CHAPTER XVI.

WHEN THE BABY IS BORN.

At the end of about 280 days after the conception, or what under

ordinary conditions would have been the tenth menstrual period, the days

are completed and the expectant mother is usually delivered of her

child. The day when the indications are that the child is to be born is

always one of great anxiety, but need not be one of apprehension or

fear. Where the laws of health have been observed there is no cause for

apprehension. With the birth of the first child the labor is oftentimes

somewhat more prolonged and attended with more pain, but the after-pains

are usually not considerable. Generally the pains which precede the

birth diminish with each succeeding confinement, but the after-pains

increase in a similar manner.

Where the mother has made intelligent preparation for this great event,

the child may be, and generally is, born without the actual assistance

of the doctor. An intelligent nurse would be in position to render every

needed assistance, but the presence of a well-equipped physician always

brings such added ease to the mind of the mother, by removing all

unnecessary risks, that it is always desirable that the physician should

have been apprised in advance, notified promptly, and be on hand as

soon as possible after the labor-pains commence. This is especially

important when it is the first child.

If the labor should be short and the birth take place before the arrival

of the physician, the nurse or attendant should be careful to see that

the cord is not wound about the neck of the child, but placed free, and

the child with its head in position so that it can breathe naturally,

and with its body warmly covered.

When the pulsing in the cord has ceased and the child has cried

vigorously, any nurse who has been present at previous confinements, who

is intelligent and capable, would be able to sever the cord after having

made the necessary bindings upon it. Indeed, some authorities contend

that when the pulsing has _ceased_ the cord may be severed without any

tying of the ends at all.

Dr. Alice B. Stockham, in "Tokology," makes the following sensible

suggestions: "Usually, as the child is ushered into the world, it sets

up a lusty cry, indicating that respiration is established. Crying is

not essential, as some authors claim, and the prompt covering usually

causes it to desist. If it does not breathe at once, a little brisk

patting on the breast and thigh may establish respiration. If this is

not effectual, dash cold water in the face and on the chest. Still

failing, artificial respiration must be established. To do this, close

the nostrils with two fingers, blow into the mouth, and then expel the

air from the lungs by a gentle pressure upon the chest. Continue this as

long as any hope of life remains.

"_Sever the cord when pulsation has entirely ceased._ Use a dull pair of

scissors, cutting about two inches from the child's navel. Following

these directions, no tying is essential."

Tying is done in order to prevent excessive bleeding; but whether to tie

the ends of the severed placentic cord, or not, is a matter which should

be left wholly to the attendant doctor. It is well for the young husband

to be intelligent and well-read along these and kindred lines, but if he

employs a physician he should accept the physician's judgment and have

his instructions followed. If he is not satisfied with the doctor whom

he has employed, but sees fit to change for one whose opinions harmonize

more closely with his own, that is a matter for the husband's own

judgment, but the physician who is employed should always be supreme and

left without interference or dictation. The doctor in charge must have

absolute control in a lying-in room. He should direct, and not be

dictated to.

If the husband is intelligent, enters into the sympathies of his wife,

and has her confidence, if the physician consents, as he doubtless will,

it seems quite natural that he should desire to be present with his wife

in this trying experience of her life. If he understands the nature of

the experience through which she is called upon to pass, his sympathy

will be helpful to his wife, and if nature has endowed him with any of

the qualifications of a good nurse, he can be of assistance to the

doctor. Where the husband is without intelligence, is nervous, and

exerts a depressing influence upon his wife, his absence may be more

helpful than his presence. If the husband is intelligent and

sympathetic, it seems to us that he could not but desire to be with his

wife; but where he is wholly disqualified, his physician should not

hesitate to express his judgment and preference in this matter.

The presence of a physician is always to be preferred, in order to

determine the presentation, sever the cord, and look carefully after the

afterbirth. The normal presentation is of the head foremost.

Where the inexperienced young husband is in an extremity, and finds

himself alone at the hour of delivery, he should expect, as is most

likely, that everything will move along normally, and he needs to be

especially guarded only upon three points. When the head is born, see

that the navel cord is not twisted around the child's neck. If this

should be the case, it can easily be slightly loosened and then slipped

over the child's head; otherwise the pressure of this tightened ligature

would prevent its breathing and would result in strangulation. In an

_extreme_ case the cord could easily be tied in two places, a couple of

inches apart, and cut between them. This should be done by an

experienced person only, and as a last resort. After the child is born,

the next and last important thing is the coming away of the placenta,

or afterbirth. This often occurs at the end of twenty minutes or a half

hour, or may be longer delayed. In the meantime the mother should be

warmly covered, and any drink given her should not be either extremely

hot or extremely cold. The afterbirth should be kept in a vessel

prepared for it until the doctor has inspected it, so that he may know

whether all the parts have come away or not. If any part remains, it

might cause serious trouble.

These things successfully accomplished, the bathing of the child and

care of the mother are next in order. How soon these should be

undertaken would have to be determined by conditions. With the mother, a

period of rest is sometimes very desirable. When bathing her body, or

changing her bed, the greatest care should be exercised to protect her

from the danger of contracting cold. During these hours her physical

nature undergoes a great revolution, and exposure at this time might

entail permanent results of a serious character. Fevers, bealed breasts,

the aches, pains and perils which so often accompany and follow

confinement, are almost wholly due to lack of proper care at this

period.

If the young husband is intelligent and desires the comfort and

well-being of his wife he will see that for a sufficient period she is

protected against callers, and even the visits of friends. She is weak

and needs absolute rest. She needs at least several days or more

before she should be visited. If callers are allowed in her room, they

are liable to remain too long. If you lack the nerve to decline callers

the privilege they may expect, then ask your physician to order that no

one see her at present.

The comfort, safety and well-being of the wife renders the selection of

a good nurse a matter of as great importance as the choice of a good

physician. In this matter the doctor is oftentimes the best counselor.

He is constantly coming in contact with those who are in charge, where

he is in attendance, and his suggestions ought to be most valuable. It

is of the utmost importance that she should be a woman of pure blood;

and for this a good moral character is the best guarantee. It is not

wise to suppose that, since she is to remain but for a few weeks, the

question of character is of no moment, for, without any outward

evidences to arouse suspicion, she might bring with her, and by kissing

and in other ways communicate to the child the results of venereal and

other diseases which might entail, from this unsuspected source,

consequences from which years could not bring subsequent relief.

Medical authorities assert that at least six weeks are required after

childbirth before the womb assumes its natural size and position. An

eminent physician, writing in the New York _Medical Journal_, says: "I

have watched this very carefully in a number of women, and have seen in

the perfectly clean womb of a non-nursing mother involution delayed as

late as the third month."

It is perfectly safe to say that parents will make no mistake by

observing the requirement of the Levitical teaching upon this subject.

After confinement or miscarriage, marital relations should be wholly

omitted for a period. Upon this point the sanitary regulations of the

Mosaic economy were very explicit. In the twelfth chapter of Leviticus

instruction is given that after the birth of a male child at least forty

days should elapse, and after the birth of a female, or maid child, at

least eighty days should be permitted to elapse. Just why there should

be this difference in time, six weeks after the birth of a male child

and three months after the birth of a female child, seems not to be

clearly understood either by theologians or medical authorities. When we

know that this is intended and enjoined, we can rest assured that there

are good and sufficient reasons, whether they be physical, social,

sanitary or political.

No thoughtful or considerate husband would desire to impose upon his

wife such exactions as would result in her certain discomfort, and

possibly in such permanent physical injuries as are quite sure to

follow.

One of the medical journals recently contained an incident narrated by a

physician who had attended a woman in five different confinements. In

each instance the physician noticed that about the seventh or eighth day

the temperature of the patient indicated some unusual physical

disturbance or irregularity. In the last confinement, when the physician

called to mind similar conditions during previous periods of

convalescence, he decided to discover the cause, and, by questioning the

patient very critically, learned that the guilty husband was the

occasion of his wife's trouble. While such occurrences are shameful in

the highest degree, yet it is possible that such gross conduct is the

occasion of many relapses upon the part of convalescing mothers, and to

this it is probable that many deaths may easily be attributable.

That some husbands are brutal in this respect, we need but simply to

name that an eminent physician of Philadelphia has stated that a legal

friend had told him that he had procured a divorce within two years from

her marriage for a wife whose charges of cruelty were sustained by the

evidence that three days after her confinement her husband had driven

the nurse out of his wife's room in order that he might make this cruel

exaction of her.

After the little stranger is safely landed, bathed, dressed, and has had

a sufficient period of rest, the matter of nourishment is likely to come

up for consideration. The food which nature has provided is best suited

to the physical requirements of the child, and is found in the mother's

breasts. The earliest secretions of her breast constitute what is called

colostrum, and is purgative in character, designed to cleanse the

child's bowels of the meconium, or tar-like substance, with which they

are filled previous to birth. Other food should never be substituted

until failure has resulted in an honest, serious effort to conform to

nature's purpose. If for any reason the child cannot obtain the

nourishment which should be provided by the mother, it needs very little

food until the third day.

If the serious results attendant upon artificial food and the provision

of wet-nurses were fully understood, the terrible consequences which

come to both the children and their parents, as the result of such

courses, would be studiously avoided. The desire to escape the nursing

and care of children, so as early to return to the rounds of social

duties and marital excesses, is a great mistake. The well-being of the

mother, as well as of the child, is dependent upon the fulfillment of

the natural obligations which are inseparable from the relation of

motherhood.

In large cities there are women who lead dissolute lives, put away their

own children, and then rent themselves out as wet-nurses. When

interviewed they tell plausible stories, and ingratiate themselves

sometimes into good families, to render the double service of nurse and

artificial mother. Many of these women are not only devoid of moral

character, but bring to the child the degenerating influences which are

inseparable from the vice and impurity which is a part of their own

being. Not infrequently these women bring with them the after-effects of

gonorrhea and syphilis, and the innocent child, which is entitled to

the nourishment from the body of its own mother, is subjected by

unthinking parents to the necessity of feeding at fountains which flow

with corruption, disease and death.

