millions.

Prof. Shannon is a member of the Advisory Board of the World’s Purity
Federation and lectures under the auspices of this movement. Eight years
as teacher of Biology, after his graduation from college, his experience
in writing eight other purity books and years of research and lecturing
on these subjects have eminently qualified him for the high position he
holds to-day with the World’s Purity Federation, and as author of a
number of books on moral, social and reform topics which are to-day
meeting with such an enormous sale. He sends forth this volume on its
mission of usefulness to the human race with the implicit faith that it
will be the means of safeguarding the youth wherever it goes and make
thousands of homes happier and brighter and the world a better place to
live.

THE PUBLISHERS.




INTRODUCTION


The saddest thing in all this world is a human wreck,--a man or a woman,
young or old, who is undone and who, in one or more walks of life, is a
failure. There are so many of them! Mental wrecks, physical wrecks,
nervous wrecks, social wrecks, business wrecks, character wrecks. The
aspect of these derelicts is the more pitiable because of the
possibilities before every well-born human being, who, with the
endowment of intelligence and other gifts and powers bestowed upon him
by a kind Creator, is capable of rising to heights of human perfection.
Ample provision made for man’s every need and want by God, and yet we
find misery where there ought to be happiness, poverty where there ought
to be riches, darkness where there ought to be light, ignorance where
there ought to be knowledge, vice where there ought to be virtue, and
turmoil and strife where there ought to be peace. Only too accurately do
the poet’s words apply:

    “Of all the sad words of tongue or pen,
     The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”

This problem of human wreckage becomes more depressing when we consider
that in the breast of every person there is an innate desire to live
true, to win success. The day dreams of every boy and girl picture
themselves as the hero or the heroine in the story which weaves into its
plot their ideal men and women. Their ideals may be low, that is the
fault of their environment and training, but their ideals always
represent their own highest conceptions of manhood and womanhood. But
sooner or later struggle comes, appetite craves, and passion cries out,
and if they are unprepared for life’s real conflict, they go down, and
another failure is recorded and another wreck left to float and endanger
every other craft upon life’s seas, until human wreckage is becoming so
enormous that it is a question in the minds of scientists and
sociologists as to how long humanity can keep up its present pace and
survive the centuries.

The causes of human wrecks are many, far too many to be tabulated or
enumerated. In a sentence they result from the principle that it is
easier to coast than to climb; so much easier to float than to struggle
against the current. Like the weeds that kill out the crops, just so is
humanity beset by enumerable temptations at every turn, social and
economic customs force downward a great many who would otherwise rise to
higher things, and, it is suspected, that in the very nature of man
there is a strong tendency to evil which can be overcome only by divine
grace. Appetite and passion are the two forces to which man’s higher
aspirations most often give way. Intemperance and impurity, in their
broader meaning, are the two bars upon which most human wrecks have
stranded. Social impurity, or the abuse of the sex function and nature,
is by far the most insidious, and with respect to the number and
degradation of its victims, the greatest evil in the world to-day.

This book is one of the most valuable ever written because it treats
fully and wisely this question of personal and social purity; it points
out the reefs, the bars, the snags, the icebergs, the shallow and
dangerous places where human wrecks are made; it guides those who accept
it as their pilot into the deep waters of an unobstructed channel where
the voyage of life will be ever safe, successful, glorious. Here will be
found an incentive to climb rather than to coast, an inspiration to
struggle even against the current if in the struggle may be won some of
the more valuable prizes of life. Here is a book that holds high the
single standard of morality, and demands that men shall be as pure as
women; it stands boldly for the education of the young in sex hygiene,
and proclaims a truth that ought long ago to have been universally
known, that it is the right of every person to know every knowable fact
pertaining to themselves, and that such knowledge ought to be imparted
to them before the lack of it has brought injury to their lives. This
is a book that will help to forever banish that false modesty and
prurient thinking which has made the tremendous growth of public vice a
reality, until every girl is in danger of enslavement and every boy
threatened with its corruption.

This is not a pioneer book on these questions. Other most excellent
works have preceded it, for which we should all be grateful, and have
paved the way for this latest volume. The excellence of this work
consists largely in its completeness. It is a book for the home, for
every home, and for every member of the home. It tells exactly what
ought to be known concerning the sex nature and life of the individual,
and the normal relations of the family and society, and best of all it
teaches parents how to impart this saving knowledge to their children.
Any and every home that takes this book as a friend and counselor, and
faithfully studies its pages, will fortify every person within the
portals of that home against the baneful influences of impurity and
vice.

The writer has known Prof. T. W. Shannon, the talented author of this
book, for some years, and we have watched his efforts with interest and
admiration. A voluminous writer, a wide traveler, he has probably
reached more people with his uplifting message of purity through his
books and upon the platform than any other living man of the same age.
His methods are never sensational and he does not stoop to uncovering
all the cesspools of sin and vice, but he leads people upward by
directing their minds and hearts to the beauty and rewards of pure
living and right thinking. Through the strength of his personality and
the profound truth in his message, he has helped thousands of college
students and other young men to avoid the pitfalls which have brought
disaster to so many young lives. By education and experience Prof.
Shannon is eminently fitted to prepare just such a book as this and his
authorship should at once entitle it to a high place among the standard
works of the day dealing with these problems.

As the volume has received my own endorsement, even so I trust it may be
most cordially received into the homes of America, that our sons and our
daughters may be fortified through the truth, presented in an attractive
and safe and sane manner, against the temptations which constantly meet
them; that human wrecks may be fewer, and that every life may have a
fair chance to attain all for which it was created.

B. S. STEADWELL.

La Crosse, Wisconsin,
December 18, 1912.




CONTENTS


FIRST DIVISION

THE HOME

CHAPTER                                                             PAGE

I THE ESSENTIALS OF A HOME                                            15

II THE FATHER’S RELATION TO THE HOME                                  24

III THE MOTHER’S RELATION TO THE HOME                                 29

IV THE BOY’S RELATION TO THE HOME                                     34

V THE GIRL’S RELATION TO THE HOME                                     41

VI TRAINING AND GOVERNMENT IN THE HOME                                47


SECOND DIVISION

HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS
TO A CHILD

VII THE RIGHT OF A CHILD TO A KNOWLEDGE OF SEX                        63

VIII FIRST STORY--BABY PLANTS                                         87

IX SECOND STORY--BABY OYSTERS AND FISH                                99

X THIRD STORY--BABY BIRDS                                            104

XI FOURTH STORY--BABY ANIMALS AND MAN                                108

XII PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED                                     117


THIRD DIVISION

HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS
TO A GIRL

XIII A TALK TO MOTHERS                                               122

XIV MOTHER’S FIRST TALK--THE FEMALE FORM                             130

XV MOTHER’S SECOND TALK--DAWNING OF WOMANHOOD                        138

XVI MOTHER’S THIRD TALK--CHOOSING A CHUM                             143

XVII MOTHER’S FOURTH TALK--CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE                       146

XVIII MOTHER’S FIFTH TALK--A SMALL GIRL’S ETHICS                     157

XIX MOTHER’S SIXTH TALK--HOW TO GROW BEAUTIFUL                       162


FOURTH DIVISION

HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS
TO A BOY

XX A TALK TO FATHERS                                                 166

XXI FATHER’S FIRST TALK--BOYS MAKE MEN                               173

XXII FATHER’S SECOND TALK--PERFECT BOYS MAKE
PERFECT MEN                                                          182

XXIII FATHER’S THIRD TALK--IMPERFECT BOYS MAKE
IMPERFECT MEN                                                        195

XXIV FATHER’S FOURTH TALK--HOW TO LIVE A PURE
LIFE                                                                 204

XXV FATHER’S FIFTH TALK--THE TRUE YOUNG
KNIGHT                                                               211


FIFTH DIVISION

VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN,
MARRIED OR SINGLE

XXVI THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SEX                                    218

XXVII THE VICIOUS NOVEL                                              225

XXVIII THE PUBLIC DANCE                                              232

XXIX A YOUNG WOMAN’S ETHICS                                          237

XXX THE WRONGED GIRL                                                 245

XXXI THE MIRACLE OF MOTHERHOOD                                       258

XXXII PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED                                   266

XXXIII BEAUTY BY BATHING                                             276

XXXIV PHYSICAL CULTURE                                               291


SIXTH DIVISION

VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR THE YOUNG MAN,
MARRIED OR SINGLE

XXXV THE DEEPER SIGNIFICANCE OF SEX                                  304

XXXVI CONTINENCE                                                     313

XXXVII PROSTITUTION                                                  318

XXXVIII VENEREAL DISEASES                                            322

XXXIX A YOUNG MAN’S ETHICS                                           331

XL MANHOOD WRECKED AND REGAINED                                      337

XLI PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED                                     345

XLII PHYSICAL CULTURE                                                371


SEVENTH DIVISION

HEREDITY, OR VITAL FACTS FOR THE MARRIED
AND MARRIAGEABLE

XLIII HEREDITY, A FACT                                               386

XLIV HEREDITY AND REPRODUCTION                                       413

XLV CHOOSING A COMPANION                                             435

XLVI PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND MORAL PREPARATION FOR
PARENTHOOD                                                           445

XLVII PRENATAL TRAINING                                              454

XLVIII DELINQUENCIES, CAUSES AND REMEDIES                            468

XLIX BIRTHMARKS                                                      494

L HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT AND REDEMPTION                               506

LI COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE                                   518


EIGHTH DIVISION

VITAL FACTS FOR MARRIED OR UNMARRIED, OF
MIDDLE LIFE AND OLD AGE

LII VITAL FACTS CONCERNING THE “CHANGE OF LIFE”
IN WOMAN, AND THE YEARS TO FOLLOW                                    528

LIII VITAL FACTS CONCERNING THE “CHANGE OF LIFE”
IN MAN, AND THE YEARS TO FOLLOW                                      540

LIV PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED                                     550


NINTH DIVISION

MORAL, SOCIAL AND REFORM TOPICS

LV SCHOOL INSTRUCTION IN SEX HYGIENE--BY
CHARLES W. ELIOT                                                     560

LVI THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC--BY HON. STANLEY
W. FINCH                                                             570

LVII THE PURITY MOVEMENT--BY B. S. STEADWELL                         599




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


 PLATES

Telling the Story of Life                                   Frontispiece

A Gift from Heaven

God’s Richest Blessing to a Home

I Love You


HALF-TONES AND CHARTS

                                                                    PAGE

Home                                                                  17

Ideal Relations in the Home                                           35

Let Them Play Together                                                39

Chums in the Home                                                     43

Danger                                                                79

Flower                                                                94

Female Internal Organs                                               133

Sexual Organs of Male                                                186

Developing Knighthood                                                212

Friendship                                                           238

Beauty by Bathing, No. 1                                             277

Beauty by Bathing, No. 2                                             278

Beauty by Bathing, No. 3                                             282

Beauty by Bathing, No. 4                                             283

Beauty by Bathing, No. 5                                             290

Physical Culture, No. 1-6                                            295

Physical Culture, No. 7-12                                           297

Physical Culture, No. 13-14                                          302

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 1                                     375

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 2                                     376

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 3                                     377

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 4-5                                   378

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 6                                     379

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 7                                     380

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 8                                     381

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 9                                     382

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 10                                    383

Physical Culture Exercise, No. 11-12                                 384

A Wild Rose                                                          388

American Beauty Rose                                                 389

A Wild Strawberry                                                    392

A Cultivated Strawberry                                              393

Results of Personal Liberty                                          402

Protected                                                            403

Louise and Mary Carter, Twins                                        418

Well Born                                                            446

Neglected                                                            478

Heredity Chart, Emma W.                                              506

Heredity Chart, No. 1                                                508

Heredity Chart, No. 2-A                                              509

Heredity Chart, No. 2-B                                              511

Well Preserved and Contented Old Age                                 529

Climax of a Well-Spent Life                                          541

Hon. Stanley W. Finch                                                571

John B. Hammond                                                      575

Touring Purity Conference at Los Angeles                             579

Touring Purity Conference, Chattanooga                               583

Trial of a White Slaver                                              595

B. S. Steadwell                                                      601

T. Albert Moore, D.D                                                 605

Touring Purity Conference, New Orleans                               611

[Illustration: HOME.]




SELF KNOWLEDGE AND GUIDE TO SEX INSTRUCTION

FIRST DIVISION

THE HOME




CHAPTER I

THE ESSENTIALS OF A HOME


=The basic incentive for marriage.=--A completed home embraces a father,
mother and one or more children, bound together by natural love for each
other. The initial step in home building is taken when a man and woman
decide to assume the duties, responsibilities and functions of marriage.
Courtship and marriage may be prompted by a number of motives. There is
but one natural and worthy motive--LOVE. This motive may be a little out
of date in some circles, but it remains essential to a normal home, a
happy productive home. This expression of love is awakened to conscious
activity through acquaintance and friendship, becomes a joyful reality
in courtship, is consummated in marriage and is perpetuated through
life, because of a chaste, pure, unselfish sex preference of one man
for one woman and that one woman for that one man. If for any reason,
this sex preference is ever broken, the bonds of love between husband
and wife will be weakened, if not severed for all time. This bond of
union may be broken in a number of ways. There may be other causes of
domestic inharmony, all of which can be adjusted so long as sex
preference, or love, binds the two as one. Under the guidance of
unselfish sex selection, few mistakes would ever be made, in the choice
of a companion.

=The tests of true love.=--A man and woman bound by pure love for each
other, may live in a shack or a humble rented cottage, they may have to
toil late and hard to support a family of growing children, but they and
the children will be happy and usually healthy and strong, bound
together by mutual love. They will remain true to each other through
adversity, sickness and death.

=Mismated.=--If husband and wife are not bound to each other by a natural
sex preference, or love, though they may hold in their possession broad
acres of land, railroad bonds and heavy deposits in the bank, live in a
mansion and move in the élite circles of society, they will not love
each other, their children, or be able to build a REAL home.

=Other incentives for marriage.=--It is quite customary,

[Illustration: A GOOD ARGUMENT FOR PURE LIVING]

in some grades of society, to choose a life companion for social or
financial advantage. Such unions are not natural. They are cold business
transactions. A man prompted by these motives sees in a woman the
qualities of a good housekeeper, a social queen, or a financial gain. A
woman prompted by unnatural motives sees in a man opportunities for
social prestige, a life of luxury and ease. They drift apart instead of
their personalities blending, through love, as one. Soon he spends his
days in his daily vocation and his evenings in the lodges. She finds her
only pleasure in following the latest fashions and devoting her time to
various social functions. Each have their secrets and manage to avoid
public disgrace.

Should a child be born into such an unnatural home, it would receive an
unfortunate heredity and a still more unfortunate environment. The
initial of its life was accidental, its prenatal rights were not
regarded, its advent was not welcomed, it is now turned over to a hired
nurse. Such a child is more unfortunate than an orphan. In no true sense
has it a father or mother. This child, when visitors are about, or when
the family is making a public display, may be petted, pampered and
spoiled by its parents and on all occasions lavishly supplied with dress
and toys; thus egotism will be stimulated and propensities gratified and
this child will be placed at a decided disadvantage in life. Compared
with this child, the little ragged street urchin is to be congratulated.

When the natural, God-designed and God-honored, sex instinct is
perverted and base desire supplants love, in the choice of a companion,
the home instinct is degraded, love dethroned and inharmony prevails.

The Romance, of Courtship and the Honeymoon, is Transitory. There is a
certain amount of the glamour, mystery, novelty, romance and poetry
connected with courtship and the honeymoon, while perhaps natural at the
time, but in the very nature of the case cannot be permanent. The plain,
practical, everyday experiences of life must become prominent in every
successful home. The fairyland, of flowery visions, rippling streams of
sentiment, poetic fancies of bliss and the lunar and stellar raptures of
love, must yield, after a period of such experiences, to mundane
realities where these beautiful dreams terminate and air castles are
destroyed and life once more becomes real.

When the termination of this romantic period comes to the young wife,
whose vision of marriage was received from sensational novels, fashion
journals, the theater and gay social gatherings, and to the young
husband, kid-gloved, well-starched and much-cravatted, it will be
unexpected and very disastrous to their imaginary love. Cruel and
prudish are they, who are responsible for creating artificial social
visions in the minds of the youth. But when the termination of romance
comes to the young husband and wife, whose courtship and marriage have
been true to nature, this will be supplanted by the dawning
consciousness of life’s real mission in marriage and they will discover
that the truest, sweetest and most enduring pleasures and joys of life
have only begun.

=The first born.=--Fortunate and happy is that young couple, who, before
the romance of marriage is over, becomes aware that preparations must be
made for the first little stranger into their home. If the faint
prophecies, of the approaching advent of their first-born, thrill their
lives with hopeful and joyful anticipations, marriage will now have a
deeper significance, the bonds of love and dependence become stronger
and the pleasures of life more real. The supremest moment of marriage
comes when the young husband, who for the first time, in the birth
chamber, stands by his wife’s side, holding her hands in his; stoops and
kisses her lips, cheeks and brow, as she bravely and beautifully endures
the throes of parturition. Such an experience is enough to transform a
brute into a man. When the first-born is placed to the young mother’s
breast, a deep, profound, but quiet happiness knows no bounds in two
hearts that beat as one. This is the primary purpose of marriage. A
cooing baby is nature’s own sequel to the honeymoon.

[Illustration: GOD’S RICHEST BLESSING TO A HOME.]

Health, happiness and life worth living is made possible through
parenthood.

If a child was intelligently planned for and warmly welcomed into every
home, the first year of married life, then one by one at reasonable
intervals until the family consists of four to eight healthy, happy,
well-cared-for children, most of the problems of marriage would be
solved.

=The childless homes.=--All efforts to evade the fiat of nature and God,
“multiply and replenish the earth,” not justified by the authors of this
law, will lead to health blighted, happiness destroyed, a home wrecked
and two souls will be arrested in their endless progress. In homes,
voluntarily childless, and in homes where one or two little intruders
were accidentally and unwillingly admitted, can be found the most
serious and perplexing social problems.

=Childless homes made happy.=--The involuntarily childless homes, and the
homes voluntarily childless, because of justifiable reasons, need not be
unhappy. Their paternal and maternal natures may be developed by
adopting homeless children. In this land there are many such happy
homes. If the mother love, in childless homes, annually wasted on poodle
dogs, was expended on homeless children, there would soon be no
childless homes, orphan homes and homeless children, and more happiness
in the world.

=How shall family troubles be solved?=--While natural sex preference and
the birth of children solve almost all the domestic problems and make
possible the solution of all family troubles, they do not render the
husband and wife immune to all differences, disagreements,
incompatibilities and perplexities. It is not possible for the husband
to see everything from his wife’s view point, or the wife to see
everything from the husband’s point of view. If they differ in taste,
retain their personalities, have lofty ambitions, possess sensitive
natures and have their individual ideals, they will often differ in
their opinions, and, occasionally very good people will find themselves
in disastrous disputes. Commendable ideals and virtues, as well as
faults, may become the sources of domestic trouble. What should they
do--separate? No. Secure a divorce? Certainly not. Let these steps be
the last possible resort. Where a family of children are to be scattered
and injured by the disgrace, perhaps a divorce should not be sought, on
any grounds. The bleeding hearts and blasted hopes caused by one divorce
is greater than that caused by a score of deaths. Divorce degrades
morals, withers ideals and causes untold human suffering. What is the
remedy? Agree to let past differences, disagreements and quarrels remain
in the past. Don’t bring the dead yesterdays over into the living
to-days. Each morning, give each other a clean slate. Resolve each
morning to please, rather than to displease your partner. By doing this,
irreconcilable differences will gradually disappear. This does not mean
that they should lose their individualities, or compromise with their
convictions. This is not a radical or expensive remedy, but one that
works in nearly every case.




CHAPTER II

THE FATHER’S RELATION TO THE HOME


=The father is the head of the home.=--The character of the home
determines the character of the church, society and the nation. The home
is the most important of all earthly institutions. The problems of
society, the church and the nation, if ever solved, must be largely
solved in the home. The home is both a civil and divine institution.
Civil and divine law place the husband and father at the head of the
home. No teacher sustains a more vital relation to society, no minister
to his congregation, no king to his empire, or president to his
republic, than does the conscientious father, who does his best to build
an ideal home. He is truly serving God and his country, in the highest
sense. In the work of building a home, he is serving society and the
church in a higher sense than he would be, were he neglecting his
family, by writing books, teaching school, delivering lectures or
preaching sermons.

=His relation to his wife.=--The relation of husband and wife is a
partnership affair. In every sense they are equal partners. Their rights
and privileges are equal. Their part in building a home is not, in all
respects, the same. The service of one is as important as the other.
Neither can build a home without the other. Their service is
incomparable.

=He is to furnish financial support.=--Nature has fitted man mentally and
physically for devising means of earning a support for his family.
Whatever occupation, calling or profession he may engage in, he should
put forth the best effort of which he is capable to produce an income
that will support his family decently.

The amount of money he can furnish his wife, will depend upon his
earnings. They should talk over this matter as partners. One has as much
right to the income as the other. They should not spend more than is
produced. If the income is small, both should economize. They should
endeavor to save something each year, even if the income is small. Money
is stored-up human energy. If the income is large, they should be more
liberal in the use of it, but it is always a sin to waste money. The
husband has no right to cause his wife to beg him for money, to meet her
personal expenses or the expenses of the children. The money is not
exclusively his own. Home building is a partnership in which every
member of the home is interested in every dollar produced. Legally the
father may spend his money on his selfish indulgences. Morally he has
no right to spend the home company money in a way that will not benefit
each member of the home. For a father to annually spend fifty or more
dollars on tobacco or drink and refuse corresponding amounts to his wife
and children to be spent needlessly by them, is as dishonest, as for a
member of a firm, or the president of a bank to misappropriate the funds
of a partner or a depositor.

=He is to furnish moral support.=--For a man to build a reputation for
honesty, truthfulness, sobriety and virtue and to possess a good
character are of more value to his wife and children, as a home builder,
than to be able to produce large earnings and to be free with the same.
When a man assumes the responsibility of building a home, his family
have a right to demand of him honesty, integrity, sobriety and virtue.
He has no more right to rob them of one than the other.

=He is to love his wife.=--While the romance of courtship and the
honeymoon cannot be continued for life, yet he should always show her a
deep respect, a manly courtesy, a true love and absolute loyalty to his
marriage vow.

=The relation of the father to his children.=--Each child born into the
home is a new member added to the partnership. The children have
financial, social and moral rights that should be respected by the
parents. While civil law and God place the father at the head of the
home, this does not give him special rights and privileges, or
constitute him a boss or ruler, but he should so conduct himself that
the family will regard him as their protector, supporter and adviser. He
should not swear, tell vulgar stories, use tobacco or indulge in strong
drink unless he is willing for each member of his family to follow his
example. As partners in the home, they have the same moral rights as
himself. He should be to his children a chum, a friend, a companion. He
should constantly endeavor to make the children happy. There are times,
in the home, when the father’s decision must be law. He must support his
family. The law holds him responsible for their support and for their
deportment as citizens. As long as they are under age, if they contract
a debt or damage property, the law holds the father responsible. This
responsibility makes it necessary for him to decide some things, in a
way that a child may not wish to coincide. This should be done in a
dignified and pleasant way.

The father should never allow himself to become angry or to use hasty
and abusive language in correcting a child. If he does, he demonstrates
his own weakness and inability to be a real father. Punishment of some
natural kind is sometimes necessary, but corporal punishment, as a rule,
is brutal.

The father should so conduct himself as to command the respect,
reverence and love of his children. He should be sociable and gentle, as
well as dignified and strong. He should have their complete confidence,
so they will come to him with their problems and troubles. The sacred
service of a true father in the home, can only be equaled by the service
of the mother. The fathers who toil long and late, study and strive to
support, educate and train a family of children to become good citizens
and devoted Christians, will receive a rich reward here and a royal
welcome yonder.




CHAPTER III

THE MOTHER’S RELATION TO THE HOME


=Husband and wife equal partners.=--In the partnership of building a home,
the wife is, in the truest and fullest sense, an equal partner with her
husband. Equal rights and privileges should characterize their
financial, social and moral relations. They are complements of each
other. Neither is ever completed until the other half is found. They are
essential to each other’s highest development. Neither can build a home
without the other. Their relations to the home are of equal importance.

=How they differ.=--They differ in their functional relations to the
building of a home. While their interests are mutual and their duties
often overlap each other, yet they differ in some respects in their
relations to the home. The husband is the producer; nature and God place
on him the responsibility of feeding, clothing, sheltering and educating
the family. The wife is the housekeeper; nature and God place on her the
duty of motherhood and the love and care of children. Both husband and
wife need special preparation before and after marriage for their
respective relations to the home.

=Marriage means motherhood.=--Unless a woman loves little children and
desires to teach and train boys and girls to become ideal men and women,
she should not think of accepting a marriage proposition. Marriage is
for the purpose of offspring. All girls should train and develop
themselves with a view to the sacred functions of motherhood. Those who
are mentally opposed to and physically incapable of motherhood should
decline marriage. Such women can and should find some other occupation
better fitted to their tastes, or physical condition, where they can be
contented and help make the world better.

=A farce.=--In apartment houses, hotels and lodging places are to be found
men and women living together under a form of legal matrimonial
alliance, where the true idea of home is not contemplated, children are
not wanted and no domestic happiness anticipated. These are human
abodes, where the echo of birth is never heard; where the thrill of joy,
caused by cooing babies, is never felt; and where conversation is never
disturbed by romping children. This is a home only in name. This is a
place of lodging where two miserable selfish beings are waiting for
death to step in and end the farce.

=A good substitute for a home.=--I was once entertained in a home where
the husband and wife had crossed over the half century line of life.
During my first day in that home, every few hours, the husband or wife
would bring in from two to six boys and girls introducing them to me as
their boys and girls. When the number had run up in the neighborhood of
twenty, that home got interesting. When I inquired how often they had
been married and how many children they had, I was informed that they
were only borrowing them from the neighbors. I never saw a home with a
greater influence for good. Though childless, their home was a heaven;
for the neighboring children resorted, played games, and received
instructions of the highest order there. The children were trained to
hunt up the old, the sick and the poor and to daily carry them flowers
gathered from the yard and garden of this old couple. This was an ideal
imitation of the real thing--a model home. I wish every childless home
could be converted into such an ideal imitation, or a real home.

=A good housekeeper.=--One of the qualifications a wife should have is a
reasonable practical knowledge of how to keep house. It may not be
necessary for her to do all her house work, but she should understand
how it should be done. A man has as much right to demand that his wife
know how to wash clothes, bake bread, sweep a room, and make a bed, as
she has to expect him to be industrious, know how to form or conduct
his business or profession. She must know how to do these things in
order to properly manage a well-ordered home.

=She should know the value of a dollar.=--The wife should know the value
of a dollar and how to invest it in food, clothing and household
comforts. To do this, she must make these things a study. Unreasonable
extravagance of wives has caused many unhappy homes.

=She should keep herself attractive.=--She could never have won her
husband had she not made herself attractive. Marriage does not lessen
man’s interest in his wife’s attractiveness. The wise woman will not
permit her husband to become ashamed of her.

=She should be industrious.=--A reasonable amount of physical exercise is
just as essential to a woman’s health as it is for a man. The indolent
wife who settles down in an easy chair and reads novels all day,
satisfied with the fact that she is married and unconscious or
indifferent to the fact that she must keep her husband’s respect, is
likely to lose his respect and love.

=She should take an interest in her husband’s affairs.=--A wife should
know enough of her husband’s business or professional affairs to enable
her to appreciate his ambitions and to sympathize with him in his
trials. In this way, some women help to make their husband’s success.
There is quite a difference between interest and encouragement, and in
interference. One leads to success; the other to failure.

=Home first.=--A good wife or mother will make the interests of her home
first. If her home is first, in her mind and heart, she will not find
time or inclination to gossip about her neighbors, or to contrive new
ways of amusing herself. Her home interests will completely fill her
life, consume her time, satisfy her æsthetic nature and furnish her the
greatest opportunities for Christian service in the world. This does not
preclude membership in a humanitarian society, a reading circle, or
church. Great as this service may be, it is not equal to the home. A
home builder is never justifiable in neglecting her home duties for her
obligations to a club, a lodge or the church. By spending a few hours,
in practical contact with other housewives at a social meeting or
church, she is all the better able to perform her home duties. But these
things should be subordinate to the duties of home building. Christ in
the home will mean Christ in society, the church and the nation.

=The anteroom to heaven.=--When a woman has entered married life with her
prince, determined to make a real wife and mother, she has chosen the
highest and most fascinating career that is possible for a woman. Her
home will be an anteroom to heaven.




CHAPTER IV

THE BOY’S RELATION TO THE HOME


=The boy problem.=--The boy problem is becoming one of unusual interest to
writers, teachers, lecturers, ministers and parents. Books, teaching,
lecturing and preaching can aid some, but the real problem of the boy
must be solved in the home.

=A boy should be treated differently from his sister.=--The mental make-up
of a boy, his superior strength, his natural aspirations and his duties
in life, require that some of his training should differ from that of
the girl.

=He should be taught to work.=--One of the most important steps in the
solution of the boy problem is to have the boy actively engaged in some
wholesome, pleasant and rational way. He should be given work that is
worth doing well and that will be of use to him in future life. This
training should begin in childhood and continue until he is matured.
Every day he should have some task to perform and he should never be
allowed to neglect his work.

=Boys enjoy making money.=--A boy should be

[Illustration: IDEAL RELATIONS OF CHILDREN IN THE HOME]

given a chance to make some money. Rarely should money be given to a
child. It is far better for him to earn it. He will in this way learn
the value of a dollar. He should be encouraged to deposit his money in
bank, to loan it, on interest, or to wisely invest it. It is a great
deal better for a boy to invest and lose than to spend his earnings for
candy or a ticket to a ten cent show. A boy had as well be allowed to
swear, drink and steal as to waste his money. If started right most boys
would take pride in saving their money. Usually when parents wish their
children to have candy or some other luxury, it would be wiser for them
to pay for it, than for the children to do so. A child should be
encouraged to give, out of his own money, to the needy, Sunday School
and church.

Boys should have their own room in the house, their own things in the
room and their property rights should be respected. When he fails, he
should be encouraged; when downhearted, he should be boosted and when he
succeeds, he should be praised and commended. Give the average boy a
chance and he will make a man.

=His future vocation.=--Very early, boys show aptitude toward special
vocations. When they do, they should be encouraged in every way
possible. However, they should not be nagged and forced to follow any
vocation for which they may have shown interest and natural skill.
Furnish them helps and books and allow them to develop their own
individualities. Parents should not choose the boy’s vocation for him.
They should not interfere with his choice, unless it be pernicious.

=Morally, his training should be the same as that of his
sister.=--Parents, who hold to two sets of morals, do right for the girl
and do as you please for the boy, are not qualified to train a boy. A
boy should be trained to believe that whatever is morally wrong for his
sister and mother is equally wrong for him; it is just as ungentlemanly
for him to swear, as it would be unladylike for his mother and sister to
swear; that it is just as wrong for him to use vulgar and obscene
language as it would be for his mother and sister to do so; that if he
can drink and be sexually impure and remain a gentleman, his mother and
sister can indulge in the same vices and remain perfect ladies. If
parents believe in the double standard of morals, that the boy must sow
his “wild oats,” most likely he will. There is no sane reason why a boy
should swear and his sister should not, why a boy should use tobacco and
his sister should not, why a boy should drink and his sister should not,
or why a boy should be sexually impure and his sister should not. The
boy, with the single standard of morals instilled in his mind, is
incomparably more likely to make a useful, successful, great and good
man than the boy trained to believe in the double standard.

=Boys should play with girls.=--Boys are, by nature, inclined to be rough,
rude, coarse and untidy. They need to associate with girls who naturally
have just the opposite tendencies. It is refining for boys to learn to
enjoy the games of girls.

A girl’s ambition is to be beautiful; a boy’s ambition is to be strong.
These preferences are natural and they should be encouraged in them. All
boys delight in displaying their physical powers. Thus, they are led to
test their strength with their sisters and often display roughness and
rudeness. They should be carefully instructed that it is natural for
girls not to be as strong as boys, and that for this reason they should
protect girls and never be rude with them. Boys should have a place and
the proper means of taking exercise.

=The boy and his mother.=--The mother and her boy should be chums. They
should keep on the most intimate terms. The mother can often instill,
into the mind and heart of her boy, a refined nature, gentle feelings,
pure motives and a manly purpose, in a way that is not aggressive, and
yet it is permanent.

=A boy’s companions.=--It is important for a boy to have good companions.
If he has been trained as indicated, he will not rebel when his parents
offer

[Illustration: LET THEM PLAY TOGETHER]

suggestions. However they should endeavor not to appear to be choosing
his companions.

=Going to college.=--Many boys would be better off never to go to college.
The contaminating influences of some colleges cannot be overestimated.
Of all rowdyism, college rowdyism is the most demoralizing. In very
recent years special efforts have been made in some of our colleges to
eliminate this objectionable feature. There are some colleges where the
manly, the moral and the religious predominate and the boy is fully as
safe as at home. Before a boy is sent to college he should be fortified
and safeguarded against college contaminations. Parents should
investigate college morals before making the choice of a college for
their boy.




CHAPTER V

THE GIRL’S RELATION TO THE HOME


The girl in the home is a member of the partnership plan of the family.
She should have the same financial, social and moral rights of her
brother. Her moral training should be no better than his. If she is
properly trained in the home, her services are as valuable as her
brother’s and she should have the same financial rights.

=The girl and her father.=--The father, if worthy of being such, should
have the confidence, respect and love of his daughter. She should feel
free to approach him with her wishes and her problems. His advice and
council will be of great value to her in her social relation with young
men. Many girls fail to show themselves interested in their father.
Girls should be attentive, kind and loving in their relations to their
father.

=The girl and her mother.=--A mother should not forget the experience of
her girlhood. Though busy and burdened with many cares, she should take
time to talk, often and intimately, with her daughter, of her own
girlhood, her own temptations, her own experiences in the various
vicissitudes of life. By wisely cultivating the relation of a
sympathetic companionship, the mother can often bridge her daughter over
that period of adolescence, when many girls come to regard their mothers
as “old fogies.” This is a stage of growth in a girl’s life. It usually
occurs when they are in the high school. They openly and unkindly
criticise their mother’s dress, speech, advice, council and religion.
This is a period of development that girls pass through. The right
relation between the girl and her mother would save the mother from many
tears and heartaches and the girl from many regretful memories of
misconception and blindness.

Fortunate, is the girl, who has never had an attack of “high school
snobbery,” who has never spoken lightly of the imaginary deficiencies of
mother; but, who has always found it a joy to divide gifts with mother,
to hand her the prettiest rose and to read her a choice story.

=The girl and her brother.=--Girls do not always appreciate the influence
they are exerting over their brothers. A boy’s estimate of woman is
often received from his sister’s influence. A sister has it largely in
her power to make her brother gentle, true and pure. She can make home
attractive and pleasant for him and thus save her brother from seeking
pleasures in questionable places and ways. Brothers and

[Illustration: CHUMS IN THE HOME]

sisters should grow up together, be educated together, play together
and, as far as possible, help each other. Their joys and sorrows, aims
and purposes should be mutual. Her lack of physical strength, her
natural tastes and aspirations, her duties and mission in life, being in
many respects different from her brother, require a line of preparation
unlike her brother receives.

=Her first and most valuable training.=--Marriage is not the only goal
toward which a young woman may turn, but it is the most natural,
important and worthy. Most all girls look forward to marriage as a
possible and desirable goal. Perhaps no woman would refuse marriage, if
the right man should propose. It is for this reason that every girl
should prepare herself thoroughly to be a housekeeper, a wife and a
mother. This should be her first and most thorough training. She should
not rest satisfied until she has learned every phase of how to keep
house, to care for the wants of small children and to manage hired help.
This training should begin in childhood. A girl should be able to dress
herself and to keep her own room by the time she is ten years old.
Whatever may be her career in life, she will always be the better off
because she is a good housekeeper. She may not have to be a housekeeper,
for she may have servants, still she is all the better off, as she will
understand how to manage the servants.

=The independent girl.=--In addition to having prepared herself for a
housekeeper, a wife and a mother, she should now prepare herself for
some vocation in life. The right man may not present himself, she may be
called upon to support an aged mother or father, or an invalid husband,
and she will need to know how to earn a living. A girl, unprepared to
support herself, waiting year after year for some man to come and marry
her, is an object of profound pity. If the right man comes along and
marries her, all is well. But she often marries the wrong fellow, or
waits for many weary years and yet, he never comes. A generation ago few
opportunities of earning a support were open to a girl. Conditions have
changed, woman’s ideals have grown and the world offers her other
vocations than housekeeping, wifehood and motherhood, and unless these
come in very attractive form she can choose the vocation of art, music,
teaching, stenography, book-keeping or some other calling. By the time
she is eighteen, a girl should be able to keep a house or earn a living
in some business way. This will give her an assurance of independence.
Regardless of the wealth of her parents, she should have these two
qualifications. If her parents are poor and she is ambitious, she can
now work her way through college, if she desires.

If the morals of a girl have been properly safeguarded by her mother’s
training and teaching, the independent girl is little more likely to
fall than the girl who remains at home and waits for a husband.

The independent girl who goes out into the world with her brother,
shoulders the same burdens, wrestles with the same problems, fights the
same battles and overcomes the same difficulties, will meet a better
class of men than those who would likely seek her out in her home. She
is more likely to be happily married, than if she remained at home. She
is now better fitted to be a housekeeper, wife and mother, than if she
had remained at home. She has learned how to produce a dollar, she now
knows the value of it and how, wisely, to spend it.

[Illustration: MOTHER’S RESPONSIBILITY.]




CHAPTER VI

TRAINING AND GOVERNMENT IN THE HOME


=Home a unit of government.=--As already observed, the home is a
partnership. It is a unit of government. In an ideal unit of home
government, every member is governed by and through an intelligent
understanding of the customs, rules and laws, a conscientious
recognition of what is right and wrong and the golden rule of love. Each
have equal rights. What is wrong for one is equally wrong for each and
all. What is right for one is equally right for each and all. Such a
home is a unit of government where parents and children are organized
under a constitution of intellect, conscience and love; for the purpose
of building character, fitting themselves for larger citizenship in this
life and the life that is to be the sequence to this one.

The home is the biggest institution in the world. Home building is the
noblest and highest vocation in life. Its responsibilities are
stupendous, its possibilities are limitless and its rewards are
infinite. Home builders should be the best qualified and the most
skillful of architects.

=The training of a child.=--Solomon said, “train up a child in the way he
should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” The thoughts,
actions and habits of childhood have much to do with a child’s future
character and possibilities. When a child’s training is commenced in
early childhood, was it begun soon enough? After a noted surgeon had
examined a patient, turning to a friend he said, “If I could have had
this patient two generations ago, I could have saved his life.” When
Oliver Wendell Holmes was asked when a child’s training should begin, he
replied, “At least one hundred years before he is born.” Sometimes it
happens that good children are made bad and bad children are made worse
by the company they keep before they are born. The little boy was not
far wrong, who, when he found his mother lamenting the choice she had
made of a life companion, said, “Mamma, we made a bad choice when we
chose papa, didn’t we?” Some children have made an equally bad choice of
their mammas and some appear to have made a doubly bad choice of both
parents.

=Each child must be studied.=--A child is not easily understood. No two
children are alike. Each child has a very complex nature. He is the
product of the ages. The complex nature of his parents are blended into
his being, producing a more complex being. He is not a duplicate of
either. He has received from his parents a blending of their natures; in
a limited way, what they inherited from his grandparents and their
grandparents back to Adam. Parents and teachers should try to discover
his latent forces, his slumbering passions, his genius, his inherent
propensities and native goodness. They should wisely use nature’s laws
and God’s gifts, in constraining, controlling and eradicating the
inherited and acquainted tendencies that are pernicious; also in drawing
out, giving direction to and developing the inherited and acquired good
in his life.

=Importance of early training.=--Children in the home are to be trained.
Their prenatal culture, the most important part of a child’s education,
may have been respected or neglected. This cannot be altered now. The
next agency to be utilized in the child’s training is environment. This
can be applied from its birth. The child is more susceptible to external
influences in babyhood than in childhood, in childhood than in youth, in
youth than in maturity. The child becomes more fixed in disposition and
character and more difficult to change as he grows older.

=The training of parents.=--If I were a perfect sage, philosopher or
Christian, or all three combined into a perfect teacher, I would much
prefer the task of training one hundred little children than the task of
training ten parents (including the author) how to train their children.
Most parents need to devote three hours, to a careful analysis and study
of their inherited and acquired weaknesses, to one devoted to a similar
study of a child.

=A study of disposition.=--Such peculiarities of mind and disposition as
cruelty, ambition, firmness, conscientiousness and affection may be so
pronounced in one’s life as to bias his judgment and unfit him for the
training of children. When one of these characteristics is very dominant
in a father or mother, it will most likely appear in an exaggerated form
in one or more of the children. Like excites like, is a law that should
be thoroughly understood by parents. Where firmness is very pronounced
in both parents and child, there will be a constant clash unless one or
both exercise full self-control. Such a child should be controlled
largely by love. A severe or cruel parent will make a coward of a timid
child and a criminal of a self-willed child. The over-conscientious
parent will disgust one child and make a fanatic of another. The
over-affectionate parent will appeal alone to the affections and leave
the will of a child undeveloped. Appealing alone to the ambition of a
very proud, ambitious child is likely to make him conceited and
egotistical. For a parent to quarrel, have a fit of anger or to use
violence is degrading and demonstrates his weakness and incapacity to be
at the head of a family. At the same time, these mental states tend to
awaken similar feelings in the child, which usually result in a clash.
If the child had first displayed anger, this could have been overcome
by self-control, kindness and love on the part of the parent.

=The law of influence.=--If you want to arouse a desirable feeling,
sentiment, emotion or conviction in another, you must be controlled by
that mental and moral state and allow it to emanate from you. If you are
controlled, by an undesirable thought or feeling, others must have
self-control enough to resist your influence, or soon they will be
controlled by a similar mental state. Thus, we see that unless parents
exercise judgment and self-control, they will often use methods that are
unwise and harmful.

=Defects in our homes and schools.=--One of the saddest defects in our
home training and our system of education is, that when a child reaches
maturity in the home or graduates from the high school or college, he
knows more about other things than he does about himself and the
essentials of building a home. How to analyze, study, know and control
one’s self; how to understand, train and govern children would be of far
greater value in the education of young men and women than many
departments of study we now emphasize.

=The function of the home.=--The children are in the home for the primary
purpose of being developed into ideal men and women. To accomplish this
end is the mission of parents. To do this effectively parents must
possess high ideals. These ideals include such training and education as
will lead to a strong and healthy body, a keen and well-trained
intellect, a moral and religious character and an abiding faith in God.

=Physical training.=--The physical, mental and moral natures are
intimately and vitally related. One influences each of the other two.
The physical health and strength of a child hinders or helps the mental
and moral life. The proper time to overcome the weakness of any physical
function, or inherited physical weakness, is in childhood. This is done
by proper dieting, hygienic living, bathing, exercise and sexual
chastity. Improperly prepared and unwholesome food are the chief causes
of death among infants and a leading cause of impaired indigestion in
childhood. The kind of food used, effects the mind and character of the
child. Too much candy, rich pastries and meat are not good for a child,
or grown people either.

=Use of medicine.=--One hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) are spent
annually on patent medicine and fully that much or more on mineral
drugs. We are not animals. We do not know how to live. Few men would be
willing to give a lawyer ten dollars to tell him how to keep out of
trouble, but he will give him all he has to get him out of trouble. Few
would give ten dollars to a doctor for preventive advice, but they will
pay a doctor all they possess, for a cure. Oliver Wendell Holmes had a
custom of saying, “If all the drugs of the world were thrown into the
sea, it would be a blessing to humanity, but a curse to the fish.”
Children should be kept healthy by hygienic living.

=Use of condiments, coffee, tobacco, etc.=--Condiments, tea, coffee and
tobacco are not foods--they stimulate--they do not strengthen; they
create unnatural appetites and inflame the passions. No one would drink
tea or coffee were it not for the tannin and caffeine contained in them.
If these drugs were removed, these drinks would be no more tempting than
a cup of warm water. Most people, who use these drinks would consider it
a sin to go to a drug store, buy some pure tannin or caffeine, dilute it
with water, sweeten it with sugar and drink it.

=The tobacco habit is an enormous evil.=--It creates a demand for
something stronger. It paves the way for the whisky habit. Drunkenness
is largely due to a pathological physical condition. Remove the causes,
coffee, tobacco and sensuality and it will do more to check drunkenness
than all the legislation that can be secured in the next century.

=Mental training.=--The mental training of children is very largely
committed to school and college teachers. Parents should take a very
intense interest in the child’s education. They should study the
talents and discover and strengthen the weaker faculties of the child.
Most children get their minds “stuffed” with unassimilated facts.
Nothing is clear to them. They do not remember what they have learned.
They cannot reason logically. They have had their minds “stuffed.”
Parents as well as teachers, can largely prevent this. From the earliest
mental training of the child, he should be trained to take a personal
interest in knowing things. He should be taught to think. Encourage a
child to ask questions. If he asks questions which he should understand,
have him answer them and give his reasons for the answer. In some cases
ask him questions that will suggest an answer. Getting a child started
right is the more important half of his education. He will look after
the other half.

=Moral training.=--The object of all moral training of a child is
self-government or self-control. Before a child is capable of
self-government, he must be taught to distinguish between right and
wrong. This is largely the work of the intellect. His conscience must be
awakened and quickened. Conscience is a natural instinct through which
God’s spirit and man’s conception, of right and wrong, prompts him to
moral action, and which condemns the action he conceives to be wrong and
approves the action he conceives to be right. The will must be so
trained and developed that a child is able to will to do what he knows
to be right and his conscience approves. He is now a perfectly free
agent, a law to himself. He is governed from within and need not to be
governed from without. This moral training requires years and should
begin in infancy.

=Let the baby alone.=--Good babies are made bad by receiving too much
attention. The baby should not be lifted from the cradle, fondled and
coddled, kissed and talked to, simply because it gurgles or makes an
innocent attempt to be noticed. This is needless attention. At first it
is disagreeable to the child. Later a demand is created and the child is
spoiled. If left alone babies would entertain themselves much of the
time.

When a baby is learning to crawl and walk, observe the “let alone”
policy as much as possible. Keep an eye on the child to see that it does
not get hurt. What you do not want it to have, put out of its reach. It
should be safeguarded from places of danger. If these precautions are
taken, you will be saved the excuse for that endless round of “don’t get
hurt,” “don’t touch that,” “don’t do that,” etc. By these endless
“don’ts” children are taught disobedience. If the child falls, unless it
is hurt, do not run and pick it up. Let it alone, it will get up. In
this way you teach it to be independent and self-reliant. If you run
and pick it up, the child gets the idea that you were to blame. Later,
when it falls, it screams, cries and gets angry. Perhaps you hit the
object and teach the child that the object over which it fell was at
fault. This is deception and has a bad effect.

=Give the child something to do.=--Teach it to dress itself, to take off
and put on its shoes and stockings. It should have a special place to
put these, on retiring. It should have a drawer or a room where it can
put its individual belongings. This teaches the child the idea of
responsibility.

=The first idea of wrongdoing.=--When a child eats some forbidden thing,
or does some forbidden act, from which it suffers, it can be led to see
that it has violated the laws of nature. If possible, alleviate the
pain, but the lesson which nature would teach, through pain, should be
emphasized. The child should see that the pain came as a result of
violating the laws of nature. A little later in life, the child can be
taught that all desires, thoughts, words and acts that are helpful to
self and others are right and those that injure self and others are
wrong. These principles can be applied gradually to the laws of the
home, of society and God.

=Parents should agree.=--There should be a perfect agreement between
parents, with respect to the government in the home. Where parents
disagree, children lose all respect for parental authority. Differences
should be discussed by parents, only when the children are not present.

=Punishment in the home.=--Whipping, slapping and cuffing are relics of
savagery. Whipping should never be resorted to except in extreme cases.
It is not the natural consequence of disobedience. It never appeals to a
child’s sense of justice. Punishment should always be natural and
consistent with justice. Some examples will illustrate these principles,
as follows: A child is called to breakfast--it does not come.
Stubbornness or disobedience is the cause. What should be a natural
punishment? Scolding, slapping, jerking the child up and forcing it to
the table? No--there is no logical connection. The punishment should
consist in the child’s doing without its breakfast. This should be
explained to the child: A boy loses his toy. Should he be pitied and
another bought for him? Certainly not. Should he be whipped? This would
not be natural. He simply goes without his toy until he finds it: A boy
steals some object. Should he be whipped? No. His attention should be
called to the nature of his sin. He should be compelled, if necessary,
to return the stolen object and confess his wrong. The deep sense of
humiliation is the natural punishment. Let him feel the full force of
it: A boy uses tobacco. Should he be whipped? Certainly not, as long as
his teacher, the family doctor, the minister and the father use it. No
child on earth could see any connection between the wrong and the
punishment. What should be done? Nine times out of ten, under present
conditions, the boy will use tobacco, in spite of all that a mother can
do. So long as doctors, teachers, ministers and fathers use tobacco,
legislation against the cigarette will increase our youthful criminals.
If a father has a moral right to use tobacco, so has his boy. If the boy
can be led to see clearly that the use of tobacco is wrong, if his
conscience can be awakened and if his personal will can be brought to
constantly oppose the use of it, then he can be saved. THIS IS THE ONLY
REMEDY.

=Study the offense.=--Find the natural consequence. Become an example of
obedience to every law, for your child. Show the child the results of
wrong living and the benefits of right living. This will usually obviate
all punishment, aside from what nature inflicts.

=Corporal punishment.=--If corporal punishment be unavoidable, it should
not be administered when either parent or child is angry. This would
only increase the cause that made the punishment necessary. In most
cases it would be best to postpone the punishment until the next day.
Only a very rebellious child can be helped by this method.

=Scolding and threatening.=--From a hotel window I heard a mother say to
her twelve-year-old girl, “I will gouge your eyes out.” “I will slap
your head off, you little hussy.” A child treated in this way becomes
willful or spiteful, loses self-respect or respect for the parent.
Scolding and threatening children are sins against their finer natures.

=Three good rules.=--The author’s father would not employ men on his farm
without the understanding that they were not to swear, speak vulgarly
about a woman, or tell a “ghost” or “bugaboo” story in the presence of
his children. A servant, man or woman, about your business or home, can
undo or counteract in a few hours or days, in a single statement or
story, picture or book, act or habit, the life efforts of a noble father
and a pure mother. One of the purest men recently said to me, “When I
was only fifteen years of age I heard a servant utter one sentence that
required a score of years to get its effects eradicated.” Men have told
me of the pernicious effects of servants, dating back to when they were
two and three years old. Frightful stories and startling statements, of
impending dangers, destroy the natural freedom, independence and courage
of many children for life. Once I sat by the side of a nervous mother
holding a nervous four-year-old girl in her lap, as our train sped
forward at the rate of fifty miles an hour, over one of those
magnificent stretches on a western prairie. We had discussed heredity,
child training and other interesting and vital subjects, when she
referred to her nervous little girl and told me how at night she would
notice her little body twitching, jerking, floundering and all at once
she would awake with a scream having dreamed that she was falling from
some dizzy height toward jagged rocks and certain death beneath; or that
some huge angry beast, poised on tiptoes and in the act of pouncing upon
her and tearing her body into shreds--a horrible nightmare. About the
time she had finished describing one of those fearful experiences and
was in the act of asking me for advice, we were passing an object on the
outside that interested the little girl; quickly she turned and began
peering through the window. She was in no danger. Her head was not
projected beyond the window. The nervous mother grabbed the little girl
by the body and cried, “You are falling! You are falling!” My reply to
her request for advice was, “My! if you should handle me that way, I
would have a half dozen nightmares here in open daylight.” I told that
mother that her daughter’s nervousness was due to bad heredity and bad
environment and that she was responsible for both.

=Personal purity.=--As soon as a child begins to enquire about its origin,
it is old enough to be told the truth in the right way. Some children
become interested when they are three and four, all normal children by
the time they are seven. Since the inquiring mind will not rest
satisfied until a plausible answer has been received, and since the
ignorant and vicious youth is ever alert and anxious to give this
information in a pernicious way, it behooves the thoughtful parents to
safeguard their children with the truth told in the right way. No normal
boy should reach the age of eight, or girl the age of ten, before they
have been told the story of life.

Children often discover, or are taught, the secret vice at a very early
age. Sex consciousness and pleasure may be early developed because of
some unnatural conditions of the sex organs. For this reason, parents
should know that these parts are normal in their children. When children
are observed to frequently handle, or scratch these organs, unnatural
conditions should be suspected. The child should not be slapped or
scolded, rather call in the family physician. Trying to keep a child
ignorant concerning this vice is impossible, therefore unwise. There is
not one boy in fifty who does not know of the vice, and understands the
language used to describe it. Trying to keep a child from vicious
companions is good as far as it goes, but the facts are that the child
is most likely to discover the vice himself, while it is hardly possible
to keep a child entirely away from the vicious. The only sane method is
to teach the child the laws of personal purity. If the secret vice is to
be prevented, some children should receive council when they are six,
others at eight, all by the time they are ten or twelve. Children have
inherited lustful tendencies. Their troubles are more largely from
within than from without. Hence the children that have been most
carefully guarded from bad company and kept in ignorance are usually the
ones who are most injured by the secret sin. A single talk to a child is
not sufficient. We frequently instruct and appeal to the child to be
obedient, truthful and honest; in like manner we should at reasonable
periods instruct and encourage him to keep his thoughts and desires
pure.




SECOND DIVISION

HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS TO A CHILD




CHAPTER VII

THE RIGHT OF A CHILD TO A KNOWLEDGE OF SEX


=Social conditions of childhood changed.=--The social conditions of
childhood have changed much in the last fifty years. Just as our
children have opportunities and possibilities far greater than had we
when we were children; so they are exposed to temptations and dangers
greater than were we, when we were children. The suggestive, and
oft-times positively obscene pictures on post cards, in books and on
billboards; the viciously immoral literature; the cheap moving picture
shows of to-day, were not social problems threatening the purity of our
childhood.

=Knowledge of self important.=--There were ethical, biological and vital
truths that our parents, because of mock modesty and a false and
inadequate education, failed to give us in our childhood. This was a
serious defect in our early education. We met with temptations, were
often overcome by them and we are not what we might have been had we
been safeguarded by a better knowledge of ourselves. But, because of the
better social conditions of our childhood, we were better able to grow
up without this information and with less injury to ourselves, than our
children can, without this information, under present social conditions.
If we would safeguard the character of the children of to-day and the
youths of to-morrow and the manhood and the womanhood of the succeeding
day we must give our children a correct knowledge of themselves.

=The confidence of childhood.=--When children are born, they have a
capacity for learning how to stand alone, crawl, walk, love and hate,
speak and read, to judge of what is right and wrong. All they may come
to know in the future, true or false, good or evil, they must learn.
Coming into our homes without knowledge and utterly helpless, they
naturally come to recognize their parents as their rightful teachers and
to have absolute confidence in them. Ask a child from three to ten years
old who he thinks is the best man in the world. The reply will be, “my
papa.” Ask him who he thinks is the best woman in the world. The
instinctive reply will be, “my mamma.” The answer may be true or false,
but we do not question the sincerity of the child. The greatest calamity
that can come to that child, comes when he is compelled by convincing
evidence to reverse in his judgment this sincere and implicit faith in
the goodness of his parents. No greater misfortune than this, can come
to the parents. This natural and complete confidence and dependence of
the child gives the parents a very decided advantage over all other
teachers in the future training of the child.

=Inquisitiveness of childhood.=--It is because of this natural confidence
that the child goes to the parents with his many questions. The almost
ceaseless activity and playfulness of a child, are in response to
nature’s call for exercise in the natural and healthful development of
every organ of the body. The many questions of a child are in response
to nature’s call for exercise in the development of every faculty of the
mind. The unfolding, growing, developing mind of a child naturally asks
questions. It is for this reason that a child is said to be an animated
interrogation point. Some of the questions of a child may perplex a
philosopher, tax the patience of a Job, or embarrass a brass monkey; but
the naturalness and sincerity of the child demand honesty, frankness and
wisdom on the part of parents.

=How did I get into this world?=--At the age of three, four and five the
child will begin to ask questions as, “Where does the rain come from?
Where does the snow come from? Where do the clouds come from?” When
kittens, pups, pigs, a calf, a colt are born, the child very naturally
asks about their origin. The child is told repeatedly that he is four,
five or six years old; that he has had that number of birthdays and has
seen that number of Christmases. He remembers only half of them. He
listens with interest to his parents as they relate some thrilling event
of years gone by. A bright inquiring child will naturally ask, “Mamma,
was I in the world at that time?” The mamma replies, “No, darling, that
happened six months before you were born.” How very natural it was for
the child to ask, “Well, mamma, where was I at that time? How did I get
into the world?” An angel could not be more sincere, or ask a purer
question. This was no evidence of the child’s depravity. When I find a
child of seven or eight years old who has not asked about his origin, I
know that one of three conditions will explain this unusual mental state
of the child. (1) The parents have not encouraged the child’s mental
development by permitting him to be free in asking questions. (2) The
child has heard the story of life told by vicious companions, in half
truths, clothed in vulgar language and is keeping his information a
secret from his parents. (3) The child is not developing quite as fast
as I would like for my child to develop.

=The unsatisfied mind.=--When the inquiring mind of a child has once
become interested in this question, it is not possible for him to be
satisfied until a plausible answer has been received. The child’s
future, physical, mental and moral life more largely depends upon the
answer given to this question, than to any other question of his
childhood.

=The most vital part of a child’s education neglected.=--In the past,
parents, teachers, reformers and ministers have very largely held to the
old theory, that, if children are to be kept pure and innocent, they
must be kept ignorant of all information pertaining to sex. We have them
learn the physiology, anatomy and hygiene of their brain, heart, lungs,
digestive and nervous systems as if their very lives depended upon a
correct knowledge of these parts; but we have allowed them to grow up in
total ignorance concerning the sacred sanctuary and function of human
reproduction, upon which so much of health, happiness and success in
life depends.

=Mistakes of the past.=--In the past all faithful parents have loved their
children as much as we have loved our children. They were as much
interested in safeguarding the virtue of their children as are the
parents of to-day. They endeavored to train their children in harmony
with their ideals of right. Our parents, in their childhood, got the
idea that all language and information concerning sex was essentially
impure. All their information was received from vicious, ignorant
sources. In matured life, they came to see that all the words and
language they had heard pertaining to sex and all the mental and moral
impressions they had received, had done them great harm. Their
experience led them unwisely to conclude that all information of this
kind is injurious to a child. They failed to see the difference between
receiving only half-truths, expressed in vulgar words and phrases,
taught by the vicious and ignorant; and in receiving the pure truth, in
chaste language from the lips of a wise teacher, a noble father or a
pure mother. A nugget of gold may be pure gold, whether found in a mud
hole, a slop bucket, a tar bucket, or a clear stream of water. But, if
you come in contact with the surroundings of the gold, your remaining
clean, becoming cleaner, or becoming soiled, will depend on the place
where you find the gold. The effects, good or bad, of sex knowledge,
upon a child are largely determined by where and how he gets his
information. If he gets this information from a careful and wise teacher
no harm can come from it. If he gets the information from the
misinformed and the impure, only harm will follow.

=To teach sex truths, two qualifications necessary.=--You would not think
of having your child taught mathematics by one, who, himself, was never
properly taught, or who knew only half-truths about mathematics. You
might not demand of him a moral qualification, if he possessed the
intellectual equipment. But, in the teaching of sex, a moral
qualification is even more necessary than the intellectual. But few
adults are prepared to tell the story of life to a child, and fewer
still are prepared to give additional instruction as the child grows
older. For one to do this work successfully two qualifications are
absolutely necessary. (1) Parents and teachers must have a moral
qualification. They must regard the organs of sex and their functions as
pure and sacred. If they have the taint of lasciviousness in their
thoughts of the creative function, it would be a dangerous experiment
for them to attempt to teach their children about the origin of life, or
to give other instruction to those more advanced in years. The
misinformation and false education they received in childhood and the
consequent mock modesty, are the greatest difficulties in the way of
their performing this sacred duty to their children. For this reason the
adult classes are as much in need of correct instruction in sex as are
the children. (2) Parents and teachers must have a mental qualification.
One-fifth of the names referring to the organs of sex, their functions
and their abuse, that adults are forced to use when they try to express
their thoughts about sex, could not be found in the dictionary, and,
one-half of those that could be found in the dictionary would not refer
in their meaning, even remotely, to the sexual system. They picked up
these words in childhood from ignorant schoolmates and companions whose
minds were tainted with debasing thoughts of sex. The use of these
vulgar words, in the presence of a boy who has heard them before,
suggests to his mind that which is lascivious. Those who would teach
these things, to the young or old, should be able to command a chaste,
clean, plain, language.

=How a father failed.=--During one of my courses of lectures, a cultured
lawyer invited me to his office for an interview. He reproduced, in
language and gesture as best he could, a speech he had made to his
twelve-year old boy warning him of the dangers of the secret sin. I saw
the lawyer was deeply interested in his boy. He loved him and was deeply
concerned about his future. The language he used was the same he had
learned when a boy and the same his boy had evidently heard on the
playground. I question whether the father’s advice did his son much
good. Here was a case where good service was neutralized by suggestive
language.

=How a teacher failed.=--A few months ago I lectured in a city where
immorality was appalling. The superintendent of schools called into the
chapel about six hundred boys, from ten to eighteen, and attempted to
lecture them on social purity. He soon became embarrassed, used some
street terms, excited lascivious thoughts, looks, smiles and laughter
among the boys and utterly failed in his efforts. If this lawyer and
teacher failed with the advantages and solicitude they must have had,
would not the great mass of parents, teachers and ministers fail for the
same reasons.

=Parents not wholly responsible.=--A few editors, doctors and reformers
have censured parents severely for not teaching their children the truth
on these subjects. They should remember that ten years ago a very few
parents had read a sane book or listened to an intelligent lecture on
these subjects. Their only information had been gained from the
playground and street on the sly. Courses of lectures, adapted to age
and sex, should be given in every community. Ministers, teachers,
physicians, merchants, parents, young and old, educated and uneducated,
all should hear them. A few standard books on sex-hygiene and social
purity should be put in every home. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free.” More people are in physical, mental
and moral slavery because of ignorance concerning the laws of sex, than
all other causes combined. It follows that those who have learned the
truth should impart it to those who have it not.

=How children have been treated in the past.=--We have seen how parents
have been led in the past to conclude that all information as to the
origin of life is injurious to a child. For a child to inquire, “Where
was I before I was born? How did I get into this world?” was a sure sign
of his depravity. As a result of these traditionary ideas some parents
have slapped a child for asking about his origin. Still, others have
scolded and ordered the child from the room, commanding him never to ask
such ugly questions again. What must be the feelings of a child treated
in such an unappreciative and heartless way! Such treatment has never
satisfied the inquiring mind of any child. Under such treatment a child
will go off alone, pained and puzzled to know what was wrong in that
simple, natural, honest question. In most cases the child’s question has
been evaded by some one of a hundred falsehoods about “swamps,”
“sinkholes,” “hollow logs and stumps,” “bird nests,” “storks,” “old
women,” “doctor’s satchel,” and “under a cabbage head.” When only a
small boy, I was called from my bed early one spring morning to see a
beautiful colt the mare had found. For awhile I looked at the colt with
admiration and wonder. Then I very naturally inquired, “Where did the
mare find her colt?” I was told that she found it in a nearby brush
pile. For the next six months no brush pile escaped my eager eyes.

=An example.=--On my second lecture trip through Canada, a father told me
how he answered his little girl’s question, “Papa, how did I get into
this world?” His answer was as follows: “Daughter, God dropped you out
of heaven one day while it was raining. Papa saw you falling from a
cloud and ran out and caught you in his arms and brought you into the
house.” That father was boasting of his tact and wisdom.

=Another example.=--A mother in the South, in reply to a similar question
asked by her five-year-old boy, said: “Son, God sent you into this town
on the Cotton Belt train, about three o’clock one afternoon. The doctor
was at the depot and saw you. He knew that we wanted a little boy, so he
put you in his satchel and brought you to mamma.” When this mother
related this to me, her boy was nine years old and had not asked her
another word about his origin. At the close of my lecture, with tears in
her eyes, she said: “Professor, do you suppose that my little boy has
been hearing vulgar stories and is keeping his information a secret from
mamma?” “Yes, nine times out of ten, if you have a bright boy,” was my
reply. Upon investigation she found that her boy had been hearing vulgar
talk for about three years. How long do you suppose it will take that
boy to eradicate from his mind and heart the evil effects of such
training? It is not a question whether your child and mine shall get
this information or not. That question is settled. The child will get
the information. The questions for us to settle are: _When shall this
information be given? Who shall give it? What shall be given? How shall
it be given?_

=Results of the old method.=--I shall not call in question the love,
sincerity and honesty of these parents. In most cases they were sincere
and did the best they knew how. I am concerned about the results of this
time-honored method. Did the old method of deception, misleading and
false replies ever satisfy the inquiring mind of a child? Did the old
method ever make a child wiser? Did it ever lead a child to regard human
reproduction as delicate, sacred and pure? Did it ever lead a child to
greater love and faith in its parents? Only negative answers can be
given to all these questions.

=How the child finds out.=--As a rule, it is not long after a child
becomes interested in his origin until some older child, a playmate or
servant will say, “I know something that you do not know. You would like
to know it. It is how little children come into this world. I will tell
you all about it, if you will not tell your mamma and papa about it.” I
do not care how good the child may be, how well trained, or how
obedient: such is the intense interest of a child in the mystery of his
life that he will agree to keep the story a secret. Now the child
listens eagerly to the half-truths, couched in impure language and gets
a perverted vision of the origin of life.

=What are some of the results?=--Five very sad misfortunes have come to
the child. (1) The child has learned that his parents evaded his
question; in most cases, he discovers the answer to have been a
falsehood. (2) To the extent that the child comprehends the falsehood,
does he lose confidence in his parents. (3) He has learned to keep these
vital matters a secret from his parents. (4) The child cannot think of
his parents’ relation to the initial of his life, except in terms of
vulgarity. Early images do not easily leave the mind of a child. Ugly
words, impure pictures, obscene language, with all their vile
suggestiveness, ofttimes remain through life. (5) He regards the organs
of sex and their functions as vile and sinful. God never planned that
any human being should entertain any such degrading and demoralizing
views of the divinely created organs and function of human reproduction.
It is impossible to estimate the evil effects of this false training.
Yet, there are many people, often very religious, who estimate their
modesty, refinement and culture by the degree of conscious shame they
have when questions of sex are referred to. Just to the extent that we
fail to see that God is the author of sex, that sex is sacred and pure,
our glory and not our shame, has a false training degraded us.

=Boys lose confidence in their parents.=--You ask, does a child lose
confidence in his parents when he has discovered that they have told him
a falsehood about his origin? Certainly he does. In the past three years
not fewer than seven hundred and fifty young men from eighteen to
thirty-five have written me for advice in regard to their youthful
indiscretions. One question I have invariably asked those young men,
“Did your father ever warn you of your sexual dangers?” Only two have
replied in the affirmative. Those young men were once as innocent and
pure as your little boy. They first went to their parents for
information about these delicate matters. They were treated as I have
described. They received their information from sources and in a way
that led to sexual abuse.

=Girls lose confidence in mother.=--While on a seven thousand-mile lecture
trip, in company with twenty other lecturers, conducting purity
conventions in many of the large cities in the United States and Canada,
after the evening sessions were over, in company with one or two
detectives and other parties of our crowd, we visited the “red light”
districts and saw several thousand erring girls from twelve to twenty
years old. Those girls were once as innocent, pure and sweet as yours
or mine. They first went to their mothers and asked about the origin of
their lives. Those were golden opportunities for safeguarding the virtue
of those girls. More easily than at any other time in life could those
girls have been impressed with the sacredness of sex. At no other time
in life is it so true that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.” Much more of Christian effort is put forth to rescue the fallen
than to prevent the youths from falling. More churches are open to
lectures on rescue work than on preventive work. More money can be
raised for rescue work than can be raised to prevent youths from
falling.

=Boys and girls want to know the real truth.=--One morning a number of
high school boys requested that I give them a lecture more advanced than
the one I had given. While passing through the hall, at the close of
this special lecture to the young men, I was approached by the lady
principal with the request from the high school girls for a special
lecture. She told me that fourteen had made the request and that several
added: “We wish that Prof. Shannon was a lady lecturer. There are so
many things we would like to know, but would hesitate to ask a gentleman
lecturer.” Then the lady teacher added, “I said, girls, why do you not
ask your mamma for such information?” With hands uplifted, a look of
surprise, a gasp for breath, those girls replied: “I would not think of
asking mamma such questions.” Why not? Let me tell you why. When they
were little innocent girls they went to their mothers with their first
questions of sex. They were treated as already indicated. Their
inquiring minds and unsatisfied interests in the mysteries of life led
them to go elsewhere for this information. It was at this point in their
lives that a chasm started to form between themselves and their mothers.
There is not one boy in twenty-five who will go voluntarily to his
father for information or advice about his sex-nature. The same
statement is almost as true about girls and their mothers.

=1,000,000 children adrift.=--1,500,000 children are born annually in this
Christian nation. One-third of this number die before they are ten years
old. Annually one million children inquire, “How did I get into this
world?” Not more than one in twenty receive a kind, truthful and
intelligent reply. More than nine-tenths are treated in one of the
following ways: (1) Told some one of fifty falsehoods. (2) A slap, with
orders to clear out. (3) Some form of ridicule, such as “shame on you.”
“Don’t let me hear you ask such an ugly question again.” “I am disgusted
with you.” That settles it. The golden cords of confidence and
influence are severed. Never again will those children go to their
parents for information pertaining to sex. Elsewhere, they will find
friends who will gladly give them the information. These children, one
million strong, are now adrift on the storm-tossed sea of passion,
without chart or compass; drifting, drifting, drifting for years toward
ports, to them, unknown.

[Illustration: DANGER!]

=The virtue of a quarter of a million of boys sacrificed.=--Time passes.
The boys are now sixteen to twenty-five. They have boon and base
companions. Their imaginations are at fever heat with morbid interest
and their ambitions are aflame with daring. One quarter of a million
young men annually sacrifice the priceless gem of manhood’s virtue just
here. Now, they are nearing the fearful rapids of vice where most of
this number annually become diseased and many perish as sex-maniacs in
the awful maelstrom of lust.

=60,000 girls annually.=--With the passing of time, the girls from twelve
to seventeen, many without the safeguard of knowledge, are associating
freely, gayly with their boon male companions, exposed to all the
temptations and dangers incident to young womanhood. Many, many thousand
young women annually sacrifice the priceless gem of womanhood’s virtue
just here. Owing to the double standard of morals, sixty thousand of
this number are forced against their own wills into the public
maelstroms of immorality.

=Who is to blame.=--Thousands of poor prudish parents line the shores,
and, with broken, bleeding hearts are crying out in anguish, “My God, my
God, why has this awful blow fallen on us?” The poor, ignorant,
diseased, exiled, passion-ridden children, in many cases beyond the
reach of the home, society and the church, exclaim, “Oh, if I had only
been told of these dangers!”

All along the almost socially inaccessible rock-bound shores of this sea
of human passion, the churches and philanthropists are building and
maintaining rescue and foundling homes at an outlay of millions in
money. They are not, and cannot, rescue one in twenty. The foundling
homes are crowded to a dangerous, unsanitary overflowing with
illegitimate children, whose mothers are out in the rapids of vice, or
entirely lost in the maelstrom of immorality. Too long have the churches
been satisfied with snatching, here and there, a piece of human wreckage
from the waves of vice, instead of erecting a lighthouse system of
properly warning and informing the childhood of the land.

=The new way.=--We have seen the results of the old way of dealing with
children in matters of sex. Is there a new and better way? We shall see.
“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” The new and
better way is to tell the truth to the child.

=How shall a child be told.=--One day when our little girls were four and
six, wife said, “Husband, I am in trouble about our little girls. They
are asking where they were before they were born and how they got into
this world. How am I to answer them?” “Tell them the truth,” was my
reply. “But, they are not old enough to be told the whole truth,” was
her reply. We talked over the problem and arrived at the following
solution of the problem: Since I had been a teacher of biology for
years, and it was presumed that I was familiar with the stories of life
among the plants and animals, it was agreed that I should at once tell
them a nice little story about God’s beautiful plan of bringing all the
little plants into the world. Six months later I was to tell them the
story of life about the oysters and fish. Every six months to a year I
was to tell them a more advanced story. As they were girls, wife
reserved the right to tell them the last story to be told when they were
nine and ten.

These stories were all told in the order given. Our girls are now twelve
and fourteen. We have never had an occasion to regret that we have
followed this natural method of instructing them. They seem to have no
morbid curiosity about questions of sex. They look upon the facts as
being natural, sacred and pure. Wife and I can approach them on these
subjects without embarrassment to them or us.

=When should a child be told?=--The average boy should be told all these
stories by the time he is eight, not later than nine. The average girl
should be told all these stories by the time she is nine, not later than
ten. The developing mind of the average child and the social influences
to which he is exposed, demand that he be safeguarded by the whole
truth, this early in life. While the girl and boy develop alike until
they are ten or eleven, the boy being exposed to vicious companions more
than is his sister, he should be told the story of life earlier than
she. At the age of seven, boys know more about these things than the
girls do at ten and twelve. You had better tell the child the truth at
six, than to have him told by the vicious at the age of seven. If a
child could understand the story of life at three, and was properly
trained afterward, this information could not do him one particle of
harm. This statement is either absolutely true, or God is the author of
a plan of human increase, the knowledge of which is essentially sinful.
Personally, I decline to believe the latter.

If the child has been informed by vicious playmates or servants and his
mind has been tainted, the only sane and safe method is to tell him the
full truth as quickly as possible, regardless of his age.

