1. PUBLIC BALLS.--The church should turn its face like flint against
the public ball. Its influence is evil, and nothing but evil. It is
a well known fact that in all cities and large towns the ball room is
the recruiting office for prostitution.
2. THOUGHTLESS YOUNG WOMEN.--In cities public balls are given every
night, and many thoughtless young women, mostly the daughters of small
tradesmen and mechanics, or clerks or laborers, are induced to attend
"just for fun." Scarcely one in a hundred of the girls attending these
balls preserve their purity. They meet the most desperate characters,
professional gamblers, criminals and the lowest debauchees. Such
an assembly and such influence cannot mean anything but ruin for an
innocent girl.
3. VILE WOMEN.--The public ball is always a resort of vile women who
picture to innocent girls the ease and luxury of a harlot's life, and
offer them all manner of temptations to abandon the paths of virtue.
The public ball is the resort of the libertine and the adulterer, and
whose object is to work the ruin of every innocent girl that may fall
into their clutches.
4. THE QUESTION.--Why does society wonder at the increase of
prostitution, when the public balls and promiscuous dancing is so
largely endorsed and encouraged?
5. WORKING GIRLS.--Thousands of innocent working girls enter
innocently and unsuspectingly into the paths which lead them to the
house of evil, or who wander the streets as miserable outcasts all
through the influence of the dance. The low theatre and dance halls
and other places of unselected gatherings are the milestones which
mark the working girl's downward path from virtue to vice, from
modesty to shame.
6. THE SALESWOMAN, the seamstress, the factory girl or any other
virtuous girl had better, far better, die than take the first step in
the path of impropriety and danger. Better, a thousand times better,
better for this life, better for the life to come, an existence of
humble, virtuous industry than a single departure from virtue, even
though it were paid with a fortune.
7. TEMPTATIONS.--There is not a young girl but what is more or less
tempted by some unprincipled wretch who may have the reputation of a
genteel society man. It behooves parents to guard carefully the morals
of their daughters, and be vigilant and cautious in permitting them
to accept the society of young men. Parents who desire to save their
daughters from a fate which is worse than death, should endeavor
by every means in their power to keep them from falling into traps
cunningly devised by some cunning lover. There are many good young
men, but not all are safe friends to an innocent, confiding young
girl.
8. PROSTITUTION.--Some girls inherit their vicious tendency; others
fall because of misplaced affections; many sin through a love of
dress, which is fostered by society and by the surroundings amidst
which they may be placed; many, very many, embrace a life of shame to
escape poverty While each of these different phases of prostitution
require a different remedy, we need better men, better women, better
laws and better protection for the young girls.
[Illustration: A RUSSIAN SPINNING GIRL.]
9. A STARTLING FACT.--Startling as it may seem to some, it is a fact
in our large cities that there are many girls raised by parents with
no other aim than to make them harlots. At a tender age they are sold
by fathers and mothers into an existence which is worse than slavery
itself. It is not uncommon to see girls at the tender age of thirteen
or fourteen--mere children--hardened courtesans, lost to all sense
of shame and decency. They are reared in ignorance, surrounded by
demoralizing influences, cut off from the blessings of church and
Sabbath school, see nothing but licentiousness, intemperance and
crime. These young girls are lost forever. They are beyond the reach
of the moralist or preacher and have no comprehension of modesty and
purity. Virtue to them is a stranger, and has been from the cradle.
10. A GREAT WRONG.--Parents too poor to clothe themselves bring
children into the world, children for whom they have no bread,
consequently the girl easily falls a victim in early womanhood to the
heartless libertine. The boy with no other schooling but that of
the streets soon masters all the qualifications for a professional
criminal. If there could be a law forbidding people to marry who have
no visible means of supporting a family, or if they should marry, if
their children could be taken from them and properly educated by the
State, it would cost the country less and be a great step in advancing
our civilization.
