I 
 
 n : 
 
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 IN THE 
 
 T ir crRnni ( 
 LIL oLnUUL 
 
 LOWRY 
 
'* :,!';:; 
 
 GIFT Of 
 MICHAEL REESE 
 
TEACHING SEX HYGIENE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 CONFIDENCES, Talks with a Young Girl 
 Concerning Herself. 50 cts. 
 
 TRUTHS, Talks with a Boy Concerning Him- 
 self. 50 cts. 
 
 HERSELF, Talks with Women Concerning 
 Themselves. $1.00. 
 
 HIMSELF, Talks with Men Concerning 
 Themselves. $1.00. 
 
 FALSE MODESTY. 50 cts. 
 THE HOME NURSE. $1.00. 
 
 In Preparation 
 
 TEACHING HEALTH IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 A Companion Volume to this Book. 
 
Teaching 
 Sex Hygiene 
 
 in the 
 
 Public Schools 
 
 BY 
 
 E. B. LOWRY, M.D. 
 
 Author of 
 "Herself," "Himself," etc 
 
 Chicago 
 
 Forbes and Company 
 1914 
 
COPYRIGHT 1914, BY 
 FORBES AND COMPANY 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 AT the recent International Congress of 
 School Hygiene, which was attended 
 by hundreds of teachers and others engaged 
 in educational work, there was no subject 
 that called forth more interest than that of 
 sex education. By all present this was felt 
 to be the most critical subject of the day in 
 educational circles. 
 
 The wave of awakening to social evils 
 which had passed over the country had left in 
 its wake perplexing and baffling problems. 
 The policy of silence was declared to have 
 failed disastrously. Innocence and ignorance 
 were found not to be synonymous. But so 
 long had false modesty prevailed that no one 
 felt prepared to throw much light upon this 
 hitherto veiled subject. When, where and 
 how the necessary instruction should be 
 given, whether it was the duty of the edu- 
 cator to try to introduce it into the schools, 
 
 285745 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 and, if so, how, were the questions para- 
 mount in the minds of many. 
 
 Several attempts have been made in dif- 
 ferent cities, and some failures due to over 
 much haste have been reported, so that there 
 is a feeling of uncertainty in the minds of 
 many. Those who have not had the oppor- 
 tunity of hearing the discussions at the vari- 
 ous conventions are seeking information, so 
 it seems best to send forth this little volume 
 simply as an explanation of the present 
 status of the question as related to the pub- 
 lic schools. For the future I shall be glad 
 to hear from those who honestly are seek- 
 ing information or who from their experi- 
 ence can see other solutions of the problem. 
 
 EDITH B. LOWRY, M. D. 
 St. Charles, III. 
 
CONTENTS -_,^ 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Necessity 1 1 
 
 II. The Method 17 
 
 III. The Caution 25 
 
 IV. The Greater Work 31 
 
 V. The Blindness of Parents 40 
 
 VI. The Story of Life 48 
 
 VII. The Girl 54 
 
 VIII. The Boy 64 
 
 IX. The Well Directed Childhood. . 78 
 
 X. The Coworkers 88 
 
TEACHING SEX HYGIENE 
 
 IN THE 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NECESSITY 
 
 ERE probably is no subject that is 
 J- causing more controversy in towns and 
 cities than that of teaching sex hygiene in 
 the public schools. Comparatively recently 
 we were deep in the darkness of prudery 
 which said that this and kindred subjects 
 should not be mentioned except in whispers. 
 It was considered almost sacrilegious to 
 mention the question in polite society. 
 
 Only a few years ago the public suddenly 
 was awakened from its lethargy of indif- 
 ference to a realization of the presence of 
 the white slave trade. About the same time 
 
 11 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 investigations revealed the prevalence of 
 the venereal diseases in all classes of society, 
 they revealed the cause of blindness of the 
 new born, of pain, suffering and sterility 
 among good, true women. When all these 
 alarming facts became known educators 
 generally began to look for a remedy for 
 this horrible condition of affairs. The 
 cause was found in. ignorance due to false 
 modesty of fathers and mothers; the most 
 potent remedy was announced to be educa- 
 tion. Education of boys and girls so that 
 they would not be victims of ignorance nor 
 the prey of the unscrupulous vultures who 
 profit by the gullibility and weakness of 
 others. 
 