If the child has been allowed to grow up to the age of nine or ten,
ignorant of the story of life, I would tell him all the stories,
beginning with the first story, telling them only a few days apart.
Where parents are not prepared to do this, I would advise them to place
a suitable book, presenting these stories in a clear, chaste and
interesting way, in the hands of the child, saying, “Here is a very
interesting little book telling you just what you will be interested in
knowing and what I would like for you to understand.”

=The ideal way.=--The ideal way would be to start with the child when he
first inquires about his origin, telling him the first story about the
plants. Promise to tell him other stories about the oysters, fish,
insects, birds, animals and man as he grows older and can understand
them. Where a child is naturally very inquisitive and insists on knowing
more, I would not hold him off too long for the next story.

=How to introduce each new story.=--I would introduce each new story by
reviewing the story of the plants and flowers. There are at least three
reasons for this. (1) You can go into all the details of reproduction in
the flower without danger of awakening the sex consciousness of the
child. (2) It saves going into the detail when you have come to the
higher animals and man. The child’s mind usually comprehends more than
we give it credit for. If he understands the details of reproduction in
the flower, his innocent fancy will fill in the details when he hears
the other stories. (3) If he has been so unfortunate as to fall in with
bad company at any time and his mind has been tainted with their
stories, there is no means you can use in ridding his mind of impurity,
quite so effectively, as by telling him the story of life in the flower.

=Teaching these truths in the public schools.=--The violation of the laws
of sex is the chief cause of physical, mental and moral degeneracy. The
degenerate classes are increasing at an appalling rate. Correct
sex-instruction in childhood is the most important and effective step in
the solution of this problem. There is a growing conviction among the
students of sociology that sex-hygiene should be taught in the public
schools. There are some teachers in all departments of school work, who,
in morals at least, are not fitted for this delicate work. At present,
an extremely few have the educational qualification for this delicate
work. When teachers are required to take a course of training in these
subjects, there will still be but few who are possessed of the natural
talent for effectively and wisely presenting these subjects to children
of the different grades.

Already colleges and universities and even a few high schools have begun
to teach sex hygiene in a limited scientific way. This work will first
be introduced into the high school work and later, gradually be
introduced into the lower grades. Definite instruction will not be
given, for many years at least, and possibly never, to boys under eight,
and girls under ten or eleven. If this statement is true, it will be
seen that the schools will have left the first and most important part
of this training to be done in the home. The teaching of morals in the
public school can never be substituted for the teaching of morals in the
home. The present great awakening on these subjects will shortly result
in three-fourths of the parents teaching these truths in their homes.
Since one-fourth of the children do not get any moral instruction in the
home and they do not go to Sunday school or church, the public school is
the only place where they can be given moral training for citizenship.

=How this can be done.=--In my opinion, the safest and most effective
method of dealing with these questions in the public schools, for the
present at least, would be for the school boards in two or three
counties to select and employ a gentleman and a lady lecturer, having
natural gifts, moral and educational qualifications, whose duty it shall
be to lecture to all the boys and girls; the male lecturer, lecturing to
the boys and the lady lecturer, lecturing to the girls. All other
teachers should be required to be sufficiently versed in these matters
to enable them to solve any individual problems that may arise in their
social relations to the pupils in school.




CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST STORY--BABY PLANTS


=The author’s experience.=--When our girls, Fay and Fern, were six and
four years of age, they became interested in learning about their coming
into the world. Their mamma had told me of their puzzling questions. We
agreed that I should tell them a story of life, every six months or a
year, until they were nine or ten. Then their mamma should tell them the
last story, the story of their life.

A few days later some young men, whom we were helping through college,
and I were working among the flowers, when one of the girls made some
inquiry about the relation of birds. This naturally opened the way for
my first talk. I promised her and her sister a very interesting story at
the rest hour at noon. As ever, they were both anxious to hear a new
story. Dinner over, they followed me into the greenhouse. I gathered a
number of flowers and invited them to be seated near me while I told
them the story.

=Praise a child for asking.=--I opened the story by saying, “Mamma tells
me that you have become interested in knowing where you were before you
were born and how you got into this world. We have talked together
about your interest in this matter and we are glad that you have asked
these questions, and especially because you came first to us. For you to
ask these questions so early in life indicates that you are very bright
and intelligent. We are your natural teachers. We love you as no one
else does or can. In the future, anything you wish to know about
yourselves, come to us and we will take pleasure in telling you all that
is best for you to know.”

=Why the child should be told gradually.=--You would like to be able to
read and understand all there is in the fourth reader. There is nothing
in the fourth reader that could do you a particle of harm. There are
many things in the fourth reader that you could not understand. Papa and
mamma might read and try to explain them to you. Still, there would be
some things that we could not make plain to you, for the reason that you
are not old enough for your little minds to grasp them. You understand
that you must learn first what there is in the first reader. When you
have learned all there is in it, then you are ready for the second
reader. The mastery of the second reader prepares you for the third and
the third reader prepares you for the fourth. There are some things that
you understand to-day, that you could not understand six months ago.
This great world is full of things that you cannot understand now; but,
as you grow older and your mind grows stronger, step by step, you will
learn and understand things that you cannot understand now. There are so
many things in this world that may be known, that no one lives long
enough to learn them all. Just so, you would like to know how God brings
little children into this world. This is God’s wonderful plan. It could
not do you a bit of harm to know all about it, if you could understand
it. But you are not old enough now. Papa can tell you a beautiful story
about how God brings all the little sprigs of grass, weeds, vegetables
and trees into the world now, and in a few months I can tell you about
the mussels, oysters and fish. Then, when you are a year older, I will
tell you about the birds; later, I will tell you about the higher
animals. When you are eight or ten, mamma will tell you the last
story--God’s beautiful plan of bringing little children into the home.

=Some things right one time and wrong at another.=--You are both old
enough to know that there are some things we do that is right for us to
do under certain conditions, but would be very wrong for us to do under
other conditions. Some things would be right to do during the week, but
wrong if done on Sunday. Every few days you take an all-over bath. It is
perfectly right for you to take these baths and for your mamma to help
you. All people, who desire to live cleanly lives and enjoy good health,
take frequent all-over baths. But you have noticed that when you take
baths, other people are not invited to be present, not even papa is
present. This is because our bodies are sacred. We wear clothing that
our bodies may not be exposed to the gaze of other people.

We do not speak the name of God and Jesus in a light and frivolous way
because these names are sacred.

=Why we do not talk about the origin of life.=--One of the most delicate,
pure and sacred experiences connected with human life is God’s beautiful
plan of bringing little children into the home. It is so sacred, pure
and delicate that good people seldom speak of it, and never in a light
and foolish way. It is for this reason that you have never heard your
mamma and papa speak of it. It is right for fathers and mothers,
husbands and wives to speak to each other about this matter; also, for
grown people, when there is some good reason for doing so. It is not
wise or best for little children to talk about how children come into
the world except to their parents. We are your natural teachers and we
want you always to feel free to come to us with questions about things
of this nature. When you are older you will understand better why papa
gives you this advice.

Many men and women, boys and girls have not been carefully trained to be
good. They get angry and quarrel or fight, use bad language, break the
Sabbath, and do many other wrong things. Some appear to take pleasure in
doing wrong and in leading others to do wrong. This class of people do
not look upon God’s plan of bringing little children into the world as
being pure and sacred. They use very bad language when they try to talk
about the story of life or tell it to others. When little children hear
these people talk about the story of life, their little minds and hearts
are filled with bad words and very wicked thoughts. In this way many
little boys and girls are started wrong in life and they are sure to
have a hard and painful struggle to rid themselves of impure thoughts,
words and habits in after life.

It may not be very long until some schoolmate or someone older than you
will say, “I know something that you don’t. You would like to know it
and I will tell you, if you will not tell your papa and mamma about it.”
Now, girls, whenever someone wants to tell you something and asks you
not to tell your mamma and papa, you may be sure that it is wrong, that
it will injure you, and most likely it is false. Mamma and papa would
advise you to say to them, “We don’t want to hear anything that we
cannot talk about to mamma and papa.”

=Story of the plants.=--The story of life that papa will tell you to-day
will be about the plants, vegetables and trees, how their young come
into the world. Papa has gathered some beautiful flowers with which to
illustrate the story. This will be our first lesson in Botany. Every
part of a plant has special names. Many of the names are too difficult
for you to remember. When you get older you will learn and remember the
names. The story of life in all flowering plants begins in the flower.

=The outer parts.=--At sight, we notice that the many parts of a flower
are arranged in whorls or circles. The outer whorl is called the (1)
calix. You will notice that in some of these flowers, the calix is
highly , in others it looks like little green leaves and in some
of the flowers the calix is absent. You will observe that in some
flowers the calix is composed of four or more parts. These separate
parts are called (2) sepals. In other flowers the sepals have grown
together so they appear to be only one sepal. In such flowers we count
the sepals by the small notches on top.

The second whorl is called the (3) corolla. This whorl is usually the
most highly  part of the flower. If either of these whorls is
absent in a flower, it is the calix. Sometimes both whorls are absent.
The separate parts of the corolla are called (4) petals. Sometimes the
petals are separate from the base of the flower. In other flowers they
are more or less united.

=The papa parts.=--While the calix and corolla form the most attractive
and beautiful parts, they are not the most important parts of a flower.
The prettiest things are not always the best or most useful things. Let
us now carefully examine these central organs. They are called the
essential organs. Were it not for these organs in the flowers, no new
grasses, plants, vegetables and trees would come into this world. Such a
misfortune would rob this world of most of its beauty and much of its
value. In this flower, the next whorl consists of a number of small
slender organs. These are called (5) stamens. They are the father parts
of the flower and possess the father nature. On top of these organs are
little delicate bodies, poised lightly, and filled with a very fine
dust. These little bodies are called (6) anthers. The fine grains of
powder are called pollen. You can rub the pollen off with your finger.
This dust varies slightly in color in different flowers.

=The mamma parts.=--The central organ in this flower is called the pistil.
The pistil is composed of three parts. At the base of the pistil is the
(7) pod, more correctly called the ovary. In the ovary little seed are
formed. On top of the ovary is a slender organ called the style. On top
of the style is a spongy enlargement called the (9) stigma. The stigma,
style and ovary form the mother part of the flower and possess the
mother nature. In some plants each flower has more than one pistil.

[Illustration]

=How the papa and mamma natures unite.=--When the pollen is ripe, the
anther cells burst open and the little, light, powdery pollen falls out
and it is carried by gravity, the wind or by insects to the stigma. The
little pores of the stigma open and admit the grains of pollen and the
style carries the pollen to the ovary where it unites with the little
seed. The seed are then said to be fertilized. This means that the
father and mother natures have united in the seed. The seed grow and
develop in the ovary. While this is being done, food for the little baby
plants to live on while only a day or two old, is being stored up in the
seed. In such seed is the tiny beginning of a future plant. The seed
ripen in the pod. The pod bursts open and the seed fall upon the ground,
or men gather them, and later plant them in the soil. The spring
sunshine and rain cause the seed to sprout and as tiny stems appear
above the ground, only an inch or so high, they are nothing in the world
but little baby sprigs of grass, little baby weeds, little baby
vegetables or little baby trees.

When God created the first grasses, plants and trees, He commanded them
to be “fruitful and multiply.” In this story you have learned how all
the grown-up plants and trees obey this command of God.

=The two natures do not always exist in the same flower.=--In the flowers
we have studied, we found both the male and female organs in the same
flower. Each flower possessed the two natures, male and female. But
this is not true of all plants and trees. In some plants and trees
flowers can be found having only stamens. These would be father-flowers.
They could not produce seed or fruit. On some plants and trees may be
found flowers having only pistils. These are mother-flowers. Flowers of
these two kinds may be found growing on the same limb of a plant or
tree, or on different limbs, or on different trees. The poplar and
willow trees are examples of the last kind.

In the case of the Indian corn, the ear of corn, including the cob, the
grains, shuck and silk form the mother part of the cornstalk. The tassel
of the cornstalk is the father part and contains the father nature. The
tassel produces a great deal of pollen. You have, on passing through a
patch of corn, noticed the pollen falling everywhere and covering
everything. Ears of corn sometimes have as many as 1000 grains of corn
to the cob. Each grain sends out one or more little silks beyond the
shuck to catch some of the pollen. Should these little silks fail to
catch the grains of pollen, no grains of corn would form on the cob. The
father and mother natures must unite if little seed are formed. From
this we learn why it is that every little sprig of grass, weed,
vegetable, and tree must have a father and mother and their natures must
unite.

=The three methods.=--We mentioned three ways by which the pollen from the
male organs is carried to the stigma of the female organ: wind, gravity
and insects. In the corn, the ears are below the tassel and gravity is
all that is necessary to carry the pollen to the silks. Where one tree
bears bloom having only stamens and another tree of the same species
bears flowers having only pistils, nature may use both the wind and
insects in carrying the pollen from the male to the female tree. In some
plants and trees the blooms are so constructed that gravity and the wind
are of but little service. In such flowers a sweet juice is formed at
the base of the flower. This attracts the bees and insects. As they
press down into the flower to sip the sweet juice they rub off some of
the pollen on to their wings, legs and back. The next flower they enter,
some of this pollen is rubbed off on the stigma of that flower. In this
way the seed are fertilized. From this we see that the real purpose of
the sweet juice in the flower, is not produced for food for the insects,
but for the purpose of attracting the insects so they may carry the
pollen from one flower to another.

=A most wise, sacred and beautiful plan.=--In this little story, you have
learned in a general way God’s plan of bringing all little grasses,
plants, vegetables and trees into being that come from a seed. You have
learned two great laws, namely; every plant that comes from a seed must
have a father and mother, and, the father and mother natures must unite
in the seed. These two great laws are just as true in the animals and in
the human family as among the plants. When we most admire a beautiful
bed of flowers or a blooming tree, when we gather a bouquet of flowers
to wear, or offer to a friend, at that very moment the two natures are
uniting for the purpose of increasing their kind. God is the author of
the male and female organs of the plants and for this reason the union
of their two natures is sacred and pure. Plants were the first living
things that God made; man was the last. The plants were at the bottom of
God’s work of creation; man was at the top. If the same laws we have
found in the plants, that enable them to bring their little children
into the world, are the same laws that enable human fathers and mothers
to bring their little children into the world, and since we found this
plan to be sacred and pure among all the flowers; then this same plan,
when used in the human family, must be pure and sacred. If man is so
much higher in the scale of life than the flower, then these laws must
be even more sacred in the human family. This will show you how very
degrading it is to entertain low and vulgar thoughts about the coming of
little children into this world, as some people do.




CHAPTER IX

THE SECOND STORY--BABY OYSTERS AND FISH


=The story of baby oysters.=--Before telling this story to my little girls
I reviewed the story of the plants. This refreshed in their minds
certain very important laws that they had learned in the first talk.
This talk was given when they were about six and eight years old.

In studying the story of life among the plants, you will remember that
we learned that in most plants the male and female organs of sex were in
the same flower. Among the lower forms of animal life, we find both the
male and female natures in the same animal. The oyster furnishes a good
example. These little animals are surrounded with and fastened to a very
hard and heavy shell. These animals live in great masses and their
shells are cemented together. Growing in this way they cannot move
about, or mix and mingle with each other. The mother parts of the oyster
produce little eggs which are fertilized by a substance formed by other
organs containing the father nature. The fertilized egg, when laid,
floats off and becomes attached to the shell of some oyster on a nearby
rock. Later, it hatches and the little baby oyster forms about its body
a hard shell that is made larger as the little animal grows. In this way
the little oysters come into the world. Among the oysters, we find the
same laws that we found in the plants, _i. e._, each baby oyster must
have a father and mother and the father and mother natures must unite.
In the plants the father and mother natures unite in a little seed; in
the oyster this union takes place in a little egg.

When God made the fish, lizards, snakes, birds and higher animals, he
gave to one a papa or male nature, with suitable sexual organs; to
another animal of the same kind he gave a mamma or female nature, with
suitable female or sexual organs. In the plants we find that the female
sexual organs, the ovaries, produced little seed. We found that the male
sexual organs, the stamens, produced a fine powdery substance called
pollen. Among the animals, the sexual organs of the mother produces
little eggs and the sexual organs of the father produces a fluid called
semen.

=The story of baby fish.=--Now we will study the fish. In the spring
season of the year thousands of tiny eggs are formed in the ovaries of
the mother fish. When these eggs are matured, the mother fishes swim in
large crowds, called “schools,” from the deep water of a stream, river
or sea to some shallow place that seems to them to be suitable for a
nest or home for their young. The mother fishes lay their eggs in a
mass of albuminous substance, like the white of an egg, that spreads out
in a very thin sheet holding the little eggs one in a place and close
together. The father fishes swim along sometimes a foot, a yard or more
behind the mothers and expel from their bodies the semen that unites
with and fertilizes the eggs. This special fluid of the male fish is
formed by his sexual glands, called testes. In this way the father
nature unites with the mother nature to produce every little fish that
comes into this world.

=Why the mother fish lays so many eggs.=--The female fish forms thousands
of these little eggs in her body each year. The female codfish has been
known to lay as many as 6,000,000 eggs in one season. You could not
count as many in a lifetime. The reason why the mother fish produces so
many eggs is, that not one fish egg in twenty-five, on an average, will
ever hatch and not more than one out of twenty-five little fishes ever
grow to be an inch long. They have little, or no, protection, and they
have so many enemies. There are hogs, turtles, crocodiles and
alligators; the ducks, geese and other water fowls; as well as most of
the fish that feed upon fish eggs and small fish. That the streams,
rivers and seas may be kept supplied with an abundance of fish, God has
planned for the mother fish to lay thousands of eggs.

=All baby fish are orphans.=--Most kinds of fish leave their eggs as soon
as they are laid and fertilized and never see or know their young. There
are a few male fish, known as game fish, which swim over and around the
eggs until they are hatched to keep other kinds of fish from eating the
eggs. As soon as the eggs are hatched, he leaves. In this way all little
fish grow up as orphans. They never know or enjoy the presence of their
parents. The parent fish do not labor or sacrifice for their young, and,
for this reason, they have no love for them. Should they ever meet their
young in the river or sea they would have no way of knowing them or of
feeling any sense of joy.

=Fish do not pair off.=--We found in the study of the plants that the seed
were fertilized while in the pod or ovary. In the fish we found that the
eggs are fertilized outside of the mother’s body. In nearly all the
animals above the fish the eggs or ova are fertilized while in the
mother’s body. There is no love between the male and the female fish.
They do not pair off and live in families. Among all the spiders,
lizards, serpents, many of the insects, crawfish, frogs and toads there
is a tendency, at certain seasons, for the male to choose a female with
a view to a home and family. But among all the animals we have named,
many of the male and female animals part or leave each other as soon as
the eggs are fertilized, and all the others leave each other as soon as
the eggs are hatched. The love of the male for the female lasts but for
a little time; while there is no love for their young after they are
hatched. Before the young are hatched some of their parents show
interest in their eggs and make some provisions for their young when
hatched. But this is all done before the young are hatched. The young
all grow up as little orphans.




CHAPTER X

THE THIRD STORY--BABY BIRDS


When our little girls were seven and nine this talk was given. The
previous stories were reviewed bringing out the resemblances and
differences. They were permitted to ask questions. In this talk they
were very alert to see and apply all the lessons learned from previous
stories.

=The beginning of love.=--In this review of the story of life, among the
plants and fish, we found no love or personal feeling between the male
and female. Among the insects and reptiles we found that the males and
females choose each other, when led by instinct to bring their young
into the world. From the fish to the birds we find the simplest form of
love and interest on the part of the parents in their young. This is
shown by the care the parents take in the protection and care of the
eggs and the food prepared for the young before they are hatched. The
male crawfish picks up the fertilized eggs with his feelers, that are
arranged in a double row underneath his tail, and, by means of these
feelers, he carries the eggs close to his body until they are nearly
ready to hatch. The frogs and toads show great tenderness for their
eggs. A great many books have been written about all these animals and
when you are older you will be greatly interested in learning more of
the detail of reproduction among these curious animals. Among all the
animals we have studied the male and female separate as soon as the eggs
are fertilized and laid, in other cases as soon as the eggs begin to
hatch. The parent animals show no interest in their young after they are
hatched and their children never know their parents or love them.

=The ant and the bee.=--Two exceptions should be made to the above
statement, the bee and the ant. They do not pair off and mate, as do
other insects, but they live in colonies, or societies. They do not seem
to have any special interest in their offspring or even a mate, but in
the whole community of bees or ants. The perfect social organizations
they form and the homes they build rival the skill and intelligence of
man. There are some interesting books written about the bee and ant by
persons who have spent years in studying them. When you are older you
may be interested in reading such books.

=Baby birds.=--We will study God’s plan among the birds. In studying the
family life of the birds we find a higher form of instinct, more love
and care for each other and their young than among the animals we have
studied.

We often feel disgusted at the ugly, slimy toads, lizards and serpents
living in swamps and pools. But not so with the birds. Most of them are
very interesting and beautiful and some are fine musicians. Among most
of the wild birds of the fields and forests, in the spring time the male
chooses among the females the one that most suits his fancy and they are
mated or married. When they decide to raise them a family they build
them a nest. This is their home. The partridge and lark build their
nests on the ground, the swallow in chimneys, the pigeons in barns, the
woodcocks and woodpeckers in hollow limbs, the wild ducks and geese on
the ledges of rocky cliffs, or in the high grass and weeds on the edge
of a lake, but most birds build their homes in bushes and trees. The
cuckoo does not build a nest, but lays her eggs in the nest of other
birds, to get rid of all labor and trouble of hatching, feeding and
rearing her young. We feel a natural contempt for the cuckoo. In every
female bird there are organs called ovaries where at certain seasons
little eggs are formed. While small or soft they are fertilized by the
male bird. As the egg grows in the body of the mother bird a hard thin
shell is formed around them. When the eggs are fully formed and the nest
is completed, the mother bird lays the eggs in the nest, usually one
egg a day. For several days these eggs must have some extra heat or they
will not hatch. Among most birds, the mother sits on her eggs so that
the warmth of her body will cause the fertilized cell in each egg to
form the little bird. While she sits on the eggs the father bird gathers
fresh berries and worms and brings them to the mother bird to eat. When
not bringing her water or food, he is usually found perched upon a
nearby limb cheering his wife by talking and singing to her. When her
little legs become tired, he will take her place, while she goes and
finds fresh food or water. When the little birds are hatched, from
sunrise to sunset the parents are busy catching worms and insects and
feeding their young. As their children grow older and larger, in some
mysterious way, they teach them the danger of men and guns, cats and
snakes. When they are about grown they are taught to fly. From this time
until the next spring they will live in flocks, when they will again
mate and raise a family. In this way all the beautiful feathery
songsters are brought into this world.




CHAPTER XI

THE FOURTH STORY--BABY ANIMALS AND MAN


As the days and months glided by, our little girls were greeted one
autumn morning by the advent of a little baby brother. Wife had given
consent, years gone by, for me to tell the foregoing stories of life;
but, only a few months before the above event, she had requested the
privilege of telling this last story, as the girls would naturally ask
of her how the little fellow came. This she told them, in a way no
doubt, better than I could have done.

In lecturing to multiplied thousands of boys and many hundreds of girls,
I have told the stories of life much as I did to my little girls, with
this story added.

=Baby animals.=--We will now study God’s plan of increase in the higher
animals and man. We shall find many striking resemblances and
interesting variations between the lower forms of life that we have
studied and the higher forms that we shall now study. All along the
ascending scale of life we have found male and female organs of sex,
possessing male and female natures. We have found that the male organs
of sex produce a fertilizing substance called pollen in plants and
semen in animals; that the female organs of sex produce seeds in plants
and eggs in animals. We have found that every new plant, fish, insect,
and bird comes from the union of the pollen with the seed, or the semen
with the eggs. This last fact is true of the higher animals and man. We
found that the seed of the plants are fertilized in the ovaries of the
mother organs; that eggs of fish are fertilized outside of the body of
the mother; that the eggs of insects and birds are fertilized inside of
the mother’s body. This last plan is also true of the higher animals and
man. We found that the seed of plants were sown or planted in the soil;
that the eggs of fish were deposited in water; that the eggs of insects
and birds were laid in some specially arranged place for them, usually
called nests. In the higher animals and man the young starts from a tiny
fertilized egg and grows in an organ in the mother’s body, called the
womb, until it is strong and old enough to be born.

The earliest stage of plant life in the little seed is called an embryo.
When the seed has been planted and the little embryo appears above
ground, it is then a little baby plant. The earliest stage of animal
life in the egg of the fish, insect or bird, is an embryo. The mother
part of the plant stores up food in the seed and the growing embryo
feeds upon this food, until its little roots have grown down into the
soil where they can take up food from the soil and the blades or leaves
are large enough to receive light and heat from the sun and food from
the atmosphere. The mother fish, insect and bird store up food in their
eggs for the little embryos to live upon until they are hatched. Among
the higher animals and man, the embryo begins with the tiny fertilized
egg in the mother’s womb and receives nourishment and life from the
mother’s blood through a duct, called the placenta, which is connected
with the mother’s womb at one end while the other end connects with the
body of the embryo at a point called the navel. In this way the mother
furnishes the young with all the air, food, water and life that it gets
until it is born. Among the higher animals and man the young when born
are very tender and helpless. For several weeks or months they are fed
on milk from their mother’s breasts. In higher forms of life the birth
of young is attended by greater sacrifice and suffering than in lower
forms of life. For months, and in the case of man, for years, the
parents must labor and sacrifice to feed, protect and educate them.
Birth in the human family is attended by greater suffering and the
little baby is more helpless and tender, and for this reason requires
more tender care than the young of any other animal. You have observed
that in the lower forms of life where the parents do not have to suffer
to bring their young into the world or labor to provide for them food
or shelter that they do not love their young. As we ascend the scale of
life in our study, we find that love exists between the parents and
young just in proportion as the parents suffer and labor for their
young.

One of the most impressive and effective ways of telling the story of
life in man was told by a wise and queenly mother in the following true
story. This mother introduces the story by telling how solicitous she
became about her little boy when he was about seven or eight years old.
He was in the public school where he was likely any day to hear the
story of life from some wicked boy. She was anxious that her boy should
hear this story first from his mother’s lips.

=How a mother told the story of life to her boy.=--In telling the story,
the mother said:

One morning, the opportunity that I had been praying and watching for,
came. I observed my little boy playing rather roughly, not cruelly, with
the pet cat. Speaking kindly to him, I said, “Son, don’t be rough with
the old cat; handle her gently.” “Why, mamma?” he replied. “Son, mamma
cannot make the reason clear to you now, but you obey mamma and in about
ten days, mamma will tell you a very beautiful story, and, then you will
understand.” As those days glided by, with pride I observed the unusual
attention and kindness he showed the old cat. One morning, about ten
days later, he came running into my presence, perfectly delighted,
wonderfully elated, and overflowing with joy, he invited me out the back
way to see what he had found. I anticipated his discovery, but I wanted
him to have all the pleasure. So, I offered him my hand while he proudly
led the way. As we stepped from the back porch, turning he pointed his
finger under the floor; I looked, and there was the old mother cat and
by her side were four as beautiful little kittens, basking in the
sunlight, as the human eye ever saw. He bragged about having found them;
called my attention to their color and markings; and claimed two of them
as his own.

We sat down on a rustic seat where we could still see them. We admired
their plumpness, color, eyes and playfulness and chatted together about
them. At length I said, “Son, do you remember about ten days ago when
you were playing rather roughly and I asked you to handle the old cat
tenderly?” Promptly he replied; “Yes, mamma, and you promised me that in
about ten days you would tell me a beautiful story that would explain
why I should handle the old cat kindly. Can you tell me that story this
morning?” “Yes, son, mamma is ready to tell you the sweetest and purest
story that a mother can tell her son. When mamma asked you to be kind to
the old cat, those four little kittens were then in her body. That was
why the old cat was larger than she is now. The little kittens were then
much smaller and very tender, and, had you been rough with the old cat,
you might have injured them; and, then, they might have been born
crippled, deformed or dead. When they were born three or four days ago
their little eyes were so tender that the full light of the sun would
have put out their sight, so they were born with their eyelids closed
and glued together. The old cat knew how tender their eyes would be, so
three or four days ago she went away back under the dark floor and gave
them birth. As they have grown older and their eyes have become
stronger, every few hours the old cat has brought them a few feet nearer
the light. Meanwhile, their eyelids have gradually opened until they can
now look up at the sun as well as you can. If they had been born out in
the open, the full light of the sun would have made their tender little
eyes very sore or put them out.”

By this time I saw that my boy was very anxious to ask me a question. I
was just as eager for him to ask it. I believed that he was going to ask
the very question that my mother heart longed for him to ask; the very
question that I believed God wanted my little boy to ask. I paused and
looked into his little upturned face. As his deep, true blue eyes met
mine, spontaneously, naturally, seriously he enquired, “Mamma, was I
once in your body, too?” “Yes, son, you were formed in mamma’s body, in
a little nest or home underneath mamma’s heart. You started as a little
cell. For two hundred and eighty long days, nine full months, nearly a
whole year, you were growing in mamma’s body. Mamma knew that you were
there and loved and prayed for you long before you were born. Mamma had
to be careful not to meet with an accident lest you might be born
crippled, deformed or dead. Mamma had to be cautious about the food she
ate, the air she breathed, the water she drank, the exercise she took,
all she thought and did; because you were united to mamma by a little
cord filled with blood vessels, through which mamma was supplying you
from her blood with all the materials necessary for your forming body,
mind and soul. In this way you were being influenced by mamma. Mamma was
anxious that you might have a healthy and perfect body and grow up to be
a smart, good and great man. If mamma had been angry, untruthful or
dishonest during these months that you were a part of her, you might
have been born with an ugly disposition, tendency to steal or be
untruthful. Mamma was very careful about all she thought, said and did
during the months you were a part of her body.

“Mamma knew about the day that you would leave your little home and come
into this world. For hours mamma suffered great pain. The faithful
doctor was present and did all he could to lessen mamma’s suffering.
Papa stood at my side, held my hands in his, often stooped over and
kissed my lips, cheeks and brow. As soon as you were born, the air
rushed into your lungs and you cried, just as all little babies do when
they are born alive. Mamma heard your baby cry and it thrilled her with
joy known only to a mother, when she knows that her little baby is
alive. But, son, when you were born and for many weeks and months, you
were tiny, tender and helpless. No one in this world, and, God could not
have found an angel in all of heaven who could have cared for you as
well as mamma could. Mamma fed you at her breast, held you in her lap,
fondled you in her arms and sung lullabies to you. When you were only a
few weeks old you would have the colic. All night long your little body
would be racked with pain and mamma would walk the floor with you, rub
your little body and sing to you.” By this time my little boy was
standing up close by my side, had both arms thrown around my neck, his
little lips were kissing my cheek, and tears were rolling down his on to
mine. Then he said, “Mamma, I am glad you have told me that story. I
love you better now. I did not know that you loved and prayed for me
before you ever saw me; that you were so careful that I might be well
born; that you had to suffer so much when I was born; and that you
cared for me so good when I was so small and when I was sick. This story
will help me love you better and I will try never to disobey or tell you
a falsehood.”

       *       *       *       *       *

Do you not see how much better it was for this boy to hear the story of
his life from the pure lips of his loving mother, than to hear it first
from the lips of some ignorant and wicked boy or man? Well this is the
story of your life. You cannot understand now how much your mamma
suffered in bringing you into this world. Then, both your father and
mother have made many sacrifices for you and are deeply interested in
your future. If you should make a shipwreck of life, I am sure that
their old days would be spent in grief. How can you repay your parents
for all their sacrifices? If you will keep your thoughts, words and
actions pure, every time your parents see or think of you, they will be
thrilled with joy and appreciation. Will you not now promise yourself
and promise God that by His forgiveness of the past, grace and help now
and in the future, that you will keep yourself pure? When you have done
this will you not go and kiss mamma, and tell her that you love her
better than ever before and that you are determined to live up to her
prayers and wishes?




CHAPTER XII

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS


=When should parents begin telling a child of his origin?=--When a child
asks about his origin he is old enough to be told the first story. Some
children will ask about this by the time they are three or four years
old, others not until they are five or six. A normally developing child
will certainly become interested in this matter by the sixth year. If a
child has not asked about his origin by the time he is six, it would be
wise for the parents to ascertain by questioning him whether he has
received this information elsewhere.

=If they find he has gained this information from the vicious, what
should they do?=--I would suggest that they wisely, tactfully and kindly
ask him to tell them all he has heard, promising him that they will tell
him the real truth in a number of very interesting stories. If he has
received only very limited information, I would tell him at once the
story of the plants and promise him another story in a few days or weeks
about the oysters. If he has received considerable information in
half-truth and learned several vulgar expressions, I would tell him
these stories of life, one at the time and one each day until I had
covered all the half-truths he had learned. I would endeavor skillfully
to impress him with the sacredness of the laws of life. I would try to
induce him to discard every false name he has learned by giving him the
chaste pure names. I would teach him that we should be modest and
discreet regarding these organs, and when and how to speak of them; that
we should carefully avoid entertaining the idea they are in themselves
sinful or that they are our shame and humiliation; that these organs and
their functions are sacred, delicate and pure; and that they are our
pride and our glory.

If this advice were universally followed by teachers, ministers and
parents among all children over ten, youths and adults, it would
immediately reform and purify society.

“=If a child, especially a boy, is not fully satisfied with the
information contained in these stories, and should ask for a more
detailed explanation of the child’s origin, how would you answer
him?=”--I would first try to decide whether the child is prompted by
natural or morbid curiosity. If the child is sincere, very bright and
inquisitive, you will have a very pleasant task and one that should
result in only good to the child. I would start with the plant and show
just how the two natures reach each other in the seed. Then I would
pass in my detailed explanation to the oyster and fish. I would call his
attention to the real visible examples of mating among the insects,
birds, and domestic animals. I would call his attention to the father
and mother of insects and birds as they build their cells and nests to
receive their eggs when laid. I would call attention to the fact that
food is stored up in the egg or cell for the young before and after it
is hatched. I would call his attention to the fact that among the
animals where the young is born alive, that the mother furnishes the
young with food before it is born. If the child has witnessed the mating
of the birds and domestic animals and this is explained to him in
detail, the necessity for a detailed discussion of human mating will be
avoided. The child could be informed that human mating is practically
the same.

If the child is prompted by morbid curiosity, the task is a more
difficult one, the ideal results are not so certain, but the above
method is the only one that can be safely followed.

=To be able to give sex and social purity truths effectively to children
and youths, what qualifications should parents and teachers have?=--They
should have tact or skill. It is possible to approach them in such a way
as to do great harm. This qualification comes to one as a result of
careful study of these subjects, the consciousness of personal
responsibility and a realization of the child’s need of being
safeguarded by a clear knowledge of the truth. (2) They should be able
to discard all words and phrases they learned from the ignorant on the
street and playground. They should be able to use a chaste, simple,
scientific sex vocabulary. (3) They should be free from all mental and
moral taint. No one can tell or willingly listen to a lascivious joke
and then be able to tell effectively a child of his origin, the
functions of his sexual system and his temptations and dangers in
connection with them.

“=Would it be safe for all parents and teachers to give sex information
to children?=”--It would, if all possessed the qualifications mentioned.
A thief is not the proper person to teach honesty to a child. A liar is
not the proper person to teach truth. A tobacco-using father is not the
one to teach his boy not to use cigarettes. A swearing man is not
qualified to teach his boy not to swear. Occasionally a child is saved
from one or more of these vices by becoming utterly disgusted with the
vice in his father. The child is an imitator. The child is quick to
detect the difference between teaching and practice. One must practice
what he teaches, if he expects his child or pupil to accept and follow
his teaching.

=If parents and teachers do not possess these qualifications, what
should they do?=--It is their duty to prepare themselves for this
service. Under present social conditions, they are not qualified to be
at the head of a family, or to teach children unless they have these
qualifications. Those who have these responsibilities upon them and feel
that they cannot at present effectively perform these duties can secure
the services of others or they can place in the hands of a child or
youth a safe and interesting book containing what the child needs to
know.

=If a child is told these delicate truths will he not tell other children
about them?=--That will depend upon the nature of the child, the way he
has been trained and the tact used in telling the story of life. Some
children have inherited a gossipy nature and some have been
unfortunately trained. They would. But most children would not seek to
inform other children; they would not seek this information from the
vicious when they know they could obtain the truth from parents and
teachers.




THIRD DIVISION

HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS TO A GIRL




CHAPTER XIII

A TALK TO MOTHERS


=Similar information needed by the boy and girl.=--Thus far the author has
dealt with the best methods of telling the story of life to a child.
These stories can be as effectively and appropriately given by one
parent as by the other. Where children develop early or where they are
very inquisitive, it would be well to begin earlier and tell the stories
faster than you would to the other class of children. Boys and girls are
neuter as to gender until they are ten and eleven years old. The
information given to one may be given to the other. Carefully ascertain
if your child is perfectly normal in his or her sexual organs. This is
too vital to be neglected. A simple operation performed on a boy or girl
when only a few days, weeks, months, or years old would often save a
child from a life of impure thoughts and vicious habits.

=How to satisfy morbid curiosity.=--Every possible means should be used
to keep small boys and girls from acquiring and cultivating morbid
curiosity about the sexual organs of each other. This is not
accomplished by telling them that the difference between a boy and girl
is that one wears trousers and the other dresses. This can be prevented
or overcome by having small boys and girls in the home both together
under the mother’s watchful care. While bathing or dressing the baby,
the older boys or girls may be permitted to view and admire baby’s body.
In one of these ways the mother can in a perfectly natural and modest
way make it possible for the children to observe the difference between
boys and girls. Most likely one will ask some question pertaining to
this difference. The mother can then explain that the organs of sex make
the difference between boys and girls; that these organs of the boy will
cause him to grow up to be a man and these organs of a girl will cause
her to grow up to be a woman. The earlier in life the boy and girl
becomes acquainted with this difference, the less of morbid curiosity
they will develop.

=The boy of ten.=--When the boy reaches the tenth year he begins to look
upon life from the masculine point of view and his father is his natural
teacher. If the father is dead or careless the mother should see that
her boy is given such information as his developing boyhood and manhood
demands. The informed mother could do this herself, other mothers could
have the family physician give her boy talks or she can secure suitable
books that will furnish him this information. The mother should be
careful to purchase for her boy only such books as are perfectly chaste,
accurate and adapted to his age.

=The girl of ten.=--When the girl reaches her tenth and eleventh year she
begins to look upon life from the feminine point of view and her mother
becomes her natural teacher. But if mother is dead or indifferent the
father should see that his daughter receives from himself, a lady
doctor, or buy for her a good and appropriate book containing what her
developing girlhood and womanhood demands.

=Advantages of beginning early.=--There are several advantages in
beginning this instruction early; your child’s first impression
regarding the organs of sex will be that they are pure and sacred, you
retain your child’s confidence, and your child will feel free to come to
you for future instruction. If you do not begin early your children get
this information from the vicious and ignorant youths, their mind and
hearts will be filled with impurity, you lose their confidence and they
may reach a condition where they will not allow you or anyone else to
advise them on these matters.

=Wise instruction needed.=--When a girl is eleven she has reached an age
where her approaching womanhood demands other lines of sex instruction.
The study of social questions has made rapid progress in the last ten
years. There are few sincere, thoughtful parents who do not recognize
the need of wise instruction in these matters for children. Wise mothers
are asking, What, When and How Shall the Truth be Told?

=A talk on the dawning of womanhood.=--The mother should give her daughter
instruction concerning her approaching adolescence. This should be given
before the courses start. This change usually occurs when the girl is
from twelve to fourteen. In girls of precocious development, this change
may occur in the eleventh year. Many mothers say nothing to their
daughters about this period of life. This is a very great mistake. When
it occurs in the life of the uninformed girl, she is often greatly
frightened and resorts to some injurious device, such as cold water, to
stop the work of nature. Through doctors, husbands and wives I have
found that many women owe their poor health to mothers who failed to
give this natural and vital information.

=The female form.=--In this talk the mother should inform her daughter
about her organs of sex, their God-given functions and the meaning of
the change that is likely to come to her at any time. Don’t intimate
that she has organs to be ashamed of, but teach her that these organs
form the sacred sanctuary which will one day enable her to become the
sweetest and holiest of God’s creatures--a pure, happy mother. Ask her
to notify you of the first signs of this change and promise to give her
another talk about how to care for herself at the time.

=Be a companion to the daughter.=--A true mother will be her daughter’s
best “chum” cultivating the most intimate confidence and companionship.
If you will do this, your daughter will be free to come to you for
information and advice pertaining to her sex problems and you will
rarely have to say to her, “Thou shalt not.”

=A confidential talk.=--By the time the girl is twelve the mother should
have a confidential talk with her about the secret vice. While girls are
not so likely to be taught or to discover this vice, and are not likely
to practice it to the extent of boys, yet authorities claim that
one-third of the females practice the secret sin at some time in life
and to some extent. It is claimed by some authorities that more women,
than men, are in the asylum because of this vice. This is because their
nervous system is so much more delicate than is the case in men. In
schools and sometimes among servants in the home may be found a
sex-pervert who will take a fiendish delight in teaching this vice to a
little girl. Mothers cannot be too cautious about these dangers.

=A real transition.=--Few mothers begin to comprehend the mental phases
that attend the dawning of womanhood. The building of the new sex life
means a real transition from one distinct period of life to another,
from the experiences of girlhood to womanhood. For the first four years
of adolescence there is a constant clash in her mind between the feeling
of the girl that was and the woman that is to be. This is caused by the
creation of a new life, the sex life, whose immediate functions is to
change her from girlhood to womanhood. This new life is stimulating
rapid growth and changes in many organs of the body, awakening the
social nature, quickening every faculty of the mind and giving new
impulses to the moral nature. No wonder that the girl does not always
understand herself. The mother needs to be tact and wisdom combined, if
she is to understand her daughter and assist her in giving proper
direction to this new life. Inform your daughter that these strange
experiences are due to the changes that are taking place in her body and
mind; that she will often have tendencies to be peevish, irritable, cry
and take offense, to be sentimental and self-conscious. Remind her that
you have not forgotten the experiences of your girlhood, that you are
sympathetic, that you are interested in helping her overcome all wrong
tendencies and that you will gladly aid her all you can in the direction
of this new life to the development of charming, ideal womanhood.

=Important advice to mothers.=--Gradually everything pertaining to her
womanhood should be told her. Instill into her mind slowly and
cautiously the beauties of wifehood and the sacredness of motherhood and
teach her that these glorious honors in their perfection come only to
those who know themselves, think pure thoughts and live pure lives.
Don’t tease little girls about sweethearts. Don’t rush them into
society. Allow them to remain innocent, playful girls as long as
possible. When fourteen or fifteen, tactfully impress upon her mind that
unkissed lips will be the most queenly gift that she can offer her king
at the marriage altar; that virginity of mind and body will be
appreciated by him as of more value than the most costly jewels. Teach
her to demand a white life of her male friends and admirers, and, to
demand as pure a life of her coming prince as he will demand of her.

          NO ONE HAD TOLD HER.

    She was just in the bloom of life’s morning;
      She was happy, and free, and fair;
    And a glance in her bright eyes would tell you
      Of nothing but innocence there.

    She was waiting for some one to tell her,
      As she stood with reluctant feet,
    On the banks of the wonderful river
      Where childhood and womanhood meet.

    She waited, but still no one told her
      The secret of life so sublime;
    And she held not the safeguard of knowledge
      In life’s beautiful morning time.

    The flower so sweetly unfolding
      Was crushed by a rough hand one day,
    And the jewel, so sacred, so precious,
      Was stolen and taken away.--_Selected._




CHAPTER XIV

MOTHER’S FIRST TALK--THE FEMALE FORM


You have been told God’s plans in bringing all the little fish, plants,
birds, animals and human babies into the world. You have enjoyed all
these stories. We have not gone into detail in these talks. When you are
older, if you desire you can study the laws of life more thoroughly. We
have tried to satisfy your inquiring mind and lead you to see that God’s
laws of increasing life are pure and sacred.

=All these years you have been a little girl.= You have been growing
larger and wiser all the time. You have worn short dresses, loved your
dolls, played with little boys and girls; you have been innocent, free
from care, jolly and happy. You will be a girl for several years to
come. You should not be in a hurry to get away from the joys, pleasures,
and ways of girlhood. However, God has not planned for you to be a girl
always. He has wisely planned for you to grow and change in body and
mind, from a girl into a woman, that you may some day be a mother.

=A review.=--In previous talks we found that every little baby plant and
animal had a father and a mother. We found that the pollen produced by
the small organs of the flower had to unite with the seed formed by the
mother organs, before a little plant could come into the world. We found
among the animals that little eggs were formed by organs in the mother’s
body, called ovaries, just as seed are formed by ovaries in the flowers.
We also found that these little eggs formed by the mother organs could
not become baby animals without the union of a life-giving substance
from the father animals. In the higher animals, where the mother nurses
her young with milk formed by the mother’s breasts, we find many
resemblances to the lower animals, with some very interesting additions
to the reproductive organs.

Among some of the lower animals, such, for example, as mussels and fish,
no provision is made to nourish and feed their young; some, such as the
bee, store up food in cells; while still others, such as the bird,
provide food for the young for some days after they are hatched.

=Mothers of the higher animals and man.=--In the higher animals, the
mother supplies her young with food for weeks or months after they are
born, by means of organs called breasts or udders. These organs are not
found among the lower animals. They are vitally associated with, and
therefore a part of, the female organs of sex of the higher animals and
man.

=How mothers in the lower and higher forms of life differ.=--Among the
higher animals, the eggs are formed by ovaries, just as in the case of
plants and the lower animals. Here we find another important addition to
the female organs of sex. As soon as the egg is formed by the ovary it
passes, by means of a duct called the fallopian tube, into a pear-shaped
vessel called the uterus, or womb. Here, if the egg is fertilized by the
male substance, it becomes attached to the wall of the womb. At this
point of the womb, a cord is formed, containing a vein and artery,
called the placenta. The placenta connects with the body of the young at
a point called the navel. The forming young receives its air, food, and
life through the cord from the mother’s blood.

There is a very close resemblance between the creative organs and their
functions in the higher animals and man. We could not become fathers and
mothers without these special organs of sex.

=The essential female organs of sex.=--These consist of ovaries, oviducts,
womb, vagina and breasts. All these organs, except the breasts, are on
the inside of the body--in the lower part of the abdomen.

In a mature woman the (1) ovaries, two in number, are small
almond-shaped glands just below the navel and are four or five inches
apart, one located in the left side of the body and the other in the
right. The ovaries are enveloped in a broad, thin, strong membrane and
connect with the upper part of the (2) womb by slender cords called (3)
oviducts.

[Illustration]

=Location and function of the ovaries.=--There takes place in every girl,
when she is from twelve to fifteen, a remarkable change, called puberty,
or adolescence. From this time on, until she is forty to forty-five
years old, there will be formed in one of the ovaries every four weeks a
tiny egg, or ovum. The ovum is less than 1/120 of an inch in diameter.
When this little egg breaks through the membrane of the ovary, it would
drop down into the cavity of the body were it not for a most wonderful
provision. The oviducts, or, as they are often called, the fallopian
tubes, are ducts connected with the upper part of the womb, are three
inches in length and have finger-like ends. When the little egg breaks
through the membrane of the ovary, the little fingers of the oviducts
close about the ovary and receive the little egg which then enters the
tiny mouth of the oviduct and is conveyed through its small cavity to
the womb.

=The location and function of the womb and vagina.=--The womb, or uterus,
is located midway between the ovaries on the right and left, and between
the bladder in front and the rectum behind. The ovaries and the womb are
supported near the center of the abdomen by means of cords and muscles
stretched across from the walls of the abdomen. The womb is a
pear-shaped muscular organ with the small end pointing downward, and in
a matured woman is three inches in length, two inches in width and with
walls one-half inch thick. The cavity of the womb is small and has three
openings, two near the top leading into the oviducts and one at the
bottom opening into the (4) vagina. It will be seen from the cut that
the lower end of the womb dips into the upper end of the vagina about
one inch. This part of the womb is called the (5) os uteri, or mouth of
the womb. The vagina in a grown woman is from four to six inches in
length, of firm but very elastic tissue. It aids in holding the womb in
position, serves as a passageway for the menstrual fluid to pass from
the body, and has other purposes that will be mentioned in another
chapter.

=The breasts.=--The form and position of the (6) breasts, or mammary
glands, being known to you, it is not necessary for me to describe them
here. Through the nerves they are closely related to the other sexual
organs. With the approach of puberty they make considerable growth.
However, it is not common for a girl’s breasts to develop to any
considerable size before she is married. When she becomes a mother, the
hundreds of tiny glands in her breasts form milk from her blood with
which to nourish her child.

=The creative energy.=--From the dawning of puberty, all through life, day
and night, asleep and awake, the breasts and other sexual organs are
generating an energy that is being distributed throughout her entire
being. It is this energy that helps to develop the girl into perfect
womanhood. If the breasts and ovaries of a small girl could be
painlessly and skillfully removed without injury to any part of her
body, she would not develop into perfect womanhood in other respects.
This experiment proves that these organs are secreting an energy that is
necessary in developing and maintaining an ideal womanhood.

=Information concerning the external organs.=--The word vulva is the name
of the lower external female organs of sex. It is composed of the
following parts: (1) The labia majora are the outer and larger lips or
folds; (2) The labia minora are the smaller and more concealed lips; (3)
The mons Veneris is the prominent, eminence formed by fatty tissue
situated just in front and above the labia majora; (4) The hymen is a
very thin membrane which partly closes the opening to the vagina; (5)
The clitoris is a small organ of an erectile structure and is the site
of passion in the female. This organ is situated near the upper and
front part of the opening into the vagina and between the folds of the
labia minora. Connected with this organ is a small tough membrane or
ligament called the frenum which corresponds to the frenulum of the
male. Sometimes, though rarely, this is short and tight or broad and
hooded. When this is the case the parts become irritated at times
causing sex consciousness and passion; and when it does the girl will
rub or scratch these organs. If she does this often she will become
conscious of a sense of pleasure. She will then handle the organs for
the purpose of producing this pleasure. In this way a girl will learn a
vicious habit, the nature and effects of which we will study in another
talk. While only a few girls have this trouble, it is very necessary
that the causes be removed. Should you find yourself frequently rubbing
these organs you should speak to mamma about it.

=Confidential advice.=--In the mucous membrane of these external organs of
sex are thousands of little glands that secrete a foul, filthy substance
called smegma. If this is not removed frequently with a damp cloth, it
will irritate these organs and produce an offensive odor.

If you should discover that you are frequently scratching those organs,
or have an unnatural feeling, you should consult your mamma for advice.
Your health, happiness, life and character are, to a considerable
extent, based on these organs’ being natural and normal.




CHAPTER XV

MOTHER’S SECOND TALK--DAWNING OF WOMANHOOD


=An interesting change in a girl’s life.=--In the previous talk, we found
that God has planned for a most interesting change to take place in a
girl’s life. This change from girlhood to womanhood, called puberty, and
covering a period of eight years, is brought about by certain changes in
the sexual organs. At birth these organs are inactive and remain so
until the girl, in this climate, is thirteen or fourteen years of age.
In the Southern states it occurs a year sooner. In Central America,
puberty comes when the girl is ten and eleven. In Canada this change
comes a year later than here. Thus we see that climatic conditions
either hasten or <DW44> this change. In climates where puberty is
delayed to the fourteenth and fifteenth years, girls are healthier, more
energetic and live longer than in warm climates. This would indicate
that the longer puberty is delayed in a girl’s life, if she is otherwise
healthy, the better for her. If the girl keeps company with wild girls,
enjoys obscene jokes, reads cheap novels, entertains impure thoughts or
handles her sexual organs, she may cause puberty to come on six months
sooner than it naturally would come--a misfortune indeed for her. In a
few girls, especially those who develop rapidly, puberty may occur in
the eleventh year.

=Signs of puberty.=--During this period of puberty, or adolescence, which
usually lasts for eight years, she is changing from a girl to a woman.
This is one of the most important events in a girl’s life. The approach
of this period is usually heralded by an uneasy feeling in the small of
the back, heaviness about the ovaries, sometimes by headaches and
possibly by pains in other parts of the body. One of the ovaries has
formed a little egg or ovum. A flow of mucus tinged with blood, formed
by the mucous membrane of the womb, passes from the body by way of the
vagina. This usually lasts about four days. Meanwhile the ovum is
conveyed by the fallopian tube to the womb where, after the flow has
ceased, it remains several days, before passing from the body by way of
the vagina.

=Menstruation.=--The discharge is called the menstrual fluid. If the girl
is healthy, this will occur once each lunar month, or every twenty-eight
days. It is for this reason that the flow is called menstruation. This
word comes from the Latin word “mensis,” meaning a month. This monthly
experience is known by several names, “Menses,” “periods,” “courses,”
and “unwell.” The doctors use the term “Menses,” and this is doubtless
the best one to use.

=How made regular and painless.=--When a girl has good health, does not
expose herself so as to take colds, dresses so as not to compress her
body and push these organs out of their proper place, takes plenty of
outdoor exercise, keeps her mind pure and free from ugly thoughts, and
does not abuse her sexual organs, she will be regular in her menses and
will feel but little inconvenience or pain. Experience shows that just
in proportion as a girl fails to follow the rules I have just stated,
will her menses be irregular and painful.

=Physical, mental and moral changes.=--It will be noticed in the first
stages of puberty that the limbs are growing larger and more shapely,
the shoulders are growing backward and downward, the chest is expanding,
the breasts are enlarging, the skin is becoming more delicate and rosy,
the hips are growing broader, the hair is growing thicker, longer and
more glossy, and the voice is developing richer tones. With all these
physical changes that are taking place, the mental and moral natures are
changing as well. The girl will now take a keener interest in society,
and in mental and moral matters. These changes show that the developing
sex life is making a woman of the girl.

=The charms of womanhood.=--This new life is making her attractive,
lovable, sociable, brilliant and attractive. This new life adds very
much to the natural charms of a girl, making the naturally beautiful
girl more beautiful and the homely girl more attractive. The girl with a
“doll face,” and weak in her sexual nature, will not be as attractive as
the more homely girl whose normal sexual life has given her these
personal charms of a healthy, strong womanhood.

When you see or feel the first signs of this change, consult your mamma,
and she will give you directions and advice about how to care for your
person during the menses. This is a perfectly natural experience that
all girls have. It indicates that the special organs are developing and
preparing for motherhood. Menstruation is not a disease; it is a natural
function. Girls should be proud of this new accession to their girlhood.
Health, happiness, and beauty of womanhood and the sacred function of
motherhood, which will one day declare them the sweetest and holiest of
God’s creatures are vitally related to this function. Girls with perfect
health, who are usefully and happily employed, who entertain no base
ideas of this function and who pay no special attention to it,
experience little or no pain and little flow.

=Meaning of menstruation.=--Ovulation and menstruation usually occur
about the same time. Ovulation consists in the formation of an ovum or
egg by one of the ovaries once a month. Without the formation of the
ovum motherhood would not be possible. Menstruation consists of a flow
of bloody mucus formed by the velvety lining of the womb. This has the
effect of purifying a woman’s blood and preparing the womb to receive
the ovum. After this change first takes place several years will be
required before she is old enough to marry and raise a family. Until she
is married, the ovum each month lingers in the womb a few days and then
passes out. When she is married, if she and her husband are strong and
healthy, at the close of some menstrual period a cell from the husband
will unite with one of these little eggs, which will become attached to
the velvety walls of the womb, the door to the womb will close, and this
beginning life will grow for two hundred and eighty days, when the door
of the womb will open and a little baby will be born into the home.




CHAPTER XVI

MOTHER’S THIRD TALK--CHOOSING A CHUM


=Early Adolescence.=--You are now entering upon that period of a girl’s
life known as the adolescence period. You are now passing from girlhood
to womanhood. This period will be about seven to eight years long. The
first four years will be the most important years of your life. This is
true for many reasons. During this period you will be largely a girl and
partly a woman. The mind of the girl that was and the woman that you
will be, will occasionally cause you to have confusing experiences. You
will have many new and strange feelings, emotions, impulses. During
these years you will need the advice of those older than yourself.

=New social desires.=--One of the new experiences you will have, will be
the desire for social privileges. You will want a little girl chum. This
is perfectly natural. God has given you a social nature. You should
cultivate your social gifts. This will enlarge your happiness and
usefulness.

=Why a girl wants a chum.=--The reason small girls desire chums is because
the new sex life stimulates and awakens the social nature. This is a
period in a girl’s life when she is especially interested in things
romantic and sensational. Girls naturally choose their special chums,
and it is so easy for them to engage in conversation that they would not
want their mothers to hear. This sensational friendship might lead to
exaggeration, disobedience, and the secret meetings with other girls or
boys. It is not hard for a mother to see how her daughter might become
thoughtless, rash, indiscreet and be overtaken in some very great wrong.

=A girl needs two chums.=--In this period of life little girls need two
chums, her mother and a girl friend. She will often need her mother’s
advice in the choice of a girl chum.

=Choosing the right chum.=--If you wish to have one or more girl friends,
you should exercise great care in your choice. If you find a girl
inclined to exaggeration, to use by-words, to use improper language
while talking about her boy friends, to desire secret meetings with
boys, however attractive she may be, you should not be chummy with her.
To form intimate friendship with such girls would be a great risk. You
will find it safest always to be chaste, sincere and dignified in
conversation, even with a girl chum. This does not mean that you should
not have innocent fun.

=The wise girl.=--The wise girl will take her mother into her confidence
and ask for advice in the choice of her chum. Mamma will always
appreciate the opportunity to be to you a chum, a friend, a companion
and a mother.




CHAPTER XVII

MOTHER’S FOURTH TALK.--CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE


=Organs of sex can be abused.=--In other talks we learned the names,
position and functions of the different parts of the female form. In
this lesson we will study one of the abuses of the organs, and the
effects. In childhood, youth and middle and old age the organs of sex
may be abused in several ways. If girls knew their delicate nature and
their sacred mission, I am sure they would never abuse these organs. The
more delicate and sacred an organ is, the more serious will be the
penalty following its abuse. The abuse of these most delicate organs of
the body results in poor health, poor development, much suffering, and
should the victims marry, their children would be puny, sickly and
short-lived. The bearing of strong, healthy, beautiful, playful children
is woman’s highest mission. It is for this reason that girls should
understand the nature and functions of these organs and the results of
abusing them.

=The secret sin--how learned.=--The special abuse we shall consider at
this time is one that small girls are liable to learn or to have taught
them by companions or servants. This habit has several names. It is
called the “secret sin,” or “secret vice,” for the reason that every
organ of the body, faculty of the mind and power of the soul is abused
by it; “self-pollution,” because it is filthy; or “masturbation,” which
comes from two words meaning the abuse of the body with the hand. This
abuse consists in rubbing or handling the sexual organs so as to excite
them and bring on a feeling of pleasure. Usually this vice is taught a
girl by some companion. If a girl does not keep these parts clean, they
become irritated and she will be disposed to rub or scratch them. In
this way she would likely awaken a sense of pleasure and finally
discover the vice. It sometimes occurs, not often, that a small ligament
or membrane, called the frenum, is too short or broad, and this causes
irritation and leads a girl to discover the secret vice. If you should
find yourself inclined to rub those parts often, you should mention it
to mamma. A girl may, by pressing this part of her body against some
object, or by sitting with her feet underneath her, with the sole or
heel of a shoe pressing or rubbing against these organs, discover this
vice.

=What you should not do.=--From these illustrations you will learn that
you should never handle or rub these organs except to wash and keep them
clean. When you study these organs with a view to understanding them,
or when you think of their sacred functions, these mental relations to
these organs never do them harm. But when you entertain thoughts about
them that you would not be willing to express to your mother; when you
read an immoral book, look upon an obscene picture or engage in improper
conversation about these organs, then these mental states cause the
blood to rush to these organs and sex consciousness and passion follow.
A girl cannot keep from the secret sin if she permits her mind to engage
in wrong thinking.

=The moral effect of the sin.=--Perhaps the first effect of this sin is to
be seen in the moral nature. The expression in the girl’s face often
indicates that she is conscious of wrong doing. She will likely become
irritable, peevish and disobedient. She will not take the interest in
prayer, the Bible, good books and the church she once did.

=The mental effects.=--The constant excitement of the organs of sex leads
to many forms of nerve trouble. The mind becomes sluggish and stupid.
Memory fails and sometimes the poor victim becomes insane. This habit
leads to a gloomy, despondent, discouraged state of mind. One does not
longer enjoy life. Because of this mental state many commit suicide.

=The physical effects.=--Perhaps the most noticeable effects of this vice
are to be found in the physical system. The eyes become hollow and
lusterless, complexion sallow, cheeks haggard, lips and ears pale,
muscles soft and flabby, the breasts shrink, the bodily form is stooped
and weak. Every time the life-giving blood is caused by this sin to rush
in undue quantities to these organs, it returns to the heart with less
of life and more impurities. Such girls will grow up to be weak, puny
women and will suffer from dyspepsia, consumption and nervous troubles.
If you have learned to misuse these organs, you must determine that you
will never do it again. By keeping the mind pure and never abusing these
organs you will develop a healthy and perfect body, a bright and
cheerful mind, a charming, winning personality, and live to be useful
and happy.

=Two letters from young women.=--From a large number of letters received
from young ladies who have heard the author’s lectures or read his
books, the following letters are added to this chapter. A big-hearted
man in Canada gave 500 copies of Perfect Manhood to that number of young
men. Fortunately, a young woman who was greatly in need of help, read
one of these books. These letters tell the sad story of thousands, whom
the author is anxious to help.

=First Letter.=--


----M--, CANADA.

_Dear Professor:_

     You will doubtless be surprised at receiving a letter from a young
     lady of twenty-seven, on a very delicate subject. Recently, I read
     one of your books, “Perfect Manhood,” presented by a friend to my
     brother. It was a great revelation to me. I wish I could have read
     it when I was twelve. When eleven, I was taught the secret sin by
     older girls. I continued the habit until I read your book. I never
     received one word of instruction about this vice from parents,
     teachers, or physicians. When twenty, I became an invalid. For one
     year I was placed in a hospital and treated by eminent specialists.
     I improved much. When I was twenty-four, my mind failed me and I
     was placed in a private institution. I am now very gloomy,
     despondent and I constantly dread a return of mental trouble.

     I will greatly appreciate the favor if you can give me some
     additional advice and help. Please help me if you can.

Most sincerely,

----



Some four times a year, for three years, I received a letter from her.
For eighteen months her letters indicated a hard-fought battle, small
victories and a strong determination to win out. Each succeeding letter
indicated greater victories. In her last letter she assured me that her
womanhood had been restored and that she was entertaining a marriage
proposition from a worthy and very superior young man.


_Professor T. W. Shannon, City._

     DEAR SIR: I heard your lecture this afternoon and am now going to
     write for help and advice. First, I shall tell you the story.

     Like most children, I began quite early in childhood to ask about
     my origin, and received answers that were falsehoods. I do not
     remember just what I was first told, but the replies given did not
     satisfy my enquiring mind. I eagerly listened to the vulgar stories
     of servants and schoolmates and before I was twelve years old my
     mind was taken up with lascivious thoughts and vulgar expressions.

     Two months before I was thirteen, I was taught how to practice that
     awful habit, the secret sin. I became a slave to it. I could not
     stop. In the spring after I was fourteen I was converted. Again I
     tried, oh so hard, to quit this habit, but I could not. My mind was
     filled with those ugly words and I could not expel them. This sin
     is still troubling me and I can’t get rid of it. Oh, I would give
     anything if I could.

     Now, I am away from home attending college, and I know that my
     parents (especially mamma) are worried. They fear that I, being
     young, and, as they think, ignorant of all these things, may bring
     disgrace to them.

     Last winter a friend gave me a book entitled, “Letters of Love to
     Our Girls,” but mamma and papa hid it. I asked them why they did
     so. I received the answer, “It is a book that no married person
     should read, let alone a young girl.”

     I have a little sister nine years old. For four years she has often
     asked questions about the origin of animals. When a colt is born or
     a calf, or kitten, or pigs, she always asks the same question.
     “Where did Dolly find her colt? Where did Lily find her calf?”
     etc., and they always put her off with some falsehood.

     Please advise me how I may be able to rid myself of this habit.

Yours in earnest,

----



=I gave her the following advice:=


“_Dear Friend:_

     Your letter received. In reply, I am glad you had the courage to
     ask for advice and to state facts so frankly.

     Your trouble began with your false training in childhood. If you
     had been taught the sacredness of the sexual organs and their
     functions, your mind would have been safeguarded against this vice.
     Instead, you received the very opposite information. Half-truths,
     clothed in vulgar language, received from the ignorant and vicious,
     lead naturally to a morbid interest in matters of sex and
     consequently to a habit of lascivious thinking. Impure thinking
     causes the blood to rush to the sexual organs. The inflamed and
     gorged condition, due to this rush of blood to these parts, results
     in frequent experiences of sex consciousness and passion. This
     leads very naturally to the handling of the organs of sex.

     That you may clearly understand the relation of the mind to the
     secret sin, and what you must do if you would break from it, I will
     use the following illustration: Suppose that you have been at hard
     work for five or six hours and have had nothing to eat during the
     time. You now come into the presence of a well-spread table, or a
     basket full of luscious fruit. You must wait ten minutes for others
     to take their places at the table. You become quite conscious of
     hunger; you remember how the kinds of food taste, how you have
     enjoyed them before, and you are eager to begin eating. These
     mental states cause the blood to rush to the salivary glands. They
     are stimulated to unusual activity. Under these conditions the
     saliva flows rapidly. Just at this moment, something unusual
     occurs. The blinding flash of lightning followed quickly by a
     deafening peal of thunder. Looking out you see some limbs falling
     from a nearby tree. You run to the window and for ten minutes your
     attention is wholly called from the thought of food. Now the saliva
     is flowing just fast enough to keep your mouth pleasantly moist.
     Excitement over, you again become interested in the food, hunger
     returns, you begin once more to entertain pleasant thoughts about
     the food, blood rushes to the mouth and the salivary glands are
     stimulated and the saliva is formed many times faster than when
     your mind was wholly engaged in the exciting scene a few minutes
     before.

     When you allow your mind to entertain impure thoughts and words,
     the blood rushes to the genital organs and they become inflamed,
     resulting in passion. Now your victory over this habit will come
     just as fast as you can learn to get control of your mind in these
     matters. This is not done in a day. For five or six years you have
     allowed your mind to entertain wrong thoughts. In this way you have
     brought about a condition in which the slightest suggestions
     relating to sex, any pressure or friction of clothing or irritation
     of parts causes the blood to rush to these organs apparently
     without your willing it. This will gradually cease as you begin to
     get control of your mind.

     There are several things that will help you. When you are tempted
     to entertain impure thoughts or to practice the sin, immediately
     engage your mind in something else. Pray, read the Bible or some
     good book, write a letter to mamma or some friend, perform some
     duty or take a walk, anything that will take your mind from the
     temptation. Refuse to handle these organs except to keep them
     clean. Bathing the parts in cold water tends to allay passion. If
     you have in your possession any suggestive pictures or questionable
     literature, destroy them. Cultivate the habit of looking upon every
     young man as you would upon your brother or father.

     One of the most common effects of this habit is discouragement,
     gloominess, despondency. These mental states must be overcome.
     Constantly a firm “I will break from this habit,” “I will have only
     pure thoughts.” Don’t chide and condemn yourself any more because
     of the errors of the past. God has mercifully and lovingly forgiven
     them and graciously offers to give you strength and grace with
     which to win the battles of the future. Hopefully, cheerfully and
     bravely face the future. You may occasionally meet with defeat. If
     so, try again. No lasting defeat can come to one who keeps on
     trying. Victory will crown the persistent effort.

     We often help ourselves by helping others. You are only one of the
     many girls who have had a similar experience. The battles you are
     fighting in your life will enable you to be a blessing to other
     weak ones.

     If I can be of any help to you in the future, write me. If this
     letter helps you in any small degree to win a victory, pass the
     blessing on to another.

“Very sincerely,
 “T. W. S.”






CHAPTER XVIII

MOTHER’S FIFTH TALK--A SMALL GIRL’S ETHICS


=The social nature.=--You are now of an age when you will appreciate a
heart to heart talk on the social relations of small girls and boys. God
gave to us our social natures. It is our social nature that leads us to
desire new acquaintances, to be with old friends, to be in large
gatherings of people, and to have special friends. A reasonable amount
of social activity is essential to our well-being. Most of our real
pleasure in life grows out of our relation to society. Genuine innocent
pleasure is nature’s greatest tonic. Innocent games, a big romp, a good
laugh, all help to develop the body, prolong life and increase one’s
usefulness. Plays, games, a good time, should form a large part of
childhood. The boy’s masculine nature leads him often to prefer games
that require strength, endurance and daring. The girl’s feminine nature
leads her often to prefer games that require less of strength, endurance
and danger. It is for this reason that boys enjoy games of football and
baseball and girls enjoy their dolls, tennis and croquet.

=Boys and girls should play together.=--While boys prefer to play with
boys much of the time and girls prefer to play with girls much of the
time, yet their opposite natures lead them to enjoy being with each
other in conversation and games. In most homes and communities, boys and
girls are nearly equally divided as to number. This would indicate that
God planned for boys and girls to be much with each other.

=The sex and social nature.=--God has given us a sexual nature as well as
a social nature. If boys and girls have not learned bad language,
engaged in impure thoughts or formed habits of vice, they have been
rarely conscious of their sex nature before the dawning of puberty.
After puberty the organs of sex are generating a sex life that results
in occasional sex consciousness. This is not an injury, not a sin. If we
keep our minds pure, avoid everything that would excite these organs,
this new sex life will make wonderful changes in every organ of the
body, faculty of the mind and power of the soul. The consciousness of
sex, or what may be correctly called passion, simply means that we are
in possession of creative energy. By keeping the mind pure, taking
plenty of physical exercise, mental study and sympathizing with and
loving everybody, this sex life will be built into the muscles and brain
tissue, giving strength of body, brilliancy of mind and warmth of soul.
The developing sex life is slowly and gradually preparing them for
fatherhood and motherhood. This preparation is not completed until they
are matured. The girl does not mature until she is about twenty and the
boy until he is about twenty-four. During the eight years of adolescence
for the girl and ten for the boy, she is gradually passing out of
girlhood into womanhood and he from boyhood into manhood. During the
first half of these periods, she is more girl than woman, he is more boy
than man. During these early years the boy may be a manly boy and the
girl a womanly girl, but they are still children. They should still play
together without any thought of being sweethearts. It is natural for a
girl to admire one boy more than she does another because he is gallant,
kind and manly. For like reasons, it is natural for small boys to admire
one girl more than another. Occasionally these little experiences of
admiration take on the more serious form of love. If older people do not
encourage or tease them their little spasms of love will soon disappear.
It is best for boys and girls not to think of each other as sweethearts
and lovers until they are nearer matured.

=The “boy-struck” girl and the “girl-struck” boy.=--They range in age from
ten to twenty. They excite the pity of some, the disgust of others and
the love and appreciation of none. They will carry on an insane or
ridiculous conversation over the phone for an hour, or stand on the
street corner and engage in the most silly nonsense. He is usually a
cigarette-smoking nonentity and she a simpering, giggling, flirting,
amusing imitation of what she would like to be. In the schoolroom they
pass notes and receive low grades. She carries her dressing to the
extreme limit of idiocy, disfiguring her body and ruining her health. As
she grows older she takes lonely midnight strolls and buggy rides. It
will be a miracle if the “boy-struck” girl does not fall. Even if she
does not fall into disgrace, it will be difficult for her to regain her
self-respect and the confidence of her neighbors.

=Confidential social advice.=--While the association of boys and girls is
natural, enjoyable, and has its blessings, it is not without its
temptations and dangers. Passion should never be aroused. In associating
with boys, girls should be very careful in regard to their dress. They
should not wear dresses that unnecessarily expose their breasts or
limbs; they should never use a word or expression that would suggest
wrong thoughts to their boy friends; they should never go off alone with
boys; and they should never permit a boy to hold their hands, pinch
their arms, play with their hair, hug or kiss them. All these things
tend to arouse passion in a way and to an extent exceedingly dangerous.

=A class of dangerous boys.=--It will be well for you to remember that
many boys are very wicked. Poor boys! In many cases they have not been
trained to be polite, kind, and pure. They have no idea how sinful it is
to use obscene language, to be immodest, and by these methods to seek to
ruin the character and life of a girl. Such boys would rather ruin a
girl than be president. Girls should be careful not to associate with
this class of boys.

=The true, the pure boys.=--Some boys are as innocent and pure as most
girls are. Good boys and young men who have been well trained are always
kind, courteous, brave, true, and pure. Association with this class of
boys is always helpful.

=Girlhood comes but once.=--Don’t be in a hurry to grow into womanhood. Be
a joyful, playful, happy little girl just as long as you can. Of course
you will not want to play or be with your friends all the time, or even
most of the time. You will be in school much of the time. You will want
to spend some time on your music, in learning how to make your clothing,
how to care for the bedrooms, and how to cook. You will wish to form
high ideals and gain inspiration from reading books of travel, of
history, some fiction of high moral and literary tone, biographies of
great and good people, the best magazines and, of course, you will not
leave the Bible out of your daily reading.




CHAPTER XIX

MOTHER’S SIXTH TALK--HOW TO GROW BEAUTIFUL


=A girl’s vanity.=--When girls reach the age of fifteen and sixteen their
personal interest in personal beauty is apparent. Their frequent use of
the mirror, a mania for primping: poring over such glaring headlines as,
“Become Beautiful,” “Don’t be Fat,” “Be Plump,” “Beautiful Dresses, a
Woman’s crown of Glory,” “Cure for Pimples and Black-heads,” found in
the papers and magazines, all indicate a girl’s interest in being
beautiful.