11. THE FIRST STEP.--Thousands of fallen women could have been saved
from lives of degradation and deaths of shame had they received more
toleration and loving forgiveness in their first steps of error. Many
women naturally pure and virtuous have fallen to the lowest depths
because discarded by friends, frowned upon by society, and sneered at
by the world, after they had taken a single mis-step. Society forgives
man, but woman never.
12. IN THE BEGINNING of every girl's downward career there is
necessarily a hesitation. She naturally ponders over what course
to take, dreading to meet friends and looking into the future with
horror. That moment is the vital turning point in her career; a kind
word of forgiveness, a mother's embrace a father's welcome may
save her. The bloodhounds, known as the seducer, the libertine, the
procurer, are upon her track; she is trembling on the frightful brink
of the abyss. Extend a helping hand and save her!
13. FATHER, if your daughter goes astray, do not drive her from your
home. Mother, if your child errs, do not close your heart against her.
Sisters and brothers and friends, do not force her into the pathway of
shame, but rather strive to win her back into the Eden of virtue, an
in nine cases out of ten you will succeed.
14. SOCIETY EVILS.--The dance, the theater, the wine-cup, the
race-course, the idle frivolity and luxury of summer watering places,
all have a tendency to demoralize the young.
15. BAD SOCIETY.--Much of our modern society admits libertines and
seducers to the drawing-room, while it excludes their helpless and
degraded victims, consequently it is not strange that there are
skeletons in many closets, matrimonial infelicity and wayward girls.
16. "'KNOW THYSELF,'" says Dr. Saur, "is an important maxim for us
all, and especially is it true for girls.
"All are born with the desire to become attractive girls especially
want to grow up, not only attractive, but beautiful. Some girls
think that bright eyes, pretty hair and fine clothes alone make them
beautiful. This is not so. Real beauty depends upon good health, good
manners and a pure mind.
"As the happiness of our girls depends upon their health, it behoves
us all to guide the girls in such a way as to bring forward the best
of results.
17. "THERE IS NO ONE who stands so near the girl as the mother. From
early childhood she occupies the first place in the little one's
confidence she laughs, plays, and corrects, when necessary, the faults
of her darling. She should be equally ready to guide in the important
laws of life and health upon which rest her future. Teach your
daughters that in all things the 'creative principle' has its source
in life itself. It originates from Divine life, and when they know
that it may be consecrated to wise and useful purposes, they are never
apt to grow up with base thoughts or form bad habits. Their lives
become a happiness to themselves and a blessing to humanity.
18. TEACH WISELY.--"Teach your daughters that _all life_ originates
from a seed a germ. Knowing this law, you need have no fears that base
or unworthy thoughts of the reproductive function can ever enter their
minds. The growth, development and ripening of human seed becomes a
beautiful and sacred mystery. The tree, the rose and all plant life
are equally as mysterious and beautiful in their reproductive life.
Does not this alone prove to us, conclusively, that there is a
Divinity in the background governing, controlling and influencing our
lives? Nature has no secrets, and why should we? None at all. The only
care we should experience is in teaching wisely.
"Yes lead them wisely teach them that the seed, the germ of a new
life, is maturing within them. Teach them that between the ages of
eleven and fourteen this maturing process has certain physical signs.
The breasts grow round and full, the whole body, even the voice,
undergoes a change. It is right that they should be taught the natural
law of life in reproduction and the physiological structure of their
being. Again we repeat that these lessons should be taught by the
mother, and in a tender, delicate and confidential way. Become, oh,
mother, your daughter's companion, and she will not go elsewhere for
this knowledge which must come to all in time, but possibly too late
and through sources that would prove more harm than good.
19. THE ORGANS OF CREATIVE LIFE in women are: Ovaries, Fallopian
tubes, uterus, vagina and mammary glands. The _ovaries_ and _Fallopian
tubes_ have already been described under "The Female Generative
Organs."
"The _uterus_ is a pear-shaped muscular organ, situated in the lower
portion of the pelvis, between the bladder and the rectum. It is
less than three inches in length and two inches in width and one in
thickness.