 Then the question came as to how, when 
 and by whom the necessary instruction 
 should be given. This naturally called forth 
 a variety of opinions which, as yet, have 
 not been settled entirely and probably will 
 not be for some time to come. 
 
 Undoubtedly it is safe to say that every 
 one admitted that the proper persons to 
 
 12 
 
THE NECESSITY 
 
 give this instruction were the fathers and 
 mothers, that it should be given in the pri- 
 vacy of the home and at such opportune 
 times as there arose a question in the mind 
 of the child. Such a course would presume 
 that the parent was capable, on account of 
 previous education, of giving this instruc- 
 tion and that there Was a bond of unity 
 between all parents and their daughters and 
 sons which would invite confidence on the 
 part of the child. Just here was the great 
 obstruction. 
 
 The women of the country generally are 
 divided into three classes, first, those 
 broad-minded, well-informed women who 
 are capable and do instruct their daughters 
 and sons in sex hygiene ; second, those who 
 realize the need of such instruction but, 
 due to their own lack of early instruction, 
 are not prepared to impart it to their chil- 
 dren; and third, those who willfully or 
 ignorantly close their eyes to the ways of 
 the world, who insist upon taking the world 
 as they would like it idealized not as it 
 
 13 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 really exists today, who insist upon hiding 
 behind a mantle of prudery and looking 
 through a glass darkly. 
 
 In my experience the second is the largest 
 of these classes. Through my magazine 
 and other work I have received letters from 
 hundreds of mothers and the gist of nearly 
 every one is, "I would like to tell my child 
 but I do not know how. I am so woefully 
 ignorant on this subject because no one ever 
 taught me." Then from other women and 
 girls who realize they have ruined their 
 chances of perfect happiness, there is the 
 cry, "Why was I not taught these things 
 before it was too late?" The latter show 
 the existence of the third class of mothers. 
 
 So the question resolves itself into the 
 seemingly simple one of teaching mothers 
 the need of this instruction and then teach- 
 ing them how to give it. However, this 
 seemingly simple problem is one of the 
 greatest that is troubling the country at the 
 present day. Mothers' clubs have tried to 
 reach mothers. They reach some, but only 
 
 14 
 
THE NECESSITY 
 
 a very small proportion. In Chicago and 
 other cities the plan has been tried of at- 
 tempting to reach the parents through lec- 
 tures given in the schoolhouses to parents, 
 but for some reason these attempts were not 
 always a success, either because of failure 
 to create interest in the lectures or to impart 
 them in a fitting manner. 
 
 While all these attempts were being made 
 we became convinced of the fact that we 
 were missing a great opportunity. Every 
 year there were older boys and girls leaving 
 the public schools soon to take up their 
 duties as future fathers and mothers. To- 
 day we have an opportunity of reaching 
 these boys and girls, but tomorrow they 
 might be so widely scattered that it would 
 take several years to accomplish what might 
 be done now in a few months. The boys 
 and girls who are graduating from schools 
 this year are the mothers and fathers of the 
 next generation. After school days they 
 scatter to the four winds. If we could reach 
 every boy or girl who left the schools dur- 
 
 15 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 ing the next ten years we would have in- 
 structed the great majority of parents of 
 the next generation. Where could we ex- 
 pect to find a better time, place or oppor- 
 tunity ? 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE METHOD 
 
 IN every normal school and institution of 
 higher education there should be intro- 
 duced at once a course commencing with a 
 study of eugenics and teaching how to 
 improve the race stock of our country. This 
 naturally would lead on to a study of those 
 factors which are degrading this stock 
 the intemperance of high living, the social 
 evil and its accompanying factor of ven- 
 ereal diseases. Then would be seen the 
 duty of this generation to the next the 
 necessity of preparation for fatherhood and 
 motherhood and, naturally, instruction in 
 the sex education of the child. 
 