=There are two kinds of beauty.=--Physical beauty and intellectual and
spiritual beauty. Not all can have the first, but all can have the
latter. The first, unfortunately, may be a source of temptation and
danger; the latter, fortunately, a blessing. Physical homeliness, entire
or in part, may be outgrown, or cured by hygienic living and judicious
treatment, or it may be over-shadowed by the possession of lovely traits
of character.

=Beauty and the sex nature.=--No young woman, however beautiful
physically, can develop a charming, attractive personality unless she
possesses a normal sex nature. This end may be achieved by maintaining
a hopeful, cheerful and perfectly chaste state of mind and perfect
freedom from all habits of vice. In this way the vital energy of
womanhood can be easily directed so as to carry life and health to every
organ and part of the body.

=Puberty pimples.=--Soon after the dawning of puberty, many girls are
troubled with pimples. They usually appear on the face, often only on
the forehead. The back may be affected in the same way. They usually
last two, three or more years and resist every effort to remove them.
The girl had just as well make up her mind to endure them until nature
takes them away. It was once thought that they were evidences of the
practice of the secret vice. In some cases this is true. But in most
cases they are inseparable from the early years of puberty.

=Treatment.=--By following certain simple rules this trouble may be very
much reduced. Avoid eating highly seasoned foods and rich pastries. Take
plenty of open-air exercise. Massage the face with the hands, using a
good quality of absorbent cream. If cold baths are begun in the summer
time, so as not to shock the system, this is very valuable. During the
menses, plenty of warm water should be used. Absolute cleanliness will
prevent many forms of female troubles.

=How to correct some kinds of homeliness.=--Stringy, greasy or dull hair
may be made a crown of beauty by scrupulous care, tasteful arrangement
and the use of suitable decorations.

Where the bodily form is too thin or too fat, or scrawny and angular,
correct habits of eating and exercise are the natural remedies. Very
thin persons will usually gain flesh by taking open-air exercise and
eating nutritious food. Fleshy persons can usually reduce their flesh by
eating two meals a day, eating a less nutritious diet and by taking more
exercise. If this advice is introduced gradually no inconvenience will
be noticed.

=A substitute for physical beauty.=--There are some forms of physical
irregularities, such as prominent ears, large and irregular teeth; a
receding chin or forehead; thick or thin lips; a long or ill-shaped
mouth; small, expressionless eyes; a large, flat or pug nose, none of
which can be remedied by the advice given. She must develop the truest
form of beauty--a charming, winsome personality, a lovely character. She
will then possess a charm that cannot be excelled by any physical queen
of beauty, and that she may retain long after the glow of physical
loveliness has faded.

=Some “musts” and “must-nots.”=--She must cease frowning and learn to
smile; she must repress anger and resentment, and turn the other cheek;
she must not seek favors, but discover the joy of bestowing blessings on
others; she must intensely interest herself in everything that will
stimulate and develop the intellect, expand the soul and enlarge her
spiritual vision; she must revel in the sweetest strains of music and
the most bewitching beauties of art and nature. By following this
advice, the naturally beautiful girl will add a new charm to her
attractiveness, and the homely girl will transform her defects into
seeming beauties and develop the indefinable loveliness of a beautiful
character.




FOURTH DIVISION

HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS TO A BOY




CHAPTER XX

A TALK TO FATHERS


=The importance of fatherhood.=--In the past we have written, talked and
sung of the duties, responsibilities, faithfulness, sacrifice and love
of motherhood. Is there any reason why the father should have less of
these sacred parental qualities than the mother? Did not God in his
early revelations to his chosen people honor fatherhood as much as
motherhood in his relation to the training of children? In no other way
has God bestowed larger capacity, power, honor and responsibility upon
man than when he made him capable of fatherhood. Fatherhood--the giving
of life to another--makes man a co-worker with God in the creation of
human beings. This creative relation to children gives dignity,
sacredness and immeasurable responsibility to fatherhood.

=The father is the son’s natural teacher.=--If a man at the head of a home
is to measure up to the full meaning of fatherhood, he must assume the
responsibility of teaching purity and sex truths to his boy, instead of
leaving him to get his primary sex culture from the playground; his
preparatory sex enlightenment from the street; and his complete course
of sex education from the saloon, the gambling house and the brothel,
where the moral atmosphere is saturated with all that is vicious and
polluting; where the vilest pictures are to be seen, vilest conversation
is to be heard and the vilest associations are to be formed.

=The wise father looks after less important phases of his son’s
education.=--If his son decides to be a farmer, he tells him all he knows
about farming and sends him to an agricultural college. If he decides to
practice medicine, he tells him all he knows about medicine and sends
him to a medical college. His interest in his son would lead him to
follow this plan should he choose some other calling or profession.
Compared to the education, training and development of a boy in relation
to the teaching of purity and sex truths, all other training pales into
insignificance. The boy can just as easily become a successful farmer
without a knowledge of agriculture, horticulture and stock-raising; he
can as easily become a successful physician without a knowledge of
medicine; he can as easily become a successful lawyer without a
knowledge of laws, as he can develop into a pure, virile manhood without
a correct knowledge of his sex nature. Since half truths are often more
injurious than ignorance, and since the enfolding sex life of a boy
demands information, and since he will get this information true or
false, it logically follows that correct sex education is the only safe
method to be followed in the complete education of the boy.

=The father who holds to unethical ideals.=--The father who holds to or
practices the double standard of morals is not qualified to teach these
truths to his son. If he believes that it is a smaller sin for his son
to be immoral than for his daughter; if he believes in the “sex
necessity lie” for his son and absolute virginity for his daughter; if
he uses vulgar words or indulges in lascivious stories, he is
disqualified for this sacred duty of a father. Recently I lectured in a
town of several thousand inhabitants where the mayor boasted of taking
his seventeen-year-old son to St. Louis and introducing him to an
immoral life. Such a father’s influence on his own son is a withering,
paralyzing, blighting curse. The sons of such beastly sires are to be
pitied.

=The model father.=--I assume that I am now addressing a model father, one
who, at least, desires to be a worthy example and a wise teacher and
trainer of his son. The model father should not only be pure in outward
life, but he should regard the organs of sex and their functions as pure
and sacred, he should possess a fair knowledge of sex and be able to use
only pure language in his confidential talks with his son. I am fully
aware that very few fathers have had an opportunity to hear a series of
lectures or to read a good book on these lines that would help them
perform this duty. The mission of this book is to aid and inspire every
sincere father in his duty of supplying his son with these truths.

=How to proceed.=--This is not a difficult problem to the young father who
is fairly well informed and who has strong convictions of his duty. He
can start with his son, as soon as he asks about his origin, and tell
him the stories of life, six months or a year apart, and continue to
give him such information as his developing boyhood and manhood demand.
But to the uninformed father, out in middle life, aroused for the first
time to the great need of this teaching and to his personal
responsibility to his boys ranging from five to twenty years old, this
is not an easy problem. In this case I would suggest that, if possible,
he should avail himself of hearing a good course of lectures, and buy
for himself a practical and complete book on sex for himself and smaller
books adapted to the age and sex of his children. If he has a boy from
five to eight years old, begin by telling him the story of how plants
are brought into the world. If he has a boy ten to fifteen, I would
advise that he put in his hands a book containing stories of life from
plants to man and encourage him to read it. If there is real
companionship between the father and son, a better plan would be for
them to read the book together and talk with each other. When this is
done and a few days have passed the father should give him a book
containing such information as a boy from ten to fourteen should know.
And if proper companionship exists, they should read this book and talk
over its revelations together. When this is done the boy should be
encouraged to talk over any personal problem he may have. It would be
well for the father to inquire of his son, if he has any irritation or
soreness in his sexual organs, if the prepuce is capable of passing back
and if the frenulum is too short. The boy should understand that he will
be welcomed at any time to return with his problems and to ask for
information.

If he has a boy over fifteen he should be presented with a book that
covers the problems of a young man. If there is a companionable relation
between the father and his son, it would be well for them to read and
talk over the revelations of this book. The son should be encouraged to
ask questions and to talk about his personal problems.

=When should a boy be informed of the secret sin?=--In no case should this
be postponed until a boy is twelve. Out of one thousand of the young men
who have read “Perfect Manhood” and in that way were lead to write me
about their troubles not one in twenty-five learned the habit after he
was twelve, many commenced when they were eight and ten, a few when five
and six, one stating that so far as he knew he was born practicing the
vice.

Lecturing to nearly one hundred thousand young men a year and having
several thousand a year to interview me, in this way the conclusion from
my correspondence is confirmed. When a boy is fourteen he should be
given a more complete talk on the nature and effects of the secret sin.
If he is found to be guilty he should be induced to break off. If his
sexual desire is due to a tight prepuce, this should be treated by the
family physician. If due to a tight frenulum, this requires the
attention of a doctor. As a rule his sexual excitement grows out of a
mind that has been filled with lascivious thoughts from some schoolmate
or servant. This can be corrected by satisfying the boy’s morbid
curiosity with the truth and a faithful warning of the dangers of this
vice.

=Fathers should not be suspicious but watchful.=--A wise father will have
a frank, positive understanding with every servant in the home and
employee on the farm, or in his business, that he is not to encourage
vice by vulgar conversation, vicious practice, or by presenting the
child with a vile book or showing him a lude picture. Keep an eye on the
little visitors--and the big ones too. There are in circulation some
most inconceivable immoral books that teach children every phase of sex
perversion. I recently secured such a book and it was estimated by the
school board that two hundred or more boys from twelve to sixteen had
read it. Only a few months ago the president of a female college living
in the girls’ dormitory told me of how one of the college girls had
introduced his three-year-old boy to the vice. About the same time and
in the same State, an editor said to me, “Professor, you don’t realize
the temptations to which the small Southern boy is exposed in his
relation to the  help about the home.” A wise father will be on
the guard from the time his boy has quit the cradle until he has passed
safely through the stormy period of adolescence.




CHAPTER XXI

FATHER’S FIRST TALK--BOYS MAKE MEN


Trees are grown-up sprouts; dogs are grown-up pups; horses are grown-up
colts; and men are grown-up boys. A crooked, scarred sprout will produce
an ugly, useless tree; a starved, neglected and abused pup will grow up
to be a cowardly or vicious dog; a spoiled colt will make a vicious
horse; boys who are not trained to work, study and be moral will grow up
to be lazy, stupid and bad.

=A perfect tree, dog, horse must be trained.=--If you want a perfect tree,
one that will be straight and shapely, one that will afford perfect
shade or bear large, luscious fruit, you will have to give it proper
care and training while it is young. If you want to have a perfect dog,
one that will be large and handsome, one that will do what you want him
to do, you must give him good care and training while he is young. If
you would have a perfect horse, one with elastic bearing and beautiful
form, one that will be gentle, go the gaits and travel fast, you must
feed, groom and train him while he is young.

=Boys need training.=--If you would become a perfect man, you must be
wisely trained and taught. A large part of this you can and must do for
yourself. You must get a true idea of what it takes to make a perfect
man. You must desire and purpose daily to live that life that will help
you to reach your ideal. You must be willing to be trained and taught by
those who are older and wiser than yourself.

=Boys want to be men.=--All boys really want to be men. They are great
imitators. They look at men and decide what man they would rather be
like. What a pity that all men are not what they appear to be to the
inexperienced boy. So many appear to the boy to be real men, when they
are not. Boys try to follow their examples and fail. It is so easy for a
boy to make a mistake in what is required of him to become a perfect
man.

=How one boy tried to be a man.=--I am quite intimately and personally
acquainted with a man, who, when a boy, lived on a farm near a small
town. Like all boys he longed to be a man. Some of his ideas were good
and some were false. When he was about eight years old, he decided that
if he could only ride a big bay horse and take a sack of corn to mill,
then he would be a man. It was a happy day when he was allowed to do
this. Having carefully balanced a sack of corn on the horse’s back, his
father placed him on the horse behind the sack and started him to the
mill.

[Illustration: I WAIT FOR MY FUTURE.]

That was the happiest day of his life. As he rode along the street of
the village, all the boys and girls, men and women, seemed to be out on
purpose to look at him. He could almost hear them saying, “Yonder
goes ---- to mill this morning. See what a big man he is.” That boy never
felt more like a man in his life than he did that morning. What do you
suppose happened as he went back home? It was the saddest experience
that boy ever had up to that time. His sack fell off. Then he cried like
a boy. He felt like a boy. He acted like a boy. He knew that he was only
a little boy. For several weeks he was willing to be only a little boy.

=Use of profanity.=--It is perfectly natural for a boy to long to be a
man. So, it was not long before that boy again wanted to be a man. This
time, a boy, some three years older than he, was visiting his home. His
friend was some three inches taller, twenty pounds heavier and a few
grades higher in school than he. As these boys rambled over the fields,
climbed trees, and played together, my little friend had to listen to a
constant stream of oaths, pouring from the lips of his visitor. He had
been taught that swearing was a very great sin. Had he heard a little
dirty street waif, or an old bloated, swaggering drunkard swearing, it
would have been disgusting. But this time, swearing did not sound so
badly. His friend wore fine clothes, his family had wealth and culture
and this seemed to change the nature of swearing in this case. Before
that day was over our little friend had decided that the only difference
between him and his friend was, that his visitor could swear and he
could not. He felt, that, if he could only swear, instantly he would
grow six inches taller, twenty pounds heavier and a great deal smarter.
He finally decided to try it. While they were walking by the back porch,
he made the effort of his life and out came a big ugly oath. His heart
hurt him. His conscience condemned him. He was sure that God heard him.
He had dishonored his father and mother. He had insulted God. He
wondered if his mother was not near. Glancing quickly over his shoulder,
he saw his mother on the porch, and the expression on her face showed
that she was much grieved. When the visitor had returned home and our
little friend had danced at the end of a peach tree switch for some
moments, he decided that swearing would not make a man. This was his
first, last and only oath. He has never ceased to thank and love his
mother for her faithful training.

Almost all men and boys who swear started where he did. They thought
swearing would make them taller, heavier, wealthier, and smarter. This
sin has never helped a boy to become a man. If a boy can swear and be
manly, his mother and sister can swear and be perfectly ladylike. No
man or boy can give a good reason why he swears. Intelligent people are
supposed to understand and mean what they talk about. Idiots do not. Not
one man or boy in a hundred, who swears, understands and means what he
says. The words that he uses make him call upon God to send something or
someone to hell. He does not understand or mean this. Idiots would be
excusable for swearing; sensible men and boys are not. The kind of
clothing a boy wears, the house he lives in, and the carriage he rides
in, do not make his swearing manly.

=Use of tobacco.=--Months went by. This boy’s noble father had crossed
over the river into heaven. He and his widowed mother were visiting
among their relatives who lived in a rough country, many miles from
their home. One night, after making a long journey on horseback, he
slept so well that he did not wake until the sun was an hour high. On
arising, he found that his cousin, a boy fifteen years old, had been out
in the woods and had killed a number of squirrels before breakfast. In
his estimation, his cousin was a hero, a great man.

Breakfast over, they rambled over a large tobacco farm. They became very
chummy. At length they came to a large tobacco barn. His cousin pulled
off a leaf of tobacco, rolled up a shapely cigar, lighted it and began
smoking. As our friend stood and watched those dense clouds of smoke
pour from the mouth and nose of his cousin, he whispered to himself,
“Now I know why you can kill a mess of squirrels before breakfast. If I
could smoke, I could do the same thing.” Once more he decided he would
try to be a man. He selected the largest leaf that he could find. When
he had finished making his first cigar, it resembled a saw log about as
much as it did a first-class Havana. His cousin noticed that he could
not get it into his mouth, and said, “You take my cigar and keep it
going for a few minutes and I will make you one.” He kept it going for a
few minutes, then it kept him going for about three hours. He lost
little less than ten pounds of his former weight in a hurry. He was soon
so weak that he could scarcely walk back to the house. His mother and
friends were greatly frightened. His cousin’s face was as pale as a
sheet. There was not a doctor in ten miles of the place. Many remedies
were thought of and used. None did any good. Finally, his uncle’s
father, quite an old man, suggested that the best remedy, ever used in
those parts of Kentucky for sick stomach, was a sweetened toddy. This
boy had been taught that the use of tobacco was a great sin and that the
use of whisky was a still greater sin. He had acted very much like a
fool and felt like one. He understood his case better than they did. He
reasoned like this: “if whisky is worse than tobacco, the remedy they
want me to take will kill me.” But, he was between two fires. If he
confessed what he had done, he would get a switching, and if he took the
remedy they were offering, he would die. What do you suppose that boy
did? He was determined to keep his secret and he did not want to die,
so, for convenience, he became a Christian Scientist, denied that he was
sick and got well. This was his first, last and only experience in the
use of tobacco.

=Why boys are tempted.=--Perhaps the average boy has no greater temptation
than to use tobacco. He sees merchants, lawyers, doctors, occasionally a
minister, and often his father using it. He does not see the expense
side of the habit, because prosperous business men use it. He does not
see the filthy side of it, because nicely dressed men use it. He does
not see the injury to body and mind, for doctors use it. He does not see
the wrong in the use of it, for good men use it. He does not see that
thousands of children are in rags, live in rented cabins, go hungry and
are deprived of many comforts and pleasures because the father has spent
$50 a year for one or two score years on tobacco. He does not quite
understand that doctors and sometimes ministers, like other men, die of
a tobacco heart. He does not desire to imitate the dirty, ragged, stupid
tobacco using wag on the street corner. He wants to be like the man
dressed in broadcloth, wearing a fine beaver hat, twirling a
golden-headed cane, with sparkling diamond ring and shirt studs and
smoking a twenty-five cent cigar.

=The cigarette habit.=--The worst form of the tobacco habit is the use of
the cigarette. When a boy falls into this habit, at the age of ten to
fourteen, he never develops properly in his body or mind. You will
understand this statement better, when it is referred to in another
chapter. The boy who uses tobacco does not progress well in his studies.
This has been tested in nearly all our military and naval schools as
well as in other schools and colleges. Boys who use tobacco will
gradually lose respect and courtesy for ladies. It is claimed by those
who have studied the effects of the cigarette habit that it causes the
boy to become dishonest. It is for these reasons that many business men
will not employ a boy who is guilty of this habit.

There are many other wrongs that boys are tempted to engage in, that if
yielded to will result in habits that prevent boys from becoming perfect
men. It is hard for boys to see the injury that dishonesty and gambling,
disobedience to parents and breaking the Sabbath will do for them. Some
boys take pleasure in doing wrong and leading other boys to do wrong. If
you keep company with them, do as they do, you will get a wrong start
in life and find it a hard struggle later in life, when you would like
to be a real man.

=The kind of boys who make men.=--Someone has said, “A dead fish can float
down stream, but it takes a live one to swim up stream.” Any kind of a
boy can float down the stream of life, have what he calls a good time in
the world, live and die and never be missed. It takes a boy with a
strong, healthy body, a sound mind, a pure heart and clean life, brave,
determined and true to make a perfect man. You will need more than a
strong will and the help of true friends, if you would resist the many
temptations that are sure to come, be a perfect boy and become a perfect
man. Christ alone can purify the heart and help you to live a clean
life.




CHAPTER XXII

FATHER’S SECOND TALK--PERFECT BOYS MAKE PERFECT MEN


=Why we are given sexual organs.=--You have learned God’s beautiful and
sacred plan of bringing into this world baby plants, fish, birds,
animals and human beings. You learned from the stories of the plants and
animals that God provided them with organs of sex, for the purpose of
increasing their kind. When little children are born they have organs of
sex. A boy’s sexual organs have several important uses. They are as
important to a boy as his mouth, ears, eyes or heart. They are just as
pure as any other organs of his body. These organs are very sacred. It
is through their proper use that men and women obey God’s command to “be
fruitful and multiply.” Without sexual organs, new plants, animals and
human beings could not come into the world.

=They are not sinful.=--We should never think of these organs as being
sinful. They are not. The true names of these organs are as pure as the
words baby, home, mother, Bible, heaven, angels, God, so far as a word
is concerned. The true names of these organs are found in the
dictionary. Your sister and mother can find these words in the
dictionary and just what they mean. They are placed in the dictionary
because they are clean words and are a part of our language.

=The names of these organs are pure.=--Unfortunately, almost all boys have
received their first information about sex from the vicious. Such
teachers are ignorant for they do not know the true names of these
organs or their true purposes. They are vicious because their teaching
is largely false and they fill the minds of boys with impure thoughts
and ideas. Let twenty boys write down on paper all the names of their
sexual organs that they have ever learned and not less than thirty names
would be found among them. Now go to the dictionary and look for these
names. One out of every five cannot be found, for the reason that it is
not a part of our language. The other words do not, even remotely, refer
in meaning to the sexual organs. This is a sample of the ignorance of
such men and boys who are always ready to tell a boy something that he
is not to tell his parents. Such teaching is a very great evil. It has
poisoned the minds and hearts of thousands of boys and started them on
the road to ruin. It is very important that you fix the thought in your
mind that these organs are as pure as any other organ in the body and
that their names are just as pure as any other word in the language.
There are many reasons why we should not expose these organs or talk
about them, except when it is right or necessary for us to do so. We
should learn all we can about our lungs, hearts, brains and other organs
of the body. When we can see these organs or pictures of them, they help
to make many things plain to us that would be difficult for us to
understand. For this reason we have placed the cut of a boy’s body in
this book, showing the urinary and sexual organs.

=The urinary organs.=--The urinary system consists of the following
organs: Two (1) kidneys, only one can be shown in the cut. The kidneys
are located just above the small of the back and in front of the spinal
column, or backbone. The kidneys take up water, waste matter and
impurities from the blood. In this way the kidneys help to keep the
blood pure. This liquid mixture is called urine. The use of tobacco and
strong drink injures the kidneys, and prevents them from doing all the
work that they need to do in order to keep the blood pure and the body
healthy and strong. As fast as the kidneys form the urine it is carried
by two ducts, called the (2) ureters, one leading from each kidney, and
emptied into the (3) bladder. Here it is stored until we wish to
discharge it from our bodies. The urine is discharged from the body by
a duct that leads through the external sexual organ, and this duct is
called the (4) urethra. This process of discharging the urine is called
urinating. This is a perfectly natural act. There is no more sin in
urinating than in shedding a tear. Because of unfortunate training, many
boys think of this act as sinful. The words and expressions they have
learned for this act have been associated for years with low thoughts.
It is for this reason that you should cease to use those false words and
expressions and learn to say, “I desire to urinate,” or “I have
urinated.”

=The sexual organs.=--Some of the sexual organs are on the outside of the
body and some are on the inside of the body. Those on the outside of the
body are perfectly familiar to all boys. The external organ through
which the (4) urethra passes is called the (5) penis. This organ is not
shown in the cut, its position being shown by the figure (5). At the end
of this organ is a sheath of loose skin, called the prepuce or foreskin.
In some boys the prepuce is quite long and tight. When the boys of the
Jewish race are eight days old they are circumcised. This act consists
in cutting off that portion of the prepuce that extends beyond the head
of the penis. The act is performed with a sharp knife and causes but
little pain. Ninety millions of Mohammedans practice circumcision. This

[Illustration]

should be performed on many boys in this country when they are only a
few days old. There are a number of reasons for this. Underneath the
folds of the prepuce are hundreds of little glands that secrete a
substance that should be removed daily with water, or a wet rag. When
the prepuce will not glide back over the head of the penis, it cannot be
kept clean. In such cases the secretion becomes white and hard and
causes irritation. Boys in this condition will often scratch this organ.
In many cases, these boys do not get along well in school, they are
nervous, have fits and spasms, and this scratching often leads to a bad
habit.

When the prepuce of a boy will not glide back, becomes red, sore and
swollen, he should ask his father to have a doctor treat him. The doctor
will know how to enlarge the opening, break up the adhesion and glide it
back.

Underneath the penis is a sack, called the (6) scrotum, in which are
suspended two glands, called the (7) testicles. The (7) indicates where
these glands would be if placed in the cut. Leading off from the (8)
descending artery are two small arteries, called the (9) spermatic
arteries. They carry pure blood to the testicles. Leading back from the
testicles are two small veins that separate from the spermatic arteries
and are called the (10) spermatic veins.

Connected with each testicle is a duct, called the (11) vas deferens
that passes up through the loins and over the bladder and becomes
enlarged into a small vessel called the (12) ampulla. The ampullae open
into the urethra. Near the ampullae, and behind them, are two larger
vessels, called the (13) seminal vessels. These vessels connect with the
urethra by a small duct, at the point where the ampullae do. Surrounding
the neck of the bladder, the lower portion of the ampullae, the seminal
vessels and the deep urethra is a very important gland, called the (14)
prostate gland. Connected with the urethra and only a short distance
from the prostate, are two small glands, called the (15) Cowper’s
glands. These glands and vessels are all very tender. They are protected
by being placed on the inside of the body. Because of bad habits
connected with the organs on the outside, many men suffer much pain from
diseased conditions of the organs on the inside.

=Puberty.=--When a boy is born, he has all these organs. The testicles and
the glands on the inside are inactive until he reaches the age of
fourteen and a half. Until this time he has been only a boy. At about
this age the glands become active and begin to slowly form from the
blood a fluid called semen. This period in a boy’s life is called
puberty. It is at this time that he starts toward manhood. We shall find
later that he will not be a perfect man until he is twenty-four. During
these ten years he will be changing gradually into a man. There is no
way by which a boy can come suddenly to manhood.

=Some things hasten puberty.=--There are some things that will hasten
puberty. Several thousand miles South, puberty comes on a boy a few
months sooner than it does here. Several thousand miles North, puberty
comes later than here. Thus we see that a warm climate tends to hasten
the arrival of puberty, and a cold climate will tend to <DW44> it. This
is the main reason why puberty, in the <DW52> race, comes a few months
sooner than it does in the white race. For centuries the <DW64> lived in
the hot climates of Africa. In this country he has lived largely in the
South. Vulgar language, impure thoughts and the cigarette habit will
tend to hasten puberty. These bad habits arouse passion and lead to the
formation of semen before the body is prepared to absorb it. This leads
to the habit of wasting this energy from the body. It will be noticed by
you that the cigarette smoking and vulgar boys grow up to have a pale or
a dark complexion and many are stunted and ugly. Using cigarettes before
you are fifteen will do you more harm than to use them after that age.

=The nature and value of the creative life.=--The wisest doctors tell us
that one drop of semen is worth twenty drops of blood; one ounce is
worth twenty ounces of the purest blood. If a discharge of this energy
were taken from the body of a healthy, strong man, twenty-five years
old, and placed in a small glass test-tube and allowed to settle for ten
hours, it would divide itself into two unequal parts. The upper and
smaller portion would be thin, clear and slightly oily. It would look
just like joint water. The lower and larger portion would be thick and
milkish in color, with many little (16) sperm cells. These cells can be
seen only under the microscope. They are in the shape of a tadpole,
except they are longer in proportion. They are very active at first, but
when the fluid becomes chilled they soon die. They are formed from the
blood and contain life.

=The condition of an unwell man.=--If a discharge is removed from a man
that is in poor health, a man who drinks liquor, uses much tobacco, or
wastes this energy from his body, it will be found that the amount, as a
rule, is much smaller, the parts reversed, sperm cells fewer in number,
smaller in size, slower in movements, than in the discharge taken from a
healthy man. This illustration shows how bad habits injure the blood and
rob a man of his energy.

=How sex helps to change a boy into a man.=--We are now able to study how
this new life, this vital force, changes a perfect boy into a perfect
man. We find that this energy is formed from the blood and contains
life. These sperm cells contain physical, mental and soul life. This
will be made plain to you, when you learn, that, when one of these sperm
cells of a father unites with the cell of a mother, under proper
conditions, the result will be a child having physical, mental and soul
life. A boy has physical, mental and soul life when he is born, but he
has not as much as he will have when he is grown. If he grows up to be a
man, he will need more of this energy and life. This is the work of the
sexual glands. They form, by the help of the blood, this energy. This
energy is absorbed by the body and carried by the blood to every part of
his being. It is in this way that this energy helps the body to grow,
and the mind and soul to develop.

=Two full brother colts.=--The use of this fluid can be illustrated in
several ways. If two brother colts grow up side by side, they will look
much alike when grown. If one of them be castrated when young, he will
not develop as well as the other one. The castrated horse is called a
gelding. The other one is called a stallion. The stallion has a high
arched neck, dilated nostrils, sparkling eyes, a heavy thick mane and
tail, broad, deep hip and chest muscles and an elastic bearing. He
commands the attention and admiration of all beholders. A boy can’t
manage him. It takes a strong man to control him. Turn him out in the
field with one hundred geldings and he will rule all of them. The only
difference between these horses was that one had had his testicles
removed and the other had not. The gelding could not form from his
blood any of this valuable energy. This energy was formed by the
stallion and absorbed by his body where it gave him perfect development,
an elastic bearing, fiery eyes, strong muscles and lots of vitality.

=Two full brother chickens.=--Take two full brother chickens, put them in
the same pen, give them the same food and shelter and when they are
grown they will look very much alike. Suppose that when these roosters
were small one of them had been caponized, that is, his glands had been
removed, what would have been the result? The one not caponized would
grow a large red comb, ear lobes and wattles, long glossy neck and tail
feathers and long, strong spurs. In the case of the other bird, his
comb, ear lobes and wattles, neck and tail feathers and legs would
resemble an old hen that had not laid an egg for months. If food is
scarce, the first bird will scratch for worms and catch insects for a
living; the other one will starve. If food is thrown down for the old
hen and her brood of chickens, the first bird will step up and pick up a
bit of the food with his beak, drop it, then step back, point his beak
at the food, glance up at the old hen, look down at the chickens and
cluck to them to come up and eat the food. When they are through, if
some food is left, he will eat it. If not, he goes out and finds him a
meal. The capon will rush up to the food, with one foot crushing the
life out of a chicken and the other crushing the life out of another
chicken; he hurriedly eats the food and does not offer any to the old
hen and her chickens. If an old hawk or owl comes to catch the chickens,
the first bird will fight the enemy until the hen and chickens find
shelter. The capon sneaks under the floor.

The first bird retained his glands, formed that vital energy, absorbed
it back into his body; this made him industrious, gallant and brave. The
capon formed none of this energy, and he could not develop a perfect
body, be industrious, gallant and brave.

=Eunuchs.=--Long years ago, men would select some boys that they wanted to
be slaves and remove their sexual glands when they were quite young.
Such boys were called eunuchs. When they were twenty-five years old they
differed much from other men. They grew only a few scattering short
hairs on their faces; their vocal organs never developed so as to
produce a deep base voice; their shoulders never became broad and
square; being cowardly they were never sent to the battlefield, they did
not care to own property and had no desire for an education. Now,
compare in your mind, the manly man with the eunuch. This energy gives
him his beard, square shoulders, bass voice, brilliant mind, snap and
vim, push and enterprise, bravery and attractive manliness.

=If you would be a perfect man.=--While it is now very rare for a boy to
be made a eunuch, yet it is very common to see young men who are dull
and stupid, lifeless and lazy, stunted and ugly. In most cases this is
due to their having wasted this energy.

From these illustrations we see that the sexual energy strengthens and
develops every organ of the body, faculty of the mind and power of the
soul. If a boy would have a strong, healthy and perfect body, this
energy must be kept in the body and built into the muscles. If he would
have a strong and brilliant mind, this energy must be directed to the
brain. If he would be strong in moral character, he must learn how to
use it in his moral nature. In the chapter on how to live a pure life
this will all be made plain to you.




CHAPTER XXIII

FATHER’S THIRD TALK--IMPERFECT BOYS BECOME IMPERFECT MEN


=Why some trees, kittens, calves, colts, do not become perfect.=--In the
last chapter we found how perfect boys become perfect men. In this
chapter we shall find why some boys do not become perfect men. If a
crooked sprout is not made straight before it gets to be a young tree,
it can never entirely outgrow the defect. If it received a wound before
it grew to be a young tree, nature may heal the wound but the scar will
indicate a weak place when it is grown. If the wound is a deep one,
decay may follow and its life greatly shortened. If a kitten, calf or
colt be starved or crippled while young, they will rarely outgrow these
defects.

=Boys may injure themselves.=--There are many ways by which a boy may
injure himself physically, mentally and morally and prevent perfection
in his manhood. We have learned that when the mind is kept pure and no
bad habits are formed, that the sexual life will gradually change a boy
into a perfect man. Now we are to study the bad effects of wasting this
energy. Why are there so many men with defective bodies? When we study
the lower animals in their wild state, or when the domestic animals have
been well kept by their owners, we find nearly all of them to be
perfect. This is due to the fact that the lower animals have not
violated the laws of sex. They do not waste their sexual energy.

=Many defective men.=--If you were to visit some of the insane asylums and
look into the faces of from one to two thousand of the unfortunates, you
would see some who do not possess a sign of intelligence. Many of them
were born of parents who had violated these laws. Many are personally
guilty and have brought on their own ruin. In the penitentiaries and
hospitals we find that many are there because they have been guilty of
the same wrongs. If many of these poor people had read the book you are
reading, they would now be well and happy.

The following story is told by an author:

=Robbing a vine of its life.=--“When I was only a small boy, one lovely
spring morning, I stepped up to a vigorous young grapevine, at the time
the sap was rising and flowing out the branches to every bursting bud
and cluster of blooms. I had watched my father bore holes in the sugar
maple trees, a century old, and we would use the sap to make syrup and
maple sugar. I did not know that this really injured the old trees and
that tapping them when ten or twenty years old would have very seriously
injured them. So, with my knife, I cut a hole in the vine some two feet
from the ground. At once the sap flowed as freely as from an old sugar
tree. I stood by proudly and watched the sap flow out. Soon a puddle of
sap had formed at the foot of the vine and the ground became damp all
around. An hour passed and still the sap flowed. I became frightened. I
wondered whether, at that rate, the vine would not disappear after a
while. With mud, made from the sap and soil, I tried to stop up the
wound and stop the flow. Quickly the flowing sap dissolved the mud and
washed it down. After repeated failures, I ran to the house and got some
rags and strings and tried to stop the flow, but soon the rags would get
damp and the sap flowed as before.

“I decided to leave the vine to its own fate. The next morning I
ventured out to see what had occurred. The vine looked as it did the day
before. I found that kind nature had formed a reddish substance and had
filled the wound and stopped the flow. That day I cut another hole in
the vine. Again the sap flowed but not so freely as the day before. Day
after day I repeated this for ten days. Will you be surprised when I
tell you that the buds never matured into full size leaves, the clusters
of blooms never matured into large clusters of grapes, and that the
vine did not live many years? I had robbed the vine of its very life.”

=Some boys and men sap their life.=--Now there is an act that is performed
by many boys and men by which they waste the vital fluid from their
bodies. This act soon becomes a habit. It has the same effect upon them
that we found in the vine. Instead of their eyes glowing with luster,
they become dull and sunken. Instead of their cheeks having the rosy
look of youth and health the face becomes pale. Instead of offering a
hearty warm handshake, it is lifeless and cold. Instead of muscles being
hard and elastic, they are soft and weak. Instead of bright, alert
minds, they are dull and listless. Instead of an elastic bearing and a
straightforward step, there are the languid movements and the swaggering
walk.

=Boys do not know that it will hurt them.=--Very early in life some boys
learn to handle the sexual organs so as to produce a sense of pleasure.
Not one in a hundred has been told that this habit will injure him. They
have an idea that this will make them men. You will some day, if you
have not already, hear boys boasting of committing this sin; or they
will want to teach it to you. These poor ignorant fellows have not been
taught that it is wrong and will injure them. They are to be pitied.
They need a friend that will take them off, one at a time, and have a
friendly talk with them. You may some time have a chance to give such
advice. Where a boy will not take your advice, it is not safe to make
him your companion.

=The habit is often commenced early.=--Many boys begin this habit before
they are twelve, sometimes as early as five and six. They have watched
young men and boys older than themselves. They do not know that the
glands do not begin the secretion of this energy until after they are
fourteen to fifteen. They try to follow the example of older boys. While
there is no waste of sexual material, it injures the nerves and pollutes
the mind and starts a habit that, unless stopped in the early teens,
will be hard to break off from later. Usually when a boy gets to be
fourteen his conscience begins to tell him that the habit is wrong.
Fortunately, many boys quit at this age, some check themselves, others
go recklessly on to their certain ruin. When a boy breaks from the habit
at fourteen or fifteen, this new energy soon overcomes the bad effects
of the habit. If he continues until he is a young man, eighteen or
twenty, he will have a harder struggle to break from the habit, and it
will require a longer period for nature to overcome the bad effects of
the habit. Boys who go on through life practicing the habit never amount
to much and in many cases shorten their lives.

=How to keep from the habit.=--I hope you have never formed the habit. It
is not necessary to do so. It is far wiser never to commit the sin. If
you will keep your hands off your sexual organs, refuse to let your mind
entertain impure thoughts, your lips to speak vulgar words, your ears to
listen to obscene stories, your eyes to look upon impure pictures, you
can master your passions, be pure and clean.

=Some effects of the habit.=--Some of the effects of this sin are as
follows: It injures the morals. The victim will take on a guilty look;
may become irritable and cross; may avoid good company and seek the
vile; may quit reading the Bible and going to church. This is one class.
They are called bad boys. There is another class that are affected
differently and would usually be called good boys. They are very modest,
retiring fellows, rather shy of girls and would be shocked at immodest
language. As the habit fastens itself more firmly, they become more
sensitive, stay more alone, the presence of girls becomes more
embarrassing to them, they become quite suspicious and feel that
everybody knows of their guilt. In both of these cases, if the habit is
continued, it will get the mastery of them and will be very difficult to
quit. The latter class will feel gloomy and discouraged. They feel that
everything is going wrong and that everybody is against them. This is
due to the effect of the sin upon their nervous system. It is hard for
them to dismiss this idea. This state of mind will unfit them for
business of any kind. Unless they break from the sin and dismiss these
gloomy feelings, they can’t hope to succeed.

=It injures the mind and morals.=--The boy who practices the secret sin
will one day find that he is falling back in his classes. His memory is
not as good as it once was. He cannot solve problems as easily as he
once could. If a kind-hearted, wealthy man should offer to put all the
young men in a town of ten thousand people through college and meet all
their expenses, on the conditions that they study hard and stand their
examinations, not half of them would accept his kindness. Why? They have
wasted this energy and are without ambition. The young men who have been
wise enough to live pure lives, have so much manly ambition that poverty
will not keep them from graduating.

Many young men who die from consumption when from eighteen to thirty
years old are victims of this sin. In a few cases the sin leads to
epilepsy or insanity.

=It injures the sexual organs.=--The sexual organs become soft and flabby,
when this sin is practiced much. Sometimes they do not develop properly.
The most common effect of the habit is varicocele. This often occurs at
the age of eighteen. The blood vessels in the scrotum become gorged with
impure blood and feel like a mass of tangled cords. There will be felt a
very unpleasant dragging pain in these cords and the left gland. Soon
the left gland will waste away until it is no larger than in a small
boy. Sometimes both glands become affected. Passion aroused by the mind
and handling the organs, even when the habit is not practiced, will
cause this disease.

There are other bad effects that do not occur until the boy is a man and
it is not necessary to mention them here. You have learned enough for
you to know that boys should not form the habit, and, if they have, they
should break away from the habit at once.

=How to quit the habit.=--Where a boy has commenced the habit and desires
to quit, there are some things he should know and do. The feeling of
sexual desire, called passion, is caused almost entirely by the mind. As
long as a boy can keep his mind on something else, he will not have
these desires. He will need to avoid those things that lead the mind to
think about these organs. Handling and looking at the organs direct the
mind to them. Looking at the pictures of partly dressed girls, reading
obscene books, talking vulgarly or entertaining impure thoughts will all
cause passion. All these things must be carefully avoided. You can bring
your will into play and become able to say and mean it, “I will never
again commit the act.” But, best of all, God can help you and offers to
do so. Go often to Him in prayer. Ask Him to purify your mind and heart
and give you strength to live a pure life. Ask Him to help you to keep
all His laws, to be a Christian and to become a perfect man.




CHAPTER XXIV

FATHER’S FOURTH TALK--HOW TO LIVE A PURE LIFE


=The adolescent period.=--The first distinct period of a boy’s life is his
boyhood. This closes when puberty dawns. This usually occurs when he is
about fourteen and a half. This is followed by a period of ten years,
called adolescence. During these years he is changing from boyhood to
manhood. In his feelings, thoughts, looks and ways, he resembles the boy
he was and the man he is to be. In this mixed state, he is a problem.
His whole after life is to be largely determined by this period. The
most important part of this period is the first three years, from
fourteen to seventeen. These three years are called puberty period.
During these three years his sexual nature develops rapidly. Still he is
much more a boy, during this period, than he is a man. This is the most
critical period of a boy’s life. He is coming into possession of powers
that are new to him, he does not understand them, he is not prepared by
nature to control them. He needs the advice and instruction of a wise
father, teacher or book at this period of his life. If a boy is wisely
trained during these three years and he follows the good advice given
him, there is little danger of his going wrong in the future.

=A boy can live pure.=--There is an idea among boys and men, that it is
not best for them to live a pure life. Some of them think that doctors
teach that they should gratify themselves in some way. There is not one
intelligent, honorable doctor who teaches this lie. There are a few
“quack” doctors, whose practice is largely among wicked men, who teach
this lie. When one of these “quacks” tells a boy this, the boy tells
twenty other boys and each of them whispers it to twenty more boys, and
in this way many come to believe the lie. They reason like this, “If I
put my arm in a sling for a year or more, I lose the use of my arm
through the non-use of it. Therefore, if I do not gratify my passions, I
will lose my sexual powers.” To one, who does not understand his sexual
nature, this looks like good reasoning. But it will not stand the test
of a simple illustration. Here is a woman who gives birth to a child
when she is twenty and nurses it perfectly at her breast. This is the
first time her breasts have performed this function, though they have
been capable of doing so for five years. Suppose she does not become a
mother again until she is forty. Again she nurses her baby as perfectly
as she did the first time. But, there were nineteen years in her life,
during which these glands did not feed a child. The breasts of a woman
are a part of her sexual system. These organs have a double function.
One is being performed all the time, day and night; that of secreting an
energy that is absorbed back into her body and that adds to her
strength, health and beauty. The second function is to secrete milk for
her baby when she becomes a mother. The first function helps to keep her
in a condition where the second function can be performed when she
becomes a mother.

=The sexual organs have two functions.=--Now, in the case of a boy or a
man, the sexual organs have a double function. The first function is to
secrete a peculiar energy that is absorbed by the body. It is this
energy that makes a boy a perfect boy when he is fourteen or fifteen,
that changes him from a perfect boy into a perfect man, and that keeps
up his perfect manhood through life. We usually speak of a boy’s sexual
glands as being wholly inactive, having nothing to do until he reaches
puberty. This is not true. It is true however that what we call semen is
not formed by his glands until puberty. If two boys were made eunuchs,
one when only a few days old and the other when puberty came, there
would be quite a difference between them at the age of twenty-five. Both
would be inferior men, but the second would be in many respects superior
to the first. This can be explained only on the ground that the glands
of the second boy formed a vital energy before puberty, and it was this
energy that made the difference between them. Now we see that this first
function of our sexual nature is going on all the time. It is this
function that keeps the sexual system in a condition, when at the proper
age and under proper conditions, the man can become a father. These
illustrations absolutely show that a boy, or a young man, does not have
to gratify his passions. A boy can live as pure a life as a girl.

=The effects of impure thinking.=--The secret of living a pure life is in
controlling the mind and knowing how to use this energy. The mind has
the power to stimulate many of the glands of the body to greater
activity. For example, suppose that you have been hard at work for six
hours, then you come into the presence of some fine fruit or a table
spread with good things. What happens? Your mouth begins to water. What
causes this? The sight of food. Not exactly. The sight of the food
caused your mind to think of the food, to long for it. You remember how
the different things taste. The longer you have to wait, the more your
mouth waters. Now the philosophy of it is this, your mind is stimulating
the little salivary glands in your mouth and causing them to secrete the
saliva rapidly. Just now you hear some one crying, Fire! Fire! Looking
through the window, you see the neighbor’s building is on fire. You
rush over and for one hour you try to put out the flames, save some
property or someone’s life. Your mind is wholly withdrawn from all
thought of food. During that hour your salivary glands secrete just
enough saliva to keep your mouth moist, perhaps the heat and labor left
your mouth dry. Now you return home and your attention is called back to
the food. Again the saliva is formed rapidly, ten or twenty times as
fast as while you were fighting the fire. Now, when a boy has impure
thoughts in relation to his sexual organs, the mind stimulates passion.
If he is under the age of puberty, constant passion will injure his
nervous system, lead him to form the secret sin and will misdirect that
energy so that he will fail to be a perfect boy, when puberty dawns.
After puberty dawns, impure thinking and all impure states of the mind
will so stimulate the sexual glands that they will secrete more semen
than the body can absorb. What cannot be absorbed will in some way be
wasted from the body. It is in this way that boys become imperfect men.
Nothing that a boy can do is more important than for him to keep his
mind pure. Two things will help him; a Christian life and a strong will.
One is a gift; the other must be cultivated.

=Ways of using up this energy.=--It is very important for a boy or young
man to know how to use this energy. We know that if this energy is
wasted, it leaves the body weak, makes the mind stupid and hurts us
morally. We have learned that when this energy is retained, our physical
strength is increased, our minds are more alert and our moral natures
develop better. This shows that this energy can be directed to these
parts of our being. How is this to be done? Let a boy who is conscious
of sexual desire, tempted to practice the secret sin, take a brisk walk
for three or four miles and his passion is gone. What became of it? He
directed the energy to his muscles and expressed it in labor. Here is
another boy with passion, he too is tempted to waste this energy. He has
a hard lesson in mathematics. Let him will to take his mind off sex and
force it to solve those problems. In an hour or two passion is gone.
What became of it? This time he directed it to his brain and it
increased his mental power. Here is another boy. His body is healthy and
strong, his mind is bright, but he is cold, unkind, unsympathetic and
indifferent to the claims of the needy. He has passion and is tempted to
waste his energy. What should he do? Let him spend an hour loving the
unlovely, boosting the discouraged, speaking kind words and doing noble
deeds and his passion will be gone. What became of it? He built his
energy into his sentiments, feelings and moral nature.

=The meaning of passion.=--The consciousness of passion is the voice of
nature telling you that you have an extra supply of creative energy on
hand, that you can use in performing physical, mental and moral service.
If this energy is wasted, it will unfit you to perform the service. It
is for you to decide what use you will make of this energy. Would you
prefer momentary pleasure? Then, you can find it in sexual
gratification. But you should remember that pay-day comes later.
Inferior manhood, disease, suffering, sorrow, regret and failure lie in
the road of all who live in vice. Only perverted ideals and views of
life would lead one to seek pleasure on the plane of an animal. Man’s
highest, truest and sweetest pleasures come from the consciousness of
perfect physical, mental and moral development. Self-management,
self-control, self-government will keep us in harmony with nature and
God and result in true happiness and success.




CHAPTER XXV

FATHER’S FIFTH TALK--THE TRUE YOUNG KNIGHT


=The true young knight.=--A true young knight is a boy, or young man, who
is strong, brave, ambitious, intelligent, gallant and pure. The knights
of the Middle Ages were strong men. They practiced athletics, took their
outdoor sports and were proud of their physical strength. In those days,
one with a weak, defective body could not be a knight. They were also,
brave men. They would die for what they believed to be right. They were
very gallant toward women. They would offer every courtesy and respect
to girlhood, womanhood, wifehood and motherhood. They had to be pure men
to be strong, brave, gallant and manly. A knight would die in defense of
womanhood.

The purpose of this chapter is to inspire you to become a true knight in
your social relations with girls and ladies. The proper social relations
of boys and girls, men and women, is one of the best ways of developing
the social side of our lives, of improving the mind and strengthening
our moral natures. God has made us social beings. He wants us to enjoy
life.

[Illustration: DEVELOPING KNIGHTHOOD]

=Treat all girls as you would have boys treat your sister.=--Until girls
are sixteen and boys are eighteen, when thrown together, it is wisest
and best for them to engage in plays and games as children without any
thought of being sweethearts. Small boys should learn that it is not
manly for them to squeeze the hand of a girl, tease, pinch or pull a
girl’s hair and he should not think of such an ungentlemanly thing as to
try to kiss a girl. The reason for this advice is, these relations tend
to create in the mind thoughts that a true knight will not entertain.
You would not want a boy to treat your sister in this way. A boy who
would treat another boy’s sister as he would not want her brother to
treat his sister, is not a true knight. Nature and God teach that man is
woman’s protector.

=The truest bravery.=--The boy who would expose himself to danger and
death to save a girl from drowning or being crushed by a street car, is
brave and deserves much praise. But he is not as brave and does not
deserve as much praise, as does the boy who defends the honor and purity
of a girl, not his sister. To positively refuse to allow a boy to talk
about a girl in your presence in a way that you would not allow him to
speak to your sister, is the courage of a knight. The good name of a
girl is worth more to her than money, houses and lands. It is so easy
for boys, who engage in obscene language about girls, to invent and
tell some story about some girl who is perfectly innocent, and, in this
way, start others to talking about her. This is called slander. It is
one of the most unmanly and cowardly deeds a boy can be guilty of. This
is a very common sin among a class of boys. A boy cannot become a true
knight who allows himself to have wrong thoughts about girls, much less
to talk about them. All vulgar men were once vulgar boys. If you will
cultivate a hatred for vulgarity while you are a boy, you will hate it
when you are a man.

=Bad company.=--When hundreds of prisoners were asked, “What brought you
to this?” they replied, “Bad company brought us to this.” No doubt that
more boys go wrong through bad company than through any other agency.
When a boy keeps bad company, it will be very hard for him not to do as
they do. Many times he will do wrong rather than be called “baby.” A
true knight will be interested in helping a bad boy to overcome his
temptations, but he cannot run the risk of being injured by making a bad
boy his companion. If he associates with the rude, listens to vulgarity
long, he will become rude and vulgar.

=Boys should protect girls.=--The very thought of a boy’s insulting your
sister causes a feeling of great hatred to rise in your breast. Why is
this? Girls are not as strong as boys. They need protection. That
feeling comes to you because you know that you are your sister’s
protector. This is bravery. But the knightliest young knight, is the boy
who will not speak an unmanly word about another boy’s sister and will
bravely and kindly rebuke the boy who does.

=The true knight has one standard of morals.=--No young knight would play
and associate with a girl who uses cigarettes, vulgarity or swears.
Then, if he is a brave, true knight, he will not ask for better company
than he is willing to give. The true knight of the twentieth century
will have but one standard of morals. Ever since the days of savagery,
when man could swap, exchange or sell his daughters in the same way that
he could his property, society has been accustomed to a double standard
of morals--purity and temperance for woman, do as you please for boys
and men. In the days of savagery, the value of a girl on the marriage
market was determined by her being pure. If she had been impure, no man
wanted to buy her to become his wife, but she was stoned to death or
forced to become a slave. Man was free. No one owned him. He could live
just as he pleased. Woman could not do as she pleased. Her very life,
the privilege of becoming a wife and a mother all depended on her being
pure. Is it not strange that people have allowed this relic of savagery
to pass down the centuries without correcting it. People take what is
customary to be right. They do not try to decide whether a custom is
fair, just and right or not. It is hard to rid our minds of this old
custom. If you should see a girl or woman walking along the street of a
city smoking you would condemn her as a bad woman. But there goes a man
doing the same thing. Is he as bad as the woman? We judge that he is
not. Unless we know him to be a bad man, we regard and treat him as a
gentleman. On a street corner or in a hotel you hear a girl or woman
swearing and using the most obscene language. You do not hesitate to
believe that she is bad. You would frown upon her in society. You would
scorn her association. Even the guilty man would not respect such a
woman. This is because custom has biased our very thinking. The very
best people are unfair to the girl and the woman. They forgive in man
what they condemn in the girl and woman.

=Will you enlist in the new knighthood?=--There was never an organized
effort to break down and destroy the double standard of morals until
some twenty years ago. In England there are several hundred
organizations of young men, in some of these there are several hundred
members, and they have pledged themselves to live as pure lives as the
girls they expect some day to marry. Every one of these boys and young
men is a knight. These organizations are being formed throughout Canada,
and there are some being formed in the United States. The world has
never offered such a grand and great opportunity for boys to become
knights as it does in this century. In the days of chivalry, the young
man who gave his life to protect the honor of a lady was a truer knight
than the man who gave his life on the battlefield to protect his
country. It takes a higher form of bravery and manhood to protect the
virtue of girlhood and womanhood than it does to face whizzing bullets,
booming cannons, and exploding shells. The great purity movement of this
age, with its ever-increasing army of brave, determined and
self-sacrificing authors and lecturers, is enlisting and marshalling an
army of knights destined to overthrow this monster of savagery. All over
this country thousands of brave boys and men are enlisting. This great
twentieth century crusade against vice is summoning to its ranks every
chivalrous boy and man and every good girl and woman. Here is the chance
to be a true knight. Will you enlist? We invite you. We welcome you to
become a true knight.




FIFTH DIVISION

VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN, MARRIED OR SINGLE




CHAPTER XXVI

THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SEX


=Views of the past.=--In the past, sex has been regarded as vitally a part
of our physical organism. We are now learning that sex is vitally and
substantially a part of our psychic nature--physical, mental and moral
life. In the male, this sex life may become chemicalized and find
expression on a purely physical plane, but this is not its true or
highest function. Its highest function in relation to the individual,
male or female, is the creation of new life--physical, mental and moral.
Its highest function in relation to society is that of reproduction.

=The unsexed male horse.=--If the male horse be deprived of certain sexual
glands when he is a year old, at maturity he will not have the sparkling
eye; the high arched muscular neck; the heavy flowing mane and tail; the
deep hip and chest muscles, and the elastic bearing of the stallion.

=The caponized male bird.=--If a male bird be caponized, he will not grow
a large comb, ear-lobes and wattles, long glossy, flowing neck and tail
feathers, or strong sharp spurs on his legs; he will be without
gallantry, courage and energy.

=The eunuch.=--If a boy be made a eunuch, when he is twenty-five he will
have no beard, unless it be a few short scattering hairs; his voice will
be devoid of the deep bass tones of a man; his shoulders will be round
and drooped like a girl’s; he will be without bravery, gallantry,
ambition, energy and will be very limited in mental capacity.

=The unsexed girl.=--If the ovaries and breasts of a small girl should be
removed, when she is twenty she would not have the graceful outlines of
limbs, body, shoulders, neck and face; her skin would not become thin
and fair; her cheeks would not have the ruddy glow; her eyes would not
be bright and expressive; her hair would not be long, heavy and glossy;
her voice would not be rich and tender, sympathetic and musical; she
would not take a keen interest in intellectual, moral and social
questions; she would be a woman devoid of many of the physical, mental
and moral characteristics belonging to attractive, beautiful womanhood.

Without these organs of sex it would not be possible for a girl to
develop into attractive normal womanhood. Should these organs be
removed after she has attained maturity, she and her friends would
notice a gradual loss in her physical, mental and moral tone.

=The two functions of the sexual glands.=--These easily recognized and
well established facts show that these organs perform an involuntary and
continuous function that is vitally related to the attainment and
maintenance of perfect womanhood. We know that whatever interferes with
this function will prevent the attainment and maintenance of these
ideals. What is the nature of this function? The monthly creation of the
ovum and the monthly period do not answer the question, for both
represent a sacrifice. The function of becoming a mother does not
explain it, for the reason that perfect womanhood may be attained and
maintained in the single life. The explanation lies in the fact that the
sexual glands of a woman, breasts and ovaries, each have two
functions--a periodic and special function and a continuous involuntary
function. After the dawning of puberty the ovaries, once every
twenty-eight days, produce an egg or ovum. This is their periodic
function. Should she become a mother and nurse her child, this function
of lactation would be the periodic function of the breasts.

=The continuous function.=--Day and night, asleep and awake, both the
breasts and the ovaries are generating an internal secretion that is
being absorbed and used by every organ of the body, faculty of the mind
and attribute of the moral nature. This continuous function, not only
aids in the attainment and maintenance of perfect womanhood, but enables
her to perform perfectly the periodic functions of motherhood and
lactation.

The generation, absorption, distribution and assimilation of the sex
life in the development and normal functions of womanhood are controlled
by natural laws, but these laws may be aided or interfered with by the
individual. As a result of morbid sex heredity, ignorance of sex laws
and a false education, most people misdirect their sex life. When we
learn to plan intelligently for the creation of children, to respect
their prenatal rights, to give them a warm and loving welcome into our
homes and wisely to instruct them in regard to their sex natures, the
sex life will then be intelligently directed towards the development of
a more perfect manhood and womanhood.

=The relation of the mind to the salivary glands.=--It is quite important
for one to understand the relation of the mind to the functions of the
sexual system. The mind has the power to stimulate many of the glands of
the body to unusual activity. In the presence of delicious fruit, or a
table spread with tempting food, the mind stimulates the salivary glands
to increased activity. The blood flows freely to the glands and they
secrete saliva many times as fast as they would when the mind is engaged
in other things. If, when the saliva is being secreted so rapidly the
mind should be suddenly directed to something else the unusual flow of
saliva would cease.

=The relation of the mind to the organs of generation.=--The mind can
awaken, intensify, and prolong a desire for food. This causes a rush of
blood to the salivary glands, stimulating them to unusual activity in
the secretion of saliva. In the same way the mind can awaken, intensify
and prolong sexual excitement. This causes a rush of blood to the
genital glands and stimulates them to unusual activity. In the male,
this results in the dissipation of the vital energy by voluntary or
involuntary discharges of the vital fluid. In the female, the internal
secretions or vital energy does not become chemicalized as in the male,
but is directed to wrong channels or is dissipated by radiation.

There are some authors who hold that the injuries sustained by the
female, due to impure habits of thinking, the secret sin, or sexual
excesses, are not caused by dissipated sexual life, but are due to the
strain upon the nervous system. We have already observed that the
development of the feminine physical and mental characteristics during
adolescence and the maintenance of womanhood are due to the generation
of an internal secretion of the genital glands. The nerves, as well as
all other organs of the body, faculties of the mind and powers of the
soul, are injured by the dissipation of this energy.

=What produces impure thoughts.=--Whatever leads the mind to entertain
lascivious thoughts about matters of sex will cause an excess of blood
to flow to the genital organs, resulting in sex consciousness and
passion. The reading of novels tainted with immoral suggestions,
admiring obscene pictures, engaging in the public round dance or waltz,
kissing, caressing, teasing, fondling, or what modern society calls
“spooning” if indulged in by the sexes, will produce these results.
Self-pollution, or the secret sin, is more common among the females than
was formerly believed. These indulgences lead to abnormal sexual desire,
weaken the will and make it possible for the girl to surrender the
priceless gem of virtue.

=Effects of impure thinking.=--The dissipation of the sex life in any one
or more of these ways will slowly undermine the physical, mental and
moral health. The victim loses the snap and luster of the eye, the ruddy
glow of health, plumpness of features, and becomes conscious of bodily
lassitude, nervousness, loss of mental and moral tone. Dissipation of
the sex life will explain many a nervous invalid and consumptive
patient. = It is for you to decide.=--The continuous involuntary function
of the creative organs is to generate this creative force, this life
principle. It is for you to decide what use you will make of it. If you
keep your mind pure, eat only wholesome food, take plenty of exercise,
breathe deeply, sleep in properly ventilated rooms, spend much time in
God’s out-of-doors, this creative life will vitalize the blood, give
elasticity and strength to the muscles, and will express itself in
physical health, strength and beauty. By keeping your mind pure,
following the forgotten physical directions, taking plenty of mental
exercise in reading books of high mental and moral tone, hearing good
speakers and indulging in independent thought, this vital principle will
be directed to the brain, where it will be converted into intellectual
brilliancy and mental vigor. If you keep your mind pure and follow the
physical directions given, cultivate an unselfish interest in the
well-being of others, sympathize with the sorrowing, boost the
discouraged, love the unlovely, help to bear the burdens of others,
recognize your need of Christ, surrender your life to Him, this
God-given creative life will be directed to the moral nature. This is
Perfect Womanhood.




CHAPTER XXVII

THE VICIOUS NOVEL


=The introduction.=--Since you were a very small girl I have very
carefully selected the stories told you and the books and papers read to
you. What we read very largely determines our thoughts, words, actions
and character. In the past I have told you many stories of my childhood,
stories I had heard, stories found in the Bible and good books, besides
reading many good books to you. During these years I have selected many
simple interesting books for you to read. I made the selection for you
because I knew what books were too difficult for you; what books would
interest you; what books would do you good and what books would do you
harm. Then you enjoyed those stories which most appealed to a child.

=Why girls are fond of novels.=--Usually the novel craze comes on a girl
when she is about fifteen years of age. This is because of certain
changes that are taking place. God has made her a social being. About
this time in a girl’s life the developing sex nature is stimulating and
awakening the social nature. Thoughts of a lover, courtship, marriage,
wifehood and motherhood are occasionally entertained by her. This is
perfectly natural. The reason she wants to read novels is because they
deal with the social experiences and this appeals to and satisfies her
developing social life.

=She is in a period of transition.=--Wonderful changes are now taking
place, not only in the delicate curves of bust and hips, in the dainty
coloring and superb vitality of body, but also in the thoughts, feelings
and emotions. At this time a girl is passing from girlhood to womanhood.
It is the developing sex life that is producing all of these new
changes. With this new life and new experiences come new dangers. Prior
to this time there has been but little difference between her mind and
that of her brother’s. But, now, this new life is developing the woman
in her. In this transition period, she is conscious of the girl she was
and partly is, and of the woman she is to be and partly is. This is
rather a mixed experience. This accounts for the girl’s changeable
states of mind, emotions, feelings and sentiments. If this new life is
properly directed, it will contribute much to the joy, charm, and beauty
of an ideal womanhood.

=The difference between a good novel and a bad novel.=--The world is being
flooded with novels, good and bad. They are very popular because they
are light reading and appeal to the social nature. Their authors write
largely about courtship and marriage. Some of these books are good and
some dangerously bad. A good novel is one that is high in literary and
moral tone, true to life and gives one a natural and true idea of noble
manhood and pure womanhood; of their social relations in courtship,
marriage and parentage. A good novel can be read by a girl to her
parents or before a company of young people without embarrassment. A bad
novel is one that is either highly sensational, intensely romantic,
untrue to life, tainted with immorality, or in some way gives one a
perverted vision of all the sacred relations of life. A novel that a
girl would be ashamed to read before her parents, or a group of friends,
belongs to that class of literature that should be tabooed.

=The effects of the vicious novel.=--If the girl reads the questionable or
vicious novels, fancies them, admires their heroes and heroines, and in
her mind condones their indiscretions, excuses their sins,--as the
author does,--the influence cannot be otherwise than bad. Such novels
must give an unnatural tone to her thoughts, feelings and sentiments.
Cause and effect are always inseparably related. The outward life is the
enfolding of the inner life of feelings, sentiments and emotions. This
inner life is affected by what we read. If a girl delights in reading
novels that condone, excuse, or advocate a girl receiving caresses,
kisses and keeping late hours at night with a beau, she will not likely
greet her prince at the marriage altar with the rare queenly gift of
unkissed lips. If she delights to read the novels whose heroine was
angelic in all things, except in the insignificant item of personal
purity, she too will be in danger of lacking that same element of
character when she marries, should she be so fortunate as to become a
wife. If she delights in reading novels, whose married heroines lived
“double lives,” she too, one day may be guilty of imitating the heroines
she worshiped.

Novels which are untrue to life, tainted with immorality, certainly
account for many girls going astray, many who overtrust their lovers,
and many uncongenial marriages and many divorces. The title of a novel
usually indicates its contents. Novels with sensational titles or titles
suggesting unnatural and immoral thoughts, appealing to the morbid and
baser feelings should be avoided.

=How to direct and conserve the creative life.=--This new life, the sex
life of a girl, if rightly retained and directed will give strength,
health, beauty and perfection of the body; alertness, strength and
brilliancy of every faculty of the mind and power of the soul. The sex
life is three-fold in its nature, being related to the physical, mental
and soul life.

It is a law of human biology that the direction of this energy is very
largely under the direction of the mind. If one desires bodily
development and will take regular and systematic physical training, this
energy can be built into the muscles giving them the body of an athlete.
If one desires intellectual development and will regularly and
systematically exercise every faculty of the mind, this energy will be
directed to the brain, resulting in intellectual brilliancy. The same
law applies with equal force to the development of the feelings,
sentiments and emotions of the moral nature. If we take normal physical,
mental and moral exercise, this energy will be conserved in the blood,
which is the life, and directed so as to produce a perfect development.
Sin alone has brought conflict and inharmony into our three-fold nature
and prevents perfect happiness and perfect development. This is an
appalling fact. We are hereditarily degenerate. God’s grace and the
right exercise of the will in relation to perfect self-control are
necessary conditions of individual and race improvement. If lascivious
thoughts are allowed control of the will, this creative life will be
misdirected, the generative system will become abnormal, resulting in
sexual weakness and depriving the entire being of the benefits of this
energy.

=The relation of reading to the disposition of the sex life.=--A fondness
for reading highly romantic, intensely sensational, untrue and immoral
novels is abnormal and lead to a misdirection of this creative life.
There is the romantic element in our nature which should be developed,
but it should not be over-developed. We should have a balanced
development. The degenerate elements in our nature, inherited or
acquired, should be suppressed and eliminated. The vicious novel
increases the creation of the sex life and at the same time misdirects
it. This intensifies our degeneracy.

Reading good literature, facts or fiction, or both, is normal and leads
to a natural generation of and distribution of this energy. Girls should
read a general line of good literature. The romantic nature is
especially active in youth. It is for this reason that the youth is
inclined to read only fiction. If in young life we would develop
properly, we should choose a general line of reading, embracing some of
the standard books of fiction, history, travel, poetry, biography,
essays and religion.

=Advice concerning books.=--Every young person should possess some good
books of his own, even if but few. They should read good books. Time is
too valuable to be wasted in reading bad or even mediocre books. In this
way they keep company with the great men and women of this day and of
the past. In this way they become heirs to the intellectual and
spiritual wealth of the past and are intimately associated with and
related to the mental and spiritual aristocracy of the present. They may
not be recognized in their community as belonging to the “upper tens,”
but they can keep company with the best men and women of the ages by
reading good books.

Just as we have read and talked together about good books and stories in
the past, so I trust we shall find it pleasant and profitable to be
companionable in our reading in the future. I will be glad to aid you in
the selection of such books and magazines as will be pleasant and
profitable for you to read in the near future. I will always appreciate
the privilege of hearing you read a book that you like, of discussing
the merits of a book with you, or of giving you the best advice that I
am capable of giving with reference to any book that you may desire to
read.




CHAPTER XXVIII

THE PUBLIC DANCE


=Why attractive.=--Dancing is one of the social temptations that come to
young girls when they are fifteen and older. The gliding, swaying
movements of the dance, the brilliantly lighted halls, the intoxicating
strains of fast music, the gay and jovial throng and the display of
dress appeal strongly to the feelings of young people.

=Dancing in itself is not sinful or objectionable.=--There is nothing
intrinsically wrong in the act of dancing. There is nothing sinful in
the act of bathing the entire body. But the act can be performed under
social conditions when it would not be only a sin but a crime. There
could be no moral objection to the dancing together of young men,
neither could there be any moral objection to the dancing of young
ladies with each other. Individuals could dance alone, brothers and
sisters and near relatives from homes of culture, refinement and good
morals could dance together without committing a moral wrong. Or if
society had remained satisfied with the old “Virginia reel” or the
“square dance” little harm would come of it. Dancing with these
restrictions, is seldom engaged in to-day for the reason that the
pleasure found in the waltz and round dance is so largely diminished.

=The secret of the dance’s hold on society.=--If modern dancing were
restricted to the chaste and pure, and limited to the parlors of the
best homes and safeguarded by the presence of the heads of that home,
dancing would lose much of its attractive hold upon society. If the
dancing of the sexes together were prohibited by law and should the
government provide well equipped dance halls in every village and city
to be used free of charge, with the one restriction that the sexes dance
separate, there would be little temptation to dance. This reveals the
true secret of the public dance. Here is about the relation assumed by
young people in executing the dance as we have it to-day. The young man
places his right arm around the waist of the young lady; she places her
head against his left shoulder, her heaving breasts are against his, her
right hand is held in his left, he places his foot, sometimes his leg,
between hers. To this must be added, the young lady, if properly
attired, must wear a sleeveless, low-necked dress exposing, in part, her
secondary sexual charms, the breasts; wine, ale and beer are often
indulged in freely by many of the young men and occasionally by some of
the young women.

=The public dance a menace to society.=--From this description you will
easily see that the public dance, as we have it to-day, appears to have
been especially contrived, in all of its appointments, to awaken and
arouse the sex nature. It is for this reason almost all truly religious
people and churches condemn the public dance. In almost all communities
the public dance has been relegated by the best classes of society to a
lower class. There are some communities where the dance is encouraged in
homes of wealth, culture and refinement. For a few years at least, they
pride themselves in the fact that only the best are invited. Here, of
course, the harm would be reduced to some degree. Many erring women
attribute their fall in part, or entirely to the public dance. Many
vicious young men use the dance as their most successful means of
accomplishing the ruin of young girls. When the young woman assumes for
the first time the relation of the dance, her sense of womanly modesty
is greatly shocked. If she continues to dance, this relation becomes
less embarrassing. If she becomes very fond of dancing, this will
usually be due to her passions being aroused by the magnetic, amorous
influence of her partner in the dance. She will not enjoy dancing with
men who fail to excite in her those agreeable feelings. She will be
popular with this class of men to the extent that she is able to respond
to their amorous nature. She will not fully realize that the pleasure
she enjoys, while dancing, is inseparable from her sex nature; she may
never fall, but constant sexual excitement caused by the dance will
produce all the evil effects of the secret sin.

=Other objections.=--Aside from this main objection, there are a number of
other objections. The flimsy dress, late hours at night, over-exertion
and poorly ventilated halls are in violation of the simple laws of
health. It fosters unfortunate social distinctions, leads many young
people to violate the wishes of their parents and their church vows,
keeps many from Christ, and interferes with the spiritual life of
others. It is responsible for not a few life-long invalids, premature
deaths from heart trouble and consumption, ruined marriages and cursed
children with illegitimacy. It has broken the hearts, bowed the heads,
carved lines of sorrow on the face and silvered the hair of loving
devoted parents.

=Right information needed.=--Few young people understand the nature of the
dance. Those who have condemned it have rarely done so in the right
spirit or given a satisfactory reason why the public dance is wrong.
Owing to the relation of the modern dance to the sex nature it would
usually be wiser to discuss it before single sex audiences. If young
people, who are interested in developing a perfect manhood and
womanhood, understood how the modern dance complicates each other’s sex
problems, they would discard the dance from their social programmes. I
am sure they would arrange for other forms of diversions and
entertainment. The cold-blooded facts are, few, if any, vigorous young
men and women can persist long in the modern dance and maintain
perfectly chaste thoughts and emotions. It is a sad thought that many
young people are not interested in developing perfect manhood and
perfect womanhood. They are not likely to heed the advice of this talk.
By all who understand the value of the creative life, the importance of
keeping the mind pure, this advice will be appreciated and heeded.




CHAPTER XXIX

A YOUNG WOMAN’S ETHICS


=Girlhood.=--We have talked with each other about a small girl’s ethics,
the proper social relations of girls with boys. Your girlhood has been
one of innocence, playfulness and unbounded joy. I have noticed with
real pleasure that you have not been in a hurry to leave the period of
girlhood. Although you will soon be seventeen, and you are quite as
large as your mother, you will not be a mature woman until you are about
twenty.

=Occasional association with young men.=--You have had one or two
schoolroom flirtations, of small consequence, a few times you have been
escorted home from school or church by youths who had but recently
reached the dignity of “long pants,” but you are now of an age when you
will be thrown more in company with young men. Many will call to see you
whom you will entertain no thought of marrying. For several years your
social relation with young men will be only that of friendship. To
associate occasionally with young men who are socially, intellectually

[Illustration: FRIENDSHIP.]

and morally, your equal is natural, enjoyable and in many ways very
helpful.

=Girls should demand a single standard of morals.=--You should treat young
men as you would wish young women to treat your brother. Many young men
will want to call, whose habits and character are such that you cannot
associate with them, without injury to your social and moral standing.
If you do not know a young man’s record, who seeks your company, have
your papa or brother look it up. Be frank, kind and positive in your
explanation that you cannot encourage his attentions because of his evil
habits and his bad record. Assure him that you will gladly assist him to
reform and to step up to the standard you hold for a young man, but that
you cannot and will not approve of his life by stepping down to his
plane. If all girls would demand a “white life” of young men, fewer
would sow their “wild oats.” If all sensible and moral girls would
frankly and kindly express their disapproval of the filthy, expensive
and injurious habits of using tobacco and drink, there would be fewer
“boozers” and unfortunate appendixes to the wet end of cigarettes.

=Many young men are indiscreet or immoral.=--In your association with
young men be natural, be yourself, be frank, use good sense, guard
against any indiscretion in yourself or in young men. It is a custom
with many young men to try to hold the girl’s hand, to play with her
hair, to pinch her arms, to pat her cheeks, to drop carelessly their
hands in her lap, or to place their arms about her neck or waist. Unless
densely ignorant, such young men are vicious. All the males among the
lower animals, at certain seasons, make a peculiar noise recognized by
the females as a “sex call,” and the males have their peculiar methods
of teasing the females inviting their consent to the sexual act. Whether
young people put this sex interpretation on pinching, caressing, hugging
and kissing or not, it is, in its final analysis, a sex call. These are
the methods used by the seducer. These are the indiscretions into which
uninformed youths easily drift to their ruin.

If a young man appears to be ignorant of the real nature of these
indiscretions, he is to be pitied and helped. If he persists in these
indiscretions, he should not be extended the courtesy of an invitation
to make another call. If you allow one young man to kiss you, he
believes that you allow others the same privilege, whether you do or
not. Young men who possess one spark of manhood will admire and respect
you more than the girls they may kiss.