It is on this very account that the children of the middle and even

lower classes are generally stronger physically, intellectually and

morally, than the children of those whose wealth and inclination incline

them to dissipation and excess, to late hours and rich food, and who

from simple preference subject their children to artificial food, or to

the dangers and diseases which are so often brought into the home by a

wet-nurse and vicious nurse-girls.

Fatherhood, no less than motherhood, has its duties and its pleasures.

It is not only the father's duty, but it ought also to be his pleasure,

to look after his own children. Some husbands speak of "the baby" as

though it belonged wholly to the wife, and not to them. The thought of

caring for or tending the child seems to be as foreign to their minds as

though it were a child adopted by their wives from a foundling asylum.

It is not only the privilege, but the honor of the father to be found

enjoying the pleasure and satisfaction of holding and caring for his

children at proper times and intervals of leisure.

One of the prettiest pictures of home life is a painting in one of the

galleries of Europe of the king of Belgium, upon his hands and knees

upon the floor of the nursery, playing horse with his own royal

children.

Some men seem to act as though it were a disgrace for them to carry

their own children through the streets, or push the baby carriage when

accompanied by their own wives. Every person has seen some strong,

stalwart father, with weak character, walking by the side of a delicate,

nervous wife, who is weak and faint because of the burden of carrying a

child which belongs as much to the father as to the mother. Before they

were married this same man would not allow the delicate darling by his

side to carry her parasol; but now that they are married she is

permitted to carry a child that weighs ten or twenty pounds, or even

more, for great distances, because of the false pride of her

unthoughtful husband.

We once knew a pastor of a prominent city church who lived adjacent to a

small park where he was accustomed, at times, to sit in the shade and

read. After a baby came into their home, being a sensible man, he found

pleasure in giving some time and attention to his child; used sometimes

to wheel it through the park in a baby carriage, or have the carriage

stand near him while he sat and read. His home was not without a

sufficient number of helpers, and one of his parishioners ventured one

day to suggest that it was not becoming to take the baby with him when

he went into the park to read; but the sensible father resented not only

the insult which was offered to him personally, but to universal

fatherhood, by replying that it was his baby, and he would do with it as

he pleased.

The presence of a baby is a blessing in any home. It is a blessing to

the father as well as to the mother. Some men are not good fathers, the

same as some women are not the best of mothers; but any thoughtful

husband will concede the fact that a proper apprehension of the relation

which he sustains to the baby that is born in his home calls for a

recognition of the privileges and obligations of a father to himself, to

his child, and to his wife as well. What his home is, what his children

are to become, will depend as much, and possibly more, upon what he is

and does, than upon the little woman whose time, talent and strength are

already taxed to their utmost by the various and constant demands which

she must hourly meet.

PART III

CONCERNING HIS CHILDREN

CHAPTER XVII.

HEREDITY.

We now come in the third and last part of this book to write of what a

young husband ought to know with regard to his children. If his children

are to be greatly benefited by the wisdom of the father, he should be in

possession of the knowledge imparted in the following chapters many

years before he is in possession of the children. After they have

received their inheritance from the parents, their bodies have been

molded and fashioned, and bent and direction already given to their

character, it is then too late to put such knowledge into practical use.

Much of what might be said in the closing chapters of this book has

already found expression in the pages preceding. The doctrine of

transmission and inheritance pervades not only this entire book, but

also the two which precede it in the series. While it is true that too

much importance cannot be placed upon the subject of heredity, the

inheritance which we receive not only from our parents and grandparents

but even from our great-grandparents, and while it is true that all that

can be acquired in character and culture, both intellectual and

physical, is transmitted from the parents to their children; yet

possibly that which is by far the largest factor in determining the

physical, intellectual, social and moral endowment of the child are

found in the influences which mold and fashion the child during the

months which lie between the period of conception and the time of birth.

The potent influences of these different periods stand related to each

other somewhat like what may be seen in the studio of an artist who

molds and fashions in clay the models which are afterward to be

actualized in brass or bronze. While the success of the work might be

said to be greatly dependent upon the character, quality and condition

of the clay brought to hand for this service, and while no perfect

result could be secured with indifferent material, yet it is easy to see

how, with the very best material at hand, an indifferent artist or a

good artist when in indifferent mood would produce a very inferior

model. If, with the thought of modifying the bronze figure after it has

been cast, the artist is indifferent to the merits of the model which he

is making, the final result can only prove a failure. No step in the

work is unimportant, but the most important of all is the perfection of

the model. In his hands the clay readily yields itself to his thought

and impression; constant momentary care will prevent defects and

deformities which could not be wholly remedied or refashioned, even by

months and years of subsequent toil.

A wise man, when asked at what period a child's education should begin,

replied: "Twenty years before it is born." This is not an extreme

statement, and if it errs in anything it errs in making the period too

short rather than too long. Henry Ward Beecher once said that since so

much depends upon one's ancestors, a man ought to be very careful in

choosing his grandparents; and there is a vast deal of truth suggested

by this statement. A young woman cannot be too careful in choosing the

man who is to become the father of her children, and a young man cannot

exercise too much care in selecting the woman who is to become the

mother of his children.

In writing of heredity and prenatal influences, the subject divides

itself naturally into the three periods which we have previously

suggested--the preparation which precedes conception, the mental and

physical condition at the time of conjunction, the environment and the

mental and physical states of the mother during the period of gestation.

So much depends upon heredity that men who are interested in the

breeding of horses for the race-course recognize the fact that unless a

horse comes of racing stock he cannot be possessed of these essential

qualities, without which he cannot possibly win. It is said by those who

have made a study of it, that in England no horse has been known to win

in any considerable race that was not bred of racing stock. Occasionally

a horse with an ordinary pedigree may exhibit wonderful speed for a

_short_ distance, but none possesses the wind and endurance necessary

for a long race with animals of a pure blood and a good pedigree. To

this good inheritance the horseman adds constant training and the best

of care. If these are at any time neglected, the horse begins to

degenerate and reverts to the level of the ordinary animal.

It is generally agreed by physicians and those who have devoted time to

the study of this subject that the mind and temper of the parents at the

moment of conjunction have a great influence upon the temper and

disposition of the child. Children should never be begotten except at

those times when the husband and the wife can both bring their

contribution of good health, affection and mental composure. Something

of the effects produced by the mental states will appear by what we have

to say in subsequent paragraphs.

In most instances it is perhaps true, as we have already suggested, that

the greatest influences exerted upon the health, disposition and

character are those which are effected by the physical and mental

condition of the mother and the character of her environment during the

period of gestation. While much of what we would like to know concerning

prenatal influences is shrouded in mystery behind a veil that shuts us

out from this holy of holies in which God dwells in mysterious creative

power, yet we do know that peace of mind, equanimity of temper, purity

of life, loving affections and exalted aspirations beget influences

which are favorable to the production of the best physical,

intellectual and moral endowments. If strong mental excitement, anger,

emotion or fatigue affect injuriously the milk of the mother, so that

the nursing child at once feels disturbed and injured, then we can

reasonably understand how the child during the months prior to its

birth, while it is even more dependent and far more intimately connected

with the life-currents of the mother's body, and under the impress of

her mental state, must be affected in a manner correspondingly greater.

While scientists at the present stage of inquiry and investigation have

not been able to weigh and measure the force and effect of these

influences, yet some results have been secured which help us to

understand the existence of powers which were previously too subtle to

be brought into the realm of human knowledge.

Something of the manner in which the mental condition of the mother may

affect the child is suggested by the interesting experiments conducted

by Prof. Elmer Gates in his laboratory at Chevy Chase, Washington, D. C.

Prof. Gates has demonstrated the fact that even the breath is so

affected by the mental state that by analyzing the residuum which

remains upon a looking-glass which has been breathed upon, he is able to

determine the character of the mental condition of the individual at the

time the breath was exhaled upon the glass. Anger, revenge, jealousy,

joy, pain, pleasure, and possibly all the emotions, stamp their

distinctive messages upon the breath with as much accuracy as the

little machine in the telegraph office registers its message in

characters which we need only to know in order to be read. What some of

these many characters are, Prof. Gates has been able to decipher, and

his investigations and discoveries establish the fact that the mentality

of the individual is stamped upon the breath.

The mind not only affects the breath, but it affects the entire

individual; and this statement is proven by the fact that the character

of the exhalations of the body are affected by the mentality of the

individual. It is a well-known fact that not only does each different

disease produce its own peculiar bodily odor, but mental states produce

similar effects. It is affirmed that the odor in an insane asylum

differs from the odor in all other institutions. It is stated that no

amount of care and cleanliness, or even fumigation, can rid the wards

and rooms of this subtle and distinctive odor, peculiar to the bodily

exhalations of those who are affected with mental infirmities.

Insane asylums do not afford the only illustration. Institutions in

which convicts are confined also have an odor which is distinctive. It

differs from that of any other institution, and from the day that the

buildings are completed and the convicts enter, the penitentiary odor is

present, because inseparable from those who inhabit its wards. What is

true of insane asylums and penitentiaries is doubtless true in a less

pronounced manner of all institutions where persons are classified

according to mental differences.

If the mental states of the mother affect her own bodily health, and if

each of the diseases of the body and of the mind begets exhalations with

distinguishing characteristics, it is easy to understand that the subtle

effects of different mental states pervade the entire body. If these

influences effect results beyond and without our own bodies, much more

may they be expected to influence the unfolding mind and the developing

body which are forming within the maternal body, and whose intimate

dependence upon her seems to make them a part of her own person and

individuality.

Something of these subtle laws of heredity was known even to the

ancients, but the greatest acquisitions of knowledge along these lines

have come to mankind during the past two centuries. Thomas Andrew

Knight, who was born at Wormley Grange, England, in 1758, and died in

1836, accomplished such large results with vegetables, fruits and

domestic animals, that he has quite properly been considered the founder

of the science of horticulture. It was he who put into practice the

principles which have resulted in giving us the improved apples, pears

and many other fruits which have been developed from the unpalatable

wild varieties. The effects later accomplished by Bakewell in the

marvelous improvements in the new Leicester sheep afford one of many

striking illustrations. It is said that in the results effected by

scientific breeders "it would seem as if they had at first drawn a

perfect form and then given it life." Having first determined what form

of sheep they preferred, they continued to select from the flocks those

which most nearly approached the model, until they attained results

which in their standard of perfection were greatly removed from the

original type.

