Clas72£/_iLi. Gopight}J"_/.iAi. COPVRICHT DEPOSffi THE NEW TOCOLOGY Copyright, 1903, by Wm. H. Lee. THE PERFECT WOMAN. POPULAR EDITION THE NEW TOCOLOGY The Science of Sex and Life Physiology and Hygiene of the Vital Organization — Health and Beauty — Education and Chabla^cter-Building BY ELI F. BROWN, M. S., M. D. and JOSEPH H. GREER, M. D. ''WOMAN, KmOW THYSELK 99 REVISED EDITION ILLUSTRATED BY RUTH BLAKE, M. D. CHICAGO Laird & Lee, Publishers COPYRIGHTED, 1911 By WM. H. LEE Copyright, 1902, By J. H. Greer Copyright, 1903, By Wm. H. Lee Copyright, 1921, By Laird & Lee, Inc. JUL187 @CI,A322061 OBEY NATURE'S LAWS! HE purpose of this volume is to give in concise form, and in plain, clean, common-sense lan- guage, the all-important information about sex and procreation and the appertaining laws of health and hygiene as established by the best modern authorities. Primarily intended for wives and mothers, it will be found of special value as well to parents and educators who desire to teach the rising generation the vital truths of sex life. How to teach these truths has been a vexing problem to many teachers and parents, and a modest, compact and scientific exposition, such as this work presents, has long been needed. In all the vast realm of knowledge there is no subject of greater importance. Unfortunately for the well-being of man- kind, there is no other subject upon which the great majority are so densely ignorant. A veil of mystery and prudishness has been cast over these vital facts and truths. But the innocence that is innocent only through ignorance, is in danger of being lost through ignorance, and, therefore, of little value or merit, like any other virtue that is virtuous only because it has never been tempted. It is not necessary to give examples. It is the duty of parents to instruct the young and thereby fortify them against a fall into a terrible sin through igno- rance. This volume is intended to be placed in the hands of the innocent by their parents. It was written both from a peda- gogical and from a medical point of view. That portion of this work relating more particularly to health and hygiene is based on the principle that "whatever lowers the vital force of a well person will never restore the vital force of a sick one." Every disease is the result of a PREFACE. violation of some natural law. Every such violation is a wrong, and as an addition of two negative quantities cannot make an affirmative, so two wrongs can never make a right. This is common sense, and the following fundamental principles are becoming daily more and more recognized by enlightened people both in and out of the medical profession: Poisons are not remedies. Symptoms and pains are not disease, biit only the messengers bringing warning of disease to the brain. To silence the messengers and leave the disease unchecked is folly. Prevention is better than cure. The great ele- ments of prevention are: (i) Knowledge; (2) clean- liness, physical as well as moral and mental; (3) hygiene and sanitation. Mind and thought influence the bodily health no less than physical and material conditions. A healthy body needs a healthy mind, and a healthy mind cannot exist without a healthy body. The illustrations will prove an especially valuable feature. The more important ones were made by Ruth Blake, who is not only a thorough artist but a fully qualified medical prac- titioner. Nothing like her work has ever before been pre- sented in a volume intended for general circulation. That this book may help to destroy ignorance, that terrible breeder of evil and suffering, and thereby bring happiness and sunshine into every home, is the earnest desire of The Publishers. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XL XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. PART L— LIFE AND SEX. Page Offspring 9 Sex 14 The Sex of Plants 16 The Sex of Animals 18 The Sexual Organs of the Human Being 20 Puberty. 25 Sexual Passion 28 Conception and Gestation 30 The Mother During Pregnancy 34 Antenatal Influences and Heredity 37 Childbirth .- ... 40 Conjugal Love. 42 Illicit Intercourse 47 Self-Abuse 50 Know Thyself 53 The Ideal Man 55 The Ideal Woman 57 Painless Childbirth 60 A Theory as to the Sex of Offspring 67 PART II.— HUMAN CREATION. The Principle of Life 81 The Dominant Power of Life 92 The Temple of the Soul 103 The Temple of the Soul (Continued) 129 The Unfolding of Womanhood 155 The Fulfillment of the Law , 167 The Fruits of Fulfillment 178 Home and Homemaking 188 Mature Life 204 TABLE OF CO NTENTS. PART III.— NEW TOCOLOGY. Chapter - Page I. Menstruation 219 II. The Marriage Relation 232 III. Conception and Pre-natal Culture 241 IV. Childbirth 266 V. Hygiene of Infancy 277 VI. Development from Birth to Puberty 296 VII. Disorders of Infancy and Childhood 307 VIII. Afflictions Peculiar to Women 331 PART IV.— HEALTH AND HYGIENE. I. The Relation of Health to Beauty 348 II. Long Life Not a Secret 352 III. "Breath is Life" 361 IV. How, When and What to Eat 367 V. Sleep and the Bath 376 PART I. LIFE, SEX, AND THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. BY ELI F. BROWN, M. S., M. D. PART L CHAPTER I. • Offspring. IFE is the supreme thing; health and vigor are its full and happy expression. To know one's self and to conform to the vital laws which con- trol personal existence and well-being, is the part of prudence and wisdom. Ignorance is always a source of danger; blind experience is an extremely unsatisfac-' tory leader; carelessness is reckless and treacherous; the vio- lation of the laws of life, whether willful or not, is fatal alike to the innocent and the foolish. In the realm of life, there is no escape from the hurtful results of evil acts; no atonement is to be found for vital sins. To the transgressor nature is relentless and pitiless, neither forgetting nor forgiving an injury: who violates must suffer. It is no less true that conformity to the behests of life increases life: to him who has, and who rightly uses, more and more abundant life is given. Health flushes the cheek of him who lives well, nerves his arm with strength, endows his brain and soul with force, fills his daily cup with refreshing cheerfulness and vigor. Who obeys, receives new gifts. No other feature of one's organism is more deeply vital, none more impressive in its influence upon the vigor, health and happiness of the individual, than is the reproductive func- tion, the sexual part. Yet no other organs, it would seem, are more often shamefully abused; about no other part is there, usually, such gross ignorance. Comparatively few of those who are otherwise intelligent and prudent live wisely in their sexual life. Unfortunately, an unwarranted prudishness restricts the freedom of instruction in regard to the sexual 10 OFFSPRING. element in life. So forcible is this reserve that parents gener- ally ignore the instruction of their childjen respecting the sex- ual nature. Sons grow to young manhood and daughters enter womanhood in ignorance of the purpose and proper care of their sexual parts, excepting as they learn about sex and the sexual organs in chance and uncertain ways from their own unguided feelings and observations, or from such doubtful sources of information as servants and evil-minded compan- ions. Thus it is that parents, who are anxious and earnest for the greatest welfare of their children, permit a false idea of modesty to blind them to some of the simplest and most vital needs in the education of the young beings intrusted to their care and dependent upon them for intelligent guidance. As good health is the choicest of all blessings and the most 'urgent need of the individual in the stirring affairs of life; as virtue and chastity are the most sacred of all moral attributes, it would seem that the tender boy who is soon to become a man, and the delicate girl who is early to enter into the won- ders of womanhood, should be well informed about sex, so that these offspring of the home, the hopes of the future, may escape the misfortunes of misplaced confidence, of accident, of ignorance and of blind impulse. Let the young man endow himself with that definite infor- mation of his own being which shall help to form a proper basis for correct judgment, for self-control, and for manly and upright conduct; let the young woman know fully and forcibly the peculiar character of her feminine nature, that she may cherish her virtue as the rarest jewel of her crown, and appre- ciate both the blessings and dangers that attend her sexual life. There is no safety for either man or woman save in definite information, and this can be acquired only by a care- ful consideration of what has been ascertained to be true in human experience. Every living thing begins its career in life as a cell which forms a part of the parent's body. After a season of prepara- tion, during which time it remains attached to its mother, the embryo which has been formed from the original cell is sep- OFFSPRING. 11 arated from her and begins its existence as an individual living being. The charactef'of the offspring is determined so definitely by its parentage, that, during its whole life, it must remain like its parent in many important respects. This natural likeness of the offspring to the body which produces it, preserves the various kinds of species of creatures among living things. There is no vital law more universal and unchangeable than this law of transmission of sameness of kind, which governs the nature of offspring and perpetuates the various types of vital existence. The reason why the young being is of the same kind as its parent is simply because the embryo is a portion of the mother's body; hence, as it grows, it remains the same in kind, and must ever continue to be like the original body from which, as a part, is was derived. Any familiar class of living beings will furnish illustrations of the truth of this law. Thus a grain of Indian corn is formed by the parent plant as a part of itself; when this grain is ripe and is planted, it grows, and, in growing, must produce a plant like the parent corn plant: it cannot become wheat, nor can it be oats. The tgg of the goose is formed by the mother bird from a part of herself; when this tgg is hatched, the young bird is necessarily a goose; it cannot be a robin, nor is it possible for it to be an eagle. The calf, born of the common cow, is formed by the mother from a part of herself; when it is separated from her by birth, it must be of the cow kind; it cannot be a deer, nor can it be a bear. So, also, the child of human parents is formed by its mother from a portion of herself and must be a human being like her; it cannot be anything else. All living things die. There is nothing more certain than that every plant and every animal which has fulfilled its allotted season of life must disappear by death. Indi\aduals perish, yet the race or species is continued by the origin and life of other individuals of the same kind. These new things take the place of such as die, and, in turn produce others like themselves, and then pass away by death. 18 OFFSPRING. In the world of plants, the reproduction or succession of individuals is accomplished chiefly by the forrnation and growth of seeds. Each seed is made by a parent plant, and contains within itself some nourishment together with a living germ. This germ is really a tiny plant, ready to begin to grow as a separate plant under suitable conditions for such growth. Thus, if the seed is properly planted in the soil, the moisture and warmth of the earth cause the embryo within the seed to begin to grow. All plants which produce seeds have certain parts of themselves which perform this important duty. These parts are the flowers which the plant bears, often so noticeable for their sweetness and beauty. The showy portions of the flower soon drop away, but a part, called the pistil, still clings to the parent stem and perfects the seeds. The stamens and pistils of the flowers are properly called the organs of reproduction of the plant, for they are designed to make the seeds which are the plant's offspring. ' These parts of the flower are to the plant what the sexual organs are to animals. In many ways the lowest kinds of animals resemble plants, and the reproduction of such animals is often as simple as the formation of seeds and buds by plants. In some of the very lowest kinds, the adult or fully grown animal simply divides itself into separate parts, and each of these portions becomes a new individual which grows to maturity, to be divided again and again into new and distinct individuals. In other cases among the lower animals, the young are derived from the parent bodies as new buds and bulbs are formed by some kinds of plants. These "buds," on being separated from the mother animal, grow as distinct individuals, or, it may be, they remain attached to the parent stock and grow as branches do upon trees, thus forming a cluster or colony of animals. Such ani- mals are little more than plants, and are wanting in all of those distinctive features of animated bodies which distinguish the higher animals from the other forms of creation. In animals such as fishes and birds, with few exceptions, the female forms eggs within herself, which correspond pre- cisely to the seeds formed by plants. An egg, like a seed, OFFSPRING, 13 contains a living germ, the same in kind as its parent, and, also, nourishment for the early growth of this germ or embryo. During the process of hatching a bird's tgg^ the embryo within the &gg becomes a young bird, which breaks from the shell at the appointed time, quite able to begin life on its own account. In animals of the highest orders, among which the human being is included, the ^gg is retained within the mother's body until the young animal is ready to be born alive, after which it is nourished for a brief season by the mother's milk. All such animals are called mammals because they nurse their young, and the mother is called the mamma. The human being is not unlike the other mammals in these respects, excepting that the human offspring is less strong after birth and needs the attention of its mother for a much longer time before it is able to care for itself in the world. However greatly man may excel the brute in mental and moral endowment, the human being is not otherwise an exception in the animal world, but is like other mammals in all essential respects, subject to the same laws of life, health, development and reproduction. PART I. CHAPTER II. Sex. HAS been stated, the offspring is derived from its parents and is designed to continue the species, or kind of being, to which it belongs. Thus a living being produces other living beings; out of life, life comes. This act of a living being in producing from itself a living offspring is what is meant by sexual function, and the parts of the body engaged in per- forming this important and wonderful process are the sexual organs. In all the higher classes of animals, and in most of the plants as well, the production of offspring requires the action of two sets of sexual organs, the one female, the other male. Neither set is capable of acting alone: each set must con- tribute its share in forming the germ or embryo which finally becomes the new individual. In all the highest kinds of ani- mals, these different sexual organs, when fully developed, are in different individuals, so that two individuals, one male, the other female, are really the parents of every offspring. The male is called the father, or papa; the female is known as the mother, or mamma. The difference between the father and mother is what is meant by sex. She from whose body the young being is born is the mother; she is female; she possesses the female sexual organs; she furnishes the original cell which becomes the embryo, and she nourishes this embryo as a part of herself until it is ready to begin life as a separate animal. The father, or male, furnishes a cell from his sexual organs, which cqH is at once separated from him and is put into the cell within the mother's body, so that the original cell of the 14 SEX. 16 mother becomes a double thing, being now a part of herself and containing a portion of the father. After contributing this germinal element to the female, the male has nothing more to do in forming the young being. He is the father, however; he is male; he possesses the male sexual organs. Both are truly the parents of the offspring, and, as its growth is made from two parts, one from each of them, the new being is not an exact repetition of either parent, but is like them both. While the offspring may show more marks of resem- blance to the one or the other, it necessarily has the character of both parents blended in its own. It would seem that the mother does much more toward pro- ducing the offspring than the father does. This is true. She does vastly more in developing the embryo by the nourishment which she furnishes to it from her ow^n blood, and by the impressions which her mental conditions make upon the sensi- tive organism of the offspring while it is yet a part of herself. But the thing which she is thus developing — the original cell which becomes the embryo — is so surely a combination of both parents, and the embryo formed from it is also so certainly a growth of both these elements in one, that the father's charac- teristics are retained and grow just as do those of the mother, and are quite as fully shown in the offspring as hers. Thus a child having a negro mother and a white father would be neither negro like its mother nor white like its father, but would combine in itself, both physically and mentally, the marks of each in about an equal degree of prominence. PART L CHAPTER III. The Sex of Plants. "Flower in the crannied'wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower ; but could I understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is." — Tennyson. HE sexual organs of plants are usually more easily seen and understood than are those of animals. For this reason it may be well to examine their arrangement and learn their action upon one another in producing the seeds by which new plants are derived. A cluster of common cherry blossoms will serve for the purpose. In the interior of any one of these blossoms there is a circle of small club-like parts called stamens. Each stamen consists of a slender stem below, at the upper end of which stem there is a tiny bag or cavity, filled, when ripe, with a yellowish dust. When the stem is thoroughly ripened, this bag bursts open, and the dust from within is scattered about the stamen, and may be borne many feet away by the wind. This dust from the stamen is called pollen. Although the pollen seems to be only a kind of dust, it is true that every grain of this dust is a living cell from the stamen, and, while yet alive, it may drop upon the open mouth of a pistil to aid in making a seed. These stamens are the male organs of the flower, and the pollen cells are designed to act upon the cells contained within the female organs. Just within the circle of stamens, and occupying the center 16 SEX. 17 of the blossom, is the part known as the pistil. This is the female organ. The pistil has a large, full part at the lower end, called the ovary, inside of which are the ovules or cells which are to become the seeds.. A tube leads up from the ovary and opens at the outer end as a kind of tiny mouth, the lips of which are wet with a dewy moisture. Both the stamens, as male organs, and the pistils, as female organs, help in forming the embryo in the seeds. ^ Thus a live grain, of pollen frorn the stamens must fall on the wet lips of the pistil, and, by growing there for a brief season, send its tiny rootlet down into the ovary to the tender ovules there inclosed. If, now, the rootlet of the pollen cell deposits a part of itself within one of the ovules, the latter will form a seed and contain an embryo which will grow to be a plant. But if this does not occur, the ovule cannot become a seed. This action of the pollen cell on the ovules is called fertiliza- tion. After fertilization is performed, the stamens can do no more toward forming the seeds; they wither away. But the pistils, with their precious contents, remain fastened to the stem and are nourished by the plant until the seeds within the pistils are ripe and perfect. The ripened pistil is the fruit of the plant. If a seed from the ripe pistil is properly planted, the embryo within grows and begins to form a new plant like the parent plants. This is, in brief, the action of the sexual organs of plants upon one another in reproduction. 1 In some kinds of plants, the flowers containing the stamens are on separate plants from those which contain the pistils. Such a plant as bears only stamens in its flowers is called staminate. It is really a male plant, and cannot bear fruit. The plant whose flowers bear pistils only, is called pistilate. It is a female plant. It can bear fruit provided the pollen comes to it from some male plant of its kind. In some kinds of plants, the stamens and pistils are in separate flowers, with both kinds of flowers upon the same plant. In most cases, however, each flower contains both stamens and pistils. PART I. CHAPTER IV. The Sex of Animals. HE sexual organs of animals are, usually, less easily examined than are those of plants, for they are often quite hidden within the animal's body. But the same general plan exists in animals as in plants. In any case, the organs of the male are so constructed that they supply sperm-cells for fertilizing or impregnating the germ-cells of the female. These cells from the male are to be compared with the pollen cells of stamens, except that they come off from the male in a kind of liquid called semen, which the male puts into the organs of the female. The wind cannot carry this fluid, as it does the pollen dust, so that it is necessary for the organs of the male animal to enter the organs of the female, or to come into close contact with them, in order that the semen may reach the cells of the female.^ These living cells, sperms as they are called by some wri- ters, from the male animal, have a long name. They are called spermatozoa. They, like the pollen, are simply living cells thrown off from the father, and are a necessary part in forming the beginning of the embryo that becomes the off- spring. '^ ^ This is not true of fishes, however. The spawn and milt from the female and male fishes are thrown into the water by each and the two kinds of germs meet in the water outside of and away from the bodies of both parents. 2 The spermatozoa are extremely minute cells, usually not exceeding gJo of an inch in length. Each cell has an enlarged triangular portion, to which there is attached a fine hair-like part. By its wave-like motion, the cell has the appearance of some kinds of animalcules. It is, however, simply a cell, having a kind of motion common to many other forms of germinal matter, both vegetable and animal. 18. THE SEX OF ANIMALS. 19 The female organs are to be compared with the pistils of the flower. They are open to receive the male organs, or, at least, to receive the semen. These female organs contain, at some place within themselves, the ovaries which have in them the cells, or ova (eggs), that are to become embryos. The spermatozoa must find their way to these cells of the ovary, and, by entering them, furnish the element from the father that aids in forming the embryo. This is the purpose of sexual intercourse. With this brief statement of the sexual relations of animals in general, this portion of the text closes. The remaining part treats particularly of the sexual organization of the human being, both male and female. It is supposed by the author that the reader has, at least, learned the ordinary facts of human anatomy, physiology and hygiene, as they are presented in the elementary text-books of the common schools; hence, all details of the structure and use of the other parts of the body are omitted here. PART L CHAPTER V. The Sexual Organs of the Human Being. HE sexual organs of the female occupy the front lower portion of the abdomen and the central part of the pelvic cavity. The colon passes behind these organs, while the bladder is placed in front of them. The principal divisions of this set of organs are the vagina, the uterus, the ovaries, and Fallopian tubes. The vagina is a soft, muscular tube, more than an inch in diameter, and four or more inches in length. It opens out of the body through the vulva, which forms a mouth for it. At the outermost part of the vagina, a tube from the bladder also opens into the vulva. The innermost part of the vagina is connected with the uterus, for which cavity the vagina forms a passage-way. The walls or sides of the vagina rest against each other, closing the passage, except as they are pressed apart by the presence of something in the vagina; the walls are formed chiefly of muscle and are lined with mucous membrane. The uterus is a hollow, muscular body about one-third as large as the closed fist, and has the shape of a flattened pear. It is above the vagina, with the tapering portion pointing downward and backward, and extending into the upper part of the vagina. The walls of the uterus are thick and strong. The cavity within is small and flat, somewhat triangular in form, and is lined with delicate mucous membrane. The neck of the uterus is about as large around as the thumb, and the opening through this portion into the interior of the uterus is not much greater in size than a common goose-quill. The main cavity of the uterus is connected with the ovaries, one 20 THE SEXUAL ORGANS OF THE HUMAN BEING. 21 on each side, by means of minute tubes called the Fallopian tubes. The uterus is the part in which conception occurs and in which the child is formed. Although so small at first, if conception occurs the uterus increases in size to accommodate the growth of the child within, and, after the birth of the off- spring, the uterus returns to its former size again. The uterus is supplied with a vast number of blood-vessels, so that during pregnancy the young child receives its nourishment from the mother's blood through the blood-vessels that fill the lining membrane of the uterus. The ovaries are two in number, one on each side of the uterus, at a distance of three or four inches away. This places an ovary in each side of the abdomen near the groin. They are joined with the outside of the uterus by broad liga- ments which aid in holding both them and the uterus in posi- Fig. I.;— The human ovum, greatly enlarged. {a) The Graafian vesicle enclosing the ovum, (b) The free ovum escaping and ready for impregnation. tion, and they are also connected with the interior of the uterus by means of the Fallopian tubes. Each ovary is a roundish, flattened body, about an inch and a half in length, less than an inch in width, and about half an inch in thick- ness. The ovaries are the peculiar and important division of the sexual organs of the female; in them are formed the germ- cells from which offspring is formed. On close examination, each ovary is found to produce and to contain a great number of cells or vesicles. These are really minute ova (eggs), called the Graafiafi vesicles. Each of these vesicles is composed of a sac or covering, within which is a germinal or embr3^onic cell (Fig. i). The larger of these vesicles vary in number 32 THE SEXUAL ORGANS OF THE HUMAN BEING. from ten to twenty, and in size from that of a grain of mus- tard-seed to that of a pea, while there are great numbers of still smaller and less mature ova in the rrrass of the ovary. At the time of each monthly period a large, ripe Graafian ves- icle bursts, and the ovum thus set free from the ovary makes its way through the Fallopian tubes into the uterus; this ovum is retained in the tube and in the cavity of the uterus for several days, during which time it may become impregnated (2V-- — (J) Fig. 2a. — The testicle, natural size, scrotum partially cut away, (i) Cut edge of the scrotum. (2) Body of testicle: (3) Spermatic cord. (4) Spermatic artery. and form an embryo in the uterus. If not impregnated, it passes out with the menstrual flow, or is destroyed and absorbed. The Fallopian tubes are two slender tubes which extend from the upper portion of each side of the uterus to the ovaries. The outer ends of these tubes are singularly fringed and made to connect with each ovary in such a way that the ova i^rom the ovary may pass through these tubes into the uterus. The male sexual organs are somewhat more simpje and are more nearly external than are those of the female. They THE SEXUAL ORGANS OF THE HUMAN BEING. 23 consist of the testicles with their tubes and the member with its glands (Fig. 2a). These testicles are the peculiar and impor- tant sexual organs of the male, for it is their purpose to produce the spermatozoa, or sperm-cells. The testicles are two in number. They are firm, oval glands, about the size, and somewhat the shape, of small hen-eggs. They are suspended from the lower front portion of the body and are inclosed by the scrotum. The interior of the testicle is a delicate and complicated glandular structure. From each testicle there is ...(Si Fig. 2b.— A section through the testicles. (i) Network of seminal tubes within the testicle. (2) Union of seminal tubes. (3) Duct leading to seminal sacs. a minute tube extending from the inner portion of the testicle, through the spermatic cord, to the seminal sacs, which form minute reservoirs just below and behind the bladder. The seminal sacs are connected by tubes with the urethra. (See Figs. 2a and 2b.) The spermatozoa grow in the delicate structure of which the interior of the testicle is formed, and, when they mature, they become detached and make their way through the wind- ing tube which conveys them to the seminal sacs. Here they THE SEXUAL ORGANS OF THE HUMAN BEING. collect in great numbers, ready to be thrown out through the urethra in time of sexual intercourse. (See Fig. 2c.) The member extends from the body just above the scrotum. It is an inch or more in diameter and five or more inches in length. Through the member extends a tube called the urethra, ^^ ^I. 2, Fig. 2c. The spermatozoa, greatly enlarged. 3) Different stages of development of the sperm cells within their sacs. (4, 5) Different views of the free cells. which, by its internal connections, forms an outlet for the urine from the bladder and the semen from the seminal sacs. The semen is a thin, milk-like fluid, supplied in part from the testicles and in part from the glands about the neck of the bladder and elsewhere upon the member. The spermatozoa mingle with the semen and are carried by it. PART L CHAPTER VI. Puberty. ' If you neglect the education of your daughters, you are preparing shame for your own family, and unhappiness for the houses into which thsy may enter." — Chinese Doctrine. HE child at time of its birth is extremely deli- cate and immature in all of its parts. The bones are not hard, the teeth are yet beneath the gums, the muscles are pale and soft, the skull is only partially formed, and the brain and spinal cord are little more than a mass of sensitive jelly. Many years must pass during which the parts are to grow in size and strength before the child becomes an adult or fully formed person. This necessary development pertains to the sexual organs as well as to the brain or other parts. Girls develop somewhat more rapidly than boys, so that the girl becomes a woman at an earlier age than the boy becomes a man. The progress from infancy, through girlhood to woman- hood, is a gradual one, yet a very decided change occurs about the twelfth year of the girl's life. This is the change which decides her puberty or indicates such a development of her sexual organs as to make her capable of bearing children. It is at this time that the mammary glands of the girl become enlarged and the ovaries begin to develop the ova regularly each month. The bursting of the ripened ovum in an ovary every twenty-eight days is called the "monthly period" of the woman, and she is said to menstruate. At the time of men- struation, there is more or less griping pain in the region of the ovaries, and a flow of mucus and blood from the lining membrane of the uterus. This flow is a real hemorrhage, and, 25 26 PUBERTY. though it occurs from natural causes and should produce no alarm, it is not a trifling matter. During the time of this men- strual discharge, the female should take extra care of herself; she should not work hard, nor exercise excessively; she should not become greatly excited in any manner; she should avoid getting wet or taking cold; if possibk to do so, she should take only moderate exercise and otherwise remain quiet and wait until the flow ceases. Usually it continues from two to five days. From the time the Ovum is ruptured in the ovary, which occurence brings on menstruation, until five or six days after the monthly period closes, the ovum is likely to be pres- ent in the uterus or Fallopian tubes, and, for this reason, con- ception occurs most frequently at or near the time of the menstrual flow of the female. This monthly act of the ovaries in producing ova ceases temporarily during pregnancy, and stops wholly as the woman reaches the age of forty-five or fifty years. The boy passes gradually and somewhat more slowly from boyhood to manhood, and has at no time such a decided change as that just described as occurring to the girl. But, at the age of fourteen, or later, his countenance begins to lose its boyish cast, his beard commences its growth, his shoulders broaden, his chest increases in capacity, his voice becomes more masculine, and his sexual organs become more active. At this time the testicles begin to form spermatozoa, and he might now be' the father of a child. This is his season of puberty. These changes which occur in the sexual functions at puberty are very marked, also, in their influence upon the mind of the person; in fact, the individual is passing through a sea- son of change and uncertainty, in which the foundations of the whole organism are being reconstructed. Both the boy and the girl are unusually sensitive at this time: the boy is more easily embarrassed, he is restless and unsatisfied; the girl is more sentimental. Both ought to receive the kindest of treatment and the exercise of the greatest of patience from parents and teachers. Both find themselves possessed of new and strange PUBERTY. 27 powers. Both are disposed to erratic behavior; they are liable to go astray in conduct and to commit fatal mistakes. Any excitement of the sexual oVgans before puberty cannot be other than extremely harmful, and any excitement of them during this season of change is equally unwise. Although puberty is passed at the early age of twelve and fourteen, neither the girl nor the boy gains full growth and maturity of parts until twenty or more years of age. Before the young woman has fully completed her own development, she ought not to become the mother of a child. The bearing of offspring is not childish sport, but is the most serious and responsible function of the strong and mature woman. To bear a vigorous child without injury to herself, and to care for it properly afterward, will tax all of her powers, of both mind and body, to the fullest extent, even under the most favorable conditions. Undoubtedly, therefore, the young man and woman will be prudent if they delay any possibility of becom- ing parents until the complete development of twenty or more years shall have prepared them for this great and sacred responsibility. PART L CHAPTER VII. Sexual Passion. "Seeing either sex alone Is half itself, and in true marriage lies Nor equal, nor unequal: each fulfills Defect in each, and always thought in thought, Purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow. The single pure and perfect animal, The two-cell'd heart beating, with one full stroke, Life." — Tennyson. If^INCE the continuance of the race is dependent upon the production of offspring, both sexes are j^ impelled to such acts of intercourse as will cause ) jc%y this result. As a fact, this tendency exists between \J the sexes, both as an instinctive impulse and as an ardent desire which forms one of the strongest of animal appe- tites. So strong is this passion for sexual intercourse that it will, under some circumstances, overpower all other desires, and, temporarily, become the dominant motive of the person. Unless this tendency to indulgence is guided by intelligence and controlled by a firm moral nature, there is danger that this consuming appetite will lead the person into evil practices upon his own person, cause him to seek unwarranted means of grati- fication, or draw him into lewd associations and into licen- tious habits. Every natural appetite is doubtless for a good purpose, if it is rightly understood and properly used, but the lustful gratifi- cation of it is surely depraving. Thus, hunger for food is innocent and right in its purposes, yet gluttony in eating is hurtful and shameful. By yielding to the indulgence of any SEXUAL PASSION. 29 apptdte, the habit of gratifying it is easily and firmly riveted upon the individual — a habit "whose chains are too light to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." No other appetite binds its victims down more despotically by their yielding to its impulses, than does the sexual passion bind down to depravity, the man or woman who gives it unbridled sway. Only by moderation, restraint, or reasonable control and avoidance of its temptations, may it be kept from producing disastrous dissipation. Each sex finds in the other that which it demands and craves. Each man sees in the woman of his choice that which his strong sexual powers make him want; each woman finds in the embraces of a man who suits her what her deep sexual nature compels her to desire. Nature has made each for the other. Neither, alone, is perfect. If they are mutually agree- able, they are drawn toward each other with impulses that form the strongest of attractions, bonds for which they will surrender all other ties of affection. This craving which they have for each other, and the relief which each can give the other in sexual intercourse, is as natural and as universal as the hunger for food. Herein is the great danger that is connected with this passion of their inmost nature; for, though it is a demand of their nature impelling them with great force, it is not an appetite whose requirements are to be gratified simply for the pleasure of the indulgence, but it is a powerful impulse of their being, which is to be controlled and used under the wisest judgment that can be brought to bear upon it. Health, strength, vigor, beauty, refinement, all lie in the direction of its control and rightful use, while pain, weakness, illness and grossness follow in the way of its immoderate and unlicensed sway. FART I. CHAPTER VIII. Conception and Gestation, HE union of the ovum of the female and th^ spermatozoa of the male produces what is known y?7«ws'\\ ^^ conception. This union is the beginning of a The ovum thus impregnated is arrested and retained in the cavity of the uterus. Here it is to remain and develop until the offspring therefrom is ready to be born. The outer surface of the embryo becomes intimately attached to the delicate lining of the uterus so that the blood of the mother circulates through the young being. Thus it is nourished and protected by the portions of her body which have been specially designed for the performance of this wonderful and beautiful work of the mother. She is truly an artist, creating and perfecting a living being — a human soul. Whether conception occurs unintentionally from careless intercourse, whether it is the result of lustful indulgence, or comes as a blessing in answer to the intention and desire of its parents for offspring, the consequences are the same — a new life is begun at the time of conception. Though this new being is, as yet, a part of its mother's very life, and is dependent absolutely on her blood for its nourishment and upon her protection for its continued existence; though it is only an embryo, wholly unconscious of its own life and destiny, nature regards it as a new being started upon its career. To destroy it is to kill the life of an individual. Its life is sacred in its mother's care. Its parents, male and female, cannot escape the responsibility of their act in bringing it into exist- 30 CONCEPTION AND GESTATION. 31 ence. Upon them rests the duty of parents to protect, nourish and perfect this offspring of themselves — it is flesh of their flesh, and soul of their soul. The embryo grows and forms every part of itself after the pattern furnished by its parents. This model it cannot alter. Its growth is governed by the same vital law which controls the development of all other living beings, which law decides that every cell of every living thing must form itself like its parent cell, modified only by its peculiar surroundings and the use that it is to serve. The cells of which living matter is com- posed have the tendency to shape themselves, to select the proper material from the circulatory fluid by which they are nourished, and to build themselves into the various structures that are needed in the organic arrangement of the vital body which they compose. A person does not give his thought to the formation of his own body: he could not form his parts if he would. A more unerring intelligence, an ever vigilant eye and a hand of infinite skill are at work with the cells that build the heart, the brain, the bones, the muscles, the eye and all the other organs. This formation and renewal of parts goes on at all times and in almost all parts of the living animal body. As old and useless portions waste away, new cells take their places and reform the needed structure. This active formation of the new out of the old, this turning of dead sub- stance into vital forms, this process of self-growing, self-shap- ing, self-renewing, is what distinguishes living substance from dead matter. This is as near to life itself as human knowledge may approach. What the real essence of life is, v.hy and how the cells make and shape- themselves, man does not know, nor is it probable that it will ever be within the province of his limited mind to know. Certain it is, however. that this capacity and tendency for self-forming exists in the primitive cell from which the embryo is made. Through days and months the cellular substance grows and shapes itself into the required organs of the new being; although so simple at- first. It becomes more and more complex, and the various parts adjust themselves to one another according to the 83 CONCEPTION AND GESTATION. different positions, structures and uses, until the whole is completed. During this interesting period, the mother is said to be pregnant, and the changes which the embryo undergoes are known as gestation. From the time conception occurs, the forces of the mother's organism are in part turned toward the development of her offspring. She is now two beings. She has her own vital powers to sustain and the new life to develop. Menstruation temporarily ceases. The mammary glands (breasts) prepare for producing milk. The lining membrane of the uterus becomes especially active, and, by its increase in extent, becomes so wrinkled that it soon completely encloses the tiny ovum within its folds. By this means the embryo is no longer exposed in the open cavity of the uterus, but is lodged in a sac formed around it by the lining of the uterus. As the ovum develops it requires nourishment; this it receives from the circulation of the blood in the mother's uterus. The outer membrane of the embryo becomes intimately joined with that which surrounds it, so that the mother's arterial blood brings it oxygen and building material, and her venous blood conveys away the waste prod- ucts caused by its growth. From the cell (Fig. i) of which the embryo at first consists, many other cells are formed. This mass of increasing cells divides into collections of slightly different kinds of cells which form two membranes; one of these gives rise to a skin and forms the other parts of the body from which are developed the spinal column and brain, the skeleton and the extremities; the other forms an inner, mucous membrane from which the digestive organs and lungs are formed. Between these two membranes, a circu- lation is established, and the heart, arteries and veins are constructed. By the third month of gestation, the placenta is formed, by which more direct connection between the embryo and the mother's blood is established and a complete circulation is permitted through the organs of the young child. By the fifth month the beating of the foetal heart can be heaid through the walls of the mother's abdomen, and the CONCEPTION AND GESTATION. 