=Be sensible.=--In your conversation with young men, have something
sensible and interesting to say. Have some charming story to read or
tell them. Have them read or tell you a story. This will enable you to
help them cultivate an interest in intellectual matters. Many young
people get into the habit of indulging in the most insane and ridiculous
conversation.

=“Hands off.”=--Moonlight walks along unfrequented streets or roads, night
buggy rides, late hours in the parlor, low-necked dresses and suggestive
post cards, photos and pictures are unnecessary sources of temptation.
When young women permit these social privileges and conditions, young
men naturally conclude that they are easy victims. The clear-eyed,
frank, pure, common-sense girl will have but little trouble in letting
young men know her disapproval of that which is questionable, indiscreet
or undignified. They will soon learn to respect her convictions. She
will seldom find it necessary to enforce her ideals in an aggressive
way. She will kindly, tactfully and positively enforce the rule, “hands
off”; she will keep ever in her mind the ideal of manhood she hopes one
day to realize in her king. She will never do or say anything while
entertaining young men that would displease the mental image of her
future prince.

=Letter writing.=--If you should correspond with a young man, be
interesting, sensible, cautious and sincere. You should never put in a
letter to a young man, what you would object to your mother’s reading.
You would be surprised to know how many young men compare their letters
from young women. If you will remember this and consider the possible
consequence, you will be cautious what you put in a letter.

=Ethics of the engaged.=--Thus far we have studied the ethics of young
women in their relation to young men, as friends only. Friendship may
assume a more serious nature and ripen into love. Love is the strongest
and at the same time the weakest, the most fickle; the most far-sighted
and the blindest; the wisest and sometimes the most foolish, of human
attributes. Love should listen to the voice of reason, judgment and
will. That experience, called love, that makes courtship so delightful
and beautiful, marriage desirable and sacred, that harmonizes
differences, blends personalities, and makes the two one, is the child
of the sex life. When the sex life is normal, the two having lived
virtuous lives, love will be pure and intense. If one, or both have
misused their sex life, lust, the child of sensuality, may be easily
mistaken for love. Harmony, happiness and heaven will reign in the home
where both have been pure before marriage and remain true to each other
after marriage. Where one or both break their marriage vows the bond of
love is broken. The deed may never be confessed, but the estrangement
will be felt. Lust is responsible for most unfortunate marriages,
domestic inharmonies and divorces. Lust on the part of one, and love on
the part of the other, can never make a happy marriage. Pure love on
the part of both is the only thing that can stand the inevitable tests
of marriage.

=Some advice.=--Shun sudden emotions, cultivate sincerity, covet neither
beauty nor wealth, be true to the best that is within you; don’t be in a
hurry to become engaged; the first chance may not be the best; wait for
the coming of your prince. Until he comes, don’t trifle with your
affections or the affections of a gentleman friend by making marriage
engagements. This is dangerous, as well as a very great sin. When you
have found your prince, you should not postpone marriage by a long
engagement. It is not necessary or wise to wait until you are as well
equipped for housekeeping as your parents now are.

=Long engagements.=--If your prince is healthy, industrious, economical
and has a few hundred ahead; or if he has a good education and a good
position, with the other qualities, he can make a living for his family.
If either of these conditions exists, a long engagement should be
avoided. If either of these conditions does not exist a definite
engagement with a man would be unwise.

=Hasty marriages.=--The other extreme of hasty marriage is to be
condemned. If marriage takes place when one or both are immature, the
offspring must suffer. If an engagement follows a very brief
acquaintance, disagreeable qualities may be discovered later, to be
followed by a broken engagement. Hasty and brief engagements often
terminate in the divorce courts.

=Closing advice.=--When friendship has ripened into love, the vital
question being asked and answered; fraternal relations established
between the families; and the engagement is a blissful reality, what
then should be the rules governing the young woman’s ethics? Inflexible
rules would be difficult to give. Much depends upon the man to whom she
is engaged and the length of the engagement. During the pending
engagement both should remember that they are not married, and hence
there are liberties in the married life that are not theirs until the
civil phase of marriage has completed their oneness. All embracing and
sitting in each other’s lap should be entirely avoided. Pictures,
showbills and post cards have taught in recent years some very vicious
lessons to the youth. An occasional good-by kiss between the engaged, at
the close of a call, just before parting, unaccompanied by an embrace
should result in no harm to either.

She should be frank, sincere and earnest, versatile, entertaining and
affectionate, but very discreet. If she follows these simple and
essential rules, she and her prince will be all the happier during their
pending engagement and will respect and love each other all the more
through life.




CHAPTER XXX

THE WRONGED GIRL


=Why most girls go wrong.=--In my talk on a young woman’s ethics, I
endeavored to give you such information and advice, regarding your
association with young men, as would safeguard your character. Few girls
have been as well informed by their mothers in these matters as they
should have been. As a result of ignorance, many girls, even out of our
best homes, annually fall. Were all girls taught by their mothers along
this important line and could they see the tragic consequence of going
wrong, it is evident that very few young women would ever go astray.

=Few women go wrong from choice.=--It should be said, in justice to fallen
women, that but few would have gone wrong, had it not been for the
seductive wiles of designing men. Man is woman’s natural protector.
Women naturally trust men, and look to them for protection. The young
man who lives a pure life, maintained by noble, pure ideas, is a safe
guardian of a young woman’s virtue. Unfortunately such young men are the
exceptions and not the rule. Most young men receive their first lessons
in matters of sex from ignorant, sinful men. From their early teens
their highest ideas of manhood involve the ruin of some girl. The
training that most boys and young men receive leads naturally to these
perverted ideas. As a result of this false training the natural feelings
of being a friend, a champion, a protector of a girl’s honor and virtue
are gradually transformed into the sentiments of a libertine. Such young
men are found in all grades of society. They cultivate the acquaintance
of innocent, unsuspecting girls, make love to them, win their confidence
and affections, set dates for early marriage, then practice their
seductive methods with vows of marriage oft repeated, pluck the lily of
virtue and leave their victims to suffer endless remorse, while they
gloat over their successes, go unwhipped and lose no social prestige.

=If motherhood does not expose her sin.=--If this betrayal does not result
in her becoming a mother, and her betrayer does not expose her sin to
the public, her problems will be much more easily solved. But, even if
she is so fortunate as to escape motherhood and her betrayer does not
boast to others of what he has done, yet no pen can portray, no rhetoric
can describe and no imagination can conceive her fearful dreams, her
fevered memories and her agonies of remorse.

=If motherhood does expose her sin.=--The gravest problems arise where
the girl is to become a mother. To shield herself and to save her family
from disgrace, her first thought will be to use some means to rid
herself of the unborn life. In this awful hour of conscious guilt,
mental bewilderment and soul agony the girl would gladly welcome death
in any form rather than face the inevitable exposure that awaits her.
God only knows how many girls commit suicide and how many mysterious
deaths might be explained by this cause. Where they succeed in
destroying the unwelcome life, physical health is often wrecked. But
suppose that death or ill health does not follow, what must be the
effects on the mind and soul that follow this cold-blooded act of
willful prenatal murder.

=If her lover refuses marriage, she should confess to her mother.=--It is
not to be wondered at that so many girls, when deceived in a love
affair, rather than face unforgiving parents, a cold and heartless
world, a social condition that excuses in man what is an unpardonable
sin in woman, choose a life of immorality in a house of shame. This
unkindness, this injustice, this down-right cruelty toward woman is a
relic of savagery that clings on to civilization with a tenacity that
even Christianity has thus far failed to eradicate. Until the truth of a
“White life for two” frees us from this monster of injustice, what
should the wronged girl do? To commit suicide, to murder her unborn
child, to run away from home and give herself over to an immoral life
only adds greater sins to the one already committed. Poor, weak,
ignorant, confiding girl, her lot is now a hard one. If there were
anything remotely akin to manhood in her betrayer, he would now do the
only thing he can do that is right--marry her. If he refuses, then she
should at once go to her parents and make the most humiliating
confession a human being can make. It may require more effort to do this
than to try to solve the problem in any other way, but usually this is
best. Sometimes the parents will pity and forgive, sometimes they will
cast her out. The last should never be true. Could the parents only
realize how much of her fall was due to their lack of proper education,
how much was due to passion they may have bequeathed her, they would not
cast her out from home at such a time.

=Homes for the unfortunate girls.=--Her parents, brothers and sisters have
social rights that must be respected. For her to remain at home during
her sickness would attract unnecessary attention to the event and
subject innocent members of the family to needless humiliation due to
the ridicule and scorn of the neighbors. There are homes in all our
large cities for the unfortunate girl where she can spend a few months
before and after the birth of her child. Should the child be
still-born, or die soon after birth, by going away from home, she and
her family may be shielded from the curiosity and scorn of the friends
and neighbors.

=She should be true to her child.=--New problems arise if her child lives.
Most young illegitimate mothers give their children over to some “Home
Finders Institution.” Circumstances may sometimes justify, or seem to
justify, this disposition of the child. The child is bone of her bone,
blood of her blood, life of her life. She is largely responsible for
bringing the innocent, helpless child into the world; she should not add
to her personal sin and to her sin against the child by deserting and
leaving it to the cold mercies of a selfish, unsympathetic world. If her
parents sympathize with and forgive her, they will most likely have her
return to their home with the child. The women of the community will
circulate the scandal on her return until they wear all the reports
thread-bare. But the girl must make up her mind to face this, live an
ideal life and endure the sneers until she lives it down. This will be a
severe trial, but she will have a chance to show the world what a
beautiful life a wronged woman can live when given a half chance.

=If driven from home.=--If her parents drive her from home, her experience
becomes the bitterest known to a human being. But she should not
despair. He who said to the woman, “caught in the act,” “go and sin no
more” is ever ready to help bear her burdens and speak to her the same
words of forgiveness and cheer. In all large cities there are “Homes for
the Friendless,” where friendless girls may go without charge until
after they recover from confinement.

=A real living incident.=--I will tell you a real, living incident which
is only one among many of the human tragedies, with shifting variations,
occurring annually in nearly every community, enacted upon the dramatic
stage of modern society’s double standard of morals. A young lady of
twenty-four years, a teacher in a city high school, during a revival
became deeply concerned about her spiritual interests. After seeking
Christ for some four days, she said to her spiritual adviser: “I am in
great trouble. I can’t get to God in the condition I am in. Since the
death of my father and only brother, you are the only person to whom I
have felt that I could confide matters of such a personal and delicate
nature as I feel compelled to relate to you. Since I came to your city
four years ago, I have assumed the title of ‘Mrs,’ allowing widowhood to
be inferred. I have never been married. I am wearing the name of the
man, who by every possible moral right should have married me and been a
true husband to me. I am a mother and my little girl of six summers is
wearing the name of her father, which civil law says she has no right to
wear. My mother, sisters, relatives and former friends all are under the
impression that I am divorced.

“If I become a Christian, I want to unite with the church. If I give the
name I am now wearing to be placed on the church register, I shall be
living and practicing a lie. If I give my maiden name, I shall expose my
mistake, bring disgrace upon my family, brand my child with
illegitimacy, and lose my position as a teacher, whereby I make my
living, support my child and am able to live a pure life. What must I
do?”

The person to whom she related this story was greatly perplexed for an
answer. Though a godly man, a minister, the double standard of morals
had so biased his thinking that he was not prepared to give her a fair
and just answer.

Hoping that additional light might help him out of his dilemma, he asked
her to tell him what led to her fall.

She replied, “After the death of father and brother, our bread winners
and protectors, mother, sisters and I made our living by keeping student
boarders from a church college. One of our boarders, a young law
student, made love to me, won my affections and complete confidence. We
were engaged to be married on the day of his graduation. Only a few
months before this event he asked for privileges that belonged only to
the married. I was perfectly shocked and dazed. I resented the request
as an insult. He insisted that he meant no offense, that he considered
that we loved and trusted each other as much as we possibly could after
we were married. He insisted that we were as truly one as if we were
married, that the mere legal phase was only a custom and had no moral
significance and that it was very common for the engaged to enjoy this
privilege. After many days of entreaty, promise of marriage oft
repeated, and loving caresses, I made the profound mistake of my life.

“Some weeks before the commencement, I discovered that I was to be a
mother. I pleaded with him for immediate marriage. He insisted that
marriage would interfere seriously with his examination work and that he
was to begin his legal profession in a distant state and that marriage
could be safely delayed until commencement. On the gay day of his
graduation he suggested that he had our future home in a distant state
rented and furnished awaiting our arrival. He suggested that marriage
there would be rather romantic. I accepted the idea. We arrived in the
town, on a late night train, where he was to practice law. A hackman
conveyed us to our new home. I found it as he had described it. We spent
the night as husband and wife. The next morning he suggested that we
had thoughtlessly made a very serious mistake, that to get married there
would ruin me socially and him in his profession. He suggested a plan
that appeared wise to me, viz.: after a few weeks to take a train to
some distant state and there be married. Later he suggested that we had
better wait until the baby was born. Not until the child was two years
old did I ever doubt his purpose of marriage.

“One day a doubt took possession of me. I grew desperate in my
determination. On his return home, I faced him and demanded immediate
marriage, refusing to live with him longer unless he took immediate
steps to correct the mistakes of the past. I pleaded for the rights of
his child, for my rights. Once more he renewed his fidelity and promised
to arrange immediately his business so we could make the trip in a week
or ten days. Meanwhile he secretly dissolved partnership, disposed of
almost all his property, took a midnight train, without a good-by kiss,
and left for parts unknown.

“I sold off our furniture, wrote mother that husband and I had disagreed
and had separated, that I would send her my little girl and would help
support the family by teaching.”

=The minister’s mistake.=--Then she said to the minister, “I never meant
to be a sinner, I am living a pure life. What must I do?” The minister
advised her to confess to the church what she had done and said that he
would plead with the church to forgive and stand by her. If this woman
had followed the minister’s advice she would have lost her position as a
teacher, she would have lost her social standing, she would not have
been given a sympathetic and loving welcome into the church, she would
have brought disgrace upon her home and placed society’s stigma of
illegitimacy upon her child. The minister would not have demanded a
similar confession from the man who was far more guilty than she. That
conscientious minister would insist upon restitution’s being made for
stolen property, as a condition of divine forgiveness, but a libertine
may pluck the lily of purity from a maiden’s brow, and rob his child of
sacred birth, allow mother and child to die in poverty, their grocer’s
and doctor’s bills to go unpaid, the public to bury them in the potter’s
field, while he revels in luxury and enjoys social distinction, and no
restitution is required in his case, as a condition of divine favor,
membership in the church, or a triumphant entrance into endless bliss.

=Blinded by the double standard.=--She could not meet the minister’s
condition. He was conscientious and could not make what to him would
have been a compromise with sin. Not fully appreciating that moral law
is higher than civil law; that what is sometimes civilly wrong is
morally right; that centuries of submission to the double standard of
morals has so biased the public mind that even the best of society are
incapable of always giving the wronged girl a square deal; she at last
postponed her decision for the Christ. The meeting closed, later the
school closed and then she left the city and her whereabouts became
unknown to the minister.

=Was she scarlet or was she white.=--You will observe that this girl is
not to be classed in character with the girls who purposely give
themselves to a life of shame. This girl never meant to be bad. She
over-loved and over-trusted the man to whom she was engaged. She had no
father or brother to advise and protect her. She was not informed as to
the seductive wiles of the libertine. Hers was a profound mistake.

Suppose that her chum across the street had made the same mistake and
her lover had kept his promise of marriage, would her chum’s sin have
been less than hers? Certainly not. Of the two women and their children,
the first deserves more sympathy, mercy and love.

=She and her child had a moral right to his name.=--When the world’s
purity movement shall have relegated the double standard of morals back
to the dark ages of savagery where it originated, and shall have
established in the hearts of men the Christ standard, the “single
standard,” a “white life for two,” then civil law will be made to
harmonize with the moral law and the wronged girl and her child will be
given the legal right to the name of the man who ought to be to them a
husband and father, with all the legal rights of support and a division
of his property at his death.

Her deceiver was under absolute moral obligation to give them his legal
name. Then she and her child had an absolute moral right to wear his
name.

=Is it ever right for a wronged woman to choose the title Mrs.?=--If to
avoid the scorn, sneers and jeers of an unChrist-like social condition,
and as an aid in securing honorable employment while she supports her
child and struggles to live a pure life, who would dare blame a wronged
girl, if she would choose to call herself “Mrs.,” and let widowhood be
inferred? If a wronged girl becomes a mother, if she is turned away from
her home, if she desires to be a true mother to her own child, she will
find it impossible to find honorable employment as a single girl with a
baby and to avoid immoral solicitations from vicious men, unless she
assumes the title of “Mrs.”

=When she will find it necessary to tell her child.=--When her child is
old enough to understand and appreciate her misfortune, she will find it
necessary to make an explanation to her child. This will be a very
difficult thing to do. But if she has been a true mother, she will not
lose the confidence and love of her child.

=Tell her story to her lover.=--If an opportunity of marriage comes, she
should tell her story to her lover. If he is noble, and his love for her
is genuine, and her character is all he believes it to be, he will
likely forgive and marry her. If her mistake is publicly known, or she
is a mother, her lover will very likely find it out, and it will be
easier to forgive before marriage than after.

=When not necessary to confess the wrong.=--If her sin has not been made
public and she has not been a mother, I would not advise that she make
confession to her lover. Men who have been even more guilty do not
confess their sins. She will, all her life, shed many bitter tears and
suffer many heart agonies because of her mistake. These sad experiences
may make her all the more patient, kind and loving.

I have told you these sad, sad tragedies that come to many girls who
over-love and over-trust, that you may more perfectly sympathize with
and help the erring ones and be safeguarded against the wiles of men.




CHAPTER XXXI

THE MIRACLE OF MOTHERHOOD


=Sublime miracle of motherhood.=--My talks to you would not be complete
without a study of the sublime miracle of motherhood, the creation of a
new life. It is no wonder that motherhood, in all ages and by the great
of all nations, has been treated with due respect and reverence.

=Ovulation.=--In this talk we shall begin with the beginning of life and
trace life’s development up to birth. The formation of an egg, or ovum,
by one of the ovaries once every twenty-eight days is called ovulation.
When the ovum matures it breaks through the membrane of the ovary and
the little muscular fingers of the oviduct, on that side, take up the
ovum and convey it to the womb. This usually takes place during
menstruation and the egg enters the womb near the cessation of the flow.
Sometimes the egg may reach the womb before menstruation begins. It is
possible for an egg to form at any time between periods of menstruation,
but this is of unusual occurrence.

=Impregnation.=--If, in either of these events, the husband and wife,
being both of matured age, vigorous,

[Illustration: A HAPPY MOTHER.]

healthy and strong, engage in the reproductive act, the wife will
conceive. When one of the sperm cells of the husband unites with the
germ cell or egg of the wife, conception or impregnation takes place.
This is the beginning of life, the creative moment of a new life, a new
being. It is at this creative moment that an immortal soul is started
upon its eternal voyage, nine months before it makes its visible
appearance in the world.

=All life begins with a cell.=--Every living being begins life as a single
cell of protoplasm. The cell from which a child is formed is produced by
the union of two cells, the germ cell of the mother and the sperm cell
of the father. The germ cell is much larger than the sperm cell. At the
point where the sperm cell enters the ovum a new cell is formed. This
new cell is the beginning of a new life and is called the embryo. The
embryo receives its nourishment for several days from the food material
stored up in the ovum.

When the sperm cell fuses with this minute ovum, 1-120th of an inch in
diameter, the ovum becomes attached to the velvety inner surface of the
womb. At this point of the womb the mucous membrane begins a rapid
growth and in a very few hours has enveloped the ovum.

=What takes place the first twenty-four hours.=--In the rapidly growing
ovum marvelous processes are going on. In part the physical processes
have been studied. The vital and psychical processes that are taking
place, far more wonderful than the physical, cannot be understood or
comprehended by mortal man. So rapidly has the embryonic cell divided
itself into two cells, these two into four cells, and these into eight,
then into sixteen, until many thousand cells have been produced in the
first twenty-four hours.

=The first thirty days.=--During the next thirty days this multiplication
of cells by division goes on rapidly. The embryo is now receiving life,
air, water and nourishment from the mother through the rudimentary
beginning of the placenta. The placenta when developed is a membrane
composed largely of blood vessels, entirely surrounding the embryo and
is attached to the womb near the top. At this point the umbilical cord,
which connects with the child at a point called the navel, merges into
and becomes a part of the placenta. These thousands of cells, under the
control of some invisible agency or law within the mother and the
embryo, begin to arrange themselves in layers and groups. In this way
the rudimentary organs one by one, step by step, begin to form. At the
end of the first thirty days the embryo is about one inch long and
one-fourth of an inch in diameter. At this time it has no resemblance to
a human being. Separate from all connection with the mother, no
scientist could tell whether it is the embryo of a rat, a rabbit, a dog
or a human being. It is this resident physical, mental and soul-life
received from its parents that will determine for it a human body.

=The second thirty days.=--During the next thirty days, new cells will be
produced rapidly, new organs will be started, other organs will take on
more definite form and the embryo will be many times larger and will
have a very distinct resemblance to a human being. During the latter
part of the second month this human embryo will possess a very distinct
appendage resembling a tail; the neck will be nearly as large around as
the body; the arms and legs, fingers and toes, ears, eyes, nose and
mouth will all be quite distinct, and the head will appear overgrown.
The embryo at the close of the second month will be about four inches in
length and one and one-half inches in diameter.

=The relations between the mother and the embryo.=--The little embryo has
projecting from its body, at the point called the navel, a large cord,
larger around than one of its legs. This cord is called the umbilical
cord and connects the embryo with the upper part of the womb. Here the
cord seems to branch out and to form a rather thick membrane which
entirely surrounds the embryo. Where the umbilical cord connects with
the womb there are thousands of small blood vessels. Here the blood of
the mother bathes the blood vessels of the umbilical cord. In this way
the embryo absorbs from the mother’s blood the materials from which its
bones, muscles, brain, nerves and spinal cord are built. In this way the
blood of the mother furnishes her forming child pure oxygen. In this way
also the mother is furnishing the embryo with life--physical, mental and
spirit life. Here, too, she gives it joyous or sorrowful thoughts, a
good or bad disposition, a frail or strong constitution, mental
brilliancy or mental dullness, and influences its character in many ways
before it sees the light of day.

=The order of special maternal attention.=--During the first three and
four months the mother should breathe the purest air, drink the purest
water and eat plenty of wholesome, nutritious food. The physical health,
strength and perfect development of the child’s body are largely
determined during these months. During the fifth and sixth months the
nervous system, including the brain centers, is being organized and
developed. Attention to mental exercise during these months and the
months following will influence the child favorably in after-life. The
moral nature of the child is more largely influenced by the mother
during the eighth and ninth months than during the previous months. This
indicates roughly the order of special attention that should be given
by the mother to her forming child.

=Symptoms of impregnation.=--After impregnation has taken place and the
days and months pass by, certain signs appear which tell her that she is
to become a mother. The menses stop, the breasts enlarge, a dark color
appears about the nipples, the abdomen enlarges and about the fourth
month she feels the distinct movements of the fetus. This movement is
called fetal life. However, life existed in the embryo from the
beginning. Feeling the movements of the fetus only indicates that the
fetus has grown to where it has strength enough to make its presence
known.

=Birth.=--At the end of two hundred and eighty long days, nine full
months, three-fourths of a year, the strong muscles of the womb
contract, and all the muscles of the abdominal and pelvic cavities are
called into action to expel the child from its maternal cradle or home.

All of nature’s maternal processes, from the initial of life in the tiny
egg, through all the mysterious and interesting changes of embryonic and
fetal development, until the babe is easily and quickly conveyed by
muscular energy from its warm, cozy, maternal abode and introduced to a
world of independent life and activity, are a sublime miracle--the
miracle of motherhood.

=The maternal instinct.=--The maternal instinct is inherent in every
normal girl. It is this maternal nature that prompts little girls to
play with their dolls and with childish glee and innocent sincerity to
organize their doll families into beautiful imitation of real life. The
natural desire of every girl, as she matures during the years of
adolescence, is that she may one day become a mother.

=A perfect body essential to ideal motherhood.=--The beautiful ideals of
wifehood and the sacred ideals of motherhood can come in their fullness
only to those who make themselves worthy. The broad-minded, sensible
girl will not bind her young growing figure with a corset, pinch her
undeveloped feet by wearing tight, high-heeled shoes, ruin her neck with
high, stiff collars, expose her shoulders and bosom to the varying
changes of temperature by wearing low-necked dresses, ruin her health
and throttle her mind and soul in a cradle of ignorance.

=The independent girl.=--All girls should qualify themselves for some
vocation, aside from marriage. The girl who stays at home and has
nothing to do but dress and primp and wait for some man to come along
and marry her is likely to develop into a flippant, extravagant social
nonentity. The girl who qualifies herself for some vocation will not be
a burden to her parents. She will learn the value of money, will
acquire self-confidence and personal dignity, will multiply the red
corpuscles in her blood, and thus be able to give her hand and heart to
her coming prince with the knowledge that she is quite capable of
entering upon the new duties of home-building.

=All girls should have training for motherhood.=--But whatever be the
place or position to which you may aspire, you should also seek the
training necessary to ideal motherhood. Your mother instinct calls for
plenty of roomy quarters for the fetus. It is the mother instinct that
demands open-air athletics, free chest expansion and a correct poise and
carriage of body. It is the mother love that calls for books and
magazines that give special articles on courtship, marriage and the
sacred mission of motherhood.




CHAPTER XXXII

SOME PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED


=How young can a girl become a mother?=--It would be possible but not
likely for her to become pregnant soon after her first menstruation. If
the ova should be fertilized at that time she would become a mother. In
most cases the ova would be too weak for impregnation to be perfect.
Should it occur, as it does in some cases, soon after puberty begins, it
is always unfortunate for the girl and her child.

=How old should a woman be before she becomes a mother?=--She is not a
matured woman until the close of her adolescence, which is about the
twentieth year. Marriage means motherhood. Motherhood should not take
place until she is matured or practically so. Marriage before eighteen
should be universally discouraged. Children born of mature parents are
healthier, stronger, and live longer than do the children of immature
parents.

=Is there any way to lessen the inconvenience and pain of menstruation
and child-bearing?=--Women of the savage races, women of the laboring
classes of Europe, and to some extent laboring women of this country,
do not suffer the inconvenience of menstruation and the pain of
child-bearing that most women do. If our girls and women took more
outdoor exercise, if they did not displace their sexual organs by tight
lacing, if they did not abuse these organs in other ways in single and
married life, they would suffer less of penalties peculiar to women.
Habits practiced for generations become fixed characteristics and are
transmitted to children. Hence part of the suffering of present-day
womanhood is due to the errors of the past.

=What causes displacement of the womb?=--By reading Mother’s First Talk
you will be able to fix in your mind the location of the womb and
ovaries. You will find that they are near the center of the abdomen,
just behind the bladder and are supported from above by long, broad and
round ligaments. These ligaments are stretched across the abdominal
cavity and are attached to the abdominal walls. The small end of the
womb rests upon the vagina. This tube being flexible affords but little
support for the womb. If a woman wears a corset, or tight waist band
above her hips, the organs of the abdomen will be pressed downward. This
is the principal cause of the womb’s being forced down into the vagina,
bent upon itself, tipped forward or backward. The displacement of the
womb interferes with the functions of the bladder and rectum.
Leucorrhœa and inflamed conditions of the womb often follow. The
fault is not in God’s arrangement of these organs, but in woman’s
slavish devotion to fashion. Were all girls taught by means of charts
the location of these organs, and their relation to the other organs of
the abdomen, fewer girls would try to be like fashion plates.

=Is there some natural method by which a woman can replace her own womb
and avoid exposure, operation and expense?=--Yes; if the following advice
is followed early enough: Having removed your outer clothing, so as to
give you perfect freedom, assume a position on the bed that will throw
your hips above the rest of the body. This is easily accomplished by
kneeling and then bending forward until the head and shoulders rest upon
a pillow. Now contract the muscles of the abdomen in such a way as to
appear to be trying to draw air into the body through the vagina. In
this way all the abdominal organs are drawn toward the chest. When the
womb falls into place, a gurgling sound will be heard caused by the air
rushing into the vagina and the womb. This is the evidence that the womb
has dropped back into its proper place. Now assume an easy position and
be perfectly quiet for one or two hours. Then arise, dress and go about
your duties. Don’t strain yourself or over-work. Very likely the womb
will continue to drop out of place for several days. Keep up this
method and soon the womb will remain in place.

Very likely you will not succeed in replacing the womb, the first
effort. It may be several days before you succeed.

=What are the causes of ovarian trouble?=--The answer to the last question
applies in this case. Anything that interferes with the menstrual
period, such as taking cold, lascivious thought, secret vices; if
married, sexual excesses. These conditions cause a rush of blood to the
sexual organs, and this keeps them inflamed.

=Should a woman have her womb and ovaries removed because of these
conditions?=--Only in the most extreme cases, and, even then, only upon
the united opinion of several capable and honest physicians. In recent
years operations for these troubles have been too frequent. A woman is
never quite herself after one of these operations. If women were taught
plainly and scientifically how to obey the laws of sex they would in
almost all cases recover without an operation. It is generally estimated
by hospital authorities that from sixty-five to eighty per cent. of
married women who are operated upon in their sexual organs have been
infected by gonorrhœa. In almost every case they were infected by
their husbands who thought they were cured. In the initial stage this
is usually treated by the wife as leucorrhœa; later she is treated by
the doctor, or operated upon and the real cause is kept secret from her.
In most cases an operation might be avoided, by going with her trouble
at once to a doctor.

=How may young women know they are marrying men free from venereal
infection?=--This will not be possible in all cases. A young lady should
not become engaged to a young man until she is acquainted with his
record. She could have her brother or father look up his record. Your
family doctor, or some reliable doctor that knows him, might be
profitably interviewed. When we have laid aside our mock modesty and
foolish prudery and shall come to regard these questions in a practical
way, matured young women will not hesitate to ask the young man for a
statement from a reliable physician, showing that he is free from all
communicable diseases.

=What is the cause of pimples on the face and sometimes on a girl’s back
from twelve to seventeen?=--They are due to the change she is passing
through. By some they have been considered as evidences of the secret
sin, but they are not, at least in many cases. Many girls have these
bumps who are perfectly free from the secret sin. It is true that they
may be caused in some cases by the secret vice.

=What remedy would you suggest for these puberty pimples?=--Tonics,
lotions and cosmetics will do no good. Common-sense remedies may
mitigate this evil. Avoid rich pastries and highly seasoned foods, take
plenty of outdoor exercise, bathe frequently, forget your pimples and be
cheerful and happy. This is the best you can do. Nature in her own good
time will remove the pimples.

=Is there a safe way by which a young woman can develop her
bust?=--Several methods are advertised. Most of them are fakes. The
vacuum method is perhaps the least injurious. If a young woman keeps her
body healthy, does not abuse her organs of sex mentally or mechanically,
her bust should be normal. The greatest injury done by any of these
artificial methods is, they lead a girl to be lascivious in her
thoughts. By studying the lower animals we find that motherhood is
nature’s plan of developing the bust. It is natural for single girls to
have small breasts. There are some exceptions to this rule. It is,
therefore, unwise to try to enlarge them.

=What injuries may follow artificial development of the
breasts?=--Flabbiness, inability to nurse a child, tumors and cancers.

=What effect upon the morals of men has the wearing of low-necked dresses
by girls and married women?=--All normal adolescent youths and adults
possess sexuality. Occasional consciousness of sexual desire is natural.
These experiences simply indicate that we are in possession of creative
energy. If we keep control of our thoughts about the opposite sex, this
energy will be converted into physical strength, mental brilliancy and
soul beauty.

It is through the influence of the sex life upon the social nature that
the opposite sexes are attracted to each other and their association is
made sacred, beautiful, enjoyable and mutually uplifting.

God’s greatest blessings to man may be abused by misuse. This is
preëminently true of our God-given sexual nature. Improper thinking
about the opposite sex leads to special excitement of the sexual organs
and results in conscious sexual desire. In the normal man such thoughts
and wishes are awakened by suggestive and inviting environment. A dress
that only partially conceals the breasts of a woman, that reveals the
delicate curves of hips and limbs, has this influence upon the mind of
the normal man. The normal man usually fights off these temptations.
Sometimes they overcome him.

Few men are normal. Licentiousness is transmissible. Most men have
inherited very strong tendencies toward lust. Most men have received an
unfortunate training from childhood. This has led to mental sex
perversion. Improperly dressed women are a special temptation to these
weak men.

The time has come for a reform in woman’s dress. She should not dress in
a way that makes her a source of temptation to men.

It is natural for a woman to desire the attention, courtesy, gallantry,
respect, reverence and love of men. The normal sex nature in woman will
develop those indefinable feminine physical, mental and moral charms. If
she dresses modestly and becomingly, if she is discreet, versatile and
entertaining, she will have her admirers.

=Is there any relation between the nude in art and immodesty?=--Yes and
no. There are great masterpieces of beautiful figures of men and women,
which stand for some lofty ideal, which represent some phase of ideal
thought in life, some exposition of grace and strength, and, while they
are nude, they are no more immodest than perfect landscapes. There are
other famous nude figures of men and women which appear conscious of
their nudity. Such have a bad influence. There are some ignorant or
evil-minded people who would be injured as much by one of these classes
of art as by the other.

=Are there reliable tests of the virginity of a girl?=--The only test
which a man has a right to make before or after marriage is a modest
demeanor, absence of familiarity, a pure state of mind and an innocent
expression in the face and look of the eye. The physical presence of the
hymen, or a flow of blood at the consummation of marriage, should not be
made the test of a young wife’s virginity. In some cases the hymen is
absent from birth and in others only partially represented. Where girls
may have had leucorrhœa the parts are relaxed and no blood appears.
In stout blonds the presence of blood is the exception and not the rule.

=What is the relation of “spooning” to the sex problems of young
people?=--This is a growing evil. It is the kindergarten to prostitution.
Young people cannot engage in “spooning” and maintain a pure state of
mind. When the mind is engaged in sensual thoughts and wishes the sexual
system is stimulated and inflamed by a rush of blood to those parts and
passion becomes more or less intense. In this state virtue is in great
danger.

=What is the relation of suggestive pictures and books to the problems of
sex in young people?=--The suggestive sentences and pictures on post
cards, bill boards, the novel and serial story all tainted with
immorality; and in the moving pictures found in most five and ten cent
shows, are positively pernicious. They lead young people to believe that
hugging, kissing, lying or sitting on each other’s lap, and all other
forms of “spooning,” are natural, harmless and a necessary part of the
entertainment among young people. The young man who would offer to
present a young woman with a suggestive post card or book is stupidly
ignorant or viciously immoral. If young ladies value their virtue and
have the proper regard for young men, they will not accept such cards
and book, nor allow them in their parlors. All women and girls and all
virtuous men should protest against the production, sale and
distribution of all books, cards, and pictures encouraging “spooning”
and the improper dress of the female as an insult to virtuous girlhood
and womanhood and dangerous to the virtue of boyhood and manhood.




CHAPTER XXXIII

BEAUTY OF BATHING

(By Annette Kellermann.--By Permission of _Physical Culture_.)

     In presenting to our readers the opinions and advice of Annette
     Kellermann, we publish the words of one who knows whereof she
     speaks. Miss Kellermann is celebrated for the beauty of her face
     and form as she is for her remarkable proficiency as an athlete.
     More than that, she is one who has fought her way from indifferent
     health to strength and beauty of the highest order, and her
     discussion of this subject should prove very readable.--_The
     Editor._


=Architects of beauty.=--Nearly everyone looks upon beauty as an
extraneous “something.” Here is a quality which is in the greatest
measure a physical endowment, yet the average woman casting about for
means of cultivating it never for one moment seeks for its acquirement
through physical means. All sorts of devices and medicines and
complicated and costly methods are believed in and followed, as though
beauty were bestowed in about the same fashion that a poster is slapped
on a billboard. Gazing at the stars, she sees not what lies to her hand.
For beauty, poetical though its conception may be, has its roots in
prosaic ground. The same factors which build up flesh and blood, bones,
muscle and nerves of the body are the architects of beauty. Beauty is of
the body and not apart from it, and its builders are those processes
which maintain bodily health: breathing, eating, drinking, exercise,
bathing and sleep. Its acquisition does not depend on chance, but its
development lies within the control of each one of us.

[Illustration: A complete air bath should be given the body several
times each week, even though early rising is thus made necessary.]

In the following pages I shall try to tell clearly of the simple,
easily-to-be-observed methods that can make each woman as beautiful as
it is possible for her to be. When I think of how these simple, sensible
and effective methods are neglected, through ignorance or
thoughtlessness, and the torturous treatment so many members of my sex
undergo: the face-skinning; the incasing in unbearable rubber
undergarments to reduce flesh and the countless other “treatments” of
which they are willing dupes, I marvel and am almost ashamed of the
amazing credulity shown by my sex.

[Illustration: Frequent and vigorous massage of the face and upper parts
of the body is a great aid to beauty building.]

=Beauty building through the bath.=--I shall discuss “Beauty Building
Through the Bath” because the various forms of baths properly applied
can improve the appearance to a remarkable degree and I shall therefore
write at some length on this particular measure as a means of attaining
or enhancing the physical charms. ’Tis a trite phrase that cleanliness
is the handmaiden of beauty, and the first office of the bath is to
clean. The skin is one of the organs by means of which the body is
relieved of waste. Its depurating action is unremitting and thus there
is constantly exuded on the surface waste matters. Hence, unless
frequently bathed, the skin suffers in appearance, firstly, by reason of
its uncleanliness; secondly, becoming clogged up, the wastes are not
readily eliminated from the blood, which becomes impure. In consequence,
the whole system suffers, the skin taking on a yellowish tinge, and the
complexion becoming dull and sallow and coarsened by enlarged pores.

=Cold and warm baths.=--The warm bath is taken daily by many people, who
believe that only thus can perfect cleanliness be insured. There are
opposing views as to whether the daily bath should be warm or cold; but
one should not be confused by the conflicting opinions, the reason
therefor being that differences between individuals necessitate varying
practices, some being benefited by the cold, some by the daily warm
bath, etc. When the daily bath is a cold one, a hot bath must be taken
twice or thrice weekly to cleanse the body, for cold water has no
cleansing power.

The cold bath is a stimulant or tonic. The effect of the cold bath is to
close the pores of the skin, and the blood is driven into the body. But
on emerging from the bath, a “reaction” sets in: the blood rushing to
the skin in quantities, reddening it and making it glow with warmth. The
body should be quickly and vigorously rubbed dry with a Turkish towel,
as it increases the good effects of the reaction. The cold bath should
be a very brief one, and the warm bath, when taken daily, should not
exceed ten minutes in duration. The latter should be followed by a cold
sponge bath.

If, because one is lacking in vitality or from other causes the reaction
does not follow, the effect of the cold bath is to depress instead of
benefit. The bath should never be taken if one is cold, one should be
thoroughly warm before it, and it is best taken after exercise for this
reason.

=It is easy to inure oneself to the cold bath.=--Begin taking daily baths
at a comfortable temperature, gradually lowering it from week to week,
till you can take it cold or almost as cold as it comes from the faucet.
Or one can accustom one’s self to them by taking a cold sponge bath in
the beginning, standing on a cloth or towel wrung out in hot water, or
by standing in a few inches of hot water, if this is required, to lessen
the shock. But if despite these precautions you do not recuperate
properly from the cold bath, it is not for you, for you are not
benefited by it. Both hot and cold bathing accelerate the circulation,
the first relaxing the tissues, the latter giving them tone and
firmness.

=The friction bath.=--But, perhaps, one of the most valuable of baths for
the skin, one that never fails to improve its texture and color is a
bath that does not require water--the friction bath. It stimulates the
circulation to the skin and thoroughly cleanses it. The friction bath is
self-applied by means of two soft bristled brushes. Beginning at the
forehead, the face and neck are thoroughly brushed, then each arm in
turn (working upward from the hand to the shoulder), then using both
brushes together, the shoulders, chest, sides, abdomen, back and lastly
the legs, brushing from the ankles upward. The treatment is continued
till each part of the skin is in a glow. It will be hard to reach the
back of the body, but do the best you can. When taking the friction bath
for the first time, it will be necessary to avoid vigorous brushing and
not to continue the treatment very long, as in the beginning the skin is
easily irritated, but as the treatment

[Illustration: Friction baths with a flesh brush--not too stiff--will
insure a smooth, satin-like skin with a glow of health.]

is continued from day to day, the skin becomes accustomed to it, and it
may be made as vigorous as desired. The friction bath will put one’s
skin in splendid condition, and it will not be possible for pimples,
blackheads, or other eruptions to develop when the friction bath is a
regular practice. The ordinary Turkish towel may be used for the
friction rub instead of the brushes.

[Illustration: In the absence of flesh-brushes, one may go over the body
with a good, heavy bath towel to stimulate the skin and bring to it the
rich glow of health.]

=The relation of air to beauty.=--So much for baths and bathing. A great
deal more that is both interesting and helpful can be said, but enough
has been told to point out their value. In the order of their
importance will be described other measures which directly develop charm
of face and form.

First of all, as that on which every moment of life is dependent we
ought to consider air and its relation to the appearance. Oxygen has
been called the “sweeper of the living body.” Every two minutes the
blood loaded with wastes is brought to the lungs to be purified. Just
think how important it is that the air be absolutely fresh and pure, and
vitalized by the sunshine. If it has been vitiated from any cause, as by
rebreathing so that it is lacking in oxygen and full of impurities, the
blood, instead of being purified and vivified, is sent back, with but a
part of its waste removed, impaired, and becoming more and more
devitalized and poisoned from the breathing of the impure air. The whole
system suffers from the effects of the bad air.

=Effects of foul air.=--During every moment in which impure air is
breathed, uncleanliness is fostered within the body, and even if disease
in acute or chronic form does not follow, the whole bodily tone is
greatly lowered. Just what opportunity attractiveness has to develop in
such a body is apparent. The eyes are dull, the complexion muddy, and
scarcely in any way does the appearance escape deterioration. Yet it is
so uncommon for the air of our dwelling and working places to be pure,
as to be a treat when it is obtained. It is true that the average girl
or woman cannot control the conditions in her place of work, but she can
in her home, or at any rate in her own room, and sleeping or waking, she
should have her room thoroughly ventilated.

=Air baths.=--Choked in its shroud of clothing, the skin is greatly
hampered in the discharge of its functions. Such a measure as the
friction greatly mitigates this evil influence of clothing as it is worn
nowadays, and keeps the skin in working order and health. Lacking this
special care, it is not putting it too strongly to say that it
suffers--and severely. But what the skin needs is that air and sun have
a free access to it. How pallid and sickly of hue the skins of so many
people are. And how, lacking especial care, can they be otherwise, in
the darkened prison formed by the conventional clothing. Remember that
exudations are constantly taking place from the skin, and that in a
slight degree it breathes through its pores. Exposed to the air, the
emanations from its pores would immediately be dissipated and diffused
on the atmosphere instead of being retained by the clothing to cling
about the body. We are compelled to wear what we can get in the way of
clothing, but it is a simple matter to take a bath in the air and
sunshine, and so for a few minutes daily permit these purifying
influences access to our skins. The girl who goes to business daily is
limited in her opportunities to practice this valuable measure, but she
who stays home can easily arrange daily for a sun and air bath. The
business girl can take an air bath before retiring and in the summer an
air and sun bath on arising in the morning before donning her ordinary
costume. Remove every stitch of clothing so that the air can play freely
over the body. These are only suggestions, for one’s own convenience
must determine when air or sun baths can be indulged in.

=Exercise is the elixir of youth.=--If pure air and sunshine are the
cleansers and the vitalizers of the body, exercise may be said to be the
molder and beautifier of the bodily form. But exercise does more than
make the muscles shapely and develop the body to beautiful proportions,
and give it poise and grace. Exercise is the elixir of youth. It is the
method whereby youthfulness of facial and bodily appearance is
preserved, and which conserves youthful energies. It effectually wards
off the dreaded old age signs. The physiological effects of exercise are
these: circulation and respiration are accelerated, all the bodily
functions are stimulated, and through lungs and skin effete matter
rapidly thrown off, old cells are broken down and replaced by new. The
body feels as old and worn out as the cells of which it is made up.
Regular exercise prevents the accumulation of half-dead cells; it breaks
them down rapidly and eliminates them, so that they be replaced with
fresh vital ones.

As to the sort of exercise, it is desirable and indeed necessary that a
systematic series of movements which sufficiently exercise every part of
the body be practiced daily. This is the only way to insure exercising
regularly, which alone is of benefit, spasmodic exercise sometimes being
valueless.

=Exercise in the open air.=--Exercise quickens the heart-rate, and thus
the blood requires a greatly increased amount of oxygen. One should
therefore never exercise in an unventilated room, and for this reason
exercise in the open air is vastly more beneficial than when taken
indoors. In fact, one should get outdoors often and where circumstances
admit the outdoor life (a phrase on everyone’s tongue these days) should
be lived as much as possible. One should not, of course, fail to adopt a
special system of exercises, for this insures that every muscle will be
regularly used, and it is quite likely that one’s activities, whether
outdoors or indoors will but partly use the muscular system. Of outdoor
exercise, walking is ideal, and can be taken at all seasons. And, of
course, all outdoor games and sports are valuable. Exercise in play is
the thing, for it so completely diverts the mind as well as recreates
the body.

Of all exercises, I personally regard, and authorities support my views,
swimming as first in rank, the peer of them all. Every muscle is
exercised by it, it is taken in the open air, and then there is the
tonic of the water.

=Diet.=--There are other measures of which it is necessary to speak and
they are too important to miss mention. She who seeks to improve her
appearance or preserve it unblemished cannot afford to neglect her
diet--for remember that it is from food that flesh and blood are formed.
In greater or lesser degree, bad food and that improperly eaten can
<DW44> improvement from other measures followed. It is impossible to do
more than briefly pass on this subject in its relation to this
discussion on how beauty can be attained. It is of chief interest to
point out that even where no other factors are at work, disfiguring
eruptions on the face are not infrequently caused by errors in this
respect. To be sure there are no special “beauty diets.” The only thing
that is necessary is to avoid such foods as cause a maximum of work on
the part of the vital organs, and give only a minimum of nutriment in
return. Rich, heavy pastry, pickled foods, white flour products, are all
in the above-mentioned class, while cereals, eggs, milk, cheese, nuts,
fruits and vegetables, rightly prepared, properly masticated, can be
depended upon to make good, rich, red blood, firm flesh and muscle, and
altogether help greatly in enhancing personal charm and appearance.

=Sleep.=--We hear much about “beauty sleep.” Really, all sleep is beauty
sleep. It is then that the exhausted nerves regain tone, and the body
generally undergoes a restorative process. Nothing more surely
undermines beauty than lack of sleep. It leaves its mark behind in dull
eyes and even loss of flesh. But in sleep, too, there is a right and
wrong way. The right way is to sleep in a well-aired bed in a properly
ventilated room. The outdoor sleeping room is the ideal one, but it
cannot always be arranged, so the next best thing is the indoor one with
windows wide open. One should awaken in the morning fresh and bright and
strong. Do not cover yourself heavily, just enough to keep comfortable.
The wrong way is--but why waste time in description. It is everything
the right way is not, and consequently one wakes up tired, heavy and
dull-eyed.

=Hair, face and teeth.=--Aside from the constitutional measures spoken of,
there is a word or two to be said in favor of simple local treatment
that the beauty seeker should resort to daily. I mean the little nightly
attentions to the hair, face and teeth. The hair will be much healthier
and brighter if carefully brushed and aired after the unnatural
confinement of the day. The teeth must be well cleaned, so that there
are no tiny particles of food lodged between them to become decomposed
and endanger the teeth. The simplest of tooth powders is all that is
necessary, but the brushing after each meal, if possible, and especially
the last thing at night, should not be neglected. The use of a pure face
cream to soothe the skin from the day’s irritation and exposure is also
advisable, though I do not approve of using cream instead of water, as
is sometimes advised. Soap and water are the best cleansing agents.

[Illustration: Persistent massage of the scalp and frequent brushing of
the hair are essential to the maintenance of the beauty of woman’s
crowning glory.]




CHAPTER XXXIV

PHYSICAL CULTURE

(By George R. Borden, Physical Director.)


Fresh air and exercise are fast being considered the best health
producers in the world, yet how sadly neglected; as hundreds of women
give evidence every day, with the dull eye, flat chest and lifeless
carriage. Every woman would like to be attractive, but few are willing
to devote any time to its acquirement. What arouses our admiration when
seeing a statue of Minerva or Venus? It is the abounding life of the
whole body, finely developed chest and limbs and well-poised head.

Let us learn how to breathe, how to walk with a strong and graceful
carriage. A small amount of time each day spent in systematic exercise
with deep breathing would change many a weak woman to a healthy, vital,
living person with the grace and beauty of perfect health and a fine
physique.

Look around at any gathering of women and note if the majority are not
very far from our ideal of physical perfection. I care not how beautiful
the face if it is accompanied by narrow shoulders, thin neck and a flat
chest, the possessor must give way to her plainer sister who knows the
value of daily expansion of lungs with every muscle under control,
perfect digestion and fine circulation.

Naturally the plea is the lack of time for exercise; do not women find
time for reading, fancy work, calling and a multitude of other affairs,
which might a thousand times better be spent in preparing themselves for
a healthy life? If more time were spent in the fresh air and in keeping
the body under control, there would be fewer peevish, tired-out, nervous
women in the world, for the one who realizes the value of these things
is too healthy to be aught but good natured and happy.

Walking is one of the best exercises in the world, yet the crowded
trolley with its impure air is largely filled with women who could not
walk a mile. How many of my readers can walk three miles and have it
only serve to make them feel how well worth while is life? The majority
of women think several squares a long walk, and I know many who take the
car for a quarter of a mile, walk through the stores and return on the
car, then wonder why they do not sleep well.

Every girl and woman that works, either in the home or elsewhere, needs
exercise to develop muscles not in use, and improve circulation. Isn’t
it worth a few minutes a day to feel yourself physically ready for any
emergency, digestion good, nerves a thing of the past, and abounding
life in every muscle?

Of course these things cannot come in a week or month, but let your
daily exercise be as regular as your meals, walk with the idea of
getting all the good you can out of it, when you are seated, don’t sink
down in a heap, keep your lungs expanded and bend at the hips not at the
waist as we are so prone to do while sewing, writing, and engaged in
kindred occupations; a thing which leads to so many round shoulders and
narrow chests.

When you are walking alone instead of planning your next work, give a
little thought to breathing and how you are carrying yourself. Inhale as
you walk, retain the breath for a few steps then slowly exhale. Hold the
head well up, shoulders back, chest high, hips in and let your limbs
have a free swing and you soon look and feel as if walking were a joy.

The exercises following are so arranged that anyone can do them. Ten
minutes each morning should be given to them followed by a bath and a
towel rub if convenient. If bath is not possible, a thorough rubbing of
the body with a rough towel is the next best thing.

At some time during the day a brisk walk followed by a few exercises
before retiring and never forgetting the deep breathing will quicken the
results.

Have plenty of fresh air at night as well as day and eat substantial
food and see if the results are not all you could ask.

The value of exercise is in the amount of life and vigor put in it.
Better not exercise at all than to do it carelessly.


FIRST SERIES

Repeat each exercise from twelve to twenty-four times.

     Exercise 1.--Position of Fig. 1. Swing the arms forward till they
     touch in front, return to side (Fig. 1).

     Ex. 2.--Swing the arms to vertical. See Fig. 9 for position of
     arms. Return to Fig. 1.

     Ex. 3.--Swing the arms backward as far as possible.

     Ex. 4.--Swing both the arms downward to the hips and return to
     position (Fig. 1).

     Ex. 5.--Position of Fig. 1. Swing the hands to the shoulders by
     flexing the arms at the elbows (palms up).

     Ex. 6.--Position of Fig. 1. Swing the hands to the arm pits by
     flexing the arms at the elbows (palms down).

     Ex. 7.--Position of Fig. 1. Circumduct the arms, making the fingers
     describe a circle and the whole arm a cone. (Arms perfectly
     straight.)

[Illustration]


     Ex. 8.--Open and shut the fingers, gripping the fist as tightly as
     possible, also extending them as far as possible.

     Ex. 9.--Position of Fig. 1. Keep the arms on a level with the
     shoulders, bend the body sideward to the left as far as possible.
     (See Fig. 2.)

     Ex. 10.--Same as Ex. 9, to the right side.

     Ex. 11.--Combine Ex. 9-10.

     Ex. 12.--Position of Fig. 1. Rotate (twist) the body sideward left
     as far as possible. See Fig. 3 for position. Keep feet in place.

     Ex. 13.--Same as Ex. 12, to the right side.

     Ex. 14.--Combine Ex. 11 and 12. Rotate from side to side, arms to
     be kept on a level with the shoulders and rigid.

     Ex. 15.--Hands placed on hips, bend forward and swing hands
     downward toward the toes as far as possible. See Fig. 4.

     Ex. 16.--Position of Fig. 4. Hold and swing both arms sideward up
     as far as possible.

     Ex. 17.--Same position. Swing the arms forward up as far as
     possible, arms will then be straight out over the head.


SECOND SERIES

     Position of Fig. 5. Arms folded and the left toe touching at the
     side.

[Illustration]


     Exercise 1.--Hop on the right foot and touch the left foot across
     in front of the right, at the same time unfold the arms and swing
     them sideward to their own sides. See Fig. 1 for the position of
     the arms.

     Ex. 2.--Same as Ex. 1, with the right foot.

     Ex. 3.--Hop on right foot, the left foot in position of Fig. 5.

     Ex. 4.--Hop on the left, right toe to the side.

     Ex. 5.--Arms in position of Fig. 5 and the left toe extended
     forward till the toe touches the floor; hop on right, keeping the
     left leg extended.

     Ex. 6.--Same as Ex. 5, with the right foot forward.

     Ex. 7.--Hands on hips, raise the left knee high up in front with
     the toe pointed downward. See Fig. 6.

     Ex. 8.--Same as Ex. 7, with the right leg.

     Ex. 9.--Position of Fig. 6. Hold, straighten the knee, raising the
     foot on a level with the thigh.

     Ex. 10.--Same with the right leg.

     Ex. 11.--Hands on the hips feet together, swing the left foot
     sideward left as far as possible with the weight of the body
     resting on the right leg.

     Ex. 12.--Same as Ex. 11, with the right leg.


THIRD SERIES

     Hands on the back of the head. See Fig. 7.

     Exercise 1.--Bend the body as far forward as possible, keeping
     hands on head.

     Ex. 2.--Bend body sideward left as far as possible.

     Ex. 3.--Bend body sideward right as far as possible.

     Ex. 4.--Alternate left and right.

     Ex. 5.--Keep the fingers locked as in Fig. 7, thrust the hands
     upward to vertical till arms are straight.

     Ex. 6.--Position of Fig. 7. Draw the head forward with the hands,
     keep the back straight, resist with the neck muscles.

     Ex. 7.--Draw the head backward and resist with the hands.

     Ex. 8.--Swing the elbows forward till they touch in front of the
     face, then swing them backward as far as possible.

     Ex. 9.--Position: Feet together, arms down to the side, lean
     forward and swing the arms to the side, lift left leg upward about
     five inches, leg and arms rigid. See Fig. 8.

     Ex. 10.--Same as Ex. 9, with right leg extended.

     Ex. 11.--Position of Fig. 8. Hold, swing arms forward till they
     touch. Repeat several times.

     Ex. 12.--Position of Fig. 8. Swing left foot forward till foot is
     about 8 inches above floor, lean backward to keep the balance. Do
     not let the left foot touch the floor. Repeat several times.

     Ex. 13.--Position: Swing the arms upward to vertical and rise on
     toes as high as possible (Fig. 9).

     Ex. 14.--Same position as Ex. 9 (Fig. 8). Hold that position and
     hop on the right foot at least twelve times.

     Ex. 15.--Same as Ex. 14, hopping on the left foot.

     Ex. 16.--Hands on the hips, rise high on the toes.

     Ex. 17.--Hands on the hips, raise the toes off the floor, weight on
     the heels.

     Ex. 18.--Position: (Squat) lower the body by bending the knees as
     low as possible and swing the arms forward up to the front
     horizontal.

     Ex. 19.--Same as Ex. 18, but swing arms sideward up to side
     horizontal.


FOURTH SERIES

_Towel_

     Position with the towel on the back of the neck. (Fig. 10.)

     Exercise 1.--Straighten the arms, thrusting the towel to vertical.

     Ex. 2.--Pull with the left hand till the arm is straight out to the
     side and the right arm is across the neck.

     Ex. 3.--Same as Ex. 2, with the right arm.

     Ex. 4.--Fig. 10, bend body sideward left.

     Ex. 5.--Fig. 10, bend body sideward right.

     Ex. 6.--Combine left and right.

     Ex. 7.--Bend body forward, keeping towel in position.

     Ex. 8.--Towel up to vertical, bend forward and swing towel down to
     the toes.

     Ex. 9.--Swing the towel downward and backward to the hips. Take a
     wide grasp on towel.

     Ex. 10.--Towel on back of hips (see Fig. 11), bend body forward and
     swing towel upward to vertical.

     Ex. 11.--Position of Fig. 11. Bend body sideward left as far as
     possible, swinging towel right.

     Ex. 12.--Same as Ex. 11, bend body right.

     Ex. 13.--Alternate left and right.

     Ex. 14.--(Squat) lower the body by bending the knees till the towel
     touches the heels.

     Ex. 15.--Position of Fig. 11. Swing towel backward as far as
     possible without bending the back.

     Ex. 16.--Position: Towel across in front of hips, arms rigid, swing
     towel to the left and in a vertical position. See Fig. 12.

     Ex. 17.--Same to the right.

     Ex. 18.--Bend forward, touching towel to toes. See Fig. 4 for
     position of body.


FIFTH SERIES

_Floor Exercises_

     Sit on the floor or bed with the legs straight, knees touching the
     floor.

     Exercise 1.--Swing arms to side horizontal and back as far as
     possible (Fig. 13); then swing forward, touching the fingers to the
     toes.

     Ex. 2.--Swing arms to vertical (see Fig. 14 for position of arms),
     then swing to toes.

     Ex. 3.--Flex left leg and swing arms to vertical (Fig. 14).

     Ex. 4.--Flex right leg and swing arms to vertical (Fig. 14).

     Ex. 5.--Flex both legs.

     Ex. 6.--Hands on floor, swing left leg to left side.

     Ex. 7.--Hands on floor, swing right leg to right side.

     Ex. 8.--Hands on floor, swing both legs to their own side.

     Ex. 9.--Extend the toes as far as possible, then flex them.

[Illustration: FIG. 13.]

[Illustration: FIG. 14.]


     Ex. 10.--Arms at side in Fig. 13; swing the arms forward and clap
     hands in front, also extend the toes at same time.

     Ex. 11.--Hands on floor, keep knees straight, raise the left foot
     as high off the floor as possible.

     Ex. 12.--Same as Ex. 11, with right leg.

     Ex. 13.--Both feet.

     Ex. 14.--Hands on floor, swing to vertical and clap hands over
     head.

     Many exercises can be added to the above by lying on the floor and
     raising the feet, etc.




SIXTH DIVISION


VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR THE YOUNG MAN, MARRIED OR SINGLE




CHAPTER XXXV

THE DEEPER SIGNIFICANCE OF SEX


You are now old enough to be exposed to all of the temptations and
dangers incident to your approaching and rapidly developing manhood.
Previously, we have referred to many things in an elementary way, which
you should now have more fully explained. There are a number of
practical and vital facts connected with the sexual organs and their
separate and combined functions of which you should have a thorough
knowledge.

=The nature of the sexual life.=--The child resembles the father
physically, mentally and morally, because the sperm cell formed from the
father’s blood, that took part in the initial of the child’s life, had
in it the essence of the father’s life, physical, mental and moral. For
the same reason the child resembles the mother in these three ways. When
the males of the domestic animals are deprived of their generative
glands they are not able to develop the peculiar physical masculine
characteristics that distinguish them from the females. They are also
less independent, more inactive and show less rudimentary manifestations
of intelligence. If man be made an eunuch, when he is a boy, he never
fully develops masculine characteristics, and he develops little mental
and moral tone. Similar results would follow in the female, if her
generative glands were removed in childhood. It is quite noticeable that
any form of sexual dissipation usually underminds the physical health,
weakens the mental faculties and leads to loss in moral tone. It is
equally noticeable that the intelligent retention of this energy leads
to physical improvement, intellectual brilliancy and soul enlargement.
These illustrations reveal that the creative life has other uses than
selfish gratification and unselfish reproduction. It is vitally related
to the psychic life, health and happiness of the individual.

=Other purposes of sex.=--The primary purpose of sex is that of
reproduction. There are many reasons why the reproductive function of
sex should be limited to a period of twenty-five years--from twenty-five
to fifty years of age. Statistics show that this is man’s period of
greatest reproductive possibility. Children born to men of younger or
older age do not receive as favorable heredity as children born within
the period mentioned. The sexual organs, like all other organs, require
activity. Two boys are made eunuchs; one at six months of age and the
other just before puberty. The last mentioned develops much better in
physical, mental and moral tone. This shows that these glands are
active, that they generate energy, even before puberty, which is
essential to their health and the development of every part of the boy.
But even the boy, made an eunuch at fourteen, will be a very defective
man at twenty-five. This indicates that the sexual glands are generating
a creative energy, during this period of adolescence, that is needed to
prepare him for the period of largest possibilities of fatherhood. As a
general rule, until he is twenty-four, this sex life should never be
expressed for reproductive purposes. The young man has other needs for
it. When he arrives at his fiftieth milestone, if he has conserved this
energy, in youth, he will thus have added thirty or more years to the
fifty already lived. The old men who wear a halo of health, energy,
nobility, happiness and purity (there are but few), are men, who in
youth, young manhood and middle life, conserved the energy of manhood.

=Man is hereditarily degenerate.=--Man cannot understand, why his hardest
battles are not with enemies on the outside, but with his own inherent
inclinations to do wrong; why he makes such slow progress; why the mass
of his fellow men are so indifferent to the development of ideal
manhood, until he gets a vision of the real cause of human degeneracy.
The one basic cause of all degeneracy in the past and present has been
and is the dissipation of the creative life. It is possible and highly
probable that the original cause of the origin of degeneracy involved
the violation of the laws of sex. All practical and independent students
of sociology are rapidly recognizing that this is the chief cause of the
present day degeneracy. They are recognizing that most children are the
products of uncontrolled desire, that their prenatal rights were not
respected, that many were not warmly welcomed at birth, and but few are
properly instructed in regard to the laws of sex and the importance of
purity. They see that the hope of the nation and the human race is to
come back to nature, be natural, not to substitute artificial laws for
nature’s laws, but to intelligently study and apply the laws of nature.
They see that the initial of every child’s life should be intelligently
and prayerfully planned, prenatally protected, also the birth warmly
welcomed, environment safeguarded and education natural and wise.

=The sexual system has two functions.=--Take three brothers who have
received good heredity and give them the best environment. We will make
this difference between these boys; the first is made an eunuch when
one year old, the second when he is fourteen, the third is permitted to
grow up normal. When they reach maturity, we find they have developed
differently. The first has grown only a few scattering short hairs on
his face, his voice is like a girl, his shoulders are round and drooped;
he is cowardly, without capacity for business, with but very little
mental capacity and wholly without mental ambition. The second one has
slight but noticeable improvements in all of these particulars. The
third is normal. These facts show that the sexual organs have two
functions, and that the organs of a small boy are not wholly inactive as
believed by most people. Before puberty these glands are generating an
energy of great value to the boy that cannot be chemicalized and ejected
from the body. When puberty dawns, the sexual organs become more
noticeably active and a part of this energy, at least, becomes
chemicalized into a fluid containing active cell life which may be
absorbed by the body or ejected from the body. Before puberty this sex
life helps to change the baby into a perfect boy. From fourteen to
twenty-four this sex life helps to change the perfect boy into a perfect
man. In these two periods the sex life has the one special mission,
making a perfect man. In the latter “teens” and early “twenties” it
would be possible to force this sex life into the function of
reproduction. But this is not its natural mission during these early
years. He now enters the period of greatest reproductive possibilities.
This period should last for twenty-four to twenty-six years. During this
period this creative life has two distinct functions. The first in
importance is that of reproduction. This is the highest, noblest, purest
and most sacred function of manhood. In rare cases, such as an
unfortunate heredity, accident or disease, over which the man has had no
control, may unfit him for normal reproduction. He is to be pitied not
censured. Through the effects of bad habits, upon sexual manhood, many
men are unfit for normal reproduction. The second function of this
creative life is to maintain perfect manhood. Sexual excess in the
married life is just as much a violation of the laws of sex as sexual
vice before marriage. The fourth period in a man’s life begins when he
is forty-five to fifty-five, and includes the remainder of his life.
During this period the creative life has the one primary mission of
maintaining his manhood. While the reproductive function remains
possible it rarely would be advisable to express this energy in this
way.

=The creative life.=--Until recent years nearly all students of sexology
considered sex as essentially physical. Now the idea is growing that sex
is vitally a part of the physical, mental and soul life of the
individual. The sexual organs are simply the generators of the creative
life and mediums through which this creative life is expressed in
reproduction.

=The meaning of passion.=--The consciousness of normal sexual desire is
not an evidence of sinfulness and it is not an excuse for dissipation.
Sexual desire rightfully interpreted means that we are conscious of the
possession of creative life. This can be utilized in several ways. It
can be built into the body, into the mind, into the moral nature, it can
be used in reproducing the species, or it can be dissipated. Man must
decide the way he will use it. The disposition he makes of his sex life
will determine whether he and others are blessed or injured by the use
he makes of it.

=How to build this creative life into the body.=--On the road might be
seen a pair of strong draught horses pulling a wagon containing only an
armful of wood. Becoming interested in knowing why those horses are not
able to pull a larger load, you find, upon investigation, the wagon to
be so frail that, if you should double the load the wagon would break
down. The horses represent a strong, educated mind and the wagon a frail
body. Such a person is handicapped in the march of life. Others with
stronger bodies, but with less of mental ability, will win more honors,
receive larger remuneration and accomplish more in life. One needs a
strong healthy body in which to train the mind and achieve results. In
most cases, it is a sin and a shame not to have a sound and perfect
body.

By keeping the mind pure, taking regular, systematic physical exercise,
deep prolonged breathing and observing ordinary health laws this
creative life can be built into tissue and muscle, developing the body
of an athlete. There are examples where men, who by the secret vice,
have brought on initial stages of consumption, afterward broke from the
vice and by control of the mind and physical culture cured the disease,
restored health and developed a fine physique.

=How to build the creative life into a greater mind.=--The organs of
generation are life generators. They create life, physical, mental and
spiritual. This life is embodied in a very nutritious substance. This
valuable food material, with its essence of pure life, if not dissipated
by vice, is absorbed by the blood. Nature sends the blood most freely to
the parts most used. If physical exercise is taken and the mind
neglected, the body will be strong and the mind weak. If both the mind
and body are uniformly exercised, they will be uniformly developed.

If the mind is allowed to revel in lascivious thoughts many times as
much of this creative life will be formed as the blood can absorb. Thus
the blood is robbed of nutritious material and life that should never
have been removed. This surplus cannot be reclaimed by the body but must
be dissipated. Keeping the mind pure is of paramount importance. To do
this, the mind must constantly be engaged in some worthy activity. Keep
company with great men and women by reading their articles in magazines
and their books. Think great thoughts of your own. Be hopeful, cheerful
and determined. The prize of a great mind will be yours.

=How to build the creative life into a larger social and moral
life.=--Emotions, sentiments, feelings, hope, faith and charity are
essential elements of a man’s nature. He is not a full man, a well
rounded man, a perfect man if these elements of his nature are
neglected. These elements of his nature are fed on spiritual exercise.
Man’s degeneracy is an appalling fact. Regeneration, or Christ is a
necessity in every life. Christ loved the unlovely, inspired the
discouraged, wept with those that wept, and lifted the burdens of
struggling ones. By following this example we will build His life, our
creative life, into a larger social and moral life.




CHAPTER XXXVI

CONTINENCE


It has been several months now since we had our last confidential talk.
Many changes have taken place in your body and mind during these months.
You have been inclined to be more with large boys and young men and this
is due to the changes that are going on. With the coming months you will
have less the feelings of the boy and more the feelings of the man.

=The two forms of incontinence.=--I have been anxious to have a talk with
you on the subject of continence. By this word as applied to young men,
we mean abstinence from all voluntary sexual gratification. Having given
you talks on the subject of the “solitary vice,” which is one form of
sexual gratification, I will now talk with you about the other form of
incontinence, cohabitation or sexual relation with women.

=A false idea.=--There is a widely prevailing idea among young men that
they must gratify their sexual desire in some way, and that if they do
not they will lose their reproductive power, or their ability to become
fathers. They have an idea that sexual gratification is essential to
sexual and physical health, mental development and manliness. They think
young men are weak-minded and incapable who do not gratify themselves in
one of these two ways. Where did they get this idea?

=The wrong application of biological law.=--They will tell you that
doctors teach that young men should gratify themselves. They will tell
you then that the non-use of an organ will lead to the loss of its
function. The illustration they use is, “If the arm be kept in a sling
for a year, one will find he has lost the use of his arm for several
days. If the arm should be kept in a sling for ten years, he would
likely lose the use of his arm for life and the arm would wither;
therefore, if a young man should live a continent life for ten years,
his sexual organs would atrophy and he would lose his powers of
fatherhood.”

=No reliable physician holds to the sexual necessity theory.=--In reply to
these arguments, no intelligent and reliable physician to-day teaches
sex necessity. Some ignorant, unreliable, “quack” doctor occasionally
tells a young man that his physical, mental and sexual strength will be
ruined unless he indulges in sexual gratification. This young man will
tell twenty young men what he has learned and each of these will tell
twenty others. It is in this way that so many young men get the idea
that doctors advise sexual indulgence.

=Continence does not destroy virility.=--Ten years, twenty years, or even
more, of absolute continent living will no more cause a man to lose his
virility than twenty years of absence from nursing a child will destroy
the function of lactation in a woman.

=Only the unreliable doctors advocate sexual necessity.=--In every
profession of men there are some fakes. This is as true of the medical
profession as it is of other professions. In all large cities and in
many small towns there are ignorant, unreliable and unscrupulous
doctors. In almost every State, I have had young men to tell me that
they have been advised by doctors to visit the prostitute. Such frauds
are a great social and moral misfortune to any community. The
high-minded, capable, honorable doctors all advocate continence for
young men. They are real friends to young men. Even the young man who
has made his mistakes will find the advice and treatment of this class
of doctors to be far the safest and cheapest in the end.

=Unanswerable arguments.=--It is not an uncommon occurrence to hear some
very prominent citizen advocate the necessity for a few public
characters in every community to conserve the health of young men by
ministering to their sexual necessity and in this way protecting the
virtue of innocent girls and respectable women.

The test of sincerity and honesty of a man who claims to believe in
foreign missions, is his willingness to go, to allow his child to go, or
to help support those who do go as missionaries. The test of the
sincerity and honesty of a man who advocates the necessity for the
immoral woman, is his willingness to contribute a mother, wife, sister,
or daughter to the philanthropic interest of masculine health and the
safeguarding of innocent girls and respectable women. If he is not
willing to make this contribution he is not honest and not sincere when
he advocates public prostitution.

If public prostitution protects innocent girls and respectable women
from the abnormal man, cases of rape and seduction would occur most
frequently where there are no lewd women. But the reverse is true. The
continent young men would be guilty of committing all the assaults on
female virtue. But it is the incontinent men who commit all the crimes
of this kind.

If the social evil is a necessity and the immoral woman protects the
virtue of the innocent girls and virtuous wives, is she not a
benefactor? Who is engaged in a more commendable, philanthropic or
Christian service? Then why should she be treated as an outcast? Should
she not be invited as a guest of honor at our social functions? Should
she not sing in the choir, or sit in a front pew in the most
aristocratic church?

The pugilist and athlete, in their training for special tests of
strength, endurance, and skill, abstain for long periods from all sexual
gratification.

It is by living a continent life that the lower animals, unmolested by
man, reach a state of physical perfection.

=Effects of incontinence upon the married life.=--An incontinent single
life will naturally lead to excesses in the married life. Such young men
get the idea that marriage means unlimited gratification. With these
perverted views they enter and soil the sacred precincts of marriage and
parentage. By marital excess, indulged in by no other animal or savage,
their health is injured, their lives are shortened and their children
are poorly born. This is a very common harvest reaped in the married
life. Back of this harvest, and back of the sowing is ignorance.

From these facts and many others that could be had we see that absolute
continence is not unnatural, but it is the only sane solution to a young
man’s sex problems.




CHAPTER XXXVII

PROSTITUTION


We have talked over many of the problems of boys and young men. You are
now sixteen and new problems are constantly coming up in your life for
solution. I would like to speak with you on this occasion about the very
vital problem of illicit intercourse with women. By this expression is
meant all sexual intercourse with women outside of holy wedlock.

=Men are as fallen as women.=--When this sin occurs among single people it
is fornication, when among the married, it is adultery. Whether this
occurs among the single or the married, it is prostitution. In this sin
there is no difference, in character, between the male and the female,
the married and the single prostitute; in either case, the priceless gem
of virtue has been forfeited.

=Men think less of their virtue than women.=--Partly due to a bad heredity
and largely due to a false training and the existence of a double
standard of morals, boys and men are more willing to sacrifice their
virtue than are girls and women. There are a few degenerate girls and
some who have been reared in immoral homes who willingly sacrifice
their virtue. But these represent only a very small part of the girls
who annually fall. Most of those who are known as fallen women were
induced to fall by designing men. Many methods are used to accomplish
the fall of girls. Lady clerks, stenographers and servants in homes and
hotels receive such meager wages that they are often unable to meet
their necessary expenses. Men have taken advantage of their financial
need and by skillful advances, artful entreaties and by offering to
supplement their income for special favors, they succeed in ruining many
girls.