If you compare the wild boar of the forests with the improved breeds of

swine, the results which have been secured become very manifest. An

excellent judge of pigs says: "Pigs' legs should be no longer than just

to prevent the animal's belly from trailing on the ground. The leg is

the least profitable portion of the hog, and we therefore require no

more of it than is absolutely necessary for the support of the rest. Let

any one compare the wild boar with any improved breed and he will see

how effectually the legs have been shortened."

Breeders of birds and pigeons and poultry have accomplished in their

departments similar results. It is to the results of such study and

development that we owe the many varieties of poultry, pigeons and

birds. The poultry raiser may now determine whether he desires birds

with large bodies for the table, or the smaller egg-producers, or

whether he prefers other qualities, and he may select from the different

varieties such as are possessed of the desired requisites.

When we remember what has been accomplished by those who have taken the

single-leaf wild rose and produced the many elaborate and beautiful

varieties of roses which are now cultivated in hot-houses, and when we

see what has been accomplished by taking the many wild flowers of the

field and developing them into the beauty and splendor of what is to be

found in the botanical gardens, one gets a very fair idea of what has

really been accomplished in these directions. In writing of this subject

Dr. M. L. Holbrook says: "If there was no law of heredity, if animals

and plants did not transmit their characters to their offspring, then it

would be a waste of time to try to improve either." But the

horticulturists take advantage of these known laws for the improvement

of the original plant, and it is to the application of these same

principles that we owe the changes which have transformed the size and

flavor of the wild cherry and the wild grape into our present luscious

specimens of cultivated fruit.

In the raising, mating and development of birds, sheep and cattle,

wonderful results may be secured when the various steps are guarded and

directed by intelligence. While it is true that in the mating of human

beings all is largely left to sentiment, chance and blind blundering,

and while wonderful results could be attained could intelligence and

forethought give direction in human love affairs, yet with human beings

who intelligently set themselves to correct mistakes and to develop

talents, to supply deficiencies and prepare to transmit the very best

results that are possible to them, the effort is approved by results in

the offspring which are most gratifying and satisfactory.

No one can doubt the law of hereditary transmission. Our inherited and

acquired characteristics are sure to be transmitted to our descendants.

Indeed, so thoroughly does character permeate one's entire being that it

might be said of each drop of blood that in its characteristics it is a

miniature of the person in whose body it was secreted. Eminent

characters do not emanate from degenerate parents; and neither is the

reverse true, except as the result of adequate reversionary influences.

It is possible for almost any stock to revert to its original type, but

even such results are not produced without adequate causes. True, we

have the sentence "Degenerate sons of noble sires," but when one does

see such a result he may often find adequate causes. Eminent men often

have their powers overtaxed by excessive demands. Great lawyers,

physicians, preachers and statesmen often have such incessant demands

upon their time and energy that, although some are possessed of great

powers of endurance, yet many of them are almost always in a state of

physical and mental depletion. Personally they have wrought into their

daily effort all that they have to transmit, and their children receive

only the remnants and dregs of greatness--a depleted body and a depleted

mind.

Sometimes the degeneracy to the lower type is due to indulgence in

social or other vices. If the father is guilty of sexual excesses, given

to the liberal use of tobacco, or uses intoxicating liquors, it will not

be necessary to look further for the causes. Sometimes the child has had

a great father, but a very ordinary mother; or both parents may have

been great, while the mother may have been placed under the most

disadvantageous surroundings, and subjected to the most unfavorable

conditions during the period of gestation; or, after the birth of the

child, it may have been turned over to the degenerating influences of

diseased and corrupting servants; or it might be that the child had

inherited the real character of a father whose reputation was great, but

whose character was ordinary. The farmer who would raise a good crop

finds three things essential. The first is, good seed; the second is,

good soil; and the third is, good care.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PRENATAL INFLUENCES.

Space does not permit us to go into a full discussion of the theories

and of the principles which lie at the basis of prenatal influences. A

few illustrations, however, will be suggestive, induce thoughtful

consideration, and possibly lead many to a fuller investigation of the

subject.

It is said that the mother of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, was of a

very happy disposition, and evinced a remarkable memory for old songs

and ballads, and these she would sing as she went about her daily

household duties.

Another instance often named is that of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the

months preceding his birth his mother is said to have accompanied her

husband on horseback upon one of his military campaigns. For several

months she lived in the midst of military surroundings, and became

personally interested in the arts of war. These influences stamped their

impress upon her unborn child, whose earliest manifestation of childish

interest after his birth was an exhibition of the warlike spirit. His

thoughts and boyhood conversation were of war and conquest.

Mr. C. J. Bayer, in his interesting and suggestive book, entitled

"Maternal Impressions," tells of a woman who, during the period of

gestation, was stinted in her allowance of money, and stole from the

cash-drawer in her husband's store. The son that was born to them was a

kleptomaniac, whose stealing was limited to those of his own family and

relatives. He stole his sister's watch, his mother's gold chain, a new

suit and a diamond pin from his father; but he was never known to take

anything from any one except his near relatives. If mothers would have

honest children they should be careful to entertain no dishonest

inclinations.

The result of an unsuccessful effort to murder one's own unborn

offspring is seen in Guiteau, the assassin who shot President Garfield

in 1881. His father was a man of some intellectual ability and integrity

of character. The Guiteau children were born in rapid succession, and,

because of lack of means, the mother, who was in poor health, was

obliged to work harder than would have otherwise been the case. Before

the birth of this child she resorted to every means in her power, by the

use of drugs, to produce an abortion. In this she was unsuccessful. For

several weeks during the latter part of her pregnancy she had brain

fever, which probably also had the effect of arresting the development

of some parts of the brain of her child. When the child was born it was

weak and puny, and for months its life was one continual wail. It was

months before the nervous system became at all quiet. He was deficient

in common sense, without self-control, and entirely destitute of every

vestige of remorse or shame. He was born a degenerate and a murderer.

From the great mass of matter which is available upon the subject of

prenatal influences, Dr. Napheys tells of the artist Flaxman, the

outlines of whose drawings used to be regarded as the most perfect and

graceful in existence: "From earliest childhood he manifested a delight

in drawing. His mother, a woman of refinement and artistic taste, used

to relate that for months previous to his birth she spent hours daily

studying engravings, and fixing in her memory the most beautiful

productions of the human figure as portrayed by masters. She was

convinced that the genius of her son was the fruit of her own

self-culture."

Only a few days ago a young mother who had been alone much of the time

during the period of gestation, and who had found special delight in

books and reading, called our attention to the fact that her twin girls,

now nearly two years of age, will accept a book in preference to toys,

and be contented by the hour simply to hold and handle a book.

Mr. C. J. Bayer tells of a young wife at whom some girl friends pointed

their finger, and, referring to her condition, said: "Aren't you ashamed

of yourself?" After they were gone, the young mother went to her room

and cried bitterly over the remark which the girls had made. Her child,

when seen by Mr. Bayer at the age of six, if any one, a stranger or

friend, pointed a finger at her, would burst into a fit of crying, and

it seemed impossible to cure her of this habit.

He also tells of a young mother who had an exceptionally bright child:

"When the child was three months old its brightness was commented upon

by some of her friends, and the mother said, 'I impressed that upon

her.' 'How did you come to do that?' She replied, 'I have seen so many

dull children, in my school work, who could not understand what was told

them, that I wanted my child to be quick to perceive and to comprehend,

and so let my mind dwell upon it, hoping to get favorable results. I had

been told that it could be done, and I am convinced that it is

possible.'"

Many instances of horrible child-marking are given in medical books, but

it is not best to allow the mind to dwell upon these things. We name but

a couple of instances, to illustrate the principle. Dr. Napheys tells of

a woman, the wife of a baker, who, during the early months of her

pregnancy, sold bread over the counter. Nearly every day a child with a

double thumb came in for a penny roll, presenting the money between the

thumb and the finger. After the third month the mother left the bakery,

but the malformation was so impressed upon her mind that she was not

surprised to see it reproduced in her own infant. The mother in due time

sought to correct the deformity by having the supernumerary thumb

removed by a surgical operation.

We recently heard of a mother who gave birth to a child that had but one

hand. The other arm was handless, as if amputated between the elbow and

wrist. The only way she could account for the deficiency in her child

was the fact that her husband's brother, who had had his hand amputated,

lived in the family during the earlier months of her pregnancy. While

she received no special shock, being familiar with his condition, yet

the mental impression, continued through a considerable period of the

earlier months, had its disastrous result.

Mr. C. J. Bayer names some interesting instances in support of his

theory that the disastrous effects of being frightened in the earlier

months of gestation may be corrected by the wish of the mother that her

child may not be affected, deformed or marked by the object or

influences which have caused her to be startled. He says that if a

mother earnestly desires to counteract a bad influence she should hope

and long that it may not do any harm. The result of such mental effort

will be beneficial to the forming brain. That very longing and desire

upon the part of the mother will have a corresponding effect upon her

child. This idea is drawn from, and the phenomena is explained by, the

fact that the mother, through her longings, creates the brain-substance

which is to control the desires which her child will possess.

Much might also be said upon the subject of longings. In a general way

it may be said that it is always best, when the longing is a proper one,

to see that it is promptly gratified. Even a desire for a particular

article of food is likely to produce in the child a pronounced desire

for the same thing. It is well, also, for the mother carefully to note

any longings which occur during the period of gestation, as it may

afford her an easy clue to the cause of the persistent crying of her

child after its birth. An instance may prove suggestive.

An Israelitish mother, "before the birth of her first child, smelled

fried pork, and longed for a taste of it, but her religion forbade. When

the child was born he positively refused the breast or bottle. The nurse

asked: 'What does this child want?' The mother replied: 'I do not know

of anything, except pork.' The father at once got a strip of pork, let

the child suck it a few moments, after which he was ready to nurse." The

father also related that notwithstanding the fact that the eating of

pork was contrary to their religious teaching, yet they had never been

able to restrain their son, who was then twenty-one years of age, from

eating it.