 With high school students these subjects 
 naturally cannot be entered into so deeply, 
 but every girl in the high school should have 
 some training for her future work of 
 
 17 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 motherhood. The introduction of domestic 
 science into the curriculum of the public 
 schools is one of the great milestones of 
 educational advancement. Correlated with 
 the instruction in cooking, sewing and the 
 general care of the home naturally would 
 come the care of those very important mem- 
 bers of the home the babies and each 
 girl could be taught how to take care of her 
 own health so that she might be properly 
 prepared for motherhood. The boys should 
 be given instruction along similar lines, but 
 probably with them the instruction could 
 well be given by the director of physical 
 education, for a boy's great ambition is 
 strength and virility. 
 
 In the upper grades these subjects could 
 be approached in a similar manner. There 
 is something absolutely wrong in our sys- 
 tem of education when a large proportion 
 of our boys and girls end their school days 
 in the grammar rooms and go out to take 
 up their life work without being properly 
 prepared for it. The public schools, as 
 
 18 
 
THE METHOD 
 
 a rule, do not prepare for real life. When 
 the majority of boys and girls leave school 
 they float about for a time like rudderless 
 ships, for they never have been started on 
 a right course. There has been too much 
 of a tendency in our public schools to give 
 all classes the same school studies without 
 any thought of the fitness of this method to 
 their daily lives. Too frequently the work 
 of the elementary schools is outlined only as 
 a preparation for college life. But we know 
 that the great majority never enter college, 
 but do enter business without proper prep- 
 aration. We have tried to make our chil- 
 dren conform to the idealized course of 
 study instead of having the curriculum con- 
 form to the needs of the individuals. 
 
 In the upper grades those who expect 
 to enter high school and college should be in 
 separate classes from those who finish their 
 work in these grades. The latter should be 
 prepared here for business and for father- 
 hood and motherhood. The proper method 
 of feeding babies is more important for 
 
 19 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 many girls to know than the names of the 
 capitals of all the countries in the world. 
 The keeping of household accounts is the 
 best of arithmetic for these girls. The care 
 of their own bodies and a respect for them- 
 selves is necessary if we do not wish to see 
 clerks and stenographers painted and dressed 
 as the demimonde. By improving the homes, 
 we improve the nation. The best method 
 of improving the homes is to train the com- 
 ing generation of home-makers in those 
 branches of science and art that particularly 
 apply to the homes. If the homes are prop- 
 erly managed we will have no need of 
 prisons, reformatories or insane asylums. 
 
 In the lower grades there should be les- 
 sons in nature study in which the great 
 truths of eugenics are revealed in plant and 
 lower animal life. With this foundation 
 the application to human beings can be made 
 at opportune moments. With small children 
 it must necessarily be almost individual in- 
 struction, given as the time and opportunity 
 demands, but the teacher must be ever 
 
 20 
 
THE METHOD 
 
 watchful for such opportunities to present 
 these truths. 
 
 In ungraded and rural schools the instruc- 
 tion could be given in a manner similar to 
 that in the lower grades. The special in- 
 struction must necessarily be almost indi- 
 vidual. Here, in most instances, the teacher 
 has a much better chance to reach the 
 parents than do the teachers of the city 
 schools. She usually is acquainted with 
 the parents as individuals and in moments 
 of conversation the earnest teacher can 
 drive home the truths to the parents and 
 impress upon them their duty in regard to 
 their children. The teachers in the rural 
 localities perhaps have a better opportunity 
 to become pioneers in this work than do 
 their sisters in the larger cities. It is from 
 the country that the brawn of our nation 
 comes and it is here that the fountain heads 
 must be kept pure. 
 