=Few women go wrong from choice.=--Some men use the dance, the theater,
alcoholic drinks, certain stimulating drugs, buggy rides and late hours
at night as means of accomplishing their fiendish purposes. Victory once
won, clandestine relations are continued until the girl finds that she
is to be a mother, or her guilt becoming known, being often forced from
her own home, ostracized by society, shunned by professing Christians,
she now becomes an outcast. Few girls ever go wrong from choice. Great
as her sin is, it is small compared with his. There is not greater sin
and crime than his. Possessed of one spark of manhood, he would marry
the girl; instead, he is more likely to boast of his achievement.

=No less a sin because the fallen woman accepts a “price.”=--Young men
often ask, “What harm can there be in seeking sexual gratification with
a woman who voluntarily gives her consent for a price?” There are many
reasons why this is wrong. The Bible condemns it as a very great sin.
Civil law condemns adultery as a crime. By both civil and divine law it
is considered as great a crime as stealing, murder or drunkenness. If
men controlled their passions, there would be no fallen women. If men
would not visit them, they would reform or become Christians. Thus men
are not only largely responsible for the fall of women, but they are
largely responsible for their remaining fallen.

=Man’s appreciation of pure women destroyed.=--Constant association with
fallen women degrades or destroys a man’s conception and appreciation of
pure womanhood. He may become so degraded as to believe that all women
have their “price.” Such a man could not appreciate a pure sister,
daughter, wife or mother. Such men become sensualists and should they
marry, their excesses would wreck the health and happiness of their
wives, and their children would receive an unfortunate heredity.

=A great physical risk.=--For physical reasons a visit to the fallen women
would be a hazardous risk. These women are nearly always diseased. In
this way young men become diseased and they infect their wives and
transmit serious troubles to their children.

=Self-respect lost.=--From a moral point of view a visit to the strange
woman is wholly inadmissible. You could never wholly recover your
self-respect. A young man has no moral right to demand purity of his
sweetheart at the marriage altar unless he can offer her a pure life.

=Danger of becoming an illegitimate father.=--Finally, through illicit
intercourse a young man is constantly in danger of becoming a father. An
illegitimate father never loves, feeds, clothes, shelters, educates and
trains his own child. Every instinct of nature demands this much of him.
The child is blood of his blood, bone of his bone, life of his life; it
is as truly his child as if it had been conceived in wedlock. Sin that
will so degrade a man as to leave him without sense of honor, justice
and right in his relation to his own child certainly has no equal in the
catalogue of crime.

=The pure man is worthy of a pure wife.=--The young man who keeps himself
as pure as a virgin will be worthy of one of God’s queenly women, he
will be capable of making her a kingly husband, and, conscious of their
dignity, purity and virility, he and his wife will become the happy
parents of a brood of fair girls and lusty boys.




CHAPTER XXXVIII

VENEREAL DISEASES


=The bad cold “fallacy.”=--Most boys and young men are disposed to think
of venereal diseases as a joke. They often compare them with a bad cold.
They are often heard to boast of having had one or more attacks from
which they easily recovered. This is due to the fact that these young
men have no just conception of the grave consequence of these diseases.

=Two principal diseases.=--There are two principal kinds of venereal
disease: gonorrhea, in street vernacular known as clap, and syphilis,
popularly called pox. These diseases are due to specific disease germs
and require a specific treatment. These diseases originate as a result
of illicit intercourse, never originating in the married life where
husband and wife are true to each other. Sometimes a husband or wife may
be infected by accidentally coming in contact with the disease germs by
kissing an infected person, the use of public towels, closets, etc.

=As old as prostitution.=--Venereal diseases are as old as prostitution.
These diseases evidently originated as a result of prostitution.
Venereal diseases are known to have been in existence more than 2000
years B.C. All venereal diseases were thought to be one until 1838.

These diseases may be acquired by the use of a closet, towel or bath tub
previously used by an infected person.

=The immoral woman dangerous.=--All immoral women, whether they live in
public houses or in private homes, are diseased some of the time, and
some of them are diseased all the time. No young man can know, not even
a doctor, when a man may or may not be infected by having sexual
relations with either class of these women.

Facts show that eighty per cent. of the young men of this country become
infected with gonorrhea between the ages of eighteen and thirty. This
would indicate that only a few who visit the immoral woman escape,
because at least ten per cent. of our young men never visit fallen
women. The ten per cent. of our young men is increasing.

=Immediate medical attention.=--Should a young man be so thoughtless and
unfortunate as to visit one of these women and become infected, he
should go at once to a competent physician and follow his advice and
take his treatment. He should not postpone treatment one hour, send off
for some remedy he sees advertised, or go and get some patent remedy to
be obtained at a drug store. Money, time, health and even life itself
are too valuable to be hazarded in this way. If this advice were always
followed the diseases could in many cases be cured in their first stage
and most of the after evil results be prevented.

=Discovery of the disease germs.=--In 1879, Dr. Neisser discovered the
specific germ of gonorrhea, called the Neisser gonococcus. In 1895, two
German doctors discovered the germ of syphilis, spirochetæ pallida.

=Gonorrhea.=--The disease appears from three to five days after exposure,
and is heralded by the swelling of the urethra, and an itching, burning
sensation during urination. These symptoms continue for a week or ten
days when a thick greenish yellow discharge begins. Under careful and
prompt treatment the disease may be permanently cured. Even under prompt
and skillful treatment some cases have a persistent tendency to run into
a chronic condition.

Complicated chronic conditions often occur from poor treatment or
neglect. When the disease reaches a chronic form it is likely to
continue for years. Some of the complications of this disease are:
chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the urethra, accompanied
by a constant discharge.

=Stricture.=--A tightening or narrowing of the urethra at some point. This
is called stricture. Urinating becomes difficult and painful. A lengthy
and difficult treatment may be required and sometimes a painful
operation.

=Inflammation of the prostate.=--If the prostate gland becomes the seat of
this disease, it will cause great inconvenience and may result in
painful treatment, surgical operation, loss of health and mental vigor,
with possible loss of the power to become a father.

=If both testes become inflamed=, the victim often becomes sterile. A
dangerous and painful operation is sometimes required. He will never be
what he once was, or might have been.

=Gonorrheal rheumatism.=--If the gonorrheal germs get into the blood and
find their way to the joints of the bones, the result is gonorrheal
rheumatism. This is one of the most painful and difficult diseases to be
cured known to medical science.

=Ophthalmia.=--Should some of this poisonous pus be transferred to his eye
or the eye of another, it would cause gonorrheal ophthalmia, a disease
of the eye that often results in blindness in a few hours or unsightly
sore eyes for life.

=Wife and children the greatest sufferers.=--If the guilty young man were
the only one to suffer, it would not be so serious. His future wife and
children may be the greatest sufferers. It is now known that these
disease germs may remain for years in a young man’s body in an inactive
and weakened state; and that too, after he thinks he is perfectly cured.
In this condition he is likely to infect his wife. These weakened germs
will now take on new life in her body and produce gonorrheal conditions.
She will mistake the disease for leucorrhea and treat herself for a
time. During this loss of time, various complications have developed.
One or more of her sexual organs are now inflamed and ulcerated. One
organ after another may have to be removed by a surgical operation to
save her life. Tumors, nodules, and ulcers must be removed by the knife.
The doctor feels that it is best to leave the husband, as well as the
wife, to believe that the whole trouble is due to the weakness of woman.
Perhaps the wife dies under the knife and leaves a husband and children.
In preaching her funeral, the pastor tries to console the bereaved by
laboring to reconcile Providence and the unfortunate death.

=Blind children.=--If she becomes a mother before these operations are
made, as the child passes from her body it gets some of the gonorrheal
germs in its little eyes and in a few hours or days it is totally blind
from gonorrheal ophthalmia. Or, if the doctor suspects this trouble and
puts a drop or two of a solution of silver nitrate in the eyes of the
new-born baby, no serious trouble may come to the child because of the
father’s sin. An eminent physician in Germany says that there are 30,000
blind people in Germany because of gonorrheal ophthalmia. No statistics
have been kept in this country, but reliable physicians claim that there
must be as many as 15,000. What right has a young man to engage in a sin
that will cause his wife and child a lifetime of suffering?

=Syphilis= is by no means as common as gonorrhea, there being only eight
to eighteen per cent. of the young men who contract this disease as
compared with eighty per cent. who contract the other. The germs that
produce gonorrhea have only to come in contact with the mucous membrane
for infection to follow.

The germs of syphilis have to reach the blood by means of a sore or
small crack in the skin or mucous membrane.

=Three stages of syphilis.=--Syphilis develops by three stages, known as
primary, secondary and tertiary syphilis. If treated promptly and
properly during the first stage, it may be cured without great injury
following, or danger of return. In other stages a much longer treatment
will be required, with many possible complications and dangers. Before
the doctor can check the disease it may attack the bones, muscles,
arteries and the internal organs. This disease causes 90 per cent. of
locomotor ataxia, much of apoplexy, paralysis and sudden deaths long
after the disease is supposed to be cured. It is a prolific cause of
insanity. The descendants of a syphilitic father or mother are often
still-born, die prematurely, or become insane later in life. Syphilis
shortens the lives of its victims one-third.

=An innocent person can be infected.=--By using or handling something used
by a diseased person an innocent person may be infected. A person
infected with one of these diseases is absolutely unclean and dangerous.
There are better reasons for putting such a man in the pesthouse than
one who has smallpox.

=A certificate of good health should be required.=--It will not be long
before a young man will have to present a certificate of freedom from
these diseases, obtained from a reputable physician, before he is
granted a license to be married.

=An example.=--The President of a college Y. M. C. A. recently said to me,
“Five years ago I was in poor health due to a long and excessive
practice of the secret vice. I went to a doctor for advice. He suggested
that I should occasionally visit the prostitute. I made but one visit.
That night I caught syphilis. For five years I have been under the
treatment of doctors. I have been to Hot Springs. Doctors tell me that I
cannot be cured under two more years of this treatment. Even then, the
risk of its return will be so great they say, that I should never think
of marrying.” Then he added, “That is what one visit has cost me. Three
times in these five years I have planned to commit suicide.”

=Another example.=--Only a few days since a young man called at my office
for an interview. His story was, “Three years ago I was induced by other
boys to visit the ‘Red Light’ district of this city. On my second visit
I was infected with gonorrhea. My income was small. The doctor’s fees
were beyond my reach. I tried patent remedies sold in drug stores
guaranteed to cure the worst case in three to five days. Failing to cure
myself in this way I was compelled to go to doctors. At times I seem to
be cured. Then I make another visit and the old trouble comes back on
me. This has been repeated three times in two years. I am now in a worse
shape than I have ever been.” He then asked my advice. I told him to
select the most reliable doctor he could find, and regardless of price
take his treatment until he was pronounced cured. Then twice a year for
several years, to have a State Health Board to make a microscopic
examination. If they find no gonococci for two or three years, he might
consider himself well. But marriage will then be a risky proposition.

These two recent cases are selected from a thousand experiences related
to me in the last five years, many of which were far worse than these.
The reader can judge for himself whether or not these diseases are no
worse than a “bad cold.”




CHAPTER XXXIX

A YOUNG MAN’S ETHICS


=You have a social nature.=--This nature should be developed. Boys and
girls, men and women, are complements of each other. Every boy needs a
sister and every girl needs a brother. It is a good thing for boys and
girls of different families to be schoolmates and occasionally to engage
together in games. Where co-educational colleges are wisely managed,
young men and women develop socially in a more normal way than when they
are separated. The matured young man is never quite himself until he
finds his mate. The same can be said with equal force of the matured
woman.

=Relation of the social and sex natures.=--The social nature of an eunuch
has been arrested in its development to such an extent that he appears
to be without a social nature. He does not attract the opposite sex,
admires no woman, has no interest in children, and does not care to
mingle with people in a social way. The secret sin often causes a young
man to be exceedingly indifferent and to shun the company of young
women.

These facts show clearly that there is a vital relation between the
sexual nature and the social nature. If developed and kept normal, they
will contribute much to the enjoyment of life. Like all great blessings
they have their dangers. Whatever, in the social relations of young men
and women, leads to the excitement of the sexual instinct means danger,
temptations and ofttimes social disaster. Almost all men have either
inherited or acquired a strong tendency toward easy sexual excitement.
Most young men are ignorant of their weakness and the laws of sexual
excitement. In these regards the birds and lower animals are much truer
to nature than is, degenerate, man. Among them the sexual exciting
relations, preparatory to the reproductive act, are never indulged in by
the male except during the mating season. The lower animals never
violate these laws of normal sexual excitement.

=A pernicious custom.=--Many young men, ignorant of these laws, prompted
by an over-developed sexual condition, have the habit of pinching the
arms of girls, patting their cheeks and chins, squeezing their hands,
playing with the hair, hugging and kissing them, and other indiscreet
and dangerous habits. These relations are known by modern society as
“spooning.” It is seriously common. It is more dangerous to physical,
sexual, mental and moral health than the secret sin or prostitution. It
is the kindergarten for both. Few young people would ever fall were it
not for these pernicious and foolish customs.

You should treat every young lady as you would have other young men
treat your sister. You should have a correct knowledge of these laws and
by an intelligent choice and a manly, strong purpose, refuse ever to
engage with young women in any social relation that would endanger your
honor or their virtue.

=Friendship and love.=--For a number of years you may for social reasons
wish to call occasionally on one or more girls for whom you will
entertain only thoughts of friendship. However, friendship occasionally
assumes a more serious turn and is transformed mysteriously into love.
If this love is natural, prompted by your paternal nature, approved by
your reason and judgment, no mistake will be made. Love can be blinded
by lust, paralyzed by wealth and hypnotized by beauty and in either
event, marriage would be a failure.

=A good wife is a helpmate.=--If a young man has perfect control of his
sex nature, I would not advise marriage before he is twenty-three or
four. If he has a few hundred dollars ahead, a good education, or a good
paying position, has good health and has found the girl of his choice,
he should not postpone marriage until he has accumulated more. A good
wife is a helpmate.

=Long engagements.=--Such engagements are seldom necessary and rarely
advisable. Don’t be in a hurry. The first chance may not be the best
one. Study her and her family well. Your children’s rights should be
respected; choose for them a good mother. A young man should never
trifle with his affections or the affections of young women by numerous
engagements. This is a serious matter. The affectional nature can be
trifled with until it cannot be relied upon.

=Certain rights not yours.=--After you are satisfied with the choice you
have made, the important question been asked, a favorable answer
received, and the engagement has been effected with the approval of both
families, remember that there are privileges that are not yours until
the legal phase of marriage has completed your oneness. Any violation of
chastity before marriage is a sin against society, weakens self-respect,
causes a loss of confidence in each other, and often leads to domestic
discord in the future.

=When you call.=--After the engagement is made you will want to be with
your betrothed much of the time. When together have something sensible
to talk about. It is a good thing for lovers to read interesting stories
to each other. While sentiment and the occasional repetition of the
avowal of marriage will add interest to these calls yet this can be
over-done and becomes very monotonous. Be frank, sincere, versatile and
entertaining, but be discreet.

=The nuptial night.=--In relation to the nuptial night there is some very
delicate and vital information every engaged young man should possess.
The primary purpose of marriage is reproduction. Marriage is said to be
“Consummated in the first act of cohabitation.” In Greece it was a
custom for three days to intervene between the marriage ceremony and the
“consummation of marriage.” This was a very wise custom. The bride is
usually nervous, exhausted and excited over the occasion. However much
she may love her husband, he is yet to her a stranger. This nuptial
night should be a night of sweetest, tenderest courtship. The bride
should be promptly assured that she will be protected by her lover and
that no sexual demand will be made until she extends the invitation. You
have often noticed reports in the daily papers of the young bride
deserting her husband a day or two after marriage, or committing
suicide. Their husbands were ignorant, low and brutal, in almost every
case. A young man should understand that his bride is not in a condition
of body and mind to meet the sudden change which the marital relation
brings.

=The considerate young husband.=--If a young husband is considerate,
awaits his wife’s invitation, practices self-control and moderation for
the first few weeks of marriage, his wife will be spared much anxiety,
nervousness, and possibly diseases of the genital organs and an invalid
condition for life.

If an engaged young man is informed, sensible and pure, and his bride
possesses these qualities, there would be nothing indiscreet, unmanly,
or even unchristian for him to assure his betrothed that she need have
no fear in approaching the nuptial night.




CHAPTER XL

MANHOOD WRECKED AND REGAINED


=Few perfect men.=--When we study man in his relation to the world about
him, in relation to his physical, mental and moral possibilities, we get
a glimpse of what nature and his Creator planned for him to be. In
sacred and profane history, on the farm and in the shop, behind the
counter and at the bar; in Congress and in Senate, on the platform and
in the pulpit; we find some splendid examples of ideal manhood. But look
at humanity in the mass. How few perfect men do you find in a community!
Look at the enervated and stunted fathers, the nervous and sickly
mothers, the puny and weak children, the poorly developed babies and
dwarfed minds, the crowded reformatories, penitentiaries and asylums.
Why are sixty-seven per cent. of the children defective at birth? Why
the aimless, shiftless, purposeless, ne’er-do-well men? Why so much of
deteriorated manhood? The causes are many. Many people are ignorant of
the most common laws of health. Many live in unappeased hunger and some
are improperly fed. Whisky, tobacco, opium and morphine are all doing
their part in wrecking manhood. But the most prolific cause of blighted
manhood is the sin of sensuality. It is fully equal to all other causes
combined. One state health board asserts that if all men understood the
laws of sex and kept them, there would not be the need of one doctor in
ten that we now have. This indicates the injurious physical effects of
this sin.

=Wrecked minds.=--An eminent doctor of France claims that the insanity of
eighty-two per cent. of all the females and seventy-eight per cent. of
all the males in the asylums of that nation involves their sexual
mechanism, function, or both, and that early sex instruction would have
wholly precluded much of it and postponed the mental break much later in
life in many other cases. This indicates the mental effects of this sin.

=Kept from Christ.=--More people are kept from Christ and more fail to
live the Christian life because of their sex problem than because of all
other problems put together. This indicates the moral effects of this
sin.

=Regained--extent.=--The extent to which injured, impaired or wrecked
manhood due to dissipated sex life, may be regained, will be determined
by the number of years he has indulged, the excessiveness of his vice,
his age when he reforms, the exercise of his will and the help he seeks
from God. When nature is given a fair show, it is wonderful what she
will do in a few years. When God is given a fair chance in a man’s life,
it is equally wonderful what he can do for a man. God and nature work
together in the restoration of manhood.

=The diagnosis.=--A study of the causes and the conditions of wrecked
manhood will aid us to understand what must be done, if manhood is to be
restored. Nearly all cases of sexually injured or wrecked manhood first
originated in wrong mental relations to matters of sex. The mind has the
power to excite to greater than normal activity many of the glands of
the body. In the presence of food, or fancying that one is in the
presence of food, the mind so influences the salivary glands that they
secrete saliva much faster than at other times. In the same way, when
the mind is called to the sexual organs, and thought and desire for
sexual gratification are aroused by handling these organs, or when
gazing upon lewd pictures, reading obscene literature, telling or
hearing a smutty joke, “spooning” with a girl, reveling in lascivious
desire, or when constipated these organs are stimulated to unusual
activity. Blood rushes to the genital organs, the capillaries are
dilated and gorged with blood and many times as much semen is formed in
a given period, as would be formed, if the mind was otherwise engaged.
The body has its limit in absorbing the vital substance. Much of it
that should never have been taken from the blood must be thrown off from
the body by seminal emissions, the secret vice, prostitution or marital
excess. When improper mental relations are continued for months or
years, gradually there is established a tendency for too much blood to
flow to the genitals, the capillaries become easily dilated, the organs
are constantly excited and inflamed and the habit of generating too much
semen is formed. This leads to impaired manhood.

=All causes of wrong mental thinking must be avoided.=--If constipated,
this must be corrected. If accustomed to handling the organs with the
hands, this must be stopped. Learn instinctively to shun the vulgar
story teller, close your eyes to every lewd picture, burn every obscene
book in your possession, keep company with only the discreet, chaste
girls who wear a full dress, banish every lascivious thought, and keep
your mind engaged in other things. This desired mental control does not
come in a moment, an hour, a day or a month of effort. It will take a
year, it may take more to become master of the mind.

A young man must quit the sin. It can be done at once, but not in every
case. It may take months or a year.

If a true conversion to Christ means anything, it means a purification
of the mind from a willful choice to engage in impure thoughts. From my
point of view this is one of the most important steps for a young man to
take in the solution of his sex problem.

=A pathological condition.=--It is vitally important for a young man to
understand that, even when he has fully decided in his mind on reform
and has accepted Christ, that this reformation of mind and regeneration
in his moral nature do not change the pathological condition of the
genital organs, due to years of violating nature’s laws. These steps are
all important. Restoration to manhood would not be possible without one
or both. The physiological facts are, years of wrong thinking, the
secret vice or prostitution has established a tendency for too much
blood to flow to these parts and consequently too much semen is formed.
This will continue until nature has had time to restore normal
conditions. This could never be done by nature without the causes being
removed. Nature’s work of restoration is always gradual. She cannot be
hurried. She always does her best. Her best is always measured by the
opportunity given her. Start in time, be faithful in removing all
hindrances and she will accomplish results.

=Hindrances and helps.=--You cannot help nature in this trouble by using
drugs, stimulants or galvanic batteries. Marriage only substitutes one
form of sexual waste for another. Prostitution is not a remedy; that
simply destroys two souls and bodies instead of one. The use of tobacco
and alcoholic drinks tends to inflame the passions. These habits must be
entirely quit if restored manhood is desired. Absolute cleanliness,
bathing of parts with cold water, eating nature’s foods, vegetables and
cereals, meat sparingly, if at all, taking plenty of open air exercise,
including deep breathing; these are the remedies nature delights in
using.

=A fact that should be clearly understood.=--After one has fully decided
upon a changed life, at certain periods he will be very severely tested
by the constant recurrence of impure thoughts and a strong desire for
sexual gratification. Many men doubt their conversion or decide that
there is no hope for them. If they yield and practice the secret vice,
they chide and condemn themselves, become despondent and decide there is
no hope for them. They should understand that these thoughts and desires
are not of moral choice, but they arise purely from a pathological
condition of the genital organs. The changed mind and heart did not stop
the usual flow of blood to these organs and the generation of too much
semen. The surplus could not be absorbed by the body. It caused the
ducts and vessels to become gorged. It was this condition that caused
the improper thoughts and desires. Nature has a relief for this while
she is gradually producing a cure. The relief is a seminal emission. If
these men would resist the temptation for a few more hours or a day,
nature would come to their help with an emission. Then for several days
they would be free from impure thoughts and desires. The next period
would not be so severe. The will would be stronger and resistance
easier. If this is kept up, less and less blood will go to the genital
organs, less and less semen will be formed, and after one, two or three
years a normal condition will be established and manhood restored.

=If venerealized, consult a good doctor.=--If wrecked manhood involves
some form of venereal complication, the sufferer should go to the most
reliable home physician he can find, take his treatment and follow his
directions. Even in these cases, if the directions given are followed,
the remedies given by the doctor will be made more effective.

=All out of the asylum can if they will.=--To the young man with seminal
weakness, or loss of virility, we can offer no easy, short cuts to
recovery. For years you have violated nature’s laws. The way back is not
easy. Only the brave and the determined will make it. All out of the
asylum can if they will. There is hope, there is help, there is
recovery. It is worth fighting a lifetime for.

To the great army of young men who are unchaste in minds, many in
habits, conscious of no serious results, as yet, we would wave the flag
of warning.




CHAPTER XLI

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED


=Are men naturally more passionate than women?=--The accumulated
hereditary effects of the double standard for centuries and his acquired
tendencies have made man more sensual than woman. Reasoning from the
lower animals and from all natural conditions there is no reason why a
woman should be less passionate than man. Centuries of false training in
impure mental revelings, obscene language and vicious habits have had a
growing tendency to establish lust in man. Most of man’s lust is the
child of his own cultivation. If the double standard had never existed
and men and women had been equally moral, men would be no more
passionate than woman and both would be better sexed and far less
sensual.

=What are the causes of acquired sensuality in men?=--The chief cause is
wrong mental relations to matters of sex and reproduction. The following
are contributory causes: The false impressions made by parents on the
child; the half truths clothed in the most obscene language received
from servants and playmates; obscene books, pictures, shows and the
dance. All these lead to sexual excitement through the mind. The use of
tobacco and alcoholic drinks tend to inflame the passions.

=What are the principal causes of sterility in men?=--Some authorities
claim that twenty per cent. of childless homes are due to men having had
certain chronic forms of gonorrhea. Excessive use of tobacco and
alcoholic drinks produces temporary sterility. The secret sin, when
continued for many years, often results in temporary sterility. The
inability to become a father, due to one of the last causes, may be
regained on one or more years of abstinence from the cause. Loss of
reproductive powers due to gonorrhea, in most cases cannot be restored.

Eighty per cent. of sterility among married women is due to gonorrheal
infection. In nearly every case they were infected by their husbands who
thought themselves cured. From these facts we see that men, not women,
are largely responsible for sterile homes.

=Are occasional seminal emissions natural?=--If men inherited normal
sexual conditions and never violated sexual laws, it is reasonable to
suppose that men would be as free from sexual losses as are the males of
lower animals. But this ideal state does not exist with men. Nature has
wisely provided for the escape of all surplus secretions from the
various glands of the sexual system. This occurs without any special
shock to the nervous system and the amount of loss is usually small.
Often what is called an emission is but the loss of fluid from the
seminal vessels and not from the testes. This does not contain true
semen. Practically no harm results from these last discharges.

=When do these emissions begin on a young man?=--This depends upon the
sexual development and the habits of the youth. In some it occurs much
earlier than in others. If a young man has lived a continent life, he
may expect an occasional emission when he is eighteen or twenty. If he
has used narcotics, entertained impure thoughts, or practiced the secret
sin, he may expect them sooner. All young men who practice the secret
vice would have frequent emissions if they were not disposing of their
surplus energy in this way. The young man who thus voluntarily gratifies
his sexual desires is losing more energy than he would be doing if he
were to discontinue the habit.

Among many letters received recently are letters from two young men
living nearly a thousand miles apart. Their cases are very similar. Each
began the secret sin when he was only six or seven years old; both were
taught the vice by companions older than they; neither ever received a
word of warning from a parent or teacher. One got to practicing the vice
as often as seven times a day before he was thirteen. He is now
eighteen and having emissions as often as four times a night. He has
varicocele on both sides. The other one is now twenty-two, has practiced
the secret sin as often as four times a day, and now has varicocele on
the left side. Of course these are extreme cases, but they are more
common than most people think.

=Are there some young men who never have emissions?=--It is no doubt true
that all normal young men who are living pure lives have an occasional
emission. In a few young men it may occur during urination and therefore
be unobserved. A young man who willfully dissipates his energy as fast
as it is formed, by means of masturbation or prostitution, may not have
emissions. But let him stop his bad habits and he will experience them.

=Are seminal emissions injurious?=--Unnatural emissions are injurious; the
natural emissions are not.

=What is the difference between a natural and an unnatural emission?=--The
natural emission is a discharge from the seminal vessels; the unnatural
emission is a discharge from the testes. The natural one contains no
sperm cells; the unnatural one does. The first is wholly involuntary;
the second one is due to sexual excitement caused usually by impure
thinking. If a young man keeps his mind pure and avoids all habits that
excite the sexual organs, practically all the sexual life formed by the
testes will be absorbed. Whenever he maintains a high state of passion
for several minutes, several hundred of the latent sperm cells in the
epididymis will take on active life and be sent over to the ampullæ, and
emissions under this condition would contain many sperm cells. This is
why the unnatural emission is injurious. Owing largely to our artificial
methods of living, when a boy is eighteen, the seminal vessels secrete
more than can be absorbed. The surplus is thrown off from one to four
times a month. This is nature’s plan of relieving the gorged condition.

=How can one prevent too frequent emissions?=--Such dietetic measures as
eating non-stimulating foods, discontinuing the use of tobacco and
alcoholic drinks, and such hygienic measures as emptying the bowels and
bladder just before retiring, sleeping on the side, and preventing
constipation, will aid in the control of emissions. But the most
important measure to be used is that of mental control. The cure in all
cases will be gradual and the time required will depend on the condition
of the victim and his determination to conquer the habit.

=Can seminal weakness or loss of manhood be cured by the use of medicine
of any kind?=--The idea that a young man suffering from this trouble, by
opening his mouth and swallowing pills or drinking medicines, can cure
himself is an absolute false hope. No intelligent, conscientious doctor
will advise the use of drugs for seminal weakness. The only safe, sane
and sound prescription that can be given one in this condition is a
strict continent life, aided by pure thinking, proper diet, and hygiene.

=Would you advise the use of any drug or medicine in case of seminal
weakness?=--Absolutely, No. I have no confidence in medicine for such
cases. In no case place your trouble in the hands of a specialist who
claims to cure seminal weakness. Your home doctor is your best friend
when you need medical advice. No well informed doctor will recommend the
use of drugs in such cases.

=How may manhood be restored?=--One suffering from seminal weakness must
abandon the secret sin, get control of his mind, have only pure
thoughts, exercise the mind along other lines, take plenty of outdoor
exercise and avoid all stimulating foods and drinks, especially
narcotics. If not a Christian, become one at once. A genuine conversion
will be the most helpful means of bringing his mind to a pure state of
thinking. Remember that the creation and distribution of this energy is
largely under the control of the will.

=How long will it take a young man to recover from the effects of
masturbation?=--There are so many things to be considered in each
individual case that this question cannot be answered in other than
general terms. The age when the habit was commenced, the age when the
habit was quit, the frequency and the number of years of indulgence, the
inherited constitution, the extent of lascivious thinking and the use or
non-use of coffee, tea, tobacco and alcoholic drinks, all play a part in
the correct answer to the question. I recall one young man of a frail
constitution and a nervous temperament, who had practiced the vice two
to four times a week for four years. He had nearly all the complications
resulting from a greater excess and a much longer period of indulgence.
He used coffee, tobacco, and had been addicted to much impure thinking.
His will-power was weak. He had a long, hard struggle in breaking the
habit. It required four years for him to recover. Here is a remarkable
example. One of my correspondents, twenty-eight years old, began the
habit at the age of eight and practiced the habit two and three times a
day for twenty years. He had very few of the troubles following the
habit of masturbation. Satisfactory recovery took place in a year’s
time. He had everything to his advantage. He had inherited an ideal
constitution and moral tendencies. He had never used coffee, tea,
tobacco or alcoholic drinks. He had never allowed himself to indulge in
obscene language, to read immoral books, to associate with bad company
or to have improper thought about women. He had cultivated studious and
industrious habits, and tried hard to live a Christian life. These ideal
conditions had largely counteracted the injurious effects of the secret
sin and made recovery possible in the brief period of one year. I regard
this as the most remarkable case that I have ever had under my
advisement.

Where one has practiced the secret sin from four to ten or more years
and had the symptoms of greatly injured or lost manhood, it will require
from one to four years for nature to restore his manly powers. Nature
cannot counteract the loss of vitality and restore years of waste in a
few days or weeks of time. Where one has been a victim of this habit for
years he must be patient with nature. Years of practice have established
a stream of waste from his body. In most cases it will require six
months to one year for nature to check this waste. Until this is done,
the patient cannot hope to be conscious of the delightful thrill of
manhood being restored. Just here, I find many of my correspondents
become discouraged. Failing to realize results in a few weeks, they are
tempted to feel that the advice found in this book will not bring relief
when followed, or that their case is a helpless one. They need to be
patient with nature in her slow but sure method of producing real
results.

=What per cent. of children should be circumcised and when?=--The best
physicians are not agreed on this. Many would say one-fourth to
one-third. It is best to do this when the boy is only a few days or
weeks old.

=Should a young man be circumcised after he is grown?=--If the prepuce
passes back freely and there is no irritation or soreness, I would not
advise circumcision. If there is, I would advise circumcision. In
extreme cases of the secret sin, circumcision would help in breaking off
the habit.

=Is there some method of dilating the prepuce and thus avoiding the
necessity for circumcision?=--Yes. In many cases doctors are able to
break up the adhesions and dilate the prepuce as a substitute for
circumcision.

In this matter most parents neglect their boys. When the prepuce is not
passed back every few days and the secretion removed, an adhesion takes
place between the prepuce and the head of the penis. A large number of
boys labor for years, from the age of six to twelve trying to pass the
prepuce back. They have not the right motive in doing this. It is
impossible for them to handle this organ in this way, several times a
day for months or years, without discovering the secret sin. In this
way they dilate the prepuce and break up the adhesions. It is strange
that this experience among boys has not suggested to parents the
following natural and practical method of solving this problem.

Where the prepuce passes back naturally in babyhood, the mother should
occasionally take a damp cloth and remove the secretion. When the boy is
two years old the mother should have the boy trained to do this every
two or three days.

Where the prepuce is long and the opening small, if the mother, every
time she cares for the little fellow’s body, would endeavor to pull the
prepuce back, by the time the boy is one year old, nine times out of
ten, the problem would be solved. This should be done so gradually and
carefully as not to produce soreness. If this is done before the boy is
three years old sex consciousness and passion need not be awakened. I
would not advise the mother to begin this after the boy is two or three
years old.

=Is there a safe method by which small organs, due to the secret sin, may
be enlarged?=--There are some methods advertised by “quacks” and certain
firms, but most of them are unreliable or injurious. The vacuum method
is perhaps the most satisfactory. This consists of an appliance that
removes the external pressure from the organ and allows the blood to
rush into the capillaries. This practice must be kept up for a
considerable time to be effective. While this is the most natural
method, I would not, in any case, advise the use of it. Any method used
tends to call the attention to the organs and this leads to continual
sexual weakness. A restored virility is of far more importance than the
size of the organ. Because this organ varies in size, many men who have
practiced the secret vice to some extent, fear that this organ has
become in a measure atrophied.

=Would you advise marriage as a remedy for weak manhood?=--No. One would
simply substitute marital excess for excessive self-abuse or
prostitution. If a man has impaired his manhood he should recover his
manhood by conserving sexual life, proper diet and physical exercise for
a few years before he marries.

=What effect will a period of self-abuse have upon one’s
offspring?=--Perfect children are born of parents having a strong
vitality. This vice weakens the vitality. Where a young man has
noticeably injured his nerves, his vitality, his health, he should seek
to regain his manly powers before he thinks of becoming a father.

=Should a young man marry who has for a number of years practiced
masturbation?=--It is always best for a young man who has practiced the
secret vice for five, ten or fifteen years to quit the habit and live a
continent life for one or more years. During this time he becomes normal
in his sexual life and sexual demands. If he has practiced the habit
only in a very limited way, so that he is not suffering from any bad
consequences, postponement of marriage is not necessary.

=What should a young man do when he discovers that he has
varicocele?=--The approach of this disease is first noticed by a dilation
of the cord leading to the epididymis of the left testis. When the veins
become full of impure blood and feel like a handful of tangled
earthworms and the left gland becomes painfully tender and begins to
become much reduced in size, then the individual has a real case of
varicocele. If, when the veins are only moderately large and there is
but little soreness, the causes are abandoned, no serious results may
follow. This disease is caused chiefly by the secret sin and impure
thinking. In some cases it is caused by a bruise or the “falling of the
mumps.” The patient must abandon the cause; if it be the secret sin,
quit it; if impure thinking, quit that; if “spooning” with girls, a most
common cause, be a gentleman and quit it.

Buy two silken suspensories, so they can be kept clean. The suspensory
holds the testes up close to the body and prevents much of the uneasy
dragging feeling. If this advice is followed for several months a
surgical operation need never be necessary. Not one of several hundred
young men who have carefully followed this advice have had to be
operated on. If the patient fails to get relief and cure after several
months of following this advice, he should consult a home physician.

=Does varicocele caused by the “falling of mumps,” lead to sterility?=--It
does not. If neglected, varicocele, however caused, may lead slowly to
sexual weakness and this finally to temporary sterility, or inability to
become a father. Prompt attention should be given to the advice found in
the answer to the previous question.

=When a testicle has become reduced in size can it be restored to normal
size?=--If in the earliest stage of varicocele, before the gland has
become much reduced, the advice found elsewhere in this book is
followed, the gland may become normal in size. When the gland has become
much reduced in size, it will not be possible to restore it fully.

=When a young man has become infected with venereal disease, should he
treat himself with a patent remedy purchased in a drug store or send
away for a remedy?=--A young man’s money, health and life are too
valuable to be jeopardized by resorting to either method. Most of these
drug store remedies advertised in gentlemen’s closets are guaranteed to
produce a cure in one to five days, and, it is further guaranteed, that
the disease will never return. There should be a law prohibiting the
sale of such drugs. They are an encouragement to uninformed men to visit
the prostitute. When the young man finds that the patent remedy has
failed to cure him, he is then perhaps in a chronic state of infection.
Now the best medical talent may fail to produce a permanent cure.

=Should a young man who has had a venereal disease in a chronic form ever
marry?=--Few questions are more important and few more difficult to
answer. The right of being a husband and father may be annulled by
inherited defects or acquired conditions. The wife and child have
incontrovertible rights. The specific disease germs producing gonorrhea
have been found in the genital vessels and ducts ten years after the
victim considered himself cured, and the germs producing syphilis have
been found in a man’s brain twenty-two years after he considered himself
cured. Sixty-five per cent. of married women who are operated on in
their pelvic and abdominal cavities, a very large per cent. of imbecile
children, and eighty per cent. of blind infants are traceable to uncured
infection in their husbands and fathers. Where the diseases have been
properly treated and a cure has been effected in the first stage, no
serious after effects will be experienced. Where the seeming cure has
been effected several months or years after taking the disease, quite a
large per cent. are never free from the effects. If such men marry at
all, marriage should be delayed a few years after they consider
themselves cured. At intervals of once or twice a year they should be
carefully examined by the State Health Board. If no disease germs are
found after two, four or more years, the individual may marry with some
measure of assurance that he will not infect his wife or child. Even
when these necessary precautions have been taken, children to the third
and fourth generations may have to suffer for life for the sins of their
fathers.

=Can gonorrhea and syphilis be permanently cured?=--If gonorrhea is
promptly and properly treated, it can, in many cases, be cured without
danger of return or any serious effects being transmitted to the wife or
child. It is also a fact that in many cases of gonorrhea, even when
properly treated, there is a strong tendency to run into chronic
conditions. When the disease has been neglected or poorly treated, or
when a case by its own persistency runs into a chronic state, many such
cases are never cured so that they may not return in some form.
Weakened germs have been known to remain in a quiescent condition in the
genital ducts for years.

In recent years many prominent physicians have changed their views
regarding venereal diseases, as they are now known to be more insidious
and persistent than was formerly thought. Some physicians claim that
syphilis may sometimes be cured; but many eminent physicians claim that
it is quite probable that when one has once been infected with syphilis
that his body is never entirely free from the disease germs. Some
authorities claim that the syphilitic germ has been found in the brain
twenty years after the disease was contracted. Many leading physicians
now consider gonorrhea worse than syphilis.

=When a man experiences a sexual desire, does that not indicate that the
desire should be satisfied?=--Sexual desire results from the conscious
possession of creative energy. This creative energy can be disposed of
in any one of the following ways: (1) For procreation; (2) Built into
the body and converted into health, strength, labor and length of days;
(3) Built into the brain and converted into mental attainments and
achievements; (4) Built into the feelings, sentiment, emotions, and
converted into sympathy, love and service; (5) It can be selfishly
dissipated and reveal its misuse in a blighted, wasted life. What
disposition shall be made of this creative energy is up to the
individual to decide.

=How can a young man judge of his sweetheart’s virtue?=--In the same way
that a sensible girl would decide upon the virtue of her best gentleman
friend. She would consider his reputation, the company he keeps, his
general demeanor and his facial indications of chastity. A modest
demeanor, absence of familiarity, a pure mind, innocent expressions on
the face, and look in the eye, are the only evidences of a young woman’s
virtue by which a young man can be guided.

=Would it be wise for a young man to test the virtue of his best girl by
using the methods of the seducer?=--How would he feel if he knew that
some young man was practicing the same test on his sister? Not very
comfortable, if he had a spark of manhood about him. There is no excuse
for or justice in such a test. Under the pressure of the seductive
methods used, promise of marriage oft repeated, a pure girl might be
induced to surrender her all to the one she loves and trusts. As a rule,
such a young man would then refuse to marry the girl he has ruined. If
he does marry her, the mistake may mar their future happiness.

=Would it be proper for a young man to ask his sweetheart if she has kept
her virtue?=--Certainly, if he can first assure her that he has kept his
own. If he cannot offer a square deal he should, at least, be willing to
take chances.

=If a young woman is not a virgin should she be expected to confess this
to her lover?=--If it were customary for men to make such confessions,
then it would be fair for a woman to do the same. Since men do not
consider it wise or necessary for them to confess their sins before or
after marriage, they should not expect this of women. If the question of
virtue is raised, let the innocent party introduce it.

=If the arm is not exercised it becomes helpless, withered and weak. If a
young man should remain single for five to ten years and live a
continent life, will not his sexual organs lose their function, wither
and atrophy?=--These questions appear to present a most perfect analogy.
Based on the information the average young man is supposed to have, even
if he be a college or university graduate, not one out of a hundred
could extricate himself from the conclusion, that he must reach, viz.,
continence in the single life leads to a loss of the reproductive powers
and to atrophy of parts. When we consider that this is the argument of
the immoral doctor, the ignorant and the vicious, the classes to whom
young men of the past have been compelled to go for all their sex
information, it is not surprising that almost all young men hold to the
“sex necessity lie.” In the past, ministers, teachers and parents have
not been in possession of facts with which to combat this sexual heresy.

The solution of this problem lies in the fact that the male and female
organs of reproduction have two functions. One is a continuous and
regular function, taking place day and night, asleep and awake. The
other is a periodic and special function. To illustrate: The breasts of
a woman are a part of her reproductive system. A married woman becomes a
mother for the first time at the age of twenty. She nurses her babe at
her breasts. This function is called lactation. But, it would have been
possible for her to become a mother at fifteen and to nurse her child.
Then, there were five years during which she did not perform the
function of lactation, and yet, she did not lose this function. Suppose
she does not become a mother the second time until she is forty. Again
her breasts perform this special function as perfectly as they did the
first time. But, remember, there were nineteen years during which she
did not perform this function, and yet, she did not lose this function.
The other sexual organs of a woman have special and periodic functions,
such as, menstruation and ovulation. The normal performance of these
special functions is determined by their general and continuous
function.

If the female sexual glands, ovaries and breasts, were removed from a
girl in her infancy, she would never develop the indescribable physical,
mental and social charms of ideal womanhood. If these glands were
removed at any other age under forty, she would lose in physical, mental
and moral tone. This illustrates the nature of the general and
continuous function of these organs. This function consists in these
organs generating an internal secretion which, if not interfered with,
will build and maintain a perfect womanhood. This continuous function
gives constant activity to these organs; keeps them healthy and strong
and prevents the loss of their special function, that of motherhood.

Day and night, asleep and awake, the male sexual glands are generating
an internal secretion which, if retained in the body, will build and
maintain perfect manhood. It is this continuous function that gives
constant activity to these organs, keeps them healthy and strong and
prevents the loss of their special function of reproduction.

=What effect upon his sex problems has a young man’s keeping company with
young women?=--We have a social nature. It should be normally developed.
The sex nature and the social nature are vitally related. Improper
social relations lead to sensuality and proper social relations lead to
purity of manhood and womanhood.

If a young man would develop an ideal social nature, he should to a
reasonable extent, associate with modest, discreet and chaste young
women. This is natural and in every way helpful. If a young man who has
sexual weakness, due to youthful indiscretions, purposes reform and
desires to regain his manhood, he will find association with young women
of the above type to be very helpful. The normal young man, as well as
the sexually weak, should studiously avoid association with girls whose
actions, conversation or dress suggests impure thought.

=What is the relation of “spooning” to a young man’s sex problems?=--A
single example of “spooning” will answer this question. January 19,
1912, a college young man, in a personal interview, explained that since
April 14th he had been completely impotent and wanted to know of me, if
there was any hope for him to have his manhood restored. I assured him
that there was. He then asked me what he must do. My reply was, “That
depends upon what you have been doing.” I found that he had been guilty
of the secret vice and prostitution to only a limited degree. Convinced
that these habits would not explain his condition, I said to him, “The
trouble is in your mind. You have in some way aroused and maintained a
high state of sexual excitement for hours at a time and over a period of
months or years. Can you explain?” He confessed that for nearly two
years he had spent two or three hours, two or three times a week, in
company with a girl friend who permitted him to hold her hands, play
with her hair, pat her cheeks and chin, kiss, caress and even fondle her
breasts, but absolutely refused to permit further advances. Then I
explained to him how this intense sexual excitement had brought on
varicocele, loss of sexual power and spermatorrhea.

Spooning is a growing evil. It is more injurious than the secret sin.
Our suggestive post cards, pictures on billboards, novels and serial
stories, and the moving pictures in five and ten cent shows are all
giving young people the idea that spooning is natural and expected as a
part of the entertainment, when a young man calls to see his “best
girl.”

The girl who permits spooning will lose many of her personal physical
charms. The eyes that once sparkled with intelligence and glowed with
luster become lusterless, stupid and sunken; the cheeks once rosy and
plump become pale and poor; the handshake that was once warm and full of
life, is now cold and lifeless. Health is gone. She ends her days in
heart trouble, wrecked nerves or consumption.

=If cohabitation is not a physical and sexual necessity, or conducive to
health, why do married people live longer and have better health than
those who remain single?=--As a rule married people are more temperate in
their sexual lives than are the single. But this does not prove that
sexual gratification is ever conducive to health and long life. All
nature contradicts such a conclusion. The embodiment of life in seed is
a universal sacrifice. Many flowering plants wither, fade and die as
soon as they embody life in their seed. If young fruit trees bear fruit
too early in life, they are stunted in their growth and die prematurely.
There is a suspension of growth in all the vegetable kingdom as soon as
the function of reproduction is completed. Among the lowest forms of
animal life, as soon as the eggs are fertilized, the animal dies. Among
all the higher animals, including man, there is abundant evidence of
some bodily depression and nervous exhaustion after each act of
cohabitation, showing the act to be one of sacrifice. The arrested
growth, susceptibility to disease and premature decay among plants,
trees and animals, when premature or over-production occurs, are
significant illustrations of the baneful effects of youthful dissipation
of the sex principle and of marital excesses.

All nature teaches that the normal expression of sex is the unselfish
act of embodying life in a new being and that means sacrifice. The story
of the cross is typical of all nature. Christ sacrificed his life that
humanity might have redemptive life through a process of spiritual
reproduction, regeneration.

Through centuries of bad heredity, a misunderstanding of the nature and
true function of sex and years of violation of sex laws have combined to
give men an abnormal sex nature. It has remained for the people of this
country to discover and apply the laws of heredity, to learn the true
nature and function of sex and to restore to humanity a normal sex
nature. The results of centuries cannot be corrected in one generation.
Few men will be able to reach the ideal life, but it is the privilege of
every man to struggle toward the ideal.

For young people to regard sexual gratification as the one reason for
marriage is positively degrading and shows that our ideas of marriage
should be corrected. There are many reasons why the married life is the
ideal life. Man is a social being. He needs a companion. He is not
complete in himself. He represents only one-half of a complete being. He
is never quite satisfied until he finds the other half, the complement
of himself. A demand for companionship is found in the very physical,
mental and moral natures of man and woman. Their constant association,
their mutual home interests and sacrifice for their children are very
conducive to health, happiness and a long life.

=What is the philosophy of the relation of sex to a happy courtship and
marriage?=--The sexual life forms the basis of these experiences. Without
the creative principle, these social relations would be impossible. The
love and magnetism that draw the sexes together in courtship and
marriage, that harmonize their differences and blend their personalities
and make the husband and wife one are the expressions of the sexual
life. Young people who get the idea that marriage means unrestricted
sexual privilege, will sooner or later land in the divorce court, or be
compelled to live miserably together. If they live in harmony with the
laws of sex, their honeymoon will be lifelong.

My subject is before you. While we may differ as to some minor
particulars, we are agreed that the violation of the laws of sex is the
most prolific source of wrecked manhood, and that a pure life is the
only possible road to perfect manhood. I have tried to lead you to
loathe and abhor all forms of sexual impurity and to form a purpose as
lasting as life and as strong as death, that you will never again
violate the laws of sexual purity. The attainment and maintenance of
perfect manhood, the recovery of wrecked manhood, the transmission of
potential perfect manhood to your offspring, all absolutely depend upon
your faithfulness to the principles of sexual purity enunciated in this
book. If the truths presented in this book keep one boy out of the pit
of sensuality, or if they lead one poor faltering man to form an undying
purpose to become pure, or if just one man finds help, strength and life
through faith in Christ, the author is repaid a thousand-fold. It is a
higher honor to wear a crown of perfect manhood than to wear the crown
of an angel.




CHAPTER XLII

PHYSICAL CULTURE

     The cuts illustrating the first eleven exercises with descriptive
     matter, are taken from “Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise” by
     permission of the authors Bernarr MacFadden and Felix Oswald, A.M.,
     M.D.--_The Author._


=The importance of physical culture.=--This chapter is added for the
reason that perfect health, perfect development, perfect virility,
perfect manhood is not possible without physical culture. Physical
culture includes bathing and exercise. The healthful functioning, of the
entire digestive system, the kidneys, the liver, the lungs, the heart
and the brain, are related, vitally, to physical culture. Likewise the
retention, absorption, distribution and assimilation of the creative
life are also vitally related. Bathing and massaging the body and
physical exercise have a remedial effect upon almost all physical
disorders.

=The functions of the skin.=-Stop the functions of the skin three minutes
and death follows. The skin has two functions, one is to eliminate
poisons from the body and the other is to conserve and regulate the heat
of the body.

=The wild tribes.=--In prehistoric times the people wore little or no
clothing. In some of the coldest countries wild tribes go almost naked.
Under these conditions consumption and many modern diseases are unknown.
Clothing is not needed by these people. The skin is able to conserve
sufficient heat.

=Modern customs.=--The wearing of clothing and the neglect of physical
culture has to a large extent destroyed the natural functions of the
skin. The function of conserving heat is nearly lost by the skin. When
the skin is not kept clean and healthy it loses, to some degree, its
power to eliminate poisons. When this occurs the kidneys are forced to
do overwork. This results in kidney disease.

=Getting back to nature.=--For people to go naked again is out of the
question. Modest, pure-minded, civilized people must wear clothing.
Clothing conceals defects, improves bodily appearance and protects the
body from heat and cold. Getting back to nature simply means that we are
to restore to the skin its natural functions of conserving heat and
eliminating poisons.

=The air bath.=--In athletic exercise the skin is incidentally exposed to
the air and sunshine. This largely accounts for the benefits derived.

On arising each morning fifteen minutes should be devoted to restoring
and maintaining the natural functions of the skin. This is done by
throwing off the clothing in a fairly cool room, exposing the skin to
the air. The skin should be rubbed with the hands or a fairly rough
towel until it is stimulated into warmth. It is well to vary the
rubbing, using the hands part of the time and the towel part of the
time. After the skin has become warm, one can take fifteen minutes of
physical exercise, attend to shaving and other features of his toilet,
remaining, meantime, entirely or partly naked, to a very great
advantage. The open air bath can take place of much of the cold and hot
water bathing. Water baths should be taken twice or three times a week
and those should be followed by ten or fifteen minutes’ rubbing the body
and exercising, in the open air.

=Colds prevented.=--A person who is able to warm himself by friction
during an air bath, in a fairly cool room, renders himself practically
immune to colds. Colds cause catarrh, tonsilitis, bronchitis, pneumonia,
pleurisy. Pneumonia causes consumption. If one can prevent taking cold
he will escape many of the ills of life. In addition to this, when the
skin performs its functions properly and the internal organs are doing
the same, the person is practically immune to acute contagious diseases.

The air bath should be taken in a room that is properly ventilated. If
the friction is performed vigorously, with the mouth closed, this will
enforce deep, nasal breathing. This will prevent catarrh, enlarged
tonsils and adenoids, and, if continued long enough, will cure mild
cases and will assist in the cure of all cases.

=Rules for physical exercise.=--Physical exercise should not be taken for
one hour after a hearty meal. The best time for exercising is
immediately after arising each morning.

If one desires to take a cold or warm bath, he should take the air bath
first. Following the water bath, he should rub his body with his hands
and a Turkish towel until a warm glow is felt all over his body. Then
should follow his physical exercise. The lightest dress compatible with
decency and comfort should be worn during the exercises described in
this chapter. He should not continue any exercise to the point of
excessive fatigue. Breathing pauses will frequently be required at
first, but these intervals will be less frequent as the lungs develop.

=Value of physical exercise.=--The beneficial effects of physical culture
cannot be overestimated. It strengthens and develops the muscles. It
restores the natural functions of the skin. By exercising the muscles of
the external organs of the body, exercise is given to the muscles of the
internal organs. By restoring the natural functions of the skin and
giving normal exercise to the internal organs we correct the functional
disorders of the digestive system, the heart and the lungs, and restore
to them their natural functions.

The good effects will be noticed, in some ways, from the start; in other
ways several months may be required.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 1.--Reclining on right side and raising left
arm, with dumb-bell in hand and elbow rigid from hips to high over head.
Same exercise with right arm while reclining on left side. Inhale deep
breath as arm goes back.]

=Exercise No. 1.=--Reclining on right side raising left arm, with
dumb-bell in hand and elbow rigid from hips to high over head. Repeat
this some ten or fifteen times. Now turn on the right side and repeat
this exercise with the left hand. Inhale a deep breath each time as the
arm goes back. This exercise helps to expand the chest walls and to
develop certain muscles of the arms and side. It is especially valuable
for one who feels debilitated, and is of value in several phases of
heart disease.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 2.--Reclining on right side and raising left
leg as high as possible and the same exercise taken with right leg while
reclining on left side.]

=Exercise No. 2.=--Reclining on right side, raising left leg as high as
possible. Repeat this a number of times. Now recline on the left side
and raise the right leg as high as possible. This exercise develops the
muscles of the legs, hips and abdomen. It strengthens the digestive
system and will improve an injured spine.

=Exercise No. 3.=--Recline on back and cross right leg over left as far as
possible, and vice versa. This movement brings into activity some
muscles of the legs often neglected.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 3.--Reclining on back and crossing right leg
over left, as far as possible, and vice versa.]

=Exercise No. 4.=--Reclining on back, with dumb-bells, or any object
weighing one to two pounds in hands, at sides, raising same with elbows
rigid, and cross arms over chest. This brings into activity several
muscles of the arms, shoulders and walls of the body, stimulating the
action of the lungs. This is especially valuable where one is unable to
leave his bed.

=Exercise No. 5.=--Reclining, bring right leg up, clasp hands over knee
and pull leg up as far as possible and vice versa. This exercise brings
into play a large variety of muscles, especially the muscles of the
abdomen. It is a constipation cure. With a little effort one can
voluntarily exercise the muscles of the

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 4.--Reclining on back, with dumb-bells in
hands at side, raising same with elbows rigid, and crossing arms over
chest.]

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 5.--Reclining, bring right leg up, clasping
hands over knee and pulling leg up as far as possible.]

abdomen in such a way as to cause the intestines to move in a circle,
first to the right, then to the left, finally drawing them up and down.
This combined with the foregoing exercise, if practiced daily, will
relieve and cure many cases of constipation.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 6.--Reclining and bringing arms from far
back straight upward with elbows rigid, to straight over chest, drawing
deep breath and retaining same during movement.]

=Exercise No. 6.=--Reclining with dumb-bells in hands, bring arms from far
back straight upward with elbows rigid, to straight over chest; draw a
deep breath and retain same during the movement. This is, in part, the
exercise used in reviving half-drowned persons. In addition to the fine
muscular movements, it aids in deep breathing and is a fine lung tonic.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 7.--Reclining and raising left leg as high
as possible, with knee straight, and repeat same with right leg.]

=Exercise No. 7.=--Reclining on back, raise left leg as high as possible,
with knee straight. Repeat several times: also, repeat this exercise
with right leg. This is a modification of Number 2. A splendid exercise
for the hips and has a wholesome effect upon the spine.

=Exercise No. 8.=--Stand, with hands on hips, sway the body in a circular
manner, to the right, left, backward and forward. It is a splendid
exercise for stimulating the intestines.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 8.--Standing, hands on hips, circulatory
body exercise, swaying body in circular manner right, left, back and
forward.]

=Exercise No. 9.=--Reclining on back, with both hands, grasp some object
back of head; now, holding the knees rigid, raise both feet to a
vertical position. This exercise is rather severe at first. It should
be repeated several times. It exercises the abdominal and hip muscles.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 9.--Reclining, hands grasping something back
of head, raising both feet to vertical position.]

=Exercise No. 10.=--Reclining on stomach, raise left leg, with knee
straight, as high as possible; same with right. Repeat these exercises
several times. This exercise is tiring at first. It limbers up the
joints. For a person who has been accustomed to inactivity, as in the
case of bedridden invalids, this is a valuable exercise.

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 10.--Reclining on stomach, raising left leg
with knee straight, as high as possible; same with right.]

=Exercise No. 11.=--Recline on stomach, grasp dumb-bells in both hands,
raise arms from hanging

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 11.--Reclining on stomach, grasping
dumb-bells in hand, raising arms from hanging position to position
illustrated.]

[Illustration: EXERCISE NO. 12.--Reclining arms hanging, raising bells
upward and outward from the body, level with shoulders. Reversing that
motion by bringing bells from position illustrated in No. 11 to position
on level with the shoulders, as illustrated in No. 12.]

position to position illustrated. This exercise will strengthen the
muscles of the neck and shoulders. If one has sustained some injury that
threatens tetanus, or “lock-jaw” complications, the application of this
exercise would often break the spell. “Keep moving your arms, keep
moving your arms,” was Dr. Benjamin Rush’s constant advice to persons
threatened with tetanic complications.

=Exercise No. 12.=--Reclining with arm hanging, raise dumb-bells upward
and outward from the body, level with shoulders. Reverse this motion by
bringing bells, from position illustrated in No. 11, to position on
level with shoulders, as illustrated in this exercise. In value and
results this exercise is very much like No. 11. Consumptive microbes
will have a poor chance to effect a lodging in a body getting the
benefit of these exercises.




SEVENTH DIVISION

HEREDITY, OR VITAL FACTS FOR THE MARRIED AND MARRIAGEABLE




CHAPTER XLIII

HEREDITY, A FACT


=A critic answered.=--During a lecture in a western city the author gave
his audience an opportunity to ask questions and state their objections
to his views on heredity. One of his auditors declared that he did not
believe in heredity. He was then asked whether he believed in the
improvement of mankind.

“Certainly,” was the objector’s reply.

“How do you suggest that this improvement may be accomplished?”

“I believe in ideal environment.”

“So do I; but, I also believe in the agencies of ideal heredity and the
grace of God.”

“I don’t know anything about your last agency and I do not believe in
your first; but I do believe in ideal environment.”

“Do you understand farming?”

“I am a farmer.”

“Very good; suppose you have a field you wish to plant in corn. You have
access to two cribs. One is filled with nubbins; the other with large,
shapely, well-matured ears of corn. From which of the two cribs would
you select your seed corn?”

“I would select from the one containing the better corn.”

“But, you have just stated that you do not believe in heredity.”

“Now, Professor, you are talking about corn.”

“Yes, I am telling you how to improve corn by the intelligent control of
heredity. Suppose you have no stock, but you wish to begin raising
stock. Your father has some scrub stock and some pedigreed stock. He is
willing for you to select your breeding stock without cost. From which
of the two grades would you select?”

“I would certainly select from the pedigreed class.”

“But you have informed me that you do not believe in heredity.”

“Now you are talking about hogs, cattle and horses.”

“Yes, I am trying to explain to you that in the improvement of our
domestic animals we are wise enough to use the agency of heredity.
Suppose you had a daughter of marriageable age and she is entertaining a
marriage proposition from each of two

[Illustration: A WILD ROSE.--Nature Gave us This.]

[Illustration: AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE.--Good Heredity and Environment
Produced This.]

young men. She comes to you for your fatherly advice and counsel. You
know the records of the two young men. One is rich and rotten, the son
of a corrupt politician. The other young man has good parents, a clean
record, all the physical, mental and moral qualities of a real man, but
he is poor. Nine times out of ten you would advise your daughter to take
the fellow that is rich and rotten. You have good corn sense, good hog
sense, good cow sense and good horse sense; but you have mighty poor
son-in-law sense.”

When my audience ceased applauding, I held a book up before them and
allowed it to represent a ten-acre field to be planted in corn. I
assumed that all parts of the field were to have the same quality and
richness of soil, uniform rain-fall and sunshine, and the corn to
receive uniform cultivation. In this event the corn in all parts of the
field would have the same environment. Then I said to my audience, “If
there is nothing in heredity and you plant one-half of this field in
corn selected from nubbins and the other in corn selected from large,
shapely, full matured ears, the side of the field planted in nubbins
will produce as fine corn as the other side.”

If there is nothing in heredity, and all in environment, the offspring
from the vicious cow will be as docile and as safe as the offspring from
the gentle cow; the offspring from the scrub horse with a six-minute
record can be trained to trot as fast as the colt whose parents had a
record of a mile in less than two minutes; and the children of the
degenerate class will be as healthy and well developed, as intellectual
and moral as the children of the normal parents.

=Heredity in plant life.=--There is operative in every sprig of grass,
weed, vegetable, shrub, and tree two agencies--heredity and environment.
What they are and what they are to be are wholly determined by these two
agencies. In the past fifty and seventy-five years we have doubled the
size, variety and quality of our vegetables and fruits. Nature gave us
the wild rose, bearing a small bloom with five petals; nature and man
have produced the large, shapely, fragrant, beautiful rose of the yard
and garden, bearing from fifty to one hundred petals to the bloom.
Nature gave us the knotty wild strawberry; nature and man have produced
the large, luscious strawberry of the market and table. If our
cultivated and highly developed vegetables and fruits had been left to
the careless farmer, or in their wild state, with their heredity and
environment without intelligent control, a Keifer pear and an Alberta
peach would not have been produced in a million years.

=Heredity in animal life.=--In the last fifty and one hundred years
intelligent man, through the wise control of heredity and environment,
has produced the

[Illustration: A WILD STRAWBERRY.--Nature Gave us This.]

[Illustration: CULTIVATED STRAWBERRY.--Good Heredity and Environment
Produced This.]

popular breeds of fine poultry; the Pointer and Setter dogs; the Poland
China, Berkshire and Duroc hogs; the Southdown and Merino sheep; the
Durham, Jersey and Holstein cattle; Percheron, Coach and Hambletonian
horses. Nature gave us the long-horned, crooked-limbed, brindle-haired
wild cow; nature and man have produced the Durham. Nature gave us the
wild horse that could trot at best a mile in six minutes and, when well
broken, was worth twelve dollars and a half; nature and man have
produced the Hambletonian that makes a mile in less than two minutes and
sells for twenty thousand. Nature gave us the razor-backed,
long-snouted, acorn-splitting Arkansas hog; nature and man have produced
the beautiful grunter of the barnyard and the performing pig of the
circus. The careless breeder or unaided nature could not have produced
these results in centuries of time. Man proudly claims the honor of
making these improvements. He maintains great stock shows and stock
journals, visits foreign countries and pays fabulous prices that he may
constantly improve his stock. He secures large appropriations from
government revenues with which to prevent the spread of hog cholera
among his hogs and Texas fever among his cattle. So great is man’s
interest in these improvements that nearly all men take one or more
agricultural, bee, poultry and stock journals and their wives take
poodle dog journals. Why this interest? Money and pleasure.

=Money and pleasure more valuable than manhood.=--We have seen what man
has accomplished among the vegetables, fruits and domestic animals, now
let us study his wisdom in the application of these agencies in the
human family. When we study man in relation to the world about him, his
physical, mental and moral possibilities, and from Revelation, we get a
glimpse of what the human race ought to be. In both sacred and profane
history we find some specimens of noble, ideal manhood. On the farm and
in the shop, behind the counter and at the bar, in congress and in
senate, on the platform and in the pulpit, we find some, who, by
inheritance, environment, personal effort and the grace of God, have
become examples of ideal manhood. But look at men in the mass. How few
examples of perfect manhood do you find in a crowd of ten thousand men?
Look at the enervated and stunted fathers; the nervous and sickly
mothers; the puny and weakly children; the poorly developed bodies and
dwarfed minds. Why should sixty-seven per cent. of our children be
physically or mentally defective at birth? Why should one hundred and
sixty-five children out of every thousand born in country places and two
hundred and twenty in the cities, die in their first year? Ninety-five
per cent. of the well-cared-for lower animals are perfect at birth and
ninety per cent. grow to old age and are rarely sick. Why should crime,
insanity, feeble-mindedness and epilepsy have increased three hundred
per cent. during the last twenty years? Why this remarkable improvement
among vegetables, fruits and domestic animals, and this appalling
degeneracy among men? Love of money and pleasure explains the one; man’s
fallen condition explains the other. Dollars and pleasure in one;
sacrifice, manhood and womanhood in the other.

=Heredity versus environment.=--If there is nothing in heredity, and all
in the environment, given the same environment, the offspring from the
vicious horse will be as easily broken and be as safe as the offspring
from the docile horse; the offspring from the horse that can make a mile
at best in six minutes can be trained to trot as fast as the offspring
whose parents could make a mile in less than two minutes.

My contention is that the same intelligence that has produced the
beautiful fragrant rose, the splendid vegetables, the luscious fruits
and our present improved varieties of domestic animals, can produce
similar improvements in the human family.

=Heredity applied by the early Romans.=--In the early history of Rome,
custom and law made it a special honor to be a Roman mother. She was
surrounded by examples of courage, bravery, strength, power, heroism
and purity. Special homage was shown her on the streets, at the arena,
and when viewing the marching victorious armies. Such treatment and such
environment made it possible for the Roman mother to become a real help
in making Rome the mistress of the world. Had this courtesy, gallantry,
manly attention, respect and reverence for girlhood, womanhood, wifehood
and motherhood continued, Rome might never have fallen. Have we the
gallantry, courtesy, respect and reverence for womanhood as in former
days? A quarter of a century ago it was indeed a rare thing that a man
would be so thoughtless as to smoke or swear in the presence of a woman;
now it is a very common occurrence.

=Plato’s views.=--Plato, a heathen philosopher, born more than two
thousand years ago, who never heard of the Bible or the Savior, made a
careful study of the laws of heredity, and for the improvement of men
suggested laws that would do honor to our day. In his Republic he
suggested that parentageable married people be prohibited from the use
of wine. Wine included all alcoholic drinks. He also suggested that the
inferior classes should be restricted in marriage and that marriage
should be encouraged among the superior classes. Under the teaching of
Plato, Lycurgus, in his reign, assuming that children were more the
property of the nation than of their own parents, sought to have all
children well born. In two hundred years that small nation is said to
have produced twenty-eight of the master minds of the world.

=Genius is hereditary.=--Aristotle’s father was a scholar and a
philosopher. Beecher’s father was a scholarly preacher. William Pitt’s
father at the age of twenty-seven was at the head of the English
government. Lord Bacon’s father was a great scholar and statesman.
Darwin was the product of several generations containing a number of
geniuses.

The Bach family of musicians in Germany is a fine example of musical
heredity. Among them were nineteen musicians of eminence. Fifty-seven of
their names are found in the Dictionary of Music. At family reunions
there were counted as many as two hundred and fifty church organists and
choir leaders. The genius for music appears to be as easily transmitted
as that for art or militarism. There appears to be only a very few
exceptions among the great musical geniuses.

Cæsar, Alexander, Wellington and Hannibal seem to have inherited a
genius for war. Napoleon Bonaparte’s Corsican mother, before his birth,
accompanied her husband to the field of war, exposing herself to
deprivation and danger, and being elated and thrilled by every victory.
When a child, he showed the military spirit. As a man of eighteen and
twenty he was a failure and attempted suicide. When twenty-three he was
given a chance to quell a raging mob in Paris, and crushed it in his
first effort. From that time until England chained him he conquered
everything before him.

From the days of the Crusades to the war with Spain we find the Lees
were military leaders. Cromwell and Grant appear to be exceptions to the
rule.

=Max Jukes.=--Vice, as well as virtue, runs in families. Max Jukes was
born in 1703. Both he and his wife were born of inferior parents. He was
a drinking man and seemed to delight in breaking law. His wife was a
common prostitute. We have identified and studied eleven hundred and
three of his descendants. One hundred and twenty-six were thieves and
murderers and spent several years in the penal institutions, ninety
female prostitutes, one hundred and forty-five drunkards; two hundred
and eighty-five were viciously diseased and four hundred had either
consumption, epilepsy, or were feeble-minded. Eleven hundred and three
were delinquents--not one a good citizen. They cost New York a million
and a quarter dollars.

=Jonathan Edwards.=--Jonathan Edwards was born in 1720. He and his wife
had splendid heredity. They were well educated. They were converted to
Christ in childhood. We have identified and studied thirteen hundred
and ninety-four of their descendants. We find thirteen university
presidents; one hundred and twenty-three college and university
professors; thirty-two eminent authors; ninety-six physicians; over two
hundred ministers; four hundred successful business men; one vice
president; mayors of large cities, U. S. senators and congressmen;
ministers to foreign ports; only one left a stain on the family
record--Aaron Burr who fought a duel with Alexander Hamilton.

=The potency of heredity.=--Suppose that the environments of these two
families could have been reversed and their heredity left the same,
could you then have written the figures after Max Jukes that we have
written after Edwards, or vice versa? No real student of sociological
conditions believes that we could. Environment certainly had much to do
with both of these families; but all students of heredity believe that
in these families heredity was as great as, or even a greater factor
than, environment. The dependent and delinquent descendants of Max Jukes
were the products of bad heredity, bad environment and the rejection of
Christ; the great and good descendants of Edwards were the products of
good heredity, good environment and the grace of God.

=Bible and heredity.=--In the Old and New Testament, the writers of nearly
every book appear to recognize the potency of heredity. We can refer to
only a few of them here as proof of the fact of heredity. God told
Sampson’s mother that she must drink no strong wine and eat no impure
food.

David gives a most excellent statement of the results of good heredity:
“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them
that fear him and his righteousness unto children’s children.” The word
fear, as applied in this case, means perfect obedience prompted by
respect, reverence and love for one in authority.

The Jews, who could trace their lineal descent to Abraham, often boasted
of their inherited superiority over other Jews and people of other
nations.

Paul, writing to Timothy, said, “When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and thy mother Eunice,” etc. In this statement Paul accounts, in
part at least, for the strong faith and beautiful Christian character of
Timothy, on the basis of heredity.

David explains the sins of his life as being due, in part at least, to a
bad heredity. “I was shapen in sin and in iniquity did my mother
conceive me.”

=Iniquities of fathers visited upon their children.=--In Exodus 20:5, we
find a most remarkable statement of the hereditary results of obedience
to law and of disobedience. “I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous

[Illustration: RESULTS OF “PERSONAL LIBERTY.”--The young man whose
picture appears on this page was studied by the author. His sister who
died at the age of five months was afflicted like himself. The initial
of their lives occurred during the drunken debauch of their father.]

[Illustration: PROTECTED.--The above illustration of highly bred, highly
trained and highly protected animals, showing a cow valued at $13,000,
hogs valued at over $4,000 each and a horse at $5,000, serves as a
striking contrast to the illustration on the opposite page.]

God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generations of them that hate me, and showing mercy to
thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” This is a much
misunderstood passage. God does not arbitrarily choose to force a
punishment upon an innocent child whose father ignorantly or viciously
violated law any more than he breaks the leg or neck of a man who
accidentally or with suicidal intent falls from the top of a building.
God has wisely placed all men under a variety of laws. The laws are all
planned for man’s good. If we keep all law, we develop manhood and
womanhood. By the agency of heredity we transmit to our children the
possibility of manhood and womanhood superior to that which we
inherited. If we constantly violate law, we acquire physical, mental and
moral degeneracy and transmit to our posterity defective conditions. In
this way God has planned for each succeeding generation to become
superior to the preceding one.

The statement is made that the iniquities of fathers are visited upon
their children unto the third and fourth generations, and that
“righteousness” is shown unto “thousands of them” (generations).

Why did God limit his first statement to the third and fourth
generation? Because there is no fifth generation of continuous and
unbroken iniquity. Here are two modern proofs of the truthfulness of
this ancient text.

=A modern proof.=--Two thousand erring girls were interrogated with
reference to the sobriety of their parents. Seventy per cent. had either
drunken fathers or drunken mothers, or both. In one state penitentiary
the author found seventy-two per cent. of the inmates had either drunken
fathers or drunken mothers, or both. Recent investigations in one of the
state reformatories for women show eighty-five per cent, had either
drunken fathers or mothers, or both. Twenty-two per cent. of the
feeble-minded, the insane and the epileptic had the initials of their
lives to take place during a drunken debauch.

Here is a husband and wife; both are habitually under the influence of
alcohol. Suppose their children follow their example and marry
companions addicted to strong drink, and the children of the next
generation follow the example of their parents and marry companions
addicted to strong drink, and this is continued, what will be the
result? There will be no fifth generation. In the first generation might
have been found a daughter in the house of shame, a son in the chain
gang of crime, a feeble-minded child, an epileptic, or one or more
alcoholics. As a result of four generations of consecutive drunkenness,
degeneracy would become so great as to result in complete sterility.

=Another proof.=--In every institution for the feeble-minded are to be
found inmates who have the “Hotchinson notched teeth,” “crowfoot tracts”
in the palate and throat, certain marks on the body--scientific proofs
that such are congenital syphilitics. Some ancestor, two or three
generations gone by, lived an immoral life, became infected with a
vicious disease and transmitted the degenerative influences down the
line to where it ended in complete degeneracy.