Numerous instances are related in different books where young infants

have moaned and cried continually, and upon being given a taste of that

for which the mother had longed prior to the birth of the child the

infant at once became quiet, and afterward seemed passive and contented.

We have read of a young mother who was a strict temperance woman, but

who had a longing for liquor. Her husband was also a temperance man, but

they decided that some be given the mother, the same as any other

medicine, under the circumstances, in order to relieve the longing and

save the child. After taking a dose of liquor the longing passed away,

and the child was normally born. Where the use of liquor is persisted in

during the period of pregnancy, many instances might be quoted where all

the children in the family died drunkards. There are some exceptional

instances in which the children of intemperate fathers never seem

possessed of a desire to use beverages. It is possible that

investigation might show, in such instances, that the mother had such an

abhorrence of the effects of intemperance upon her husband that her

constant longing that her children might live sober, upright lives had

resulted in securing for her a strictly temperance progeny.

Dr. Dio Lewis, in his book entitled "Chastity," when writing of prenatal

influences, says: "It is not carrying this subject too far to say that

if any trade or profession seems particularly desirable, the genius for

success in that line may be given to the child by proper effort before

its birth. The mother whose mind persistently dwells upon any chosen

subject during this nine months of gestation will surely see in her

offspring the mark of her thought. Beauty of person, strength of mind,

sweetness of disposition and holy aspiration may be assured to

posterity by parents wise and loving enough to fulfill the laws which

lead to the desired results."

Dr. Napheys, in writing upon the same subject, says: "What a charming

idea is this! What an incentive, to those about to become mothers, to

cultivate refinement, high thoughts, pure emotion, elevated sentiments!"

The character and disposition of the children oftentimes indicate the

influences which surrounded the mother during the months prior to their

birth. The first-born is likely to resemble the father more closely than

the children born later, because the bride is apt to have her thoughts

dwell much upon her young husband. Those born during a period of

financial prosperity are likely to be liberal, sometimes wasteful, and,

possibly, spendthrifts. Those born during the years when means are

scarce and economy is necessary are likely to be economical, and some

even miserly.

Prenatal influences are both subtle and potent, and no amount of wealth

or learning or influence can secure exemption from them. No golden lock

or jeweled hand can successfully hold the door against the admission of

these influences. Medical science has done much to mend defects,

alleviate suffering, patch up broken constitutions, and effect great

improvements, but the greatest remains to be accomplished by remedying,

as far as possible, the causes of these great evils by disseminating

intelligence and inspiring parents and young people with such

knowledge and purposes as will prepare the way for the raising up of a

superior generation. In this work the philanthropic physician occupies

the place of greatest usefulness.

Parents need to realize that the work of right-forming is greater than

the work of reforming. The philanthropist who labors for the reformation

of adults does well; those who give their energy and effort to the

education and proper bringing up of children do better; but those who

intelligently devote themselves to the proper formation of the body,

character and disposition of those yet unborn do best of all. We are

thoroughly orthodox upon the subject of human depravity, but we believe

that persons may be so generated as to be the more easy subjects of

regeneration. Or they may be so "conceived and born in sin" as

manifestly to illustrate the declaration of the Psalmist: "The wicked

are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born."

Before leaving this subject we desire to say a word which may be of

comfort to any parents whose children may be born to them with some

blemish or deformity. God has so equipped the mother-heart and the

father-heart that they should love and care for those who are

unattractive, or even unsightly. We recently heard of a mother whose

child was born with a harelip, and, fearing lest the sight of the child

might have a depressing effect upon the mother in her enfeebled

condition, various excuses were made to keep the child out of her

sight for a period of several days. When evasions would avail no longer,

and the mother was shown her child, after a momentary sense of

disappointment she said: "Well, it is my child, and I can love it just

the same."

It is also an encouragement to know that what are ordinarily called

birthmarks generally diminish, and oftentimes disappear after a brief

period. Dr. Russegger tells of a woman who in the seventh month of her

pregnancy was bitten in the calf of her leg by a dog. At the moment of

the accident she was somewhat alarmed, but neither then nor afterward

had any fear that her child would be affected by the occurrence. Ten

weeks later, when her child was born, there were marks upon the calf of

its right leg resembling the impressions made by the dog's teeth upon

the leg of the mother. The impressions of two of the teeth disappeared

in five weeks, and the others gradually faded away. Similar results may

be expected in most instances.

There is one branch of the prenatal subject which has reference to

determining the sex before birth, in which some persons, because of a

predominance of either male or female children in their families, may

naturally and properly have special interest. The desire of some parents

for male children in preference to female children is both wrong and

unworthy of that proper Christian regard in which woman should

rightfully be held. In heathen countries, because of the hardships to

which women are subjected, the parents are often sad when a girl is

born into the family; but in Christian lands, where the influences of

the gospel have given woman her proper place and rightful recognition,

the feeling which disparages the girl child, or would lead to a

preference for male children to the exclusion of female children, is

altogether wrong and unworthy of our Christian civilization.

It will readily be seen, from the effect of prenatal influences, that it

would not be desirable, because of its effects upon the formation of the

growing life within the mother's body, that she should allow her mind to

dwell largely upon these subjects, or anxiously desire one sex in

preference to another. Where such influences are exerted upon the

embryo, a male child with an effeminate, girlish nature, or a female

child with a boyish, masculine disposition, might be the result. While

it is perfectly proper that parents should know what views are held by

medical and scientific men upon these subjects, it is not best that the

mother's mind should be influenced by the consideration of them during

the period of gestation.

The influences which control and determine sex are so subtle, and have

hitherto so thoroughly evaded human investigation and study, that little

or no reliance can be placed upon any of the theories. Of the vast

number of theories, many are ludicrous, some are exact contraries of

others, a few seem plausible, while none have been found infallible, or

even reliable.

Some have held that the phases of the moon at the period of conception

controlled and determined the sex of the offspring. Others have held

that the season of the year when the ovum is produced and fertilized

determines the result. This theory makes it largely a question of

temperature and climate. The theory which has had many advocates is one

that contends that the question of sex is largely determined by the

question of food prior to conception and during the period of gestation.

By persons who hold this theory it is maintained that during periods of

prosperity and plenty the number of girl children preponderate, and that

during periods of adversity, and when food is less abundant, the

majority of those who are born are boys. Another theory which has been

often repeated, and as often disproved, is that the sex of the offspring

is determined by the side of the reproductive system engaged in the

production of the ovum, and of the sperm; that if the generative glands

upon the right side of the body of the mother and of the father are

engaged, a male child is the result; but if the left sides are engaged,

the result is a girl. This theory maintains that the ovum which proceeds

from the right ovary results in the formation of the body of a male

child, while those that proceed from the left ovary result in the

production of a female child. That this theory is not reliable has often

been demonstrated in instances where the right or the left ovary of the

woman has been removed by surgical operation, and she has subsequently

become the mother both of male and of female offspring. The same is true

with regard to fathers who have, by accident or disease, lost one of the

testes, and have subsequently become the fathers of both boys and girls.

Another theory which has received considerable attention is that the

ova, liberated from month to month, alternate in gender. That one month

the ovum is of that character which would result in the production of a

male child, and the succeeding month of such a nature as would result in

the production of a female child. Some hold that the respective ages of

the parents have something to do with determining the question of the

sex of their offspring; that where the father is older than the mother,

female children are likely to predominate. Some hold that the superior

vitality of the father, or of the mother, will result in the production

of sex of their own kind. Some persons who have given attention and

study to this subject teach exactly the reverse of these two theories.

The theory which has been largely accepted by intelligent medical

authorities is that children conceived in from two to six days after the

cessation of the menses are generally girls, and that those conceived in

from nine to twelve days after the cessation of the menses are boys--or,

in other words, that those begotten in the earlier period after the

cessation of the monthly period of the mother are likely to be girls,

and those begotten in the later period are likely to be boys.

There are many theories, some of which seem altogether fanciful, if not

silly--such as that the sex of the child is determined by the side of

the bed upon which the father sleeps, whether the bed is situated so

that the persons lie with their heads toward the north or some other

point of the compass. Knowing the natural curiosity of not a few persons

upon such subjects, and the abnormal desire of some parents for children

of one or the other sex, there are not a few impostors who offer to

furnish information upon these subjects at a costly price. The methods

proposed are sometimes innocent, and may be without injury, while in

many other instances the suggestions are debasing, likely to produce

injurious results, and never reliable. While the desired sex may be

determined in harmony with natural laws, the parents may give all the

credit to the impostor, if Nature has brought them a child of the sex

they have desired. It would scarcely seem necessary to advise

intelligent people against the impositions of such ignorant pretenders.

The entire subject has been wrapped in a mystery hitherto impenetrable.

No investigation has yet been able to secure from Nature her secret

concerning this matter. It is very possible that the Creator of mankind

has purposely placed this knowledge beyond human reach, and left the

regulation of this important matter wholly to His own infinite decrees.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHILDHOOD.

While it is possibly true that the most potent molding influences may be

exerted prior to the birth of the child, yet where parents have lacked

the intelligence to avail themselves of the largest and best results in

this respect, or discover defects after their children are born, there

still remains an opportunity for them. They can in some measure retrieve

lost opportunities, correct defects, supply deficiencies, and even

accomplish wonderful results in the training and development of their

children. "As the twig is bent the tree is inclined." If the twig is

crooked, if taken very early it may be straightened; but it is far

better that the twig should be straight at first, and without the

necessity of being straightened. It is better that children should be

born without defects, rather than that there should be the necessity of

correcting these mistakes; but as a straight twig may be bent to its

permanent and incurable injury, so a child, properly nurtured and

well-born, may be injured or totally ruined, mentally, morally or

physically, by deficient or defective training during its childhood.

There are many excellent books upon the nurture and training of

children, and young parents would do well to avail themselves of the

advantages and excellent suggestions afforded by such publications.