 The schools in several respects do not 
 correlate with real life. Even the subjects 
 of physiology and hygiene, which the laws 
 
 21 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 of many states require to be taught a 
 certain number of hours a week in every 
 room, are valueless as they usually are 
 taught, Quite a common method is for 
 the teacher or one of the pupils to read a 
 few pages from some text book on hygiene, 
 perhaps some charts are shown, but the 
 practical application to the daily life of the 
 individual is lacking. This is no fault of 
 the teacher, for she never was taught those 
 applications. She is as ignorant on these 
 subjects as the pupil she is required to in- 
 struct. Teachers should have as much 
 knowledge of the care of children as do 
 mothers, for during six hours of the day 
 they must take the place of mothers. They 
 must be prepared to meet the emergencies. 
 I remember ^when I was teaching a third 
 grade, a boy of ten or eleven wrote an 
 obscene note to one of the little girls. She 
 brought it to me, but I was not prepared to 
 meet the occasion. I sent the boy to the 
 man principal, but he also was unprepared, 
 for he only could recommend whipping the 
 
 22 
 
THE METHOD 
 
 boy. With my later knowledge I know 
 that we both missed a grand opportunity of 
 starting that boy on a right course. A few 
 moments of earnest conversation at that 
 time might have changed his entire life. 
 
 The most important thing at the present 
 time is to introduce this great question of 
 sex hygiene into every training school for 
 teachers so that they may be prepared to 
 realize and to meet the opportunities for 
 guiding their pupils. 
 
 The problem of sex education is being 
 met by the New York City and other 
 boards of education by giving books on sex 
 hygiene to their teachers. This method 
 provides the teachers now at work with in- 
 struction on the subject which was not of- 
 fered in the course when they attended the 
 normal schools. Regardless of the question 
 whether sex hygiene should be taught to the 
 entire class, every teacher should be pre- 
 pared to meet individual cases ; for there is 
 not a teacher who does not share with the 
 mother the confidence of some child. 
 
 23 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 In all classes in school there should be 
 lessons illustrating the value of achieve- 
 ment. The lives of manly men and womanly 
 women should be exemplified. A personal 
 study of each child is needed so that his 
 individual talents may become known and 
 developed. The stock man who raises colts 
 would not think of giving the same train- 
 ing to a race horse that he gives to a heavy 
 dray team. Certainly children should be 
 given the benefit of as much selection of 
 training. 
 
 Dr. F. C. Sharp of the department of 
 philosophy at the University of Wisconsin 
 has outlined a course of moral instruction 
 for schools that might well be used by 
 teachers as a foundation for more special 
 work. 
 
 24 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CAUTION 
 
 T IMPORTUNATELY there ever are 
 ^ many of shallow wisdom or judgment 
 who rush in where angels fear to tread, 
 or who, becoming too enthusiastic, rush 
 ahead without waiting to consider the re- 
 sults of their course of action. 
 
 We, as educators, are entering a new 
 realm where all has been darkness. For 
 a short time we have been throwing our 
 searchlight of investigation here and there 
 searching out hidden and valuable truths, 
 but there are many unexplored and untried 
 regions. We can walk only very slowly 
 along the path we have explored, for our 
 light is dim and throws its beams only a 
 short distance. We can see only a little 
 way in advance. If we try to run or hurry 
 
 25 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 we may stumble or even fall over a 
 precipice. 
 
 The teaching of sex hygiene in the public 
 schools as a separate subject ever will be 
 a mistake! To introduce it correlated with 
 other subjects but without proper intro- 
 ductory work or without adequate prepara- 
 tion of the teachers would be one of the 
 gravest mistakes of the age. Instruction 
 lightly given or unaccompanied with the 
 deeper reverence for motherhood and 
 fatherhood, or love of home and children 
 is worse than useless. It only would call 
 forth vulgar discussions by the depraved. 
 This subject is like nitro-glycerine in that 
 it must be handled with extreme caution 
 or there will be an explosion which will 
 wreck all the good intentions of the most 
 progressive. No educational reform can 
 succeed unless it has the approval of the 
 majority of the masses. The first step is to 
 educate the parents to the necessity of the 
 proposed instruction while at the same time 
 the teachers are being prepared. 
 