=Who is responsible?=--Is this a punishment from God upon innocent,
helpless children? No. God is in no sense responsible for it. Is nature?
No. Who is responsible? Men who sow their wild oats and boast of their
“personal liberty” to do as they please. Have God and nature any part in
this? Yes. God and nature in infinite interest, mercy and love for the
unborn millions who would be blighted with inconceivable degeneracy and
suffering, should they be born of such degenerate parents, say, “We have
given these descendants four generations in which to prevent further
degeneracy by marrying into pure and sober families, by reformation or
by redemption,” and since they have not availed themselves of these
restorative and redemptive means, reproduction must cease.

=Morbid heredity and bad environment.=--Bad environment and bad heredity
explain the presence of every convict in our penal institutions and
every inmate in the asylums. Laws and political administration that
tolerate, regulate and encourage strong drink and social immorality, the
two chief causes of degeneracy, and the parents who indulged in these
iniquities, are largely responsible for these thousands of defective and
delinquent beings who are crowding our asylums and penal institutions to
a dangerous and unsanitary overflowing.

Father, son and grand-son, uncles and cousins galore crowd these
institutions. Much of their mail is from relatives and bears the
postmark of a similar institution, showing that crime and insanity run
in families.

=Man’s development originally under two agencies.=--It is evident that God
originally placed man’s development under the intelligent control of
heredity and environment. If man had as wisely applied these agencies to
his own improvement as he now does to the improvement of the vegetable
and animal kingdoms, he would have developed to the highest possible
physical, mental and moral attainments.

=His fall.=--Man’s present condition of hereditary and acquired degeneracy
clearly reveals that somewhere in human history he has thrown himself
out of harmony with physical, mental and moral laws governing his
well-being. The record of man’s fall as given in Genesis is at least the
figure of a great fact in human history. Man’s fall involved the
violation of some law or laws vitally related to his physical, mental
and moral natures.

=Need of a third agency.=--The results of his fall were transmissible. In
his fallen state he was not able to use heredity and environment to
their normal capacity. His fall resulted in abnormal heredity and
environment. Without an additional agency fallen man was incapable of
recovery. Hence his need of redemption and the Redeemer. Now man has at
his command his intelligence, his will and the grace of God, by which he
may improve himself, improve his environment, and as a result of his
improved physical, mental and moral condition, he may transmit to his
posterity the possibilities of manhood and womanhood superior to what he
himself inherited. Just to the extent that man has received a good or a
bad heredity, keeps or violates law, accepts or rejects the grace of
God, just to that extent does he recover or degenerate, create a good or
a bad environment, and will transmit a good or a bad heredity to his
posterity.

=Greatest blessing of parents.=--What is the greatest blessing of
parentage? “Riches,” is the answer. Lots of fools think that. The
greatest blessing of parents to their children is a good heredity. What
a child is at birth he has received largely from his parents. What he
receives at birth largely determines his future.

=Greatest blessing of society.=--What is the greatest blessing of society
to a child? It is a good environment. Parents can form only a part of
their child’s environment. Society as a whole furnishes the environment
of a child. No individual, no class of men, no lawmaker, no
municipality, county, state or nation has the shadow of a moral right to
place by vote or official act, or permit by passive toleration a
lascivious picture, a vile book, a questionable resort, a place of vice,
a saloon or a gambling den that may lead a boy or girl to ruin. Whoever
assumes that right is an enemy to the social and moral well-being of
society. God’s greatest gift to men is salvation through His Son. Bad
heredity and environment are the only difficulties in the way of all
men’s accepting Christ. The complete effects of any one or two of these
agencies are impossible without the normal application of the other. No
one can wholly take the place of the other two, and no two can wholly
take the place of the other one. These three agencies should be ever
active in every life.

=Three agencies necessary.=--You might as well try to make a triangle out
of two sides as to try to produce physical, mental and moral perfection
in man by the use of environment and the grace of God, when the
individual has inherited little or no physical, mental and moral basis
for development. If a child has received ideal heredity, but is left
without educational opportunities and compelled to grow up in an immoral
atmosphere, never entering a Sunday school or church, it would be
impossible for him to develop scholarship or Christian character. If one
has good heredity and good environment and leaves the grace of God out
of his life, he is not what a man should be and will fall short of the
true object of life.

=Is there a remedy?=--If man’s present degeneracy had its origin in the
violation of law; if the evil physical, mental and moral effects have,
in some measure, been transmitted from one generation to succeeding
ones, until all men are more or less hereditarily degenerate; is there a
remedy, or are we the subjects of fate? Must each succeeding generation
continue to inherit a possible increase of degeneracy as we have done in
the past?

=Relation of the three agencies.=--Nature and man create environment. The
tendency of nature is to furnish only good environment for man. Man has
it in his power to help or to hinder nature. The more depraved man is
the more he hinders nature and produces for himself and others a bad
environment. If hereditary degeneracy could be eliminated from the
race, there would be no immoral environment. Bad environment is produced
by degenerate men. Degeneracy is both inherited and acquired. Inherited
degeneracy indulged, and acquired degeneracy are both transmissible. If
it were possible, under present conditions, for one never to violate a
law as a result of God’s grace and his own volition he could not
directly and personally transmit tendencies towards evil, and he would
transmit his inherited tendencies towards evil in a less degree than he
inherited them. Even with ideal heredity, environment and the grace of
God, one or more generations could not entirely overcome the bad effects
of all preceding generations.

=The need of Christ.=--Each individual is the sum total of all the
influences, good and bad, of all preceding lineal generations. The
inherited good and bad antagonize each other and are modified by
environment and the grace of God. If the good predominates, the bent of
that individual will be toward the good, and vice versa. His approach to
perfection will be determined by his heredity, his environment and by
his relation to Christ. Since all men always will be the sum total of
all the influences of the past, they will always need the Christ. There
will always be enough temptations in the world to develop the heroic in
man.

=The race can be improved.=--But it is reasonable that through the ideal
application of these three agencies one generation can to a very marked
degree overcome the evil effects of the past and transmit less
degeneracy than it received. If each individual would embrace the grace
of God, create for himself and others an ideal environment, this process
continued would ultimately give us a race free from the present serious
condition of physical, mental and moral degeneracy. If this conclusion
is not practical, logical and correct, then science and revelation fail
to give us a remedy for present race degeneracy. If this is the correct
solution of our physical, mental, social and moral problems, all
education, legislation, religious and personal efforts to bring about
race regeneration will continue to fail until the three-fold scientific
and scriptural gospel of good heredity, =good environment and the grace
of God for every child=, finds its proper place in all our personal
efforts, teaching, administration, legislation, and preaching.




CHAPTER XLIV

HEREDITY AND REPRODUCTION


=Life is real.=--What is life? Many theories have been offered by the
leading materialistic students of the past and present, but all have
signally failed to tell us what life is in its ultimate essence. All
attempts to discover life by aid of the scalpel, microscope and chemical
analysis have likewise failed. This class of scientists has made several
attempts to explain life as being the phenomena of matter undergoing
certain peculiar chemical changes, or due to molecular motion. They have
failed to recognize two great realms of existence, the material and the
immaterial, the visible and the invisible, the tangible and the
intangible. Life, physical, mental and spiritual, though invisible and
immaterial, is none the less real in its essence.

The materialists have tried hard to explain reproduction and heredity on
a physical basis. By this method they have failed to explain many of the
most common facts.

=The germ cell.=--The difference between the germ cells of the lower
animals and man is not in their structure, or their chemical elements,
but in their inherent life. Here are three germ cells. As fast as the
scientist is capable of analyzing them they may be absolutely identical
in their physical anatomy, yet one may contain the life of a rabbit,
another the life of a dog, and still another the soul of a man. The
physical anatomy does not determine whether the offspring is to be a
rabbit, a dog, or a human being. It is the resident life that determines
this. Physical organs are the mediums through which life reproduces
itself. The heredity of the offspring is determined by the many
influences brought to bear upon it before birth and upon the lives of
the ancestors.

=Masculine and feminine principal.=--The organic world is pregnant with
two primary and vital principles, the masculine and the feminine. Every
plant, lower animal, and man is reproduced by the union of these
principles. In the lower forms of plant and animal life these two
principles reside in the same organism. Reproduction takes place within
the parent organism by the union of these two natures. The parent
organism divides and becomes two distinct organisms. This is
reproduction by division.

=Reproduction in the lower forms of life.=--In the next higher forms of
plant and animal life these two principles reside in the same
individuals, but in separate organs. These organs possessing the female
nature produce seeds or eggs. The organs possessing the male nature
produce a fertilizing substance called pollen or semen. Reproduction
takes place by the fusion of the male and female cells.

In the higher animals and man these principles reside in separate
individuals. In some mysterious way the procreative cells have residing
within themselves, in rudimentary form, all the attributes of the
parents.

=Sex is in the life principle.=--Once sex was considered a part of the
physical organism. Now we are beginning to see that sex is vitally and
substantially related to life. When a little plant comes into the world
it is because the masculine and feminine sex principles have united on
the plane of physical life. Like begets like. The baby plant did not
possess animal life, intellectual life, or moral life for the reason
that the parent plant could not transmit a form of life it did not
possess in its masculine and feminine nature.

When the little animal comes into this world it is because the masculine
and feminine principles have united on the plane of instinctive animal
life and, among the higher classes of animals, rudimentary mental life.

=Reproduction man.=--Man is organized on higher planes than the rest of
the organic world. Man possesses not only the highest form of physical
life, but also mental and spiritual life. Sex in man is primarily and
substantially related to his physical, mental and spiritual life. The
sperm cell of the father is formed from his blood and possesses the
essence of his three-fold nature. The germ cell of the mother is formed
from her blood and possesses the essence of her three-fold nature. When
these two cells, masculine and feminine, unite under proper conditions,
a human being having a physical, mental and moral nature, is started
upon its endless voyage, nine months before it makes its visible
appearance in the world. When God made the body of primitive man He
“breathed into him the breath of life (Hebrew lives) and man became a
living soul,” having power of self-propagation and the power to transmit
potential procreative power from one generation to another.

=Man’s relation to the past.=--Each new being at the initial of life is
the sum total of all the influences, good and bad, of his ancestry back
to Adam. The child is largely the product of his parents. He is not a
duplicate of either, but the product of their blended personalities,
being influenced much by his grand-parents, less and less as his
ancestry becomes more and more remote. During embryonic and fetal
development the child will tend to unfold in all departments of its
nature according to the pattern received from its ancestors, but this
may be more or less influenced by maternal impressions. After birth the
child has two agents that will ever be active, heredity and
environment. These two agents at their best are never perfect. Hence
the child will ever need a third agent, the grace of God.

=Why children in the same home differ.=--Here is a family of five
children. They differ from each other quite as much as if they
represented five families. Now, if heredity does not explain this
difference, then the children, having the same environment, would be
alike. The children in the same home differ from each other for the
reason that the parents, at the creative moment, did not sustain to each
child the same combination of physical, mental and moral relations. At
the creative moment of the second child the parents were not in the same
physical, mental and moral states they were at the creative moment of
the first. They had each changed in their physical states of health,
their mental interests and in their moral and religious convictions and
experiences. For the same reason each child differs from all the others
in the family. Though they had the same environments, no two were alike.
So great is the influence of heredity that no two people can be made
alike by giving to them the same environment.

=Twins.=--If two persons could receive the same heredity and environment,
they would be exactly alike. The nearest approach we have to this is in
the case of twins. Nearly one-half of twins are so much alike

[Illustration: LOUISE AND MAY CARTER, TWINS.]

that it is difficult to tell them apart. Other twins resemble each other
more than children in the same home born months apart.

=Why some are alike and others are not.=--If the creative moment of twins
were the same, or nearly the same, the parents sustained to each the
same combination of influences. If their creative moments occurred hours
or even days apart, then there was time for one or both parents to
sustain a different relation to one, from that they sustained to the
other. This accounts for the difference between some twins. Not only do
twins resemble each other physically, but often their mental and moral
tastes and tendencies are very much alike.

=Twin brothers.=--I once met twin brothers sixty-seven years old. They had
been lost to each other for fourteen years. They still resembled each
other, dressed alike, wore their beards and hair alike, talked and
laughed alike. Sixty-seven years had not greatly modified their physical
and mental resemblance. Twin children usually inherit similar
perfections or imperfections. This I have noticed for a number of years.
Where I am now writing is a club-footed, rheumatic boy. His twin brother
is feeble-minded. In an adjoining state a few days ago I studied a young
man who was helpless from his arms down. His twin sister was helpless at
birth and died in childhood. These examples indicate that the
before-birth influences being the same, were the causes of these defects
in the offspring.

=An objection answered.=--A man said to me, “I don’t believe in heredity.”
I asked him why he did not. He replied, “I know of a drunken father who
had four sons; two were dissipated from their youth and two were
‘teetotalers.’ If the father had had anything to do with this, all would
have been drunkards.”

My reply was, “The father through the laws of heredity may have
transmitted to two of his boys tendencies toward drunkenness and to the
other two, tendencies toward sobriety. In the case of the first two, the
father might have, in his mental and moral natures, favored
intemperance, longed for alcohol, or been on a drunken debauch at the
initial of their lives. With reference to the last two, the father might
have temporarily reformed, mentally and morally, he might have been
strongly opposed to the use of strong drink at the initial of their
lives.

“Again the mother might have had very light convictions on temperance
prior to the birth of the first two and very strong mental and moral
opposition prior to the birth of the last two. Again something in the
form of environment may have led the last two to overcome their
inherited tendencies toward drink.”

=Materialistic theory fails.=--Materialistic philosophers admit that
heredity tends to reproduce the likeness of the parents in the child.
They try to explain this on a purely physical basis. Prof. Huxley, Mr.
Spencer and the more modern Weismann, while they have each coined some
new technical terms with which to convey their materialistic ideas,
suppose that each procreative cell, masculine and feminine, contains a
representative material something from every atom of the respective body
from which it was formed. In this way the child has a body with marked
resemblance to its parents. Since, according to their theory, all mental
and moral phenomena are due to chemical changes and molecular
disturbances in the brain, and since the child inherited a brain like
its parents, the molecular movements of the child’s brain will be like
the molecular movements in the brains of its parents; hence it will have
inherited the mental and moral characteristics of the father and mother.

=Life is a unit.=--It takes only a few days for the procreative cells to
be elaborated and matured. Here is a child. The initial of its life
occurred twenty years after its parents had their right arms amputated.
How could the procreative cells that formed the initial of that child’s
life have in them a material representation from the right arms of those
parents that had been amputated twenty years before the birth of the
child? Suppose that the parents had undergone a much larger mutilation
of the body, leaving them only the organs necessary to continued life
and propagation, would the child have inherited the absent parts? Yes.
Why? For the reason that sex is in the life of the individual, and not
simply in the material substance of the body. A human body may have had
some of the members removed but the physical life remains a unit. The
embryo formed by the union of a masculine and a feminine cell will have
a unit of physical life. During the nine months of gestation this unit
of embryonic physical life will be incarnated in a unit of physical
organism. Should a lobe of the brain of each parent, through which some
mental or moral attribute functions, be removed, the child would inherit
a unit of brain organism, for the reason that it inherited from the
parents a unit of mental and moral life.

=Sex a resident part of life.=--These illustrations show that sex is
vitally related to the physical, mental and moral life; that the
physical nature of the child is the product of the union of the
masculine and feminine principles of the physical life of the parents
represented in the procreative cells; that the mental nature of the
child is the product of the union of the masculine and feminine
principles of the mental life of the parents represented in the
procreative cells; that the spiritual nature of the child is the product
of the union of the masculine and feminine principles of the spiritual
life of the parents represented in the procreative cells. The three-fold
life of a child is the product of the blending of the three-fold life of
its parents.

=Heredity explained.=--The Bible tells us that “the blood is the life.”
Science cannot express this truth better. The three-fold expressions of
life are not in the blood. The blood furnishes life for every cell.
Physical, mental and moral states are influenced by the conditions of
the blood. These three natures meet and influence each other in the
blood. Jesus appealed to the will of the patient. “Wilt thou be made
whole?” “Arise, take up thy bed and walk.” “Stretch forth thy hand.”
Jesus recognized the influence of the mind, expressed in will, as well
as the spiritual expressed in faith, as a means of physical restoration.
Every successful doctor, whatever may be his medical views, recognizes
the value of a strong purpose to recover.

=Effects of different mental states.=--Men and animals alike lick a fresh
wound. Nature teaches them that the saliva alleviates pain and heals the
wound. If an angry person bites you, or you lick a wound after an hour
of intense anger, you have a wound with all the symptoms of poison and
it will be difficult to cure. Hundreds of cases are on record where
angry mothers nursing their babies have thereby thrown them into
convulsions or spasms. Jealousy will result in digestive disturbances.
One can grieve so much over the loss of property or some member of the
home by death as to injure the health. It is claimed that a great
chemist took the various secretions from a subject that had been
intensely angry for hours and succeeded in removing from the various
secretions more than a score of poisons. In the case of another subject
swayed by holy impulses, the kindest of feelings, the purest of love, he
removed more than a score of wholesome, nutritious ingredients without a
single poison.

=Mental and moral states influence the offspring.=--If right mental and
moral states will give to the saliva, secreted from the blood, curative
properties; and wrong mental and moral states will give the saliva a
poisonous nature; if right mental and moral states influence the milk
secreted by the breasts of a mother in a normal way; and wrong mental
and moral states will so influence the mother’s blood as to throw her
four-months-old nursing babe into spasms, cannot the father’s mental and
moral states influence the creative secretions from his blood, and the
mother’s mental and moral states, at the creative moment and during the
nine months of embryonic and fetal development, influence the creative
and life sustaining and life-developing secretions from her blood?

=Who was to blame?=--I once met a family during one of my lecture courses
and was entertained in the home over night. Their children, five in
number, all during my lecture picked at each other, scratched each
other, fought each other, fussed, quarreled and cried. As we rode in the
carriage to their home and during our visit those youngsters kept up
this same line of entertainment. After I had retired the man stepped
into my room and whispered to me that he and his wife were in great
trouble, that they had been at the point of separation for ten years and
asked me to teach them how to live happily together, and to be less
miserable. I asked him to tell me the cause of their inharmony. “Oh,
there is but one trouble between wife and me!” He spoke as if that were
quite insignificant. Finally he told me that the trouble in the home
was, “neither of us can control our tempers.” As he left my room I
realized that for once in life I had a government contract on my hands.
Then I mused: “Ten years of quarreling, ten years of disagreement, ten
years of family feuds and family strife and these parents have
transmitted more of bad disposition to their children than the children
will be able to conquer in a lifetime, or these parents will be able to
whip out of them before they are of age, chasing them around over a
three-hundred-acre farm.” Continuing my meditation I thought: “If I had
the power to make laws, I would make a law of mercy for such
unfortunate children as these. That law would provide that where parents
transmit as much unnecessary devilment to their children as these
parents have to theirs, that the children should have the legal right to
whip their daddies and mammies.”

=The child not an exact duplicate of either parent.=--These parents had
produced their mental and moral states in their children.

These illustrations will help you to understand the philosophy of
heredity. The two cells that unite to form the initial of every new life
are elaborated from the blood of their respective parents and each cell
has the physical, mental and moral natures of its parents in potential
form. Were it possible for a child to inherit its size, form, features,
disposition, tendencies, etc., from only one of its parents, and to grow
to maturity uninfluenced by environment and education, it would
necessarily be an exact duplicate of that parent. Because of its dual
parentage, the maternal impressions received before birth, and the ever
varying influences of environment and education, the child will be
unlike any other person that ever lived.

=The child resembles both.=--These cells often remain in the bodies of the
respective parents for several days before the initial of a life takes
place. It follows that the mental and moral states, as well as the
physical condition of the parents, for many days before conception takes
place, will influence the child. There is no doubt but the remote
conditions of the parents are transmitted, but not so certainly and so
fully as the existing, or recently existing, states of the parents. At
the initial moment the three natures of each of the parents will be
greatly modified in the union of the cells. If the separate natures of
the parents did not blend in the child, the child would have two mental
natures, two moral natures and two physical natures. The modification of
the inherited tendencies from each parent will depend largely upon the
relative strength of these natures in the parents. Hence, where the same
characteristic exists in each parent it will appear in the child in a
reduced, duplicated or exaggerated form.

=Prenatal opportunities.=--During prenatal life, the forming child in the
mother’s body is supplied with its physical, mental and moral building
material from the mother’s blood. During the first twelve months of its
postnatal life, or the period of lactation, the mother’s blood,
environment and education are the child’s sources of physical
development. During these periods the child is almost wholly pliable in
the hands of its physical sculptors and mental and moral teachers. The
prenatal existence of a child affords the parents their greatest
opportunity to train the child, “in the way it should go.”

=Mother’s advantage.=--From these facts we see that the mother has the
advantage of the father in influencing the forming body, the plastic
brain and the sensitive soul of the child. Owing to the double standard
of morals it is certainly a blessing to the world that this is true.
Whatever is undesirable in the father, especially in his moral life, in
a measure may be overcome by the mother. The story of Abraham’s two
sons, Isaac, the true son, and Ishmael, the son of the bond woman, is a
familiar illustration of this truth. Isaac became a good man; Ishmael
became a bad man, the founder of the Ishmaelites, “whose hand was
against every man.” Do you recall to memory a mother fallen in
character? What has become of her children? Daughters fallen and sons
worthless, often without an exception.

Suppose women all lived as men do, what would be the effect on the
coming generation? Suppose men and women were alike temperate, honest,
truthful and pure, our civilization would be as much superior to the
present as the present civilization is superior to heathenism.

=The mother’s larger hereditary influence proven.=--Do you recall a
drunken mother? How about the children? Dissipated and delinquent. A
young lawyer, gifted, conceited, ambitious and eager for position and
power had, according to his views, but one thing in his way to the goal
of success--money. After thinking over the surest and best methods of
getting money he decided to marry it. His first opportunity was a
wealthy feeble-minded heiress. He married her. To their marriage five
children were born. Three were positively mentally weak. The other two
were noticeably so. Of these two, the first was a natural thief and the
other a natural liar. Only one child resembled the young lawyer, the
last one.

=When training should begin.=--It was a saying of a Yale president that “a
child’s training should begin with its grandparents.” Another has said,
“A child’s training should begin one hundred years before it is born.”
There is more truth in those quaint sayings than many are willing to
accept. Most parents give their children no premeditated and intelligent
prenatal training, and many think that when the child has become
accountable is soon enough for its training to begin.

=Children products of blind chance.=--There is an idea among many that
every child comes straight from God and made to His order, and that
parents are obediently to receive them when God sends them. Let the
child be beautiful or homely, blonde or brunette, girl or boy, strong or
feeble-minded, good or bad, no matter, God gave the child. Some think
these things are all accidents, fortunes or misfortunes, or they belong
to “the unknowable.” There are no accidents. Every effect has its cause.
Nothing comes by chance alone. Unalterable and invariable law governs
everything. The law of heredity is as unerring as the law of
gravitation. Our ignorance of the law does not prevent its operation.

=Robbed of their birthright.=--The great mass of people are not well-born.
Aside from the degenerate criminal and the feeble-minded, universally
recognized products of heredity, most people are below what nature would
teach us they should be. They were born with mediocre capacities for
business success and intellectual attainment. Give them the earliest and
best advantages and training that this country affords and marked
improvements will be made by them, but they will not make great men in
any line of life work, for the simple reason that they cannot. It takes
some natural capacity for the highest success.

Occasionally a child of unusual gifts is born of parents much below the
average. The parents and their friends are likely to believe the gift to
be a special divine bestowment. But, if the child’s prenatal history
could be fully known this would be accounted for on the basis of
hereditary law. The unscientific farmer may occasionally raise a fine
ear of corn or a very large crop of potatoes. But the intelligent,
scientific farmer raises only the best.

=Sowing wild oats.=--If girls were addicted to loafing on the streets,
swearing and telling vulgar stories, smoking and drinking, gambling and
going to questionable places, we should not consider this good training
for wifehood and motherhood. No intelligent man would choose such a girl
to be the wife of his bosom, the queen of his home, the mother of his
children. He is an ardent believer in the training of girls before
marriage for wifehood and motherhood. Boys who engage in any of these
sins are as much unfitting themselves for parentage as girls would be.
“Oh, but a reformed rake makes the best husband.” If he makes the shadow
of one, it will be a miracle of grace that he does it. No “rake” can in
his own strength make a good father. If by God’s help he makes a good
husband and father, this will be done in spite of his former life, and,
not because he had been a “rake.” Sowing wild oats in youth does not
make it easier to be good in after life, but more difficult. Boys and
young men should live with a view to husbandhood and fatherhood.

=Immature parents.=--Experienced stock raisers will not breed inferior or
immature stock. If one or both animals to be used for breeding purposes
be young, immature, the offspring will be inferior. All leading
physiologists place man’s maturity at about twenty-four and a woman’s at
about twenty. If continence in thought and life controlled our social
relations, it would be best for the human family if marriage did not
take place until maturity. Under existing social conditions, sexual
dissipation, and its dangers, it is perhaps best, in some cases, that
they marry a few years younger. But for fifteen-and sixteen-year-old
girls and nineteen-and twenty-year-old boys to marry is a decided
physiological and psychological mistake. Children can no more parent
normal children than can pigs, colts, and kids parent normal young. A
great sociologist says that four to six per cent. more children whose
mothers married at sixteen will die in their first year than among
children whose mothers married at twenty; and that six to ten per cent.
more children whose fathers married at twenty will die in their first
year than among children whose fathers married at twenty-four.

=An ideal family.=--At the close of a lecture on heredity in a college
town, a gentleman invited me to take dinner at his home the next day. I
accepted his invitation. From eleven o’clock to twelve he and I sat in
front of his little cottage home chatting pleasantly. When the college
bell announced the noon hour, he turned and said, “When my two boys and
my girl return home for dinner I want you to study them as examples of
intelligently applied laws of parental preparation, prenatal training,
good environment and the Grace of God.”

A few minutes later my attention was called to the rattling of the gate.
Turning, I beheld two fine specimens of physical manhood and an equally
fine specimen of physical womanhood. On closer acquaintance I found they
were leaders in all their classes, leaders in the best circles of
society and leaders in church work.

Dinner over, the young people returned to college; dishes were cleared
away, and father, mother and I sat in front of that same cottage home;
the conversation naturally drifted to heredity and to the young people.
The father humbly but proudly said, “Professor, if wife and I should
sell all we have, including our wardrobe, we could not raise $1,500. We
have never been ambitious for broad acres of land, a palatial home or
heavy deposits in the bank. We have had just one all-controlling purpose
in our married life, and that has been to give to the world a family of
children who will honor us after we are dead, be a blessing to the world
and glorify God.” My reply was, “You have certainly erected to your
memory three splendid monuments, monuments far grander than if you had
worn out your muscle and brains in the production of sordid silver and
gold and had left to your children a round million, and they, out of
their gratitude, had erected to your memory a marble shaft piercing the
very sky.”

I said it then, I have repeated it many times since, “I wish I had the
money to pay the transportation and hotel bills of this family on my
lecture trips and at the close of a lecture on heredity, could call this
family to the platform as a living example of intelligently applied
principles of eugenics.” If the initial moment of every child born into
this world were intelligently planned for, its prenatal rights
respected, its advent warmly welcomed, its environments wisely chosen
and it were early led to accept Christ, every family would be equal to
this family, and the next generation much superior to this. Will you,
gentle reader, model your ideals after this home, teach these truths to
others, and teach them to teach these truths to still others? If you
will, then you will have done your part towards the world’s redemption.




CHAPTER XLV

CHOOSING A COMPANION


=Indications of constitutional degeneracy.=--Feeble-mindedness, epilepsy,
insanity, scrofula, cancer, rheumatism and gout are the outward
indications of constitutional degeneracy and inherited tendencies which
are often transmitted from one generation to another of a deteriorating
family. These conditions in nearly every instance were due either to
strong drink or to sexual sin. In most cases consumption may be added to
the above list.

=Choosing a degenerate companion.=--If you and your family have a clear
record of physical, mental and moral health, you can form habits of vice
or marry into a family addicted to vice or into a family
constitutionally degenerate and hand down to your posterity hereditary
conditions and tendencies.

=A clear bill of health to your children.=--If you and your family have a
bad record of health, you can, by a virtuous and temperate life, strict
observance of the laws of health, and an intelligent choice of a
companion, largely overcome the effects of bad heredity and environment
in yourself and transmit a clean bill of health to your children.

=Neurotics.=--Don’t marry into a neurotic family. Your partner might
become insane and your children be afflicted.

=Drunkards.=--Don’t marry into a family where there are several drunkards
and don’t marry a person addicted to strong drink. Remember that you are
choosing the father or the mother of your children; and that choice is
final. If children could choose their parents, they would hesitate
before making such a choice.

=Consumptives.=--If you are suffering from any form of tubercular disease,
you should not marry. Neither should you marry one having consumption,
nor into a family where consumption is common. It is possible to
overcome all tendencies to consumption and to effect a cure in the
earliest stages.

=Consumption and cancer.=--For a person having consumption to marry into a
home where cancer is common would be a combination fraught with great
danger to the offspring. The children would be handicapped from birth
with frail bodies, liable to similar diseases, and most of them would
die during adolescence, or before. The worst results follow where both
companions have inherited the same disease.

=A low vitality.=--A parent cannot transmit to the child what he does not
possess himself. Children of immoral parents, invalid parents,
feeble-minded parents, sexually exhausted parents will necessarily
inherit impoverished vitality.

=The immature.=--In all countries where immature marriages are tolerated
or encouraged the children are small, wretched, unhealthy and
shortlived. This was observed in the days of Greece, in past generations
in France, to-day in India and may be observed wherever encouraged in
our country. From four to ten per cent, more children born of immature
parents will die in the first year than among children of matured
parents. Idiocy and physical imperfections; a lack of energy and courage
will be quite common among them. As a rule girls mature at twenty and
boys at twenty-four. Marriage earlier than these ages should be
considered immature.

=Difference as to age.=--The young man, as a rule, should be four to six
years older than his bride. Unless a man’s strength and vigor are
exceptionally well maintained, he should not become a father after he is
fifty. Sociologists claim that a larger per cent. of the children born
after their fathers were fifty become sexual offenders, dishonest and
criminals than among children whose fathers were younger.

=Criminals.=--Don’t marry into a family where there is a number of
criminals. Where crime is common in a family you will find many of the
outward signs of constitutional degeneracy mentioned in the first
paragraph of this chapter. Frequency of crime in a family indicates
deterioration.

=Wealth should have no influence.=--The choice of a companion should not
be influenced by money interests, base desires, or any other unworthy
motive. If one’s choice is influenced in one of these ways domestic
harmony and well-born children will not be possible.

=Masculine women and feminine men.=--Don’t marry an effeminate man. Don’t
marry a masculine woman. The masculine should predominate in man. The
feminine should predominate in woman. Where the feminine nature
predominates in the wife and the masculine nature in the husband
soul-union will be possible, domestic harmony will prevail and the
children will be well-born.

=Marriage of cousins.=--Don’t marry into a family where first and second
cousins have married for several generations. This custom gradually
leads to constitutional degeneracy. Should first cousins marry where
there have been no previous intermarriages, no serious defects will
likely be transmitted to the children.

=Value of chastity.=--True marriage is based on genuine, pure love and the
harmonious mental and temperamental adaptation. True love between the
sexes is the child of the sex life. When lascivious thinking and habits
change sexuality into sensuality lust becomes a substitute for love. If
the real cause of divorce were known it would be found in most cases to
be due to the dissipation of the vital energy, which is the basis of
love. In nearly every case man is responsible for his home’s being
wrecked. In the choice of a companion, chastity is of vital importance.

=Temperaments.=--Authorities recognize three distinct temperaments: the
motive, the vital and the nervous or mental. Where the motive organs,
the muscles and bones, predominate, the physical powers will be most
prominent. Where the vital organs, indicated by a heavy-set body and a
full chest, predominate, the manifestations of life will be most
prominent. Where the nervous system predominates, the mental powers will
be most prominent.

=Motive temperament.=--The motive temperament is indicated by bones broad
and large; muscles slim, firm and tough; the individual is tall,
angular, brow prominent, cheek-bones high, shoulders broad, chest full,
eyes and hair usually dark. Such persons are usually very pronounced in
their views; firm, ambitious, stern and severe. Two persons having very
pronounced motive temperaments should not marry. There would be two
bosses in the home and the children would be willful and unsociable.

=Nervous temperament.=--The nervous temperament is indicated by sharp
features, light frame, head rather large, face oval, forehead high, eyes
expressive, movements quick, neck slender and feelings usually intense.
Should parties of this temperament marry disagreements would be frequent
and the children would be delicate, weak and over precocious.

=Vital temperament.=--The vital temperament is indicated by a rather low,
heavy-set body, hands and feet small, neck short and thick, chest full,
shoulders broad, face and head round, hair and eyes generally light.
Persons of this temperament are, as a rule, not great students, inclined
to be impulsive, very sociable, versatile, cheerful and ardent and
liable to be fickle. Where these characteristics are very pronounced,
marriage with a person of another temperament would be advisable.
However, most persons of the vital type have a harmonious, balanced
temperament. Here likes may marry like.

=Like should not marry like.=--If one has a very pronounced motive
temperament he should choose a companion having a more plump and
symmetrical form, with a genial and yielding nature. This would be
conducive to domestic harmony and would give the children a favorable
heredity.

=The law of compliments.=--One with a pronounced nervous temperament
should select a companion having a vital temperament or one having a
moderate motive temperament. If young people were prompted by unselfish
motives and a pure chaste love, mistakes in marriage would be extremely
rare. Where choice of a companion is determined by financial interests,
sensual desire, or other selfish motives, the soul is denied its
prerogative in the selection of a mate. No man in a normal condition and
prompted by unselfish motives would select for his companion a masculine
woman, a consumptive, a neurotic or one with an excessive motive or
nervous temperament, and vice versa. The subjective minds of possible
soul-mates come naturally and easily to comprehend each other’s joys and
sorrows, longings and love. Most married people are fairly well-mated
and comparatively happy. Their adaptation to each other and their soul
oneness grew out of a natural affinity to which they unselfishly yielded
rather than from an intelligent choice based on a knowledge of the laws
of adaptation.

=Mismates.=--Perhaps one-half of the married are not well-mated, for
reasons already stated. Owing to the fact that so many are mismated, a
condition growing out of artificial and unnatural social, economic and
moral conditions, the advice of this chapter should be carefully
studied by young people before they make the choice of a life companion.

=Atavism.=--All students of natural history have occasionally observed
among plants and animals the reappearance of something that belonged to
their remote progenitors, but which did not belong to their immediate
parents. This tendency for remote ancestral characteristics to reappear
after lying dormant for one or more generations, is called atavism. This
fact is sometimes observed in the human family.

=Examples.=--As a rule, when one child in the home possesses some marked
morbid tendency or special gift not possessed by other members of the
family, it can be accounted for on the basis of some initial or maternal
impression. But this is not always true. A deaf mute may be born in a
home and the cause traced to some remote deaf mute ancestor.
Consumption, insanity and other diseases may disappear for one or more
generations and then reappear. This is a fact recognized by many
physicians.

Two first cousins from families remarkably free from intemperance were
ruined by intemperance. Both seemed powerless from the first indulgence
to resist the habit. One was dissipated from childhood, the other did
not begin until he was twenty and was a wreck in six brief years. Their
grandfather was a periodic drinker. The appetite had slumbered in one
generation but broke out in the next.

=Love the basis of marriage.=--In the choice of a life companion one
should be absolutely sure that his choice is prompted by pure and
unselfish love. If love in courtship and marriage is genuine it will
have but one idol. Selfish interests and base desires may lead one to
admire and worship more than one, but this is not love.

=Chastity the basis of genuine love.=--This genuine love that draws young
people into beautiful courtship, happy marriage and makes them one is
vitally related to the sex nature. Without sexuality this expression of
the affectional nature would not be possible. When this God-honored,
love-creating nature is converted into sensuality, lust, not love,
reigns in courtship and marriage.

=Love tested.=--The genuineness of love may be tested in several ways.
Whenever the choice is largely determined by financial interests or
social prestige the parties are drawn to each other for selfish reasons,
and not by unmixed love. If a young woman wins a companion by wearing
low-necked dresses, permitting young men to hold her hands, play with
her hair, kiss and caress her, by going with them to public dances, and
low theatrical entertainments, she makes her appeal on the plane of the
sensual. Courtship and marriage on this plane are a travesty on love. It
is not always easy for the vigorous and healthy to distinguish between
selfish interest, base desire and love. A good test would be for lovers
to cease their calls and correspondence for ten days; meanwhile they
should attend social functions and call on and accept calls from others.
If they find it impossible to admire and love some other person and
their love for each other remains intense and warm under these
conditions, they may safely conclude that their love is genuine.




CHAPTER XLVI

PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND MORAL PREPARATION FOR PARENTAGE


=The right of a child to receive good heredity.=--Every child has an
absolute right to be well-born. To receive a good inheritance is worth
infinitely more than to be born in a palace and inherit millions in
money. The prenatal period of a child is more important than any other
period in its earthly life. Parents are responsible to the child, to
society and to God for what they bequeath to the child at birth. The
child well trained till its birth is fully half trained. If the child
inherits a good basis for a strong and healthy body, mind and morals, it
can make a success in life. It is true that some parents prefer leaving
the physical, mental and moral possibilities of their children to
providence or “blind chance,” to practicing a little self-denial. But it
is certainly the desire of all thoughtful parents to have their children
well-born.

=Planning for the initial of a life.=--The initial of every child should
be intelligently planned. Only parents who have their sexual nature
under control, or those who can and will bring it under control, can do
this. This can be done most easily by parents who in their youth were
trained to see that the primary use of the sexual energy and function is
to build up and maintain perfect manhood and womanhood through life and
for procreative purposes in the married life, and not for unrestricted
selfish pleasure.

[Illustration: WELL BORN.--Mark Henry Woodward, age seven months; weight
eighteen pounds; clings on to a horizontal bar for a full minute; food,
breast-fed; health, never sick.]

=Why few children are well-born.=--Where married people have been falsely
educated in the idea that marriage means unrestricted indulgence, and
under this delusion have created unnatural demand, a horde of evils will
follow. If this unfortunate class care only for a selfish pleasure, the
children will follow each other closely and will receive a poor
heredity. If they use preventive means to restrict the size of the
family, the few children born into the homes will be far more
unfortunately born. Excess in the marriage relation impoverishes the
body, mind and soul and unfits for true parentage those who practice
such excess. Every device used to prevent conception or to destroy
unborn life will work untold injury to the parents, and the occasional,
accidental and unwelcome child will receive a most unfortunate heredity.
The mental and moral states, as well as the physical condition, of the
parents, for months before and at the initial moment and during
gestation must necessarily become a part of the child.

Whatever is received into our physical, mental and moral life becomes an
essential part of ourselves and is transmissible to our offspring.
Prospective parents should not at any time engage in anything that would
be undesirable if reproduced in their children.

=Intelligent preparation.=--A knowledge of the laws of heredity will
enable parents largely to overcome in their children any undesirable
qualities possessed by themselves or their parents and to transmit to
their children desirable qualities in a larger degree than that
possessed by themselves.

In planning for a child, the parents should carefully study each other’s
good and bad qualities, weak and strong points, their active and latent
talents with a view to an intelligent cultivation of their good
qualities and the restraining of the bad, strengthening their weak
points and calling into activity every valuable latent capacity. In this
way they may transmit only the best to the child. Both parents should
ardently desire a child. Both should begin the preparation months before
the initial of the new life and both should continue the preparations
until the child is born. While the father’s direct hereditary influence
upon the child ceases with the inception of life, his continued training
will encourage and inspire his wife to continue her training until the
birth of the child.

=Physical preparation.=--Both husband and wife should be in a perfectly
healthy condition while planning for a child. The intelligent stock
breeder appreciates this statement. He knows that the offspring will be
defective if either of the parents is in a low state of vitality.
Systematic treatment and feeding will be followed until the animal is
brought to a normal condition before the initial of reproduction is
allowed. The healthy or unhealthy condition of the blood determines the
health of the body. The blood is the creative source of new life. Every
new life is affected by the physical condition of its parents’ blood. It
is a sin and a crime for parents knowingly to inflict physical weakness
upon their children. Is it not strange that men will take every
precaution to have their stock well-born and yet utterly ignore these
essential precautions in relation to their children? There are some
married people who have physical ailments that render them permanently
unfit for parentage. Such should be wise enough to refrain from becoming
parents.

=An invalid mother.=--When a mere boy I overheard a man say, “This is our
twelfth child in a little over fourteen years and my wife has not been
out of the bed since the birth of the first child.” I think there were
two other children born into this home. Only one of these children lived
to reach middle life. There is not an intelligent stock raiser in the
world that would allow propagation among his swine under these
conditions. This man was not brutal to his family. He was a kind husband
and a loving father, but he was ignorant and thoughtless. He was
controlled by the false teachings of “Physical necessity,” and “the
wife’s body belongs to the husband.” We must recognize that the unborn
have absolute and inalienable rights which we must not violate. No man
has a right to engage in the creative act when he or his wife is in a
physical, mental or moral condition that would, if transmitted, be
undesirable in the possible offspring.

=Morbid conditions transmissible.=--Since incompetency, thievishness,
drunkenness, tuberculosis, venereal poison, idiocy, insanity and
criminal degeneracy may all be transmitted from parents to children,
and to children’s children; young people before marriage should
ascertain whether any of these conditions exist in the families of the
prospective union. The father who spends his time lounging on street
corners and telling questionable anecdotes cannot parent an industrious
child. No thoughtful girl will marry an idle young man.

=The society mother.=--Mothers who lead in the dissipation of modern
social life, such as balls, card parties, theaters, wine suppers, seldom
have children that are well-born either physically, mentally or morally.
Their children are strongly inclined to the same dissipations.

=The need of rest.=--Both parents should be well rested in body for
several days before the initial of a new life takes place. If the
vitality in their blood has been much exhausted by overwork, the
creative cells will be lacking in vitality and the offspring will be
weakened in its constitution.

Thoughtfully decide upon an ideal child in body, mind and character and
try to embody this ideal in your daily life and in this way you will
transmit these ideal conditions to your child.

“_Like begets like_” is an invariable law. At the conception of life an
immortal being is started with a heritage of possibilities obtained from
its parents. It is bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, mind of
their mind, soul of their soul. It cannot be otherwise than like the
parents were at the time of the conception.

=Practical dietetics.=--The increase in population among the very poor is
far greater than among the more prosperous classes. Their vitality is
often very low, due to lack of proper nourishment. If the charity
workers in our churches would look after this class of prospective
mothers and see that they are supplied during gestation and lactation
with wholesome and nutritious food, they would be engaged in the highest
form of Christian service, and many of these mothers would give to their
country better citizens than those which come from the homes of wealth.
The time will come when the governments will declare for international
peace and will appropriate a few hundred millions each year for the
prospective mothers whose income is not sufficient to meet their needs,
instead of appropriating their surplus funds to old soldiers. It is
important that every mother be supplied during these periods with the
best quality of nutritious food.

=Effects of narcotics.=--If the father is addicted to the use of tobacco
or alcoholic drinks, he should abandon the habit, if for no other
reason, because of its evil effects upon his offspring. One has only to
study the children of a few men who are heavy drinkers or tobacco users
to see the unmistakable effects of the narcotic habits of parents upon
their children. In France there are annually twenty thousand more deaths
than births. Eminent French doctors attribute part of this to the
inveterate tobacco users. They claim that this class of men are often
sterile, or their children die prematurely.

=Suppressing evil tendencies.=--“Like begets like.” Parents cannot
transmit to their children what they themselves do not possess in a
latent or active state. By awakening a slumbering talent and exercising
it with zeal it may be reproduced in an intensified form in the child.
By refraining from a bad habit, or ceasing to use an undesirable trait
and by cultivating a mental opposition to it, the parents may be able to
prevent, partly or wholly, its reappearance in the child. This law will
apply to any case where tobacco or whisky habit, dishonesty, bad temper,
idleness, licentiousness or any other bad trait has existed in the
parents or their immediate ancestors.

=Effects of culture.=--Prospective parents should read the best
literature, attend lecture courses, outline a course of study and follow
it, and try to think beyond their usual meditations. Their affection for
each other should be strong and pure. In relation to society, they
should pay especial attention to honesty, charity, friendliness and
love. Their æsthetic natures should be developed by the study and
admiration of nature and art. Bible reading, singing and prayer, good
works and spiritual devotion should form a part of their daily
programme. It will do no good to practice these things in a half-hearted
way. They must be made a part of our life if they are to influence
favorably the future child.

=Primal purpose of marriage.=--The primary purpose of marriage is
parentage. No greater early obligation rests upon married people than
grows out of the function of parentage. No greater early honor, reward,
or happiness comes to the married than when this God-honored duty is
faithfully performed. No greater service can be rendered our children,
society and God, than when we parent children whose bodies are sound and
healthy, minds vigorous and bright, dispositions sweet, lives grand,
noble and Christlike.




CHAPTER XLVII

PRENATAL TRAINING


=One-half trained before birth.=--This chapter will be devoted to the
training of children before they are born. It is believed by some
students of eugenics that heredity is fully as potent as environment and
that a child often receives one-half its training before it is born.
Oliver Wendell Holmes often said, “A child’s training should begin with
his grand-parents.” The proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should
go and when he is old he will not depart from it,” to be proven to be
absolutely true, must include both prenatal and postnatal training of a
child. In other chapters reference is made to what children may inherit
from their grand-parents and parents. In this we shall refer to the
influence of parental conditions at the creative moment, and the mental
and moral influence of the mother during gestation.

=Transmission of acquired characteristics possible.=--The transmission of
fixed characteristics is accepted by all. The transmission of acquired
characteristics is quite generally accepted. The materialistic student
does not accept it, claiming that the only relation between the mother
and the child is that of nutrition. We admit that the nervous system of
the mother is not connected with the nervous system of the child, but we
insist that “the blood is the life.” The mother’s physical, mental and
moral life is in her blood. Through her blood the mother furnishes the
child not only with air, water and food, but with life. In the chapter,
Reproduction and Heredity, we explained how the blood is affected by the
transient mental states. Love and anger, joy and fear, grief and
jealousy all change the character of the blood and influence the vital
energy. The new psychology is rapidly demonstrating that one mind may
influence another independent of physical communication. By one or both
of these methods, acquired characteristics of the father and mother are
transmitted to their children.

=Drs. Fowler and Cowan.=--Fowler says, “All existing parental states are
stamped on the offspring.” Dr. John Cowan says, “The fundamental
principles of genius in reproduction are that through the rightly
directed wills of the father and mother, preceding and during antenatal
life, the child’s form of body, character of mind and purity of soul are
formed and established. In its plastic state during antenatal life, like
clay in the hands of the potter, it can be molded absolutely into any
form of body and soul the parents may knowingly desire.”

=An example.=--The origin of the Setter, Pointer, Hound or Shepherd dog
will illustrate the transmission of acquired characteristics. The
peculiar characteristics of all these dogs were once acquired. For
example, some hunter observed that his dog would “set” or “point” when
game was located by the sense of smell. This hunter encouraged his dog
in the practice of this characteristic. He knew that some of the
offspring of this dog would tend to do the same thing. By breeding with
a view of developing a variety of dogs with this characteristic we have
the Pointer dog.

=The father should co-operate.=--While the father’s direct hereditary
influence over his child ceases at conception, his responsibility for
what the child receives up to its birth is fully equal to the mother’s
responsibility. He can help or hinder the mother in her work of prenatal
culture. Where the husband fails to supply his wife with all that is
necessary to her health, strength, mental and moral activity, and
happiness, he becomes largely responsible for the bad effects on the
child.

=The order of training.=--The prenatal culture received by a child grows
out of the physical, mental and moral states and activities of the
mother during gestation. The physical organism of the child forms
first. The brain, in which the mental and moral natures are to reside,
develops last. This would indicate the periods when greatest stress
should be placed upon the physical, mental and moral training of the
child. The physical outlines of the body first become organized during
the first four or five months, then the brains and nervous system.

=The mother’s preparation.=--The physical condition of the child at birth,
well formed or deformed, healthy or unhealthy, strong or weak, will in
no small way be determined by the mother’s being provided with plenty of
nutritious food, pure air and water, pleasant exercise, and such
clothing as will give the body perfect freedom and comfort. The mental
and moral tendencies and capacities of the child will depend much on the
mother’s continuing the advice given in the chapter on Parental
Preparation.

=Inventive genius.=--During a lecture course in a western city, a young
machinist called me into his shop and showed me three inventions he had
patented and a most intricate piece of machinery that he was then
working on. He was only twenty-two years old. He and his parents had
often wondered why he was the only member of the family, on either side,
as far back as they could trace, with an inventive turn of mind. Under
my lectures the parents had solved the mystery. Ten or twelve months
prior to the birth of this young man, the father had worked on a
prospect or invention for several weeks with all the enthusiasm of
anticipated success. He laid the matter aside and the very fact of his
once being interested in an invention had seemed to fade from his
memory. The father’s intense mental interest during those weeks so
influenced his life-giving blood that he was able to transmit the
hereditary gift of inventive genius to his son.

=Two girls.=--I am intimately and personally acquainted with a family
where there are two girls. Prior to the birth of the first the mother
kept house, did light work, read the best literature and was systematic
in her devotion. In case of the second girl, the professional life of
the father had changed and this made it necessary for the mother to be
guest and hostess of many social functions. The parents had made a study
of the laws of heredity and in both cases tried to apply these laws. The
children are now thirteen and fifteen. They are obedient, intelligent,
and religious, but the different environments of the mother are fully
registered in the children. The first has strong business tendencies, is
an all-round student, but limited in her social gifts; the second one
takes to art, elocution, music, has a fine memory which enables her to
advance well in all her studies, and she can entertain anything from a
baby to an old man or woman.

=Golden hair.=--In a Missouri town a mother invited me into her husband’s
store and gave me her experience. From her early teens she had
entertained a wish that should she ever become a mother, her child might
have golden hair. When she discovered that she was to be a mother she
asked her husband to get her two pictures--one to be the picture of a
perfect boy, the other, the picture of a perfect girl, each to have
golden hair. While in St. Louis purchasing a stock of goods, he secured
the pictures desired. She placed them in her room where she could
frequently see and admire them. She called my attention to the dark hair
of her husband and self, then, proudly, to the golden hair of a
five-year-old son.

=Testimony of a doctor.=--At D----, Mo., an old physician told me of a
family in his practice where the wife had been married twice. She and
her second husband have black hair. The first child born to the second
marriage had red hair. The doctor had a way of accounting for the red
hair of the child to me that was not satisfactory. I said, “Doctor,
which of the two husbands was the superior?” “Oh,” he said, “there was
no comparison, the contrast was so great. The first husband was in every
sense a very superior man and the second one was very inferior.” Then I
replied, “Prior to the birth of the red-haired child the mental pictures
of the two men were constantly in the stream of mental consciousness.
The mental picture most conspicuous and most admirable was the first
husband.”

=The effects of a mother’s dishonesty.=--I have studied a number of
kleptomaniacs. In almost all cases, where facts could be obtained,
dishonesty was found in one or both of the parents. I studied a case in
a Kentucky town. The mother would sit up until her husband had retired.
Then she would slip a small amount of change from his pockets. This was
continued during gestation. When the girl, born under these conditions,
was eighteen years old, she could not keep from stealing money, jewelry,
and other things she desired. She was never arrested. The parents would
pay for or return what she had stolen.

=The effects of a mother’s anger.=--While preparing this book for the
printers, I am in a Missouri city, where I have become personally
acquainted with the following incidents: A wife, thinking she had passed
the “change of life,” was much surprised and greatly disappointed when
she found she was again to become a mother. Her love for her husband
turned to hate. The period of gestation was one of regret,
unpleasantness and anger. From birth her child was uncontrollable.
Teachers could not manage him. He was a source of danger on the
playground. Neighbors would not allow their children to visit him. When
he was fourteen he tried to kill his mother with a butcher knife. A
year later he assaulted a visiting pastor. When he was angry he would
froth at the mouth and scream as a madman.

=A born criminal.=--At the close of a lecture on heredity, a reliable and
aged doctor told me the following incident: “When I was a young doctor,
a father came for me to call to see a sick member of his family. His
little girl met us at the front gate, threw her arms about her father’s
legs and looked wistfully into his face. He picked her up in his arms,
carried her into the room and while I looked after the patient she
caressed and kissed her papa. The brother, some two years older, had
found his sister’s paper dolls and was tearing off their heads with a
vengeance. Looking up, he noticed the pet cat entering the room. Leaving
the mutilated and scattered dolls and seizing a long splinter from the
wood box, he caught the cat, and holding it to the floor with his left
hand, he tried to cut the cat’s head off with the splinter. Soon the dog
entered; releasing the cat, he stood by the side of the cringing dog and
was trying to cut his head off. When my services were finished, the
father followed me out to the front gate and asked me whether I had
noticed the difference in the children. I told him I had. Then he
explained that the little girl was wanted in the home and the boy was
not. I lived to see that boy sentenced for a term of years in the
penitentiary for a crime he had committed.” Many suicidal and homicidal
tendencies are received in this way.

=Lasciviousness transmissible.=--No morbid conditions are so fully and
generally transmitted as are the results of uncontrolled sexual desire
among married people. Most children are the result of uncontrolled
desire and their prenatal rights are not respected. This explains much
of precocious sex awakening in childhood, the stormy period of
adolescence and the fearful wreckage of virtue in youth and middle life.
We have inherited from our ancestors and are transmitting sensual
tendencies to our children. We can never solve the problems of social
vice until the initial of childhood is intelligently planned for,
prenatal rights are respected and the child given proper sex
instruction.

=We are slow to learn.=--“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free.” Even the wisest and best of the human family are slow to
learn this truth, and were it not for the consequences of long practiced
errors, we should perhaps never learn some truths. We are learning
slowly that sexually exhausted fathers and mothers do not parent
superior children. This is causing thousands of thinking people and
conscientious parents to inquire for the truth that will bring freedom
from sensual slavery.

=Sexuality and sensuality.=--Sexuality, or the sexual instinct, is one
thing, and sensuality, or sexual perversion, is another. One is
God-given and God-honored; the other is a human product resulting from
bad heredity, a false education and a misuse of the sexual function. The
first is to be appreciated, the second to be suppressed, and, as far as
possible, eradicated.

=Vitality determines results.=--Man has a three-fold nature; physical,
mental and moral. In this life these natures are related and dependent.
The sexual instinct has its seat in the physical nature, but in its
functions it is closely related to the mental and moral. Whenever the
sexual life is misdirected the mental and moral natures suffer. The
sexual nature produces life--physical, mental and moral. It is by
restraining this life force, this psychic force, this vital energy,
within the body, and learning to direct it properly, that physical
health and strength are attained and maintained; that intellectual vigor
and brilliancy are realized; and that our emotional nature is developed
in its expressions of tender feelings, purest love, truest sympathy, and
passionate interest in the welfare of our fellow men. No one can have
intellectual and moral development or enjoy a high degree of
intellectual and spiritual life, if the sex function is abused. Parents
with strong, healthy sexual natures parent the most perfect children.

=Young married people should understand sexology.=--Thousands of young
married people have never received any instruction from books, parents
or doctors regarding correct sexual relations in the married life. Many
of these have learned from sad experience that marriage does not mean
unrestricted sexual liberty. Many who have sought the needed information
from friends and books have been confused by conflicting opinions.

The husband and wife who desire to be anything, physically, mentally or
morally, must retain in their bodies as much as possible their sexual
energy. In this is found the elasticity and strength of the muscles,
versatility of the mind, strength and vigor of the constitution, which
lend an indefinable charm to the masculine and feminine graces.

All sorts of drugs and contrivances have been used by many married
people to dodge the natural consequences of the sexual relations. Every
attempt of this kind has resulted in some form of physical, mental or
moral injury to those who have tried it, and it has strewn their pathway
with a horde of physical weaklings and moral degenerates. All preventive
and abortive methods, drugs and contrivances cannot be too severely
condemned. Legitimate indulgence in the marital relation is allowable
only when the act can be made a complete one; when, should conception
occur, it would be a welcome result. An occasional union between husband
and wife, if prompted by pure love, is not necessarily injurious or
morally wrong. But when indulged in, it creates an unnatural desire and
substitutes lust for love.

=G. Campbell Morgan= says, “Animalism has been for ages the curse of the
marriage relation.” Seventy-five physicians of New York City signed the
following statement: “In view of the widespread suffering from physical
diseases and moral deterioration inseparable from unchaste living, the
undersigned members of New York and vicinity unite in declaring it as
our opinion that chastity, a pure and continent life for both sexes, is
consistent with the best conditions of mental, physical and moral
health.”

=The Wesleyan Methodist= says, “The open and absolute assertion that every
wife has the absolute right to determine her relationship to motherhood
may make trouble, but it is the kind of trouble which must come in some
homes before wifehood becomes anything more than a form of the basest
kind of slavery.”

=Dr. Winfield Scott Hall=, in Reproduction and Sexual Hygiene, says,
“There is another sacrifice, if it be so called, which the husband is
called upon to make during the pregnancy of his wife; namely, to abstain
absolutely from sexual intercourse. All other animals observe this
period of continence. Nature demands that man observe it. The author
submits this question to all fair-minded men; is it not due the wife
that she be not asked to satisfy the recurring sexual desires of the
husband during the period when her life and its energies are so sacred
to the race, to society and to the family? The author submits this
question because some men are known to transgress this law of nature.”

=Prof. N. N. Riddell= says, “The present ethics of marriage licenses that
which degrades the affections and destroys the possibilities of harmony.
The abuse of the generative function is the chief cause of domestic
inharmony, divorce and shame, inherited lascivious tendencies and the
vices and crime which follow. Three-fourths of the race have their
origin in uncontrolled desire, while less than one-half of the remainder
are as well-born as they might have been.”

=A suggestion.=--The author would suggest that the reader pause one moment
before he criticises or rejects the opinions of the great and godly men.
What right has a married man to preach, teach and demand continence
among young people, his sons and daughters, if he cannot practice
self-restraint on a level with the savage and the lower animals? The
violations of the laws of sex are the chief causes of human degeneracy.
Where married people have been falsely educated in the idea that
marriage means unrestricted indulgence and under this delusion have
created unnatural demand, a horde of evils will follow. If this
unfortunate class care only for a selfish pleasure, the children will
follow each other closely and will receive a poor heredity. If they use
preventive means to restrict the size of the family, the few children
born into the home will receive an unfortunate heredity. Excess in
marriage impoverishes the body, mind and soul and unfits for true
parentage. Every device used to prevent conception or to destroy
unwelcome life will injure the parents and the occasional accidental and
unwelcome child will receive a most unfortunate heredity.

The mental and moral states, as well as the physical condition of the
parents, for months before and at the initial moment and during
gestation, must necessarily become a part of the child.




CHAPTER XLVIII

DELINQUENCY--CAUSES AND REMEDIES


=Purity, a nation’s strength.=--The strength and perpetuity of a nation
consist not in its standing army, mighty navy, millions of population,
strong fortifications, inexhaustible resources of wealth, but in the
purity and strength of its manhood and womanhood. Babylon, Greece and
Rome did not fall because of a shortage of men, weakness of
fortifications, exhausted resources or lack of warships, but because of
a degenerate manhood and womanhood.

=The home threatened.=--Are there agencies of degeneracy operating in our
social fabric that threaten our nation’s strength and perpetuity? We
shall see. The greatest social problems of the church and state must be
solved in the home. Whatever agencies destroy the home will ultimately
destroy society, the church and the nation.

=The divorce problem.=--That God-ordained and God-honored institution, the
home--in its purity, strength, and influence, was never more in danger
than now. The home is an organized institution, consisting of husband,
wife and one or more children, bound by the most sacred vows, the
purest love and harmony. The home, the basis of society, the church and
the nation is in danger. Homes are being wrecked nearly as fast as they
are being built. Divorce is on the increase; marriage and births are on
the decrease. In 1870, we had one divorce to every thirty-eight
marriages. In 1900, we had one divorce to every fourteen and one-quarter
marriages. Now we are having one to every eleven marriages. Last year
Canada had only seventeen divorces. An Ohio daily gave one county in
that state the credit of one hundred and thirty-two divorces in twelve
months. Canada has better social customs, better marriage and better
divorce laws than we have. There, a girl rarely keeps company with a
young man before she is eighteen and rarely gets married until after she
is twenty. Here, she is often teased about sweethearts when she is five,
taught to avoid being an old maid when she is seven, when ten she is
making goo-goo eyes at the boys, when eleven she is passing notes to
every Tom, Dick and Harry in the schoolroom, when twelve she is
desperately in love, when thirteen she is engaged and goes buggy riding
and roams the streets at late hours with boys, when fifteen she is in
the divorce court, and six months later she has her second husband.

=Social dangers.=--A nation whose social customs encourage innocent,
playful, fourteen-and fifteen-year-old girls to enter society and meet
the temptations and dangers incident to matured womanhood need not be
surprised when she finds that one-half of her 300,000 erring women fell
before they were seventeen and that one-half of her divorces are among
women who married before they were seventeen. Our social customs should
be changed so as to safeguard the virtue of our boys and girls during
the stormy period of early adolescence.

=New marriage laws needed.=--One of the best remedies for the present
divorce evil would be a campaign of education and legislation on
courtship and marriage. Marriage needs to be elevated in the public mind
to a plane of dignity, honor and responsibility. To secure this we need
uniform state laws requiring of all candidates for marriage a fair
knowledge of heredity and prenatal culture, the duties and
responsibilities of marriage and parentage and of marital rights. For
this to be possible, all candidates for marriage should be required to
register their proposed marriage with the county clerk two months before
the license is issued, and their proposed marriage should be published
in at least one paper during this time. This would prevent clandestine
and bigamous marriages and would deprive the White Slave procurer of one
of his chief methods of securing his victims. When a proposed marriage
is registered, the state should furnish each with a book presenting in
simple language such information as is indicated above. They should be
required to give evidence of having a fair knowledge of the facts
contained in the book and to present a certificate of good physical and
mental health before the license is finally issued.

=How enforced.=--These rules and laws should be taught, required and
enforced in a spirit that would lead the public to see, and the
candidates for marriage to feel, that these young people are assuming
responsibilities and that the state is conferring an honor and trust
upon them far greater than a governor-elect assumes and the state
confers on him when he takes the oath of office. The home builder is a
nation builder. Such education and legislation would not only promote
domestic harmony, reduce the divorce evil, give to children a good
heredity, but it would check the growth of all forms of human degeneracy
and add to our nation’s strength and life and make for greater domestic
happiness.

=Effects of bad customs.=--I would not censure those who have married in
childhood. The mistake has been made. Bad customs have led many good
people to make mistakes. The custom of thrusting little girls into
society, resulting in immature marriages, should be checked.

=Chief cause of homicide and suicide.=--There are one and a half million
children born in the United States annually. It is estimated that there
are 250,000 abortions that come to medical attention. If this number
require medical attention then there must be 100,000 who succeed without
medical attention. One thousand prenatal murders a day. Then there must
be 100,000 attempts to destroy unwelcome life which fail. Children born
under these conditions cannot receive a good heredity. Many will be born
with suicidal and homicidal tendencies. This is no doubt the chief cause
of homicides and suicides. There were 172,000 illegal murders last year
and nearly half that number of suicides. One homicide every thirty
seconds and one suicide every seventy seconds is our criminal record.
Crime has increased 300 per cent. above the normal increase of
population in the last twenty years. Crime has increased two and
one-half times faster among children than among adults. This last is due
in part to a lack of moral training in the home and school, to the vivid
and attractive portrayal of crime in the cheap shows, and at the same
time it is largely due to the increase of abortion among mothers. The
causes of crime among adults are as follows: fifteen per cent. of our
foreign born population commit thirty-five per cent. of our crime,
drunkenness, non-enforcement of law and criminal abortion. Some leading
students of heredity believe that efforts to destroy unwelcome life is
the principal cause of crime.

=A doctor’s testimony.=--At the close of a lecture in St. Louis, one of
the doctors present told me of a lady in good standing in society and
the church, who came to his office and requested his services in
producing abortion. Her reason was that she had three children and her
husband’s income was not sufficient to support four children. He
suggested that if the presence of four children in the home would lead
to the death of the whole family by starvation, that she return home and
kill one of the three. She was horrified at the doctor’s suggestion that
she murder one of the children. The doctor explained that if she
followed his suggestion her health would be protected and there would be
but one guilty of murder, while, if he followed her wish, her health
would be injured and there would be two responsible for the murder of
her unborn child. “But, doctor,” she replied, “that would not be murder,
would it? I have not felt its movements.” The doctor explained to her
how life began at the moment of conception, how the little embryo was as
much a living human being as when it had become strong enough to make
its movements known. The true mother-love triumphed and she returned
home resolving to protect, love, welcome and toil for four instead of
three.

=Men as guilty as women.=--Ignorance concerning sex, the rights of
marriage and the double standard of marriage are responsible for this
crime which exists in the church as well as on the outside. Men are
fully as responsible for race suicide as women are.

Social and economic conditions are largely responsible for families
shrinking from an average of eight children to two in less than a
century. If these conditions were normal large families would be
commendable. A large family of fourteen children will always be more
honorable than an imitation consisting of a husband, wife and a poodle
dog.

Sensible women are convinced that a family of from four to six children
well born and well environed is wiser than double this number poorly
born and poorly environed. They will, if necessary, prefer going through
life childless to bearing defective children.

=Two kinds of race suicide.=--Criminal prevention and willful abortion.
This is the only form of race suicide the public recognizes. This cannot
be too severely condemned by the press, platform and pulpit. But there
is another form of “race suicide,” equally great, but largely
overlooked.

Defective children born of enslaved motherhood. Sensual men are largely
responsible for this form. Which would be the greater crime, for a
nation to pass out of existence because children are not born, or to
have a dense population of paupers, idiots, imbeciles, thieves, suicides
and homicides--the children of drunken, feeble-minded, criminal and
otherwise defective parents, born of stupid ignorance and blind chance?
Multiple child-bearing produces invalid wives and kills many loving
mothers and fills our penitentiaries and asylums with delinquents.

=The rights of motherhood.=--Let us instill into every heart a desire for
pure, perfect parenthood. Let the wife who must bear and rear the
children decide when she can perform this sacred duty perfectly. Let
every child be well born and “race suicide” will become a thing of the
past.

=What shall be done?=--What shall we do with the dependent classes? This
is one of the great problems to be solved. Taxpayers, philanthropists,
lawmakers, doctors and Christian workers are all deeply interested in a
wise adjustment of this problem because of their interest in these
classes and also because we have found our present methods inadequate.
Paupers, idiots, imbeciles, the insane and criminals appeal to our pity,
charity and love. A practical demonstration of this is found in the
millions of dollars annually appropriated from our taxes and the gifts
of charity, and from thousands of healthy, normal people whose lives are
devoted to ministering to the needs of these social unfortunates.

=Many degenerates are diseased.=--The degenerate criminals, imbeciles and
insane are now understood to be diseased. A very large per cent. have
inherited this condition. Some were even foredoomed to their fate.
Perhaps twenty per cent. of the inmates of our penal institutions are
serving their second, third and fourth terms. Son, father and
grandfather are to be found side by side in our prisons. The daily mail
received by the inmates of the asylums, reform schools and
penitentiaries, coming so largely from relatives in similar
institutions, proves that these conditions run in families. There are
nearly 350,000 imbeciles, insane and epileptic people in the United
States. Our asylums are overflowing with inmates. Many states have
doubled the capacity of these institutions in the last ten years and
still they are unable to accommodate all the worthy applicants.

=Two causes of degeneracy.=--There are two chief agencies of degeneracy,
strong drink and the violation of the laws of sex. In one state
penitentiary I found seventy-two per cent. of the inmates had a drunken
father, mother, or both. It was found in a certain reformatory for women
that seventy-five per cent. had a drunken father, mother, or both. In
one penitentiary I found that more than three out of four had venereal
disease requiring medical attention when they were admitted. Limited
investigation indicates that twenty-two per cent. of the inmates of the
asylums were conceived during a drunken debauch. Many of the inmates had
the Hotchinson notched teeth, crowfoot tracks in the palate and throat,
conclusive proof of a syphilitic ancestor.

=Spitzka= the great neurologist of New York, says, “The birth-rate of the
high grade and low grade imbecile is double that of the normal
population.” Not only do these classes contribute more than double their
proportion to the annual birth-rate, but they are a source of moral
corruption to society, as many of their offspring become paupers, insane
and criminals.

=The solution.=--With crime, imbecility and insanity increasing at the
rate of 200 to 300 per cent. every twenty years, thinking people are
beginning to see that the only reasonable solution to the problem that
confronts us is to stop the production among all undesirable classes.
This can be done by the application of laws of heredity, the enactment
of adequate laws regulating the marriage of certain classes and
depriving the hereditary degenerates of the creative function.

=Protected, inspected, neglected.=--Our government is not slow in the
enactment of suitable laws favorable to the protection of the forests
and the inspection of the hog, cow and horse, and in making splendid
appropriations for the improvement of different breeds, but it has made
no law to prevent the

[Illustration: NEGLECTED!

The above chart illustrates the attitude of our government and the
commercial spirit of our age toward forests, domestic animals, mothers
and children. If our mothers and children could be given a commercial
value, based on their beauty, perfection of form, health and character,
rated in value on a par with a $2,600 chicken, a $4,600 hog, a $13,000
cow, or a $20,000 horse, the initial of every child would be
intelligently planned for, its prenatal rights would be respected, its
nativity warmly welcomed and its environments would be wisely
safe-guarded.]

constantly increasing production of intellectual and moral degenerates.
Millions are willingly appropriated to aid in the invention and purchase
of deadly weapons with which the human family may be destroyed.
Thousands of the healthiest young men are called to the army and the
criminal and idiotic are left to keep up the work of propagation. All
our states maintain a Health Board, the duty of which is to prevent the
spread of smallpox, yellow fever, diphtheria, etc. We have state
officers to inspect cattle and to use measures to prevent Texas fever.
Our state fairs give large premiums to the fastest trotter, the best
Durhams, Southdowns and Poland Chinas. Mothers and children are
neglected.

=Marriage of the feeble-minded.=--Our laws are such that the county clerk
must grant marriage license to criminals, paupers, drunkards,
prostitutes and the feeble-minded, if they are of the proper age, or
have their parents’ consent. Where a couple of this class have secured
their legal right to marry, they hunt up a preacher who, standing before
them with civil and ecclesiastical authority, says, “Whom God hath
joined together let no man put asunder.” Such is a crime against
society, an insult to the holy estate of marriage, a curse to future
generations, and a libel on God. I don’t believe that God ever sanctions
such unions. When the states make laws prohibiting such marriages they
will hasten the millennium of marriage.

=More dangerous than smallpox.=--If I carelessly expose others to
smallpox; if I refuse to remove filth from my premises, dangerous to the
community’s health; if I knowingly sell diseased meat to my customers, I
shall be arrested and punished. But a man may live a fast life, acquire
a disease that will poison his wife, also his children to the third and
fourth generations; in this way he can worse than murder his wife and
children and go unwhipped and unpunished.

=Effects of alcoholic fathers.=--If statistics can be relied on, drunkards
produce one hundred per cent. more of the alcoholics, criminals, and
mental defectives than do the sober men. In justice to overtaxed
citizens and the demands of the coming generation we should enact a law
preventing the marriage of habitual drunkards. The periodic drunkard
should be required to remain sober for a considerable time before his
marriage and give reasonable evidence that his reformation is permanent.

=Property qualification.=--A property qualification, or its equivalent in
an established remunerative calling, profession or occupation, should be
required as a condition for marriage license. It is a known fact that
pauper families furnish more than their proportion of criminals and
other classes of dependents.

=The victim of venereal disease.=--Persons having a venereal disease, in a
mild form, should be allowed to marry only when a competent health
board, after careful examination, decides that they are entirely free
from poison, then, and then only after a reasonable time has expired
since being treated. If the applicant for marriage license has at one
time had one of the worst forms of venereal disease, he should be
forever debarred from the privilege of marriage. The need of these
restrictive and prohibitory marriage laws will be better understood and
appreciated by you when I give a few statements from the best obtainable
authority. Eighty per cent, of the children born blind is due to
gonorrhœal infection. (Education with Med. Prof.) This is nearly
always due to the uncured condition of the father. Neiser tells us that
there are over 30,000 blind persons in Germany whose blindness is due to
gonorrhœal ophthalmia. Pinnard claims that sixty to seventy per cent.
of hereditary syphilitics die at or before birth, and that those who
survive are unfit to meet the battles of life; 20,000 children die every
year in France from syphilitic conditions. Dr. Fournier states that in
his practice seventy-five per cent. of the syphilis in married women
could be traced to their husbands. Dr. Morrow puts it at seventy per
cent. A large per cent. of the surgical operations of a sexual nature
among married women is due to venereal disease contracted from their
husbands.

=Sterilization a remedy.=--To prevent unsuitable marriages, by law, would
in a measure bring relief, yet, the degenerate, criminals and imbeciles
would, to a considerable extent, continue their propagation. This class
cares but little for marriage. The ablest physicians of this country,
the leaders in the great purity movement, and many advanced thinkers in
other professions, are rapidly committing themselves to the opinion that
all the worst cases of hereditary degeneracy should be deprived of the
creative function. In females this operation is attended by only
one-sixth the fatalities of child-birth. In males it is attended by no
danger to life. The results would be absolutely effectual. The
feeble-minded class would be much more easily managed and the degenerate
criminal would settle down to the life of a peaceable citizen.

At first, one naturally opposes this measure as a solution to the
problem. Later, all opposition to it vanishes and it then appears to be
a most kind, benevolent and philanthropic solution of this vital
problem.

=The drunkard’s home.=--More of our delinquent and dependent children are
traceable to hereditary alcoholism than any other one cause save lust.
The conditions and environments of a drunkard’s home are very
unfavorable to normal hereditary influences. Seventy per cent. more of
the drunkard’s children are defective from birth than those from sober
parents.