There are also many excellent periodicals for young parents, such as

"The New Crusade," "Trained Motherhood," "The Mothers' Journal," and

others, which are very valuable and almost indispensable. From such

books and periodicals young parents can obtain the best of suggestions

with regard to the early care, proper nurture and careful training of

their little ones. We cannot now dwell upon any of the many important

phases of child-training. Space only affords opportunity to emphasize

some things which seem to us of special importance and likely to be

overlooked.

Many young parents think that the training of their children will be a

matter for consideration when they are three or four years old. No more

serious mistake can possibly be made. The first three months will

determine the babyhood, and the first two years the childhood, and the

childhood will determine the manhood or womanhood. The first two years

may almost be said to determine both the character and the destiny of

the child for all time to come. The child that is not properly taught

during the first two years is likely to remain untaught, undisciplined,

uncontrolled, and oftentimes uncontrollable, for the remainder of its

childhood and throughout its entire life.

The questions of the hours of feeding, the hours for sleep; whether the

child is to be rocked, or carried when it whimpers--all these are

questions of the utmost importance from the very beginning. Many a

mother has been enslaved for life because of the mistakes which she made

during the first few weeks after her child was born.

Parents should protect their children against the silly and dangerous

habit of being promiscuously kissed. The prevalent custom of kissing

babies and children is not only silly upon the part of those who do it,

but a nuisance to the child, and in many instances detrimental to the

health of the child. Where promiscuous kissing is allowed, persons with

offensive breath, consumptive tendencies, contagious and even loathsome

diseases, may unintentionally inflict irreparable wrong upon both the

child and its parents. Only the other day we read in a medical journal

where a young child of poor parents who kept a boarding-house was kissed

by one of the boarders, who communicated to the child one of the most

loathsome of diseases. Such dangers exist not only among the poor, but

are perhaps even more prevalent among the affluent, in the circle of

whose acquaintances there is likely to be some well-dressed but vicious

and corrupt individual.

Let no care or proper expense be spared in making the influences which

are exerted in the nursery both attractive and potent. Young parents

should be their children's best playfellows. There should be a proper

amount of games, carefully-selected amusements, books, papers, pictures

chosen with scrupulous care, and mother and mother's influence in the

midst of them all. What the child needs pre-eminently above playthings,

books, clothes, and every other earthly thing, is _the presence and

influence of mother_. No other woman in the world can take her place.

Many mothers farm their children out to nurses, and then give themselves

to household duties, social pleasures, or possibly to duties which may

be important in themselves, but which, after all, can only be secondary

to the discharge of the all-important duties of motherhood.

Many otherwise excellent women find the nursery a prison, and the care

of their own children irksome, simply because they have a perverted

mother-sense. The mother should have proper relief from the care of her

children, but if she has the true mother-heart the companionship of her

children will be the society which she will prefer above that of all

others.

Where servants are necessary, and such cases do exist, parents should

exercise the utmost caution in guarding the purity of their children.

Hundreds, and we can properly say thousands, of children are annually

wronged and ruined by the vices practiced upon them by servants. This is

an especial danger where nurses and servants are permitted to undress

the child and put it to bed at night. Many a nurse who is anxious to

quiet her little charge, that it may fall asleep promptly, is guilty of

exciting sensations which quiet the child and prevent its crying, but

which inflict upon the nervous system of an infant results of the most

far-reaching character. Mothers are very apt to be unsuspecting in these

matters, and therefore it is highly important that the attention of

fathers should be called to this grave danger.

The child should also be protected against being frightened, being made

afraid in the dark, told of spooks, bugaboos, "the old beggar-man" and

the police coming for them. Remember, also, that in this most

impressible period of character-formation servants and others can do the

child great injury by teaching it to be deceitful and untruthful. It is

at this age, also, that they learn incorrect and ungrammatical forms of

expression; and if the nurse-girl is ignorant and silly, and is

permitted to assemble upon the streets or in the park, with others of

her age, while tending the child, a bright child of two or three years

will pick up more coarseness and more undesirable information concerning

human depravity than can be expunged from its mind by subsequent months

and years of careful training.

It is important to enjoin upon parents the duty of guarding their

children against secret vice. Parents are very apt to think that while

other children might be guilty of such sins, their own children are "too

innocent and too pure" to fall into such vices. We have known mothers to

hold up their hands in holy horror at such a suggestion, but when the

more cautious fathers have watched their children, they have discovered

that even at the age of five and six their little boys have learned

from older playmates, impure companions, degraded servants, or by

sliding down the balustrade, or in some other incidental way, the

terrible habit of self-pollution. Young children cannot be too carefully

guarded in this important matter. Where infants exhibit a tendency to

handle their private parts, great care should be given to the

cleanliness of those parts, and, if continued, the family physician

should be consulted, to see whether circumcision is not necessary to

remove local irritation and inflammation. This is found to be necessary

in many instances. Circumcision was an important sanitary regulation

among the Israelites, is a simple surgical operation which is most

beneficial in its results, and very important in many instances.

When your children are old enough to ask honest questions, see that, in

reply, they receive an honest answer. If a child is intelligent and

thoughtful, one of the earliest inquiries will be concerning the origin

of life. When a little one is born into your own or another household,

it is only natural and proper that intelligent children should inquire

where it came from. There should be no fables about babies being brought

by doctors, or being found under cabbage-leaves, or taken from hollow

stumps in the woods, for an intelligent and altogether satisfactory

answer can be given to an intelligent child of six or seven years, and

even younger. Another has aptly and truthfully said: "Ignorance is a

deadly sin. The truth properly told has never yet harmed a child;

silence, false modesty and mystery have corrupted the souls and bodies

of untold millions." Where parents are intelligent upon this subject,

and know how to present these matters properly to the thought of their

children, we have never heard of a child who asked an embarrassing

question, nor have we known of anything but the most satisfactory and

blessed results. Parents will find beautiful and helpful suggestions in

"Teaching Truth" and "Child Confidence Rewarded," two booklets by Mary

Wood-Allen, M.D.; and it was also to aid parents in these matters that

"What a Young Boy Ought to Know" and "What a Young Girl Ought to Know"

were written. Parents should read these books and learn how to

communicate the information, either in conversation or by reading to the

child such portions as are suited to its needs. Remember that the

disposition which prompts your child to keep an unclean thing a secret

from you will also incline the child to refrain from conversation upon a

pure matter which is to be a secret between parent and child. If you

allow others to teach your child sacred truths in an unhallowed way, if

you decline to give your children an honest answer to their honest and

reasonable inquiries, they will secure in its degrading form, from

vicious companions or ignorant servants, the information they seek. It

is infinitely easier to keep the mind of the child pure than to purify

it after it has been polluted. When corrupting thoughts and degrading

pictures have been painted upon the canvas of the mind, they can never

be totally obliterated.

When your child approaches the age of puberty, the little boy becomes

awkward, his voice breaks, the down starts upon his upper lip, he

becomes bashful and shrinking. At that trying period, when so many take

special pleasure in taunting and tantalizing--at that period of special

stress when the boy and the girl pre-eminently need tenderness--see to

it that your children are protected against the wrongs to which others

are subjected. This is the period in the life of the boy and the girl

when they are not able to understand themselves or to interpret life to

their own satisfaction, and then it is that they should be made

intelligent upon the conditions which attend the transition from

childhood, and indicate the approach of manhood and womanhood. It is

then that the books in the series for boys and girls will be found

especially indispensable, and in due time, according to the judgment of

the parents, should be followed by the book addressed to young men or to

young women.

Look carefully after the education of your children. Remember that the

picture-book, the nursery-song, the evening prayer, the family music,

the walk, the ride, the hasty word, the thoughtful counsel, are all

helping to educate your child. Know what books they read. Be sure that

in the public schools they sit under the instruction of no one who

insinuates doubt or destroys the careful and sacred instruction of the

home. When evening comes and evil lurks for the destruction of the

young, gather your children about you in your home. Make home attractive

to them. Let it be the centre and source of that which is to inspire

them to noble manhood and exalted womanhood. Regard nothing as expensive

which will contribute to make your children pure and good and great.

That your children may be guarded against the errors which come from

sleeping with other children, neither at home nor elsewhere should they

share their beds with others.

Look well to the physical culture of your children. If physical culture

has no place in your school, see that the attention of directors and

teachers is called to this important matter. Encourage your children to

use the gymnasium of the Young Men's Christian Association, or some

other organization that similarly maintains the strictest purity and the

highest moral standards. Teach or have your children taught those forms

of gymnastics that require no appurtenances; supply them with a pair of

dumb-bells weighing a pound or two each. Furnish the nursery with some

Exerciser of approved pattern, with preference for one which can be

adjusted to the needs of either adults or children. Encourage them in

out-of-door sports; see that their sleeping-rooms are well ventilated;

encourage them to desire to be strong and well. Teach them to govern

their appetites; regulate their lives so as to secure the best health

and the best physical and intellectual powers.

In the culture of the intellectual and the physical do not forget the

moral training of your children. Among the books and the papers, see

that there is a good supply of those of a religious character. Teach

your children to want right things, and to have pleasure in doing good.

Make a faithful use of the Sunday-school and of the Church. Let their

place in the family pew from early childhood be regularly filled;

provide them with a hymnbook, see that they have something for the

collection, teach them to be reverent. If, in early life, your children

are religiously inclined, do not make the fatal mistake of standing

between them and their union with the Church. Do not say: "Oh! they are

too young fully to understand what it all means." Who is old enough to

understand all the mysteries of Divine grace? It is enough for us to

know that Jesus welcomes and saves the children, as well as older

people. Polycarp was converted at nine years of age; Matthew Henry at

eleven; President Edwards at seven; Dr. Watts at nine; Bishop Hall at

seven, and Robert Hall at twelve.

And now we have come to the place where author and reader must part.

Taking your hand in a final grasp, we can only look into your face and

assure you that if, as a young husband, you rightly estimate the

sacredness of marriage; if you bring to it that purity, honor and

sanctity which you rightly expect upon the part of your wife; if you

rightly use its privileges, and are ready to exercise such personal

restraints as shall secure to both parties the largest present pleasure

and permanent happiness, you will then obtain the benediction and

blessings which marriage and home and parentage have to bestow.