33 motions of the young being be felt as it struggles within her body. Thus the shaping and growing continue through every phase of development, until what was a single cell at first has become the perfect child, with all its parts complete and ready for birth. The full period of gestation in woman requires two hundred and eighty days. PART L CHAPTER IX. The Mother During Pregnancy. HE development of the foetus requires that the uterus shall become enlarged accordingly. This occurs by the increase, in extent of all its parts, especially in the enlargement of the body of the uterus, by which portion the young child is sur- rounded. The muscular fibers appear to increase in length and width, and also in number; the circulatory vessels enlarge; the nerves and other parts accommodate them- selves to the gradual expansion of the structure. As the uterus and its contents become greater in size, the entire abdominal region of the mother becomes extended. This season is one of deep import to the mother, for in it she is fulfilling one of the supreme functions of woman and is sustaining one of the greatest of human trials. Two lives are dependent upon the proper completion of gestation and the successful birth of the offspring. She deserves from herself and from those about her the exercise of the greatest good judgment in taking care of herself. She should eat moderately of wholesome food, neither overtaxing -her digestive organs by eating too much, nor permitting herself to lose strength from need of nourishment. Her best diet will consist of the grains, vegetables and fruits; especially should she eat liberally and regularly of the ripe fruits^ in season, ^ Some of the most healthy and beautiful children the author has known were born with but slight pain to the mother. In these cases the mothers ate almost exclusively of fruits and vegetables after the first two or three months of pregnancy. It is held to be true that while all the parts of the child will be formed as perfectly when the mother confines herself to a diet of fruits and vegetables as when she eats more abundantly of grains and 34 THE MOTHER DURING PREGNANCY. 35 such as please her taste and agree with her digestion. A regular fruit diet will do more than anything else can do to prevent and relieve constipation. If she will eat properly she need not resort to the use of medicine. The pregnant woman is not necessarily a sick person because of her condition. She may be just as well and active during this period as at any other time of her life. If she takes proper exercise she will have sufficient appetite, and she need have no concern about not being able to eat enough; she will more often cause herself to be distressed from eating too much than from eating too little. The pregnant mother should dress with proper regard to her condition. While she should clothe herself comfortably as respects temperature, she should relieve herself of heavy clothing as much as possible, and especially alter such garments as in the least degree bind her body closely. Loose, light clothing about the abdominal regions is absolutely needful for both her own relief and to permit the enlargement and changes of position that must occur in these parts. Not only should the clothing be loose, but all its weight should be suspended from the shoulders. To attempt to hide or hinder the natural increase in the abdomen by means of the corset or closely fitting dresses, is to invite other troubles of much more serious character. Any tightening of the region of the waist must press the increasing organs down into the lower part of the abdomen, thereby causing much more deformity and prominence of this portion, and also making meats, the bones of the growing child do not become so hard and firm and hence birth is made much more easy for the mother. The author knew of one case in which a strong child weighing eight pounds was born of a very small mother with no pain during labor. There was the best of reason to believe that this very desirable result was due largely to the persistent fruit diet of the mother during the last six months of her pregnancy. Such a course is worthy of attention and trial, especially b}^ women who are delicate or who are under average size. Wheat is more rich in bone- ^lardening substance than the most of the other bread-making grains are; iience while it is the best of foods under other circumstances, it is not the best for the mother who seeks an easy birth for her child. 86 THE MOTHER DURING PREGNANCY. additional pressure upon all the organs within the abdomen and pelvis. Such a course cannot fail to deform the body more and to cause weakness and pain" in the back. The mother in her child-bearing should take proper exercise daily. It is only by reasonable and regular exercise that she can maintain the vigor of all her parts. She may walk, ride, work. She should be much in the open air and sunlight. She should avoid idleness, cheerlessness, distress and despondency as she would shun contagion, for they cannot but contribute toward making her condition worse. There is no better exercise than that of regular ordinary work and that of walking in the open air. Agreeable occupation, constant employment, busy cheerfulness, are the surest means of avoiding both mental and physical depression. She should not exercise excessively nor violently; she should avoid any sudden or heavy strain; she should avoid any great excite- ment; she should receive no sudden shock; she should be shielded from fright, anger or abuse, or from anything .else that endangers her life. Anyone who would do her the least violence, by word or deed, while she is in such a condition, is too brutal to be worthy to wear even the image of a human being. PART h CHAPTER X. Antenatal Influences and Heredity. * * * "Happy he With such a mother ! Faith in womankind Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high Comes easy to him ; and tho' he trip and fall, He shall not blind his soul with clay." — Tennyson. EALTHY and beautiful children do not come into life as matters of accident, nor in any way as a miraculous work of the Creator, but they do come as the necessary result of favorable conditions of parentage. The mother may be'certain that dur- ing the months of her pregnancy she can do much toward pro ducing these desirable results in her child. So closely is the life of the offspring connected with her own, so sensitive is its growing organism, both physically and mentally, to her influences and conditions, that she exerts decided and lasting: effects upon its appearance, its disposition and the foundation of its character. She is developing a new body, and in great measure she is bringing into being a new soul. The health and beauty of her life will, in some degree, take hold of her unborn child; hei industry and energy will tend to affect it in like manner; her cheerfulness will, in part, create its pleasant and agreeable disposition; her virtue, in all ways, will strengthen its innate tendencies toward rectitude. On the other hand, her evil thoughts, her weaknesses, her ill-temper, her petulancy, her selfishness, her despondency, her immoral ways of every kind will cast their fatal shadows upon the life of the child she is bearing. In extreme cases it may be that 37 Z% ANTENATAL INFLUENCES AND HEREDITY. the tendency to murder will be inborn in the offspring, as a result of a mother's hatred toward its life while it is yet a part of her own. Let her understand that the child, in some degree, images her influence upon it for good or for evil during the period of gestation.^ There are tendencies, however, which are so strongly fixed by the transmission of deeply seated diseases from parents to their children, that these tendencies cannot be materially prevented by any course of influence that the mother may adopt to the contrary. In cases in which either or both of the parents have pulmonary consumption, or have a con- stitutional tendency to such disease, the disposition to the iame peculiar weakness descends to the child with a degree of certainty which makes it almost impossible for even the best of conditions of healthfulness to prevent a fatal development of the malady in the child. In like manner the tendency to insanity perpetuates itself through generations of offspring. In the same way cancer, scrofula, syphilis and other loath- some diseases in parents bear their bitter fruits in the innocent children bred from such a source. Intemperate habits in the parent tend to beget the same unbridled appetite in the child; thus the acquired appetite of the father may become the inborn and much more fatal tendency in the child. Idiocy of offspring frequently appears as the heavy curse 1 "Birth marks" or "mother marks" are blemishes which discolor or deform the child, caused by some peculiar excitement of the mother during pregnancy. The most common form of such mark is the red spot of skin on the face or other part of the body. Much worse cases, occur, however, in which the child is deformed in shape, imperfect in its vocal apparatus or otherwise seriously marred. It may be that the in jiiry to the child takes the form of physical disease, mania, mental weakness, or idiocy. These unfortunate results are frequently traceable to the effect of some special nervous influence of the mother upon the child during her pregnancy. Such may be the effects of sudden fright, shock, impression from hideous scenes, fear of brutal treatment, worry over domestic affairs, anxiety for someone in danger, morbid thought, anger, jealousy, any of which may affect the mother's imagination so forcibly as to injure the sensitive organism of the child she is bearing, tending to cause physical blemish and deformity, or mental weakness and idiocy. ANTENATAL INFLUENCES OF HEREDITY. 39 placed upon the children born of a drunken parent. The father may indulge in the use of tobacco or other narcotic poisons with seemingly but slight injury to himself, but the poisonous effect is so decided in its weakening influence upon his nervous system that his child, whether boy or girl, will probably prove to be a nervous wreck, in some cases fit only for the hospital or asylum. Poison tends to kill not only the user thereof, but the seed from such a source. There can be no "moderate" use of any poison which does not incur the penalty of this law of heredity. So, too, licentiousness, in any of its forms, in the parent, must implant the same depraving tendencies in the child. There is no escape from the operations of the immutable laws of life, and heredity is one of these which is alike faithful in its results, whether its fruits be good or evil. If, then, the mother would bear healthy and beautiful chil- dren, how absolutely necessary it must be that the g^rms she is developing shall come from a healthy and virtuous source. However excellent her own life, she cannot wholly change the evil tendencies which may be implanted in her offspring from a corrupt or diseased father. If she would have her offspring blessed with the choicest endowments of life, she must require of their father the health, chastity and excellence that she desires to see belong to her child. Virtue will beget virtue, health will generate health, no more surely than evil will breed viciousness, crime perpetuate itself in the child and disease corrupt the life of the young, being whose misfortune it is to be born of diseased parents. PART I CHAPTER XI. Childbirth. HEN the process of gestation is completed, the uterus contracts forcibly upon its contents and presses the child out by way of the vagina. This is called labor. It is usually attended with much pain, and is a severe trial to the mother's' strength and powers of endurance. The length of time required for labor depends upon various circumstances. Easy labor may be completed in thirty minutes, while in unfavor- able cases it may require many hours. During this great strain the mother should be attended by a competent physician, for her suffering and th^e risk of life to herself and to her offspring are too great to be entrusted to unskilled hands. After the birth of the child, the uterus closes tightly upon itself and stops the hemorrhage from its interior surface. It now grad- ually returns to its condition as before pregnancy occurred. The child, having been separated from its mother, begins to breathe, and its blood takes its proper course of circulation through the heart and lungs. As alieady stated, to bear a healthy and vigorous child, and to care for it properly afterward, taxes all the po\vers of the mature woman. Even under favorable conditions of health, size and strength, it is a great trial. If the mother is in good health; if she acts prudently during her pregnancy and meets no accident, she can pass through the trial and recover from it with no loss to her powers. It is much too great a strain, however, for a delicate woman to bear at any time, and it is too serious a burden to be frequently repeated even by the most vigorous. Carelessness and ill-judgment should 40 CHILDBIRTH. 41 have no part in deciding when this trial shall come upon the mother. Many a fair woman, many a delicate, devoted mother, surrenders her life by too frequent childbirth. The father and friends may wonder why she grows ill, becomes weak and dies, leaving the saddest of sad things — motherless children. The father would better exercise some intelligence and judgment in his intercourse with her, and restrain his sexual passion in a reasonable manner, than to sacrifice the health and life of the mother of his chil(Jren. After the birth of a child, many months are required for the mother to regain the condition she maintained before pregnancy. Nature protects her for a season from the recur- rence of conception, by suppressing her menstruation. Surely she should wholly recover her own strength before engaging in a new trial of her vital energies. The same good judgment of parents should regulate the coming of their children into the family that controls and adjusts any of the more ordinary affairs of the home and of business. If, however, ignorance and carelessness are to determine in matters of such great importance, then parents who intrust their vital interests to such doubtful keeping must expect to abide by the results of their indifference; there is no special providence by which the consequences of their ill-judgment will be altered; the favors of fortune appear rather to follow from the exercise of care, and to bless those who act wisely. PART L CHAPTER XII. Conjugal Love. ' For woman is not undevelopt man, But diverse : could we make her as the man, Sweet love were slain : his dearest bond is this, Not like to like, but like in difference. Yet in the long years likermust they grow; The man be more of woman, she of man ; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care ; Nor lose the childlike in the larger mind. Until at last she set herself to man Like perfect music unto noble words ; And so these twain upon the skirts of Time Sit side by side, full-summ'd in all their powers. Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be, Self -reverent each and reverencing each, Distinct in individualities, But like each other e'en as those who love. Then comes the statelier Eden back to men: Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm; Then springs the crowning race of human kind. May these things be !" — Tennyson. ko : % O CLOSELY are the mind and body related, the one serving the other, each dependent upon the other, that it is impossible to regard intelligently ) jf^\ the healthful condition of either without consider- KJ ing the connections and influences of the other. Undoubtedly, mental vigor depends very greatly, in fact almost wholly, upon the healthy and vigorous condition of the body. Physical weakness tends to establish corresponding mental frailty. On the other hand, proper intellectual activity and a healthy condition and exercise of the feelings affect 43 . . \ CONJUGAL LOVE. 43 bodily functions favorably, while dissipation of mental energy, excitement of passion, mania of every description, disappoint- ment and despondency, tend to destroy not only the inherent forces of the mind, but to engender corresponding physical weakness. One of the emotions which affect the vital organism most profoundly and forcibly is what is known as conjugal love. This love is inseparable from sexual function. Nature has planted this intense feeling in the human being, in order that the race shall be continued, and with the proper fulfillment of its design she has coupled some of the most precious interests of individual welfare and happiness. In its ideal purpose, con- jugal love would bind the man and woman into a unity of use- fulness, in which each devotedly serves the other, and together they produce offspring whom they foster with parental affec- tion and sacrifice. In this form, conjugal love is unselfish; it is beautiful and pure. This union of the male and female into one household, by reason of their love for each other and for their children, is the basis on which the home is founded, on which the interests of the family rest, and of all things human it is one of the most sacred. So strong is this bond of conjugal love between persons who are mutually attractive, that they will break all other ties of affection for this deeper and stronger passion. It is not strange, therefore, when this energy of one's being is fortunate in what it meets and binds to itself, that such a happy union must tend to maintain the health and to elevate the life of the person, and that its sus- taining power will illumine with some pleasure even the dark- est pathways of life. Nor is it unnatural that to cross this passion, to disappoint its hopes, to blast its attachments, will tend to strain the very foundations of such an unfortunate life. There is no fiction in a "broken heart. " So deeply seated may be the sorrow from disappointed love, that, in some cases, the 'affliction breaks the vital cord or unseats the reason. Conjugal love properly leads toward civil marriage. In the pledge of personal devotion to each other, and of sacrifice for each other, which this bond of love establishes between man 44 CONJUGAL LOVE. and woman, is found the genuine link on which marriage rests. Unquestionably marriage is an act of extremely serious impor- tance. It is a union for life, a union which carries with it the most intimate personal intercourse that is possible between two persons; it is a partnership in a home; it is the united parentage of children; it is a unity of career, and, to a great extent, the determination of a common destiny. It is a con- tract into which it is easy to step when opportunity offers, but from which it is most difficult to be released, however much the desire for separation. It is a bond within which it is extremely difficult to correct any of the mistakes made by haste in selecting a partner. It would certainly be wrong to base marriage wholly on sexual grounds, regardless of the fitness of the contracting parties for each other in other respects. The enduring happiness of the individuals and the permanent welfare of their union will rest almost wholly upon their con- geniality of character. Hence it is that the disposition, the tastes, the aims, worth of character, soundness of health, cor> rectness of habits, should all be thoroughly known of each by the other before marriage occurs, and the union be consume mated in the full light of such knowledge. In this connection let it be understood that the young woman has as great need to know and as much reason to demand that the man whom she is about to marry shall have the same personal tests of health, chastity and morality applied to himself, that he requires of her. With such fair and full understanding between the contracting parties before they enter marriage, there will be less of disappointment afterward. No civil contract, no human ordinance can in any way set aside or modify the operations of the laws that govern health or life; nor can it shield the violator of their decrees from the consequences of such infraction. Any excess or wrong, whether within wedlock or outside of it, must produce the same hurtful results. While marriage is a beautiful and whole- some institution of human enlightenment, it is not a recognized factor in the animal world to which mankind belongs. Simply because a woman and man are thus formally united is no CONJUGAL LOVE. 45 license for their abuse of any vital function which the con- venience of their close relationship renders easy. Excessive intercourse, and the unwilling and unwished-for yielding of the person of the woman to the sexual desires of the man, are just as destructive within marriage as illicit prostitution can be without the cloak of marital sanction. Rather than yield her- self to painful intercourse or to the unbridled passion of her husband, she would better sacrifice her pledge, which such abuse from him has' forfeited, and escape from what may prove to be her own destruction. From a sanitary point of view, a woman's life and health are vastly more sacred than her plighted service can be to a gross, selfish or brutal hus- band. Nothing can more surely blight the life of a delicate and refined woman than to submit excessively to unpleasant or, painful sexual intercourse; nothing else can more deeply affect the nervous system; nothing else can more certainly arouse her repulsion and depress her vital forces. Even if the hus- band and wife are most affectionate, and their constant inter- course is mutually agreeable, any excess therein must tend to produce its evil consequences. Weakness, languor and pain must certainly follow excessive sexual excitement. The more delicate the health and strength of the person, the more sensi- tive the nervous organism, the more rapidly and surely must the individual yield to the depression and exhaustion from such excess. The failing health of the person from this cause may scarcely be noticed, but the pale and hollow cheek, the dull and staring eye, the indisposition to exertion, the wander- ing and vacant thought, the pain in the back and many other symptoms, all tell the fatal story. The husband, with his stronger physique, the bracing influence of his outdoor exer- cise, wonders that the woman he loves has lost the vivacity and vigor she possessed before marriage. Let him consider the sacrifice of nervous sensibility she makes as the partner in his intimate intercourse, and he may find the secret of her fail- ing strength and life. While the conveniences of marriage permit of excess and abuse as just indicated, it is true, in general, that marriage is a 46 CONJUGAL LOVE. wholesome condition. Married men, as a class, live longer than the unmarried, and they are more free from some kinds of destructive diseases. Married women, notwithstanding the incidents of pregnancy and childbirth, are more healthy than the unmarried. This seeming favor toward the wedded is due, not alone to the quietyde and regularity which marriage gives to the sexual organization, but to the salutary effests that come from the greater incentives to effort which are aroused in those who become heads of families. Having something to work for and live for begets an energy which wards off weak- ness and illness. Added to these two favorable conditions of marriage are the many safeguards which a home, however humble it may be, affords for the protection of its inmates. If an individual is in fair health, free from constitutional disease, and has no physical deformity that might prevent the privileges and duties of a married life, it is better, from both sanitary and moral reasons, that such a person shall be mar- ried. If those who are thus united are well mated, if they have reasonable regard for the laws of their physical being, if they exercise some measure of coolness and temperance in their passion and are faithful in their love of each other, there is good reason to hope that the issue of their marriage will be favorable; they may expect to find some happiness in their intimate association. PART L CHAPTER XIII. Illicit Intercourse. "Virtue is the health, the good habit, the beauty, of the soul; vice is its disease, its bad habit, its deformity." — Plato. ONSIDERED upon strictly physiological grounds, there is no difference between the sexual union of persons who are married to each other and a sim- ilar connection between persons who do not sustain this relationship. But the social and moral inter- ests of enlightened people decide that, while marriage is wholesome, illicit intercourse of the sexes is one of the gross- est of evils. However wrong promiscuous intercourse may be, and for whatever reason it may be evil, such sexual union is equally so to both of the parties engaged in it. The man who seeks the indulgence, who sues for the gratification of his passions, is as guilty of wrong and is as much degraded by the act as is she who yields to his inducements and shares the corruption with him; in truth, there are reasons for considering him the more culpable, since he is usually the stronger of the two; he is the one who appears as the seducer, while her weakness and her necessity may to some extent excuse her. Offspring may occur from illicit intercourse as it does from the married relation. If conception does occur from illicit union, the undesired result rests the more heavily upon the woman, for upon her comes the burden of pregnancy and the immediate care of the child after birth. The fact that off- spring is not desired in illicit intercourse tends in such cases to lead to one of the most serious of evils — that of abortion, in 47 4>S ILLICIT INTERCOURSE. which case the pregnanr woman destroys by violence the life of the young being while it is yet a part of her own. Should the offspring of such intercourse be born, its innocent life is blasted by its disreputable birth; it is a child disowned by the man who brought it into being, and is a child having the best of reasons to be ashamed of its unworthy father. The pater- nity of offspring under such circumstances cannot excuse the man from the obligation which he owes to his own flesh and blood, nor justify his leaving the burden of its care to the unfortunate mother. The man who would attempt to rid him- self of such responsibility to his child and its welfare adds the grossest of cowardice and selfishness to a course already dis- reputable and unmanly. A wobian's choicest treasure is her virtue; in sacrificing her chastity she destroys the jewel of her crown; her purity is her strength and her protection. So forcibly does this view of woman's worth prevail in the enlightened world that it would be better for her to suffer unto death and render up her life in virtue than from any inducement whatever to enter upon a life of illicit intercourse. The sense of degradation which an unvirtuous life brings will, to a sensitive person, destroy all happiness, and tend even to destroy health and life as well. Promiscuous sexual intercourse is attended with the con- stant danger of contracting malignant diseases. Syphilis, which is one of the most contagious, as it is one of the most loathsome of disorders, is spread by such intercourse, and, for this reason, it is a common disease among persons of unclean sexual habits. A man or a woman who steps aside for a single act of illicit indulgence with one of promiscuous habit is liable to contract this contagion. Other diseases, some of which are of such acute nature that they produce destructive inflamma- tion of the sexual organs, are of frequent occurrence with per- sons of promiscuous sexual association. Anyone who gives way to his appetite for such union yields himself to a passion that will tend to take complete possession of his forces, bear- ing him into abusive indulgence, out of which he will get very little pleasure, but from which he will certainly receive ILLICIT INTERCOURSE. 49 depression, pain and weakness. Even under the best*of treat- ment of one's self, the sexual organs and the passion which arises from their action will give more pain than comfort to the individual, and, seemingly, there Is no other set of organs to which abusive treatment Is more destructive. Irregularity of action, loss of control, weakness, pain and impotency are the undesirable and embarrassing consequences which follow abuse or excess. PART I CHAPTER XIV. Self^Abuse. "Our acts become our habits; our habits form our character; our char acter determines our destiny." ^^ ^OWEVER injurious excessive intercourse of a nat- ural kind may be, there is another form of sexual abuse which is much more destructive in its char- acter. Children, especially boys, early find that the external sexual organs are sensitive to touch, and they learn by accident or by evil example that these parts may be excited by artificial means, in much the same manner as that produced by natural intercourse. If once begun, this practice of excitement soon becomes a powerful habit, which tends directly to arrest and demoralize the development of both the body and the mind. These habits are commonly known as "self-abuse," "the solitary sin," or "masturbation." By whatever name the practice is known, or by what means it is accomplished, the physician and the intelligent parent know that the habit of such abuse is one among the most destructive vices to which any young person can become addicted. The unnatural act begets an unhealthy and excited condi- tion of the organs, so that the acts of abuse are liable to become more and more frequent and violent until serious con- ditions are produced. The effects of such a habit show them- selves on the organism of the person in the pale skin, hollow cheek, sunken and staring eyes, gaping mouth, stooping body, nervousness, palpitation of the heart, weakness of the back, and pain in the sexual organs. The person becomes dull in mind, shuns the society of others, and seeks indulgence in 50 SELF-ABUSE. 51 secret. Such practices tend to arrest natural and manly development, and, by their injury to the sexual organization, they tend to unfit the adult for married life. In its worst forms, self-abuse is one of the chief causes of weak-mindedness and insanity. A large percentage of the hopelessly insane have been brought to their deplorable condition by self- abuse — a habit which they have indulged until they have lost all power of control and all sense of propriety or decency. What can be done to prevent or cure such an evil? This is one of the most difficult questions that can be asked, because of the peculiar nature of the evil and the force with which the habit binds its victims. Even if parents know of the existence of such a habit with a child, they will scarcely venture to try to arrest the practice. Harshness on their part, and the embarrassment of the child, tend to drive the young person into greater seclusion. The physician cannot reach the case, for medicine cannot arrest the practice. Apparently nothing but the person's own will can do anything to avoid the shame- fulness and destruction caused by the habit. If the individual can be definitely informed and forcibly impressed concerning the evil consequences of his habit, that it must surely result in pain and weakness, that it destroys all hope of a vigorous manhood, he may, by the exercise of his manly natufe, cease to commit these acts of violence to his own person, or, at least, may lessen their frequency. The sympathy and help of his parents can aid him in this. It is true, however, that, do whatever he will at restraint, moments of sexual excitement and desire will come which quite overpower his will. Coupled with this liability to form the habit of abuse is the natural tend- ency of the sexual organs to involuntary seminal emission, in which case, without excitement, other than that which occurs through the impressions made in dreams — through sexual scenes — the sexual organs act almost as they do in cases of actual intercourse. The more vigorous the individual, the more rich and stimulating the food, the more exciting his associations, the more active are his sexual organs and the more disposed are they to involuntary discharge. This is not 52 SELF-ABUSE. a matter for concern or alarm, yet, in some measure, it leads to the practice of abuse. However difficult it is to prevent or to remedy the practice of self-abuse, it is certainly wise in par- ents to be on their guard and to protect their children as far as possible from the formation of such a depraving habit. Such practices are frequently learned from the bad example and corrupt suggestion of evil associates. The young person who is diligently and regularly engaged at some suitable work, or is interested in the pursuit of a course of study with his classes, or who spends his energies freely in vigorous sport with good companions, is much less disposed to sexual impropriety than is the lad who, from his idleness, is a prey to his own imaginations and suggestions, and who lacks wholesome means of direction for his physical energies. A simple diet, with less of flesh and more of cooling fruits, tends less to produce sexual excitement than do stimulating drinks and rich viands. The constant association of a young person with virtuous companions, free social intercourse with parents and friends at home, the reading of good books, the presence of ladies and gentlemen, the healthful activity of pleasant games and sports, ail direct the mind from base phys- ical suggestions and tend to develop a healthy tone of mind and a strong sense of refinement, which will do more than any- thing else can do to quicken the formation of virtuous char- acter. On the other hand, evil associations, lewd companions, books of doubtful character, scenes of revelry and license, details of crime, are among the surest forces that can debauch the young mind, by establishing a tendency toward low and sensual thought and taste. All the means that parents can employ, whether derived from wise parental influence in its general form or from intel- ligent physiological study — the regulation of diet, the influ- ence of good amusement, providing suitable employment — all are needed in promoting the sexual direction of their children. PART L CHAPTER XV. Know Thyself, 'The more a man becomes addicted to sensual pleasure, the more com- pletely is he a slave. People may call him happy, but he pays his liberty for his delights, and sells himself for what he buys." — Seneca. T IS easy to preach, but not always so easy to practice, however good advice may be. It would seem, however, that there can be no safer doctrine V^(^ and course of conduct than that which is based on ^'^-^ the study of self and the conscious effort of right self-direction. By reflection and observation, one may learn what his tendencies and habits are, and by proper effort he may do much toward establishing self-control rather than give reign to impulses. He can endeavor to divert himself from what is evidently wrong and injurious, and turn himself toward what is better and nobler. No other person can do this for him. Others may help or hinder, but it is only as he seizes hold of his own tendencies, and exerts himself consciously toward what is manly, that he can become better than he now is. Such effort tends to elevate; in the conscious effort to do better lie the surest and richest source of pure enjoyment, and the most helpful and ennobling of moral forces. On the other hand, a downward course will ever derange, depress, dissatisfy and destroy. Aim upward and press onward; seek the society of the good; emulate the example of the persons who are admired and loved because of their excellent qualities of char- acter. Speak more gently to associates; look upon the hope- ful and cheerful side of life; turn away from anger, fault-finding and envy. Life presents infinite possibilities of personal attainment, free to every zealous soul. 53 KNOW THYSELF, Cultivate bodily health by persistent exercise in the open air, by moderation in eating and drinking, by cleanliness, by proper amount of sleep and recreation. Give the lungs full breath, and cherish fresh air and sunshine as the richest of vital gifts to man. Dress with regard to judgment rather than in obedience to fashion. Regard the physical body as the delicate and beautiful instrument through which the soul acts, in which it dwells and upon whose vigor and healthfulness the spiritual part is depend- ent for its own vigor and health, upon which it depends for growth, for happiness and for power. Know, too, that the most sensitive and responsive of all physical parts are the sexual organs. Keep these within proper control; use them as nature intends and good judgment dictates. One can no more afford to abuse the sexual func- tion than he can afford to destroy the brain. Aim to live temperately, chastely virtuously. Shun dissipation; cleave to a noble purpose. PART L CHAPTER XVI. The Ideal Man, 'Do noble things, not dream them, all day long; And so make life, death, and that vast forever. One grand, sweet song." — Charles Kingsley. ^S THE plant turns unconsciously from darkness toward the light, so human ideality leads ever from that which is base toward that which is noble, from evil toward goodness, from the hide- ous toward the beautiful, from weakness toward power, and out of the happy combination of strength and beauty forms an idol of worship. In the ideal man these two factors rival each other for ascendency — his handsome personal appearance, his embodi- ment of force. In form and size, the model type of Caucasian is tall rather than short; slender rather than broad; erect in body; lithe and quick of movement rather than gross; strong, not weak; mus- cular, not fatty. His shoulders are square and well thrown back; his chest is full; his abdomen is not prominent; his limbs are straight and tapering; his walk is firm; his carriage is manly and graceful. In habits, such a man is clean in his person, temperate in eating and drinking, polite in his intercourse with others; he controls his temper, attends diligently to his own business, and is neither selfish nor "cheeky." His language is chaste and his conversation is free from vulgarity. He dresses well; he is interested in the important questions of the day; he is atten- tive to the opposite sex, and is regardful of their rights and privileges. 55 o6 THE IDEAL MAN. This ideal man marries, for he is a gallant and faithful lover; he has not destroyed his sexual vigor by evil practices, nor wasted it in sexual dissipation; he^ould not speak ill of any woman, much less would he descend to the unmanly plane of the seducer or debauchee. He becomes the father of children, owns a home as the anchor of his affections; he accords to the mistress of his heart the equality of headship in his family. He fosters and educates his family; he is not unmindful of the poor, and aids in benevolent and sanitary measures. Such a man fights no duels; he carries no concealed weap- ons; he seeks no quarrels; he keeps away from saloons; he is much at home; he pays his debts. As a result, life, to him, is worth living: he has something worthy for which to live. He has developed his own powers, endowed his mind with imperishable riches and escaped the pains of ill health and the wreck of dissipation. He is idolized by his family, admired and honored by all who know him well, surrounded by steadfast friends, and deserves the repu- tation he has established of being a noble and upright man. PART K CHAPTER XVlI The Ideal Woman. "May I reach That purest heaven ; be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony ; Enkindle generous ardor; feed pure love; Beget the smiles that have no cruelty ; Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, And in diffusion .ever more intense. So shall I join the choir invisible, Whose music is the gladness of the world.' ■George Eliot. )OMAN differs from man because she is a woman, yet, all in all, she is his equal and his worthy helpmate. She is less coarse, less strong, but has more of beauty, and is more refined. While man may cope with physical forces, bu-ffet the storm, fight battles, break the mountain, bridge the chasm, build the walls of a palace, she, as an artist molds her oppor- tunities to her purposes, creates fortune even out of accident or misfortune; by her command of unseen and subtle energies, she builds, beautifies and purifies the interior of the palace; she conserves the inestimable treasure of virtue. In stature, she is slightly less than her companion. She is neither large and angular nor diminCitive and rotund. She is not powerful, yet she is strong. Her movemencs are agile and graceful. Her features are fairly regular. Her face is more oval than his. Her skin is soft; her hair is rich and glossy; her health gives glow to her cheek, fullness to her form, elas- 57 58 THE IDEAL WOMAN. ticity to her step and ease to the erect and commanding car- riage of her person. Her chest is full, her waist undwarfed by- artifice, and her voice is pure and rich. Her dress is tidy, not showy; she displays but little jewelry, for her gems are of the mind and heart. She wins admiration by the engaging modesty and pleasantry of her manner, while she charms her friends by the brightness of her conversation and the evenness of her disposition. She is not an idle person, for she is moved by a spirit of diligence and usefulness; she is not selfish, for she is mindful of the wants of others. She is social without being a gossip; she is interested in the acquisition of knowledge, yet she is not a recluse; she is well informed, but modest in its display she is refined without being prudish. If needful to do so, she can rely upon her own talent of hand or mind for making a living, and can manage successfully the affairs of ordinary professional or commercial pursuit. This ideal woman marries, for she loves deeply and faith- fully. This fountain of her being is unpolluted by fickleness, design or treachery. Her love flows from her heart, not like the unruly torrent that would sweep and bend all before it, or dash itself against the rocks, to be itself whirled into eddies or splashed into spray, but like the deep, swift current which takes its way through the valley, moving the weaker impedi- ments from its pathway, circling gracefully about such as are immovable, and pursues its unbroken course to the sea. Such a love binds itself to its idol and its idol to itself; it fuses the two beings into an ideal unity. Such a love deter- mines its own homage; it is its own protection — a love that lasts and is not easily broken. This woman becomes a mother, for she is strong enough to bear the trial, and her inmost nature yearns to spend its treas- ures of love and service upon her own offspring. To do less would be unwomanly; to fail in this she would fall short of one great end and purpose of her life. As wife and mother, she is queen of the home, the molder of human happiness, the chief instrument in the Creator's THE IDEAL WOMAN, 59 hands for binding up broken places and for developing human perfection. Blessed is her work. In doing it well she insures her own perfection; her children shall arise and bless her; her husband ivould lay down his life for her. Her opportunities are infinite, her duties are imperative, her crown is sure and fadeth not awa^. PART I CHAPTER XVIII. Painless Childbirth. T IS proper that every possible means should be employed to prevent human suffering. To this end, the mother needs to be well informed in all that can determine the safe and easy labor she must undergo in bringing her child into the world. Fortunate is she who passes through this climax in her maternity speedily and with no great strain upon her nerv- ous system. To give birth to a child is a good and blessed act, not an evil one; under favorable conditions it is an issue to be desired, not shunned. Unfortunate is the woman who does not at some time in her life realize this crowning fruitfulness of her exist- ence; deeply to be pitied is she if prevented from so doing by debility, disease or deformity. Painful as childbirth may be, helpless as an infant is, troublesome as is the growing child, expensive as are the years of maintenance at the parent's hands, deep as the anxiety of the mother often is for a way- ward son or daughter, ungrateful as children sometimes are for the long years of parental care they have received, it still remains true that a childless home is dreary and lonesome, that the heart which hears no echo of love from its own child is inexpressibly sad, and that a life without posterity is barren. Surely a duty so momentous should be a healthy one; certainly such an important behest of nature should be reasonably free from danger to the life of the mother, and free, too, from unnecessary suffering in its performance. In truth, there is nothing in human life more nearly holy than motherhood, and no other achievement can outweigh that of giving life to a human being. 