 26 
 
THE CAUTION 
 
 In view of the great needs of the hour 
 and also remembering the national habits 
 of haste, it becomes necessary to sound a 
 note of warning. The hasty should look 
 well before they leap. Be sure every ad- 
 vancing step is on sound ground. It is 
 better to wait a year or so than to make 
 any unstable efforts. Rome was not built 
 in a day, neither was our great system of 
 public education formulated in a month or 
 a year. We cannot make any radical change 
 in a few months. The time is coming when 
 all these changes are going to take place, 
 but first the way must be prepared. 
 
 In no other place is there the opportunity 
 to reach the masses that there is in the 
 schools. The plan of making the school- 
 houses social centers for the neighborhood 
 has opened a new democracy which prom- 
 ises to bring a more speedy solution to 
 many insistent civic questions than any other 
 method that has been attempted. Mothers, 
 fathers, teachers, pupils, men and women 
 of every stage have entered with enthu- 
 
 27 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 siasm into the movement. Every member 
 of the community contributes according to 
 his talents or training. The very persons 
 who up to the time of throwing open the 
 schools for social centers positively refused 
 to attend church or public hall lectures are 
 the ones most eager to respond. The 
 schoolhouse is the one common bridge upon 
 which democracy can span problematic sit- 
 uations most comfortably and effectively, 
 as the foreigner, the older resident, the 
 poverty stricken, the wealthy, all feel that 
 the schoolhouse belongs to them. So only 
 here can our great educational problems be 
 solved. 
 
 "Mere instruction in the function of 
 sex, even when presenting the facts regard- 
 ing the physical and moral suffering which 
 may result, is not sufficient deterrent from 
 sexual immorality. Men who know all 
 about the ravages of gonorrhoea and syph- 
 ilis, and the young women who know all 
 about the danger of becoming pregnant, do 
 not hesitate to enter illicit relationships. 
 
 28 
 
THE CAUTION 
 
 The man may have learned that it is pos- 
 sible to protect himself against disease by 
 simple local medication, and the woman may 
 have learned to ' take care of herself ' ; but 
 whether they have or not, when the impulse 
 to sexual intercourse seizes them essen- 
 tially a biologic impulse, inherent in every 
 living thing too often they yield. The 
 only safeguard is strength of will devel- 
 oped by years of true education, built upon 
 a sound character, and ennobled by an ideal 
 conception of the beauty, chivalry, and the 
 responsibility of their sex. 
 
 "We cannot expect the school to build 
 such characters alone. The greatest source 
 of power is the home; but the school can 
 and should provide the essential instruction 
 and supplement it with the inspiration to 
 clean living. Those who are to give in- 
 struction in matters of sex should have 
 more than technical knowledge; more than 
 the ability to present facts intelligently and 
 with force. They must know how to 
 idealize the subject, lift it out of the plane 
 
 29 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 of the sordid and away from the possibility 
 of vulgarity and smut, and show that it 
 is associated with the nobility and beauty 
 as well as with the crass realities of life. 
 
 " Tell the young folks the truth. It will 
 not hurt them if told in the right way. 
 The danger lies in the foul suggestiveness 
 to which they are exposed everywhere and 
 against which the best bulwarks are knowl- 
 edge and character. Both of these should 
 be developed in the school and out of 
 it." (Clinical Medicine.) 
 
 30 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE GREATER WORK 
 
 SEX instruction alone is only one step 
 in the moral training of a child. In 
 every school there are other factors that 
 must be looked after if we wish our chil- 
 dren to have the best training. 
 
 The lack of adequate toilet facilities, es- 
 pecially in the country schools, perhaps has 
 been one of the greatest factors in the 
 spread of immoral practices among chil- 
 dren. Public toilets where children of both 
 sexes congregate should not be allowed. 
 Habits of self -abuse and other immoral 
 practices often are learned in the public 
 toilets. In schools all toilets should be 
 strictly sanitary and under the supervision 
 of the teacher or other adult. The super- 
 vision of the toilets and playgrounds should 
 
 31 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 be as much a part of the work of the 
 school as the hearing of lessons, for it often 
 is the " lessons not learned in school " that 
 are the most lasting. 
 
 It is well for every school to look to the 
 morals of the janitor, for in many cases 
 boys have been first instructed in harmful 
 habits during their visits to the janitor in 
 the basement of the schoolhouse. 
 