THE END.

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[Illustration: Commendations from Eminent Men and Women]

What a Young Husband Ought to Know

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: CHARLES M. SHELDON, D.D.

Author of "In His Steps," "Crucifixion of Philip Strong," "My Brother's

Keeper," etc., etc., Topeka, Kans.]

"I take pleasure in adding my word of commendation for the spirit and

purpose of your book, 'What a Young Husband Ought to Know,' which I have

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message may be used for the bettering of the homes of the world."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN ENGLAND SAY.

[Illustration: REV. F. B. MEYER, B.A.

Minister of Christ Church, Westminster, London, Author of "Israel, A

Prince with God," "Elijah: Tried by Fire," "The Bells of Is," etc.,

etc.]

"The questions which are dealt with in the 'Self and Sex Series' of

books are always being asked, and if the answer is not forthcoming from

pure and wise lips it will be obtained through vicious and empirical

channels. I therefore greatly commend this series of manuals, which are

written lucidly and purely, and will afford the necessary information

without pandering to unholy and sensual passion. There has been, in my

judgment, too much reticence on the whole of this subject, and nameless

sins have originated in ignorance or in the directions given to young

life by vicious men. I should like to see a wide and judicious

distribution of this literature among Christian circles."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: HON. S. M. JONES.

Mayor of Toledo, Ohio.]

"I have taken the time out of a very hurried week to look over your

book, 'What a Young Husband Ought to Know,' and it seems to me that it

is a work that has been prepared with great care and discrimination. I

have often thought that this work is one that some heart inspired by

love of humanity should undertake. I am glad to say that my study of it

indicates that you have been led by a pure love for your kind to write

one of the most helpful and valuable books that it has been my privilege

to see in many days."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: EDWARD BOK.

Editor of the "Ladies' Home Journal."]

"You have accomplished in doing, in your little book, 'What a Young

Husband Ought to Know,' exactly what you have set out to do, it seems to

me, and I know of no book of its kind which exhales to the same degree,

and so unerringly, the candid, pure and exalted purpose of the writer.

It is an honest little book, and every young married man who reads it

cannot fail to be helped by it, and helped materially. There are books,

three times the size, which do not begin to have one-third of the common

sense in them that your little book has."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: MRS. HELEN CAMPBELL.

Dean of the Department of Household Economics, Kansas State

Agricultural College; author of "Prisoners of Poverty,"

"Some Passages in the Life of Dr. Martha Scarborough," etc.,

etc.]

"It meets the strongest need for the mass of young men, who have failed

most of them, to receive the training outlined in the books for

boys--who are ignorant utterly as to just their own degree of

responsibility, and who will find in your careful statement of the

problem as a whole, not only invaluable direction, but a guarantee of

healthier and happier life for both husband and wife."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: MRS. MAY WRIGHT SEWALL.

President of the Girls' Classical School; President of the

International Council of Women.]

"I feel sure that the book which you have had the privilege to write

must do every young man good who reads it. To inculcate in society this

sound view that knowledge upon these subjects is not only compatible

with delicacy, but requisite to it, is one of the most important

contemporary duties of teachers, whether in the pulpit, on the rostrum,

in the sanctum, or in the class-room."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: HERRICK JOHNSON, D.D., LL.D.

Professor in McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago. Author of "Plain

Talks about the Theatre," "Revivals, Their Place and Power,"

"Christianity's Challenge," etc.]

"I have just laid down your book, 'What a Young Husband Ought to Know,'

after a very interested perusal of it. The rare discrimination and

delicate sense displayed in the handling of your theme are especially

commendable. To say a bold courageous thing on a confessedly delicate

subject, without any offence to true modesty, is a fine achievement. All

manhood and womanhood ought to thank you."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: BISHOP JOHN H. VINCENT, D.D., LL.D.

Chancellor of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle; Author of

"Sunday School Institutes and Normal Classes," "The Church School and

Its Officers," etc.]

"In a straightforward, clean, kind, clear and convincing way you discuss

the 'Young Husband' question. A copy ought to go with every marriage

certificate. The book is timely and full of wisdom."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: FRANCIS E. CLARKE, D.D.

Founder of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, and

President of the United Society.]

"I regard Dr. Stall's latest book as equal to the others in its delicate

but plain-spoken chapters concerning the facts the men to whom it is

addressed ought to know. I hope it will have a wide circulation."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: JOSIAH STRONG, D.D.

President of the League for Social Service; Author of "Our Country,"

"New Era," "The Twentieth Century City," etc.]

"'What a Young Husband Ought to Know,' like the earlier books of the

series, is judicious in its selection of topics and wise in its

treatment of them. Your admirable work will enable many young husbands

to learn what they ought to know without paying the high tuition fee

exacted in the school of experience."

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: MRS. FRANCES SHELDON BOLTON.

Editor of "Mothers' Journal;" Author of "Baby" and Other Books.]

"What a vast amount of suffering and wretchedness would be prevented,

and how many happy homes could be saved, if all young men before they

are married would read and profit by Dr. Sylvanus Stall's book, entitled

'What a Young Husband Ought to Know.'"

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE IN AMERICA SAY.

[Illustration: EMILY S. BOUTON.

Author of "Health and Beauty," "Social Etiquette," "House and Domestic

Decorations," "Life's Gateways and How to Win Real Success," etc.]

"It is much to find a writer who may touch upon these subjects with a

strong, firm, true, and yet delicate pen; and you are doing good service

to humanity by such work. I am indeed glad to know that your former

works have been so highly commended, and where such commendation will do

great good."

REV. NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS.

Pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., and author of "The

Investment of Influence," "A Man's Value to Society," etc.

"I have read your book with care and interest. It is a wholesome and

helpful contribution to a most difficult subject, and its reading will

help to make the American home happier and more safely guarded."

* * * * *

HOWARD A. KELLY, M.D.

Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics Johns Hopkins University,

Baltimore, Md.

"The book 'What a Young Husband Ought to Know' can be heartily

recommended. It handles in a plain but delicate and reverential manner

subjects that should be thoroughly understood by every adult man, but

which often are first learned by him through bitter experience. If the

knowledge contained in it were more generally diffused, many sad duties

left for the physician would become unnecessary."

* * * * *

LEMUEL BOLTON BANGS, M.D.

Professor Genito-Urinary Surgery in the N. Y. Post-Graduate Medical

School; Consulting Surgeon to St. Luke's Hospital and to the Methodist

Episcopal Hospital, Brooklyn; Surgeon to the City Hospital, N. Y.

"I have recommended it to a good many _old_ as well as 'young' husbands,

and am satisfied of its usefulness to them. I shall continue to commend

it, and also the other books of the series."

* * * * *

EUGENE H. PORTER, M.A., M.D.

Professor Materia Medica, New York HomA"opathic Medical College;

Professor Diseases of Stomach and Liver, Metropolitan Post-Graduate

School; Author of numerous standard medical works; Editor of North

American Journal of HomA"opathy.

"Your new book, 'What a Young Husband Ought to Know,' should be in the

hands of every young man who contemplates marriage. The work, while

thoroughly refined in style and treatment, is vigorous and direct in its

teaching and application of essential truths. Purity, happiness and

health will be with those who heed its teachings. It is a sound and

practical volume, and deserves a wide circulation."

* * * * *

H J. BOLDT, M.D.

Professor of GynA|cology, New York Post-Graduate Medical School and

Hospital; GynA|cologist to St. Mark's Hospital; GynA|cologist to the

German Poliklinik.

"There is nothing in the book which every man entering upon such new

duty in life should not know. I personally feel that its possession, and

_following_ it in practice by young husbands, would be conducive to a

purer life and more happiness. I shall most cheerfully commend it

whenever an opportunity presents itself."

* * * * *

OLIVER EDWARD JANNEY, M.D.

The Southern HomA"opathic Medical College, Baltimore, Md.

"If it could be placed in the hands of prospective husbands a vast

amount of unhappiness and disease would be avoided, and the well-being

of the race advanced. It is not wickedness, but ignorance that wrecks

lives on the threshold of marriage, and this book _teaches_."

* * * * *

PAUL F. MUNDE, M.D., LL.D.

Professor of GynA|cology at the New York Polyclinic and at Dartmouth

College; GynA|cologist to Mount Sinai Hospital.

"I have looked through your book, entitled, 'What a Young Husband Ought

to Know,' and am impelled by its contents and the careful and delicate

manner in which you endeavor to communicate to a man about to enter the

married state, 'what EVERY young husband ought to know,' if he would

ensure his marital happiness and save his wife as much as possible from

the many afflictions unfortunately not always separable from that state.

I am impelled, I repeat, to depart from my custom of refusing to endorse

semi-medical publications intended for the lay-reader. Your previous

work on 'What a Young Man Ought to Know,' has once before induced me to

commit the same departure, and I feel that I am but adding my humble

share toward the good work which I think you are conscientiously

endeavoring to perform, in repeating substantially the commendation of

the former book as applied to the present."

=Pure Books on Avoided Subjects=

=_Books for Men_=

_By Sylvanus Stall, D. D._

="What a Young Boy Ought to Know."=

="What a Young Man Ought to Know."=

="What a Young Husband Ought to Know."=

="What a Man of 45 Ought to Know."=

=_Books for Women_=

_By Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D.,_

_And Mrs. Emma F. A. Drake, M.D._

="What a Young Girl Ought to Know."=

="What a Young Woman Ought to Know."=

="What a Young Wife Ought to Know."=

="What a Woman of 45 Ought to Know."=

PRICE AND BINDING

The books are issued in uniform size and but one style of binding, and

sell in America at $1, in Great Britain at 4s., net, per copy, post

free, whether sold singly or in sets.

PUBLISHED BY

IN THE UNITED STATES

THE VIR PUBLISHING COMPANY

2237 Land Title Building Philadelphia

IN ENGLAND

THE VIR PUBLISHING COMPANY

7 Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus, London, E.C.