In the average drunkard’s home, the wife is deprived of much or all that
would be conducive to the best maternal conditions, such as plenty of
nutritious food, good associations, wholesome recreation, good reading
matter, freedom, cheerfulness, and proper attention and courtesy on the
part of her husband. Instead of these conditions, she is poorly fed,
surrounded by rough associations, lives in a rented shack without
flowers or pictures, is overworked, timid, depressed and discouraged,
deprived of a thousand little comforts a maternal heart longs for, and
often tyrannized over by a rum-embruted husband.

=Defective offspring from alcoholics.=--Children born under these
conditions cannot receive a good heredity. The children of drunken
parents nearly always receive a bad heredity. This is especially true
when the initial of a life takes place during or immediately following a
drunken debauch. If the wives of drunkards had better environments
during periods of gestation, they could more largely overcome the bad
influences of their husbands upon their children. But, environed as
they are, they cannot prevent their own unfortunate influence over their
children, much less that of their husbands.

=Intemperance and crime, lust and idiocy.=--The mental and moral states of
the drunkard are not only expressed in a desire for more drink; but at
one time he is exceedingly lustful; at another time he is quite silly,
idiotic and foolish; at still another time he is angry, cruel and
dangerous. We often find all these morbid conditions strongly marked in
his children. Some inherit alcoholic, some lustful, some epileptic,
feeble-minded or insane criminal tendencies. His blood, being saturated
with alcohol, is in a low state of vitality. This is proven by the
drunkard’s inability to resist disease. The low state of vitality in the
blood of the drunkard accounts for the defectiveness of a large per
cent. of his children. More of the children of drunkards die before they
are two years old than of any other class except the venerealized.
Authorities from all civilized nations estimate that from forty to
eighty per cent. of all crime is traceable to the use of alcoholic
drink, and many of these criminals received a bad heredity from drunken
parents; twenty-two per cent. of all insanity and eighty per cent. of
epilepsy is traceable to drunken parents; seventy per cent. of all
immoral women had drunken parents.

=Effects of personal liberty.=--One day while campaigning a county in
Missouri for local option, I called at a home to get directions to my
next engagement to lecture. I rapped three times at the door. Three
times a voice from within said, “Come in.” Finally, I opened the door
and entered. A mother sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room
holding in her arms a nine-year-old boy. I noticed that the boy was as
helpless as a twenty-four-hour-old baby. While giving me directions she
was feeding the boy with a spoon. I remarked, “Friend, I observe that
you have in your arms an unfortunate child. I have studied many
unfortunate cases, lectured a good deal on heredity and have written a
book on heredity. If you do not object, I would like to ask you some
questions about your child.” In tones of anguish, such as only a
broken-hearted mother could utter, she said, “I guess that no poor
mother has ever had to bear a greater burden than I have. This is my
first child, on the bed is my fifth child, only six weeks old. When this
boy was four years old, during a spell of whooping cough, he got into
this condition. For five years I have cared for this boy as I would a
helpless baby. During these five years I have become a mother three
times and have buried three children who became as helpless as this one.
The three that are dead were seemingly all right at birth, but became
helpless during attacks of hives and teething. I don’t know whether we
will be able to raise the baby or not.” No pen can portray, no tongue
can tell, no imagination can conceive the heartaches of this unfortunate
mother. I asked whether she and her husband were related by blood, or
whether there had been intermarriage in the past on either side? She
replied in the negative. I asked other questions and failed to locate
the trouble. Finally, I asked, “Were there any drunkards on either side
of your family?” “On my side of our family there were no drunkards; on
the father’s side of my husband’s family one-half of the men were
drunkards; on his mother’s side most of the men were drunkards,” was her
reply. “Does your husband drink?” I enquired. With some embarrassment,
she said, “He drinks, but never gets to where he can’t attend to
business.” From other sources I found him to be a very heavy drinker.
Such men often boast that they have a right to drink if they want to,
get drunk if they want to, kill themselves if they want to. What right
did that drunken father and his drunken ancestry have to inflame their
minds and brutalize their passions and thereby burden that innocent
woman with all that sacrifice, suffering and heartache and to bring
these helpless little children into this world foredoomed to such
defectiveness? I answer, they did not have the shadow of a right to
indulge in a habit that would deprive their descendants from developing
on the earth plane.

=Two more examples.=--In the town of M----, Illinois, is a young lady of
twenty-six winters unbroken by a joyful spring or summer. The initial of
her life took place during the drunken debauch of her worse than
worthless drunken father. Many times a day and often several times an
hour she has spells. I have witnessed her go through many of them. The
approach of one of these spells would be first noticed by the enlarged
eyes and the exposure of the white of the eye. Then the muscles in the
eye, face, neck and body would contract and pull her face into her lap.
After remaining in that tortuous position for some minutes, the muscles
would relax and she would resume a normal one.

In that same town, just to the right of my tent, lived one of the
wealthiest citizens. Three children had been born into his home. Each
had died of epileptic fits before it was two years old. The family
physician, who had made a life study of heredity, told me that to his
own personal knowledge the initial of each child’s life took place
during or immediately following a drunken debauch of the father.

=A visit to an asylum.=--Not as a means of punishment, but as a means of
enlightenment and conviction, I wish every drinking man and every man
who favors the maintenance of the saloon could spend a few days in the
insane asylums of this country. Let them be taken through the wards of
the feeble-minded and the insane and at the close of the day listen for
one hour to a discussion of the causes of insanity among the inmates. In
this lecture, let them learn that twenty-two out of every one hundred
cases of insanity are due to drunkenness. Let them spend the next day in
the epileptic wards and witness from ten to twenty of those unfortunates
have epileptic fits, which usually last from thirty minutes to one hour.
At the close of this day have them attend a lecture given by an eminent
authority on epilepsy. After such an experience, I will guarantee that
every honest man, when he is convinced that twenty-two per cent. of the
insane and eighty-eight per cent. of the epileptics are the results of
drunkenness, would be converted to the prohibition of the liquor
traffic. You had just as well put the balance of that crowd in a reform
school or in some ward of the asylum without further delay or expense.
They are helpless cases.

=Personal liberty versus the rights of others.=--I fully appreciate the
value of personal liberty. One’s personal liberty to do right should
never be infringed upon. One’s personal liberty is circumscribed by the
welfare of others. His liberty to do as he pleases ends where the
welfare of someone else begins. You can get mad at me if you wish, grit
your teeth, clench your fist, swing your fist in a circle, vertically,
horizontally and off at a tangent; anywhere you wish, just so you don’t
strike my nose. But if you do, your personal liberty ends where my nose
begins. You have the liberty to walk up and down these aisles,
sidewalks, streets, public roads, up and down the railroad track, over
these hills and hollows, put your old number “nines” down wherever you
want to put them, but remember, when you put one of your number “nines”
down on one of my corns, your personal liberty ends where my corn
begins. Your personal liberty to drink, get drunk, inflame your mind,
brutalize your passions ends right where the welfare of your unborn
posterity begins. You have not the shadow of a right to indulge in any
bad habit that will cause your children to receive from you some form of
bad heredity. Your unborn descendants have the individual, inalienable,
absolute right to inherit from you the best physical, mental and moral
possibilities of manhood and womanhood. There is not a man but has the
paternal instinct deeply impressed upon his very nature. God placed it
there. It is to that principle of fatherhood, prospective or real, that
I make my final appeal. Boys, men, don’t entertain thoughts, indulge in
acts or form habits that you would not want to see reproduced in your
offspring.

Owing to the prevalent use of tobacco among all classes, including
doctors, teachers and ministers, many are inclined to doubt the
hereditary influence of tobacco.

=Dr. Pidduck= in the London _Lancet_ says, “In no instance is a sin of the
fathers more strikingly visited on the children than in the sin of
tobacco-smoking. The enervation, the hypochondriasis, the hysteria, the
insanity, the suffering lives and early deaths of the children of
inveterate tobacco-smokers bear ample testimony to the feebleness and
unsoundness of the constitution transmitted by the victims of this
pernicious habit.”

=Effects of tobacco.=--The most eminent physicians of France tell us that
the rapid decline in the birth-rate of that nation is due, in part, to
the inveterate tobacco users, as shown by such a large number of this
class being at the head of childless homes.

=Children of tobacco users.=--Just as drunkenness may not always manifest
itself in a desire for alcohol, but may manifest itself in the form of
insanity, idiocy, epilepsy, lasciviousness or criminal tendencies; so,
in the children of the inveterate tobacco users the evil effects are
often shown in one or more morbid conditions. One has but to study the
children of a few excessive users of the weed to be convinced that they
do not possess the physical endurance and strength of the fathers. The
children of this class of fathers are usually puny, weak and nervous. It
is not an easy thing to convince a robust, healthy man that his habit is
laying the foundation for constitutional degeneracy in his children and
grandchildren.

=Where both use tobacco.=--Where the husband and wife both use tobacco the
injurious effects on the immediate children are very noticeable. This is
because the mother has more hereditary influence over the children than
does the father.

=Tobacco and degeneracy.=--You cannot always judge of the hereditary
effects of bad habits in one generation. In the first generation the
effects may not be noticeable. If the bad habits are continued for a few
generations the defective descendants multiply. Suppose that a husband
and wife are both heavy users of tobacco; that all their children follow
their examples and marry companions addicted to the use of tobacco; that
their grandchildren all follow the example of their ancestors and marry
companions who are inveterate users; and suppose this continued until
the fourth generation, who can estimate the resulting degeneracy? It is
probable that in many cases degeneracy would be complete and there would
be no fifth generation.

=Fathers transmit morbid tendencies more to their sons than to their
daughters.=--Objectors to acquired characteristics being transmitted
often ask why girls as well as boys do not inherit appetites for tobacco
and whisky. Many girls are just as conscious of an abnormal appetite for
stimulants as their brothers are. More women are addicted to the use of
wine and the cigarette than is generally supposed. But for the
companionship and protection of mother and a social law that would
discard them from society, more would form these habits than do.

It is a recognized fact that where one sex acquires a characteristic
that becomes fixed by continued custom, that this characteristic will be
transmitted mostly along the line of that sex. That relic of savagery,
the “double standard of morals,” temperance for woman and intemperance
for man, purity for woman and impurity for man, do right for woman and
do as you please for man, has, after centuries of practice, become to a
considerable extent constitutional in the two sexes. Hence, girls
inherit less of lasciviousness, less of tendency toward the use of
tobacco and strong drink. This double standard of morals originated
among the savage races who owned their wives and daughters. They sold,
swapped, exchanged their daughters on the marriage markets as they would
dispose of other property. A daughter’s value was largely based on her
virtue. If she had forfeited this priceless gem of womanhood she was
brutally stoned to death or forced into the most cruel servitude.

=A heroic struggle.=--There are thousands of brave, true men who advocate
and live the white life. Thousands more are struggling heroically to win
the laurels of a white life. Others are getting the vision and are
falling into line. Gentle reader, if you are not one of us, we extend to
you a warm welcome; if you are, we are glad of your fellowship.




CHAPTER XLIX

ABNORMAL MATERNAL IMPRESSIONS, OR BIRTHMARKS


=Extent of birthmarks.=--In other chapters I have discussed normal,
prenatal influences. In this chapter, I will discuss abnormal mental
influences of the mother, resulting in what are commonly called
birthmarks. The best statistics available on the subject indicate that
but one child in every 2,000 is marked. Personally, I am inclined to
believe that birthmarks are about twice this frequent. The laity think
that the per cent. is even larger, as each individual has seen or heard
of several cases.

=Only the nervous mothers.=--Perhaps not one mother in twenty could mark
her child. Only those mothers who are very susceptible to unusual mental
impressions mark their children. Nervous, gloomy, despondent, excitable
mothers are liable to do this. Practically nineteen-twentieths of the
mothers need not have a moment’s fear of marking their child. If these
facts are true, then it follows that there are many children who in
their prenatal state possessed a temperament not susceptible to abnormal
maternal impressions. Such a child, in all probability, could not be
marked, even if the mother had passed through mental states favorable to
marking her child.

=The materialist puzzled.=--Birthmarks cannot be explained on a
physiological or materialistic basis. Only as we recognize the supremacy
of the mental nature of man over his body can we understand these
hereditary influences. Almost all Christian doctors and scientists
recognize the fact of birthmarks. Men of these professions, who are
materialistic in their belief, treat the subject of birthmarks as a
relic of superstition. Not being able to explain them, they relegate all
birthmarks to the “unknowables,” calling them freaks or monstrosities.

=A government pet.=--After one of the doctors in a state insane asylum,
appointed to this position by the governor for some political favor he
had done and without any regard to his qualifications, had conducted me
through all the wards, I said, “Doctor, what emphasis do you put upon
heredity in your study and treatment of the inmates of this
institution?” “Very little,” he replied. “Do you believe that mental and
moral states of the mother have any influence over her child before it
is born?” To this question he replied, “I believe nutrition and pelvic
environment are the only prenatal relations between the child and its
mother.” I then asked him to explain some of the following cases of
birthmarks by his theory. He did not believe in birthmarks at all, and
stated that as he did not have the opportunity to investigate the pelvic
conditions of the mothers, he should not be expected to explain the
cases I gave him. I will leave the reader to judge whether that little
political pet could have explained the following cases with his theory.

=Explanation.=--Birthmarks can be explained only by the influences of the
mother’s mental states upon the forming child in her body. No single
mentation could possibly mark her child in a very perceptible way. It is
the constant repetition of the mental image in the mother’s mind that
finally takes expression in the physical form of the child. To
illustrate, the first conscious mentation, after an act of murder, does
not give the criminal the facial expression of a murderer. But after
days of thinking of his crime, even if there were no eye witnesses to
his crime and he were not even suspected of guilt, yet his face
gradually takes on the features of a criminal. He cannot remove that
criminal look with soap and water, or by crying or laughing. That
conscious thought of his crime oft repeated has finally taken expression
in physical form. A genuine conversion to Christ alone can remove the
criminal look. The same is true of all classes of criminals. Harmony of
mental states between husband and wife finally establishes a decided
resemblance.

=Mother and child vitally one.=--The physical organism of man is never
more susceptible to mental impression than during its plastic state
before birth. The mother and her child are in continuous vital
communication with each other. In a very vital sense the mother is the
architect of her child. If the mother keeps herself in a perfectly
normal state, the child will most likely be normal. Any abnormal state
the mother may pass through may have its abnormal influence upon her
child.

=The effect of a constant mental repetition.=--The initial mentation,
whether it be a scare, anger, sympathy, grief, desire or disgust locates
and starts the birthmarks. If this unusual initial mental image were
never repeated, the effect on the child would be hardly perceptible. If
the murderer could prevent the return of the mental picture of his
crime, the criminal look in his face would not become noticeable. It is
the constant repetition of the first mental state that finally takes
permanent form in the child’s body.

=How to prevent marking a child.=--How can susceptible mothers prevent
marking their children? By refusing to repeat the mental image. They
should keep their minds engaged in other matters. Banish the mental
picture every time it occurs in the stream of consciousness. In this way
birthmarks may be largely prevented.

The following cases are only a few that I have studied personally and
know to be true. I have had many friends tell me of cases known to them,
many of which would be very interesting to you, but I refrain from the
use of them in this lecture.

=Frightened by a crawfish.=--Rev. T. of ----, had a right thumb that was
double to the first joint. He told me that his mother, while washing
clothes at a stream, turned over a flat rock and a crawfish caught her
by the thumb with one of its big claws. In her fright she flung the
crawfish out on the bank. I studied another case that was very nearly a
duplicate of this one. These are examples of fright.

=Arkansas mother.=--While I was filling an engagement in the town of ----,
Ark., the pastor’s wife became the mother of a little girl whose fingers
were quite long and the joints of the fingers, hands and arms, stiff.
She was quite nervous and despondent during gestation. She told me that
one day when she was alone at home and especially gloomy and nervous,
she heard some one rap at the door and looking up she saw a man standing
at the door with deformed hands.

=Frightened at a mole.=--I went out eleven miles from G. C., state of ----,
to study a very sad case in the home of a cultured young couple. The
child was two years old. Its hands were turned with the palms backwards
and its arms were not over six inches long. It preferred to crawl rather
than walk. On the floor it handled itself like a mole. The mother told
me that in the early months of gestation she was greatly frightened at a
mole.

=Marked by anger.=--While giving a course of lectures in the city of C.,
Missouri, one day while walking down a street I noticed a four-year-old
white-headed boy with a big patch of jet-black hair on the right side of
his head. The contrast between the black and the white was very
striking. The father told me that he and his wife were undecided what
one of two possible causes was responsible for the birthmark. He said,
“One day, while my wife stood on the back porch, a <DW64> stabbed a man
and when he saw an officer approaching he leaped over our yard fence and
ran across our back yard. Seeing that he was running into the arms of
another officer, he threw down his knife in the deep grass. The next day
he got out on bail and came to our home and asked for permission to look
for his knife. The other possible cause was, my wife and her neighbor
had fallen out. One day this lady called at our home and my wife
considered her an intruder, the old trouble was renewed and my wife
pulled her hair. This lady had very black hair. Now we do not know which
of those occurrences is responsible for the patch of black hair on the
boy.” I replied, “I know with almost absolute certainty.” He asked for
my opinion and reason. My reply was, “Had it been caused by the <DW64>,
the patch of black hair would have been kinky. Nature is always true to
itself. I once knew a case where a mother was frightened by an angry dog
and on her child was a patch of canine hair. The fact that the hair in
the mark on the child is straight black hair shows that it was due to
your wife’s pulling the hair of her neighbor.” This is a case due to
unusual anger.

=Marked by disgust.=--After giving a special lecture to ladies in the city
of T----, Kan., an elderly lady, in company with a friend, sought an
interview with me. She told me the following sad personal experience:
“One summer, husband persuaded me to go with him and the children to our
county fair. Being quite nervous and easily fatigued, I requested that I
be permitted to spend the time in the carriage while he and the children
enjoyed the fair. I had been sitting in the carriage but a short time
when I noticed a crowd gathering around some object of attraction and I
decided to go and see what it was. On a table stood a four-year-old boy
wearing the false head of an old man. There was nothing grotesque or
unnatural about the head. But the contrast produced in me a feeling of
disgust. The thought was suggested to me, some one might be frightened
at that boy and mark her child, but I will not, for I am disgusted. I
wondered that others did not feel disgusted as I did. On returning to
my carriage the feeling of disgust and the mental picture of the child
remained with me. When husband and children came I related to them what
I had seen. For weeks after this event the mental picture of the child
with the head of an old man would appear in the stream of consciousness
accompanied with a feeling of disgust. After two days of parturition, a
seven-month child was removed from my body by an operation. Its head was
abnormally large and had the appearance of an old man.” Here was a case
due to disgust.

=Marked by sympathy.=--Ten days ago I was entertained by a family having a
very nervous temperament. The son-in-law sat in a rocking chair on the
front veranda holding his three-year-old child in his arms. The child
was helpless, emaciated and in breathing made a wheezing noise. This
condition had obtained since her birth. During the period of gestation,
a sickly, poor, wheezing, half-grown hog was kept in the yard and cared
for by the nervous mother of the child. The condition of the hog
constantly enlisted the sympathy of the mother. This was the history of
the case as told me by the child’s father. This birthmark was caused by
unusual sympathy.

=An amusing case.=--In most cases abnormal maternal impressions do not
result in serious injuries to children.

While lecturing at M----, Ky., I was told by a mother how she had marked
one of her children. She had listened, a few days before, to some lady
callers explaining the cause of a woman’s giving birth to twins. These
uninformed women claimed that if a prospective mother should find and
become interested in a number of twin objects in nature, such as eggs
with double yolks, twin apples, peaches, ears of corn, potatoes,
tomatoes, etc., that she would most certainly be the mother of twins. A
few days after this conversation she was gathering cucumbers. The vines
were wet and the ground soaked by frequent showers. For this reason she
was barefooted. She stooped over to remove from between two toes a small
object that had lodged between them. The object proved to be a most
perfect small twin cucumber. The mother recalled the conversation of her
friends, and this experience came up in her mind so often that she would
not have been surprised at twins. The child born later had the most
perfect twin toes.

=A sad case.=--While delivering a lecture on heredity in a leading Western
college my attention was called to a very intelligent face in the
audience. It was a young lady who appeared to have no hands or arms.
Later I observed tiny undeveloped hands largely concealed by very short
sleeves. At the close of the address I asked the president about her. He
informed me that she was unusually bright and that her affliction was
from birth. He arranged for me to have an interview with her. I found
that she had two and three fingers to the hand and that her hands and
arms had not grown since birth. In every other particular she was a most
attractive and perfect figure. Her mother’s explanation was that before
her birth she was one day holding her brother, then a baby, in her lap
while operating the sewing machine. The little fellow put his hand where
the needle was forced through his finger. The mother fainted. The mental
picture in the mother’s mind was that some of the baby’s fingers were
cut off. The mental impression lingered in the mother’s mind. The young
lady’s arms were about six inches long. On one hand there were two
fingers, on the other there were three fingers. Her arms and hands had
not grown any since birth. Otherwise she was normally developed.

=Marked her child twice.=--About the close of a lecture in one of the
Central Western states, a lady asked me to call at the Cash Store,
explaining that she wanted an hour’s interview with me. I found her to
be a lady of extremely susceptible temperament, refined and cultured,
but a bundle of nerves. She was the mother of three little nervous
children. Before calling in her oldest child, which she had marked
twice, she explained her experience. She said, “In our early marriage we
owned a cow that we were very proud of. Husband and I had often wished
that she were dehorned. One morning my husband’s brother secretly
dehorned her. The servant boy finding it out ran to the house and urged
me to go out to the barn and see what had occurred. When I rushed
suddenly upon the scene, I seized the fingers of the right hand with the
left and screamed. There were several large clear blisters on the cow’s
head. When my little girl was born the index finger of the right hand
was off at the second joint, the other three fingers were entirely
absent and several blisters had to be removed by the physician.

“During the second or third month of gestation I was told that one of
the neighbors had given birth to a child with one foot turned entirely
around. My curiosity led me to go over and see the child. When our girl
was born her left foot was turned completely around, the toes pointing
backwards. We have spent sixteen hundred dollars trying to have the foot
turned back. We have succeeded only in a small measure.” Then she said,
“I never heard of birthmarks until after my child was born. If I could
have heard your series of lectures, it would have been worth a fortune
to me. I believe this misfortune could and would have been avoided.”

The reader must not conclude that these pathetic cases are common. They
are not. The cases cited here represent fully one-half of the extreme
cases that I have personally studied during years of travel and
lecturing. They forcefully illustrate the possibilities of maternal
impressions on the forming child.




CHAPTER L

HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT AND REDEMPTION


[Illustration: HEREDITY CHART OF EMMA W.]

=The burden of the feeble-minded.=--The history of Emma W., at one time an
inmate of Letchworth Village, a New York institution for the
feeble-minded, should be convincing that it is bad policy to let the
feeble-minded drift in and out of the almshouse; that it is but humanity
and economy to segregate them, and to strike at the causes of mental
defect. Emma W. came to life in an almshouse, stamped with illegitimacy
and feeble-mindedness. Her family’s record reads: mother, two brothers,
and a sister feeble-minded; mother’s father feeble-minded and mother’s
mother tuberculous. When a second child was expected the mother was
induced by well-meaning people to marry the father, who was a drunken
epileptic. Two children were born. Still later the same well-meaning
people aided her to get a divorce in order to marry the father of
another child about to be born. Since then four more have been born. All
of these children are feeble-minded. Entire family, with exception of
the oldest child, is at large. The accompanying chart, taken from _The
Survey_, March 2, 1912, shows graphically her heredity.

Our studies at Vineland have shown that 65 per cent. of feeble-minded
people are the children of feeble-minded people; in other words, that
the condition is strongly hereditary. Therefore, if these people are
allowed to become parents, they will bring into the world another group
of people like themselves who will thus perpetuate the social waste.

The following charts show the heredity of two families. We have two
hundred like these--65 per cent. of all our inmates show such history.

The symbols used in the charts are the following: Square indicates male.
Circle indicates female. A capital letter indicates disease, habit, or
condition, as follows: A, alcoholic (habitual drunkard); B, blind; C,
criminal; D, deaf; E, epileptic; F, feeble-minded, either black letter,
or white letter on black ground (the former when sex is unknown); I,
insane; N, normal; Sx, grave sexual offender; Sy, syphilitic; T,
tuberculosis. Any of these letters may be used with no square or circle
when sex is unknown. When even the letter is omitted the vertical line
points to the fact that there was an individual of whom nothing is
known. Small black circle indicates miscarriage--time is given (in
months) when known, also cause; stillbirth is shown as a miscarriage at
nine months; b = born; d = died; m = married; inf = infancy; hand shows
which child is in the institution for feeble-minded; illeg =
illegitimate; heavy line under any symbol indicates that the person is
in some institution at the expense of society.

[Illustration: Chart I.]

Chart I shows the descendants of a feeble-minded woman who was married
twice. Her first husband was normal. There were four normal children,
one of whom is alcoholic. This alcoholic son married a normal woman and
produced two feeble-minded and three normal children. This is another
instance of the defect skipping a generation, being transmitted by the
grandmother through the father.

The second marriage of this feeble-minded woman was with an alcoholic
and immoral man. The result was four feeble-minded children. One of
these became alcoholic and syphilitic and married a feeble-minded woman.
She was one of three imbecile children, born of two imbecile parents.
The result here could, of course, be nothing but defectives. There were
two stillborn, and three that died in infancy. Six others lived to be
determined feeble-minded. One of these was a criminal. Two are in the
institution at Vineland. The mother’s sister also has a feeble-minded
son.

[Illustration: CHART II _A_.]

Chart II (in two parts) is in some ways the most astonishing one we
have. There are in the institution at Vineland five children
representing, as we had always supposed, three entirely independent
families. We discovered, however, that they all belonged to one stock.
In Chart II, _A_, the central figure, the alcoholic father of three of
the children in the institution, married for his third wife a woman who
was a prostitute and a keeper of a house of ill fame, herself
feeble-minded, and with five feeble-minded brothers and sisters. One of
these sisters is the grandmother represented on Chart II, _B_.

On _A_ it will be seen that this alcoholic man was four times married.
He comes from a good family but was spoiled in his bringing up, became
alcoholic and immoral--a degenerate man. His first wife, however, was a
normal woman and it is claimed that the two children were normal. For
his second wife, he took out of the poorhouse a feeble-minded woman. Her
children were: two normal, one that died young, and one feeble-minded.
He married the third time. The woman was the prostitute above referred
to. She had three illegitimate children, all feeble-minded. After their
marriage, they had three children, all of whom are feeble-minded. Two of
these are in this institution. The father then deserted this woman and
married a fourth wife, who is alcoholic and a prostitute. Of this union,
however, there are no children.

There is, moreover, very strong evidence that he is the father of the
third child in this institution by another woman, who is also
feeble-minded.

[Illustration: Chart II _B_.]

Chart II, _B_, will be understood if we note that the mother’s mother is
a sister of the third wife of the much-married man of Chart II, _A_.
This sister married a feeble-minded man, and the result of that union
was seven feeble-minded children, of whom one is a criminal and one an
epileptic. Four are married. The feeble-minded epileptic woman married a
normal man, who is one of a fairly good family. His mother was insane,
the father died in an almshouse; however, we find no mental defect. As
the result of this marriage, we have seven feeble-minded children, four
others that died in infancy, and there were two miscarriages. This is
the fourth child of this strain that is in our institution. The fifth
one referred to is a half-sister of the other girl referred to on Chart
II, _A_.

The foregoing charts and description were taken from the article of
Henry H. Goddard, Ph.D., Director of Vineland, N. J., School for
Feeble-minded, in the March 2nd, 1912, issue of the _Survey_.

=The agencies of improvement.=--In all organic life, vegetable, animal and
man, two agencies are ever operative; heredity and environment. In plant
life these two agencies operate entirely on the physical plain. This is
perhaps true among the lower forms of animal life. But, among the higher
forms of animal life, we find very distinct manifestations of
rudimentary intelligence. Among the higher animals, experiments show
that these agencies are operative on the physical and mental plains. In
man these agencies are operative on the physical, mental and moral
plains. Among plants and animals, where these two agencies are under the
intelligent control of man, improvements are marked and rapid. Where
they are not under the control of man, progress is scarcely perceptible.

Plants and animals live in harmony with law, man appears to be largely
out of harmony with law; plants and animals keep law, man violates law.
That man is fallen and needs additional help to heredity and environment
is apparent to all who think. This help we call conversion, regeneration
or redemption. It is not the province of this chapter to advocate any
theory of religion. The purpose of this chapter is to show the relation
of these agencies in the improvement of the human race.

=What one receives at birth constitutes his heredity.=--This consists of a
normal or defective physical constitution, the natural bent of mind and
its rudimentary possibilities and the innate tendencies toward good or
evil. The physical, mental and moral influences one receives after birth
constitute his environment. Ideal environment tends to direct, develop
and to mature the results of good heredity and to correct the results of
bad heredity. Bad environment tends to neutralize the effects of good
heredity and to intensify the effects of bad heredity. If a child has
inherited a frail constitution, this can be overcome largely or entirely
by proper physical training, appropriate food and observing other health
laws. In such cases, heavy drugging will do but little good. If nature
is aided by intelligent parents, who have inspired their unfortunate
child with an intense interest and purpose to out-grow every defect, he
will accomplish wonders. If a child has inherited a tendency toward
tuberculosis, this can be entirely overcome by physical training, deep
breathing, nutritious food and ventilated bed rooms. The same is true of
many other physical defects.

=Our mental possibilities are largely inherited.=--Schools and colleges do
not produce great minds. They direct, train and develop the inherited
mental possibilities. Children of mediocrity should have every possible
encouragement and opportunity for mental improvement. They cannot
succeed without it. Their offspring will inherit improved mental
possibilities, if their parents are wisely trained in childhood.
Children who have inherited special genius will succeed in spite of
limited opportunities, but they will succeed better by having the
advantage of a good education. A practical study of the psychology of
childhood, in relation to mental heredity, would lead parents and
teachers to be more patient, sympathetic and wise in the mental training
of many children.

=Heredity and moral tendencies.=--Heredity is just as potential in the
moral realm as in the physical and mental. Children inherit tendencies
toward good or evil, virtue or vice. What they inherit morally is
determined by the relation of their ancestors to moral laws.

=Parental responsibility.=--Parents are not only responsible for the
number of children born in the home, whether few or many, close together
or far apart, but they are also largely responsible for their children’s
being born with strong or weak constitutions, brilliant or stupid minds,
good or bad tendencies. When this responsibility is more fully
understood by parents, their children will be better born. The greatest
blessing parents can bequeath to their children is not wealth, but a
good heredity. A very large part of a child’s training, good or bad, is
prenatal. Right from birth, before environment has had time to
influence the child, examples of children who are easily trained, and
cases that are trained with the greatest difficulty, are perfectly
familiar to all of us.

=Environment is fully as potential in a child’s life as is heredity.=--A
child may receive the most unfavorable heredity, and good environment
may lead the child to become much superior to his parents, brothers and
sisters. Again, a child may receive the very best heredity, and a bad
environment may lead him to mental neglect and moral disaster. Parents
can determine largely the heredity of the child; but they can furnish
only a small part of a child’s environment. Unknown to the parents, a
playmate, a neighbor, a servant, in a few words or a single act, may
give a child an impulse toward vice that may lead the child into years
of sin. The real cause of the child’s going wrong may ever remain
unknown to the parents.

=Value of early environment.=--The total of a child’s environment is
furnished by the whole of society. Fortunately, parents have largely the
control of the first years of a child’s environment. Unfortunately, most
parents have tried to safeguard the virtue of their children by keeping
them ignorant of everything pertaining to their sex natures. Just here
parents have often failed because of their false idea of good
environment. Ignorance of the sex nature is not a safeguard. Children
are often engaging in sexual sins months or years before the parents
dream of danger. Many servants employed in and about the home are impure
in mind or practice or both; often they are sex perverts. They take a
fiendish delight in teaching vice to even a small child. Parents cannot
be too careful in the selection of servants. They should have the most
positive understanding that no profanity, obscenity or vice is to be
engaged in by the servant. Sexual vice is the most common and dangerous
vice of childhood. It always leads to other forms of wrong-doing. Proper
sex instruction, given by the parents at the right time and in the right
way, is the only sane safeguard to the virtue of childhood.

=Heredity, environment, Christ.=--A bad environment may lead a child of
good heredity for a number of years into vice and sin; but the inherent
good tendencies often assert themselves and help the prodigal to return.

A child with a bad heredity, made and kept good by an ideal environment,
is never as strong or safe as a child of good heredity and good
environment.

Every child at birth is the sum total of all the influences, good and
bad, along the line of his lineage back to Adam. Every child has more or
less of hereditary degeneracy. All children are exposed more or less to
bad environment. All children need to accept Christ, to be transformed
by His power and freed from the domination of inherited and acquired
evil. Good heredity and good environment make it easy for children to
accept Christ and live the Christ life. Bad heredity and bad environment
make it difficult for children to accept and live the Christ life.

It is the duty of parents to know and practice the laws of heredity and
prenatal culture; to furnish the child as far as possible with a good
environment and a sane knowledge of himself; and to influence him to
accept Christ.

Each child’s duty to himself is to recognize his conscious personal
obligation to himself and to society, of mastering every inherited and
acquired weakness, of developing fully every inherent possibility, and
of accepting Christ as a necessity to the fullest attainment of the
loftiest ideals.

God’s greatest blessing, offered to every individual, is personal
redemption through faith in His Son.

These three agencies, good heredity, good environment, and redemption;
or right generation, right education and regeneration, are essential to
a perfect life.




CHAPTER LI

COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE


=The modern girl.=--A quarter of a century ago a community knew a year
ahead when one of its young women was going to be married. In this fast
age, some parents don’t find it out until after their daughter has been
married six months or more. When the author was a boy, the engaged girl
spent her spare time piecing quilts, making feather pillows and beds,
drying apples, peaches and pumpkins, making preserves, gathering garden
seed and raising a flock of chickens. She had religious convictions. The
Bible idea of a woman is a “help meet.” She was preparing to help meet
the expenses of a home. The modern girl too often helps spend her
gentleman friend’s hard-earned money at the soda fountain, on livery
rigs and at the ten cent shows. Thousands of young men are not getting
married to-day, because they are afraid of the expense of these modern
help-eats, help-wears and help-spends.

=Customs have changed.=--True, times and customs have changed and much of
the work of women a quarter of a century ago is no longer profitable.
The

[Illustration]

same is true of the work of men. But these changes do not justify a
large number of girls idling away a number of years waiting for men to
come along and marry them. Such girls make extravagant wives. They
cannot know the value of a dollar.

=The independent girl.=--Parents should furnish their daughter with
remunerative labor, or they should see that she is fitted for some
position that will enable her to be independent. The independent girl is
no more likely to fall than the idle girl at home. The independent girl
who gets out into the world with her brother, shoulders the same
burdens, masters the same difficulties, fights the same battles,
acquires a poise and dignity, a freedom of action and speech, a
knowledge of business and economy that give her an attractiveness that
the idle fashion-plate girl on the bargain counter of the marriage
market cannot compete with. This class of girls do not have to marry the
first chance that comes around in order to have a home.

=Parents too anxious to get their girls married.=--The financial burden of
supporting from two to four idle girls is no small item. Many parents
are anxious to get them married as soon as possible. The girls soon find
it out. When ten years old, such girls are making goo-goo eyes at the
boys; when eleven, they are passing notes to every Tom, Dick and Harry
in the schoolroom; when twelve, they are desperately in love; when
thirteen and fourteen, they have their mother’s consent to marry; when
fifteen, they are in the divorce courts, and three months later they
have their second husbands.

One of the St. Louis dailies, over one year ago, had a notice of two
“runaways.” One girl was twelve and the other thirteen. When overtaken
by their fathers, brought back home and locked up in a room, to prevent
a second attempt, one admitted to a reporter that up to that time she
had not learned that Santa Claus was not a real being and the other sent
for her dolls to play with.

=Another case.=--In one town in which I lectured I was told of a mother
who accompanied her thirteen-year-old-daughter and an eighteen-year-old
boy to the county clerk’s office and gave her consent to her daughter’s
marriage. To the clerk’s question, “Don’t you think your daughter rather
young to be married?” she replied. “Gee, I got married when I was
thirteen and my oldest daughter got married when she was fourteen.”
Didn’t she need the protection of an asylum?

=A woman in Arkansas.=--In Arkansas, you know what does not happen
anywhere else sometimes happens in that state. I found a woman who ran
away to get married when she was thirteen, had been married three
times, had three divorced husbands, three families of children,
aggregating twelve in number; was still a young woman and trying to get
married the fourth time. That was courtship, marriage and divorce with a
vengeance!

=In this country anything can get married.=--A confirmed degenerate
criminal can marry, as soon as his term expires in a reformatory, or
penitentiary. A feeble-minded person can improve a little, be returned
home, and get married. A few years later we are supporting them and
their delinquent progeny. We can never empty the reformatories,
penitentiaries and asylums until we quit producing these classes.
Immature marriages can no more produce perfect offspring than can the
mating of immature domestic animals. The girl is not mature until she is
nineteen or twenty and a boy until he is twenty-two or twenty-four.

=Better customs and laws needed.=--We are in need of social and legal
reform in the social relations of young people, marriage and divorce. In
England and Canada, rarely does a girl keep company with a young man as
a sweetheart before she is eighteen and rarely married before she is
nineteen or twenty. She is usually chaperoned by an older woman when she
goes out to drive, attend a lecture or to take a stroll with a young
man. In this country, little, innocent, undeveloped, irresponsible
girls are permitted to go buggy riding at night, attend cheap shows and
go on excursions unchaperoned, with young men whose reputations are not
the best. We are reaping the fearful harvest. One-half of our erring
girls fell before they were seventeen, and over one-half of our divorces
occur among women who married before they were seventeen. Our social
customs make it possible for one-half of our erring girls to fall before
they know the name of the act that involves their character and destiny.
Girls sixteen years old have not had time to develop mentally to where
they can safely choose a companion for life. If a girl, one day younger
than eighteen, should buy a pig without her father’s consent, the law
gives him the right to compel the former owner to take the pig back and
to return to him the money. The state reasons that a girl under eighteen
is not sufficiently developed in judgment to be held responsible for
buying a pig. But, according to our customs and laws, a girl can
intelligently tie herself up for life to the unfortunate appendix to the
wet end of a cigarette, or a miserable old jug-handle, and be held
responsible for her choice. In other words, we think that it takes less
judgment for a girl to choose a life partner than it does to buy a
half-grown hog.

=Divorce is on the increase.=--Births and marriages are on the decrease.
In 1870, we had one divorce to every thirty-eight marriages. In 1900,
we had one divorce to every fourteen and a half marriages. Now we are
having one divorce to every eleven and a quarter marriages. I noticed in
one of the Ohio dailies a few days ago that one county had one hundred
and thirty-two divorces in twelve months. All last year, Canada had only
seventeen divorces. Several counties in the United States, each had ten
times as many divorces last year, as did the entire Dominion of Canada.
Canada has more stringent marriage and divorce laws than the United
States.

It is the maternal and paternal instincts that prompt the lower animals
to pair off and mate. Their love for each other and their young is the
child of their sex nature. The desexed lower animals are devoid of the
instinct that prompts wooing and mating.

It is the promptings of the paternal and maternal natures, which are
inseparable from the normal sex nature, that lead to a beautiful and
joyful courtship, to a harmonious, happy marriage and to a family of
fair daughters and lusty sons.

=Causes of wrecked homes.=--“Intemperance,” “abuse,” “non-support,” or
“desertion,” reply the jury in the court room and the judge on the
bench. These are, usually, only indirect causes. The one main cause of
wrecked homes, the abuse of marital rights, is rarely mentioned in the
court room. If all married people were normal in their sex natures,
unselfish love would reign in the homes and divorce courts would be
largely a thing of the past.

Through universal ignorance of the true nature and functions of the
God-given, God-honored and sacred sanctuary of reproduction, the youth,
by mental and mechanical abuse of these functions, becomes more or less
sensual. Sexuality is slowly transformed into sensuality and love into
lust. Ignorant of the laws of life, the duties and responsibilities of
marriage and parentage, men are often prompted more by uncontrolled
desire than by unselfish love in their choice of a wife, they are
largely governed by physical attractions, or wealth. The present ethics
of marriage makes the wife submit to the sensual demands of the husband.
This view of marriage converts love into lust, prevents the harmonizing
of their differences, the proper blending of their personalities and the
two never become one.

=Divorce is not the cause of wrecked homes.=--Wrecked homes are the cause
of divorce. The divorce problem will be solved in the solution of the
home problems. The home problems will be largely solved when children
and youths receive proper sex instruction, when young people are
properly safeguarded in their social relations as friends and lovers,
and when they are properly educated in home-building.

=Marriage a civil and Divine institution.=--The sacred institution of
marriage is being trifled with. Easy to get married, and easy to get
divorced, are a nation’s shame and will quickly bring a nation’s fall.
By a system of sane education and legislation the paramount importance,
dignity, responsibility and sacredness of marriage over other
institutions would be impressed on the mind of the masses. Marriage is
both a civil and religious institution. Civil law should protect the
rights of marriage and judiciously determine who shall and who shall not
marry. The marriage ceremony should be performed, when possible, in a
church and a minister of recognized qualifications should officiate. The
church should be decorated not only with flowers and foliage, but also
the nation’s flag and colors should have prominent display. Not only
should some of the church officers be present, but also, some of the
civil officers should be present. The church and state should bear this
expense. No marriage fees should be charged or expected from rich or
poor. The parties to be married and the community would see that the
state and church are substantially interested in home and nation
building. In this way marriage would be placed on a high and dignified
basis. When a man and woman take the marriage vows, they have assumed
duties and responsibilities more vital and far greater than does a
governor or president-elect assume, when he takes the oath of office.
The primary purpose of marriage is to increase the species. In this
function they are to serve the nation by helping to furnish the next
generation of citizens. The most illiterate and poverty-stricken couple,
who faithfully do their best to raise a family of children, are of far
more value to a nation’s strength and perpetuity than a millionaire home
consisting of husband, wife and a poodle dog.

=New marriage laws.=--We should have uniform state laws restricting the
marriage of men and women who are in advanced stages of consumption, of
the feeble-minded, the confirmed criminal, the degenerate and the
venereally diseased. We need uniform state laws requiring a reasonable
knowledge of the laws of life, of marital rights, of heredity and
prenatal culture and of the duties and responsibilities of marriage and
parentage. To make such restrictions and education possible all
candidates for marriage should be required to register their proposed
marriage with the county clerk at least three months before the license
is granted. At the expense of the state, this proposed marriage should
be announced through at least one paper during this period. This
publicity would prevent all clandestine marriages and would rob the
white slave procurer of one of his chief methods of securing his
victims. In recent years, in nearly every community, a stranger has won
the affections of an unsuspecting girl and the confidence of her family,
married her, and in six months time it was whispered that he had another
family somewhere that he ought to be supporting. The white slaver uses
the love method very effectively. The law suggested would prevent these
impositions and crimes against society.

When the proposed marriage is registered, the state should furnish each
with a book presenting in simple language the information to which
reference was made in a preceding paragraph. At the expiration of three
months, let them give satisfactory evidence of a reasonable knowledge of
the teaching of the book.

Before the marriage license is finally granted, each should furnish the
state with a certificate of good health. This would prevent the marriage
of the physically and mentally unfit.

If properly enforced, these new marriage laws would promote domestic
harmony, prevent untold misery, stop the crime of feticide, reduce the
annual birth of defective children and increase the birth-rate of normal
children. The young man should have not less than five hundred dollars
in money or property, or he should have a fair education and a position
with adequate income to support a wife.




EIGHTH DIVISION

VITAL FACTS FOR THE MARRIED OR UNMARRIED, OF MIDDLE LIFE AND OLD AGE




CHAPTER LII

VITAL FACTS CONCERNING THE CHANGE OF THE LIFE IN WOMAN AND THE YEARS TO
FOLLOW


=Similarity of changes in the sexes.=--Men and women are complements of
each other. They have two correspondingly important and similar periods
in life. In man, the first is when the genital glands begin to secrete
procreative life. This usually occurs when he is from fourteen to
fifteen. This change indicates that nature has begun her work of
preparing the male genital organs for their primal function--fatherhood.
Nature’s processes work gradually. She is apparently in no hurry. If not
interfered with, she will accomplish a perfect work. Hence we find, that
while nature is preparing the boy for fatherhood, this function is not
possible for three or four years after the change begins; and that the
function performed at this time would mean a defective child. Careful
investigations show that among children whose fathers married at

[Illustration: WELL PRESERVED AND CONTENTED IN OLD AGE]

twenty or younger, eight to ten per cent. more of these children die in
the first year than among children whose fathers married at twenty-four
or later. This would indicate that the sexual life of the male has a
double creative function. The first is to create a father, which
requires eight to ten years. This, however, is only preparatory to the
second, the primal function of fatherhood. The second change in man
occurs when he is from forty-five to fifty-five and the physical
indications are that this period of procreation should close.

In woman, the first important period usually occurs from twelve to
fourteen, when the functions of menstruation and ovulation begin. The
change indicates that nature has begun her work of fitting the female
genital organs for their primal function--motherhood. In woman as in
man, nature takes her own time. As a rule motherhood would not be
possible for a year or two after this change has begun. Even then the
child would reveal defects. Carefully gathered facts show that among
children, whose mothers married at sixteen, four to five per cent. more
die in the first year than among children whose mothers married at or
near twenty. This would indicate that the sexual life of the female has
a double creative function. The first is to create a mother, which
requires a period of six to eight years. This, however, also is only
preparatory to the primal functions of the sexual life--motherhood. The
second change in a woman’s life occurs when she is from forty to
forty-nine and the physical changes which occur bring her procreative
period of life to a close.

=The primal purpose of marriage.=--If boys and girls were properly trained
and safeguarded, if our customs and habits of life were natural instead
of artificial; they would use up their sexual energy in their various
activities. Under such normal conditions the gradually developing
paternal and maternal instincts, which are the products of maturing
sexual life, would be under perfect control and lead them to marry for
the primal purpose of procreating the species and perpetuating the race.
This God-implanted paternal and maternal instinct, in their relation to
the normally developing sexual natures, are so strong that matured young
people are willing to assume every burden connected with maintaining a
home and every sacrifice incident to raising a family of children.

=Maternity not an affliction.=--No normal wife, properly educated, who has
the right view of marriage, looks upon maternity as an affliction. No
woman, capable of normal motherhood should marry, who considers
maternity a great affliction. The woman who is willing to sell the use
of her body to one man in marriage for the consideration of being
married, for food, clothing and shelter, and who deliberately and
willfully avoids maternity, is but little better than the woman who
prostitutes herself to a number of men for a price. The motives that
lead a man and woman to commit prostitution outside of the bonds of
marriage cannot be made sacred and pure by the sanction of law and a
marriage ceremony. When husband and wife are mutually agreed, in this
crime, he is as guilty as she.

=Procreative periods in the sexes.=--The possible procreative period of
man extends from about seventeen to the close of life. His normal
procreative period extends from about twenty-four to the beginning of
his change of life. The possible procreative period of woman extends
from puberty to the close of the change of life. Her normal procreative
period extends from about twenty to the beginning of her change of life.

=Function of menstruation.=--The function of menstruation is to prepare
the womb for the reception of embryonic life. Since the womb during
menstruation is not prepared for the reception of this beginning life,
the wife instinctively repels the sexual approaches of her husband.

=Pregnancy a period of continence.=--When impregnation occurs and the womb
becomes the closed home of embryonic life, sexual desire largely or
entirely ceases in the normal woman. She now enters a nine-month period
of gestation. Again it is natural for her to repel sexual approaches of
her husband. All the pregnant females among the lower animals and savage
man faithfully repel the approach of their mates during gestation. This
law is violated alone by semi-civilized and civilized man. The females
among the lower animals and savage men do not dread maternity and the
males are normal and do not force their demands upon their mates during
gestation.

=Why maternity is regarded as an affliction.=--Among the civilized races,
artificial customs, a false education and a selfish devotion to an
unnatural social system, lead many women to dread maternity and to look
upon this most sacred and glorious function of womanhood as a very great
social affliction.

=Enslaved motherhood the crowning curse of the age.=--The artificial life
of civilization leads men to become sexually abnormal. Law, custom and a
misinterpretation of certain passages of the Bible have given men and
women the erroneous idea that the wife must submit herself to the
husband’s sexual demands, even during pregnancy. Hence the civilized
woman submits to her husband’s demands. Another reason why she does not
repel his approaches is because she feels that the “worst has already
happened.” Enslaved motherhood is the crowning curse of an artificial
civilization. If Bible students had given more sincere thought and time
to the study of the redemptive meaning of, “And knew her not till she
had brought forth her firstborn son; and he (Joseph) called his name
Jesus,” than they have to the doubtful meaning of a passage found in the
writings of Paul, past legislation, education and evangelization would
have accomplished more in the redemption of the race from the slavery
and curse of lust.

=Mysteries made clear.=--When we keep in mind the primal purpose of
marriage, the function of menstruation, the period of normal child
bearing, it will not be difficult for us to understand why there should
come a change in middle-aged woman, when menstruation, ovulation and
child bearing should cease. Understanding that normal passion in woman
is nature’s call for maternity, the reason for her repelling the
approaches of her husband, during the change of life, and why sexual
desire largely ceases with this change, will be clear to us. When the
thoughtful husband, who loves his companion, understands the nature of
this experience in the wife, he will be more considerate, sympathetic
and self-controlled. Continence during this change will not only be a
blessing to his wife, but it will be of physical and mental benefit to
himself.

=The age when the change of life occurs.=--In this country, as a rule, the
change of life occurs from forty to fifty. A few thousand miles south
it occurs sooner. Climatic conditions hasten or <DW44> both puberty and
the change of life. If the age at the dawning of puberty is multiplied
by three, this will give the age when the change of life will usually
begin. There are other causes that may hasten or <DW44> the approach of
this change. Women have been known to reach the age of sixty and one
woman to reach the age of seventy, before the change occurred. On the
other hand there are cases where the change has occurred as early
thirty-five and rare cases as early as twenty-eight and thirty.

=Other names for the change of life.=--This change is sometimes known as
the “menopause,” referring to the cessation of the function of
menstruation. It is also referred to as the “climacteric” period,
meaning that a climax in life has been reached.

=The nature of the change.=--As a result of this change the period of
reproduction ceases. To affect this change ovulation must cease. As
menstruation is normally associated with ovulation, this must cease. The
ovaries become reduced in size, the walls of the womb become thinner and
the whole sexual system is undergoing a change, adapting itself to the
new order of things, which will be a part of her life for years to come.

=The duration of the change of life.=--No general rule can be stated as
to the length of this period. The average time is from two to three
years. Occasionally it covers a period of six or seven and in rare cases
ten or twelve years. In rare cases the period has been known to be only
a few weeks or months in length. In some women the change causes but
little inconvenience.

=Evidences of the change.=--The approach of the change of life may be
heralded by a variety of symptoms, which may in part be present in one
woman and absent in another. The menstrual change manifests itself in a
number of ways. In one woman the flow may cease at the approach of the
menopause, never to return. In other cases the intervals of flow are
irregular. In still others, menstruation may be frequent, almost
continuous, or at times amount to flooding. In some cases the abdomen
swells, a feeling of fullness is experienced and the woman may be
convinced that she is pregnant. Any one or more of the following
symptoms may be experienced: dizziness, trouble with the sight, voice,
heart, lungs, constipation, diarrhea, neuralgia of the joints, limbs and
head. These symptoms can be greatly modified by exercise of the will. A
woman need not be alarmed at any one or more of these symptoms. They are
due to a readjustment of the body to the new conditions that are to
follow. While this is a real crisis in a woman’s life, it does not
follow that there is any serious danger. Yet she should take every
precaution to keep herself in a good condition.

=Some precautions.=--Fifteen or twenty minutes of time should be given, to
light exercise, each day.

There will be a tendency in most cases toward constipation. Drink one or
two glasses of water on rising each morning and drink freely during the
day, make a meal occasionally of fruits. If this does not correct the
trouble, flush the colon with tepid water.

Special attention should be given to the diet. This should be wholesome
and nutritious. She should never over-eat. If inclined to be nervous,
coffee and tea should not be used; if at all, with moderation. Other
stimulating drinks should be avoided.

She should have some light occupation of interest to her. Idleness
during this period may lead to despondency, melancholy, or hysteria. Her
mind should be engaged in something all the time.

We are learning more and more that the body is very much subject to the
mind. A feeling of dejection and despondency and many other ailments
associated with this change can be greatly reduced by a strong will.
This is not saying that all of her discomforts are imaginary. They are
largely real, but they can be greatly reduced by self-control.

=Some physical disorders.=--At the time of the change of life, any one of
a number of physical troubles may arise. In the event of any of these, a
reliable physician should be consulted. Apparent flooding or small
hemorrhages may occur. This usually gives rise to great alarm. Unless
the amount appears excessive, no serious concern need to be felt.

Fibroid tumors of the womb and cancer of the womb or breasts are more
likely to occur at this period of life than any other. These troubles
are largely due to miscarriages, willful abortions, injuries done the
womb at birth or some bruise of the breasts. Where these troubles occur,
a physician should be consulted. They usually yield to proper treatment.

=Changes in the reproductive system.=--About the close of the change of
life in a woman, the ovaries become reduced in size, the walls of the
womb thinner and smaller in size and the vagina undergoes a similar
change. Similar changes occur in the sexual organs of the male.

=Sex problems explained.=--As already observed, sexual desire begins to
abate with the approach of the change of life in both sexes. If this
does not occur, it shows an abnormal sexual condition, or some
aggravating cause in some neighboring organ. Occasionally all desire
ceases in the woman at the beginning of the period. In other cases it
does so gradually for a few years. If the husband has practiced
reasonable self-control, the experience in his case is somewhat
similar. He should have no sexual relations during the change of life in
his wife. If the husband wishes to protect the health of his wife and
himself, prolong their lives, increase their usefulness and happiness he
must bring himself to complete self-control.

=The later half of life.=--When the reproductive system has been
readjusted, by the change of life processes, to the new conditions of
the closing period of this life, if both are considerate of each other’s
comfort and happiness, they soon realize that they have entered into an
existence of a larger manhood and womanhood, with limitless
opportunities of loving each other, of enjoying life, of being useful
and a blessing to the world. The transient pleasures of passion are not
to be compared by them with the abiding delights, pleasures and joys
that flow from intellectual and spiritual natures surrounded by a halo
of glory that indicate a readiness for a golden sunset and a final
transition into another period of existence circumscribed by the
eternities and limited in progress and joy only by the inexhaustible
resources of the Infinite.




CHAPTER LIII

VITAL FACTS CONCERNING THE “CHANGE OF LIFE” IN MAN, AND THE YEARS TO
FOLLOW


Strange as it may seem, middle-aged and old men are quite as ignorant of
their sexual natures and the changes incident to their age, as is the
average youth. Very few men know that at the age of forty-five to
fifty-five a gradual but distinct and vital change will occur in their
lives.

=Important periods of life.=--A boy of seven has a very distinct and
intense interest in the origin of animals and man. When he is fourteen
puberty dawns and he enters the “stormy period of adolescence.” When
twenty-two to twenty-four his sexual powers are matured and he enters a
period of some twenty-five years during which his procreative powers are
at their best. It is in this period of life that nature indicates he
should become the father of children. In this period his physical
strength is greatest and his mental and moral development are most
active. He is now capable of transmitting the largest endowments to his
children. It is natural that at the close of this period, of largest
reproductive possibilities, sexual

[Illustration: THE CLIMAX OF A WELL SPENT LIFE]

desire should begin to subside. This is what occurs at this period in a
man’s life.

=“Change of life” in man and woman.=--This occurs some six to ten years
later in the male than in the female. The change is more gradual and
less marked in the man than in the woman. After the “change of life” in
woman, she becomes entirely sterile. If man is well-preserved, sterility
in him does not take place with this change and may not until years
later. In the female, the “change of life” may embrace a period of one
to three or four years, and longer in some cases. In the male, the
period is usually longer. In both, it is a crisis. Good or bad health,
happiness or misery, a long or short life, success or failure, may be
the issues of this crucial period of life. The next ten, twenty or more
years of life will be largely determined by the previous life, the care
taken at this time and the sexual control in the future. Woman becomes
sterile at the close of this period, man does not. Most men have known
of one or more old worn-out libertines who make their regular visits to
houses of shame. They suppose these men to be as virile as in their
youth. Men do not generally understand that these old men, who have lead
a dissolute and vicious life, are often mental sex perverts even years
after they are sterile and, have become impotent through loss of
erectile power.

=A degrading form of ignorance.=--I have had scores of old men from
forty-five to seventy-five, to seek personal interviews with me, whose
real motives were to ascertain some way of rejuvenating their flagging
sexual powers. I recall one man, a nervous wreck, over sixty, who
confessed to me that each night he retired with a pad of ice about his
loins for the purpose of restoring partial potency once a week. Another
old man who had passed his three-quarter of a century milestone
complained of his wife’s indifference and refusals, she being nearly as
old as himself. Such ignorance is far less excusable and far more
degrading than that of being unable to read, write or spell.

=Sexual desire begins to wane.=--During the menses and the nine months of
gestation, the wife has little or no sexual desire. In fact her
inclination is to repel every approach of the husband. During that
period, known as the “change of life,” the wife has no sexual desire and
naturally tries to ward off every approach of her mate. During this
period the menstrual flow is sometimes frequent, almost constant. She is
passing through an experience of nervous stress and mental trial. The
husband should refrain from all sexual demands during this change. If
they are well mated as to age, he is four, six or ten years his wife’s
senior. At this age his sexual desires should be weakening. A man of
this age, if normal, should experience no difficulty in living a
continent life.

=Not an unfortunate period.=--These should not be considered unfortunate
periods in life. Proper restraint at this time will bring compensations
to those who understand and heed nature’s laws. If men understood that
the waning of sexual desire was natural, they certainly would welcome
the change and would not use various methods of stimulating and
awakening sexual desire.

=Minor indications.=--There are several minor signs which when they occur
at or near the same time indicate the presence of this change in man.
They are as follows: A notable loss of memory, loss of sight, streaks of
gray appearing in the hair and beard and an ease of physical and mental
fatigue. One or more of these conditions often exist and are due to
other causes.

=Positive indications.=--The most positive indications of the presence of
this change in man are: longer intervals between periods of sexual
desire; a less intensity of sexual desire; a greater fatigue following
sexual congress; frequency of desire to urinate; slowness to begin
urinating; and irritation about the neck of the bladder. If one has been
pure in thought, chaste in language and clean in life, this period will
be postponed to later years in life and the symptoms will be less
marked.

=Two advantages.=--There are at least two reasons why men should welcome
the waning of sexual desire when the change of life occurs. One is that
the period of life, when they are capable of transmitting the best
possibilities to their children has passed. The other is that they will
need to conserve their sex life, with a view to thirty years more of
health, happiness, activity, usefulness, a glorious sunset and a
triumphant entrance into the next life.

=A larger life.=--A continent single and a temperate married life will
make it easy for the middle-aged man to conserve his energy the balance
of his days. While his bodily powers may gradually wane, the real man
within will rise to a height, grandeur and majesty never before
possible. We have all known and read of a few old men who never arrived
at their climax of intellectual and moral greatness until they were
sixty and seventy. Gladstone was greater at eighty than he was at fifty.

=A sad old age.=--The indiscretions of youth and the excess of middle life
place many old men where they are physically helpless, great sufferers,
make no mental progress and often but little moral progress in old age.

=A chance to conserve energy.=--It should not be understood that a decline
in sexual desire means the cessation of creative energy, a decline in
general health, efficiency or happiness. Nature is giving man a chance
to conserve his creative energy, to maintain his health, to increase his
efficiency and to perfect his happiness.

=Marriage of old men.=--There is no reason why an old bachelor or widower
should not marry provided they marry a woman near their age. But there
are many reasons why he should not marry a gay young girl. He marries
her for sensual reasons; she marries him for his money. He would not
marry her, if she were near his age; she would not marry him, if he were
poor. Such marriages not only violate physical law, but the mental and
moral as well. As a rule there is but little love in such a union. For
want of physical harmony their differences are not harmonized and their
personalities do not blend into oneness.

=The rights of his first children.=--If he has a family of children they
are likely to be older than his young wife. It will be quite impossible
for her to be a real mother to the children. Family troubles will most
likely follow. He must take the part of his wife and mistreat his
children or vice versa.

=Children of senile men defective.=--If he marries a gay young girl for
sensual reasons, he will indulge in the marital relations too
frequently. This will lead to great personal injury to himself. Should
additional children be born into his home, they would in most every case
receive an unfortunate heredity. All authorities are agreed that a very
large per cent. of the children born to senile fathers will be
precocious of mind, frail of body and a disappointment in after life.

=Physical ailments common.=--Men who have received a fair heredity, led
correct sexual lives, guarded their diet, taken plenty of exercise and
sleep, bathed freely, used but little, or no, tea, coffee, tobacco, or
liquors, will be free from most all the ailments common to middle life
and old age. Gout, vertigo, rheumatism, apoplexy, paralysis and piles
are a few of the common physical ailments to be found among men of this
age. Any or all these diseases may result from sexual excesses or
venereal diseases, still they are often due to other causes. While great
sexual moderation, even complete continence, will be helpful in all
these diseases, a competent home physician should be consulted.

Paralysis and apoplexy are more likely to come in old age to men who
have been excessive than to men who have lived temperate or continent
lives. Where one has had syphilis, these diseases are likely to occur
at any time in life. If he has not had syphilis, these diseases are not
likely to occur until late in life, if at all.

=Heart trouble.=--Where this exists in middle life the individuals should
guard against sudden emotions or over-exercise. Occasionally an old man
is found dead in his bed. The explanation given to the public is heart
failure or apoplexy. This was the general cause. In many cases, the
immediate occasion of the sudden death was the stress and strain of
sexual excitement on the heart or the brain. Again, sometimes we read of
an old man being found dead in a “scarlet” home. In such cases, we know
that while the real cause was apoplexy or heart failure, that the
immediate cause was sexual excitement.

=Genito-uninary diseases.=--Many diseases connected with the urinary and
genital organs, due to gonorrhea contracted in youth, may appear in the
man of middle life or old age. The disease regarded by the thoughtless
youth as a trifle, is now regarded by the old man as serious. Should
kidney trouble, gravel in the bladder, inflammation or enlargement of
the prostate gland occur, a competent resident physician should be
consulted.

=Final word.=--To the young man this chapter is a faithful flagman; to the
man of middle age it demands an arrest of thought, serious reflection
and a manly continence; to the old worn-out roué, engulfed in the
maelstrom of lust, a last “life-line” is thrown; to the well-preserved
old man it will inspire a pleasant reminiscence of a pure youth, a
temperate manhood, a conservative of energy in middle life, and it will
add a deep sense of gratitude to the many joys of a glorious old age.




CHAPTER LIV

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED


=What is the primary purpose of marriage?=--While there are several
subordinate reasons for marriage, the one paramount reason is that of
having and rearing a family. The only admissible reason for not having
children is positive incapacity or mental and physical unfitness.

=How many children should there be to a family?=--The number should vary
according to circumstances. Every child has an incontrovertible right to
be well born and to be well cared for after he is born. It is far better
to have three to six children, who have good heredity and who are
properly cared for and trained, than to have ten or twelve unfortunately
born and largely neglected. Where the parents are both strong and
healthy and are able to support them, a large family is commendable.

=Is it wrong purposely to limit the size of the family?=--If no laws are
violated and the limitation is made to safeguard the wife’s health and
the best interests of the children, there can be no wrong done.

=Does nature use any safeguards to the wife’s health and the right of
children?=--She does. The woman is sterile before puberty, after the
change of life, in most cases during the period while nursing a child,
and a few days between the menses.

=At what periods during the month is a wife most likely to become a
mother?=--Just before or after the menses.

=What would be a natural method of regulating the size of the
family?=--Have sexual relations for procreation only, or for a few days
only, about midway between monthly periods.

=Is the last always safe?=--No. Impregnation with this precaution might
occur, but it would be rare. If a woman’s menses are irregular, or if
she ovulates at one time and menstruates at another, she would be likely
to become pregnant at any time. This last case is very rare among women.

=Are there other methods used?=--Yes, but none of them can be recommended.
They are unnatural. They violate nature. Those who use them suffer
sooner or later. One of the most common is that of withdrawal. This has
all the bad effects of the secret sin on both husband and wife.
Injections and the use of artificial contrivances, while in some cases
appearing to violate the laws of health but slightly, lead to excess and
thereby become morally and physically wrong. In this way tumors, ulcers
and other physical ailments and poor health may be produced.

=What are some of the evil effects of over child bearing?=--Among feeble
wives, much of womb diseases can be traced to this. Puny, sickly and
short-lived children are other results. Then there are some women who
suffer greatly during pregnancy and each time their lives are
endangered.

=What is “race suicide”?=--There are three kinds of race suicide, all of
which are very prevalent among American born people, (1) The various
methods of preventing conception. This is perhaps the most common. (2)
Willful abortion, or prenatal murder. It is estimated that 250,000 cases
come to medical attention annually. If this is true, perhaps 100,000
succeed in destroying prenatal life without medical attention. This
would mean 1,000 prenatal murders daily in the United States. If these
figures are true, then it is reasonable to suppose that 100,000 attempts
are made that fail. Many of these unwelcome children inherit a tendency
toward homicide or suicide. This is evidently one of the main causes of
the appalling increase of crime. As a rule, men who have not learned
self-control are more responsible for this crime than are their wives.
This is a national sin, found in all grades of society. This sin cannot
be checked until people learn self-control and all youths are
safeguarded in their sexual development by being given a correct
knowledge of sex. (3) The third form of “race suicide” is the
ever-increasing production of degenerates. The chief causes of this form
of “race suicide” are strong drink and lust.

=How frequently should husband and wife have sexual relations?=--There are
three theories held by people. (1) For procreation only. Where both
mutually agree and have perfect self-control, no harm can come from this
plan. There is no more necessity for sex gratification in the married
life than in the single. Those who have this self-control will be able
to avoid all dangers, sins, and diseases incident to a lack of control.

There are some difficulties connected with this theory. This
self-control is not possessed by the mass of mankind. Where one
companion tries to force this view the other may be driven to marital
infidelity, or family discord which may lead to the divorce court.

(2) Some consider marital congress to be an act of love. Where this is
confined to once, twice or thrice a month and to a few days midway
between the menses, except when a child is desired, no wrong will be
done; the sacred fire of love will be kept aglow in their hearts, health
will reign in their lives, the initial of each child can be
intelligently planned for, his prenatal rights be respected, his
nativity be warmly welcomed and he be given the best possible
environment.

(3) The other theory is that of physical necessity, especially for man.
Among the unmarried this theory leads to prostitution or the secret sin.
Among the married it means legal prostitution, leads to marital excess,
poor health of parents, loss of vitality, puny, scrawny, short-lived
children and to “race suicide.”

=Should coition take place during pregnancy?=--Among the lower animals
sexual indulgence never occurs during pregnancy. We are told that the
savage races observe this law. Doctors differ on this subject. All agree
that it should seldom occur. There is a growing conviction among some of
the most eminent physicians that man should observe the law that nature
demands of the lower animals and that savage man respects.

=What injurious effects may follow sexual intercourse during
pregnancy?=--It robs the mother and child of the vitality that both of
them need. Sometimes it causes miscarriage. If the initial of a child’s
life takes place as a result of uncontrolled sexual desire and its
prenatal rights are not respected, it will inherit sensual tendencies.
The fact that it is recorded in the Gospels, with great clearness and
emphasis, that “Joseph knew not Mary until after Jesus was born,” has a
redemptive significance for the human family of which but few
theologians have ever caught a glimpse.

=What is the difference between impotence and sterility in man?=--The
first is an inability to perform the act of coition. A sterile man may
be able to perform the act of coition, but his semen contains no sperm
cells, or at least, no healthy sperm cells. The first could become a
father, if he could perform the act of coition; the second can perform
the act, but cannot become a father.

=What are the causes of impotency?=--The inability to consummate marriage
is very rare. Venereal disease is the chief cause of impotency.
Malformation of parts from birth or accident, self-abuse, obesity and
the use of opium are other causes. In many cases impotency can be cured.
Where a man knows himself to be impotent he should not marry. Wives have
a contempt and a most perfect aversion for impotent husbands.

=What are the causes of sterility in man?=--Sterility is much more common
than impotency. Venereal disease is the most common cause. Excessive
secret sin may temporarily deprive the semen of its fecundating power.
Some malformation of parts is sometimes responsible.

=Is the wife ever incapable of coition?=--Very rarely. Excessive
sensitiveness of the parts is the most common cause. In such cases,
which are very rare, the sexual act would be so painful as to be wholly
unbearable. Such cases require medical treatment. The sooner it is
begun, the better. A very rigid hymen, or the vagina being partly absent
from birth, or grown together from an accident, may make coition
impossible. In the first and last case a surgical operation can remove
the difficulty. Eighty per cent. of sterile wives, are due to gonorrheal
infection received from their husbands who thought themselves cured.

=Should husband and wife sleep together or in separate beds?=--In many
cases, owing to lack of self-control, it would be better for them to
sleep in separate beds. If there is no other reason why they should
sleep apart, and they have self-control, it would be better to sleep in
the same bed.

=Are women as passionate as men?=--Centuries, of the double standard of
morals, have established by heredity, more of passion in man than exists
in the average woman. Among the lower animals, except where they have
been forced into polygamy by man, the male controls himself fully as
easily as does the female. Many women do not feel any sexual excitement
whatever, others only to a limited degree. This is doubly true of women
during pregnancy, and lactation. Most normal women seek sexual
gratification to please their husbands or out of a desire for
motherhood. There are some women who have inherited or acquired strong
sensual natures.

=Should coition take place during the menses?=--Absolutely no. For
sanitary and hygienic reasons, if no other.

=What is the “climacteric” period, or the “change of life” in a
woman?=--This occurs between forty and forty-nine years of age. It
usually covers a period of from two to five years. The menstrual flow
often occurs every few days. This is often a critical period in a
woman’s life. When this is completed they are sterile, or incapable of
reproduction.

=Should sexual relations take place during the “change of life”?=--For
sanitary reasons, it should not. For the hygienic reason, that it would
most likely cause flooding, it should not.

=Is there a corresponding period in a man’s life?=--Yes. It usually occurs
some five or ten years later and is more gradual. If he is well
preserved he does not become impotent or sterile. The sexual appetite
begins to abate and they no longer experience perfect erection. There
are also physical changes taking place that make this period a crisis in
his life. Certain brain affections, sometimes resulting in unexpected
death, is due to sexual indulgence at this time. Many men do not know,
that if they are to have a beautiful sunset, they must conserve their
sexual life.

=Is there any way to determine the sex of a child?=--This is evidently
governed by some definite law, which has not been discovered. Many
theories have been advanced, but none are generally accepted.

=What is the best season of the year for conception to take place?=--In
the spring. A larger per cent. of the children are healthy and
long-lived than when the initial of their lives occur at other times.

=What is the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage?=--- The
first is where the expulsion of the fetus is willfully produced; the
other where it is purely an accident.

=Is abortion ever justifiable?=--Only when it is done to save the life of
the mother.

=What are some of the causes of miscarriage?=--Intercourse during
pregnancy and nursing a child after conception are the chief causes. The
child should be weaned as soon as a mother suspects pregnancy. Venereal
diseases, straining at stool, over-exertion, physical accidents and ill
health may sometimes cause miscarriage.

=When does life begin in a child?=--At conception. It is as much a crime
to destroy the life of a fetus one day old as it is after its movements
are felt.

=Is it possible to lessen the inconvenience of pregnancy and the pain of
child-birth?=--Yes. Avoid all tight lacing; eat chiefly a diet of
cereals, fruit and vegetables; take light, regular open-air exercise, of
which walking is best, and have little or no intercourse during the
time. Tight lacing has been the chief cause of the inconvenience and
pain experienced by civilized woman.




NINTH DIVISION

MORAL, SOCIAL AND REFORM TOPICS




CHAPTER LV

SCHOOL INSTRUCTION IN SEX HYGIENE

BY CHARLES W. ELIOT

President Emeritus of Harvard College.


In order to make head against the horrible evils which accompany men’s
profligacy and women’s prostitution, and to prevent the moral and
physical disasters which result from young men’s and young women’s
ignorance about the natural processes of reproduction in the human
species and about the laws of health in those processes, it is
indispensable that systematic instruction should be given to all young
children and young people in the processes of reproduction and growth in
plants and animals, in the general rules of hygiene, in the natural,
wholesome processes of reproduction in the human species, and at last in
the diseases and social disorders which follow violations of nature’s
laws concerning the relations of the sexes. The bitter experience of the
Christian world in regard to the venereal diseases and their
consequences demonstrated this proposition.

=Policy of silence a failure.=--Wherever anyone undertakes to discuss this
subject in public, he is met by two adverse opinions which are firmly
held by multitudes of well-meaning people. The first is the opinion that
these are unclean subjects, about which the less said the better. This
is the policy of silence concerning all sexual relations and processes,
natural or unnatural, rightful or sinful, which has prevailed for
centuries in both barbarous and civilized countries. There is but one
thing to be said about this policy of silence, namely, that it has
failed, everywhere and always. It has not prevented the spread and
increase of sexual wrong-doing and of the horrible resultant diseases,
degradations, and destructions. For the prevention and eradication of
any great social or governmental wrong, publicity, discussion, and the
awakening of a righteous public sentiment in the great mass of the
people concerned have always been, and always must be, necessary.