60 PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH, 61 It seems that the exercise of this function, within reason- able limits, is essential to woman's best health, to her longest life, to her greatest happiness and to the fullest development of her noblest traits. From vital statistics it is ascertained that married women are healthier than the unmarried; that of women between twenty and forty-five years of age, more single than married die; that of women who are suicides during this fruitful period of life, two-thirds to three-fourths are single; that of women who become insane within this limit of years, three-fourths to four-fifths are unmarried, and that in the path of strict celibacy lie a host of peculiar mental and physical ills that are appalling in number and fatality. It is a notable fact that among the most of savage and uncivilized peoples neither pregnancy nor childbirth itself interrupts the usual movements of the mother, excepting for a few hours, at most, at the time of the birth. The pregnant savage mother holds her place on foot in the shifting scenes of the roving tribe, stopping by the wayside to accomplish the trial of maternity, and, with the newly born papoose as her load, regains her membership among her people; or, it may be, she maintains her seat upon her pony, until the hour of birth is fully come, and, after a short time for its accomplish- ment, returns to the jolting motion of her palfrey and pro- ceeds upon her way. Such ease and quickness of birth, though common among the unenlightened races, seem almost incred- ible to those who are accustomed to the pain and distress attendant upon such acts among the higher races. What is so easy because of the simple, healthful, natural life of the savage mother, has become a serious trial to the more feebly constituted woman of luxurious and artificial life, bringing to the latter, as is often the case, days and weeks of suffering, hours of intense agony in its final act, followed by a period of exhaustion and endangered life. It is an equally notable fact that among enlightened peoples thousands of cases are known to physicians in which children are born so speedily, when the hour comes, that there is not time to send for the doctor; other cases in which the tt2 PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH. act occurs so readily that it is accomplished before his arrival; still others in which the operation comes upon the mother almost without warning in her-daily rounds of work or travel, so that the railway station or steam-car becomes her temporary hospital, and her fellow travelers are witnesses of the arrival of the new guest. Still others there are in which the child is born suddenly in bed, and, in some rare cases, it has occurred during the unconsciousness of the mother's sleep, from which she was aroused to find a "new one" under the covers. Often and often are the children of enlightened women born without pain or prolonged distress. All of such cases as the foregoing are due to the favorable mode of the mother's life, to her robust organization, to her good health, or to some special course of training or preparation which she has undergone. Herein is suggested the most general means of preventing painful and distressing maternity, that is, by such agencies as are found in the entire previous life of the woman, dating back to and including the development of her womanhood through the formative periods of childhood and girlhood. From her very first years of life she is preparing for maternity, and all that can contribute toward making her strong, healthy, vigorous, well-developed, sensible and well-informed will assist in determining for her a naturally easy birth of her chil- dren. To secure this necessary development of the young woman is the province of her sensible mother, whose watchful care and wise guardianship must decide the daughter's course of physical life. This favorable development, however, is not a condition that can be acquired within a short time; it is rather the result of slow but sure growth through years of right living. The promotion of such culture requires that the person shall live much in the open air and take such an amount of regular exercise as will develop muscular strength and nervous endur- ance. This can be done only by continued and persistent activity, in which the person does enough, but not too much, and causes such exercise to become as much a relish to her as PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH. 68 vigorous sport is to a stout boy. Almost every kind of ordi- nary business and recreation will assist in this good work of building a strong body. As has been said before, the clothing should be loose and light, yet protective against cold and wet. Coupled indispensably with this health-giving out-door life is the absolute need of full and regular hours of sleep in open, airy rooms; so, too, the need of enough plain, wholesome food, without the hurtful use of rich pastry, strong spices and heat- ing and exciting drinks, such as tea and coffee. Perhaps most of all does the building of a vigorous organi- zation require the development of the proper form of the body and the full growth of all its vital parts, the most important of which are contained in the chest and abdomen. If these por- tions, which have more to do with maternity than have any other parts, are hindered in their natural growth, are deformed, displaced or dwarfed, the evil consequences, in the same degree, are hurtful and fatal. The tight dress-waist and unyielding corset are instruments of pain and death to the child-bearing powers of the woman who distorts her body by their use. The natural and robust waist is not slender; fashion and false taste may require it to be pinched and dwarfed, but the unerring wisdom of nature has made the chest full and the waist and abdomen soft and yielding, because it is in these regions that the great vital organs are lodged, and freedom to grow and to perform their important functions is an absolute necessity to the fullest vigor of life. If the dress is kept even moderately tight about the waist these vital portions cannot :.Ad will not grow as they should. It is also true that the camping of the chest into less than the natural limits crowds the contents of the abdomen down, causing unnatural prom- in^fnce of this portion and making such pressure upon the sex- ual organs within the pelvis as to displace and deform those parts which are specially engaged in gestation. If the girl would grow to be a strong woman she must stand erect, keep her shoulders well thrown back, permit her chest and waist to become full and strong, and pursue such an active life as shall establish a vigorous endurance. A weak, frail girl-life, if con- 64 PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH, tinued, cannot fail to lead to similar weakness of woman-life and distressing frailty in motherhood. Much can be done, by regular physical training, in the prep- aration of the mother for her trial, even after marriage, and as pregnancy approaches or as it progresses. The athlete, when he is to make a trial of his strength, undergoes a prepar- atory course of training by which he brings himself up to his highest powers. So, also, may a woman, by a proper course of regular open-air exercise, bring herself up in tone of nerve and muscle and greatly improve her powers of endurance. If she has entered upon her term of pregnancy, more should be done than ever to preserve her good health by continuing the usual round of engaging occupation and of interesting recrea- tion. This is desirable for both the mother and the child and affects favorably her mental as well as her physical condition, preserving and improving her ability to pass successfully through the childbirth hours. On the other hand, excessive effeminacy tends to produce weakness, indolence wastes energy, yielding to helplessness begets greater helplessness, habitual reclining cultivates lassitude, life in the close atmos- phere and overheated air within doors is enervating, morbid fear of pain invites pain: all such weakness, if permitted to establish itself, paves the way for inefficiency and distress when the final hours come. Exercise should be continued, with proper precaution, to the last. During the eighth and ninth months she should walk less, ride more, lie down some each day, yet maintain to the end a gentle, active life of busy cheerfulness, avoiding fatigue, sudden jolt, hurtful strain and distressing positions. By such means she may come to the last hour with a fund of strength and power of endurance that are the best possible preparation for speedy and easy child- birth. As a special course of preparation for easy and painless birth, the mother may do much by giving extreme care to the matter of her diet during pregnancy. The child is formed from her blood, and this, in turn, from her food. Thus it is that through the food she eats she may to some extent determine PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH, 65 the growth of her offspring It has been well determined that a rigid adherence to a fruit-diet, after the first two or three months of pregnanc3^ will aid very greatly in rendering the birth easy. One of the benefits from such a course of diet is its total relief of the tendency to constipation on the part of the mother. Another is, that, while fruits furnish abundant nourishment for the growing child, they do not abound in bone-making substances; hence the bony parts of the child remain soft and yielding. The great difficulty in childbirth is the passage of the large, hard bones of the child through the narrow passages of the pelvis. By avoiding such food as tends to harden the bones, they will remain sufficiently soft to yield to the pressure made upon them and in this way pass readily. Very many cases have occurred illustrating this favorable effect of a fruit-diet. If the mother seeks an easy birth in this way she should deny herself wheat, oats and corn in any of their forms, because they contain bone-hardening elements. She should not use milk or hard (lime) water. She may eat liber- ally of all kinds of fruit, all kinds of vegetables, of rice, sage, tapioca, and the flesh of young animals. Persistent and faith- ful adherence to such a course of diet as is here indicated will undoubtedly result happily to the mother when the supreme moments of trial come. There rem.ains to be considered one sovereign means of painless childbirth, one so specific and direct that there is no doubt as to its result. This one method is the use of chloro- form, as an anaesthetic for allaying the pain at the time of the birth. In the hands of the competent and skillful physician there is no danger attending its use, and the effects are such that it turns pain into pleasure, or, if used in sufficient quan- tity, it renders the mother wholly unconscious of the ordeal through which she is passing. While this agent is harmless in the hands and under the direction of the careful physician, it is dangerous in the extreme if employed and administered by others. The physician must be the judge as to when and to what degree to use the anaesthetic. If the mother is robust and the birth is likely to be speedy, and is attended with but 66 PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH. slight distress, there would be no occasion for its use; but in those cases in which the reverse is true, its use is demanded. By its influence, not only are the pains relieved, but the volun- tary muscles are relaxed and the rigidness of the parts removed, so that birth is greatly facilitated. Careful physi- cians wait until labor has set in .thoroughly with the mother, then use the chloroform only to the extent of affecting the voluntary muscles and the sensory nerves, and thus not to interfere with the action of the involuntary muscles by which the child is born. Under such management, the labor may go on naturally, though the mother be wholly unconscious of the act. There are other anaesthetics which can be used at this crit- ical period, but none which seem so safe, and at the same time so effectual, as chloroform. Thousands of doctors now use this anaesthetic generally and constantly in their practice without evil or fatal results. In painful childbirth, as in every other case of extreme suffering, it is a beautiful and blessed thing. It is the duty of the physician to relieve pain. He is too brutal to be employed to take charge of a delicate and sensitive woman in her trial of maternity if he can relieve her suffering but will not; he is altogether too ignorant for such important professional duty if he does not know how to do it. In this enlightened age there is no need of hours of agony in childbirth; it is too late to let the ignorance and prejudices of the past prevent the skillful avoidance of such suffering. Of course precautions are necessary, and haste and recklessness have no place at the bedside of childbirth. These precautions are known to the competent doctor and are safe in his man- agement. Fortunate is the woman who has at her bedside an educated, capable and sympathetic physician, to whose care she can entrust her own life and that of her offspring. PART I. CHAPTER XIX. A Theory as to the Sex of Offspring. O KNOW what decides the sex of offspring is of peculiar interest. The subject presents much that is of scientific importance, since it is so closely connected with the origin of life and the influence of environment, while parents desire to learn what regulates the sex of their children, and to ascertain if these determining conditions are such as lie within parental control. Many theories have been advanced in times past which nave proposed to explain the intricacies of sex-origin. None, however, have fully solved the problem, while the most of these theories have been so wholly wanting in a reliable basis of careful observation as noi. to entitle them to any serious consideration. More recent invf stigations have proved less unsatisfactory, and, by reason cf trustworthy and comprehen- sive research, have approached much more closely to definite answers to the interesting queries which arise concerning the genesis of sex. Undoubtedly there are certain natural causes, operating in obedience to immutable vital laws, which decide the sex of offspring. In the human being, as in all of the higher classes of animals, this decision is reached at such an early period in the development of the embryo that observations for ascertain- ing the causes and conditions which make the young being become male or female are especially difficult. In some of the lower orders of animal life, the development of the sex is delayed until a much later date in the life of the embryo, and, in certain of these cases, the decision as to the maleness or femaleness is not established until the animal has lived for a 68 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. considerable time as a separate individual. For these reasons, observations for ascertaining the causes for the difference in sex are much more simple and satisfa'ctory in the lower beings of the vital scale than among the higher classes of animals, in which, as has been said, the conditions are intricate and the operations are obscured by their early occurrence in embry- onic life. The higher animals do not appear to be in any way excep- tional in the operations of the laws which govern their .exist- ence, and in accordance with which they have their develop- ment. All animate creation, including every phase of such being, lives, grows and reproduces its kind in obedience to the same general vital laws. So true is this that there is every reason to suppose that the causes and conditions which operate in the lower orders of animals in producing differences in the sex of offspring act in the same general manner in producing like differences of sex in the offspring of higher animals, including the human being. By observations made upon the inferior animals, it is possible to discover certain tendencies in sex-determination. These tendencies may be traced with similar results into the superior orders, and serve to indicate the relations of cause and effect to be watched for and recog- nized in sex decision, even in the human family. It is from such study and experimentation, such careful observation and inference, that the most trustworthy explanations have been produced of the origin and determination of sex. It is proper, however, to state that, while much is now definitely known in this regard, the whole has not been ascer- tained. What has been fairly ascertained to be true does not place the matter of the control of the sex of offspring within the easy command of parents; it does establish the fact, never- theless, that the regulation of sex is within their partial con- trol, at least. As ought to be supposed, the production of the two condi- tions, male and female — on which difference in individuals the continuance of life depends — is, in great measure, self-regu- lating, based upon such economic laws of supply and demand A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. 69 in nature as are in accord with the utility of sex and the wel- fare of the race. Evidently, nature must maintain a reasonable balance between the sexes. If from any cause the tendency were to produce males in excess, other causes must counteract such a tendency by the production of females, and, in like manner, any excess of females must be offset by correspond- ing tendencies to produce males. Such appears to be the case. It would be disastrous if the individuals of either sex were largely to outnumber those of the opposite sex, and it would be absolutely fatal for either sex to cease to be pro- duced. It will be found, therefore, that the regulation of sex is a matter of such concern that its decision is not left to the whim, caprice or carelessness of the parent, but is founded so deep in the conditions and interests of life that it is quite beyond human agency to alter, even in individual cases. It is possible, however, to recognize the general laws which tend to regulate sex, and possible, also, by conformity to their operations, to realize a desired result through their natural agency. Each individual among higher animals, whether male or female, begins as an impregnated ovum in the mother's body. Any such ovum contains elements of constitution from both of its parents. In the earliest existence of this impregnated ovum, there is a season of sexual indifference, or indecision, in which the embryo is both male and female, having the char- acteristic rudiments of each sex, only indifferently manifested. In this stage, the embryo is susceptible of being influenced by external conditions to develop more strongly in the one or the other direction and thus become distinctly and permanently male or female. It is evident that this is the season in the development of the individual in which influencing conditions and causes must operate in deciding its sex, although it is possible in some of the lower animals to alter the tendency of sex in the embryo from one sex to the other, even after it has been quite definitely determined. It is well established, in fact, that differences in sex do not come from a difference in the ova themselves; that is, there is I 76 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. not one kind of ova from the female which become female, while other ova become male, for it is possible to alter the ten- dency toward the one sex or the other after the ovum has been fertilized and the embryo has begun its career of development. This possible change in sex tendency in the embryo also proves that sex is not decided by a difference in the spermatozoa; that is, some of the sperm-cells from the father are not male, while others are female, in their constitution. It is incorrect to suppose, as has been held by some the- orists, that one testicle gives rise to male sperms and the other to female sperm-cells, for both male and female offspring have been produced from the same male parent after one testicle or the other has been removed. The same is true in cases in which either ovary has been removed from the mother; that is, male and female offspring are produced from mothers in whom either ovary has been removed In like manner, the sex of offspring is snown not to be materially affected by the comparative vigor of the parents; thus a stronger father than mother does not necessarily produce one sex to the exclusion of the other. These negative decisions are important because they simplify the solution of the problem of sex-determina- tion, by excluding, more or less fully, various causes which have been supposed to operate quite forcibly in deciding the sex of offspring. Some of the more positive agencies that enter into the determination of sex are found (i) in the influence of nutri- tion upon the embryo during its indifferent stages of sexual development, and (2) in the constitution and general condition of the mother before and during the early stages of pregnancy. These two factors appear to enter more fully than any others into the decision of the sex of offspring, and deserve the greatest consideration in this treatise. The influence of food in supplying the embryo with nourishment for its develop- ment, is perhaps, the most potent of these determining causes. The effects of nutrition are shown in suggestive manner in some of the lower orders of animal life, in which the condi- tions and results are readily observed. The classes of animals 1 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. 71 most satisfactory for experiment in this connection are such as pass through different phases of individual life before reach- ing the highest and most fully developed stage. The insects afford an illustration of these differing stages of individual development: (i) the ^gg is perfected and deposited by the fly; (2) this &gg hatches into a grub or worm-like animal; (3) this grub, when fully grown, enters the chrysalis form and undergoes such complete re-organization that it comes forth as (4) the perfect fly. Here are four complete and distinct stages, during which periods the sexual function and develop- ment are more or less delayed until the preparation of the insect for its fourth stage, and the tendencies toward one sex or the other may be repeatedly changed from one to the other during the earlier stages of the individual, by the influence of more or less favorable vital conditions. Frogs present another series of changes, which make them a favorite means of experimentation; thus the frog perfects and deposits (i) the spawn; this spawn hatches into (2) the tadpole, which, after a season of development and life as a tadpole, gradually becomes transformed into the highest phase of the individual's life, (3) the frog. Here are three forms of life in the same animal, quite distinct from one another, each being preparatory to the next in the scale. Complete sexual function is necessary only in the highest or frog stage, and during the tadpole stage sexual development is more or less indifferent, the tendency during the life and growth of the tadpole to become distinctly and permanently either male or female being dependent in great measure on surrounding circumstances, especially so upon the influence of food, whether it be abundant and nutri- tious or the reverse. Experiments upon frogs and insects tend to establish the truth of the doctrine that abundant nourishment during the stage of sexual indifference inclines to produce femaleness, while want of proper nutrition during these formative or pre- paratory stages inclines to produce maleness in the individual. Some of the most significant experiments for testing the influ- ence of food in deciding sex are those made upon tadpoles. 72 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. A notable case is described by Professor Geddes,^ from the experiments of E. Yung, in which he says, "From the experience and carefulness of the observer, these striking results are entitled to great weight." It appears that, in this remarkable experiment, of three hundred tadpoles, when left to themselves, the ratio of females to males was as 57 to 43. These were divided into three lots of 100 each and fed upon different kinds of nutritious diet to ascertain the change in sex-tendency due to such food. It should be remembered in this connection that the tadpole repre- sents the stage of sexual indifference in the life of the young frog, and that external conditions may alter sex-tendencies during such period of sexual instability. The first set, in which the original ratio of femaleness to maleness was 54 to 46, were fed abundantly on beef, from which cause the ratio altered so that it became 78 females to 22 males. The second portion, in which the ratio of sex in the beginning was 61 females to 39 males, were fed upon fish, by whose more nutri- tive effects the ratio was raised to 81 females to 19 males. The third section, in which the ratio of sex stood 56 females to 44 males, were fed upon a still more nutritious diet, that of frogs, whereby the proportion of females was elevated to the astonishing ratio of 92 females to 8 males. Each feature of this experiment is suggestive in indicating that a rich diet, abundant nutrition, favorable conditions for life, during the season of sexual indifference in the embryo, tend to develop femaleness. In the above experiment, no less than two out of the three of all the tadpoles which were at first male in their tendencies became female. Another of the most interesting and suggestive examples of the effect of diet in deciding the sex of an embryo is pre- sented in the case of bees. In keeping with other insects, the bee develops through different stages of individual life. The eggs are formed and deposited by the mother-bee; these hatch into larvae, which, by proper growth, development and trans- * The Evolution of Sex, by Professor Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson ; Messrs. Scribner & Welford, New York. A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. 78 formation, becomes bees. Three kinds of bees, the queen, the workers and the drones, are produced from the larvae; they exist together as the related members of the colony, and perform the various duties of the swarm within the hive. The queen is the perfect female, the only one of all the number capable of being the mother of a generation of offspring. She is the largest and most fully developed, and, by reason of her larger size, her finer appearance, and her superiority in other respects, is fitly recognized as the queen. The workers are the small, active bees, through whose diligence and sagacity the honey is collected, the comb is fashioned, the young are fed and the colony is protected from dangerous intruders. These workers are imperfect females, incapable of producing eggs. The drones are the male bees; they originate from unfertilized eggs of the queen, and perform no other function in the life of the colony than that of fertilizing the ova of the queen. They live a comparatively short and inactive life, and, having performed their special sexual function, they are stung to death by the workers and thrown out of the hive. The facts of greatest interest in regard to this curiously organized colony, or family, are such as concern the differ- ences between the queen, whose motherhood is complete, and the imperfect female workers. The queen bee is produced from a fertilized ^%^ which is deposited in a cell sufficiently large to admit of the superior growth of the larva which hatches from it; this larva is fed with "royal diet." This "royal diet" consists of the most nutritious and stimulating bee-food, gathered and preserved for this special purpose of serving as the nourishment for the baby queen. By reason of these more favorable conditions of room and food, the larva becomes perfected in its development so that it finally becomes the queen in size, appearance and function. The workers are produced in like manner from fertilized eggs, but the larvae from these eggs are restricted to smaller cells for their growth, and limited to the ordinary bee-food. The result is they are dwarfed in size, and, though female insects, they are incapaDle 74 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. of performing the crowning function of the female— they pro- duce no eggs. Now, it so happens at times that some of the larvae, which would otherwise become workers, receive by accident crumbs of "royal diet," and such is the effect of this richer food upon ;he larvae which receive it that they grow to an extra size, and may even become fertile workers. Certain it is, too, that the nurse-bees often select larvae which would otherwise become the dwarfed female workers, and feed these larvae fully upon the "royal diet." By such means, these well-fed larvae become young queens. Thus it is that "royal diet" determines that a larva, fed upon such food, shall become a queen, fully endowed with motherhood, while the larva nourished by the ordinary bee-food produces a sterile worker. In this case it appears that fully developed femaleness is due wholly to the effect of an abundance of suitable food and other favoring conditions during the season of sexual indiffer- ence which exists in the larva, and that the fate of the female embryo, whether it shall become a queen or a worker, is deter- mined within the first few days of its larval life, by the effects of the kind and degree of nourishment it receives. This is in exact accord with the results of the experiment already described in regard to the effect of food in determin- ing the sex of frogs, and tends quite forcibly and conclusively to establish the principle that favorable conditions of food and opportunities for growth tend to produce the high degree of development in the embryo which results in a female offspring. It is fair, too, to infer that femaleness, with its wonderful capacity for maternity, is a higher phase of devel- opment, due to and determined by superior conditions of embryonic life. What is here given in regard to bees is true in the same sense with other kinds of insects. Thus caterpillars which are poorly fed before entering the phase of the chrysalis come forth as male butterflies, while such as are abundantly fed, and which enter the chrysalis in a high state of development, become female butterflies. A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. 75 In the higher animals, the mammals, in which class the human being is included, the embryo is retained within the mother's body until it has developed into a being like herself and is ready to be born alive and be nourished by her milk. The changes in its growth, corresponding to the different stages through which the insect and frog pass, are performed in the hidden conditions of her body; hence, it is not possible to observe so definitely the effects of favorable or unfavorable vital conditions in determining the sex of offspring from the mammal. Following the indications derived from experi- ments with the lower animals in which it is convenient to watch the effects of certain external causes, it is possible to observe with a fair degree of certainty the influence of food, temperature, shelter, comfort and quietude, in deciding the sex of the young of the upper divisions of the vital scale. Results of interesting character are reported from experiments made upon sheep and other mammals. A collection of three hundred ewes was divided into two lots, of one hundred and fifty each. The first division were extremely well-fed, and were attended by young rams; as a result, the sex of the lambs produced was in the ratio of 60 females to 40 males. The second division were sparingly fed and were associated with old rams, in which case the ratio of sex of offspring was 40 females to 60 males. It was also a noticeable fact that the heavier ewes, such as showed fuller development and the happier effects of favorable conditions of life, produced chiefly female offspring. Other experiments of similar kind made upon domestic animals tend also to establish the conclusion that with the superior animals, as well as with the inferior orders, favorable conditions of life for the mother, as regards food, shelter, temperature, quietude and contentment, tend to produce femaleness in her offspring, and that reverse conditions tend to produce maleness. In order to produce offspring, a mother must be properly developed in sexual function. Undoubtedly, female parents make a more serious productive sacrifice in bearing young than 76 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. is required of male parents. To be capable of such sacrifice as is demanded of the mother, and thereby be fully female, requires a higher degree of vital development of the embryo and offspring that is to become a female. In order to estab- lish its sex as a female, correspondingly superior conditions for development are necessary during the formative period in which its sex is decided. In this connection, the female appears as the superior organism, complete in its own endow- ment for individual life and capable of reproducing its kind, needing at most only the fertilizing element from the male, and, in many of the lower orders of life, not even requiring a fertilizing germ, but fully competent of itself to produce its young. "Royal diet" for the larva of the bee determines the complete motherhood of the queen bee. The best external conditions for the embryo frogs decide the greatest ratio of femaleness in adult frogs. The most favorable conditions of ewes during 'the season of conception and early pregnancy beget the largest number of female lambs. In general, it is reasonable to infer that the higher sexual organization which constitutes the female is to be attained in the greatest number of cases by embryos which have superior vital conditions dur- ing the formative sexual period. Among human beings, some facts of general observation become significant in the light of the foregoing inferences. After epidemics, after wars, after seasons of privation and dis- tress, the tendency is toward a majority of male births. On the other hand, abundant crops, low prices, peace, content- ment and prosperity tend to increase the number of females born. Mothers in prosperous families usually have more girls; mothers in families of distress have more boys. Large, well- fed, fully developed, healthy women, who are of contented and passive disposition, generally become mothers of families abounding in girls; mothers who are small or spare of flesh, who are poorly fed, restless, unhappy, overworked, exhausted by frequent child-bearing, or who are reduced by other causes which waste their vital energies, usually give birth to a greater number of boys. A THEORY AS TO THE SEX OF OFFSPRING. 77 As a general proposition, the foregoing facts and inferences tend to establish the truth of the doctrine with women, that the more favorable the vital conditions of the mother during the period in which the sex of her offspring is being deter- mined, the greater the ratio of females she will bear; the less favorable her vital conditions at such time, the greater will be her tendency to bear males. That many apparent exceptions occur does not disprove the general tendency here maintained. Moreover, it is impos- sible to know in all cases what were the conditions of the mother's organism at the time in which her child was in its delicate balance between predominate femaleness or maleness; else many cases which seemingly disprove the proposition would be found to be forcible illustrations of its truth. Still further, it is probable that other causes besides those here mentioned act with greater or less effect in determining the sex of offspring. The doctrine herewith deduced that the female offspring is the more highly organized, though differing from notions cur- rent in the minds of some persons who are imbued with the idea that the male is the perfect type, is in accord with the plan of reproduction of vital bodies throughout the entire world of living beings. In the plant kingdom, that for which all other parts of the plant exist, that to which all other por- tions are subservient, is the pistil, or female organ of repro- duction, a part which it is the crowning function of the plant to perfect, a part which is the most complex, most highly organ- ized and most precious. In the lower orders of animals, the female organism usually shows its superiority in its greater size and fuller development, as well as in its capacity for pro- ducing young beings. The ability to reproduce perfect beings as offspring is of itself the strongest evidence of the superiority of the female. Among insects, birds and mammals, the female is usually of larger size, and, though often less attract- ive in appearance and less demonstrative in habit, she is more passive in disposition, more complacent and happy in temper. While greater stature and greater muscular development 78 A THEORY AS TO THE SEX 'J.? OFFSPRING. often accompany the more pugnacious and restless spirit of the male, such differences do not necessarily argue that the male is the more highly organized or more nearly perfect. These differences, when they exist, are in great measure due to the fact that the animal is male, and, having less organic sacrifice to make in other respects, has more muscular devel- opment, which is increased by his more restless and unsatisfied constitution. As has been said, the capability of producing offspring is a sufficient evidence of perfect organization in the mother, and shows, too, that she possesses a requisite surplus of vital energy and organic power to endow her child with life, both of body and soul. That woman possesses higher nervcu? sensibility is evidenced in her finer delicacy and refinement, in her acuteness to mental impression, and in her keener and surer moral sense. Man is less complex. He makes less sexual sacrifice. He is not compelled to hold in reserve a surplus energy sufficient to equip a new life with being. He has moie to spend in his own muscle, brain and brawn. He may, therefore, excel in strength, in stature and in intellectual attainment; but such features of excellence are not necessarily an evidence that his organism is more complex, more refined, more perfect than woman's. Greater muscular and intellectual power accord with the restless life of the male, and fit him for dominion over brute force, but such endowments pale in sig- nificance when contrasted with the exquisite sensibility of woman, whereby she is fitted for maternity, gifted with a creative art and power capable of making men and women. Woman's motherhood, whereby the race is continued and its higher destiny is evolved, caps and completes the exalted rank maintained by the female element throughout the entire scale of vital being. PART 11. HUMAN CREATION A MOTHER'S LOVE. " This suhlime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a clean and chaste body," — Emerson. BY JOSEPH H. GREER, M. D. 79 PART II CHAPTER I. The Vital Principle of Life. HE perpetuity of any species is dependent upon the power of each individual of the class to transmit life. This power is received through sex, which is to be seen everywhere in the domain of nature among creatures which live, move and have being, and in vegeta- tion which blossoms and brings forth each after its kind. Types may vary according to the environment in which they have been placed, but the scientist can trace each to the source from which it sprang. Biology, the broad science which comprehends the phe- nomena manifested by living matter, elaborates on the continu- ance of life by transmission to offspring. In the lowest form of life the only mode of generation now known is the division of the body into two or more parts, each of which grows to the size and assumes the form of its parent and repeats the process of multiplication. This method of multiplication by fission is properly called generation because the parts which are sepa- rated are severally competent to give rise to individual organ- isms of the same nature as that from which they arose. In the higher forms, life is reproduced by a union of parents of different sexes. This is gamo-genesis; the other is agamo- genesis. Sex is not substance. It is a power pervading the realm of living things, and is known through its manifestations. While 81 ei THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. all organisms are provided with the means of reproduction, the means are not the thing itself. In the human family children are born male and female often of the same parents. Why is not clearly defined. Some observers state that good conditions, tending even toward voluptuousness, produce females ; and vice versa : a theory in confirmation of Mother Goose's jingle: "Little boys are made of rags, tags, and old pudding bags ; Little girls are made of sugar and spice, and everything nice." By whatever combination of prenatal circumstances they are sexed, babes are usually born with either the masculine or femi- nine principle clearly defined. In 'True Manhood" are found these words : "The soul is the man. If possessed of the masculine attribute he appropriates to this end the substances he eats and the air he breathes. He transforms them by this principle into a male body. A soul having the feminine principle transforms these substances into a female body. The ovaries of the female as well as the testes of the male are organizers, but they produce unlike results from the same material. "The physical manifestations of sex in face, form and voice are the outward signs of an inward power." All creative ability has its origin in the sex nature. New and useful conceptions of the brain are applauded, although the generality of our race and clime do not know the source. Tiie Sexual Instinct. Mr. Grant Allen, who in his lifetime was a student and thinker, said : "Everything high and ennobling in our nature springs directly out of the sexual instinct. Its alliance is wholly with whatever is purest and most beautiful within us. To it we owe our brightest colors, graceful form and melodious THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. 