"The _vagina_ is a membranous canal which joins the internal outlet
with the womb, which projects slightly into it. The opening into the
vagina is nearly oval, and in those who have never indulged in sexual
intercourse or in handling the sexual organs is more or less closed
by a membrane termed the _hymen_. The presence of this membrane was
formerly considered as undoubted evidence of virginity; its absence, a
lack of chastity.
"The _mammary glands_ are accessory to the generative organs. They
secrete milk, which the All-wise Gatherer provided for the nourishment
of the child after birth.
20. "MENSTRUATION, which appears about the age of thirteen years,
is the flow from the uterus that occurs every month as the seed-germ
ripens in the ovaries. God made the sexual organs so that the race
should not die out. He gave them to us so that we may reproduce
life, and thus fill the highest position in the created universe. The
purpose for which they are made is high and holy and honorable, and if
they are used only for this purpose and they must not be used at
all until they are fully matured they will be a source of greatest
blessing to us all.
[Illustration: THE TWO PATHS--WHAT WILL THE GIRL BECOME?
AT 13: BAD LITERATURE
AT 20: FLIRTING & COQUETTERY
AT 26: FAST LIFE & DISSIPATION
AT 40: AN OUTCAST
AT 13: STUDY & OBEDIENCE
AT 20: VIRTUE & DEVOTION
AT 26: A LOVING MOTHER
AT 60: AN HONORED GRANDMOTHER]
21. "A CAREFUL STUDY of this organ, of its location, of its arteries
and nerves, will convince the growing girl that her body should never
submit to corsets and tight lacing in response to the demands of
fashion, even though nature has so bountifully provided for the safety
of this important organ. By constant pressure the vagina and womb may
be compressed into one-third their natural length or crowded into an
unnatural position. We can readily see, then, the effect of lacing
or tight clothing. Under these circumstances the ligaments lose their
elasticity, and as a result we have prolapsus or falling of the womb.
22. "I AM MORE ANXIOUS for growing girls than for any other earthly
object. These girls are to be the mothers of future generations; upon
them hangs the destiny of the world in coming time, and if they can
be made to understand what is right and what is wrong with regard to
their own bodies now, while they are young, the children they will
give birth to and the men and women who shall call them mother will
be of a higher type and belong to a nobler class than those of the
present day.
23. "ALL WOMEN CANNOT have good features, but they can look well, and
it is possible to a great extent to correct deformity and develop much
of the figure. The first step to good looks is good health, and the
first element of health is cleanliness. Keep clean wash freely, bathe
regularly. All the skin wants is leave to act, and it takes care of
itself.
24. "GIRLS SOMETIMES GET THE IDEA that it is nice to be 'weak' and
'delicate,' but they cannot get a more false idea! God meant women to
be strong and able-bodied, and only by being so can they be happy and
capable of imparting happiness to others. It is only by being strong
and healthy that they can be perfect in their sexual nature; and It is
only by being perfect in this part of their being that you can become
a noble, grand and beautiful woman.
25. "UP TO THE AGE of puberty, if the girl has grown naturally, waist,
hips and shoulders are about the same in width, the shoulders being,
perhaps, a trifle the broadest. Up to this time the sexual organs have
grown but little. Now they take a sudden start and need more room.
Nature aids the girls; the tissues and muscles increase in size and
the pelvis bones enlarge. The limbs grow plump, the girl stops growing
tall and becomes round and full. Unsuspected strength comes to her;
tasks that were once hard to perform are now easy; her voice becomes
sweeter and stronger. The mind develops more rapidly even than the
body; her brain is more active and quicker; subjects that once were
dull and dry have unwonted interest; lessons are more easily learned;
the eyes sparkle with intelligence, indicating increased mental power;
her manner denotes the consciousness of new power; toys of childhood
are laid away; womanly thoughts and pursuits fill her mind; budding
childhood has become blooming womanhood. Now, if ever, must be laid
the foundation of physical vigor and of a healthy body. Girls should
realize the significance of this fact. Do not get the idea that men
admire a weakly, puny, delicate, small-waisted, languid, doll-like
creature, a libel on true womanhood. Girls admire men with broad
chests, square shoulders, erect form, keen bright eyes, hard muscles
and undoubted vigor. Men also turn naturally to healthy, robust,
well-developed girls, and to win their admiration girls must meet
their ideals. A good form, a sound mind and a healthy body are within
the reach of nine out of ten of our girls by proper care and training.