=Parents as instructors.=--The second adverse opinion is that the
necessary instruction on these subjects should be given to children and
young persons by their parents and by them alone. This opinion is sound
to this extent, that in cultivated and refined families, in which the
parents possess sufficient knowledge of the whole subject, the needed
instruction will best come to the children through the mother and the
father, beginning at a tender age. All children ask questions on this
subject. Their curiosity is roused early, and is usually very pointedly
expressed. The asking of questions should invariably be the mother’s
precious opportunity to describe to the child, with delicacy and
reserve, but truthfully, the mother’s part in the production of the
human infant. By so doing, the mother will establish a new bond between
herself and child, and will acquire a strong claim on its abiding
affection. Every father competent for the task should see that his boys
understand the natural and wholesome process of reproduction, and the
great physical dangers which accompany violations of the moral law in
this respect. He should see that they know that continence is absolutely
healthy, and, indeed, is indispensable to the highest attainment in
bodily strength and endurance. He should make sure that his boys
understand what honor requires of a man in his relation to women, and
that chastity is just as admirable and feasible in a man as in a woman,
and just as necessary for the protection of family life and the
eradication of the very worst evils which now degrade and poison
civilized society. It is quite true that all this instruction will come
best, whenever possible, from loving fathers and mothers to their own
offspring; because it will then be given intimately, privately, and
with tenderness and purity.

Inasmuch, however, as the great majority of parents do not now possess
the necessary knowledge, or the faculty of expression necessary for
imparting it, and there are many families that have lost father, mother,
or both, society must for the present rely in the main on the schools to
give this instruction, which is, indeed, indispensable for the salvation
of civilization.

=School can teach nature’s sex laws.=--It is, however, a very serious
problem, how to give the needed instruction in sex hygiene in all the
schools, public, private, and endowed. No one is competent to-day to lay
down a fixed and final program. The programs for this subject must be
experimental or tentative for many years to come. All that can be done
at present is to indicate the general lines of the promising experiments
on this difficult subject. Innumerable experimenters must in time work
out the details with insight, patience, and skill. The general lines
may, however, be laid down with a reasonable degree of confidence. They
are as follows:

1. It is through the ample and prolonged teaching of natural history
that the necessary knowledge is to be conveyed to the children,
beginning at tender years with the teaching of botany, and going on to
the elements of zoölogy, both subjects being taught in the most
concrete manner possible with incessant illustrations indoors and
out-of-doors, not during the whole school year, but at those seasons
when adequate illustrations and demonstrations are most feasible and
convenient. This instruction should be associated in all schools with
the teaching of pure and applied geography, and in rural schools with
the teaching of agriculture.

2. Throughout this long course of natural history instruction
demonstrations of the various modes of transmitting life should
frequently occur, the transmission of life being the highest and
ultimate bodily function of every plant and every animal, including man.
There is a great body of fresh knowledge on this subject waiting to be
given to children and youth, all of it capable of demonstration through
the senses, aided or unaided, and all supplying admirable training for
eye and hand. Thus, all the various processes of reproducing plant-life
by the division of a cell, by the creation of new independent cells, by
the shooting or rooting of some part of a plant to create an independent
plant, as by bulbs, tubers, or even parts of a stalk or leaf, by the
union of two cells, or the fertilization of one cell by another
cell,--all these processes can be made intensely interesting to a child;
and such instruction can be spread through several years at appropriate
seasons without ever leaving the vegetable kingdom. In flowering plants
the fertilization of the embryo-sac by pollen may be illustrated in
operations which the children themselves can perform. The carrying of
pollen from one flower to another by insects or by the wind emphasizes
the general fact that plants are fixed while animals have motion. The
bi-sexual structure of plants is in itself a fascinating subject of
study for children and youths; and through it all runs the thought that
Nature provides elaborately and beautifully for the precious
transmission of life. In later years of the school course the diverse
methods of reproduction in animals will afford a long course of
instruction, involving the structure and function of many different
sorts of animals, and of many different kinds of reproductive organs.
The innumerable devices for effecting fecundation and for feeding the
embryo, and the various arrangements for feeding the young and bringing
up families, afford an endless variety of interesting subjects for
observation and discussion. The nesting habits of birds and their care
of offspring are highly instructive and easy to exhibit. Here again the
main object of study should be infinite variety and elaboration of
nature’s processes for the transmission of life. These subjects, if
properly taught with collecting box, scalpel, microscope, and paper and
pencil, are just as pure and innocent for children under thirteen as
chemistry and physics are. There is nothing sensual or unclean about
them, nothing which does not tell of order, purpose, inventiveness,
adaptation, coöperation, and achievement. Through much of the botanical
instruction and more of the zoölogical runs the thought that the
transmission of life requires two individuals of different quality.
Children should be made thoroughly acquainted with this principle before
any sexual emotions begin to stir in them.

3. =Avoid venereal diseases by frankness.=--If strong foundations have
been laid through these botanical and zoölogical studies before the age
of puberty, it will not be difficult to take up in secondary schools the
study of the normal functions of the human body in health, of the
perturbations caused by some of the common diseases, of the sources or
causes of disease, including the recognized contagions and the modes of
infection, of the means of resisting disease and producing immunity, and
finally of the functions of government in regard to preventive medicine
and the means of promoting the public health.

Among the contagions which ought to be described and illustrated should
be included the contagions of syphilis and gonorrhea, from which proceed
some of the most horrible evils which afflict modern society, evils not
fully known except to physicians, and by many ordinary people,
particularly women, quite unsuspected. All young men and women should be
well informed on these subjects before they leave their secondary
schools; but from the time of entrance to secondary schools all such
instruction should be given separately to girls by women and to boys by
men.

Since the great majority of American children never enter the secondary
schools, the general rules concerning cleanliness, diet, fresh air, and
the elementary facts on sex hygiene should be stated concisely and
frankly to all children just before they reach the age-limit of
compulsory education.

4. =Emphasize bodily and mental purity.=--All schools should teach
explicitly in due season those elements of good manners and customs
which have to do with health and the preservations of bodily and mental
purity. They should teach habitual cleanliness of the body and
particularly of the hands and face, point out the importance of this
cleanliness as regards clothes, furniture and utensils, and the reasons
for keeping the dwelling free from dust, dirt, insects and vermin. They
should show the reasons for avoiding contact with, or close approach to,
persons who are unclean or who are suffering from colds, sores, coughs,
fevers, or any other illness. They should point out the dangers of
losing self-control through the use, even the rare use, of alcohol or of
drugs which take strong effect on the nervous system. They should
discountenance rough or boisterous play between boys and girls or young
men and young women, and teach each sex to avoid, in general, bodily
contact with persons of the opposite sex. Delicacy and reserve are parts
of good manners; but they are also highly protective qualities. On the
other hand, a coarse familiarity between the sexes is not only bad
manners, but a real provocation to wrong-doing, particularly when it is
accompanied by an ignorance which leaves young people without protection
against the love of excitement and reckless adventure. All these are
elements of good manners and right habits which should be universally
taught in the schools of a democracy to promote morality as well as
courtesy. Some of them, but rarely all, are taught in many good homes,
but for the great mass of the people the public schools inculcate them
by direct teaching, and by the indirect influence of good example. To a
high degree, good manners spring from and express morals. Such
instruction would naturally be associated with the teaching of natural
history and general hygiene.

Finally, all young people should have been taught in home, school and
Sunday school, before they are liable to fall into sexual sins, that
chastity in men is just as necessary as chastity in women for the
security, honor and happiness of family life, that continence is
absolutely healthy for both sexes, that men’s profligacy is the cause or
source of women’s prostitution with all its awful consequences to the
guilty parties and to the innocent human beings who are infected by the
guilty, and that the most precious joys and most durable satisfactions
of life are put at fearful risk by sexual immorality. Does anyone
protest that this educational process will abolish innocence in young
manhood and womanhood, and make matter of common talk the tenderest and
most intimate concerns in human life, let him consider that virtue, not
innocence, is manifestly God’s object and end for humanity, and that
the only alternative for education in sex hygiene is the prolongation
of the present awful wrongs and woes in the very vitals of
civilization.--_Journal of Education._ Read before the American School
Hygiene Association, New York City.




CHAPTER LVI

THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC

BY HON. STANLEY W. FINCH

Special Commissioner for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, of
the United States Department of Justice.


=The white slave traffic!=--What is it? Whom and what does it involve? Is
it possible to suppress it, and if so, how?

These are questions which are being asked by thousands of people in all
parts of the country, and it is my purpose to attempt, to some extent,
at least, to answer them.

It is a fact that there are now scattered throughout practically every
section of the United States a vast number of men and women whose sole
occupation consists in enticing, tricking, or coercing young women and
girls into immoral lives, and then either living directly off of their
illicit earnings or transferring them, for a consideration to others for
a similar purpose. In other words, these creatures make merchandise of
womanhood and do a big, thriving business. Moreover, they are no
respecters of persons. Their

[Illustration: HON. STANLEY W. FINCH.--Special Commissioner for the
Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, United States Department of
Justice.]

one idea is to procure such persons to earn money for them, in order
that they, themselves, may live in idleness and luxury; and while they
prefer very young girls, they frequently select, as their victims, young
women who are wives and mothers. Moreover, their methods have been so
far developed and perfected that they seem to be able to ensnare almost
any woman or girl whom they select for the purpose. This is indeed an
extraordinary statement, and one almost passing belief, but that it is
absolutely true no one can honestly doubt who reviews any considerable
portion of the mass of evidence which is already in the possession of
the Attorney General’s Bureau of Investigation. The idea which
apparently prevails among many persons is that the victims of these
fiends are simply girls who are naturally vicious. This is very far from
the real truth. It is no doubt true that there are, among those
unfortunates, some women, who, like all of their male patrons, are
actuated solely by wantonness. However, by far the majority of them
consist of young women and girls who have either been led to such lives
by deception and trickery, or who have been driven by force and fraud.

=Devices used.=--The devices to which these human fiends resort in
procuring and dealing with their victims are many and varied, and are
such as are calculated to reach young women and girls in almost all of
the different walks of life, but particularly those who, either from
choice or by reason of economic conditions, go out into the business
world and attempt to earn money for a livelihood, or for the many
enticing luxuries of our modern civilization.

=The cleverly worded advertisement for help.=--This is perhaps one of the
most insidious and effective instruments which is or can be used. By
this means these traffickers are able to reach into every home and
business establishment in the country and to ensnare even the most
cautious and innocent, and those who are most carefully guarded and
protected by their parents, husbands and other relatives and friends.
Hence, it is true that no man’s daughter, sister, or wife--if she be
young and attractive--is safe from the artifices and devices of these
traffickers. Of course, since these human beasts of prey are primarily
seeking what they consider “easy money,” their natural tendency is to
operate along the lines of least resistance. They are generally shrewd,
careful observers of human nature, and they are quick to perceive and to
single out girls, who--while as yet honorable and virtuous--are inclined
to be somewhat careless, and those who, through lack of, or distaste
for, parental restraint, undertake to select their own companions,
amusements and occupations. Among such young women and girls the white
slaver finds a limitless and fertile field for his awful trade.

=Picture shows and dance halls.=--In this connection the theater, the
moving picture show, the café, the skating rink, and the dance
hall--while in themselves often useful and beneficial for education,
entertainment, and exercise--become instruments which enable these
conscienceless fiends to accomplish the downfall and eternal ruin of
even the most innocent and virtuous of our young women and girls.

Only a few months ago a young country girl, twenty years of age, while
attending a moving picture show in this very city, met a woman whom she
thought to be a friend, and who offered to secure domestic employment
for her in a distant Southern city. The young girl, herself innocent of
any wrong, and unsuspicious, accepted the offer and, using the railroad
ticket furnished her by her false friend, went to the address given, and
not until she was imprisoned in that house and forcibly overpowered and
ravished in the infamous effort to reduce her to that most awful slavery
did this pure, brave-hearted girl realize that this woman here in
Louisville was but the tool of a set of fiends to whom adequate
punishment can never be administered by any of the processes of modern
law. Through a fortunate chain of circumstances this young girl escaped
the dreadful pit which is devouring thousands of other girls all over
our land, but the awful business remains, a crying disgrace to our great
country.

Among the many other cases shown by our records is one involving a girl
seventeen years of age, of good character, who lived in one of the
smaller cities on

[Illustration:

     JOHN B. HAMMOND.--Who aided in Drafting and Passing the Famous
     Injunction Law of Iowa, which has driven the Public Houses of Shame
     from his State.]

Lake Michigan. This girl, while employed as a telephone operator,
attended a dance, where she met a young man of good appearance and
apparently of good character. This young man was, however, a procurer
for a house of ill repute in one of our large cities and while
accompanying this young girl along the country road to her home, he
forcibly ravished and subsequently placed her in a house of ill fame.
This young man is now serving a term of five years in the penitentiary
and the girl was rescued from the life of shame and returned to her
parents.

In another instance, a girl of sixteen, while spending the afternoon at
a seaside resort of one of our largest cities, was approached by two
white slave procurers, who exhibited bogus police badges and pretended
to place her under arrest as a truant. Supposing that they were acting
under proper authority she made no outcry, but accompanied them to a
street car going in the direction of her home. The facts as to the
manner in which this girl was subsequently intimidated by these fiends,
and, under threats of death, compelled to go with them to a room, where
she was ravished and subsequently placed on board a coastwise vessel and
taken to a house of ill fame in another city and State, and there
confined and compelled to receive foreigners and turn the earnings over
to the master to whom she was sold by her captors, are almost
unbelievable. However, these facts were clearly established in court
during a trial, as a result of which the defendants are now serving
terms in the penitentiary.

Another case which was recently prosecuted by our Bureau of
Investigation involves a young girl who answered an advertisement which
appeared in a leading paper in one of our largest Southern cities. Under
a contract made pursuant to this advertisement this girl proceeded to a
city in another Southern State for the purpose of complying with the
terms of her contract of employment. She found, however, upon entering
her place of employment, that, instead of being a respectable house, it
was a house of ill fame. Upon attempting to leave the place she was
forcibly detained and every effort was made to induce her to practice
prostitution. However, she refused to do so, and, finally, with the aid
of one of the patrons of the place, she secured assistance and was
thereby enabled to leave. The defendant in this case was promptly
convicted and is now confined in the penitentiary.

=Promises of marriage.=--In very many cases procurers endeavor, through
promise of marriage or by actually going through the form of marriage,
to obtain control of young women and girls, and finally force them into
immoral lives. A case of this kind recently arose in one of the larger
cities of the Middle West. In that case a girl seventeen years of age,
and of good character, became acquainted, in an apparently
unobjectionable manner, with a man who, like many of his kind, appeared,
on the surface, to be of good character. After a brief courtship they
were duly married and left on a wedding trip to a neighboring city,
where the husband--claiming that he had lost his money and was unable to
secure a position--attempted to persuade the young wife to engage in
prostitution. She refused and was cruelly beaten by him. Apparently,
however, even then she did not appreciate the nature of the creature to
which she was married, and she went with him to one of our largest
Eastern cities. There again he attempted to force her to engage in
immoral practices, and upon her refusal she was beaten by him, food was
withheld for days, and, finally, when she had reached the point of
exhaustion and was thoroughly intimidated, she was forced by her husband
to receive the foreigners whom he brought to her. By this means the girl
was degraded to the point where her master was able to force her to
solicit on the streets and finally she was transferred by her procurer,
through a white slave agency in New York City, to a house of ill repute
in the city of Washington, where she was when the facts as to the matter
were developed by our Bureau. As

[Illustration: AMERICAN PURITY CONFERENCE.--Touring Party at Los
Angeles]

a result of the prosecution in this case, the defendant was sentenced to
five years in the penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, where the managers
of the agency through which she was sold are also confined. The girl was
restored to her parents, and has since been living a respectable life.

=Examples.=--In another notorious case which occurred in one of our
Southern cities, the defendant, who is now serving a term of three years
in the Atlanta penitentiary, married a very young girl--a mere
child--and took her from place to place, where he arranged with cab
drivers and keepers of assignation houses for meetings between his wife
and other men, he taking the proceeds. The investigation in this case
showed that he had previously married other girls and mistreated them in
a similar manner.

In another recent case, which arose in one of our Eastern cities, one of
these white slavers, as a result of carefully laid plans, covering a
considerable period, succeeded in separating a very young woman from her
husband, and under the pretext of procuring a divorce and of marrying
her, led her into an immoral life and finally succeeded in compelling
her to practice prostitution and turn over her earnings to him.

There are a multitude of other cases in which young women and girls,
from thirteen years of age and upwards, of good moral character, have,
in a variety of ways, been led or driven, by deception, fraud and
force, into becoming victims of the white slave trade.

=How these girls are retained.=--If there is one thing above another which
it seems to be difficult for people to generally understand, with
reference to the white slave traffic, it is with regard to the manner in
which these girls are led to continue in their immoral lives and to
surrender their earnings to the white slavers after the physical
restraint, to which they are at first subjected, is removed, and they
are placed in assignation houses or other houses of ill fame, or are
forced to engage in street soliciting. While the facts as to this matter
will probably never be fully understood, there are many circumstances
which throw light upon the situation. In the first place it should be
remembered that when these girls fall into the hands of procurers an
attempt is made to debauch them, as speedily as possible, to such an
extent that they, themselves, as well as everyone else, will feel that
they are hopelessly lost and can never again be received by their
families and friends, and that there is absolutely no chance for them to
go back to their old modes of life. Many of these girls disappear in
such a manner that their relatives and friends never know what has
become of them. Their relatives sometimes fear the truth, but they hope
against hope that they are mistaken, and when, after a time, they
receive from the girl a communication--written at the dictation of her
master--to the effect that she is engaged in some legitimate occupation
and is happily situated, they are only too ready to believe that such is
the case, and the girl, herself, no doubt takes comfort in the thought
that her relatives and friends know nothing of the depths of degradation
to which she has been driven. These circumstances serve the procurer
well. He makes it his business to obtain full information as to the
relatives and friends of the girl, and knowing the real facts as to her
life, and knowing that she feels that it would be better to perish in
that life than to bring shame upon her mother or father, or her other
relatives or friends, he uses this knowledge as a club to force her to
do his bidding. If at any time he sees a disposition on her part to
leave him and to return home or to engage in some legitimate occupation,
he threatens to tell her mother and her friends all about her, and to
represent to them that she has voluntarily engaged in the nefarious
business into which he himself has driven her.

These creatures also frequently represent to their poor slaves (whether
truthfully or not it is not for me to say) that they “stand in” with the
police authorities, and are able and ready at all times to protect them
from arrest, or to secure their release by furnishing bail, or
otherwise, in case of arrest,

[Illustration: AMERICAN PURITY CONFERENCE.--Touring Party at
Chattanooga]

provided they do their bidding. They also threaten to cause their arrest
and imprisonment if these poor victims fail to do their bidding.

These representations and others, which readily occur to these
unscrupulous traffickers, who hesitate at nothing in order to hold their
victims, usually serve to induce girls to at least postpone the time
when they will change their mode of living, and often enable these men
to control them without physical restraint, other than an occasional
beating, after they have had possession of them for a few months. One of
the principal representations that is made by these men to the girls, in
order to continue to hold them under their control, is that they are
saving the money for them, in order that both may, within a short time,
quit their improper mode of life and take up some legitimate line of
business. The date when they are to take this step is, of course, put
off from time to time, as necessity arises, in order to hold the
services of the girl, and many false representations are made as to the
manner in which the money is being saved, the whole purpose of the white
slaver being to retain possession of the girl during the period of her
greatest earning capacity, and eventually to drop her, or turn her over
to some other trafficker when he finds it to his advantage, and
opportunity arises, to procure a younger or more attractive girl for his
use. Meanwhile the traffickers themselves take practically all of the
earnings of their girl, or girls, as the case may be--except that
portion which is appropriated by the madam of the house in which the
girl is located--and spend it for flashy clothes and in gambling and
drinking, they in some cases spending a portion of their time in
soliciting trade for their slaves.

In most of our cities of any considerable size there are numerous
restaurants and other places where these slavers congregate for the
purpose of drinking, smoking and discussing their affairs. With them the
girls are merely chattels, and are lightly spoken of by them as their
“meal tickets” or their “stock,” and deals are made between them for the
exchange of girls or for the turning of them over to other traffickers.
As for the girl herself--between the madam, who usually receives
one-half her earnings, and the man, to whom she is generally required to
turn over all of the rest of her earnings, and by whom she is also held
to a strict account, and is frequently beaten and otherwise abused if
her earnings are not sufficient to satisfy him--the poor girl is indeed
in a miserable plight. No other form of slavery which has ever been
devised can equal her condition.

=A national disgrace.=--Hours and days might well be consumed in
explaining the facts and conditions involved by this white slave traffic
in the different sections of the country, but if it has been made clear
that there is such a traffic, that it extends throughout our entire
country, and that it involves conditions which are a disgrace to our
nation, it would seem that little else need be said regarding this phase
of the matter, unless it be to add that it is estimated that not less
than 25,000 young women and girls are annually procured for this
traffic, and that no less than 50,000 men and women are engaged in
procuring and living on the earnings of these women and girls, and that
the number of women and girls engaged in prostitution in this country at
the present time is estimated at not less than 250,000.

=Power of the Federal Government to wipe out this awful traffic.=--These
figures will give some idea of the enormity of the evil which is
involved. Moreover, it will be apparent that the white slave evil is one
of a national character and one which cannot be successfully dealt with
by local authorities. That it should be suppressed there can be no
question, and this leads us to consider the facts as to the means
available for its suppression.

By the Constitution of the United States the Federal Government is given
three important powers, which have a direct bearing upon this traffic.

(a) By Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution Congress is given
power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several
States.”

(b) By the same article and section it is given authority “to establish
postoffices and post roads.”

(c) By Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution it is
provided that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction,” and by Section 2 of the same amendment it is provided
that “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.”

It is believed that by these provisions sufficient authority has been
vested in the Federal Government to enable it, by enacting and enforcing
appropriate legislation, to absolutely wipe out every vestige of this
awful traffic.

About two years ago, having in mind its powers under the interstate
commerce clause of the Constitution, Congress enacted, under date of
June 25, 1910, what is known as the White Slave Traffic Law, by which
the transporting, or the persuading, enticing or coercing of women and
girls to travel in interstate or foreign commerce, for the purpose of
prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is made a crime.

This provision of law seems fairly well to provide such legislation as
is necessary and proper under the interstate commerce clause of the
Constitution. It is believed, however, that the hands of the government
would be greatly strengthened in dealing with this traffic if the law
were extended so as to make it a crime for persons to communicate by
mail, telegraph, or in any other manner from one State or territory to
another, or to any foreign country, for the purpose of inducing or
persuading any woman or girl to travel in interstate or foreign commerce
for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral
purpose, and it would also be well if it were also made a crime to send
any communication, by means of the telegraph, through the mails, by
express, or by any other common carrier in interstate or foreign
commerce, for the purpose of soliciting money or other valuable
thing--the avails of prostitution--except for a legal and adequate
consideration.

A statute of this kind would be very useful in dealing with persons
connected with the white slave traffic who cannot be reached under the
present White Slave Traffic Act, but who are communicating with and
directing the movements of their victims and are receiving their
earnings through the various channels of interstate and foreign
commerce.

=The use of the postoffice.=--As to the Constitutional provision with
reference to postoffices it is of the highest importance that
legislation be immediately enacted which will absolutely prohibit the
use of the postoffice establishment of the United States as an agency
for the white slave traffickers in procuring women and girls and in
directing their movements, not only from State to State, but also from
one place to another in the same State, and in soliciting and receiving
earnings from victims of white slavers. Investigations already made show
clearly that the postoffice establishment of the United States is being
very extensively and effectively used by white slave traffickers, not
only as a means of communicating by letter and of soliciting and
demanding and actually receiving the earnings of their victims, but also
as a means of sending broadcast throughout the country cleverly-worded
advertisements which greatly aid them in the pursuit of their traffic.
Carefully prepared statutes have long since been enacted, prohibiting
the sending through the United States mails of any obscene letters or
communications, and also prohibiting the sending of any letters or other
communications for the purpose of defrauding anyone. However, there is
no prohibition whatever against the use of the mails for the purposes
mentioned in connection with the white slave traffic.

=Laws inadequate.=--With reference to the slavery clause of the
Constitution, it will perhaps be somewhat surprising to learn that there
is no Federal law which makes it a crime for one person to hold another
in slavery or involuntary servitude, unless such person has been, in the
first instance, kidnapped or carried away, or bought or sold, and
although our investigations have, in numerous cases, developed the fact
that young women and girls have been actually deprived of their liberty
and held in involuntary servitude of the vilest kind (in many cases they
having had their street clothes taken away from them, having been
confined by barred windows and locked doors, and also having been
deprived of their liberty by drugs, threats of violence, and by actual
personal violence), there seems to be no statute under which persons so
holding them in slavery can be punished by the Federal Government. It is
believed that under the circumstances a most rigid law should be enacted
under this clause of the Constitution.

There are a number of other matters which it might also be well to cover
in order to fully provide for the suppression of the white slave
traffic.

=New laws needed.=--First. There should be an act of Congress authorizing
a woman to testify in such cases against her husband. This is
particularly essential for the reason that, as has already been stated,
it is a common practice for procurers to marry their intended victims,
and it is frequently impossible to secure a conviction without the use
of the testimony of the woman or girl involved.

Second. Provision should be made by law for the issuance of search
warrants by any United States marshals and deputy marshals, and agents
of the Department of Justice, specially designated by the Attorney
General for the purpose, to search any place where there is probable
cause to believe that any person is detained or held in violation of
law.

Third. The law should also authorize the arrest, without warrant, by the
persons heretofore mentioned, of anyone detected in the act of violating
any such statute.

Fourth. In order to assure prompt trials and substantial, swift and
certain punishment in such cases, the law should also provide for the
advancement of such cases, and their trial without delay, upon request
of the Attorney General. It should also fix, with exactness, the minimum
penalty in such cases and require judges to promptly impose and cause
the execution of sentences and prohibit the suspension of sentences by
the courts.

While, if the present White Slave Traffic Act were rigidly enforced,
there would undoubtedly be a very great decrease in the operations of
white slave traffickers throughout the country, it is impossible to
prevent, under that law, the use of the United States mails in the
manner which has been stated, and the thousands of instances where young
women and girls are procured and held in this vile form of slavery
within the confines of a State; and consequently the horrible fact of
the existence of this slavery will continue a disgrace to our nation,
notwithstanding the utmost that can be done by the agents of the Federal
Government in enforcing the present White Slave Traffic Act.

=Convictions and prosecutions.=--In this connection, the question may well
be raised as to why the present white slave law is not being more
rigidly and effectively enforced throughout the country. With reference
to this I desire to state that when this law was enacted no
appropriation was made by Congress for its enforcement, and in view of
this fact, the question of its enforcement was a very serious one. The
department’s general appropriation for the detection and prosecution of
crimes (which necessarily covers the expense of all investigations made
by the Department of Justice for the purpose of collecting evidence as
to crimes under the anti-trust laws, the bankruptcy statute, the
national bank act, and many other laws, for the enforcement of which no
other appropriation is provided), was already taxed to its utmost
limit. Realizing, however, the great importance of determining promptly
the nature and extent of the white slave traffic, and doing everything
possible to prosecute violators of this law, the Attorney General
promptly after the enactment of the law, directed that every possible
effort be made, within the limits of our appropriation, for its
enforcement. This work was immediately commenced and was pushed with the
utmost possible vigor with the funds available for the purpose, and
during the first year after the enactment of the white slave law about
one hundred and thirty prosecutions were instituted against persons
engaged in the white slave traffic, a very large percentage of these
prosecutions resulting in convictions and heavy jail and penitentiary
sentences. During the first nine months of this, the second, year since
the enactment of this statute still greater efforts have been made for
the punishment of the multitude of persons who have been found to be
engaged in the white slave traffic, and the department’s appropriation
has been taxed for this purpose to such an extent that in October, 1911,
the point was reached where it was necessary for the Attorney General,
in order to avoid violating the provision of the federal law prohibiting
the incurring of deficiencies in appropriations under his control, to
suspend operations temporarily, to a considerable extent, and to call
upon Congress for an additional appropriation for the enforcement of the
white slave law.

However, notwithstanding the very limited funds available for the
purpose, during this period of nine months ending on March 31st, last,
two hundred and nineteen persons were indicted by the Federal Government
for violations of the white slave law, and in these cases there were one
hundred and thirty-five convictions, and but nine acquittals, and about
one-third of the cases are still pending. Moreover, the penitentiary and
jail sentences which have been meted out to the persons who have been
convicted under the white slave law within this period of one year and
nine months aggregate three hundred and ninety-seven years, two months
and twenty-four days.

While it was believed that steps should be taken for the absolute
suppression of the white slave traffic, in so far as it was possible to
do so under existing law, and while it was felt that the circumstances
justified the appropriation of a very substantial sum for the purpose,
in order to avoid the appearance of extravagance, and since it was
thought that a comparatively small sum might be quickly secured, whereas
there might be considerable delay if a large appropriation were
requested, the Attorney General called upon Congress for an
appropriation of $25,000, for the

[Illustration: TRIAL OF A WHITE SLAVE.]

purpose of defraying such expenses for the remainder of the present
fiscal year, ending June 30, 1912, and also requested that his general
appropriation for detection and prosecution of crimes for the fiscal
year, ending June 30, 1913, be increased in the sum of $50,000 over the
appropriation for the present fiscal year, in order to provide funds for
work in white slave cases during the coming year. The urgency of this
matter has been called to the attention of the proper government
officials and committees of Congress, both by the Attorney General and
by individuals and philanthropic societies in almost every part of the
country, all of whom have urged the immediate appropriation of adequate
funds for this purpose. While--perhaps through some misunderstanding as
to the real situation--there has been an unfortunate delay in securing
additional funds, and consequently the work of the department in
attempting to suppress the white slave traffic has been temporarily
crippled, I am glad to be able to say that we now have reason to believe
that Congress will in due season appropriate the full amount which the
department has requested for this purpose for the coming fiscal year,
and that there is also a disposition on the part of members of Congress,
with but few, if any exceptions, to provide whatever additional funds
may be necessary to expunge this disgraceful blot of white slavery from
the map of our beloved country, and to enable our country to take a
stand before the nations of the world which will, at no very distant
day, result in sweeping this monstrous evil from the face of the earth.

It is believed that when the people of this country begin to appreciate
the enormous extent and the terrible nature of this great evil there
will be no disposition on their part to temporize with it, but that they
will demand not only that funds be appropriated sufficient to adequately
enforce the present law, but also that the law be so extended and
strengthened that it will enable the Federal Government to wipe out this
evil for all time.

That it is within the power of the Federal Government to destroy this
traffic, there can be no doubt, and if this is not done it will be for
the sole reason that the law is incomplete, and that sufficient funds
for the purpose are not within the control of our Department of Justice.
Our department is thoroughly advised as to the situation and has
formulated plans under which, if properly supported by Congress, it can
wipe out the disgraceful condition which now exists. It is for the
people of this country, and their representatives in Congress, to say
whether or not this shall be done.

=Note.=--The foregoing address, the first ever given under sanction of our
Federal Department of Justice, is the most authoritative utterance ever
published on the White Slave Traffic in the United States. The address
was read and approved by Attorney General Wickersham, and his assistant,
Mr. Harr. Coming from this source and not from one who is seeking a
career or other personal advantage from exploiting white slavery, every
statement of fact can be accepted and the recommendations endorsed. Mr.
Finch has been connected with the Department of Justice for nineteen
years. We are assured by the press associations that fully 5,000
publications in North America noticed the address, most of them
publishing a synopsis of 500 words, while a number published the address
in full. In the opinion of some of our leading workers it introduces a
new and aggressive activity on the part of our Department which sounds
the death knell of this nefarious traffic in our country.--_Reproduced
by permission of “The Light.”_




CHAPTER LVII

THE PURITY MOVEMENT

BY B. S. STEADWELL

President of the World’s Purity Federation and Editor of “The Light.”


=The greatest evil.=--Wonder is often expressed these days at the very
rapid growth and rise of the movement known as “The Social Purity
Movement,” or as stated from its negative side, as is done most
frequently, as the movement for the “Suppression of the White Slave
Traffic and Public Vice.” The real wonder is that the world has not
risen long before this in one mighty, well-directed effort to stamp out
forever and annihilate its one worst enemy; for impurity is and always
has been the greatest enemy and most relentless foe of mankind. In its
modern and commercialized aspects it embodies in itself every evil in
the category of sin and crime. It has brought more direct loss to the
world and more acute suffering to human hearts than all other evils
combined. Whether it is dealing with an individual, a community, a state
or a nation, its finished product is always a wreck. It has literally
filled the world with disease, with despair and with death.

=Its only excuse.=--Impurity or immorality finds expression in a public
sense in the Social Evil or prostitution, the only known excuse for
which is the plea that it has always existed, is a necessary evil and
hence cannot be suppressed but must remain, under such regulatory
measures as may be adopted. There are those of us, however, who believe
that this is a false theory, not well founded in fact, and that as other
great evils, in favor of which the same suave arguments were made, have
from time to time been wiped out, even so can this ogre of public vice
be suppressed. It is not claimed that all private or clandestine vice
can be entirely annihilated, but its public phase can be and must be
up-rooted if civilization is to advance. There are those who even now
prophesy that America in licentiousness and graft is going the way of
ancient nations long since dead, and that her days are numbered if these
evils are not speedily checked.

=Two colossal blunders.=--The scope of this article will not permit going
into the history of the Social Evil, or, indeed, taking up the history
of the movement that has risen to combat it, but in order to form a
foundation for the discussion we must call attention to the two colossal
blunders which have perpetuated this evil throughout past centuries and
enabled it to

[Illustration: B. S. STEADWELL.--President World’s Federation of Purity,
and Editor of “The Light.”]

attain to its present proportions. These questions may be discussed with
even greater fullness in other pages of this book, but it is fitting
that attention be directed to them here.

=False modesty.=--The first mistake which was made in dealing with this
particular evil was to place a ban of silence upon it, upon everything
that could refer to it, and upon our whole sexual relations, nature and
life. The results were not happy. Nothing could have been done more
conducive to the growth of the evil. It brought in and developed the
reign of false modesty, of prudery. Concealment is not cure. This evil
craves darkness rather than light, and thrives upon silence and secrecy.
A Turkish missionary wrote me some years ago that in his country where
women must appear with their faces completely covered, the grossest
immoralities were practiced by wives, undetected, in the very presence
of their own husbands. Many of our present-day customs in pleasures and
dress which form strong temptations for our young men and young women,
are a direct result of this “conspiracy of silence.” Here is a
foundation stone upon which the whole miserable system of immorality
rests.

=The double standard of morals.=--The second great error which has
fostered the evil is that known as the “double standard of morals,”
making the world act as though it believed that what was very wrong and
unforgivable in a woman, was not only permissible but a necessity in a
man. Undoubtedly the originator of this very logical line of reasoning
was a man. Woman, if one false step is taken, one breath of scandal
uttered against her, must forever wear the scarlet letter, or else she
must be sacrificed to perpetuate the very evil that has overtaken her;
while man may live in lust and if this alone be his sin, retain his
highest social privileges and standing. Without question this double
standard of morals has been the most stupendous outrage ever foisted
upon any part of the human race. It was accomplished at a time when “man
was king” and so slowly, and carefully and cunningly did he plan it,
that it has not only withstood the test of time and continued to thrive,
but it has not too infrequently gained woman as its advocate, until we
often hear, and sometimes not without cause, that “woman is the worst
enemy of ‘fallen’ girls.” With these two weapons, the conspiracy of
silence and the double standard of morals, licentiousness has marched
steadily onward until it has conquered the civilized world so far as
asserting its right to life is concerned.

=The commercialization of the social evil.=--But to these two errors which
have formed so strong a fortress to the Social Evil, must be added in
more recent times a third support, one which many students of the
question believe is the leading factor at present in the whole accursed
business,--_commercialization_. The Social Evil to-day is raised to the
standard of a business. It is conducted in all of its ramifications for
gain. It has simply taken on the spirit of this money-getting age. Its
real motive is gain, greed, gold. It is very largely a man’s business,
too, run by men for the profit there is in it, and in our country those
who are directly connected with the traffic are in the main foreigners.
The White Slave Traffic, about which we hear so much these days, is a
direct result of this commercialization. Girls are actually sold into
dens of vice. Only recently have these terrible facts been substantiated
and the methods of the traffickers known, and until the past few years
the charges that there was a traffic in women and girls for immoral
purposes, have not been credited or believed by the great majority of
people. During the past few weeks under the direction of the United
States Department for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, more
than fifty men and women have been convicted and imprisoned for this
very crime, and scores of indictments have been found against others.
This scatters all doubt about there being such a trade. During the past
few years evidence of the traffic has been so complete through the
investigations of individuals, grand juries, vice commissions, and
congressional investigating

[Illustration: T. ALBERT MOORE, D.D.--Secretary Moral and Social Reform
Council of Canada, and Second Vice-President, World’s Federation of
Purity.]

committees, that there is no longer any question as to the traffic or
its extent. The problem now is, how to suppress it the most effectively
and speedily. It is asserted by a United States official that fully
50,000 men in the United States are living off the earnings of women of
shame and in selling girls into vice.

=Others who profit from the traffic in virtue.=--But the buying and
selling of women for immoral purposes is not the only way that financial
profit is made from it. It was discovered in a certain city recently
that an old house that would rent for ordinary purposes for $12.00 per
month, was bringing $165.00 as a house of ill-fame. Landlords profit
from the traffic. Liquor dealers profit from the traffic. In the same
way but possibly to a lesser degree certain merchants, druggists,
lawyers, doctors, professional bondsmen, gamblers and divers criminals
profit financially from the nefarious traffic in virtue.

=The extent of the evil.=--The extent of the Social Evil in the United
States is not definitely known. Surveys of cities have been very
carefully made at times, and at the present time our Federal Department
for the suppression of the traffic is conducting a very careful census
of the women in houses of shame throughout the United States. When this
is completed we may know more certainly as to statistics. The writer
after a most careful and thorough investigation in 1898, estimated the
number of girls and women in houses of shame in our country at 300,000.
This figure has been very generally accepted and used, and from recent
investigations it is evident that the number has not decreased. The
lives of women in houses of shame averages five years. They do not all
die within this time, though many of them do succumb to the horrors of
the life and accompanying disease, drugs and drink in much less time.
Some leave the life for honorable work or return home, a few are
married, some are rescued, but whatever the cause of their departure
from the miserable life, this one thing is sure,--for every one that
gets out a fresh victim is required to take her place. Accepting these
estimates as correct, we see 60,000 girls and women are required each
year to provide for the constant demand of the public houses of shame.
More than 2,000,000 men and boys are the patrons and consorts of these
women, ruining morals, health and happiness, and this is one of the most
deplorable phases of the whole system. The profits from vice in the
United States are beyond estimate, but are known to run up into the
billions of dollars annually. The Chicago Vice Commission estimated the
profits from vice in Chicago alone as $15,000,000 yearly.

=Why past movements have failed.=--This is the Social Evil as we have
found it in the past and as it is to-day, together with the fundamental
causes that are back of it. Movements have sprung up during past
centuries to stamp it out or at least to limit and control it. Rulers
from Moses to Charlemagne have attempted to deal with the problems which
it presents. These efforts in the past have failed largely because they
sought reform through dealing with the women of shame only and thus was
recognized and fostered one of the principal causes of the evil itself.

=Why the modern movement is more effective.=--During the past sixty years
there has developed the modern purity movement which has sought relief
from the ravages of vice through a careful study of the evil and the
application of such principles and remedies as would meet the situation
effectively. This movement has been very rapid in growth not only in
Europe and America but in all civilized countries. Even Japan has its
book, “The Social Evil in Japan,” which not only reveals conditions
there but also gives an account of the various organizations that are
endeavoring to suppress public vice, and appeals for such legislation
and education as will forever make the old régime impossible. While
space will not permit us to treat historically of the origin of this
movement or even to mention briefly those who founded it, we desire here
to record our profound admiration for the early workers in this great
cause. The “conspiracy of silence” was then in full operation. The
faithful men and women who first stepped out from the beaten paths and
espoused the cause of the “fallen” girl, were far more brave than he who
faces midst the excitement of battle the cannon’s mouth. These pioneer
men and women whose hearts had been wrung by the atrocities practiced
upon the victims of vice, the utter despair in homes disrupted, and the
agony of lives diseased and ruined, were socially ostracized, they were
brought before courts, churches were closed to them, friends deserted
them, mobs awaited them, all because they chose to set the slaves of
vice free and to proclaim the truth. But still they were true, laboring
faithfully on until to-day no movement for the uplift of society has a
more general following and devoted leaders. All honor to the pioneers in
the purity movement!

=Men are as guilty as women.=--The purposes of the present purity movement
have been strongly hinted at in the statement of the causes which have
produced the commercialized Social Evil of to-day. Workers now realize
that if the dangers and evils of prostitution and public vice are to be
reduced to a minimum, that vicious men must be dealt with as well as the
women and that spasmodic raids and clean-ups and sensational methods and
literature must have no part in the program. The methods employed must
be both safe and sane and systematically continued for an indefinite
time. The “conspiracy of silence” must be broken, but not by going to
the opposite extreme; the “double standard of morals” must be banished
forever, not by lowering the standard for women, but by raising the
standard for men; and through legislation and the strict enforcement of
law, the commercialization of the Social Evil must be made impossible.
This programme is sure to result in success if the movement can attract
leaders who are sincere, religiously normal and sound, and who will
follow methods that are safe and sane. Great evils must be met with
great movement if success is really desired, and therefore this movement
must not be exclusive but should be large enough to reach and influence
the great mass of our people. These remedies will effectively suppress
the Social Evil if systematically applied, not instantaneously, evils
are not up-rooted in that way, but by a gradual process of elimination
that in the end will mean annihilation. The remedies proposed may be
briefly outlined under the following heads: Education, Legislation, and
Rescue Work.

=Education.=--We believe that every child should receive all possible
knowledge, imparted in a pure and wholesome manner at proper periods,
concerning the purposes, problems and perils of sex. The ideal place

[Illustration: AMERICAN PURITY CONFERENCE.--Touring Party at New
Orleans]

to give this instruction being the home and the ideal instructor the
parent, but where this is impracticable, as it is in most homes of
to-day because most parents are ignorant of these subjects, the church,
the school, and special instructors should be utilized. Most
high-charactered physicians are fully able to impart such knowledge
wisely. Normal schools should prepare teachers generally for teaching
the subject of sexology. Through parents’ meetings, fathers and mothers
can be prepared so they may at least answer the questions of their
children pertaining to these subjects. The Church and Sunday School with
their strong religious and spiritual atmosphere, furnish almost an ideal
setting for teaching this subject to best advantage to the young. The
instruction should fully set forth the dangers and perils in impurity
and thus give the needed warnings, as well as portray the beauty,
healthfulness and happiness of the pure life. Falsehoods or deception as
to where the baby came from, or any other fact pertaining to the sex
nature or function, should never be tolerated for a moment. The public
should be made acquainted with the nature and dangers of the diseases of
vice, venereal plagues, and told that much of our physical suffering is
due to these loathsome maladies. Ignorance is largely responsible in
permitting the Social Evil to exist. It must be displaced with
knowledge. The double standard of morals must be fought, and men who
are impure given to know that they cannot continue in sin without losing
their social standing.

=Methods of education.=--There are hundreds of organizations in the world
to-day, a part of this great purity movement, engaged in promoting sex
education. Some of them possibly may not be working in the wisest way,
but as the work is yet in its pioneer days the only way to learn is
through trying, and as the public conscience is being thoroughly stirred
and countless numbers of our best men and women are studying the
problem, we can rest assured that in time ideal methods will be evolved.
Physicians who but a few years back were almost a unit in teaching the
necessity doctrine for men, to-day are organizing and promoting the very
highest and best education. Many denominational churches are
establishing purity departments, while Sunday Schools are entering
heartily into the great work. Many Normal schools and colleges and
private institutions of learning are adopting special instruction in
sexology. Parents’ meetings are being held everywhere to promote the
cause. Many who have felt a special call to the work are devoting their
whole time to lecturing and the preparations of books on these subjects.
Prof. T. W. Shannon, of Missouri, the author of this book, is one of the
best known of these specialists. Such societies as the White Cross for
young men and the White Shield for young women, and departments in
women’s clubs, temperance organizations, Christian associations, and
church federations, are aiding splendidly in the furthering of this
cause.

=Legislation.=--Much has been done and very much more can be done to
lessen the evils of vice through the enactment of suitable laws and the
strict enforcement of law. Those who make a business of vice must be
adequately punished whether they are engaged in buying and selling
girls, living off the blood-money of vicious women, renting property at
exorbitant prices, or securing an income and support from the detestable
business in any other way. The stage, the press and the street must be
purified. Amusements, excursions, and playgrounds should be properly
supervised. Immoral literature and obscene pictures must be banished.
Social and economic life must be improved. The hours of labor must be
shortened, wages must be raised, a minimum wage insisted upon, sanitary
conditions in factories and shops must be improved, employment must be
assured to all. The Age of Consent should be at least eighteen years in
every State. Segregated and tolerated vice districts should be
abolished. Those who decoy either girls or boys into disorderly houses,
or seek to initiate them into lives of sin, should be severely punished.
Every possible protecting measure in law should be thrown about our
boys and girls, our young men and young women to shield them from the
temptations of vice.

=Law enactment and law enforcement.=--It is encouraging to note the many
good laws that have been passed by our several States and by our
National Government during the past few years in line with the above
suggestions. Our Federal White Slave Traffic Act, together with the
Department that has been established for the suppression of the white
slave traffic, is an exceedingly strong piece of legislation, and in
conjunction with various State laws against pandering, will suppress in
time this awful trade in girls. Age of Consent legislation, ordinances
against immoral shows, regulation of public dances and other amusements,
and hundreds of other measures, are good laws. It is stated by many
reformers that we now have sufficient law to suppress these evils
entirely, but that our failure to do so is due to the fact that the laws
are not enforced. To remedy this very serious defect law enforcement
campaigns are now on in many of the leading cities, and these efforts
are rapidly spreading to smaller places. Such campaigns sincerely
conducted, will in time lead to the strict enforcement of law in
America. It has recently been suggested that every State should organize
a bureau or commission for the suppression of public vice and the
enforcement of laws against the crimes of vice. If this can be
accomplished, it is quite certain to lead to a better enforcement of
these particular laws.

=Rescue work.=--Purity work had its very inception in the rescue of girls
and women from houses of shame. It was in connection with this work that
the facts pertaining to the methods of organized vice were first
uncovered. There are in the United States at the present time probably
two hundred and fifty rescue homes for erring girls and women. Unmarried
mothers are cared for in many of these homes while the girl who has gone
wrong may find shelter and protection in them if she is repentant and
sincerely desires to return to a virtuous life. Where houses of shame
are closed or segregated districts abolished, it is but humane that the
inmates of these resorts be cared for until they can be taught some
trade or work that will give them support. Many workers believe that the
State should erect model homes for the reception and care of all such
girls. Many of the rescue homes now running are under the direction of
the Church, or other Christian or religious society. We should remember
that in the redemption of every erring girl, we not only gain her but
accomplish much in the prevention and destruction of public vice if we
can prevent another girl from taking her place in the underworld. It is
thus largely a preventive work. Every purity worker who is sincere,
believes heartily in rescue work that is wisely and carefully
prosecuted.

=A personal invitation--Come and battle with us.=--This in brief is the
purity movement as it has developed and as we find it to-day battling
for all that makes for a higher standard of purity in the life of the
individual and in social and civic relations, creating a sentiment, a
purity literature and an army of well-equipped workers that will make it
forever impossible to return to the days of ignorance and prudery that
have always existed on matters of self and sex. It proclaims the right
of every child to be well born and the right to be followed through life
with such an environment and training as will assure the very best
development and highest attainment. This is all it asks. Is it too much
to strive for? Surely we could not be content with less and be true to
the intelligence and soul-life that is ours! No cause since time began
has had more to offer to those who enter its ranks than this. It appeals
to every true man and woman to help carry its standards to victory, and
then when ignorance shall have been abolished by knowledge, vice
eradicated by virtue, disease displaced by health, and _darkness_
dispelled by _light_, there shall be ushered in that Day of Days when
man shall be supremely happy because he is pure.




INDEX


      PAGE

Abortion, a mother’s testimony, 473

Adolescence, early, 143

Adolescent, period of boy, 204

Age, a sad old, 45

Air, effects of foul, 284

Alcoholic, effects of fathers, 480

Animals, baby, 108

Ant and Bee, devoid of love, 105

Asylum, a visit to, 487

Atavism, 442;
  examples of, 442


B

BABY animals, 108;
  birds, 105;
  fish, 100;
  oysters, 99;
  let alone, 55

BATH, air, 285;
  air for men, 372;
  cold and warm, 279;
  cold, easy inure one’s self to, 280;
  the friction, 281;
  effects on beauty, 279

BEAUTY, architects of, 276;
  and sex nature, 162;
  building through bath, 279;
  hair, face and teeth, 289;
  relation of air to, 283;
  some musts and must nots, 164;
  substitute for physical, 164;
  two kinds of, 162

Bible and Heredity, 400

BIRDS, baby, 105;
  beginning of love, 104

Birth, 263

BIRTH MARKS, 494;
  only nervous mothers, 494;
  materialistic puzzle, 495;
  an experience with government, 495;
  an explanation of, 496;
  effect of constant mental repetition, 497;
  how to prevent, 497;
  example of crawfish, 498;
  example of mole, 498;
  example of amusing case, 502;
  example of sympathy, 501;
  example of anger, 499;
  example of discussed, 500;
  a sad case, 502;
  child marked twice, 503

Blind children, 326

Books, advice concerning, 230

BOY, the problem of, 34;
  should be treated differently than sister, 34;
  should be taught to work, 34;
  enjoys making money, 34;
  future vocation, 36;
  moral training should be same as sister, 37;
  should play with girls, 38;
  companions of, 38;
  going to college, 40;
  how one tried to be a man, 174;
  adolescent period, 204;
  struck girl, 159

BOYS, should protect girls, 214;
  may injure themselves, 195;
  can live pure, 205;
  who make men, 181;
  why tempted, 179;
  a class of dangerous, 161;
  true and pure, 161;
  need training, 173;
  want to be men, 174;
  do not know effects of secret sin, 198

BOYS and GIRLS should play together, 157;
  social nature, 157;
  similar information needed, 122

BOYS and MEN sap their life, 198

Bravery, the truest, 213

Breasts, the, 135


C

Caponized male bird, 219

Change in life, man or woman, 542

Change in reproductive system, 538

CHANGE of LIFE, age when occurs, 534;
  other names for, 535;
  duration of, 535;
  evidence of, 536;
  nature of, 535;
  some precautions, 537;
  some physical disorders, 537;
  minor indications of, 544;
  positive indications of, 544;
  two advantages of, 545;
  in man, not unfortunate, 544;
  in woman, mysteries made clear, 534

CHASTITY, basis of genuine love, 443;
  value of in marriage, 438

CHILD, first born, 20;
  the training of, 47;
  each must be studied, 48;
  give something to do, 56;
  first idea of wrongdoing, 56;
  vital parts of education neglected, 67;
  scolding and threatening, 59;
  praised for asking about self, 87;
  told gradually regarding self, 88;
  not exact duplicate of either parent, 426;
  resembles both parents, 426;
  when moral training should begin, 429;
  how to prevent marking, 497

CHILDREN, study of disposition, 50;
  importance of early training, 49;
  one million adrift, 78;
  new way to instruct, 81;
  differ in the same home, 417;
  why some are alike and others differ, 419;
  products of blind chance, 429;
  robbed of birthright, 430;
  clear bill of health to, 435;
  inheriting low vitality, 436;
  few well born, 446;
  rights should come first, 546;
  of senile men defective, 546

CHILDHOOD, importance of physical training in, 52;
  importance of mental training in, 53;
  importance of moral training in, 54;
  social conditions change, 63;
  knowledge of self important, 63;
  confidence of, 64;
  the inquisitiveness of, 65;
  the unsatisfied mind of, 66

Christ, need of, 411

Cigarette, habit, 180

Colds, prevented, 373

Company, bad, 214

Conception, need of rest before, 450

Condiments, use of, 53

CONFIDENCE, of boys, destroyed by parents, 76;
  of girl, destroyed by mother, 76

Confidential social advice, 160

Consumption, 436

Consumption and cancer, 436

CONTINENCE, sexual necessity theory of, 314;
  biological law of, 315;
  views of unreliable doctors, 315;
  does not destroy virility, 315

Cousins, marriage of, 438

CREATIVE LIFE, nature and value of, 189;
  how to direct and conserve, 238

Criminal, a born, 461

Curiosity, how to satisfy morbid, 122


D

DANCE, why attractive, 232;
  secret of hold on society, 233;
  a menace of society, 233;
  other objections, 235;
  right information needed regarding, 235

Dancing, in itself not sinful, 232

Dance halls and picture shows, 573

Daughter, be companion to, 126

DEGENERACY, is there a remedy, 410;
  indications of constitutional, 435;
  two causes of, 476

DEGENERATES, what shall be done with, 475;
  many are diseased, 476;
  companion to, 435

Diet, 288

DIVORCE, problem of, 468;
  an Arkansas woman, 520;
  on increase, 522;
  not cause of wrecked homes, 524

Diseases, genito urinary, 548

DRUNKARDS, 436;
  home, 482


E

Edwards, Jonathan, family of, 399

EMBRYO, relation between mother and, 261;
  maternal attention, 262

ENERGY, the creative, 135;
  a chance to conserve, 546

ENGAGEMENTS, long, 243;
  of young men, 334

ENVIRONMENT, good, greatest blessing, 407;
  as potential as heredity, 515;
  value of early, 515

Ethics of engaged young women, 242

EUNUCHS, 193;
  sex energy of, 219

EXERCISE, the elixir of youth, 286;
  in open air, 287


F

Family, an ideal, 432

FAMILY TROUBLES, how solved, 22;
  relation too, children, 26

FATHER, how one failed in sex instructions, 70;
  son’s natural teacher, 166;
  looks after son’s education, 167;
  who holds to unethical ideals, 168;
  the model, 168;
  should not be suspicious but watchful, 172;
  transmit to sons more than to daughters, 491

Fathers, iniquities visited on children, 401

Fatherhood, the importance of, 166

FEEBLE MINDED, marriage of, 479;
  burden of, 506

FEMALE ORGANS, information concerning, 136;
  advice concerning, 137

FISH, story of baby, 100;
  why lay so many eggs, 101;
  all are orphans, 102;
  do not pair off, 102

Friendship and love, 333


G

Germ cell, the, 413

GIRL and BOY, similar information needed, 122;
  social nature, 157;
  should play together, 157

GIRL, and her father, 41;
  and her mother, 41;
  and her brother, 42;
  first and most valuable training, 44;
  the independent, 45, 519;
  wise instruction needed, 124;
  a confidential talk, 126;
  have been little all these years, 130;
  an interesting change, 138;
  new social desires, 143;
  why want a chum, 143;
  needs two chums, 144;
  choosing the right chum, 144;
  the wise, 145;
  boy struck, 159;
  vanity of, 162;
  in period of transition, 226;
  should consult mother, 247;
  if driven from home, 249;
  wronged, a real living incident, 250;
  blinded by double standard, 254;
  was she scarlet or white, 255;
  maternal instinct of, 264;
  the independent, 264;
  the modern, 518

GIRLHOOD, 237;
  comes but once, 161

GIRLS, sixty thousand lost annually, 80;
  should be treated as your sister, 213;
  association with young men, 237;
  should demand single standard of morals, 239;
  why they go wrong, 245;
  homes for unfortunate, 248

GONORRHEA, 324;
  discovery of disease germs of, 324

Gonorrheal rheumatism, 325


H

Heart trouble caused by excess, 548

Heaven, ante room to, 33

HEREDITY, versus environment, 396;
  applied by the Romans, 396;
  Plato’s views, 397;
  genius is, 398;
  Max Jukes, 399;
  Jonathan Edwards, 399;
  the potency of, 400;
  and Bible, 400;
  a modern proof, 405, 406;
  who is responsible, 406;
  morbid and bad environment, 406;
  relation of three agencies, 410;
  race can be improved by, 411;
  an objection answered, 420;
  materialistic theory fails, 421;
  explained, 423;
  who is to blame, 425;
  mothers advantage of, 428;
  right of child good, 445;
  and moral tendencies, 514;
  agencies of improvement, 512;
  received at birth, 512;
  parental responsibility, 514;
  environment and Christ, 516;
  a critic answered, 386;
  in plant life, 391

Hereditary, degeneracy, kinds of, 164

HOME, the childless, 21;
  childless made happy, 21;
  father head of, 24;
  a good substitute for, 30;
  should come first, 33;
  unit of government, 47;
  function of, 51;
  punishment in, 57;
  threatened, 471;
  a drunkard’s, 482

Home and school defects in, 51

Homeliness, how to correct some kinds of, 164

Homicide and suicide, 482

House keeper, a good, 31

HUSBAND, relation to wife, 24;
  to furnish financial support, 25;
  to furnish moral support, 26;
  to love wife, 26;
  considerate young, 335

HUSBAND and WIFE, equal partners, 29;
  how they differ, 29


I

Ignorance, a degrading form of, 543

Illegitimate father, danger of becoming, 321

Imbecile, Spitzka’s view, 477

Imbecile question, solution of, 477

Immoral women dangerous, 323

Immorality, who is to blame, 80

IMPREGNATION, 258;
  symptoms of, 263

Imperfection of plants and animals, 195

Impure thinking, effects of, 207

Impure thoughts, what produces, 223

INCONTINENCE, two forms of, 313;
  a false idea about, 313;
  effects of, on marriage, 317

Influence, the law of, 51

Inheritance, our mental possibilities, 513

Intemperance and crime, 484


J

Jukes Max, family of, 399


K

Knight, the true young, 211

Knighthood, will you enlist in new, 216


L

Lasciviousness, transmissible, 462

Letter writing, of young women, 241

LIFE, why we do not talk about, 90;
  how a mother told story to boy of, 111;
  a vine robbed of, 196;
  begins with a cell, 259;
  the creative, 309;
  how to build creative, 310;
  creative, built into greater mind, 311;
  creative built into social and moral, 312;
  is real, 413;
  is a unit, 421;
  planning for ideal, 445;
  important periods of, 540;
  a large, 545;
  the latter half of, 539

LOVE, and friendship, 333;
  tested, 443;
  tests of truth, 16


M

MAN, if you would be perfect, 194;
  original development under two agencies, 407;
  his fall, 407;
  need of third agency, 408;
  relation to the past, 416;
  change of life not unfortunate, 544

MANHOOD, if venerealized consult a Dr., 343;
  money and pleasure, 395;
  agencies necessary to perfect, 409

MANHOOD, regained, 338;
  pathological condition, 341;
  hinderances and helps, 341;
  facts to be understood, 342

MANHOOD, wrecked, the diagnosis, 339;
  causes of wrong thinking, 340

MARRIAGE, basis incentives for, 15;
  other incentive for, 16;
  means motherhood, 30;
  sometimes a farce, 30;
  hasty, 243;
  civil and divine institution, 525;
  of old men, 546;
  promises by white slavers, 577;
  effects of immature, 437;
  difference as to age in, 437;
  into criminal families, 437;
  wealth should have no influence, 438;
  of cousins, 438;
  basis of, 443;
  primal purpose of, 453, 531;
  new laws needed, 470;
  laws, how enforced, 471;
  effects of bad customs, 471;
  effects of feeble minded, 479;
  desired qualification of, 480;
  anxiety of girl’s parents for, 519, 520;
  customs have changed, 518;
  lax laws in this country, 521;
  better customs and laws needed, 521

Married people should understand sexology, 464

MASCULINE and feminine principles, 414;
  women and feminine men, 438

MATERNITY, not an affliction, 531;
  why regarded as, 533

Men and boys sap their life, 198

MEN, many defective, 196;
  young, many indiscreet or immoral, 239;
  few perfect, 337;
  wrecked minds of, 338;
  kept from Christ, 338

Medicine, 52

MENSTRUATION, 139;
  how made regular and painless, 140;
  physical, mental and moral changes, 140;
  meaning of, 141;
  function of, 532

Mental states, 423

Mismated, 16, 441

Mind, relation to salivary glands, 221

MISTAKE, of the past, 67;
  the minister, 253

Modesty--false, 602

Morals, double standard of, 602

MOTHER, important advice to, 128;
  should be true to child, 249;
  larger hereditary influence proven, 428;
  the society, 450;
  preparation for parental training, 457

MOTHER and CHILD, moral right to father’s name, 255;
  vitality one, 496

MOTHERHOOD, may not expose her sin, 246;
  may expose her sin, 246;
  sublime miracle of, 258;
  ideal perfect body essential, 264;
  training for, 265;
  enslaved curse of age, 553;
  practical dietetics, 451;
  rights of, 475


N

Nature, getting back to, 372

Neurotics, 436

No one had told her--poetry, 128

NOVEL, introduction, 225;
  why girls are fond of, 225;
  difference between good and bad, 226;
  effects of the vicious, 227

Nuptial night of young man, 335


O

OFFSPRING, mental and moral states, 424;
  effects of narcotics on, 451;
  from drunkards defective, 483

Organs of gestation, relation of, to mind, 222

Organs of sex, what you should not do, 147

ORIGIN, perverted ideas of--example, 73;
  questions of children regarding, 65

Ophthalmia, 325

Ovaries, location and function of, 133

Ovulation, 258

Oysters, story of baby, 99


P

PARENTS, the training of, 49;
  should agree, 56;
  the greatest blessing of, 408;
  immature, 431;
  effect of culture, 452;
  suppressing evil tendencies, 452

PARENTHOOD, intellectual preparation for, 447;
  physical preparation for, 448;
  an invalid mother, 449;
  morbid conditions transmissible, 449

Passion, meaning of, 210-310

PERSONAL LIBERTY, effects of, 485;
  two more examples, 487;
  versus rights of others, 488

PHYSICAL CULTURE, 291-303;
  for men, importance of, 371;
  for men, wild tribes, 372;
  for men modern customs, 372;
  Exercise--rules for, 374;
  Exercise--value of, 374;
  for men, exercises, 375-385

Physical ailments, common, 547

Physical disorder, 537

PLANTS, story of, 92;
  the outer parts, 92;
  the papa parts, 93;
  the mamma parts, 93;
  how the two natures unite, 94;
  two natures not always in same flower, 95;
  three methods of uniting natures, 97;
  a wise plan regarding origin, 97

Poetry--No One Had Told Her, 128

PREGNANCY, first twenty-four hours, 259;
  first thirty days, 260;
  second thirty days, 261

Prenatal opportunities, 427

PRENATAL INFLUENCE, effects of mothers, 460;
  effects of dishonesty, 460;
  effects of anger, 460;
  we are slow to learn, 462

PRENATAL TRAINING, one-half before birth, 454;
  transmission of acquired, 454;
  Dr. Fowler and Dr. Cowan on, 455:
  an example of, 456;
  mother’s preparation, 457;
  father’s coöperation, 456;
  order of, 456;
  Example--inventive genius, 457;
  Example--two girls, 458;
  Example--golden hair, 459;
  testimony of doctor, 459;
  vitality determines results, 463;
  G. Campbell Morgan on, 465;
  Wesleyan Methodist on, 465;
  Dr. Winfield Scott on, 465;
  Prof. Riddle on, 466;
  a suggestion, 468

Problem, divorce, 468

Procreative period in sexes, 532

Profanity, use of, 175

PROSTITUTION, men fallen as women, 318;
  no less sin because of price, 319;
  great physical risk, 320

Prostitution, its only excuse, 600

Prostate gland, information on, 325

Protected, inspected, neglected, 471

PUBERTY, 188;
  pimples, 163;
  treatment, 163

Pure man worthy of pure wife, 321

PURITY, three good rules, 59;
  personal, 60;
  a nation’s strength, 468

PURITY MOVEMENT, 599;
  why past have failed, 607;
  why modern is effective, 608;
  Education in, 610;
  methods of education, 613;
  Legislation on, 614;
  law enactment and enforcement, 615;
  rescue work, 616;
  personal invitation to assist in battle, 617

PUNISHMENT, in home, 57;
  study offense in, 58;
  corporal, 58


Q

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS on Sex for child, 117-122;
  on vital questions for young women, 266-275;
  on vital questions for young men, 345-370;
  on vital questions for married and unmarried, 550-559


R

Race suicide, two kinds, 474

Reproduction, lower forms of life, 414

Reproduction, in man, 415

Reproductive system changes during change of life, 538

Right and wrong experiences, 89


S

School should teach bodily and mental purity, 567

Scolding and threatening, 59

SECRET SIN, how learned, 146;
  moral effect of, 148;
  physical effect of, 149;
  letters concerning, 149;
  when should boy be told, 171;
  boys do not know injury, 198;
  often commences early, 199;
  how to keep from habit, 200;
  some effects of habit, 200;
  injures mind and morals, 201;
  injures sexual organs, 201;
  how to quit habit, 202

Self-respect lost, 321

Seminal weakness, hope for all, 343

Sex organs of boys, two functions of, 206

SEX, other purposes of, 305;
  life, principles of, 415;
  a resident part of life, 422;
  female organs of, 132

SEXES, similar in change of, 528;
  creative periods in, 532

Sex and social nature of girls, 158

Sex problems explained, 538

SEX ENERGY changes boy into man, 190;
  example--two full brother colts, 191;
  example--two full blooded chickens, 192;
  ways of using, 208;
  example--unsexed male horse, 218;
  caponized male bird, 219;
  eunuch, 219;
  unsexed girl, 219;
  for you to decide how used, 223

SEX HYGIENE, school instruction in, 560;
  silence a failure, 561;
  parents as instructors, 561;
  school can teach laws, 563

SEX IGNORANCE, parents not responsible for, 71;
  man as guilty as woman, 474

SEX INSTRUCTIONS, how a father failed in, 70;
  how a teacher failed in, 70;
  results of old method, 74;
  how a child gets information, 74;
  result of faults, 75;
  how to introduce, 84;
  how this can be done in schools, 86;
  author’s experience, 87;
  boy of ten, 123;
  girl of ten, 124;
  advantage of beginning early, 124;
  female form, 125;
  review of, 131;
  for boy, how to proceed, 169

Sex knowledge, views of past, 218

Sex life, relation of reading to disposition of, 229

Sexology, newly married should understand, 466

SEXUAL desire begins to wane, 543;
  discharge condition of, in unwell man, 190

SEXUAL GLANDS, two functions of, 220;
  the continuous function of, 220

Sexual necessity, unanswerable argument against, 315

Sex life, nature of, 304

Sexuality and sensuality, 463

SEXUAL ORGANS, 185;
  can be abused, 146;
  why given, 182;
  are not sinful, 182

Sexual system, names are pure, 183

SEX TRUTHS, two qualifications necessary to teach, 68;
  instruction of children in past, 71;
  desired by boys and girls, 77;
  how shall a child be told, 81;
  when shall a child be told, 82;
  the ideal way to tell, 84;
  teaching in public schools, 85

Sin, motherhood may not expose, 246

Skin, functions of, 371

Sleep, 289

Social and sex nature, relation of, 331

Social danger, 469

SOCIAL EVIL, two colossal blunders, 600;
  commercialization of, 603;
  why men are as guilty as women, 609

Social nature of young men, 331

Sowing wild oats, 431

Spitzka’s view of imbeciles, 477

Stricture, 324

Syphilis, 327;
  three stages of 327;
  innocent may be effected, 328;
  examples, 328-329

T

Teacher, how he failed in sex instruction, 70

TEMPERAMENTS, 439;
  motive, 439;
  nervous, 440;
  vital, 440;
  like should not marry like, 440;
  law of complements, 441

Testes, inflammation of, 325

TOBACCO, use of, 177;
  habit and enormous evil, 53;
  smoking by Dr. Pidduck, 490;
  effects of, 490;
  users, children of, 490;
  where both parents use it, 491;
  and degeneracy, 491

Training of perfect plant or animal, 173

Troubles in family, how solved, 22

Truest bravery, 213

TRUE KNIGHT, 211;
  has one standard of morals, 215

Twins, 417

Twin brothers, 419


U

UNSEXED girl the, 219;
  unsexed male horse, 218

Urinary organs, 184


V

Vagina, location and function of, 134

VENEREAL DISEASE, the bad cold fallacy, 322;
  two principles, 322;
  old as prostitution, 322;
  medical attention, 323;
  wife and children greatest sufferers, 325;
  health certificate regarding, 328;
  more dangerous than smallpox, 480;
  victims, 481;
  sterilization a remedy, 482;
  avoid by frankness, 566

Virtue, men think less of than women, 318

Virtue of boys sacrificed, 80


W

Warning, a word of, 548

WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC, 570;
  devices of, 572;
  cleverly worded advertisement, 573;
  examplesof, 580;
  greatest evil, 599

WHITE SLAVERY, how girls are retained, 581;
  a national disgrace, 585;
  power of Government to wipe out, 586;
  use of mail in, 588;
  laws inadequate, 589;
  new laws needed, 590;
  convictions and prosecution, 592;
  others who profit by, 606;
  extent of evil, 606

WIFE, should know value of dollar, 32;
  keep herself attractive, 32;
  be industrious, 32;
  take interest in husband’s affairs, 32;
  the helpmate, 333

WOMANHOOD, dawning of, 125;
  a real transition, 127;
  the charms of, 141

Womb, location and function of, 134

WOMEN, few go wrong by choice, 245-319;
  young should be sensible, 240

WOMAN WRONGED, should she ever choose title of Mrs., 256;
  necessary to tell child, 256;
  should tell story to her
lover, 257;
  when not necessary to confess wrong, 257;
  a man’s appreciation of destroyed, 320


Y

YOUNG MAN, ethics after engagement, 334;
nuptial night of, 335

YOUNG MEN, many indiscreet or immoral, 239;
  social nature of, 331;
  pernicious custom of, 232;
  engagements of, 334;
  certain rights not yours, 334

YOUNG WOMEN, be sensible, 240;
  letter writing of, 241;
  “hands off” policy, 241;
  ethics of engaged, 242;
  advice to, 243-244

       *       *       *       *       *


THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC AND PUBLIC VICE CAN AND MUST BE ANNIHILATED.

THE LIGHT

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE WORLD’S PURITY FEDERATION.

B. S. STEADWELL, Editor

This wonderfully helpful magazine has been published for fifteen years
at La Crosse, Wisconsin, and has for its purpose the eradication of the
traffic in women, (White Slave Traffic), the suppression of public vice;
a higher and single standard of morality, and the safe and sane
instruction of our young in sex hygiene and the laws of life. It is
acknowledged everywhere to be the leading magazine of the world along
social purity lines. It tells exactly what our parents, teachers,
editors, doctors, pastors, evangelists, Sunday school workers, social,
civic and moral reformers, and our young men and young women ought to
know,--tells it in a pure, chaste way. It is a magazine that ought to be
in every home, in every library, and in every office.

I enclose my annual gift to =The Light= of $5.00. You are doing a glorious
work.--J. T. S. Williams, Iowa.

=The Light= has been of greater value to me than any other magazine I have
ever read.--Virgil L. Smith, Wisconsin.

Your last issue is one of the very best Christian magazines that I have
ever seen.--E. P. Miller, M. D., New York.

I can hardly wait for =The Light= to come. I wish it was printed every
week. May God bless you.--Mrs. Simpkins, California.

I wish I were able to put a copy of =The Light= in every home, especially
where there are young people.--Mrs. Nareganz, South Dakota.

In my work as Provincial Superintendent of Purity in the W. C. T. U., I
could not do without =The Light=.--Annie K. Thompson, Victoria, B. C.,
Canada.

I certainly do not want to give up =The Light=. I look for it as I do a
dear friend’s visit. It is one of the very best magazines I ever
saw.--Mrs. Ferris, California.

Nothing has helped me so much to live down temptations in college as =The
Light=. I can never be grateful and thankful enough to its editor.--J S.
Scriminger, Virginia.

The May number of =The Light= is one of the best, the most hopeful and
encouraging of all the good issues you have sent out. May God bless and
prosper you in this good work.--Sylvanus Stall, D. D., Philadelphia,
publisher “Self and Sex Series.”

Dear Mr. Steadwell: Enclosed find check for $1.00. Please continue =The
Light= to my address. I can’t get along without it--nothing is more
helpful in my work and there is not a copy that is not more than worth
the 50 cents.--Mrs. Lulu Loveland Shepard, President, Utah State W. C.
T. U.

=The Light=, so far as I know purity literature, is, beyond all
comparison, the best periodical on the varied phases of the broad
subject of the sex problem as it agitates the world today. It keeps
abreast of the negative side, everything that is being done to reduce
and eliminate vice is discussed in fullest detail; on the positive side,
everything that is being tried to bring in a speedy development of pure
manhood, womanhood, childhood, home life, public life on these lines, is
dealt with sanely and in due proportion by writers of unquestioned
competence, arranged with the skill of a born journalist.

I have a complete set, from No. 1, Vol. 1, and find it a perfect
thesaurus of information on every conceivable phase of the question.
Then each new number comes with new and most important matter, which
keeps one up-to-date with the world-campaign for a clean humanity, while
old and new material throbs with a constant inspiration. God give it an
immense circulation until the World Federation for Purity shall have
accomplished its work.--Rev. Dr. C. S. Eby, Toronto, Canada.


=The Light= contains from 68 to 100 pages each issue. Publishes all the
reform news of the world and portraits of the leading writers. A yearly
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cents per year. Help scatter its needed messages by subscribing yourself
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Address all communications and send all remittances to

THE LIGHT

B. S. Steadwell, Editor. La Crosse, Wisconsin.

       *       *       *       *       *

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

There as so many things=> There are so many things {pg 89}

as he can develope into a pure=> as he can develop into a pure {pg 168}

“Hotchison notched teeth,”=> “Hotchinson notched teeth,” {pg 406}

tempermental adaptation=> temperamental adaptation {pg 439}

unnatural social, econnomic=> unnatural social, economic {pg 441}

kidnaped or carried=> kidnapped or carried {pg 590}






End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex
Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

*** 