83 sound, rhythmical motion. To it we owe the evolution of music, of poetry, of romance, of belles lettres; the evolution of sculpture, of decorative art, of dramatic entertainment. To it we owe the entire existence of our aesthetic sense, which is, in the last resort, a secondary sexual attribute. From it springs the love of beauty; around it all beautiful arts still circle as their center. Its subtle aroma pervades all literature. And to it, too, we owe the paternal and maternal and marital relations ; the growth of the affections; the love of little pattering feet and baby laughter ; the home with all the associations that clus- ter around it ; in one word, the heart and all that is best in it. "If we look around among the inferior animals, we shall see that germs of everything which is best in humanity took their rise with them in the sexual instinct. The song of the nightin- gale, or of Shelley's skylark, is a song that has been acquired by the bird himself to charm the ears of his attentive partner. The chirp of the cricket, the cheerful note of the grasshopper, the twittering of the sparrow, the pleasant caw of the rookery — all these, as Darwin showed, are direct products of sexual se- lection. Every pleasant sound that greets our ears from hedge or copse in a summer walk has the self-same origin. If we were to take away from the country the music conferred upon it by the sense of sex we should have taken away every vocal charm it possesses save the murmuring of brooks and the whis- pering of breezes through the leaves. No thrush, no blackbird, no linnet would be left us; no rattle of the night-jar over the twilight fields; no chirp of insect, no chatter of tree-frog, no cry of cuckoo from the leafy covert. The whippoorwill and the bobolink would be as mute as the serpent. Every beautiful voice in wild nature from the mocking-bird to the cicada is, in essence, a love-call ; and without such love-calls the music of the fields would be mute, the forest would be silent." 84 THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. Throughout the domain of nature the instinct of sex is paramount. In the lower kingdom^ of life the instinct, pure and undefiled, is followed. In the human family the instinct is subject to the modifications of civilization; which, alas, is not always for the best. And lives are colored by the thoughts of sex, which may be any of the varying shades between good and bad. Asceticism on one hand strives to suppress all thoughts and feelings regarding the relation of the sexes as impure. Those who are so narrow as to conform to the letter while lacking the spirit of true religion may be cited as the most baneful of combatants of pure thought on the subject. Sus- pecting evil with a large E, they become the self-constituted guardians of public and private morals. Kipling remarks it in one of his "Tales." He says : "You have noticed that many religious people are deeply suspicious. They seem — for purely religious purposes, of course — to know more about iniquity than the Unregenerate. Perhaps they were specially bad before they were converted ! At any rate, in the imputation of things evil and in putting the worst construction on things innocent, a certain type of good people may be trusted to surpass all others." Their perverted understanding, or lack of under- standing, distorts and discolors much with which they come in contact. Seeking for the unlovely, the good, the true, the beautiful is lost to view. On the other hand is the unchaste, immoral sensualist, who believes that life means gratification of the senses, the most exquisite of which is in the sexual relation. He drains the wine of life to the dregs, and when at last sated can see nothing of the true use of bodily senses. The extremes exist because they do not know the truth. THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. 85 The Training: of Youth, As to the training of youth, Prof. David Starr Jordan says : "The ultimate end of science as well as its initial impulse is the regulation of human conduct. To make right action possible and prevalent is the function of science. The world as it is is its province. In proportion as we conform to the conditions of the world as it is, do we find the world beautiful, glorious, divine. The truth of the *world as it is' must be the ultimate inspiration of art, poetry and religion. The world as many have agreed to say it is, is quite another matter. The less our children hear of this the less they will have to unlearn in their future development. "By the study of realities wisdom is built up. In the rela- tions of objects he can touch and move, the child comes to find the limitation of his powers, the laws which govern phe- nomena, and to which his actions must be in obedience. So long as he deals with realities these laws stand in their proper relation. *Tt is clear that the knowledge is of most worth which can be most directly wrought into the fabric of our lives. That dis- cipline is most valuable which will best serve us in quietly unfolding our own individualities." Applying Prof. Jordan's words to understanding what is really true of the sex nature, the same law holds in force; the relation of that department of human nature to other depart- ments must be known and the law obeyed if one would find life glorious, divine, beautiful. Manifestation of the sex principle in the human family is not noticeable until the beginning of puberty, the average age for which is about fourteen years. In the boy, the bony frame- work enlarges, the shoulders broaden, the chest expands, and the voice deepens. He bears within his being the creative 86 THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. impulse, for the first time. If properly instructed, creative force will be turned into the channel of energy and vigor ; if not, the probabilities are that the instinct v;rill revert to the type as seen in many of the lower animals. The changes of puberty are as pronounced in the healthy girl as in the healthy boy. Bodily enlargement is most noticeable at the hips; the framework increases in size to permit of en- largement of the ovaries and uterus. In sympathy with these the mammary glands, or breasts, enlarge. The mental changes are as remarkable; life assumes more pleasing proportions as the period of adolescence is ushered in. Safety in Knowledgfe Only* Knowdng that the voice of passion will speak to every normal child, none are worthy of the name of parent who will not by every known method instruct their children. "If sharp tools were of necessity," says a modern thinker, "to be put into the hands of a child, we should realize that instruction in the wise use of them would be needed; and, if by ignorance the child were injured, we should blame ourselves more than we should him. The powers that come with the development of maturity, unless understood, are more dangerous than the sharpest razor, but the tacit teaching of society is that parents and teachers must keep silent and leave the child to learn by his own experi- ence, and also to suffer the results of his own ignorance.'* In its unperverted aspect, the prompting of passion is the prompting to create ; it is a great impelling force needing guid- ance. Of the many ways of expressing this power that of the physical union of the sexes is to be used the least ; because of the intensity of feeling, great inroads are thus made upon the vitality of the body, consuming what might be used in making the most of life's possibilities. The haphazard generation of THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. 87 offspring is what the world least stands in need of, and procrea- tion is always attended by waste in parental energy. It is part of the great plan of nature that the sexes shall be attractive to each other. "Either sex alone is half itself," says Tennyson. And "love is the fulfillment of the law," says an older volume. Companionship between the sexes is necessary to preserve an equilibrium. Those who are isolated are those who know least how to control the attraction toward the oppo- site sex. Hence comradery should be cultivated; comradery as human beings, however, not as representatives of opposite sexes. When the time for marriage shall arrive, again there is need of the counsel of wise and loving friends, and good books. The realities of what the relation may mean should be made as clear as possible. The interested parties should learn the im- portant lesson that control of the animal propensity and diverting the impelling force into other creative channels are more necessary after marriage than before, for the good of all concerned. The removal of all barriers to full and free in- timacy would not mean license to unlimited sexual gratifica- tion if youth was properly instructed. "Life is harmony and health," writes a correspondent to one of the progressive jour- nals. "There is harmonious expression for every natural im- pulse of life. Life is creative. To be filled with life is to be filled with creative desire. Every thought and every feeling is vitalized within this creative life. Life has endless variety; it creates in myriad ways. This variety is in man because life is in him. The world is filled with his creations, and still his creations are multiplying. Every human being feels an im- pulse to create in a way peculiar to himself, and ever longs until his desire is fulfilled. "Now, when a human being develops from childhood into 88 THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. youth, and feels the influx of a larger life in heart, in mind, in body, is he — or she — told, this is life impelling you to use it in creating beautiful and useful works for the help and happi- ness of your brothers and sisters ? Life is love — and love ae- sires to give itself and to create freely. "No, he is told this new sensation is the animal passion which develops in all animals. It is the desire of the animal for sexual union with its own speciesj and its use is the perpetuation of the species ; you will never find satisfaction and relief except in the fulfillment of this desire. "Then begins the concentration of thought upon the sensa- tion of life, and locating it in one part of the body. From henceforth every new influx of life is determined here, instead of being distributed through the whole body, as it would natur- ally be if the thought was not trained to prevent it. This causes congestion in place of free circulation, and inflammation in place of delightful sensation ; and there is more or less uncon- trollable desire for expression in one direction, instead of grand desires in many directions. While passion is being cultivated, the youth is also taught that this desire of the physical cannot be gratified except he secures a permit that is made legal, and marry one of the opposite sex." Recapitulating the average life, "as men have agreed to say it is," it can be readily seen that the scant teaching the young receive regarding the development of life tends to make of marriage a state of unlimited debauchery, where self-control is thrown away. Why wonder at the few comparatively happy unions when it is onlyi by chance that any have learned the beneficence of creative life, or the powers of sex. Outside of marriage sexual indulgence is regarded as degrading. Through what chemistry does wrong become right by legal enactment? Laws are supposed to bind people together for II THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. 89 sake of offspring, because offspring are believed to be the necessary consequence of physical intimacy. Heaven pity the pair whose only tie is the legal one, and pity the offspring of such unions ! Comradery, mutual interest, equality and reciprocal affection are the true binding forces, which no law can sever, nor generate if they do not exist. These are enhanced by conjugal intimacy of the nature that does not exhaust. "Conservation of power is both possible and effective for the unmarried ; and through love, training and self-control, marriage may be con- summated in such manner that not only is the same conserva- tism and appropriation attained, but, by the union of the spir- itual forces of two souls, it is greatly augmented." — Karezsa. Completeness is never attained by man alone, or by woman alone. The eternal feminine complements the eternal mascu- line. Mutual love and tenderness leading up to a final complete blending of physical and spiritual natures generates a binding attractiveness that will not be set aside lightly. A dramatic critic, in reply to the moralist (described by Kipling) who criticised the stage, remarks: "They (the ag- gressive moralists) will say, 'How do you account for the fact that a play in which there is exhibited pronounced sexual- ity or scenes of excessive passion or abnormal characters such as courtesans, strong-willed self-helpers, or even perverted be- ings, attract large audiences? How do you explain the fact that if a play contains what are described as naughty episodes, or suggestive scenes, it is pretty sure to be successful ?' "Now to these two pertinent questions I am not going to give the reply of the ordinary aggressive moralist, that human nature is evil and naturally turns to evil. This answer is neither real, true, nor philosophic. The real answer is parallel to the answer we must give to the question. Why do all men 90 THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. and women secretly enjoy naughty stories, especially those dealing with indelicate subjects? Because these things are fundamentally of the first importance l:o the affirmation of life and its continuance." It is not true, however, that all men and women enjoy "naughty" stories. The ascetic who truly believes the passion of the body to be vile shrinks from vileness. On the other hand, all who have learned to reverence the creative department or life are hurt and offended by common jesting or salacious stories. Of the darkness and mysticism that surrounds the subject of love Mrs. Jameson asks: "Must love be ever discussed in blank verse as if it were a thing to be played in tragedies or sung in song, a subject for pretty poems or wicked novels, having nothing to do with the prosaic current of our every-day existence, our normal welfare and eternal salvation? Must love ever be treated with profaneness as a mere illusion, or with shame as a mere weakness, or with levity as a mere accident? whereas it is a great necessity lying at the founda- tion of morality and happiness. Death must come — and love must come ; but the state in which they find us, whether aston- ished, blinded, frightened and ignorant, or like reasonable crea- tures guarded, prepared and fit to manage our own feelings, this, we suppose, depends upon ourselves. For want of such self -management and self-knowledge look at the evils that ensue : hasty, improvident, unsuitable marriages ; repining, dis- eased or vicious celibacy ; irretrievable infamy ; cureless insan- ity. With childhood and youth thus frightened, oh, see to it, parents, that your own hands hold the helm of destiny rather than suffer such interests to be wafted by the gusts of casual influence, or driven upon the lee-shore of ruin by the monsoon of artfully excited passions." Only the truth- will make them whole. THE VITAL PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. tl Sex and Life* Sex is the vital principle of life, and must be preserved as its balance-wheel. Any unnatural mode of thought or prac- tice which silences the voice of desire emasculates character; from thence onward Hfe is upon the dowm-grade. No one has been truly great who has been weak in sexuality. Geniuses are only conceived by a complete blending of the entire natures of parents. That geniuses are rare accents the fact that the majority are born of the merely physical unions. Emanuel Swedenborg said: "The spiritual fruits of the union of the sexes are love and wisdom." The celibate life may be full of much that is good, true and beautiful, but perfection is approximated most nearly when the two principles of sex are harmoniously mated. No adult alone in life but will, in the silence, know a longing for the counterpart who must be somewhere in the world. But abundant and useful employment for hands and brain will pre- vent any blighting influence from devastating the good there is. Unmarried persons should make it a point to mix freely in the society of equals. The magnetic atmosphere of a company of men and women has a tonic influence on those who live alone. If no effort is made to draw one away from self in a greater or less degree, vital force will wane. Man needs the society of woman ; woman needs the friendship of man. If it can not be that they can forsake all other ties, cleave to one another, and rear a brood of love-begotten children, less inti- mate association will relatively benefit. The isolated ascetic can never enter into the portals of spir- itual grace and strength, such as is the outgrowth of association between the sexes. In true marriage the only natural way is opened for growth in every direction. Loveless lives are non- progressive lives. PART IL CHAPTER IL The Dominant Power of Life. 'HE power to think and reason and to express the higher intellectual planes through the forces of same in language seems to be one of the strongest dis tinguishing features between humankind and then kindred, the lower animals. The power to ascend to thoughr is exclusively human. In the scope of human intelligence advancement is made b^ the ability to choose. Life is represented 'by contrasts; or by positive and negative forces. The positive gives, the negative takes away. The most common of these contrasts are light and. darkness, heat and cold, good and evil, all of which have their uses in the economy of life. The power of choosing from the positives, or the negatives, is in thought. If the power to think is but weakly used individuals are straws on the current of life, wafted hither and thither by the force of thought of others upon the same plane with themselves. Nature abhors a vacuum, and if one will not think his own thoughts, the mind will be filled, or preyed upon, by thoughts of others to a large extent. Thought modifies the cast of feature, the manner of gesture, and the entire character. If you are determined and decided the bearing and address will make it known ; vice versa. Dick- ens recognized the outward expression of the interior life and makes use of it in describing "Miss Wade" in the story of Little Dorrit: "Although not an open face, there was no pretense 92 THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. 98 about it* 'I am self-contained and self-reliant. Your opinion is nothing to me. I have no interest in you, care nothing for you, and see and hear you with indifference' — this it plainly said. It said so in the proud eyes, in the lifted nostril, in the handsome but compressed and even cruel mouth. Cover either two of those channels of expression, and the third would have said so still. Mask them all, and the mere turn of the head would have showm an unsubduable nature." The Power of Thoughts The veneer of polish which conventionality decrees can rarely hide real characteristics. The silent but powerful influ- ence of private thoughts makes a record upon the form, feature, and gesture. That thought is constructive is everywhere to be seen, and it follows in the direction of ideals. If there is no clear-cut ideal, character is vacillating. Life grows from within ; hence the true power to live comes from ideals approved by the conscience, and enforced by the will. Regarding thought Mr. C. C. Post says : "There are currents of thought as there are currents of electricity, of magnetism in the earth, of water on the surface of the earth, of air above the earth. I know it because the same law runs through all things, and there is never a cause without its accompanying effect; never a spring without a rivulet of flowing water." Whatever one thinks allies him with the strata of thought erf others on the same line or current of thought. It attracts a similar element from others, in proportion to the strength put forth. T'he study of evolution shows that animals evolved the parts of body needed to place them in harmony with their surround- ings. While people may not be able through the force of their thoughts or desire to grow wings, they can, in the realm of 94 THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. mind, become that upon which the heart is fixed. Evolutionary development has progressed beyond the physical realm. "Fra Elbertus" says : ''All things come through desire, and every sincere prayer is answered. "Many people know this, but they do not know it thoroughly enough so that it shapes their lives." To be convinced of a desire and be backed by resolution, its attainment will come, no matter how many obstacles must first be surmounted. The central idea is to fix the mind upon an as- piration, and then not waver in working to that end. That does not say that the end will bring peace and happiness, for it may not be in harmony with the abstract law of universal goodness, without which no one wins contentment. An object may be persistently desired which, when obtained, will only bring dis- appointment. But the law is the Law. We get negatives by desiring them. When life's forces or energies are put forth in a wrong direc- tion, even though it be done in ignorance, the seeds of punish- ment are implanted therewith. Or if the wrong is done know- ingly the individual is adding fuel to his own discomfiture. "Fra Elbertus" tells us that *'Sin is its own punishment. God never punishes men for their sins : a self-lubricating, automatic Law looks after that." There is no escape from the penalty except a change of causes. As physical pain is felt from a misuse of bodily powers, so mental suffering must be as the result of mis- appropriation of mental powers. Experience in any degree of trangression ought to give wisdom to avoid the cause, on the same principle that "a burned child fears the fire." "Man wittingly or unwittingly violates law — physical, men- tal or spiritual — and the inner tribunal and sequential penalty judge him. The law in itself may be kindly and the penalty educational, but to his untrained vision they both seem adverse THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. 95 and even evil. But only through some experimental iniraction of the moral order can undeveloped man divine its mandates. Only the freedom of choice, and some degree of discipline, at least slight, for missmg the mark, make developed moral char- acter and spiritual fiber possible. As man progresses in inner unfoldment and attains higher evolutionary planes, his diver- gence from the moral highway will be more slight. At length he will feel its leadings and outgrow the necessity of the hard primitive cuffs and blows which are provisionally required to startle him and push him out of the deep ruts of animality. * * * Growth is only possible through wise choosing rnd exercise." — Prof. Henry Wood. Love the Needful Element* The needful element to growth is the spirit of love. And it may be cultivated by striving to overlook, to not recognize, anything that excites antagonism. The foundation principle was expressed by the Christ when He said, "But I say unto you resist not evil." And Prof. Wood says : "The scientific value of non-resistance is that it destroys all the realism that evil possesses. In proportion as one turns his back upon it and Elves it behind it dissolves into its native nothingness." As the absence of heat may cause one to freeze, and the sence of light may confuse and cause one to lose his way, the absence of good may work to the disadvantage, and even injury, of one not fortified by strength from within. Good includes everything that works for the uplifting of human- cind. Evil includes whatever lowers. As soon as the intelli- S^ence comprehends the fact that evil has no power save as a )lace is given it in thought, and non-recognition is practiced, Dne is upon the true highway of mutual and spiritual progress. To aid this end Mrs. Talbot has the following to offer : "You 96 THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. must know that thoughts are creative, that words are spoken thoughts and stand for the things spoken. You can hold to a certain thought until you bring about the condition of that thought. You not only affect yourselves by thoughts, but others also. Bravery and confidence beget bravery and con- fidence; love and tenderness beget love and tenderness. But what is of most importance for you to know is that reiterating a certain word brings about the condition of mind that word or thought represents. This is a law capable of proof by all." In rhyme Ella Wheeler Wilcox expresses the same thought : "Words are great forces in the realm of life ; Be careful of their use. Who talks of hate. Of poverty, of sickness, but sets rife These very elements to mar his fate. "When love, Halth, happiness and plenty hear Their names repeated over day by day. They wing their way like answering fairies near, Then nestle down within our homes to stay. "Who talks of evil conjures into shape That formless thing, and gives it life and scope. This is the law. Then let no word escape That does not breathe of everlasting hope." An experiment as to the action and reaction of thought-force is as follows : When in the company of persons who do not antagonize what you have to say, enter into a description of something you dislike or hate. Let it be of a person who you think has done you wrong; or if you are a partisan in politics or religion, de- nounce the follies, fallacies and iniquities of the opposition. THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. 97 Let loose the vials of wrath, and be sure that you feel what you are saying; keep up the tirade as long as you can. Then drop the matter and go about your ordinary occupation. Dis- miss the subject entirely and forget what you have been saying. In from two to six hours the rebound will be felt. Thoughts go first to the object toward which directed, and do their work if the person be not defended by a power of non-recognition of unwholesome influence. You may have forgotten the sub- ject of wrath or denouncement (though if trying it as an ex- periment you will not be apt to) . When the reaction comes a terrible fit of despondency is felt ; there will seem to be no light or ray of hope whichever way you look. You may even feel that life is not worth living and incline to suicide. Everything will assume the worst possible hue. It is only that the conditions created by an antagonistic state of mind have returned as "chickens come home to roost." After proving that despondency or "the blues" comes through holding thoughts of evil, and concentrating energy upon them, the opposite experiment may be tried. Think of some useful, pleasant subject, or person, and say everything good that can be thought of it. Laud it to the skies, and for as many minutes as possible hold the thought to the subject. Then forget the subject and assume the ordinary duties of life. In a few hours exuberance will come, and joy that will uplift the heart and stimulate the belief that all is good. All the time people are performing one or both of these experiments. The confirmed pessimist has practiced de- nouncing, the optimist praising. One of the present-day philosophers says, "A man doesn't really begin to live until he begins to love with that real love which eliminates every element of evil." Which is to say. 98 THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. when one allows the light of love to shine into the soul without placing- barriers in the way he has at last found his place in the true relation to the universe. In thinking thoughts of good- ness, of health, of peace and prosperity he becomes allied with those elements in both the material and spiritual realm. For, as Helen Wilmans says, "The entire universe is one mind of which all objects, including man, are varied expressions." And as like attracts like in one realm so it does in another." "To strive to forget enemies, or to throw out to them only friendly thought, is as much an act of self -protection as it is to put up your hands to ward off a physical blow. The persistent thought of friendliness turns aside ill-will and renders it harmless," says Mulford. "There," said a boy to whom his mother read the above paragraph, "is a better reason for being good and doing good than to tell a fellow the devil will get him if he don't do right." The instinct of self-preservation, "the first law of nature," is appealed to. By constant practice an attitude of friendliness becomes a habit. By that it is not meant that one should en- dure, then pity, then embrace what is not good, or that one should wink at the evil-doings of society. We can be friendly to a sinner, but not to the sin ; and can see that sin is a wrong expression of life's energies. If possessed of sufficient wisdom and skill, we may be able to persuade a sinner to forsake the error of his way, by enabling him to see the sooner he changes front the less will be the pain and punishment as his share of discipline. Very few can philosophically accept pain and pun- ishment as the "beneficent friction that turns men back from what would otherwise be self-destruction." It is most important that natural law be learned, because knowledge of its rewards and punishments would save from many mistakes. It would change the point of view in the THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. 99 majority of instances, and teach the advantage of coming into harmony at an early day. The Folly of Fean "The truth shall make you free," says the good book. The constant seeking for what is true enables one to approximate freedom. But there is one thrall which prevents progress so long as individuals allow themselves to remain under it, and that is fear. Fear is the greatest foe of all, and it travels like an epidemic if conscious thought is not closed against it. A bright newspaper woman, in an article contributed to her journal about cowardice, said : "There is nothing on earth to be afraid of — nothing worth being afraid of — if you face it. "A coward is always afraid. Day or night, asleep or awake, eating or drinking, afraid, afraid, afraid. Of what ? Of his own weak, groveling spirit. Of his own shrinking soul. "If a man can not depend upon the friend within his own soul to help him in time of need, he is indeed friendless." And Brother Elbert Hubbard says: "Fear is the rock on which we split, and hate is the shoal on which many a barque is stranded. When we are fearful the judgment is as unreli- able as the compass of a ship whose hold is full of iron ore. When we hate we have unshipped the rudder. And if we stop to meditate on what gossips say, we have allowed a hawser to befoul the screw." How can one lift one's self out of the strata of fear ? By re- fusing to receive the thought — by resisting and not recog- nizing it. Fill the mind with thoughts of universal goodness. "Out in the silent night, under the stars, say to yourself, again and yet again, 'I am a part of all my eyes behold.' And the feeling will surely come to you that you are no mere interloper between earth and sky, but that you are a necessary particle of the Whole."— Fra Elbertus. 100 THE DOMINANT POV/ER OF LIFE. And as a necessary particle of the Whole, rely upon your- self to such an extent that what others may think or say will not cause a wavering from any noble desire to do or be. Put away fear that the power of thought may work in freedom, and then by experience and observation learn to distinguish what is good from what is not good. "He who will not see the truth can not actualize it in his life and surroundings," Mrs. Wilmans says. And that finds a parallel thought in the words of Samuel Taylor Coleridge : *'He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and in loving himself better than all." No limit must be placed upon possibilities. We may not always have the same point of view : indeed, if there has been mental and spiritual progression, we will not. As the scope widens, more and more of the circle of Truth can be comprehended. The Ideals of Character* The natural law of human progress is that we shall grow in the direction of our ideals ; the higher the ideals the higher the character developed. If resolution is fixed to do the best that we know toward any given end, do not care if your man- ner of living is not entirely acceptable to the crowd among which you move. Undeveloped character may be compared to unripe fruit. Both are at last recognized for their true worth when unfolded and grown to maturity. Mr. J. A. Edgerton is the author of the beautiful poem en- titled, "Resolution," from which the following stanzas are taken : "I will cling unto the highest ; I will struggle toward the right ; I will keep my spirit windows ever open to the light ; J THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. 101 I will keep my mind anointed with the magic balm of youth ; I will keep my footsteps pointed toward the shining hills of Truth. *'I will leave the creeds and dogmas to the pedant and the priest; I will seek to do my duty in this present life, at least. What am I? If I should live, or if I die, when I am gone, There is nothing lost, or can be, for the Universe moves on. "In my spirit is a promise of a sweet Eternity, Of a progress onward, upward, through the eons yet to be ; I will trust it, well content ; and strive to fill my present place As a unit of the Infinite, a factor of the race." The purpose of every one in whom spiritual consciousness has been quickened should be in accord with the first stanza quoted. To keep this spirit window ever open to the light one must conceive of infinite light as being immediately without, ready to enter when barriers are taken away ; for thought fixes things in their relation to individual life. "By our desires we relate ourselves to the thing desired," Mr. Post tells us. By constantly and persistently desiring, attainment is finally reached. But the Universe is Good ; Good is the positive force, and as thoughts and actions are in harmony therewith is firm ground gained. Browning says, "There never was one lost good." Mistiness, ignorance that this is the true pathway to higher things, may cause the Children of Earth to waver in their allegiance to Good ; but once on higher ground, where the mists dissolve, desire is singly for the way that leads to happiness. A further step in that progress knows no resting-place. Once having attained that which was desired, the soul seeks yet other 102 THE DOMINANT POWER OF LIFE. means for perfecting growth. It has been said that a satisfied person is not a progressive one. What was an ideal, and infinitely desirable at one point of development, will be used and discarded, and another and better take its place. This is the natural upward path to the rounding out of character. Conscious determination to conquer obstacles and acquire ideals brings strength for accomplishing. Resist not evil — ignore it, and work with a will toward that which is good with the might which is in thought, the dominant power of life. PART II CHAPTER III The Temple of the SouL 'HE body, the dwelling-place of the Ego, is the seat of ever-changing activity. Its beauty, strength, and all the graces, or lack of them, depend upon devel- opment in accordance with natural law, or in trans- gression of natural law. First it becomes needful to know the way of life; after that it is only necessary to "obey and live." There is, within every natural mind, an instinctive dislike for whatever is repulsive or shows signs of decay. The same inherent reason that causes one to object to rags and tatters in the way of clothing causes one to dislike imperfections of the body. It is the tendency of human nature to seek the rela- tively perfect. Beauty Acquired by Self - Culture^ With a little care each day most of the imperfections of the body can be improved or overcome. Beauty and strength of body are acquired by attention to physical needs, just as beauty and strength are added to the intellect — by taking thought. Added to that is the more powerful power of the mind to pre- serve and rejuvenate the body. Says a well-known writer: "You, and generations before you, age after age, have been told it was an inevitable necessity — that it was the law and in the order of nature for all times and for all ages — that, after a certain period of life, your body must wither and become unattractive, and that even your mmds must fail with increasing years. You have been told 103 104 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, that your mind had no power to repair and recuperate your body. * * * *'It is no more in the inevitable order of nature that human bodies should decay as they have decayed in the past than that man should travel by stage-coach as he did years ago ; or that messages should be sent only by letter as before the use of the telegraph, or that your portrait could be made only by the painter's brush as before the discovery that the sun could print an image of yourself on a sensitive surface prepared for the purpose. * * * "If you make a plan in thought, in unseen element, for your- self as helpless and decrepit, such plan will draw to you un- seen thought-element that will make you weak, helpless and decrepit. * * * "If in your mind you are ever building an ideal of yourself as strong, healthy and vigorous, you are building to yourself of invisible element that which is ever drawing to you more health, strength and vigor. * * * ' "Persistency in thinking health, in imagining or. idealizing yourself as healthy, vigorous and symmetrical, is the corner- stone of health and beauty. Of that which you think most, that you will be and that will you have most of." This thought is not essentially new when it is remembered that Shakespeare was continually bringing the idea forth in varieties of dress. "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so," he tells us. But humanity has had to be developed to understand thoughts uttered by master- minds that grasped the truth. The Inner and the Outer Life. "Outer life must correspond to inner life, else law and se- quence would be at fault, and the chain which binds cause and THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 105 effect be severed." So let us place ourselves in harmony with the natural tendencies to beautify, and thereby align ourselves with the beneficence of all Natural Law. There are many means for adding to external beauty, but only that is real and lasting which is made by an inner life which acknowledges and demonstrates that "All is Good" — that what are known as evils are no more a part of Natural Law than barnacles are a part of the ship to which they become attached. That one can and should live above fear and strife for the best development of form, feature and character. The author of 'The Woman Beautiful" says: "There's nothing that will make a stolid, bovine face like a brain that isn't made to get up and hustle. * * * Study is mental development, and mental development usually means a bright, pleasing expression." Where are the girls or adult women who care only for a doll's beautiful, expressionless countenance ? They are not to be numbered among those whose minds are not infantile. Yet they who possess the secret of lasting beauty are too few. Madame Yale, the beauty specialist, says of the facial expres- sion : "Our feelings are portrayed very accurately on the sur- face of the face and are telegraphed silently to all who behold it. Consequently there is no way of disguising the real cause of a bad expression." There may be lotions for the complexion, tonics and brush- ings for the hair, care for the hands, etc., but unless the inner woman be under cultivation also, the veneer will not avail for long. If one should be under a hereditary cloud of ill-nature so that it is not natural to look for the bright side, it can be dis- persed by cultivating cheerfulness and amiability until the habit becomes established. To this end it will be of great as- 106 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. sistance to practice Mrs. Talbot's Joy Lesson; which is to go to your room and lock the door , sit_ down by your reading- table, or dressing-table, and repeat the word Joy aloud. It will assist mental concentration on the thoughts of Joy, Peace and Love to tap with a pencil on the table as the word, or words, are repeated. Exclude all other thoughts ; and, after the mind becomes fixed strongly enough to attract the thought-element of gladness, ill-nature, or "the blues," will be banished as darkness fades before an influx of light. A writer to Freedom says : "While the principle of Life and Love exists we must claim its living reality in act, and in fea- ture, and its expression is Gladness. '*Glad of what ? Of everything. If you sweep crossings put your soul into your work while you sweep. Make clean your corner of the earth. The joy of any kind of work is in doing it as well as can be done. Try it and see how the act of concen- trating your attention upon what you are doing will deliver you from feeling that it is wearing or beneath you or any- thing that you don't want it to be. "Remember it is not the kind of work you are doing that will elevate or lower you in the evolution of the race. It is the attention that you give it that is helping to organize your men- tal faculties and lift you into a clearer consciousness." Unhappiness, moroseness, sourness of disposition result from' an unnatural bias of the mind. When a point of view makes one unhappy it is a wrong point. There may be checks, dis- appointments and even defeat, but if viewed from the right point they contain the germs of recompense. It is not that the problems of life have no true explanation when the sky of one's life is overcast, but that the exact place from which the skein can be raveled has not been reached. This is the way the master-mind of Emerson stated it : "Cause and effect, means THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 107 and ends, seeds and fruit can not be severed ; for the effect al- ready blooms in the cause, the end pre-exists in the means, the fruit in the seed. The changes which break up at short intervals the prosperity of men are advertisements of a nature whose law is growth." The Power of Habit. Man is but a bundle of acquired habits, says an ancient proverb. This is only true so long as life is allowed to flow in the channel of the least resistance. When it is discovered that any habit contains the germs of mistake which will bring a har- vest of mental and physical suffering, the human being who would continue the habit is not a well-developed specimen of the species. Youth is the habit-forming period, and, of course, may be saved disciplinary suffering if proper habits are instilled into the growing intelligence. At the same time the idea of the power of a positive mental attitude should be made known. Wrong habits may be crowded out by the substitution of proper habits in a positive mind. Submission to wrong habit acknowledges a weakness of mind. Youth needs that guidance from wisdom and experience which will enable it to control the life-forces which flow through each, particular organism. This assistance is best given by turning toward the developing young the potent power of thought, in which is positive recognition of inherent good. It adds just so much to the native strength of the youth, and so helps him to rise "by things that are under his feet/' Holland's verse says : "We rise by things that are under our feet ; By what we have mastered of good and gain ; By the pride deposed and the passion slain, And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet" 108 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. The parent of all mischief is idleness. There is no point in the career of life where one can afford to be idle. Activity is the natural means for growth. If, in youth, the right means for the expression of vital force are not provided and directed, it must follow that the wrong means will be used, for life is expression. Each person, young or old, lives up to his or her ideas of happiness, according to the energy of the directing power, the will. It may be these ideals are contrary to the Law of hap- piness; if so, they will fail to realize happiness. The spirit of altruism should prompt every one to recognize the spark of di- vinity in his fellow-creature, and endeavor to help it to mature. Refuse to look at the wrong expressions of life, called sin, and direct toward the needy thoughts of good. Man, or woman, is not an isolated creature; the family is not an isolated creation; they are parts of the social organism, and rise toward happiness the more swiftly by endeavoring to elevate all. Julian Hawthorne thus summarizes an article on the one- ness of humanity : ^'Philosophy discovers that mankind is one, and civilization confirms the revelation. "First comes the self-consciousness of the individual, then of the family ; afterward successively of the nation and the race. Humanity, begotten an unself -conscious unit, was splintered into fractions by self-consciousness ; and history shows us how it voluntarily recombines till it becomes a unit once more, every atom conscious of the whole, and the whole feeling through its component parts.'' "No man liveth to himself alone." Each one of us must hold himself a part of all we see, and by learning the higher laws overcome the lower. No time should be spent in repining : see mistakes and rise above them. THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 109 As our prophet of the morning said to a daughter, "Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in ; for- get them as soon as you can. Tomorrow will be a new day : begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cum- bered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear with its hopes and invitations to waste a moment on the yesterdays." So much for beautifying by means of self-culture. Beauty of Body and Beauty of SouL If beautifying the character reacts on the exterior, it is also true that care for the body has a beneficial reaction upon the intellect. The body is the house in which we live : it may be either the temple or the prison of the soul. Each person must look to the sanitation and beautifyingof his soul dwelling-place, or, like the material abodes, it may become foul, unhealthy and unfit as an abiding-place. The body is also the medium through which the Ego receives education. If care is not given to keep the delicate machine harmoniously working, advantages other- wise obtainable through health are closed. The Needs of the Body<. A healthy mind in a healthy body was the Grecian ideal, which, so long as that ideal adhered, caused Greece to lead the world. But Greece had not fully discovered the Law. She worked from the outside, whereas the Law means first the healthy mind. "In proportion as mind becomes pure and wholesome, habitations and environment are transformed as a resultant correspondence." The transformations result from mental culture. 