Physical bankruptcy may claim the same proportion if care and training
are neglected.
26. "A WOMAN FIVE FEET TALL should measure two feet around the waist
and thirty-three inches around the hips. A waist less than this
proportion indicates compression either by lacing or tight clothing.
Exercise in the open air, take long walks and vigorous exercise, using
care not to overdo it. Housework will prove a panacea for many of the
ills which flesh is heir to. One hour's exercise at the wash-tub is of
far more value, from a physical standpoint, than hours at the piano.
Boating is most excellent exercise and within the reach of many. Care
in dressing is also important, and, fortunately, fashion is coming to
the rescue here. It is essential that no garments be suspended from
the waist. Let the shoulders bear the weight of all the clothing, so
that the organs of the body may be left free and unimpeded.
27. "SLEEP SHOULD BE HAD regularly and abundantly. Avoid late hours,
undue excitement, evil associations; partake of plain, nutritious
food, and health will be your reward. There is one way of destroying
health, which, fortunately, is not as common among girls as boys,
and which must be mentioned ere this chapter closes. Self-abuse is
practised among growing girls to such an extent as to arouse serious
alarm. Many a girl has been led to handle and play with her sexual
organs through the advice of some girl who has obtained temporary
pleasure in that way; or, perchance, chafing has been followed by
rubbing until the organs have become congested with blood, and in this
accidental manner the girl discovered what seems to her a source of
pleasure, but which, alas, is a source of misery, and even death.
28. "AS IN THE BOY, SO IN THE GIRL, self-abuse causes an undue amount
of blood to flow to those organs, thus depriving other parts of the
body of its nourishment, the weakest part first showing the effect of
want of sustenance. All that has been said upon this loathsome subject
in the preceding chapter for boys might well be repeated here, but
space forbids. Read that chapter again, and know that the same signs
that betray the boy will make known the girl addicted to the vice.
The bloodless lips, the dull, heavy eye surrounded with dark rings,
the nerveless hand, the blanched cheek, the short breath, the old,
faded look, the weakened memory and silly irritability tell the story
all too plainly. The same evil result follows, ending perhaps in
death, or worse, in insanity. Aside from the injury the girl does
herself by yielding to this habit, there is one other reason which
appeals to the conscience, and that is, self-abuse is an offence
against moral law it is putting to a vile, selfish use the organs
which were given for a high, sacred purpose.
29. "LET THEM ALONE, except to care for them when care is needed, and
they may prove the greatest blessing you have ever known. They were
given you that you might become a mother, the highest office to which
God has ever called one of His creatures. Do not debase yourself and
become lower than the beasts of the field. If this habit has fastened
itself upon any one of our readers, stop it now. Do not allow
yourself to think about it, give up all evil associations, seek pure
companions, and go to your mother, older sister, or physician for
advice.
30. "AND YOU, MOTHER, knowing the danger that besets your daughters at
this critical period, are you justified in keeping silent? Can you be
held guiltless if your daughter ruins body and mind because you were
too modest to tell her the laws of her being? There is no love that is
dearer to your daughter than yours, no advice that is more respected
than yours, no one whose warning would be more potent. Fail not in
your duty. As motherhood has been your sweetest joy, so help your
daughter to make it hers."
[Illustration: YOUNG GARFIELD DRIVING TEAM ON THE CANAL.]
* * * * *