MOTHER'S BABY
There is another wonderful secret that I have to tell you. I wonder
if you can guess what this is! No, it is not about a flower, nor a
bird--but, yes, you have guessed it right, for it is about a girl
just like you!
Is it not queer how much alike the flowers and birds and little girls
are, after all, even if they do not look at all alike?
You have lungs just the same as the bird, and breathe as it does. You
have two feet, but instead of wings you have arms and hands. You have a
sign language, as the flowers have, and you have a language of sounds
that is even better than the bird language. When you are happy, I can
tell it by the smiles on your face, and sometimes when you are a wee bit
cross, I know it by a tiny frown that mars the beauty of your face. But,
of course, that does not happen very often, because, you know, as we
grow older, our faces do not change their expressions as easily as they
do when we are young. And would it not be dreadful, if when you grew up,
you always had a frown on your face and were not nice looking at all?
You know the frown wrinkles try to stay, and every time we let them come
out they leave a tiny mark.
When the flower took in the fresh air it made green coloring matter, but
when you take in the fresh air it makes red coloring matter. So if you
want to have red cheeks and red lips you must have plenty of fresh air.
I know you get a great deal in the daytime when you are playing, but you
must be sure to get it at night, too, or you will lose all your pretty
color. Be sure that your window is open every night.
You remember, the leaves not only had to breathe but they had to digest
the food for the plant, too, but the bird had a stomach to perform that
work.
In this way you are like the birds, for you have a stomach which takes
care of the food you eat. If you wish to grow strong and well so as
to be able to run and play and also to help your mother with her work,
you must eat plenty of good, nourishing food. You know some food makes
muscles, but other things are not very good for people to eat. Plenty of
bread and milk and cereals, also meat, potatoes and fruit, are very good
things to make girls grow. You must take care of your stomach, too, and
give it time to rest, for it works very hard and might get tired out.
Then what would you do?
You have seen, Violet, that in a great many ways you are like the birds
and flowers, but now I am going to tell you something that perhaps you
did not know. Girls have ovaries just the same as flowers and birds, and
inside each ovary are a great many little ovules that after a while will
ripen as the seeds did, only instead of growing into flowers or birds
they will grow into babies. Is that not lovely, and are you not glad
that perhaps some day you will be able to have a baby all your own? But
of course that will not be for a great many years yet, for you must wait
until you have grown into a strong woman and have a home of your own and
a husband to help take care of the baby.
When the little ovules are ripe there must be a nest prepared for them,
just the same as there was one prepared for the flowers and birds. But
now I shall tell you another wonderful secret. Mothers do not have to
build nests, for they are already prepared for them right inside their
bodies close to their hearts. The nest is called the womb. Although we
do not have to build the nest, we have to take good care of it so it
may grow strong.
This nest and the tiny ovules are growing constantly from the time the
girls are babies, but they grow so very slowly that none of the ovules
are ripe until the girl is about twelve years old. After that one ripens
every month and passes to the nest or womb. At the same time an extra
amount of blood is sent to the womb to provide nourishing material for
the ovule to use in its growth. But the womb, or nest, is not strong
enough yet to hold a healthy baby, so this extra amount of blood with
the ovule is sent out of the body through the vagina, which is a
muscular tube leading from the womb to the external parts (private
parts). We call this flow the menstrual flow. This occurs every month
and each time the womb becomes a little stronger and better able to
hold a growing babe. But the womb is not fully developed until the
rest of the body is matured.
Menstruation is the sign of the possibility of motherhood. Realizing
this fact, one cannot fail to have a high idea of this function. Most
girls, naturally, desire children. Little girls love their doll babies,
and spend much time in caring for them, but as girls grow into womanhood
they desire real babies. A woman who does not desire children has had
her mind perverted by false ideas or fear.
* * * * *
Build me straight, O worthy Master!
Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!
Longfellow.
* * * * *