110 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. Let US consider the needs of the body under the heads of : Breathing, Dress, Rest, Diet, Work, Special Exercises. Bathing, Recreation, Breath is the first need of independent life. The babe's first cry which gladdens the mother's heart is his earliest phys- ical need for the air which shall be one of the chief sustainers of the life upon which he has entered. Throughout his earthly apprenticeship health, strength and the power of endurance de- pend mainly upon the breathing capacity. BREATHING* The physiologist Cutter describes the lungs as being "two in number, and occupy completely and accurately the pleural cham- bers of the thorax. Each lung is free in all directions, except at the root, which chiefly consists of the bronchi, arteries and veins connecting the lung with the trachea and heart. The lungs are spongy, porous organs, the tissues of which are very elastic. "Each lung is of a conical shape, the apexes of which are blunt and project into the neck from an inch to an inch and a half above the first rib. The base is broad and concave, and rests on the diaphragm. Each lung is divided by a deep fissure into upper and lower lobes. The upper lobe on the right side is imperfectly divided into two lobes, making three in the right and two in the left lung. The lobes are made of many closely packed lobules. Each lobule is composed of the terminal branch of an air-tube, possessing a cluster of air-cells. In the fine interstitial areolar tissue of the lobule ramify the pulmo- nary vessels, the nutrient vessels, the lymphatics and the nerves." Respiration introduces oxygen, a food, into the lungs, and THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. Ill by the diffusion of gases leaves some of it with the old air in the lobules and carries away carbonic acid gas — waste and poi- sonous product. The diffusion, or mixing, of gases is of the greatest importance in the economy of nature ; accumulation of poisonous gases is thus prevented, and the interchange of gases made possible, in organisms provided with lungs. Oxygen is the most abundant and the most important of all the elements. Through the process of osmosis, or the diffusion through a membrance, the blood attracts oxygen and gives up carbonic acid gas. Almost all of the chemical changes in the body are between the oxygen of the air and the carbon and hy- drogen of the food. When deprived of pure air the body is injured as much as when deprived of pure food — though in a different manner. There are two principal ways in which the body is deprived of needed oxygen : by lack of ventilation in the dwelling, and by tight clothing, which prevents elasticity of the trunk and chest. Both are very common violations of the law which makes breathing necessary to life. The Need of Fresh Air. The body needs, in pounds, three times as much air as it does food and drink combined ; yet so accustomed are people to eat and drink, and to breathe scantily, that the body is filled with disease and impurity. Morbid lungs mean morbid conditions in every function of the body. Ventilation is the process of keeping a standard of purity in occupied rooms, notwithstanding constant vitiation from res- piration and combustion through lighting and heating agencies. The changes by ventilation are partly through the diffusion of gases and partly by actual currents of air. Rooms must be pro- vided with an inlet for pure air and an outlet for vitiated air. 113 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. The sleeping-room, in especial, should receive the necessary ventilation. Except in cases of heavy wind, excessive damp, or storm, the sleeping-room windows should never be closed. One-third of life is usually passed in sleep for the recupera- tion of powers for use and development in the other two-thirds. During sleep the body becomes unconscious of surrounding dangers, among the worst of which is vitiated air. There are no sleeping-rooms large enough to accommodate enough pure air to suffice one person's needs through the night. The inter- mixture cf the pure air in the room with the exhalations from the lungs makes the stored-up air less and less pure with each breath. In the temperate zone the forces of nature are efficient in changing the air in summer. Damages to the body are com- mon in winter for lack of attention to this very necessary pro- vision. Windows and doors are provided with "weather- strips'* to "keep out the cold;" doors are closed as quickly as possible ; windows never opened. In such houses the dispenser of drugs and medicines finds steady patronage, and the patients are always complaining that they can find "nothing that will help" them. There isn't anything to take the place of common sense, which teaches that unless there is abundance of pure air, pure water, pure food and plenty of sunshine normal health can not be maintained. The pioneer forefathers had abundance of pure air and sunshine, which largely made up for what was lacking in other ways. Had they not overtaxed themselves with muscular exertion and their wives with excessive child- bearing as well as labor, their descendants would not be the puny things they are. * The best recognized method for the ventilation of houses — sleeping-rooms particularly — is by means of the open fire. The upward current provided thereby draws away the vitiated air. THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 113 It is necessary, however, that the supply of pure air come from without, the best place being from the lower part of an opened window. The Encyclopedia Britannica makes the following note on this subject : "The absence of proper inlets for air in a house where sev- eral fires are burning involves a danger that is much more seri- ous than other effects of bad ventilation. When the air which is required to take the place of that discharged by the chimneys can only struggle in through small openings, the pressure within the house falls considerably below that of the outer air, the water-traps under basins and closets are liable to be forced, and foul air is drawn in from every leak in soil-pipe or drain. The writer has found a house drawing what seemed to be its main supply of Afresh' air from the public sewer, through a de- fective joint between the soil-pipe and the (untrapped) house- drain. "To preserve the lowest standard of purity tolerated by sani- tarians, ventilation must go on at the rate per person of i,ooo cubic feet per hour, and 3,000 cubic feet per hour are required to preserve the higher standard on which some authorities in- sist. Parkes advises a supply of 2,000 cubic feet per hour for persons in health, and 3,000 or 4,000 cubic feet per hour for sick persons." Ventilation should be accom.plished without creating too great a fall of temperature. Living-rooms should not be kept too warm, so that the lungs experience too great a change when in the open air, as every person should be for a part of each day. American homes are commonly super-heated. There should be no damper, if a stove is used, in sleeping- or sitting-rooms, so that the products of combustion may pass freely out at the chimney. Vessels containing water should be placed near the fire on a heating-stove to preserve a good de- 114 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. [^ree of moisture in the room. Cook-stoves should be provided with a hood built so as to project over the stove, for the purpose of conveying away vapors that arise from cooking. Especially in winter are the vapors confined if an outlet is not provided, so that the occupant of the culinary department is subjected to a steaming not intended for herself. Attacks of chill are thus very easily incurred. The Deadly Corset. In addition to poor ventilation a large percentage of the female half of civilization have the trunk of the body ligatured so tightly that a full, deep breath is an impossibility. The corset is an inheritance from the past for which we are not grateful. Its aim is directed toward securing slenderness and shapeliness of the human figure, but which falls short, in every direction, of attaining any beneficial result. The custom of wearing this garment has created a model that few women have strength of mind enough not to follow, although it is immeasurably better to follow good principles than bad fash- ions. To be able to have a healthy body in which full breathing is practicable there must be no restriction to muscular action from neck to toe. There must be perfect freedom to have per- fect development. In the human body the bony frame-work of the ribs furnishes protection to the upper chest, or corset suicides would be more numerous. As it is, the floating ribs are cramped and dis- torted, displacing the internal organs. In the economy of the body each organ has its own place as well as its own function ; there are no cavities or vacant spaces. Altogether they furnish the machinery by which life is expressed. Nor can one be dis- placed, or its use set at naught, without overtaxing and injuring other organs of the system. That the lower part of the body was not provided with a bony frame-work must mean that the THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 115 organs contained therein should have unrestricted action. All the needed support to the abdominal viscera is furnished by the small ligamentous band which suspends each organ, and by the abdominal wall, which is composed of three layers of muscles. Suppose an arm or a leg should, from puberty, be subjected to constant pressure during the day. Would not that member in time become comparatively useless? Yet the digestive, re- spiratory and part of the circulatory systems are compressed and hindered until good health is impossible. Commiseration for sins against the moral law is very scant. Every person who transgresses is considered worthy to receive the punishment which follows in the wake. Transgressions against the physical are as inevitable and as just. Old Dr. Johnson hit the truth when he said, "Every sick man is a ras- cal," though the rascality may consist only in self-injury. Women are "the weaker sex" because they have made them- selves so, the violations of physical law reflecting in the mental and spiritual realm. Miss Willard said this: "Niggardly waists and niggardly brains go together. The emancipation of one will keep place with the other ; a ligature at the smallest diameter of the womanly figure means an impoverished blood supply in the brain, and may explain why women scream when they see a mouse." In her life-time Miss Willard was one of the true students of cause and effect. Dr. Ellis says : "The practice of tight lacing has done more within the last century toward the physical deterioration of civilized man than have war, pestilence and famine combined." Dr. Foote says : "Tight lacing is a practice more destruc- tive to health and longevity than tobacco-chewing, liquor-drink- ing or pork-eating." / 116 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, The German physiologist Somering enumerates ninety-two diseases resulting from corset-wearing. Madame Yale gives the following list of the corset's crimes against beauty : "i. Stiff, inflexible waists, with a coarsely exaggerated con- tour in place of slight and subtle curves. "2. Sickly, sallow complexion. "3. Pale, thin, compressed lips. "4. Red noses. "5. Lack of buoyancy, general feebleness, lassitude, apathy and stupidity. "6. Distorted features. "7. Soured tempers. "8. Wrinkles. "9. Lusterless eyes. "10. Ugly shoulders. "11. Ugly bust. "12. Clumsiness. (Corsets render any woman more or less inelegant and ungraceful in her movements. Her imprisoned waist, with its flabby unused muscks, has no chance of per- forming beautiful undulating movements.) "For the corset as a bust support there are now any number of better substitutes. But women should distrust any kind of a 'support' which antagonizes the foundation principle of phys- ical development, viz., the perfect muscular possession of the body." Dr. Richardson says : "If tomorrow women were placed in all respects on an equality with men they would remain subject to superior mental and physical force so long as they crippled their physical, vital and mental constitution by this one practice of cultivating, under an atrocious view of what is beautiful, a THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 117 form of body which reduces physical power and thereby dead- ens mental capacity." Dr. Kitchen says : "The whole civilized world is in bondage to a pernicious habit of dress — practiced by women and coun- tenanced by men — that threatens the abrogation of the dia- phragm. Were it not for the nightly recesses which the dia- phragm receives from the constricting pressure of the tight waist, it would soon atrophy, and life to the corset-wearer would be a very brief span." Again the same author says : "The corset on a child is slow murder of the child, and if she be of a phthisical or consumptive tendency it is not so very slow murder either. * * Every woman who has grown up in a corset, no matter how loosely worn, is deformed." Quotations and argument against this vain and foolish gar- ment might be indefinitely prolonged. The devotee of fashion, rather than be a follower of natural law, will continue violations unless pain and suffering call a halt. Perhaps when ordered by her physician to lay aside the corset she may begin to imbibe ideas relating to habit and health. Growth is from withi-n. "The first indication that a woman's mind and soul are expand- ing is when she lays aside her corset." While she adheres to it she is impaired as a human being, emasculate as a representative of her sex. In her the creature without power to love is found ; in her are found wanting the elements necessary to make an equal factor in the human race with man. The woman who begins the day by putting on a corset with her morning gown for fear of being called untidy, and for the same reason con- tinues wearing it through the day, is she who is ungenerous, illiberal, fault-finding. If her views of life were large and true she could not be so unkind to her own body as to hinder its most vital processes. 118 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. Women's environment and heritage from the past have largely made them dependent upon men. Consequently when the understanding of man is great enough to make him a prac- tical enemy of the corset it will be put aside. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox says : "All we have done, wise or otherwise, Traced to the root, was done for love of you." Girls at home, longing for a moment's personal comfort, lay aside the corset, and are met with reproach or ridicule from brother or father for being "slouchy." Wives often receive the same remarks. Both the use and reception of those ideas are based upon ignorance. A woman sure of the righteousness of her cause can expound to the male relative the virtues of not wearing the corset. But she should not, and need not, be slouchy. A man conversant with natural law can do much to enable a beloved one to see the right. Or at the extreme, he can improve by the recommendation of a writer to Physical Cul- ture, who says : "The writer does not expect to reform women. He wants to reform men — desires them to see clearly the neces- sity of marrying women — not sexless nonentities; by this means the reform of women will the sooner be accomplished." Gerald Massey said : "No woman has any right to marry anything less than a man. "No woman has any right to marry any man who will sow the seeds of disease in her darlings ; no, not for all the money in the world." What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. No man in whom is the true spirit of manliness will marry a corset- wearer. He has the right to demand a reform before marriage ; and he must assist all in his power to aid to mental growth so that the garment which does so much to undermine health will never be assumed again. I THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 119 The habit of corset-wearing may be likened to the drink habit in men. Equal damage is done to the soul and body of the slave, and an equal heritage of mental and physical weak- ness is bequeathed to posterity. The proportionate figure should have a waist measurement equal to two-fifths the height ; the weight should be as follows : 4 feet 10 inches lOO pounds 5 feet o inches no pounds 5 feet I inch 115 pounds 5 feet 2 inches 120 pounds 5 feet 3 inches 125 pounds 5 feet 4 inches 130 pounds 5 feet 5 inches 135 pounds 5 feet 6 inches 140 pounds 5 feet 7 inches 146 pounds 5 feet 8 inches 153 pounds 5 feet 9 inches 161 pounds 5 feet 10 inches 170 pounds 5 feet 1 1 inches 180 pounds 6 feet o inches 191 pounds Clothing that in any way hampers the body must be laid aside for other garments that allow freedom. Deep breathing can and should be consciously cultivated; for the integrity of health largely depends on aeration of the blood. MxS. Le Favre says: "When it is understood that there are upward of a hundred million air-cells in the lungs and that each and every cell is intended for use, we get a notion of the tremendous importance of Lung Culture." "Remember that it is not more fat nor harder muscle that is to save the world from consump- tion, but larger and more mobile chest walls and the ability to keep the entire lungs actively engaged." 120 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. In all movement the chest should lead ; the abdomen be well drawn in ; the vital organs raised. If mankind were stationary improvement would be impos- sible. For the fact that we are not we should be duly grateful. The female figure and female health can be improved, after years of disobedience to natural law, by facing about and fol- lowing the right path. As onward she may press toward physical and spiritual perfection any woman will win strength according to her needs. DIET* In diet no specific regulations can be given that will apply in all cases. Each individual must decide for himself as to that which best nourishes. Dr. Charles H. Shepard says : *lt is what we eat and drink that makes or mars our condition. If we partake only of the pure we shall be clean and pure throughout. If, on the contrary, we attempt to build up with gross material it will result in uncleanliness, disease and death." A Japanese proverb says that it is not what we eat but what we digest that builds up the body. Food may contain many elements of nourishment, but if not acceptable to one's indi- vidual powers of digestion and assimilation, to him it is the same as if no nutrition was contained therein. Humankind is largely governed by the sense of taste. In one part of the globe the food used may be revolting to inhabi- tants of another. Dr. Foote says : ^^]o\\n Chinaman feasts on cats, dogs, wharf rats, sea slugs, sharks, bats, and caterpillar soup. Australians and many other people eat snakes, kanga- roo-rats, mice, maggots, etc. The Japanese prefer green peaches, apricots and plums to ripe ones, as an offset, I sup- pose, to our eating green cucumbers. One who visits Africa may have a plate of tender young monkey; v-^hile Jthe people THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 121 of the Arctics treat their visitors to a diet of putrid seal's flesh, putrid whale's tail, reindeer's chyle, and partially hatched eggs." It would be hard to find anything of either the animal or vegetable worlds without some nourishing properties as food. If the sense of taste were not largely perverted it could be trusted to select food for the system; but in early life, before any of the powers are ready to discriminate, all manner and conditions of food are given until digestion is deranged and taste is made abnormal. Often, it is true, depraved taste is inherited, but more often it is cultivated. Few mothers realize the need for feeding infants regularly. Every expression of pain or discomfort is met with proffers of food, until the sense of taste becomes the ruling propensity during childhood, and often through life. Pleasing the sense of taste is the open door to pleasing other bodily senses ; and as the body lives by that upon which it feeds, whole trains of evils are engendered by abnormal taste. Dear Froebel, lover of children and of humanity, said: "Always let the food be simply for nourishment, never more, never less. Never should the food be taken for its own sake, but for the sake of promoting bodily and mental activity. Still less should the peculiarities of food, its taste as a delicacy, ever become an object in themselves, but only a means to make it good, pure, wholesome nourishment; else in both cases the food destroys health. Let the food of the little child be as simple as the circumstances in which the child lives can afford, and let it be given in proportion to his bodily and mental activity." Simplicity and Moderation. A general rule for application to dietetics is simplicity. The craving for hot spices, fermented drinks, fetid cheese, all highly 122 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. seasoned epicurean delights, is acquired artificially. Whenever possible the young should be taught that simplicity in eating means mental and bodily strength. "Frugality has cured dis- eases that defied all other remedies," Dr. Felix Oswald tells us. *'For thousands of reformed gluttons it has made life worth living after the shadows of misery already threatened to darken the gloom of approaching night. Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman of the sixteenth century, had impaired his health by gastronomic excesses till his physicians despaired of his life. As a last resort he resolved to try a complete change of diet. His father, his uncles and two of his brothers had all died before the attainment of their fiftieth year; but Luigi determined to try conclusions with the demon of un- naturalism, and at once reduced his daily allowance of meat to one-tenth of the usual quantity, and his wine to a stint barely sufficient to flavor a cup of Venetian cistern water. After a month of his new regimen he regained his appetite. After ten weeks he found himself able to take long walks without fatigue and could sleep without being awakened by nightmare horrors. At the end of a year all the symptoms of chronic indigestion had left him and he resolved to make the plan of his cure the rule of his life. That life was prolonged to a century — forty years of racking disease followed by sixty years of unbroken health, undim'med clearness of mind, un- clouded content. Habitual abstinence from unnatural food and drink saves the trials of constant self-control and the alterna- tive pangs of repentance." The Secret of Long: Life* In the eighty-sixth year of his life Luigi Cornaro wrote a treatise on "The Way of Attaining a Long and Healthful Life," in which he said : 'T was born very choleric and hasty; THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 123 I flew into a passion for the least trifle ; I huffed all mankind, and was so intolerable that a great many persons of repute avoided my company. I apprehended the injury which I did myself; I knew that anger is a real frenzy; that it disturbs our judgment; that it transports us be- yond ourselves, and that the difference between a passionate and a mad man is only this, that the latter has lost his reason forever and the former is only deprived of it by fits. A sober life cured me of this frenzy; by its assistance I became so moderate and so much a master of my passion that nobody could perceive that it was born with me. "A man may likewise with reason and a regular life correct a bad constitution, and, notwithstanding the tenderness thereof, may live a long time in good health. I should never have seen forty years had I followed all my inclinations, and yet I am in the eighty-sixth year of my age. If the long and dan- gerous distempers which I had in my youth had not consumed a great deal of the radial moisture the loss of which is irre- parable, I might have promised myself to have lived a complete century. But without flattering myself I find it to be a great matter to have arrived to forty-six years more than I ever expected, and that in my old age my constitution is still so good that not only my teeth, my voice, my memory and my heart are in as good a condition as ever they were in the briskest days of my youth, but likewise my judgment has lost nothing of its clearness and force. *'I am of the opinion that this proceeds from the abridg- ment I make of my food." Abuses of the digestive powers have contributed more than other causes to human degeneration. When those lose tone or vigor the body must depend on the breathing powers more heavily. But oxygen must needs have material upon which 124 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. to operate, and it is only through the digestive system the supply can come. Those guilty of the sin of overeating fill the blood with more material than can properly be aerated, and thus create disease. Then the digestive apparatus weakens. Dr. Salisbury's System* Dr. Salisbury some years ago originated a very valuable system of treating disease by giving the system just as little food as would preserve vitality. Mrs. Stuart, an English lady, elaborated the system, and has been very successful in curing disease of long standing. The treatment consists of the stomach bath first. An hour and a half before meals as much hot water is taken as can be relished, but which should not be less than a pint. This washes away any impurity and gives the walls of the stomach the tonic action of water. For the meal nothing is to be taken but minced lean beef, as being the easiest of digestion. One is not limited as to quantity, or as to ways of preparing it, except that salt and pepper and a little butter are to be the only seasoning. Before breakfast, dinner, supper and retiring the hot water is to be used. For any disease resulting from bad digestive powers, such as dyspepsia, chronic diarrhea, constipation, leanness, obesity, etc., the system is admirable. One will feel weak for a few days, as the drunkard whose cups are withheld, but persistence for forty-eight hours makes cure sure and almost easy. Proper Combinations of Food. As to the combinations of foods for the rule of life, there should be but few varieties at one meal. The chemical activi- ties necessary for digesting a great variety are so widely differ- ent the system is apt to be overtaxed. Simplicity should rule. THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, 125 Foods should be solid. The agents in digestion are fluid, and when fluids are taken with the meals, these are diluted, and consequently delay in digestion results. During the delay fer- mentation sets in and renders much that might be assimilated unfit for use. Cooked food and raw food generally do not combine well. "Heajth Culture" says : "Fresh fruits all combine well with one another. As a rule fruits, fresh or cooked, combine well with bread or cooked cereals and with nuts or nut foods. Fruits do not as a rule combine well with cooked vegetables, nor with milk, cream, cheese, eggs or meat." As to the use of a mixed diet of animal and vegetable foods, every one has a choice. Vegetarian people argue a beautiful, clean doctrine, but one is never ready for an experiment until fully convinced of its virtues. A few rules for guidance may be summed up as follows : Do not overeat. Do not take liquids at meals. Do not partake of a variety. Masticate thoroughly. Never take food unless hungry. Be cheerful during meal-time. Cheerfulness aids digestion. Under the old-time severe church rule all recreation was suppressed over Sunday, the day the toilers had for rest. Consequently dietetic excesses became prevalent. Sunday be- came a day of good dinners and unlimited drinking. New England and much of the rest of the United States spend weary hours Saturday to provide gustatory delights for the Sabbath. It is the rest-day diversion and mother of many ills. 126 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. THE BATH* Bathing is very necessary for the preservation of health. The processes of nutrition and waste, to be kept normal, need that waste be regularly removed. Generally used, the term bath refers to treatment given the skin and hair. The skin is one of four means the body has for eliminating impurity ; the others are the lun^s, kidneys, and lower bowel. For the pur- pose of elimination and also for regulating bodily temperature, the skin is provided with two and a quarter millions of little glands. The external openings are called the pores of the skin. These glands are situated in the connective tissue be- neath the skin, in the shape of a coil ; on the outside of the coil is a network of capillaries from which perspiration is derived. It is estimated that there are not far from three thousand of these glands to the square inch, and that they eliminate from one to five pounds of fluid in twenty-four hours. The fluid evaporates or is absorbed by the clothing; the solid impurity remains at the surface. The bath removes this impurity. If the bath is neglected the impurity becomes rancid, and more or less of it is re-absorbed into the body to create disease. Besides the impurity left through perspiration there are alsO' the scales of dead scarf-skin and the oily matter which is secreted to preserve the texture of the skin. None can with im- punity neglect the removal of all of this waste. For a person in health there should be a daily sponge bath, supplemented twice a week by a full warm bath with plenty of soap. This will keep the glands of the skin in activ- ity. The bath should never be taken where the temperature is /ower than 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Chill must be avoided. Be brisk and keep the blood vigorously circulating; use plenty of friction when drying the body. • There should be a glow on the surface when done, to show there has been a good reaction. THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 127 Various Kinds of Baths« In delicate health, or disease, there are a variety of baths which are invaluable to restore health. The vapor bath is excellent for colds, catarrh, pleurisy, fever, and affections of the bowels, kidneys or skin. The perspiratory glands are excited to unusual activity and bear out, at least in part, the morbific matter. There are many cabinets on the market for hot-air and vapor baths, but a home-made apparatus answers quite well. This consists of an alcohol lamp over which is placed a small vessel containing water. When the water boils place a cane-seat chair over the lamp, and seat the patient therein, clad only "in her complexion" ; wrap blankets about the chair and patient very closely. A footbath may be used in connection herewith; let the patient place her feet in a bath hot as can be borne, and enclose with the blankets. After some moments of free perspiration a dry cover should be sub- stituted and the patient lie in bed wrapped about closely. When cooled enough, she may have a dry rub and resume her garments. The hot-air bath is taken much as the vapor bath. Use the alcohol lamp without the vessel of water; let the patient drink freely of hot water. Cold may be used, but is not best. After several minutes of free perspiration the body should be thoroughly shampooed with soap and water and dried. This is excellent for gout, rheumatism, skin diseases, colds, etc. Where there is fever or inflammation in any one part, the circulation may be equalized by a hot foot-bath; as in head- aches, bronchitis, or inward fever. The sitz bath is arranged for bathing the hips and abdomen. It may be tepid or hot, as the case requires. During pregnancy the tepid sitz bath is invaluable, used daily for the last few weeks; during labor the pains are made easier and more 128 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. natural by the hot sitz bath. It is good in case of bladder, rectal or kidney disorders. Sulphur, salt, or other mineral baths are to be had by adding any such to the water used. Do not bathe within two hours after eating. Do not bathe when exhausted. Avoid chill after bathing. Use mild soap, so as not to irritate the skin. Never bathe in a cold room unless very vigorous in health. PART IL CHAPTER IV. The Temple of the Soul — Continual ATER for use internally is as much needed as water for external use. Every adult, or at least every family, should have a fountain syringe, ''^ which should be used two or three times a week with regularity. The lower bowel is not merely the recep- tacle for the refuse of food matter; it also is provided with absorbents, which convey away whatever is possible from the colon, leaving hard, impacted masses to be passed away. 