IN CANADA

WILLIAM BRIGGS

29-33 Richmond Street West Toronto, Ontario

"What a Young Boy Ought to Know."

BY SYLVANUS STALL, D. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

PART I

God's purpose in endowing plants, animals and man with reproductive

power--The question of the origin of life a natural and proper

one--Difference between creating and making--How God now creates or

reproduces the flowers, insects, fishes and animals--The mamma and papa

plants and the baby plants--The mamma and papa nature in the stalk of

corn--The two natures united in the same flower--Separated in other

plants--The office of the wind and insects in fertilizing the

flowers--The mamma and papa natures united in the same oyster--The life

of the baby oyster--The two natures separated in the fishes--The eggs

and the baby fishes--How seeds are made to grow and how eggs are

hatched--The beautiful lives of parent birds--The bird's nest, the eggs

and the baby birds--Why the eggs of animals may not be exposed in a

nest--The nest which God has prepared for them--The hatching of the egg

or the birth of the animal--The creation of Adam and Eve--God created

man with power similar to his creative power--The purity of parentage.

PART II

The manner in which the reproductive organs are injured in boys by

abuse--Comparative anatomy, or points of resemblance between bodies of

birds, animals and man--Man the only animal with a perfect hand--With

the hand he constructs, builds and blesses--With the hand he smites,

slays and injures others, and degrades himself.

PART III

The consequences in boys of the abuse of the reproductive organs--Need

of proper information--The moral effects first to manifest

themselves--How secret sin affects the character of boys--Effects upon

the body and the nerves--Effects upon the brain and mind--The physical

effects that follow.

PARTS IV and V

How boys may preserve their bodies in purity and strength--Our duty to

aid others to avoid pernicious habits, and to retain or regain their

purity and strength.

PARTS VI and VII

How purity and strength may be measurably regained--The age of

adolescence or puberty and its attendant changes--Its significance and

its dangers.

Price, {$1.00} net, post free

{ 4s. }

"What a Young Boy Ought to Know"

For Boys under Sixteen Years of Age

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE SAY

Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D.

"'What a Young Boy Ought to Know' ought to be in every home where there

is a boy."

Lady Henry Somerset

"Calculated to do an immense amount of good. I sincerely hope it may

find its way to many homes."

Joseph Cook, D.D., LL.D.

"It is everywhere suggestive, inspiring and strategic in a degree, as I

think, not hitherto matched in literature of its class."

Charles L. Thompson, D.D.

"Why was not this book written centuries ago?"

Anthony Comstock

"It lifts the mind and thoughts upon a high and lofty plane upon

delicate subjects."

Edward W. Bok

"It has appealed to me in a way which no other book of its kind has."

Bishop John H. Vincent, D.D., LL.D.

"You have handled with great delicacy and wisdom an exceedingly

difficult subject."

John Willis Baer

"I feel confident that it can do great good, and I mean that my boys

shall have the contents placed before them."

Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, LL.D.

"Full of physiological truths, which all children ought to know, at a

proper age; will be read by boys without awakening a prurient thought."

Josiah Strong, D.D.

"A foolish and culpable silence on the part of most parents leaves their

children to learn, too often from vicious companions, sacred truth in an

unhallowed way."

"What a Young Man Ought to Know."

BY SYLVANUS STALL, D. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

STRENGTH

The value of physical strength--the weak man handicapped--Threefold

nature of man--Relation of the physical, intellectual and moral--Impair

one, you injure all--The physical foundation--Man's strong sexual

nature--Sexuality strongly marked in all great men--Importance of manly

mastery of sexual nature--Personal purity--Only one moral standard for

men and women.

WEAKNESS

Inherited weakness--How overcome--Acquired weakness--How produced--The

effects of secret vice--What should be done--Losses in sleep--When to

consult a physician--Danger from quacks and charlatans--What are normal

and abnormal losses--Medical authorities quoted--Subject

illustrated--Important directions.

SOCIAL VICE

Alarming ignorance concerning the diseases which accompany vice--Why

physicians do not acquaint their patients with the nature of these

diseases--The prevalence--All forms of venereal diseases leave terrible

results--Character and consequences of gonorrhA"a--Later

complications--Chordee, stricture, blindness, etc.--How healthy brides

become early and permanent invalids--Chancroid and chancre--The primary,

secondary and tertiary forms of syphilis--The beginning, progress and

end--Can it ever be cured--May the man ever marry--Effects upon wife and

children.

THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS

Their purpose and prostitution--Marriage a great blessing--Difference

between creation and procreation--All life from the seed or the egg--The

reproduction of plants, fishes, birds and animals contrasted--An

interesting study.

MAN'S RELATION TO WOMAN

Importance of a right relation to women--The nature of marriage--The

friends and foes of marriage--Who should not marry--The selection of a

wife--Some general rules--Importance of great caution--Causes of

unhappiness in married life--Early and late marriages.

HINDRANCES AND HELPS

The choice of companions, books, pictures, amusements,

recreations--Liquors and tobacco--Self-mastery--Right aim in

life--Industry, early rising--The influence of an ennobling

affection--Education--The Sabbath, the Church and the Bible.

Price {$1.00} net, per copy, post free

{ 4s. }

"What a Young Man Ought to Know."

What Eminent People Say:

Francis E. Clark, D. D.

"Of exceeding value to every youth just entering upon manhood. It is

written reverently but very plainly, and I believe will save a multitude

of young men from evils unspeakable."

John Clifford, D. D.

"One of the best books for dawning manhood that has fallen into my

hands. It goes to the roots of human living. It is thoroughly manly. Dr.

Stall has laid the rising generation under an immense obligation."

J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D.

"I bear willing testimony that I believe this book ought to be in the

hands of every young man in this country."

Paul F. Munde, M. D., LL. D.

Professor of GynA|cology in the New York Polyclinic and at Dartmouth

College, says:

"I most heartily commend not only the principle but the execution of

what it aims to teach."

Eugene H. Porter, M. D., LL. D.

President of the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York;

Professor Materia Medica, New York Homeopathic Medical College, etc.,

says:

"We should especially commend the volume for its reliability in

statement, and, as a medical man, I highly indorse the medical teachings

of the book. It is trustworthy and sound. It is a work which should be

in the hands of every young man."

"What a Man of Forty-five Ought to Know."

BY SYLVANUS STALL, D. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

PART I

WHAT HE OUGHT TO KNOW CONCERNING HIMSELF

Prevalent ignorance concerning physical changes in men of

middle-life--Sad results of such ignorance--Reasons for

change--Evidences of these changes--Husband and wife constitute a

reproductive unit--The two natures responsive in activity and

repose--Somewhat similar changes in both--The age at which climacteric

or "change of life" occurs in men--Climacteric and adolescence

contrasted--The testimony of medical men to the fact--Only young men

need the testimonials of authorities--Old men know it--Compensations

which follow the sexual hush--Physical and mental effects--Changes more

gradual than in women--Many men intellectually at their best after

sexual hush--To them time and experience open their richest

treasures--Moderation in all things enjoined--Sexual moderation

emphasized--Virility, how destroyed, how preserved--Effects of exercise,

food, stimulants, sleep, employment, etc.--Functional disorders--Benefit

of intelligence--Enlargement of the prostate gland--Manifestations,

cause and precautionary measures--The marriage of men of middle

life--Physical unfitness and effects--Rights of the unborn--The years

beyond--The man at forty determines what the man at eighty shall

be--Value of purpose to keep strong and bright--Examples.

PART II

WHAT HE OUGHT TO KNOW CONCERNING HIS WIFE

Reproduction the primal purpose of marriage--Attractive and repellent

periods in life of woman--Climacteric or change of life the most

repellent period--Disappearance of menstruation only an outward

manifestation--The phenomenon explained--Reasons for change made

plain--Not a period of stress for all women--How to meet the

menopause--Occupation, diet, fresh air, exercise, sleep, companionship,

sexual repose, etc., etc.--Mortality and insanity greater among men--The

aches and ills which attend the menopause--Aversion to husband, children

and friends--Physical changes which attend and follow change of life in

women--Modified sexual nature--Growths--Mental changes and

conditions--Need of intelligence upon the part of husband and others.

Price {$1.00} net, post free

{ 4s. }

"What a Man of Forty-five Ought to Know"

PRAISED BY THE PRESS

"We do not hesitate to recommend."--_Experience._

"A reliable and instructive guide in sexual matters and yet pure and

chaste in style."--_Journal of Dermatology._

"Information of vital importance."--_Pittsburgh Christian Advocate._

"Written in an honest, frank, and fearless way."--_Christian Standard._

"It is a clean book which one should sit down to alone."--_The

Evangelist._

"These books deserve to be circulated by the million."--_Leslie's

Weekly._

"To many men the guidance of this book will be a timely

benediction."--_Chicago Appeal._

"The utterance of one who has an accurate knowledge of men."--_Brooklyn

Citizen._

"It is a helpful book and in all important particulars sound in its

medical statements."--_Baltimore Sun._

"This book is recommendable not only to the intelligent layman to read

himself and hand to others, but also to the physician, who ought to

welcome it as a means to refresh an important part of his physiologic

knowledge."--_Alkaloidal Clinic._

"A man who is a fool at forty-five (and there are many of them) is

pretty hard to manage. There are certain things which he ought to know

without being told, but it is difficult to teach him these things. He

needs reasoning with and plain talking to. This book does it in a

healthy, elevating manner. These cases are often very troublesome to the

physician. It would be well to have this book handy to lend to such

patients. This course will help the physician to manage his patient and

help the patient. This book will do much good. There has been a need for

just such a work."--_Medical World._

"What a Young Girl Ought to Know."

BY MRS. MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

PART I

The origin of life--One plan in all forms of life--How plants grow from

the seed--They feed on the soil, grow and mature--How the plant

reproduces itself--The flower, the pollen, the pod, the seed--The office

of bees and insects in fertilization.

PART II

Fishes and their young--The parent fishes and the baby fishes--The seeds

of plants and eggs of fishes, birds and animals--How fishes never know

their baby offspring--Warm blooded animals--Lessons from birds--Their

nests, eggs and little ones.