'Patients with stomach trouble have been nourished by food injected into the colon. The Internal Batlu It has generally been considered sufficient if there is one passage daily from the bowels. This is true only so far as that one bath weekly is sufficient for the external body. But suppose any chronic disease has taken hold ; it is then the bath external and internal becomes a wonderful restorative agent. The benefits of cleansing the stomach and lower bowel by means of hot water are manifold. The stomach bath washes away any mucus or undigested food and prepares the way for a fresh food supply. It should be used an hour to an hour and a half before meals, to give the gastric glands time for accumu- lation of their juice. The impurity thus washed away is carried into the colon and discharged. Flushing the colon consists of the use of a quantity of hot water by means of the syringe. Dr. Forrest says : "The ben- 129 130 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. efits of the flushings are not due to the cleansing of the cana! alone. Indeed we doubt whether this is its principal benefit. The introduction of hot water has a direct and powerful effect on the nerves of the stomach, liver and kidneys, and all the organs, stimulating them to vigorous and healthy action. The evidence of this is, the increased appetite which follows the flushing; the increased flow of bile from the liver; the decided increase in the amount of urine eliminated by the kidneys; and the general increase in strength." To use the flushing sufficiently it is best to use a little water first to unload the rectum; after that use three, four, five or more quarts of hot water until the colon is quite distended, so that the effete matter has no chance to be packed away in the loculi. It is well to take this internal bath on the evenings when the full warm bath is taken, and retire immediately. This avoids any exposure to chill one might otherwise risk. It is quite as "natural" to cleanse the alimentary canal as it is to wash the external surface of the body. Many things Nature left for man to discover, not the least of which were the uses of water. HYGIENIC DRESS. The care of the body in the matter of clothing varies with race and clime. Each race has its foibles respecting dress which only culture can overcome. In the more enlightened races there has been evolution in dress. There is change con- stantly under the name of Fashion, but by easy stages a system is being evolved that clothes without injuring the body. Elas- ticity, warmth and lightness are the objects to be soughi. Appropriateness is also a huge item. From neck to toe there should be freedom, although the inventive genius of ages has i THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 131 labored to circumvent it. It is only when woman awakens to her individual needs that she declares against bands, steels, bones and stays. Healthful dress is compatible with artistic dress. Mrs. Talbot says: "That which leaves the body un- trammeled is beautiful, provided the covering is for use, not for adornment only." * Underclothing:* The choice of underclothing is of prime importance. It has been made of numerous layers with bands, ruffles, tucks and starch galore. Madame La Favre says : "There is not one single, solitary instance in which starch improves wearing ap- parel for man, woman or child." In former generations it was deemed necessary for women to wear innumerable petti- coats to disguise the fact that they had legs. These were crisply starched, and, with the weight over the abdomen and hips, were eminently sufficient to make the delicate creature who was at one time the fashion. The union undergarment has largely replaced the drawers and chemise of long ago. For summer the garment is of knee length with no sleeves; for winter it reaches from wrist to ankle. Finely woven cotton or linen is the preferred ma- terial. Silk is not durable; wool is too warm and also irritates the flesh of many. Prof. Warman says : "Woolen underwear is warm and is most universally worn. This is a common verdict, and, I grant you, it is true. It is warm. It is too warm for underwear. It overheats, then chills the body. All underclothing should permit free transpiration from the skin ; otherwise, colds and other bad consequences follow. "Wool as an outer garment? That is quite another ques- tion. The very fact that wool is a slow absorbent renders it the very best material for overgarments, especially in humid climates and in seasons where protection against atmospheric 182 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. moisture is required. The outer clothing should be a poor absorbent, the underclothing a good absorbent of moisture; therefore the very condemnation 6i the one is the strongest commendation of the other." When the thermometer hovers about the freezing point the extremities should be well protected. For the feet there should be closely-woven, fleece-lined hose, and strong shoes. For out- door wear, the nether limbs should be encased in warm eques- trian tights; the feet in overshoes. There need be but one petticoat. If it is made after the Jenness-Miller model — that is, divided — except in very cold weather the equestrian tights may be left off. The Syrian skirt — the divided skirt gathered and fastened about the knee — is a good winter garment. These divided petticoats are made on a rather wide yoke, to avoid a too great fullness at the hips. Undergarments are purely use- ful and not decorative in their service. Many cling to the idea of daintiness rather than usefulness ; to them it is of little worth to appeal for a discarding of beflounced petticoats, corset-covers, chemises, drawers, etc., etc. Sensible and Artistic Gowns* The gowns may be decorative as well as useful. The street and visiting gowns may follow conventional design if you will, but oh ! my sisters, belong to yourselves at your homes. Wear the artistic Josephine, or Empire gown, for leisure, and a washable fabric for your work, short of waist and short of skirt. Give your waist room for action and your chest room for expansion. If you are a business woman, have the gown of tailor's cloth, with the skirt built upon the gown form; the front of the waist may be decorated in imitation of the shirt waist; the jacket of the Eton or Blazer style. Do not crowd your THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 133 lungs, stomach, liver and all internal organs by girting your- self with corsets, tight waists and bands. One of the most alert and attractive business women the writer ever knew wore such a gown, with the skirt well lined and stiffened, and no petticoat. Her entire wearing apparel for the time was shoes and stockings, union undergarment and dress. The cold weather suggested the equestrian tights, outside wraps and overshoes. Contrast this garb with that of the conventional female! The author of "The Evolution of Woman" says the sex dresses with deference to men. So while striving to awaken women to the dangers of constriction the call must extend to men. The following extract is from that volume : Male Prejadice to Overcome^ "For the reason that the female of the human species has so long been under subjection to the male, the styles of female dress and adornment which have been adopted and which are still in vogue are largely the result of ma'sculine taste. Wo- man*s business in life has been to marry, or, at least, it has been necessary for her, in order to gain her support, to win the favor of the opposite sex. She must, therefore, by her charms capti- vate the male. "The girl at the ball with the wasp waist and the greatest number of furbelows is never a wall-flower and her numbers never go unfilled. The fashionably dressed young woman in the horse-car is never permitted to stand, and in shops attended by men she never lacks attention. The gaudy dress, the pinched feet, and the pink complexion, although false, of the actress, young or old, never fail to attract a host of male admirers. • "As for thousands of years women have been dependent on lo-l THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. men not only for food and clothing, but for the luxuries of life as well, it is not singular that in the struggle for life to which they have been subjected they should have adopted the style of dress which would be likely to secure to them the greatest amount of success. When we remember that the present ideas of becomingness or propriety in woman's apparel are the result of ages of sensuality and servitude, .it is not remarkable that they are difficult to uproot, especially so as many of the most pernicious and health-destroying styles in- volve questions of decorum as understood by a sensualized age. **Not long ago I chanced to overhear a conversation be- tween two American girls in Berlin, one of whom had been a resident of that city for several years, and was therefore acquainted with the prevailing idea of female decorum as ex- pressed by female apparel. These girls were speaking of dress, and the later arrival on German soil, the younger of the two, remarked : *As for me, I never wear corsets.' Whereupon the elder, shocked at such a confession, replied, Then you certainly never can dance in Germany, for the German officers who would detect your state of undress would think you immodest, and would certainly take advantage of the situation to annoy you.' This is an illustration of the manner in which male prejudice thwarts any attempt of women to adopt a style of dress better suited to their health, convenience and taste. The same obstacles have been encountered by those women who have been sufficiently courageous to attempt to free their ankles from the cumbersome skirts so detrimental to health and so destructive to the free use of the legs." But, dear ladies, have convictions on the harmfulness of ordinary dress and then live up to them, at the very least in your own homes. Your home is your castk wherein you must ever strive to be your very best self. You may not like to THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 135 offend the prejudices of people among whom you live, but first duty is to self — to make self strong, generous and true. By that means prejudice can be outlived, overcome, vanquished. The Chinese Minister, Wu Ting Fang, said that women who wear corsets cannot bear noble sons, and that decollete dress is indecent. Minister Wu, despite the inborn traditions of his race, has reached a wise conclusion regarding Caucasian dress for women. After all, the proper conventions, styles and man- nerisms are matters of geography. One can never afford to be enslaved thereby. WORK* As TO WORK, Fra Elbertus says : "Blessed is that man who has found his work," which in this case includes woman. All human effort should have a clearly-defined purpose, and be cultivated toward definite ends. Nothing can be more unhappy than that man or woman should be laboring in any field of work for which he or she is not adapted. That work is best which serves some useful end. No one advances who is not armed with skill for some effort whereby society is benefited. On this subject Charlotte Perkins Stetson says: "Work is not an individual process, but a collective one. It involves division of labor and exchange of products. It is something you do for others while others do something for you. It is practical, profitable altruism. "It is most distinctively human because human interests are most interdependent. We cannot be human at all without common effort for common good. "It is apparent to any one that the mere existence of society depends on work, that the nature of a given society depends on the nature of its work, that the further progress of society depends on the progress of its work; and also that the indi- 136 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. vidual finds his best happiness in his best work — his worst punishment in uncongenial forced labor, or that last horror, forced idleness. "No expression of energy of sufficiently high grade to be called 'work' is done to gratify one's self. In the very nature as work it is done for some one else. "The individual may be led to do it by self-interest, drawn into the social service through his sub-social desires; but the work is for others. "We are urged to seek food through the irritation of an empty stomach, called appetite, but the processes of nutrition are not for the gratification of 'the appetite, but for the nour- ishment of the body. "If work were done for individual ends why should we not impose on one another ? It is because of our false notion that it is a personal matter done for personal gratification that we see everywhere the private interest working against the com- mon interest; and the world is clogged and injured by bad work, and it is because of this same false notion — that work is something you do for yourself and would not do if you did not have to — that we so foolishly misjudge the work axid the worker.'* The Rigfht Direction of Energry^ Activity for mental, spiritual and bodily powers is a neces- sity. If energy is not expressed in a right direction it will be in a wrong direction. When expressed right the individual develops; when expressed wrong he deteriorates. This is the law. "Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not," says Prof. Huxley. "It is the first lesson which ought to be learned, and THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 137 however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson he learns thoroughly." This is true because the dignity of work has not been understood. We will not wish to put off what should be done when we once know that order is put out of plumb by our so doing. Service, some kind of useful service, performed to the best of one's ability and skill, is the world's need. They who labor not with brain and hand have no real claims to respect. RECREATION- Recreation is the activity one seeks as a change from the business of his life, and is as necessary as that business. The brain-worker needs physical recreation, the muscle-worker needs menial recreation; both need social recreation. It is a false system of economy that calls for all of the working moments to be expended in labor. One degenerates into a machine, whose labor only brings fuel to the sustenance of life. Work should be more than that one may win food for the stomach and shelter for the body. One should have pleas- ure in his work and pleasure in his recreation — ^pleasure of the kind that warms and thrills the soul. There is a kind of pleas- ure partaken of during leisure hours that destroys. This is not true recreation. The alcohol habit, the tobacco habit, the confection habit, the habit of sexual intemperance, all react with blightsome vengeance on those who so seek diversion from their labors. Bodily senses are all for useful purposes, but to please the sense regardless of the object of the sense brings unhappiness for soul or body, or both, sooner or later. The best recreation is that which best fits one for a success- ful discharge of his duties. But a week or two of summer vacation will not make up for the violations of health during the rest of the year. When we have learned to "obey and r^ THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. live" there will be some recreation and rest interlarded with work throughout the year in addition to the summer vacation. Recreation means all things to all men — and women. Some go to resorts by mountain or sea, where the strenuous life is not lost for a moment; some go hunting and fishing; some merely camp out near to nature's heart and rest. The last appeals most strongly to the unconventional type. In taking "to the woods" for a summer's outing it should be borne in mind that disease is often contracted by drinking from unused wells or stagnant pools. The appetite, too, is stimulated by free life and outdoor exercise, and there will be tendencies toward intemperance in diet, which should bj5 nipped in the bud. Dr. Oswald says: "We should teach our children that a healthy mind can dwell only in a healthy body, and that he who pretends to find. no time to take care of his health is a workman who thinks it a waste of time to care for his tools." REST* Rest-time is the time when the conscious forces of the body are suspended for the purpose of recuperation. Activity must be followed by rest; this is one of the physiological rhythms by which life is preserved. Usually the hours of rest are taken at night in bed, the average need being for eight hours of sleep. During the day there can be moments of rest. Relax the body and mind several times during the day's work, and you will be repaid by increased strength. There should be rest before meals if there has been fatigue; twenty minutes should be given before and after dinner. The processes of digestion cannot work if there is fatigue. THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, 189 Sleeping-Rooms and Beds. Preparations for the night rest should be well planned. The sleeping-room should have thorough ventilation through the day and openings for free passage of air during the night. Everybody should sleep alone, from the new-born iniant to one in old age. This is a most important item generally overlooked in household arrangement. To be sure, a large house will be needed if each member has his own sleeping-room, but more people can afford it than arrange for it. When more than one person must be assigned to a room each should have his own bed, even though the persons be father, mother and infant. It would be difficult to find two persons exactly equal in bodily powers. When sleeping together, between the same pair of sheets, the stronger will absorb vitality from the weaker. One person will arise refreshed for the day's work, the other more or less enervated. When two persons occupying the same bed are husband and wife, in addition to the depletion of one's vitality, there is the temptation to amorous excess, which is avoided by sepa- rate beds. Of this Dr. Ruddock says: "Married persons should adopt more generally the rule of sleeping in separate rooms, or at least in separate beds, as is almost the universal custom in Germany and Holland. The rule being adopted, several very important advantages would result in regard to health and comfort. "Opportunity makes importunity. * * * "And it is w^ell known that if two persons, one sickly and the other healthy, occupy the same bed, one will become dis- eased without the other being benefited." The sleep of all persons should be calm, without pain, uneasiness, fantastic dreams or visions. It should be neither interrupted nor too long undisturbed. The only movement 140 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. that does not mean irregularity is occasional turning from side to side. The more noiseless the breathing, the more healthy. The skin should be warm and moist to the touch, ■ but excess means variation from health. The better position to assume on retiring to rest is to lie upon the right side. If there is food in the stomach it passes out the more readily. The pillow should be just enough to allow the head to have horizontal position when lying on the side. The mattress may be of straw, husks, hair or wool ; feathers are no longer used. The covering should combine warmth with lightness. If comfortables are used they should be of light weight and easily laundered. Blankets should have a thorough outdoor airing at least once or twice a week, particularly if used with- out sheets, as is sometimes the case. Absolute cleanliness in regard to beds and bedding is the most essential requirement. Beds must be thoroughly aired each morning after use. To make up a bed soon after it is vacated is to hold in its folds the poisonous emanations from the body. Frequent repetitions of this sin will breed disease. The Importance of Rest. In disease, rest is half the cure ; indeed, some forms of dis- ease are amenable to the rest cure alone. Almost any form of indigestion, a disease of the digestive tract, will yield if that system is allowed proper rest. One may, with advantage, fast from one meal up to three, four or seven days. This time allows the system to rid itself of whatever is clogging it, at the same time giving an overworked digestion rest. A current periodical says: "People used to think when a man was sick he needed something unwholesome to eat. The THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, , 141 thrifty housewife stored away quantities of preserves, brandied cherries and jellies so as to have them in readiness if some member of the household should be ill. An old friend of mine came home late one night and found that his wife had retired. Discovering no pie in the pantry, he went to the door of his wife's room and called out: ^Mary, where is the pie?' Mary replied : *I am very sorry, John, but there is no pie in the house/ Returning to the pantry he made a search for cake. Finding no cake, he again sought the chamber door and asked: 'Mary, where is the cake?' Mary very reluctantly confessed that the supply of cake was also exhausted. The old gentleman, in stern voice, then asked: *Why, Mary, what would you do if some one should be sick in the night?* " Although the pessimist may say the world is growing worse, it will be hard to find many communities now where the crime of gluttony is not recognized or more or less worked against. Illness is not nearly so generally treated with pie and cake as some generations ago, thanks to the onward march of progress. SPEQAL EXERCISES* Special exercises are used for the development of weakly parts. In this way even hereditary tendencies can be over- come. Helen Gardner says : "The conditions under which we develop or restrict our inherited tendencies will determine in large part whether heredity shall be our slave-driver or our companion in the race for life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- ness." Any one with sufficient intelligence for parentage will know what mental or physical weakness of one or both parents is apt to manifest itself in the child, and assist the unfolding intel- ligence to overcome it. For mstance, there is a family tendency to pulmonary disorders. The child is given every benefit of 143 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. sunshine, open air and exercise for deep breathing, while the body is fortified with nourishing food. A tendency tO' ner- vousness is overcome by attention to physical well-being. Ac- cording to Prof. Caldwell, inherited tendencies may be divided into three classes: "( i) Good, that are strong and well, if left free to take care of themselves. Good that are weak and need encouragement and choicest culture. "(2) Excessive faculties that need training to right uses and applying to good causes, lest they be turned into evil channels, and become curses instead of blessings. "(3) Bad tendencies that need to be curbed and turned in opposite directions, making them blessings." One who has missed the proper cultivation in childhood can, by effort of the reason and will, aid himself in encouraging faults of mind or body. For instance, where there is natural taste for some of the habits that destroy — the alcohol habit or the tobacco habit — the person must keep at the most extreme distance from temptation. Resolutely turn from them and fill the mind with thoughts of what will ennoble and uplift. We become like that upon which the mind is fixed. A teacher of the principles elaborated by Francois Del Sarte says: "Aside from a proper diet there is nothing that will bring self-control so readily as breathing exercises." Follow- ing are the two most highly recommended: Del Sarte Breathing: Exercises* (i) Standing; draw abdomen well out of sight, and ex- pand the chest; throw head back and face up, simultaneously raise bent arms to level of shoulders and place finger-tips upon the chest at a point between the breasts on the sternum; look up and inhale while sweeping the arms and hands up, back, and THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, 143 down to sides; exhale while sweeping hands to chest again by the same heart-shaped circle. Repeat six times, drawing the air in from above. (2) Standing; expand chest and draw abdomen out of sight; throw head back and face up, the arms at the sides; now up, around the same heart-shaped track previously used, but in this you inhale as if sweeping the air from all sides and above into the lungs; exhale as you sweep the arms up, out, and down. Health being absolutely dependent upon the breathing pow- ers, there is no phase of life in which chest cultivation may be neglected. Well-developed shoulders* and chest always indi- te the finer, stronger individual powers. A breathing exercise for use first thing in the morning is the following : Before dressing stand erect, heels together, hands on hips, chest up ; inhale slowly through the nostrils until the lungs are full, then expel all the air, forcing it out as much as possible. Then take five ordinary breaths, and repeat the forced respira- tion. Repeat five times each morning. There will be a dizzi- ness at first, because the system has not been used to so much oxygen, and it has an intoxicating effect; but this passes away with practice. This forced respiration causes distension of the air cells, which becojne stronger by the exercise. When walking in the open air it is beneficial to try this lung gymnastic: Inhale slowly, then walk ^Yt or ten steps and exhale slowly. Any person who is a member of a family with tendency to diseases of the air passage will be able to hold at bay by lung development the scourge of asthma, bron- chitis and consumption. 144 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, BEAUTY CULTURE. Special cultivation toward personal beauty may be in- cluded in the care of the complexion, hair, teeth, hands, feet, etc. Real beauty, like every other good thing, is worthless unless it is useful. But a woman with a little thought can keep her- self in a good state of preservation and perform her useful part, too. If nature has bestowed upon you good, regular features, be thankful and take care of yourself; if not, remember the features are but a slight percentage of personal attractiveness. A good carriage, a fresh complexion and a kindly spirit are of first importance. A good complexion is obtainable through health ; pure food, pure water, pure air must be appreciated and used for all their value'. To keep the skin in good condition the body must be kept cleansed of impurities from its millions of perspiratory pores. The internal bath used twice or three times a week will be of great aid in keeping the system rid of impurity. Mrs. Humphrey says: "Too many clothes serve to clog up the skin and make the myriad of nerves that keep it alive grow sensitive, so that a little dab of fresh air on an unpro- tected spot will make you shiver all over. Stimulating these little nerves that lie upon the surface of the body tends to stimulate the healthy action of the skin, the circulation of the blood, and, finally, the operations of all the organs. So it is desirable to disrobe completely in a room filled with fresh air, and to take a good rub-down. This is particularly grati- fying after a long day of visiting, or shopping, or other work. • If you feel nervous or irritable, try this simple method of get- ting the kinks out of yourself; it will make you doubt if you THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 145 really were nervous or in bad humor after all, so pleasing will be the change." A Remedy for Sleeplessness^ For sleeplessness nothing is a better aid to overcome it than the air-bath. One should completely disrobe, and, while walk- ing about, rub or roll the flesh. For the morning sponge-bath a sedative water composed of a cup of sea-salt, a half-ounce of camphor, a half-ounce of ammonia, is recommended; these are put into a quart bottle, filling the bottle with hot water; it is ready for use after twenty-four hours. Put a teaspoonful of the mixture in the basin for use at one time. You will be surprised at the amount of dirt it will remove, and it brings a most beneficent reaction. The ammonia cleanses the pores, the camphor and sea-salt im- part a tonic effect ; the result will be a firm, smooth skin. In bathing the face, be careful not to be rough in application of soap and towel. From exposure to the air and dust the face and hands need extra care. Use warm, soft water ; lather the face and hands with a good soap, and then massage every portion of the face and neck until the flesh tingles ; after which rinse, and dry by patting the skin with a soft towel. Apply a cold cream or skin-food. The following formula is recom- mended by Madame Qui Vive: Madame Qui Vive^s Skin Food. Spermaceti one-half ounce White wax one-half ounce Sweet almond oil two ounces Lanoline one ounce Cocoanut oil one ounce Tincture benzoin three drops Orange flower water one ounce U6 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL The object of a skin food is to prevent wrinkles. These little lines on the face mar its smoothness and beauty, and Mme. Qui Vive adds, "are unnecessary evils — anyway until one gets to be a hundred or so." They appear because the sub-cutaneous fat has been ab- sorbed, and the skin falls into folds. When the skin food is applied the fattening qualities are absorbed and nourish and build up the underlying tissues. Mme. Pote says not even worry will make a woman grow wrinkled and old so rapidly as sleeping with the head upon high pillows. The tendency of the muscles through the day is to droop; this should be counteracted by sleeping with the head low. The facial massage should consist mainly of up- ward pressure. Facial Eruptions^ Facial eruptions are largely due to internal impurity, but are sometimes caused by disease or by an irritating soap, or too frequent use of powder. Where the face is washed and groomed more than the rest of the body the impurities are called to where escape is most freely offered. When it is made unsightly by blotches attention must be given to the diet, to the internal bath, and other hygienic measures. All pastries and confections must be given up unless you love yourself more than your friends, who wish to see you beautiful. Feast on fruits instead of candies; eat apples, orangfes, peaches, pears, etc. Pimples or blotches must never be irritated; keep the skin clean, the skin food applied, and let the cure come from internal cleansing and purifying through fresh air, pure food, and the copious internal bath. Blackheads require much the same treatment. They are due to inactivity of the sebaceous glands and logically disap- pear when activity is created. THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 147 Sunburn, Freckles, Etc. Tan, sunburn and freckles come from external causes — the action of the wind and sun. Do not bathe the face with soap and water before going out without fortifying it with some preparation such as the fol- lowing : Take of — Distilled witch hazel three ounces Prepared cucumber juice three ounces Rosewater one and one-half ounces Essence white rose one and one-half ounces Tincture of benzoin one-half ounce After using a little of the above a powder may be dusted lightly over the face. The discolorations are from activity of the pigment cells under the skin and disappear when the face and hands are for a time protected from wind and weather. Sunburn should receive treatment with a cold cream rubbed well into the skin. It is a burn and should be treated as such. Care of the Hands* The care of the hands is not so serious an item, except to housewives who are also the maids-of-all-work. There is so much of washing and polishing and dabbling in water they must really use care to prevent the hands being unlovely. The secret of keeping the hands nice is to keep them free from sudden changes of temperature. Dry them thoroughly after having them in water and rub them with corn-meal or corn- starch. 148 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. For chapped hands or lips take of the following : Oil of almonds four ounces White beeswax two drachms Spermaceti two drachms Rosewater four ounces Orange water one ounce Melt the first three ingredients in a saucepan, and while sooling beat in the last two. After bathing the hands, the skin should be pushed back from the nails to prevent hang nails. Nails should be trimmed the same shape as the finger. Use no sharp instrument about the nails except the scissors for trimming. Rub callous spots with pumice stone. Redness of the h^nds is due to restriction of the circulation. Either the sleeves, corset or waist is too tight. Lemon juice will whiten the hands; apply cold cream immediately after using it. Protect the hands from cold ; it is destructive to their beauty. Care of the Hain Nice, clean, glossy hair is an attractive adjunct to beauty. Naturally oily hair should be washed twice a month and thor- oughly rinsed ; hair not so oily, about once in a month. Equally as often the hair should be trimmed. When the nourishment within each hair does not extend the full length it splits. The trimming of the ends is to remove these dead portions, which will promote growth. When the hair begins falling, the scalp may be invigorated by using massage. It quickens circulation and brings health and strength to the roots. The following recipe is good for dandruff and falling hair ; I THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 149 Resorcin forty-eight grains Glycerine one- fourth ounce Alcohol . . . enough to finish filling a two-ounce bottle Apply to the scalp each night, rubbing it well in. When bodily health is not good it is to be seen in the hair as well as the complexion and eyes. Any of the symptoms should suggest attention to health. Brushing the hair at night removes accumulations of dust. Dandruff is a natural formation and will accumulate if clean- liness is not observed sufficiently. A coarse comb is used to disentangle the hair, the brush to remove flakiness and dust; fine-tooth combs are outgrown; they belong to the past exclusively. Superfluous hair is removable surely by electrolysis; the root of the hair is destroyed and future growth made impos- sible. Another method sometimes effectual is the use of peroxide of hydrogen alternately with diluted ammonia; the peroxide bleaches and the ammonia deadens the growth. This takes time and patience. If the skin becomes irritated, use cream. Every womaa should adopt a style of dressing the hair be- coming to herself and cling fondly to it. Each passing whim of fashion cannot improve the appearance of everybody. The Care of the Teethe The care of the teeth cannot begin too early; through- out life they are accessory adjuncts to health as well as beauty. When the first infant teeth have come in they should be washed every morning with cool, clean water and a soft cloth. Should a dark-colored formation appear next the gum it may be removed by rubbing prepared chalk over the discol- 150 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. r oration. If it cannot be reached by the soft cloth use a tootH- pick bitten into pulp at one end as a kind of brush. If the milk-teeth are not cared for the perrnanent teeth are apt to come in irregularly and be a lasting deformity. By the time a child is three years old he can be taught to use a brush himself, moving it up and down rather than from side to side, to re- move particles from between the teeth. Teeth are apt to become diseased from insufficient or im- proper nourishment as well as a lack of cleanliness. But this tells in all parts of the body. Cleansing of the teeth should be after each meal, and upon retiring all particles should be removed by drawing between the teeth a piece of waxed dental floss ; or if too close together, the fine Japanese toothpick, or a quill, may be used. Use a mild tooth powder whose ingredients you know, rinsing the mouth as well as the brush, thereafter. Tepid water should be used, as excessive cold or heat destroys the enamel. The saliva undergoes a putrefactive change, which, when allowed to dry in the mouth, forms tartar, and is very injurious to teeth and gums. Upon making the morning toilet the mouth may be rinsed with water in which there is a drop of listerine or carbolic acid; it prevents tenderness of the gums. Occasionally a little juice from a lemon may be squeezed over the brush and rubbed over the teeth, to remove the yellowish deposit; it m.ust be used quickly and the mouth rinsed, as it may damage the enamel. It must be borne in mind that the enamel, nature's protection for the teeth, when once destroyed is never formed anew. Hard substances that break or scratch it should never come in contact with the teeth. Never use metal toothpicks, bite threads, or crack nuts with the teeth. Visit a dentist twice a year to have the teeth examined. ^Wherever there is a decayed spot it must be filled, and all THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 151 calcareous accumulations removed. Use the tooth-brush often, and the breath will be kept pure and sweet. The Care of the Eyes» Beauty of the eyes is dependent upon a reasonable degree of care, but chiefly upon the cultivation of an amiable, intelli- gent spirit, for the eyes are ^'the windows of the soul." To face the light when reading or writing, to sew or em- broider in a flickering artificial light, to read lying abed, are a few of the things to be avoided if sight is to be preserved. Whenever the eyeballs ache, work of whatever nature should be suspended and the eyelids closed for a few moments' rest. Another thing, do not cry. There have been many dramatic things written about women who are sad-eyed, but the fashion has passed. Weeping inflames and injures the eyes, and, at present, is apt to mean ^ou are lacking in courage to properly face your environment. When the eyes sting and burn, bathe in tepid water and rest them for a time. Weak tea is a good tonic. The eyes will partake of any impairment of the health; hence, for sake of strong sight, do not pervert the rules of health. Dr. Foote says that John Quincy Adam.s preserved the perfectness of his sight until he died, at the age of eighty-one, by pursuing, from an early age, the habit of frequently bathing the eyes and mak- ing manipulations toward the bridge of the nose. Where there are visual disturbances they may be corrected by properly fitted glasses. The Care of the Feet* The care of the feet lies mainly in keeping them prop- erly shod, cleansed, and the nails trimmed. The perspiratory pores are largest on the soles of the feet and palms of the 152 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. hands; hence, more impurity is deposited there. When the semi-weekly or weekly warm bath is taken the feet must be well rubbed with a cloth or bath-brusTi that the collection of scarf-skin may be easily removed. The nails should be trimmed closely. Shoes must be well-fitting, but roomy enough to allow mus- cular freedom. A large, ill-fitting shoe is as apt to create corns, bunions, etc., as one too tight. The low heel is the only one to be considered; high heels throw the body out of its proper poise. If there are corns, a little sulphuric acid upon the end of a toothpick touched upon them will soon cause them to dis- appear. Ingrowing nails are torture and are caused by pressure usu- ally upon the great toe. Bathe the afflicted member frequently to reduce inflammation, and with a pen-knife or cuticle knife cut a V in the center of the nail. As the nail will tend to grow together at the niche cut out, the mgrowing portion will be lifted from the flesh in which it is imbedded. Be good to your feet and they will be good to you, by never paining. Health, Beauty and Gr acc« Ease and grace for body as well as mind are attained through the training, polishing and disciplining of all the fac- ulties. Prentice Mulford says: 'The habitually self-possessed woman will be graceful in every movement for the reason that her spirit has complete possession and command of its tool, the body." Francois Del Sarte taught that physical development, poise and gesture are but the external expressions of an internal con- dition, and that on teaching the expression the feeling would follow. Which is true when the real principles are understood. But much culture is superficial; is veneering to a coarse in- THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 153 terior life, and is not what is desirable for any stage of growth. In middle life and even in old age suppleness of the body may be preserved by attention to certain needs of the body. One writer says : "Exercise all your life. When you stop exercising and become indolent, you begin to die. Nature has willed it so.'* To preserve equilibrium it is necessary to take exercise enough every day to cause free perspiration and fa- tigue. If the daily employment is of a physical nature there should yet be enough other muscular exertion to secure an all- around development of the body. For adults physical activity must not be violent nor too prolonged, although the muscles may be firmer than in youth. If one guards against the "sin of over-eating," daily exercise prevents undue accumulations of fat, which encourages degen- eration of the tissues. The editor of Physical Culture says: "Avoid making the idiotic mistake that fat means health. If you are fat begin to reduce at once. You are carrying a bur- den that can always be discarded by vigorous, intelligent ef- forts, and the brightness and joys of life will vastly increase when this plain duty has been performed." To prevent the stiffness and inflexibility of* old age the fol- lowing, by J. R. Blake, should be seriously considered : "Hardening of the bones determines why some people are small and others large. Apart from disease wHich destroys life, the wear and tear of the body in old age is absolutely unnecessary. We have seen that ossification is necessary to youth, in order that the bones may be formed and made strong. The action of the blood which deposits bony matter is kept up through life. Why do we not reverse the process? Old age, the wear and tear of life, the breaking down of the functions of the body, are all caused by this osseous process, which itself is caused by calcareous deposits. What do these 154 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. deposits cause? The hardening of the skin; thereupon it wrinkles and gets old ; the hair is killed and the blood does not circulate freely. The brain turns to bony tissue in its intricate parts; it loses flexibility, becomes hard, so that deep thinking is impossible. The heart gets clogged ; its circulative action is impeded, and the body suffers by reason of poor blood. The arteries, muscles, sinews and tendons become stiffened by the osseous tendency, and old age is attended by multitudinous ills. All of the above symptoms of old age and disease can be pre- vented by the use of distilled zuater. At the age of twenty-one and ever after one should habitually dissolve the osseous de- posits of the body. The daily use of distilled water is, after middle life, one of the most important means of preventing these deposits and the consequent derangement of health." Health is beauty and happiness. It is attainable by con- formity to the laws of being. We are forever under the sov- ereignty of natural law, and only by complying with its conditions are we enabled to realize what is best in our earthly apprenticeship. It is not a tyrant, but a powerful co-operator, when properly understood. PART II CHAPTER V. The Unfolding of Womanhood. N LONGFELLOW'S poem entitled Maidenhood there is a pretty piece of imagery in the first of the following lines : ''Standing with reluctant feet, Where the brook and river meet, Womanhood and childhood fleet ! 5ft 3jC 3j» 3Jt O, thou child of many prayers, Life hath quicksands. Life hath snares. Care and age come unawares." The sure and certain transition from a care-free stage of life to one of serious import fills a matured person with keen apprehension, if he or she thinks at all. Childhood, maiden- hood, wifehood, motherhood, and through all of these the factor of being a representative of humankind, mean enough for the vital consideration of every one. Very few children can be left to "jus' grow" as Topsy did. Their pathway must be illuminated by love and wisdom, that they may conform to, and not transgress against, the laws of being. The Curse of Pr udishness. Standing in the pathway of those who seek truth for them- selves and the world is what is known as the Curse of Prudish- ness. Coming in the guise of virtue, like a wolf in sheep's l5o 156 THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. clothing, it is apt to be mistaken on first sight. One content with superficiaHties will never see below the surface, and hence never know he is lowering himself by the low ideas regarding bodily impurity. In an essay on "Prudery" Lady Cook says : *'We have seen young matrons blush with shame when strang- ers have gazed upon their naked babes. The beautiful sight of these little, rosy, fragile incarnations of innocence, pure and spotless as from the Maker's hands, could crimson their own mother with blushes! What folly is this! What irreverence to Him who made us and saw all His work that 'it was very good.' It was not thus that Mary presented the infant Jesus to those who came to do Him honor ; and doubtless for many a year He ran and played with other children, as they do even now in the East, without a vestige of covering. The prurient mock-modesty which is horrified by the sight of a naked child or a nude statue or picture is a reproach to our weak-minded- ness and to our defective moral training. If we were not so 'nice' as we are, our ideas would not be so nasty. We want more common sense, more philosophy on sexual matters before the mind of our children can be trained to purity, and vice be lessened thereby. For it is not what we see, but how we see. If impurity exists in the soul it will be inflamed by the most innocent cause; but if pure it will regard all things of evil with indifference, and all of good with approbation. It follows, then, that prudery is a particular form of impurity." Pradcry and Igfnorancc. Prudery is the result of a misconception of what is pure. The outgrowth of training under it proves it to be a foolish fallacy. But often it is ingrained as a matter of conscience, and "none is so hopelessly wrong as he who is conscientiously wrong." Mothers try to excuse themselves when sons or daughters go THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. 157 wrong by saying, "It has not been my fault. I trained them the best that I knew." This is scant comfort. It is the com- mon custom of humanity to seek, even to the ends of earth, for a cause outside of themselves for any failure. It is with the hope of aiding young parents to see the way clearer that this volume is issued. And there are many others working along this line, one of whom remarks : "Young parents, you have not forgotten the five or ten years of disquiet, misery or mortifica- tion that was your lot, caused chiefly by the remarks of equally ignorant comrades, or suggested by the many sights and inci- dents which crowded your lives — mysteries which hypnotized you until you were powerless to concentrate your thoughts upon your studies. The only relief to be found was in con- structing air-castles and hatching ideas, living in and with them until marriage brought sad awakening that was almost dis- heartening. "How we would like our children to avoid all this, not hav- ing their lesson hours obtruded upon by goblins or fairies. It is within your power, young father, young mother — will you but make the endeavor. Give nature an open chance. Remove those barriers to mind and body. Let them know the truth. They will surely find out these things. It is better they be taught the truth by the parents whom they trust and confide in than that they pick it up elsewhere, clothed in mystery and sensationalism." Parents as Teachers of the Truth* . Those parents who begin at the beginning with their infants will have no difficulty in imparting to them the meaning of the unfolding powers of creative life. It is just the next step in growth which should continue in the confidences between them. At every turn from the first dawn of the powers of observation 158 THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. a child is met with the marvelous changes called birth and death. Naturally he wants to know. Sometimes his parents are without reverence for creative life, so they are not in posi- tion to teach truth. So, as Mrs. Stetson says, we have "this amazing paradox of mothers ashamed of motherhood, unable to explain it, and — measure this well — lying to their children about the primal truths of life — mothers lying to their own children about motherhood T' The young girl entering the threshold of womanhood might often, in the words of Schiller, say: "I wander through the wood alone, No trodden path before me lies." The goodly knowledge of life's laws is the only safe guide. Unfolding within her being is the voice of creative life, whose function she must know to save herself from mistakes that bring pain and often humiliation in their train. Parents shield their children from harm in many ways, but the way of most value is the one of teaching the child to care for him- self; to develop within himself the powers for good, so that the darkness of evil has no place in his mind. Then what- ever he may hear of impurity will not attract him as some- thing mysterious and sensational. Up to the age of puberty the voice of creative life is com- paratively dormant; that is, the child's body has not suffi- ciently developed for its manifestations. When it is first heard, the individual, boy or girl, is startled, and seeks for explanation of its meaning. How often do they dare to go to parents? Alas the day! confidences have ceased, if ever they were begun, caused by the ruthlessness which degrades the sex nature. There are few other subjects beyond the pale of discussion; but the young early crave information regarding THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD, ^59 these every-day displays of creative life, and are met with evasiveness or repression — so the gateway to confidential rela- tions becomes more and more closed. Sex a Quality of SouL To gain a clear knowledge of this underlying power of all activity, it must be fixed in mind that sex is a quality of soul ; is a principle, not substance ; is of the entire being, not merely of the reproductive system, though those are organs for its especial expression on the plane of generation. The male and female are the two equal principles through the co-operation of which advancement is made; both are equally necessary in the Great Plan. When the influx of life drawn by the creative principle of sex begins, there is such a superabundance of life the young person does not know how to make use of the excess. He or she is most apt to hear from some source that the voice of passion is his for personal gratification alone, rather than the prompting to think and to do. Instead, it is Nature's spur to activity, and must be listened to in that sense for most of the days of life. There may and should come a time when ma- turity is reached that the power of sex will be used to generate on the physical plane; but these are rare times. No father and mother will think they can fully nourish and care for more than three or four children. Says a writer: *There are two manifestations of this life; the building up or ,conserving of the body for mental and physical achievements, and, secondly, for the propagation of Man. In either direction life and energy are consumed. Na- ture points out the order of the development of these two liiies of activity. Clearly, the development and the upbuilding and maturing of the body and the corresponding mental growth 160 THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. within the body are the first in the point of time. Only after the body is fully developed and a life worthy of transmission is evolved, only after this is there a valid reason for perpetua- tion. The reverse of this order is bound to be more or less disastrous/* The gratification of any appetite of the body, whether natural or acquired, is not so much for the delight it brings as to cause a cessation of the craving. The acquired tobacco or alcohol habits are gratified that the craving shall tem- porarily cease. The perverted voice of passion is silenced by the same means. And the pervert sells himself for the pleasure he thus buys. The Training: of Childhooc^ On the subject of keeping the child-mind pure, an author says : "Feeding such food as gravies, pies, tea and coffee to a five or ten-year-old angel from heaven would produce in it a tendency to self-abuse, avoiding all mention of a child of the earth, born with an inherited tendency." The training of childhood has much to do with developing precocity in the sex nature. Regard must be given with ref- erence to this, because the best development of the child de- mands it. Plain but nourishing food, abundant exercise and fresh air, with wise parental guidance, insure a normal' un- folding of the powers of being. A girl, having the same hu- man needs as a boy, must be given an equal opportunity. Re- strictions on account of sex are as unwise as they are harmful. Mrs. Stetson says that *'the most normal girl is the 'tom-boy' — whose numbers increase among us in these wiser days, — a healthy young creature, who is human through and through, not feminine till it is time to be. The most normal boy has calmness and gentleness, as well as vigor and courage. He is a human creature, as well as a male creature, and not aggress- THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. 161 ively masculine till it is time to be. Childhood is not the period for marked manifestation of sex. That we encourage and admire shows our over-sexed condition." A very foolish practice is that of suggesting lovers and sweethearts to infants, and teasing those who have just entered the adolescent period. Both practices pervert the normal child, stimulating sexual precocity in the young, and stultify- ing or befuddling the unfolding faculties of the older. Parents Their Children's Comrades* The true training will align the young mind with the forces of health, and bestow thereon the assurance of truth. Infor- mation as to the origin of life or the laws of life need not be beyond the demand or the capacity to understand. The par- ent must ever be the child's comrade and friend from the period of mud-pies and make-believe environment, on through life. If a question is propounded at a time when the parent is otherwise engaged, make an appointment for its considera- tion later on. From early infancy great care must be exer- cised that physical sensations do not become attractive. It is but the instrument of the personality that occupies it, and which must ever be under the domination of the ego. Never begin in babyhood to shame one part of the body. Each function and each organ has its proper uses, all equally important. This knowledge should be communicated to the child. Also that there is a time, a place and a condition for all things, and what is out of harmony at one time will not be so in its own proper place. The beauty of modesty has a proper foundation, and crying shame against any portion or function of the body is not one of its planks. The toilet, the bath, the evacuations, belong to privacy after one has reached maturity, or even puberty. But it does not follow that these 163 THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. most necessary attentions are disgraceful. They are really serious parts of preparations for activity. In the second stanza quoted at the beginning of this chap- ter the line, ''Life hath quicksands, Life hath snares," is pregnant with meaning to mother-hearts. So many of the quicksands and snares have their foundation in the ignorance of the meaning of womanhood. 'T am more and more convinced that right knowledge is not only a safeguard of purity, but is really the creator of true modesty. To give a young person a reverent knowledge of self is to insure that delicacy of thought which preserves the bloom of modesty." — Almost a Woman. The pathway of unfolding womanhood is beset with snares and pitfalls for unwary feet. Vaguely conscious of the law that masculine and feminine elements are complementary and necessary to each other, young girls are often easily led away by the unscrupulous of the other sex. Sometimes they are frightened into keeping virtue's pathway by being shown the goblins about them, but this means, like the one of using hell to scare people into heaven, is very questionable. It can never give a young woman the self-poise and assurance that enlight- enment can. Caresses and love-words are acceptable to most woman-natures, but in the sense which leads to mating they are unsuitable for one in the early teens. It should be pointed out to the daughter that comradery and friendliness with boy friends is all right, but that thoughts or talks of marriage are out of place for many years. Evil of Sensational Literature* The thrilling and unreal type of love-story should be kept out of sight. And the only way to prevent an eager unfolding THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. 163 mind from laying hold of whatever comes in reach is to fore- stall the sensational literature with good reading. That class of story or biography which will aid in forming a wholesome ideal should be placed at hand and discussed so that the anxious young one will wish for self-investigation. A taste for what is good in literature is as easily cultivated as a pernicious appetite, and is one of the most powerful aids in developing good thoughts and a good vocabulary. Another of the chiefest principles to teach by example and precept is the duty of cheerfulness. Ella Wheeler's poem, "Laugh and the world laughs with you," rests upon the basic principle that cheerfulness is one of the beneficent laws of be- ing. Health to one's self and joy to one's friends come from cheerfulness, which goes hand-in-hand with kindness. Of one of the minor characters in "Adam Bede" George Eliot said : "His was one of those large-hearted, sweet-blooded natures that never know a narrow or a grudging thought; of a sufficiently subtle moral fiber to have an unwearying tenderness for obscure and monotone suffering." Those na- tures which carry an atmosphere of kindly cheerfulness are the graces of the world, the multiplication of which is sorely needed. In instilling these beauties into the warp and woof of char- acter, one must begin away back in infancy and teach the rec- ognition of things joyous, and the non-recognition of the un- pleasant things. "The reverse is usually the rule. The com- mon cry is, "How can I not recognize and bemoan that which goes wrong ?" By simply not doing so, my sister woman. We become like that upon which our hearts are most fixed. And it is ungenerous to a child to allow the unpleasant features of the pathway of life to stand out most prominently. Emer- son, the wise prophet, said: "There is no beautifier of com- 164 THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. plexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us." If we learn to search for the joyous in life for ourselves it will, in greater or less degree, be com- municated to those with whom we come in contact. What- ever mood we set forth will unerringly return; if joy is scat- tered, joy comes back; if ill-natured pessimism goes from us, it rebounds in despondency. Earth's lovable children are those who possess cheerfulness either through heredity or cultiva- tion. "Gather, then, each flower that grows, When the young heart overflows." Nothing is misery unless our weakness makes it so. Character Formed by Training:. Equilibrium of character is generated by training the fem- inine faculties toward the work that shall be hers. As in the past, so largely in the present, a boy is taught to consider what he shall do — the girl whom she shall marry. And marriage is just as likely the lot of the boy as of the girl. This is training the girl to make capital of her sex, and is one of the bars to social evolution. Marriage should not be the business of a girl's life — no more than that of her brother's. This rela- tion has its own beautiful place, but it is a condition and not a business. A young woman who makes of herself the best possible being, physically, morally, mentally, socially, is fitting herself for a possible wifehood and motherhood. This is true of her brother. Both will study specifically what parenthood means before the condition is theirs to live. Motherhood and wife- hood have their embryonic germs in every normal girl. And the best parents develop from the young of both sexes who love the real beauties of life, which include babies. THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. 166 Specialized taste for some branch of industry will oegin manifesting itself when the influx of the larger life is distinctly felt. Aspirations begin flitting through the brain. Chance dream follows chance dream, until a final preference is made after due consideration of the matter. Then all the thoughts and acts are shaped with reference thereto, and, as Fra Elbertus says, "without violence or direction the goal is reached." The ideal begins to be lived. All effort which has the inspiration of hope and love uplifts the character. Just in the proportion that work is made inter.esting and pleasant will there be progress. The Eqaality of the Sexes* An age-long theory or superstition held women to be the inferiors of men ; but in proof that there is growth and progress many women are breaking away from the restraints that have held them, and are demonstrating their ability to stand alone as far as intellectual development and the power of self-sus- tainment goes. It is the law, however, that men and women cannot be wholly independent of each other. "Male and female created He them." From the good which is the outgrowth of their true relations is generated soil for the growth of each along their independent lines of work. A reverent consideration of this law is one of earth's sore needs. Young people, young girls, should be so imbued with high feeling for this depart- ment of being that they would not speak carelessly of it, nor drag it through the mire of thoughtless jest. These be mat- ters for the sanctuary of the holy of holies. Most of the relationships between the social throng of men and women are as honest friends and comrades. The past generations were wont to regard every man as the possi- ble enemy of every woman's virtue, and that the weaker sex 166 THE UNFOLDING OF WOMANHOOD. must be constantly on the defensive. In the old-world coun- tries this is yet largely true. But in the glad time when all the youth are enlightened as to the teal functions of manhood and womanhood, adaptability and attraction will be the only basis for union, and this will be true marriage. The human relation can be then more beautifully upheld without the idea of sex-difference constantly obtruding itself. There is nothing to fear in truth, and the unfolding of womanhood is best shielded and guarded when there is con- scious knowledge of the glorious possibilities inherent in the quality of sex, which in every human being holds the balance of power. I PART II. CHAPTER VI. The Fulfillment of the Law. FTER the unfolding of the flower of womanhood, the next progressive step in femininity is the dis- covery of the other one whose being shall be comple- mentary to her own. She who is most truly woman will naturally be much attracted by masculine society, but if her mind has been so carefully trained that the self-poise and dignity of womanhood is understood, she will not lend herself to promiscuous affairs of the heart. Until mind and body are fully matured only the spirit of comradery should prevail be- tween the young. Under hot-house unfoldment the powers of sex are not hardy, and are most liable to misappropriation, be- cause reason and judgment have not proportionately developed. But love is the fulfillment of the law. It is the second round in the ladder of progress, and must permeate every avenue of life for man and woman as the warm glow of the sun thrills the world of matter, or growth is retarded. Emerson on Love. Emerson says: "Love is omnipresent in nature as motive and reward. Love is our highest word and the synonym of God. " * * * It is a fire that, kindling its first embers in the narrow nook of a private bosom, caught from a wandering spark out of another private heart, grows and enlarges until it 167 108 THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. warms and beams upon multitudes of men and women, upon the universal heart of all, and so lights up the whole world and all nature with its generous flame. It matters not whether we attempt to describe the passion at twenty, at thirty, or at eighty years. He who paints it at the first period will lose some of its later ; he who paints it at the last, some of the earlier traits. Only it is to be hoped that by patience and the muses' aid we may attain to that inward view of the law which shall describe a truth ever young, ever beautiful, so central that it shall com- mend itself to the eye, at whatever angle beholden." In the same essay Emerson asserts that this- is preparation "for a love which knows not sex, nor person, nor partiality, but which seeketh virtue and wisdom everywhere, to the end of increasing virtue and wisdom." It seems a simple thing to love and be loved; but it is so only in seeming. In reality it is one of the serious questions how properly to align one's self with this universal law. It is a subject open to sincere study. One of the present-day writers says: "Ideal marriage, barring that of a blind man and deaf mute, is rare. It is the ante-nuptial condition that is charmful. That the post-nuptial state should be occasionally different is but natural. It is easier to be a lover than it is to be a husband — or even a wife — for the same reason that it is easier to be witty now and then than all the time. "Yet, like the ideal marriage, the lover who knows his business is rare. That business consists in never seeing or hearing anything which was not intended for him. He is not only near-sighted and hard of hearing — he is wise. He is aware that affections are like slippers — they will wear out. When they do he takes off his hat and wishes the lady God- speed — an attribute parenthetically which is the surest way to THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. 169 detain her. In circumstances such as these the man who does not know his business loses his head, and loses it not because he has lost his lady's heart, but because her heart happened to be different from what he thought it. He had his ideal of her and feels that he has been swindled. No one likes that. And yet the swindle may be entirely his own. "A woman, too, has ideals. It is not sacrifices she wants, but sympathy, the companionship of one whose likes are hers, whose dislikes she can share, and, as now and again occurs, she discovers that the man whom she took to be the possessor of these attributes is merely an individual who has the power to exasperate her at every angle of, life. It is then that she packs up her heart and he fails to take off his hat. "A condition of affairs such as that, without being epidemic, is common enough. To remedy it there is a choice between the Chinese system and higher education." Need of the Higher Education. It is the higher education — that which quickens mind and spirit — that is needed ; a knowledge of some of the underlying principles of the attractiveness between men and women. The completeness each growing soul longs for is attained by a man and a woman. Each should contribute toward oneness, by careful cultivation of the flower of love, and by reaching out for unfoldment toward those things that are good and true and beautiful. The Yale professor who called forth many vials of wrath upon himself by saying not ten per cent of married people real- ized their ante-nuptial ideals, was not far from the right. Few young people who marry have clear-cut ideals. They, in a hazy, uncertain way, expect marriage with a beloved one to yield joy complete; when, according to the law of progress, 170 THE FULFILLMENT OF THE L'AW. the mere fact of marriage cannot render one completely happy. By assuming this relation they are placed in position for proper advancement, providing it is'in accordance with natural selection. Then, as a beautiful plant is watched and cared for, so must be the attraction which drew together man and wife. It cannot be left to care for itself in the present world of storm, stress and adversity, or it will surely die. The old-time idea that marriage removed the taint of sen- suality is worn out. As Lady Cook said, "If one were driven into a corner for an argument against the existing marriage system, it would only be necessary to refer to the records of the divorce courts during one* short year." But even the di- vorce courts are signs that "the world do move." Whereas marriage formerly meant a union for life "for better or for worse," it is now beginning to mean, if not for better , not at all. Higher social conditions mean higher ideals ; and, though the social fabric is now in the throes of change from a lower to a higher standard, all evidence points to the bettering of lines in and upon which we live and move. Teaching: the Laws of Life, Preparation for a thorough understanding of life's laws must begin as soon as a child manifests any desire to know of the origin of life. Then the growth of knowledge on this most beneficent department of nature will be uniform with growth in other directions. Abnormality in the sexual appe- tite is thereby forestalled. The first lesson continues until the approach of puberty; then the second lesson as to the physical and psychical changes which will take place is in order. The home should be the place — "Where children are taught to be laws unto themselves and to depend on themselves." THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. 171 The third lesson for the young may deal with the question of mating. If the first instructions have been what they should be and have led the young mind above and outside of itself, this pregnant step in advancement will not be so difficult to approach as it seems. Parents are very much aided by having a wise selection of books at hand. When this question has suggested itself in perspective, the youthful mind seizes upon all manner of means for enlightenment. To the shame of humankind be it said that all knowledge on this subject of mating in past generations had to be received from concealed or unholy sources. As Dr. Wilcox says, "A good book on the physiology and ethics of the sex life ought not to be out of place on the center table or the mantel." When we are able to live the regenerate life, all possible light will not be out of place in the family circle. In fact it will go along with other instruction which tends to keep the windows of the soul open heavenward. A young woman who has not lived a life isolated from the other sex is more in command of her powers in men's presence than she who has been kept away from them. It is a very frequent occurrence that girls released from a convent educa- tion heedlessly marry the first importunate suitor. She yields to the inscrutable attraction of the sexes without analysis of her feelings, or what the estate of marriage may mean. "Friend- ship fills the background of all true love," says the author of "Ethical Marriage," "and those lovers who are unacquainted with friendship's austere sincerity are in the thrall of animal passion. Marriage is a permanent companionship for purpose- ful work and healthful play, and it is idle to enter into it un- less the parties to it are moved by the strong force of tested and faithful friendship." Acquaintance with aims and desires aids each of a pair of 172 THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. lovers to know whether they can co-operate. They must know whether they can comprehend each other's ideals and efforts to their attainment. A Brilliant Frenchman's View. Max O'Rell said : "A woman should marry young, very young even, so that her husband shall enjoy all the different phases of her beauty from the beauty of her girlhood to that of second youth, or matronly beauty, which, to my mind, is best of all. It is perhaps at forty that a woman is most strik- ingly handsome ; invariably so when she has taken care of her- self and has been loved and petted by husband and children alike. It is then that she knows how to make the best of herself, that she best understands how to exercise her gifts and charms in the most effective manner." To men he said : ''Never marry a woman richer than you, or one older than you. Be always gently superior to your wife in fortune, in size and age, so that in every possible way she may appeal to you for help or protection, either through your purse, your strength or your experience in life. Marry her at an age that will always enable you to play with her all the different characteristic parts of a husband, a chum, a lover, an adviser, a protector and just a tiny suspicion of a father." A German Opinion. This is a Frenchman's point of view. Another from a Ger- man point of view is truer from the idea of equality : "Mar- riage is more than the means of setting up housekeeping and founding a family; the upward striving toward perfection is more than a dark longing for an object that may agreeably occupy the emotions and the imagination. It is the longing equivalent to a noble life, toward the perfection of our being THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. 173 through the union with a being in harmony with ourselves; toward the complete satisfaction of our personality by becom- ing one with another personality, by a blending of souls that perfects both as the blending of two metals results in a third that is superior to and more endurable than either alone. It is finally the need that every nobler individual feels for the realization of the ideal, a realization we look for in vain in every direction and which life can offer us nowhere but in true love. Whithersoever a m.an's fancy, his discoveries, or aspirations, may lead him, nothing in the whole domain of nature can take the place of the relationship that true love unfolds to two thinking and harmonious beings. Such love is true life." A great many of the considerations for a correct marriage should, while the heart is fancy-free, be kept well to the fore. It almost goes without saying that mental tastes should be similar. Very much marital misery is occasioned through lack of balance here. The science of phrenology often aids young people to find companions of suitable mental caliber. Mental Adaptation, or Hormony. The following on mental harmony is from Dr. Foote : ''Mental adaptation, in marriage, consists in at least an ap- proximate correspondence in the tastes, sentiments and pro- pensities of husband and wife. * * * The possession of high moral and religious sentiments by one and a total destitu- tion of them in the other is frequently the cause of matrimonial discords and separations. How can a pious wife enjoy the society of a husband who forbids her devotional exercises? How can a devotional husband have a wife who neither sympa- thizes with nor participates in his religious sentiments, while 174 THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. by precept and example she trains up his children regardless of his cherished principles ? "The organ of inhabitiveness when largely developed gives attachment to home and love of country. A wife possessing a full development of this organ can never live happily with a husband whose inhabitiveness is small. He will ever be on the move, like the rolling stone, and his wife must sacrifice her love of home and a permanent location by following in his wake, or else let him go, and content herself in loneliness. " * * * The organ of philoprogenitiveness makes its pos- sessor very fond of children. If the wife has this faculty small and the husband large, the latter is decidedly inclined to find fault with her management of the children, and bickerings arise from this cause. * * * As the principal training and care of a child devolves upon the mother, large philoprogenitiveness is more essential to her. "Adhesiveness is an organ that begets powerful attachments. It is the chief prompter of a platonic love. It leads the person to seek the society of those who have similar proclivities, and seals congenial acquaintance with enduring friendship. If the husband lacks this quality of mind the wife ever laments his want of fraternal affection — feels that he married her more for the gratification of his animal desires than for her society. If the wife is destitute of this organ she is generally cold and repulsive, except when aroused by amative excite- ment. "Many husbands and wives possess an equal development of the organ of amativeness, and still have not the necessary physical adaptation to make each other happy. Two persons may possess an equal development of the organ of adhesiveness and yet fail to become friends for want of congeniality in other respects. * * * THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW, 175 "The intellectual powers should be about equal, however di- yerse in character; no wife can respect a husband who is inferior, and without respect there is no real love. Nor can any intelligent husband enjoy the society of a wife who is ignorant and perhaps uncouth. * * * "Passional love, which warms up only at intervals, can not long render the pair blind to mental disparity. And then, too, where passion has been the governing attraction, and age cools down the impulses of early manhood and womanhood, nothing is left to render their matrimonial relations even tolerable. * * * There must also exist that mental and moral con- geniality which produces powerful friendship — friendship which would be deep and lasting were sexual considerations unthought of.'' The Law of Physicol Adaptation* In physical characteristics by which temperaments are made manifest the law of opposites rules. The dark should mate with the fair, the plump with the slender, the tall with the short. The thoroughly feminine admires the thoroughly mas- culine. To observe these things is to be placed in harmony with natural law, which, Henry Wood says, "is a loving force, persistent, reliable, always in its place and pressing to do its work." Furthermore he says : "It is this invariableness which enables us to use it and make it serviceable. While, therefore, it is true we are always under its sovereignty, it is no less a fact that when we comply with its conditions it becomes our most valuable and indispensable co-worker. Its powerful aid, like that of steam or electricity, is always in waiting, only we must not dictate its methods of operation." Having aligned ourselves with natural law, it will then do its perfect work. Those whose aspirations lead them upward 170 THE FULFILLMENT OF TFIE LAW. through the fields of progress soon attain to the point where the fact of sex is seldom asserted. We may know the law — male and female created He them — know the associations are necessary, therefore good, adjust ourselves to the conditions and think no more about them. It is only on the basis of clean- ness that honor between men and women may be realized. Purity of Thougfht a Requisite^ Young persons in pursuit of the fulfillment of the law must come into the wholesomeness of purity of thought. When this has been gained, the opposite sexes can discuss questions re- lating to the estate of marriage without self-consciousness or false modesty. Mrs. Whitney says: "In olden times and under the olden civilizations which continue unchanged in oriental countries up to the present time, there was not a thought that men and women could associate on intimate terms in honorable relations as friends and companions and helpers. The idea is, perhaps, the prevalent one throughout the world. But there is a higher, truer, purer idea in the minds of the best people, and the inter- course of men and women in business and professions and reforms is demonstrating it to be a fact that they can associate on the human plane and help each other and work together with no thought of their difference in sex. " * * * In the old dispensation, to man every woman was a possible victim, and to woman every man was an enemy, and she could maintain her virtue only by constant vigilance and a war of defense. In contrast with this see the pure chivalry of the best men of our time, which is met by the most complete confidence of the best women." To the pure in mind all things are pure. It has never been wise to ignore creative law, and in the present day it is not THE FULFILLMENT OF *THE LAW. H? forgivable. The holiest relation of the sexes must be placed beyond the question of commercial or social advantage, and comply with natural selection and the deepest needs of human- ity. Marriage must come to be arranged with reference to inner needs. While its failures cause it to be a debatable ques- tion, yet so long as sympathy, companionship, affection and co-operation are deep soul-longings the experiment of mating will be apt to go on. Let the propensities of human nature be guided by the better self, and they will give strength for the attainment of all that Is worth striving for. Love must be acknowledged as a fact, and as a controlling factor in proper living. The more fully it is expressed the richer becomes individual life, and the benediction is shed on all who come within the circle of its radiance. "That love for one from which there doth not spring Wide love for all is but a worthless thing." — LowelL PART II CHAPTER VII. The Fruits of Fulfillment. 'HE great sun in the soul-heavens is love; love the fulfillment of the law, the quickener of the pow- ers of being. The fruits of fulfillment are as varied as in the objective world, where growth depends on the amount of sunlight received. But in this connection the fruits of fulfilling the law will be considered in the specific sense of the mating of one man and one woman. The higher conception of the term marriage is beyond and wholly out- side of any legal enactment. People may place themselves in harmony with external conditions by going through the forms necessary for public recognition of a purely personal and private relation, but the mere "I-pronounce-you-man-and- wife" is not marriage. Perfect marriage can only be based upon attraction and natural adaptability. The fruits of love in marriage may be said to be growth and development of the united pair, and offspring. If there is not a true union there should be no children. Homes of inharmony produce the cross-grained and contentious of the world — which results are retarding progress. Happiness in the marriage relation is often marred by trifles, whose inroads are so slow they are not noticed until almost too late to mend. Jesting leads sometimes to quarrel- ing, thence to misunderstandings and lack of confidence. There 178 THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. 179 must be a broad basis of friendly confidence, so that misun- derstandings, slights, irritability of temperament, can be dis- cussed with a view to future prevention. A Whe, Woman's Experience* Fowler quotes a lady as saying: *'V/hen I married only one point of similarity and sympathy existed between myself and husband. I soon found that discussing our differences only aggravated them, and adopted this inflexible rule : never to argue points of dissimilarity, but simply to establish har- mony on the one point on which we agreed. This soon cre- ated concord on another keynote, cherishing which soon brought us into union upon a third, and so on till now every discordant note has become concordant, and we live most happily." Wise woman that. Many who are able to win a heart's best love seem unable to retain it after the first few weeks of wedded life. And this is largely due to a lowering of the standard of behavior. The outside legal tie is made to serve in place of the com- manding of mutual respect through the manifestations of true manliness and womanliness. ' If the affairs of marriage have not been discussed during the days of courtship, two people can hardly realize what the ideals of each other may be. No pair is fit for marriage who cannot frankly and fully discuss the relation of the sexes, and the duties each bears to the other. Kindness, courtesy, unsel-f- ishness must needs be practiced by both more unfailingly after the I-pronounce-you than before. A popular fallacy is that marriage removes a pair from the close friendships of friends. Not infrequently one hears that a husband or wife is jealous of friends. Jealousy is a green- eyed monster that makes the food it feeds upon. No well- 180 THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. balanced person but has the power to lift himself to a plane so high that jealousy can not obtrude. The duties of matri- mony must not close the door to the larger life of friendship, or the avenues for growth are closed. Of this Professor Wil- cox says : "It is the orthodox doctrine of marriage under the present regime ot romance that lovers and married people should find in each other the sufficient satisfaction of every legitimate want. It is supposed that once a life alliance is made the legitimate function of friendship is fulfilled, and that straightway correspondences must be closed and that personal relationships must be broken off in order that love and duty may be concentrated in the home. Friendships may, perhaps, be outgrown by the divergence in interests and ideals, but the mere fact of betrothal or marriage furnishes the most absurd of reasons for cutting any vital cord of sympathy or co-operation that may exist between any two persons in the world. Who believes that marriage thrives on isolation ? that a woman will be a better wife and mother if she enters into the soul-life of only one man? that a man will be a better husband and father if he cherish the sympathy of only one woman ? True, the home calls for specialization of effort and care, but every specialization brings with it more and more dependence on outside relationships. The household life will be self-consuming if it is not fed by wider associations. Every friendship of husband and wife will add riches to the home store. ''Friendships are the spiritual doors and windows of the home through which the universal light and air find entrance.'* Progress is one of the laws that must be recognized to make wedded life all it should be. To close all the avenues of good that outside atmosphere can bring, encourages narrow- THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. 181 ness and selfishness, two negative qualities we must strive against. The Unfoldment of Family Life* Were each to understand the words, "You must grow to new heights if I love you tomorrow," neither would dare, for dear love's sake, to settle down to the mental and moral lassi- tude so common in marriage. Family life, to be profitable to the members of which it is made up, must unfold in mental, moral and material strength. Its power is hampered if de- velopment is only on one or two lines. The tendency of the times is toward small families of children. Fewer children and better is a good motto; espe- cially should they be few if parents do not know the laws of life well enough to insure better ones. Mutual attachment of parents is more firmly cemented by children in the home. A natural need of the individual is gratified in true family relations, which enables the souls of its members to expand and grow like leaves in the sunshine. "The woman is to the man only the complement of his being, in and with whom he begins to live his complete life," said Heingen. Vice versa. Again this philosopher tells us : "The family is inconceivable without real marriage, marriage is in- conceivable without love, and love can no longer be distin- guished from prostitution when the bond of union is vitiated by compulsion. If propagation is to have an ethical signifi- cance and ethical consequence it must not proceed on the plane of bestial association, and just as little in false or forced rela- tionships. Every child that springs from a union which would have ceased had not external considerations or binding fetters held it together, transmits the curse of the misfortune and of the immorality to the next generation." 183 THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. The requisite for having well-born babies is, according to Dr. Elliott: First. That the parents be well-mated. Second. That they are in a condition of health. Third. That their own tendencies to evil have been over- come to the best of their ability. Fourth. That they should take advantage of the molding powers of prenatal influences. Grant Allen said: "It is good for every man among us that he and every other man should be as strong, as well-knit, as supple, as wholesome, as effective, as free from vice or defect as possible. We see clearly that it is his first duty to make his own muscles, his own organs, his own bodily func- tions, as perfect as he can make them, and to transmit them in like perfection unspoiled to his descendants. We see clearly that it is good for every woman among us that she and every other woman should be as physically developed and as finely equipped for her place as mother as it is possible to make her- self. * * * -vVe see that to prepare ourselves for the du- ties of paternity and maternity by making ourselves as vigor- ous and healthful as we can be is a duty we all owe to our children unborn and to one another." To be our best selves, then, is to be properly prepared for parenthood. Wise and loving generation only can lift the status of civilization. The Complementary Life of Marriage^ The complementary life which well-mated pairs are ena- bled to live is another of the fruits of fulfilling the law of love. 'Tor woman is not undeveloped man, But diverse : could we make her as the man. Sweet love were slain : his dearest bond is this. Not like to like, but like in difference." THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. 183 One supplies deficiencies of the other. Harmonious men- tal and moral growth rests upon the integrity of conjugal love-life; which thought brings us to the consideration of means for preserving the male and female attraction each must at some time have held for the other in order to assume the marriage relation. Two views held on this subject, — which differ only in the degree of expression of creative life, — are well worth intelligent thought. The first is that complete blending of the sexual natures is only proper and necessary where propagation is desired. Dr. Cowan and Professor Fowler are notable among the older writers on the subject. One of Fowler's illustrations is the following : "A and B have an equal amount of sexuality. A con- sumes his in coition, which leaves his voice, manners, posture, spirit, intellect, etc., bereft of it. B continently retains his, only to have it worked off in imparting sex to his voice, walk, actions, etc. ; nobleness and courage to his feelings, with gal- lantry to women and admiration and love to the sex, and that treatment that wins their regard. You can't consume your sexual cake in both forms. Choose w^hether you will do so in the animal or in those nobler aspects of mascuUnity." The creative life consumed in frequent intercourse is in- jurious, robbing a wedded pair of the essential principle for preserving the gentleness and courtesy due one another. Love expressed in kindliness, in kisses and caresses, yields the neces- sary element the sexes have for each other. Love expressed only in the sexual embrace to the full propagative act yields less than the vitality it consumes, besides making a chance con- ception probable. 