PART III

Animals and their young--The place which God has prepared for their

young--Beginning their independent life--Human babies the most helpless

and dependent of all creatures--The relations of parent and child--The

child a part of each parent--Heredity and its lessons.

PART IV

The value of good health--The care of the body--The body a temple to be

kept holy--Girls should receive their instruction from their

mothers--The body the garment which the soul wears--Effects of thoughts

upon life and character--Value of good companions, good books and good

influences--What it is to become a woman.

Price {$1.00} net, per copy

{ 4s. }

"What a Young Girl Ought to Know"

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE SAY

Francis E. Willard, LL.D.

"I do earnestly hope that this book, founded on a strictly scientific

but not forgetting a strong ethical basis, may be well known and widely

read by the dear girls in their teens and the young women in their

homes."

Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis

"These facts ought to be judiciously brought to the intelligence of

every child whenever it asks questions concerning its own origin."

Mrs. Harriet Lincoln Coolidge

"It is a book that mothers and daughters ought to own."

Mrs. Katharine L. Stevenson

"The book is strong, direct, pure, as healthy as a breeze from the

mountain-top."

Mrs. Isabelle MacDonald Alden, "Pansy"

"It is just the book needed to teach what most people do not know how to

teach, being scientific, simple and plain-spoken, yet delicate."

Miss Grace H. Dodge

"I know of no one who writes or speaks on these great subjects with more

womanly touch than Mrs. Wood-Allen, nor with deeper reverence. When I

listen to her I feel that she has been inspired by a Higher Power."

Ira D. Sankey

"Every mother in the land that has a daughter should secure for her a

copy of 'What a Young Girl Ought to Know.' It will save the world untold

sorrow."

"What a Young Woman Ought to Know."

BY MRS. MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

PART I

CHILDHOOD AND GROWTH

Woman's worth--Importance of care of the body--How to obtain

health--Waste and repair--Questions of food--Importance of rest in

sleep--The office and importance of correct breathing--Injuries from

tight clothing--Physical culture--Exercise and recreation--The value of

the bath.

PART II

WOMANHOOD

The endowment of new powers--The conferring of life--Brain building and

character formation--Soul and self--Special physiology--Woman's special

bodily endowments--The crisis in the girl's life--Ovulation and

menstruation--Their significance--Causes and cures of disturbed physical

conditions--Painful periods and displacements--Special care of health at

special times--Many healthful suggestions suited to the physical needs

of young women--Secret vice and its consequences--The relation of pure

young women to young men--Friendships.

PART III

What is love--Should include mental conjugality, spiritual sympathy and

physical attraction--Responsibility in marriage--Antecedents, talents

and habits of young man--The law of heredity--Beneficial--Effects of

stimulants upon offspring--Inherited effects of immorality--Good

characteristics also transmitted--Requisites in a

husband--Engagements--Benefits of, evils of--Holding to the highest

ideals--Weddings--Gifts, tours and realities of life.

Price {$1.00} net, per copy, post free

{ 4s. }

"What a Young Woman Ought to Know"

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE SAY

Lady Henry Somerset

"An extremely valuable book, and I wish that it may be widely

circulated."

Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant

"The book ought to be in the hands of every girl on her fifteenth

birthday, as a safe guide and teacher along the difficult path of

womanhood."

Margaret Warner Morley

"There is an awful need for the book, and it does what it has undertaken

to do better than anything of the kind I ever read."

Mrs. May Wright Sewall

"I am profoundly grateful that a subject of such information to young

woman should be treated in a manner at once so noble and so delicate."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"It is a grave mistake for parents to try to keep their children

ignorant of the very questions on which they should have scientific

information."

Lillian M. N. Stevens

"There is a great need of carefully, delicately written books upon the

subjects treated in this series. I am gratefully glad that the author

has succeeded so well, and I trust great and enduring good will be the

result."

Mrs. Matilda B. Carse

"It is pure and instructive on the delicate subjects that mean so much

to our daughters, to their future as homekeepers, wives and mothers, and

to the future generations."

"What a Young Wife Ought to Know."

BY MRS. EMMA F. A. DRAKE, M. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

HUSBAND AND HOME

The choice of a husband--One worthy of both love and respect--Real

characteristics necessary--Purity vs. "wild oats"--What shall a young

wife expect to be to her husband?--His equal, but not his

counterpart--His helpmeet Wifehood and motherhood--Should keep pace with

his mental growth--Trousseau and wedding presents--The foolish and

ruinous display at weddings--Wedding presents and unhappiness--Wise

choice of furniture--The best adornments for the home.

THE MARITAL RELATIONS

The marital state should be the most holy of sanctuaries--Its influence

upon character--Modesty--Reproduction the primal purpose--Love's highest

plane--The right and wrong of marriage--The wrongdoings of good men.

PARENTHOOD

Preparation for motherhood--Motherhood the glory of womanhood--Maternity

productive of health--Clothing--Exercise--Baths, etc., etc.--The child

the expression of the mother's thoughts--The five stages of prenatal

culture.

PREPARATION FOR FATHERHOOD

Questions which test the fitness of young men for marriage--Many young

men of startling worth--Effects of bad morals and wayward

habits--Tobacco and Alcoholics--Attaining the best--The father

reproduced in his children.

ANTENATAL INFANTICIDE

The moral responsibility of parents in heredity--The mother's investment

of moulding power--Parents workers together with God--Ailments during

expectant motherhood--Maternity a normal state--Development of the

fA"tus--Minuteness of the germ of human life--Changes which take

place--Life present the moment conception takes place--The sin of

tampering with the work of the Infinite.

THE LITTLE ONE

Baby's wardrobe--The question that comes with fluttering signs of

life--Importance of wise choice of material and style of dress--Choice

of physician and nurse of real consequence--The birth

chamber--Surroundings and after-care of the mother--The care of the

baby--The responsibilities and joys of motherhood--The mother the baby's

teacher--Common ailments of children and how to treat them--Guarding

against vice--The training of children--Body building--Helps for

mothers.

Price, {$1.00} net, post free.

{ 4s. }

"What a Young Wife Ought to Know"

WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE SAY

Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster

"Joyfully I send you my unqualified endorsement of the excellent book,

'What a Young Wife Ought to Know.' I wish every young and perplexed wife

might read its pages."

Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D.

"It handles delicate matters in a manner as firm as it is delicate, and

dignifies even what is common by the purity of the sentiment and

nobility of intent with which it is treated."

Marietta Holly (Josiah Allen's Wife)

"It is an excellent book; if every young wife of to-day would read it

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"A subject difficult to treat has been handled by Dr. Drake with

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"What a Woman of Forty-five Ought to Know."

BY MRS. EMMA F. A. DRAKE, M. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

KNOWLEDGE OF CLIMACTERIC NECESSARY

Why women are not prepared to meet the climacteric--The fear that

unnerves many--Error of views concerning "Change of Life"--Correct

teaching stated--Influence of medical literature--Three periods in a

woman's life--Relation of early habits to later aches and ills--The

menopause--Conditions which influence the period of the climacteric--The

age at which it usually appears--Effects of heredity--Childless

women--Mothers of large families--Effects of different

occupations--Excesses.

HERALDS OF CHANGE--DISEASES AND REMEDIES

Mental states during menopause--Change in blood currents--Flushes,

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nervous equilibriums--Nature as woman's helper--Troublesome

ailments--Mental troubles considered--Suggested help--Cancer--Benefits

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prolong one's youth--Dress during this period--The mother "At

Sea"--Guarding against becoming gloomy--Effects of patent medicine

advertising--Drug fiends--Lustful indulgence.

WHAT BOTH HUSBAND AND WIFE SHOULD REMEMBER

Slights and inattentions keenly felt by her--Need of patience--A word of

private counsel--Value of little attentions--Wife's duty to her

husband--Holding husband's affections--Making home

attractive--Unselfishness.

AUTO-SUGGESTION AND OTHER SUGGESTIONS

Influence of mind over body--The mind as a curative agent--How to rise

out of depression--Mental philosophy and physical betterment--Relation

of health to sight--Care of the teeth--The hair--Constipation--Self

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PRAISED BY THE PRESS

"Will dispel apprehensions aroused by groundless

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Every phase of the Christian life--its joys and sorrows, its temptations

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SOME CHAPTERS IN THE BOOK

Glory After Gloom. The Dangerous Hour. The Concealed Future. Gleaning

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SYLVANUS STALL, D. D.

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Transcriber's Corrections

Following is a list of significant typographical errors that have been

corrected.

- Page xix, "ndividual" changed to "individual" (of every

individual).

- Page 40, "child-bearing" changed to "childbearing" to remain

consistent with other instances (exposed in childbearing).

- Page 77, "prove" changed to "proves" (impulse that proves fatal).

- Page 80, "sexally" changed to "sexually" (when he is sexually).

- Page 113, "rue" changed to "true" (is also true of them all).

- Page 119, "is to desired" changed to "is desired" (all that is

desired in this world).

- Page 145, "pre eminence" changed to "pre-eminence" (husband

shall have preference and pre-eminence).

- Page 158, "abormal" changed to "abnormal" (due to abnormal

conditions).

- Page 172, "new-born" changed to "newborn" to remain consistent

with other instances (clasps her newborn infant).

- Page 192, "pre-natal" changed to "prenatal" to remain consistent

with other instances (chapter upon prenatal influences).

- Page 282, "huband" changed to "husband" (upon her husband).

- Page "Offices of Publication," "PHILADELHHIA" changed to

"PHILADELPHIA".

- "Pure Books on Avoided Subjects" ad, "Britian" changed to

"Britain" (in Great Britain).

- "What a Young Man Ought to Know" ad, "Three-fold" changed to

"Threefold" to remain consistent with other instances (Threefold

nature of man).

- "What a Young Man Ought to Know" ad, "prevavalence" changed to

"prevalence" (The prevalence).

- "OTHER BOOKS" ad, "SYVANUS" changed to "SYLVANUS" (by SYLVANUS

STALL, D. D.)

- "OTHER BOOKS" ad, "covers" changed to "cover" (Its departments

cover everything).