184 THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT^ Continence the Law of Love* 1 Fowler asserts that no semen is deposited in the seminal vesicles if the mind is held above the animal plane. "Conti- nence," he says, "except in wedlock, and then only to propa- gate, is therefore the natural law of love." Dr. Cowan advocated procreation every three years; Fowler every two years; others only so often as children are desired, be it five or ten years. Other humanitarians advocate the possibility and the de- sirability of the conjugal embrace, provided it is not allowed to go beyond the bounds of a love embrace and be made propa- gative. In this sacrament of blending there must be no haste, no animality — just a quiet exaltation of the entire being of that twain who are one flesh. The nervous spasm called the orgasm is avoided; therefore all danger of chance conception is forestalled. This alone is immeasurably desirable to every wife, and should be equally as much to husbands. Preventives to Conception* The use of prevalent preventives to conception is alsc5 done away with through this method of expression. Few preventives are absolutely sure; and, truly, the use of any such blurs the spirituality of conjugal love. The full, free blending of the male and female life, — spiritual, emotional and physical,— without fear of results, is productive of such beneficent powers for activity no married lovers will ever return to the animal plane who once taste of its blessings. One of the later-day writers says : "Given abundant time and mutual reciprocity, the interchange becomes satisfactory and complete without emission or crisis by either party. In the course of an hour the physical tension subsides, the spir- itual exaltation increases, and not uncommonly visions of a 1 THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. 185 transcendent life are seen, and consciousness of new powers are experienced." Another says: *'When married people once learn how to enjoy the sexual association according to this method, they will not wish to do otherwise, except by design, for the pur- pose of securing offspring. Many barren women Lave be- come capable of bearing children through the strength ob- tained by practice of this method of union." An eminent physician has given it as his opinion that the widespread habits of using tobacco, alcohol and other stimu- lants have rise in the waste of vital force in incontinence in marriage and out. These habits act and re-act on each other so that it is rare to find a person defiling the temple of the soul by one means alone. Any one of these habits robs an in- dividual of power to think and will to do that which is in harmony with good old mother Nature, and therefore right. The truly mated wise enough to preserve the sweetness and warmth of honeymoon days will be comrades and lovers. The Old, Sweet Story, Always New* The old, old story is always fresher and sw^eeter with each telling if kind and courteous acts testify to the truth of the words. Time never has lessened the need of the human soul for affection, nor dimmed the necessity of blending of the sexes. Those matured people who are deprived or deprive themselves of this indispensable element may be recognized by the hardness of feature and dearth of kindly deeds. Men sometimes allow the pursuit of wealth to absorb them to the exclusion of the wine of life, which is love. They forget to be lovers to their wives and fathers to their babies. It has been said that there are more restless women between the ages of thirty-five and fifty than of younger years. There are, of 186 THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. course, causes for this condition. The widowed, the mis- mated, the unloved — alas the day! — are in the majority. Many of them — perhaps most of them — are unfitted by nature or training to do life's battles. Many who think women should have a purpose in life besides her female relationship to so- ciety, are met with opposition in the family or among friends, so that desire to do is frustrated, unless there is the strength to override obstacles. One disappointed little woman said this : "I do not exactly know what is meant by a 'career,* but I think it must be that thing which lies nearest your heart; that most sacred of all endowments of the Divine Creator. But because your wisdom is so much inferior to His you know it is one which should not have been given you, and which you must crush out, as He certainly made a mistake in giving it to you, and it is not meant for your well-being. It is that thing which, when you think of its perfect fulfillment, causes a lump to come into your breast and rise up and up till it stops your breath and fairly chokes you, and you gasp, and say, 'Oh, if it could only be ! '" Another who had the talent to write beautiful, helpful stories — who has written for the best periodicals — is allowing her powers to lie unused because her husband insists on her being just his wife — and the superintendent of his household. Such cases as this illustrate what Spencer says about unselfish- ness being harmful beyond a certain degree. Talents are to be used, and used in their natural bent. They must not be given up because some one else, without rhyme or reason, in- sists upon it. Women can and should follow their life-work as well as their brother, man. The woman with an occupation suitable to her desires and liking will not be among the restless and unsettled. Even if her love-life has not fulfilled its best promises, the channel can be turned into universal love for THE FRUITS OF FULFILLMENT. 18? all creatures, and joy and hope gleaned therefrom. There is no excuse for that selfishness which, because one has met obstacles, or has been bereaved, causes one to retire into one'3 self and grieve. The only panacea for any grief is activity, which takes consciousness outside of one's self. Those who hold for long at trials or obstacles miss the proper moral exer- cise for strengthening character. All heights are accessible to her or him who will work for success. pra Elbertus says: "The man who thinks out what he wants to do, and then works, and works hard, will win; and no others do, or ever have, or can — God will not have it so." PART II established. CHAPTER VIII. Home and Home-Making. HILE society can not be considered as frag- mentary, with divided interests, yet there are individual needs to be satisfied for individual wQa\. In response to these needs, home was Every human being has need of a habitation where there is repose for mind and body ; where private atten- tion may be given to individual tastes and necessities; where habits may be trained that will help to form character, until the human mind can know itself, and so be beyond the power of habit. Home life does not necessarily mean married life. Man, in common with all higher animals, has "the homestead instinct," which is associated with the natural desire for domestic pri- vacy. Following instinctive want of a place of safety, of a place in which to rear a brood of offspring, home became an institution. The majority of homes are made up of father, mother, and children; and where the binding tie is love, and there is har- mony and progress, it is the ideal place of refuge. But the detached members of families have the home instinct the same as their more fortunate brethren and sisters, and the sense of being unsettled often leads to ill-considered marriages. For this reason it is always well for two, or three, or more, con- 188 HOME AND HOME-MAKING. 189 genial people to set up for themselves their household gods, until the right opportunity comes for marriage. Boarding- houses and hotels have been made to serve for these parts of families, and sometimes for families, but it is very seldom a sense of hominess pervades their atmosphere. The more progressive of "bachelor girls" have begun to establish households and five as befit creatures of civilization. The bachelor man, somewhat in advance of his sisters, has been doing the same. Conservative society sometimes arouses itself sufficiently to object to these unmarried households, on the ground that they interfere with the founding of family homes. This is only true as far as the inferior, or the not true, marriage is concerned. Attraction between the sexes is a fact in nature. It is a law that no private arrangement of humankind can set aside; and if bachelor households shall do away with marriages of convenience, the more of them the better. At the present stage of development, home life largely suf- fers because of unskilled management. The kind of skill need- ful to adjust affairs successfully has not been considered nec- essary to train for, and, as Mrs. Stetson says, "there are sever- al professions involved in our clumsy method of housekeeping. A good cook is not necessarily a good manager, nor a good manager an accurate and thorough cleaner, nor a good cleaner a wise purchaser. Under the free development of these branches a woman would choose her profession, train for it and become a most valuable functionary in her own branch, all the while living in her own home; that is, she would live in it as a man lives in his home, spending certain hours of the day at work and others at home." The onward march of progress has led woman outside of the four walls of home and the work of the church. Fifty 190 HOME AND HOME-MAKING. years ago, very few avenues were open for the expression of woman's activities outside of the household. To be self-sus- taining had a sound of something improper. "Has she no yuan to keep her?" But the growing spirit of freedom causes the able-bodied, wholesome-minded woman not to want to be "kept." She desires to be strong and secure in her own strength as a human, and not to t>e "taken care of" as an adjunct of the masculine sex. The Changes of a Century* The following by Mrs. Sangster expresses the changes the past century brought about for woman : "In nothing is the march of progress more evident than in the present attitude of woman tow^ard life, as compared with the point of view of her predecessor. The change is as marked as that from the candles of the opening nineteenth to the elec- tric lights of the opening twentieth century. A hundred years ago woman was a timid being, to be sheltered and protected, to be worshiped and complimented, and she lived up to the ideal men then held as peculiarly feminine. She had great reserves of bravery and patriotism under her delicate exterior — for in every age womanhood remains the same in essentials — but she by no means met man on equal terms in any field. The dawn of the old century found women with few business opportunities and somewhat restricted educational privileges. Here and there was a learned woman, and many women were clever, resourceful and intelligent, but the curriculum designed for the sex was less strenuous and less expansive than that of today. Few girls went further than the common school, topped off with a foam of graceful accomplishments. "Marriage was the feminine goal. She who did not marry was regarded with compassion as a failure, and her parents were openly pitied. After marriage, the average woman re- HOME AND HOME-MAKING. 191 tired into the seclusion of her home, and it is not too much to say that at fifty she was frankly old. The young ruled in the drawing-room, and the atmosphere was crude in conse- quence. Mothers are as needful to society as daughters in their bloom, and this the new century acknowledges with pride. "The woman doctor, the woman lawyer, the woman jour- nalist and the trained nurse were unknown when the nine- teenth century began. The twentieth would be bewildered without them. In the old days, woman's activities were lim- ited to home management and church work. Housekeeping bristled with various labors. Soap and candles were of domes- tic manufacture, crushed sugar was broken off the loaf by the bit, there were no sewing-machines, nor wringers, nor station- ary tubs, nor could pickles and conserves be purchased. Ready- made clothing could not be bought. Nevertheless, this busy housewife was a voluminous letter-writer, crossing and re- crossing her gossipy sheets to save postage; she was often a deft amateur surgeon, and had remedies on hand for the family ills. She was a good neighbor and a stanch friend, and her manners were formal and elegant. Somehow she had more time than we have for little courtesies. "In the new century woman's sphere has grown larger. Her charities are broader, though less intimate and individual. Their objects are greatly multiplied. Among her most benefi- cent fads must be classed her zeal for town and city adorn- ment, for clean streets, and for reformed ash-barrels. She looks after the waifs and strays of civilization, peers into alms- house and prison cell, and fights cruelty to dumb animals. An inborn and inherited hatred of dirt and disorder leads her to combat both wherever she finds them, and her finger is often m the municipal pie to its manifest advantage. ^^^ HOME AND HOME-MAKING. 'The most conspicuous fad of the new century woman is devotion to athletics. Our girls of today are magnificently vital, splendid specimens of health; beauty and endurance; they are taller than their mothers, and carry themselves with an air of distinction in keeping with their superb stature and elastic strength. Outdoor exercise confers on them color, grace and vigor; they play the games of the hour with skill and audacity, and their wholesome life in the open has given them a charm far in excess of semi-individualism and inter- esting fragility. The fad of the new century woman is to be ready for anything, broadly educated, spiritually enlightened, and physically equal to every "demand." ''Womon's Sphere,'' The forces of inertia, the conservatives, still prate about "woman's sphere," and, had they despotic power, would force all of womankind to domestic service until the inevitable re- bellion would come. "If a modern man, with all his intellect and energy and resource, were forced to spend all his days hunting with a bow and arrow, fishing with a bone-pointed spear, waiting hungrily on his traps and snares in hope of prey, he could not bring to his children or to his wife the uplifting influences of the true manhood of our time," says Mrs. Stetson. "Even if he started with a college education, even if he had large books to read (when he had time to read them) and improving con- versation, still the economic efforts of his life, the steady daily pressure of what he had to do for his living, would check the growth of higher powers. If all men had to be hunters from day to day, the world would be savage still. While all women have to be house servants from day to day, we are still a servile world. HOME AND HOME-MAKING, 193 "A home life with a dependent mother, a servant wife, is not an ennobling influence. We feel this at times. The man, spreading and growing with the world's great growth, comes home and settles into the tiny talk and fret, or the alluring animal comfort of the place, with a distinct sense of coming down. It is pleasant, it is gratifying to every sense, it is kept warm and soft and pretty to suit the needs of the smaller and feebler creature who, is forced to stay in it. It is even consid- ered a virtue for the man to stay in it and to prize it, to value his slippers and his newspaper, his hearth fire and his supper table, his spring bed and his clean clothes, above any other in- terests. "The harm does not lie in loving home and in staying there, as one can, but in the kind of home and the kind of woman- hood that it fosters ; in the grade of industrial development on which it rests." If advancement has gone on while working against the ten- dency to remain stationary, how much more swiftly will it advance after this resistance has been overcome? Man and woman cannot, in harmony with nature's laws, occupy separate, distinctive spheres of activity. Together an energy is generated not possible where working alone. It is the force of sex diffusing itself through exertions; the force which most often Is allowed only to be generated in the draw- ing-room and ball-room and which does not there find the best avenues for use. Haying Time in Scotlond^ The author of "Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors" illustrates this law in the following : "The Scotch are great economists — the greatest in the world. Adam Smith, the father of the science of economics, was a 194 mOME AND HOME-MAKING. Scotchman, and Draper, author of 'A History of Civilization/ flatly declares that Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' has influenced the people of earth for good more than any book ever written — save none. The Scotch are great conservators of energy. "The practice of pairing men and v^omen in the hay-field gets the work done. One man and woman going down the grass-grown path afield might linger and dally by the way. They would never make hay, but a company of a dozen or more men and women would not only reach the field but would do a lot of work. In Scotland the hay-harvest is short — when the grass is in bloom, just right to make the best hay, it must be cut. And so the men and women, the boys and girls sally forth. It is a jolly picnic time, looked forward to with fond anticipation, and gazed back upon with sweet, sad memories, or otherwise, as the case may be. "But they all make hay while the sun shines and count it joy. Liberties are allowed during haying time that otherwise would be declared scandalous; during haying time the Kirk wc:ives her censor's right, and priest and people mingle joy- ously. "Wives are not jealous during hay-harvest, and husbands never fault-finding, because they each get even by allowing a mutual license. "In Scotland during haying time every married man works alongside of some other man's wife. To the psychologist it is somewhat curious how the desire for propriety is overridden by a stronger desire — the desire for the shilling. The Scotch farmer says 'anything to get the hay in' — and by loosening a bit the strict bands of social custom the hay is harvested. "In the hay-harvest the law of natural selection holds; and trysts continue year after year. Old lovers meet, touch handc HOME AND HOME-MAKING. 195 in a friendly scuffle for a fork, drink from the same jug, recline at noon and eat lunch in the shade of a friendly stack and talk to heart's content as they Maud Muller on a summer's day. "Of course this joyousness of the haying time is not wholly monopolized by the Scotch. Haven't you seen the jolly hay- ing parties in Southern Germany, France, Switzerland and the Tyrol? How the bright costumes of the men and jaunty attire of the women gleam in the glad sunshine ! But the prac- tice of pairing is carried to a degree of perfection in Scotland that I have not noticed elsewhere. Surely it is a great eco- nomic scheme! "It is like that invention of a Connecticut man which utiHzes the ebb and flow of the ocean tides to turn a grist-mill. And it seems queer that no one has ever attempted to utilize the waste of dynamic force involved in the maintenance of the company sofa. "In Ayrshire I have started out with a haying party of twenty — ten men and ten women — at six o'clock in the morn- ing, and worked until six at night. I never worked so hard or did so much. All day long there was a fire of jolly jokes and gibes, interspersed with song, while beneath all ran a gentle hum of confidential interchange of thought. The man who owned the field was there to direct our efforts and to urge us on by merry raillery, threat and joyous rivalry. The point in this — we did the work. "Take heed, ye Captains of Industry, and note this truth, that when men and women work together, under right influ- ences, much good is accomplished and the work is pleasur- able." Energy as expressible through the human family does not belong to one sex or the other. Wherever an individual ap- proaches the perfection of his kind, through him or her flow 196 HOME AND HOME-MAKING, the forces that lift civilization. Fra Elbertus tells us, "We have] been mired in the superstition that sex is unclean, and there- fore honesty and expression in love, matters have been ta- booed. But the day will yet dawn when we will see that it takes two to generate thought ; that there is the male man and the female man, and only where these two walk together hand in hand is there a perfect sanity and a perfect physical, moral and spiritual health." In work, of course, there will be specialization as tastes aind talents differ, but it must not be that domestic service is woman's alone, and all other work man's alone. Woman will direct her powers toward that branch whereby she may be of the best service, train for it, and thus fill her niche as a human factor. A writer in the North American Review at the beginning of the new century estimates that women occupy seventeen per cent of all the occupations. In the face of the difficulties to be overcome before being able to get outside of her "sphere" this is a very good percentage. This magazine writer takes it as an indication of "the moral degeneracy of women," which shows that there are yet obstacles being thrown out to bar the way of freedom in industrial activity. It is no more best that all women should give all their time to serving the family than that all men should hunt and fish to clothe and feed it. The very inter-relationship of society in its varying needs of the present makes diversification neces- sary. To do something for others while others do something for you is the best point to reach in the social relation. "Blessed is the man (or woman) who has found his work." Moreover, as an advanced thinker says, "All work is for the worker. What becomes of the product of your work and how the world receives it matters little. But how you do it is HOME AND HOME-ITAKING. 197 everything. We are what we are, on account of the thoughts we have thought and the things we have done. As a muscle grows strong only through use, so does every attribute of the mind and every quality of the soul take on new strength through exercise. And on the other hand, as a muscle not used atrophies and dies, so will the faculties of the spirit die through disuse. "Thus we see why it is very necessary that we should exer- cise our highest and best. We are making character — ^building soul-fiber; and no rotten threads must be woven into this web of life. "Work is for the worker. Can you afford to do slipshod, evasive, hypocritical work ? Can you afford to shirk, or make- believe, or practice pretense in any act of life? No, no ; for all the time you are molding yourself into a deformity and drift- ing away from the Divine. What the world does and says about you is really no matter, but what you think and what you do are questions as vital as fate." Home to Unfold the Largfer Life* That place is not home which is merely a domestic labora- tory — a place where are done those things relating wholly to the physical. How it shall be changed to unfold the larger life is a question exercising the mental faculties of all who vv'ish to assist in the world's social development; and the riddle is being solved. When the newer, better structure is reared the old will be deserted, for the better becomes the necessity as soon as it is generally recognized. The specialization of industries connected with the house- hold has begun, as the public laundry, bakery, tailoring and dressmaking establishments and eating-houses attest. The conservative Pharisees, however, are wont to give themselves 198 HOME AND HOME-MAKING. congratulations and consider others not up to the mark who patronize anything outside of home industry for home con- sumption. To eat away from home bespeaks wifely "shift- lessness" — likewise the consuming of bakery goods and pre- pared conserves and pickles, and such. What we are used tp so easily becomes what we like and must have, until some one calls attention to the advantages of different procedure. The mental attitude into which we have been trained clings tenaciously, so that it is hard to distinguish between those things the result of such training and those which are made known to us by coming into the light. We are in darkness until we begin to think, question and investigate; and then the dawning of the light is dazzling until the iris of the mind's eye adjusts itself. But "when the judgment's weak the prejudice is strong." And with the question of simplifying the machinery of home-life the judgment is held back, because age-long tradition has photographed upon the public mind certain ideals of home hard to efface. ''We have always done thus and so; therefore, it must always be," has been the logic of those who have not made the effort of thinking for them- selves, or daring to dift'er from the established order. To quote again from the healthy reason of our modern woman philosopher: ''The economically dependent woman, spending the accumulating energies of the race in her small cage, has thrown out a tangled mass of expression as a large plant throws out roots in a small pot. She has crowded her limited habitat with unlimited things — things useful and un-. useful, ornamental and unornamental ; and the labor of her life is to wait upon these things and keep them clean. "The free woman having room for full individual expres- sion in her economic activities and in her social relation will not be forced so to pour out her soul in tidies and photograph HOME AND HOME-MAKING. 199 holders. The home will be her place of rest and not of uneasy activity; and she will learn to love simplicity at last. This will mean better sanitary conditions in the home, more beauty and less work." William Morris' Definition of Art. William Morris said : *'We need fewer things and want them better. All your belongings should *mean something to you.' To this end all shams must be tabooed. Make-believes have a deteriorating effect on the morals of a family. The thought of make-believe expressed in any article of furnishing is a bad object-lesson. The loud, inharmonious effects must also give w^ay to the quiet and simple. Elaborateness of furnishings, decoration, clothing, manners, is relegated to the splendors of barbarism, where attention must be called to externals because the lack of development of the inner life makes it impossible to be manifest. In all the realms of art the subtle is under- mining the blatant and aggressive. Art, by the way, *is only the best way of doing things'; and that in life is best which is made to serve." Simplicity in house furnishings leaves the mind more time for devising means of improvement along other lines, not the least of which is healthfulness in dress and in the selection and preparation of foodstuffs that will nourish instead of pleas- ing the palate. Education has for its supposed aims culture of the indi- vidual; but there is. a brand of education that is veneer, that trains the mind to like a thing well-said better than a true one, to prefer a trained manner to a sincere one, to think graceful- ness of manner, aspect or dress to be more than the value of substance and heart. Whereas truth, courage, loyalty and the power of concentration must be the foundation of all that is worth while. All else is to be superstructure. 200 HOME AND HOME-MAKING. After considering home to be a place for rest, for simplifi- cation of labor, and a place of equality for all its members, last and best it is where our best selves must be warmed and nurtured into active life. It is a place where each matured person at least becomes positive against all annoying influences, and where the little ones, if such there be, are taught the duties of kindness, cheerfulness and consideration of others by ex- ample and precept. Anything which is a lesson to a child to think of and care for others, and not to place itself as the center of family interest — ^the principal receiver instead of one of the givers — helps to counteract the tendency to selfishness which is apt to be fostered by unremitting parental care. Ac- tivity in all the kindly offices to different members of the fam- ily and to playmates is the surest way to lead the young to the habit of doing right and thinking for others. A far better grade of happiness is thus secured the child. Consciousness should always be beyond self. Self-gratification brings the poorest of returns ; it is evanescent ; it brings not the blessings which doing for others will insure. The most satisfying thing in life is love and sympathy, and this is never gained as an end, but must come spontaneously, because our characteristics and habits are such as to make them ours. ''Happiness for All, from AU*^ Ordinarily all states of mind are contagious. If in a home ill-temper, fault-finding and the like are allowed to be culti- vated through expression, one disagreeable member of the family will make the atmosphere unpleasant for all. Sensitive childhood feels it and returns it in kind. Instead the home motto should be "happiness for all, from all,'' and the cultiva- tion of the better mental attitudes made a duty among adults and children. Wherever there are natural tendencies to sad- HOME AND HOME-MAKING. ^01 ness or ill-nature they should be crowded out by the persistent expressions of gladness. "When love, health, happiness and plenty hear Their names repeated over day by day, They wing their way like answering fairies near, Then nestle down within our homes to stay." "All that our hearts approve of wit, poetry, sentiment and sense we should endeavor to live in our daily home lives," and thus become like what the best of us approves. We should make the words used in our homes kind, conciliatory and sooth- ing, and thus insure restfulness, happiness and peace to those who dwell therein. It is said that the world reflects back to us what is in our- selves. Henry Wood says it this way: "That which men have in themselves they see everywhere objectively reflected. One who is disposed to cheat sees cheating in the atmosphere around him, until he mistakenly concludes that it is a part of the Established Order. But it is entirely in men, and Law knows it not." Goodness attracts, happiness attracts, friendliness attracts. Would any have friends ? Then be a friend. Would you approximate happiness in the home? Open the doors to the influences of human weal; express thoughts of helpfulness. The poet Edgerton has set forth the following thoughts : 'Tell Him So.^ "If you have a word of cheer That may light the pathway drear Of a brother pilgrim here. Let him know. Show him you appreciate ^2 HOME AND HOME-MAKING, What he does, and do not wait Till the heavy hand of fate Lays him low. If your heart contains a thought That would brighter make his lot, Then, I beg you, hide it not ; Tell him so. "Life is hard enough at best, But the love that is expressed Makes it seem a pathway blest To our feet; And the troubles that we share Seem the easier to bear. Smile upon your neighbor's care As you greet. Rough and stony are our ways, Dark and dreary are our days, But another's love and praise Makes them sweet. 'Wait not till your friend is dead Ere your compliments are said. For the spirit that has fled. If it know. Does not need to speed it on Our poor praise; where it has gone Love's eternal, golden dawn Is aglow. But unto our brother here That poor praise is very dear. If you've any word of cheer, Tell him so." HOME AND HOME-MAKING. 303 Homes are splendid factors in social advancement through the power to radiate good to all who may be brought in con- tact with their influences of geniality. Through outside friendship the beneficence of one good home may be spread to many hearts. It is an ideal of such homes we should ever strive to ac- tualize; homes in which there is a living, throbbing desire to attain to all in the soul realm that is best, whatever be our material environment. No ideal was ever so high v/e are not made better by striving toward it ; provided, it is in harmony wJ.-h the thought of the unity of human kind. PART IL CHAPTER IX. Mature Life. HE desire for long life, health and plenty has ex- isted from time immemorial; with each succeeding: generation it is re-asserted, and the dawn of the twentieth century finds the quest of youth as earnest as ever. Only the truth of an idea endows it with living power. And if this desire were not for the weal of human- kind it would long ago have been left behind. The magical fountain of youth has been found to exist with- in ourselves. To the successful searchers it does not mean that the change called death shall never come, though the pos- sibility of overcoming death itself is recognized by some. The fountain of youth is fed from the perpetual spring of love ; the more that is given, the fresher and purer and more plentiful remains the fountain's supply. "All the currents of nature are love energies," says Burry. "From the basis of iove alone must man attempt his interpretation of life. "The man who not only feels the love elements surging through him, but who has commenced to harness these forces, recognizing them as the creative principles of nature, has be- come a great magnetic center." The perfect love which "casteth out fear" is the rock that must be the foundation for actual growth : to cease growing is to cease living. Mankind has permitted and encouraged it- 204 MATURE LIFE. 205 self in anticipating the infirmities of old age, and by degrees dropping into mental and physical inacfivity. ''Man has always considered life synonymous with sorrow and suffering. He has always had an instinctive longing for happiness and an indefinite belief that it was possible to attain his desire, but the unhappiness of thwarted hopes and blasted ambitions has followed in the wake of his ignorant efforts. In youth and middle age he looks forward to the consumma- tion of his wishes with an eagerness and zest that he after- wards remembers with a cynical smile. He has grown pessi- mistic and lost interest in former pursuits, and has settled to a grudging endurance of the remaining years he considers allotted to him." When the desire for health, plenty and long life is not realized among externals, some of the race set themselves to arguing that unalloyed happiness does not exist, and thereby align themselves with the negative forces of destruction. And so unhappiness, disease and death (so-called) become realities. In order that the waters from the fountain of youth may not be clogged and made stagnant, humankind must be free. Or, as has been repeatedly stated, live your own life regardless of what may be other people's creeds or beliefs. A writer in the Nautilus says : ''Realize that what other people do or think, or do not do or think, has nothing to do with what you are or will be. Furthermore, the acts and words and thoughts of others are none of your business. They have a right to treat you in any way you let them treat you, and think of you any- thing they choose. You attract exactly what you get, and you need it all to wake up to yourself. "Let them alone to think out their own salvation, and set yourself to make something, of your own life and thought- force. You have been frittering away your thought energy 206 MATURE LIFE. upon these people. That is why you have that tired feeling and cannot concentrate." If things go wrong the fault will iiever be found outside one's self, although human pride will have it so. All obstacles that are to be overcome are for the purposes of development. Where there is nothing to be overcome, strength is not made manifest. It is only when we come to regard each experience as a needful lesson that the real meaning of life will be under- stood. We are the creatures of circumstances only so long as we bow before them : when we have a realising sense of our own power, then may we dominate circumstances. Youth in Old Agfc. For the preservation of the spirit of youthfulness it is neces- sary to be one with the present. Even if one believes he has a new grasp on truth and wishes to give of what he has to society, he cannot isolate himself and go to the mountain top beyond and above his fellow-creatures. In the generations gone only those people retained youthfulness against advanc- ing years who were the comrades of their children. 'Others who were merely trainers grew old in mind as well as body and died, and people said their time had come, while those who are young, though beyond the fourscore, are illy spared. Youth is the training-time of mind and body. Mr. Glad- stone said : 'To train the mind should be the first object, and to stock it the next." School life is only preparatory to the serious work of maturer years. There is no age limit wherein the aggressive mind will cease to appropriate that which, it can assimilate for growth. As the reason and judgment mature, fewer mistakes will be made and less ground retraced. We learn to do by doing. While youth is attracted by what pleases the senses, the ma- ture recognize only that beauty which is useful — that in life which is genuine. MATURE LIFE, 207 It has been said that as a rule people do not change much after they are forty; that experience thereafter is only a deepening of ruts and not added power for progress. When this is true freedom to think has not been reached ; people are going by the rule of precedent and are not exploring the realm of truth for themselves. There are numerous examples to prove that the best life work has been done after fifty years. The resources of ma- ture life are so many more than those of childhood no one who is free will ever regret the vanished days. The following examples of work after fifty are from an "article in the Coming Age: Socrates was an old man when he began the study of music, and he gave to the world his wisest sayings when he was sixty- eight. Plato, who said an old man could not learn any more than he could run, was prosecuting his philosophic studies as a pupil until he was forty years of age, and did not begin to teach philosophy until he was about fifty, and he retained the vigor of all his faculties to the ripe age of eighty-two, and handed down to posterity all of his grandest sayings after the age of fifty. Aristotle continued a pupil until he was thirty-seven, and he was fifty-three before he established his school of philosophy at Athens. It was probably after this that he wrote his works which governed the logical thought of the world for so many ages. Bacon was sixty before he arrived at the full maturity of his genius. It was then he gave to the world Ws "Novum Or- ganum," which has reconstructed science and has given an entirely new method of scientific investigation. Hobbes was sixty-two when he published his treatise on ?.08 MATURE LIFE. ''Human Nature," and sixty-three before he completed his "Leviathan." Copernicus was nearly fifty before the, theory of planetary motions which now prevails suggested itself to his mind. Nor did he succeed in establishing its truth to his own satisfaction until he was seventy, when he gave it to the world. Coke did not make his first attempt as an author on law until he was fifty years old. His great works were produced between that age and the time of his death at eighty. Mr. Benjamin, Q. C, who went from America to wrest the chief prizes from English lawyers, was almost sixty when he was called to the English bar, and within five years he was making three times a judge's income. John G. Abbott wrote "History of the American Civil War" at sixty-one, and "Romance of Spanish History" at sixty- five. Agassiz was fifty-nine years of age when he made an ex- ploration in Brazil with his wife and scientific assistants; and the steamer Colorado was made ever memorable by the course of lectures which this most popular of scientific lecturers gave on board. Jean le Rond d'Alembert ranks as one of the greatest bene- factors to science of the last century. He was fifty when he wrote the preliminary discourse to the celebrated "Encyclope- dia" which he had assisted Diderot to compile, and which drew from Condorcet the compliment that in a century only two or three men appeared capable of such writing. He was fifty-five when he was elected secretary to the French Academy and wrote the biography of seventy of its members. Stephen Alexander, American astronomer, was fifty-four when he made his expedition to Labrador to make observations on solar eclipses, and six'y-three when he went west for the same purpose. MATURE LIFE. 209 Voltaire, French poet, historian and philosopher, and the most celebrated writer of the last century, did his greatest work after fifty, and at eighty-four produced his tragedy "Irene", in Paris, where he was everywhere attended by crowds, occu- pied a director's seat at the Academy, and was crowned at the theater. John J. Audubon, distinguished American ornithologist, was fifty years of age when his first famous volume of "The Birds of America" in folio, one hundred colored plates, draw- ings and colorings, made by himself, appeared in London. He was fifty-nine when the fourth volume completed the splendid work, which contains in all one thousand and sixty-five figures. He wrote "Quadrupeds of America" when near seventy years of age. Pierre Augustin, Baron de Beaumarchais, politician, artist, (iramatist and merchant, was forty-six when he wrote "Le Barbier de Seville," and fifty-two when he wrote his famous "Le Mariage de Figaro." Jean Pierre de Beranger, one of the greatest lyric poets that France has produced, was between fifty and sixty when he completed his fourth series of songs. Speaking of these mas- terpieces of poetic skill, Goethe says: "His songs have shed tears of joy into milHons of hearts." Baron John Jacob Berzelius, one of the greatest chemists of modern times, at sixty-nine filled the chair of chemistry at Stockholm (Sweden) University. From fifty to sixty-nine, by his patient labors and ingenious investigations, he did more to lay the foundations of organic chemistry than any other chemist. Bismarck was fifty-one when he carried out his long-cher- ished project of making Prussia the real head of Germany. He was sixty-seven when he accepted the challenge so rashly 210 MATURE LIFE. , offered by Napoleon III. and engaged the whole of Germany in successful war against France. Karl Wilhelm Boettinger, Professor of Literature and His- tory in the University of Erlangen, wrote the "History of Ger- many and the Germans" at fifty-five, and the "Universal His- tory" at fifty-nine. He wrote all of his most important his- torical works after fifty-five. Matthew Boulton, celebrated English engineer and member of the principal learned societies of Europe, whose long life was constantly and almost uninterruptedly devoted to the ad- vancement of the useful arts and the promotion of the com- mercial interests of his country, did his best and most useful work from sixty-five to eighty-one. Sir John Bowring, distinguished English diplomatist and author, did much of his famous work after sixty-seven years of age. Lord Brougham, eminent English advocate, jurist, philoso- pher and statesman, gave to the world his best work from fifty to eighty-nine. John Henry Kirk Brown, American sculptor, was fifty seven when he began his equestrian statue of General Scott, which is considered his best work, and his "Resurrection" when sixty- three. Joseph Rodes Buchanan wrote "Anthropology" at sixty- eight; "The New Education" at sixty-nine; "Science of Des- tiny" at eighty-three; working with undimmed intellect till his death. Phillips Brooks was fifty-two when he delivered his two great lectures on "Tolerance," in New York, and continued his great work in the intellectual world to the end of his life at fifty-eight. William Cullen Bryant wrote many of his most beautiful I MATURE LIFE. 211 poems after fifty, and translated the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" at seventy-six.