 Unsupervised playgrounds and other 
 places of recreation breed immoral practices. 
 The supervision of the teacher ends when 
 school is dismissed and the conduct of the 
 child after school hours rests with the par- 
 ents. Many children are allowed to loiter 
 on their way to and from school and the 
 parents do not concern themselves about 
 their whereabouts so long as they appear 
 at home at meal time. This should not be 
 true. The parents should know where their 
 children are at every hour of the day. If 
 they are allowed to go to the homes of their 
 playmates, the parent should quietly investi- 
 gate to find out what are the surroundings 
 
 32 
 
THE GREATER WORK 
 
 of the homes and what are the occupations 
 of the children. 
 
 At noon and recess hours at school, su- 
 pervision should be maintained either by 
 the teacher or by some other adult. On 
 this subject one woman wrote me the fol- 
 lowing: "In a small farming community 
 of California containing about forty chil- 
 dren of school age, it was discovered that 
 immoral practices had been carried on for 
 years among the older children. One little 
 girl, being new to the school and also being 
 in the habit of telling her mother every- 
 thing, repeated some of the sights she had 
 seen during the recess and noon hours, and 
 also some of the conversation she had heard 
 among the children. Investigation later re- 
 vealed a surprising state of affairs/' 
 
 Even in the home these things may occur. 
 One girl wrote me, " My mother died when 
 I was a babe and I was sent out among 
 strangers. While away from home and be- 
 fore I was six years old a young fellow 
 about fifteen years of age possessed me and 
 
 33 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 threatened to do something terrible if I 
 told. I did not dare tell. Luckily I was 
 taken home at this time as I now had a 
 step-mother. But still more horrible, it also 
 happened that I had immoral relations with 
 my brother. I was not very old before I 
 understood that this was a wrong and a 
 shame and acted accordingly. My parents 
 never mentioned things of this nature to me. 
 How much better it would have been if 
 they had done so when we were real young. 
 How many tUngs were spoken of by 
 schoolmates and told in the dirtiest possible 
 way and things also were said that I now 
 know were entirely wrong." 
 
 These instances impress us very strongly 
 of the need of early talks with young chil- 
 dren on these matters. As soon as they 
 enter school at the age of six and even be- 
 fore this, in some cases, they are bound to 
 hear these things from their playmates. 
 Usually the information is thrust upon the 
 child in a very vulgar manner, or entirely 
 wrong impressions are given. The very 
 
 34 
 
THE GREATER WORK 
 
 secrecy that always has surrounded these 
 subjects makes them an object of interest 
 to children. 
 
 The trouble with the mother in the small 
 community is that she judges her children 
 by her own past. She, perhaps, had an 
 entirely different environment from that of 
 her children and because she came out all 
 right, naturally sees no use in bothering 
 about talking to her girls. " They will 
 learn these things soon enough," she says 
 when the subject is mentioned. That they 
 either already have learned them or may 
 be learning them in a manner of which she 
 would be the last to approve, she does not 
 take into consideration. An attempt to 
 warn such a mother often is misunderstood 
 by her. 
 
 A boy always is interested in sex prob- 
 lems. The vulgar delight in feeding his 
 fancy, in giving him exaggerated ideas of 
 these much abused subjects. He is led from 
 one step to another. Often many of the 
 things he does are performed in a spirit of 
 
 35 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 bravado, simply because he does not wish 
 to appear " green." 
 
 From one of the reliable magazines comes 
 this information: "Forty-one families 
 ' nice families ' as we call them were last 
 May thrown into consternation and humilia- 
 tion by being privately notified by the head 
 master of a boys' school that their boys 
 would not be re-entered for another term 
 at the school. 'A fearful condition of im- 
 morality/ wrote the head master, ' has been 
 unearthed at the school, and in order to set 
 an example to the rest of the boys, every 
 boy concerned will be denied re-entrance 
 to this school/ " 
 
 No school is immune to immoral prac- 
 tices, but with diligent oversight they may 
 be quickly suppressed. The teachers must 
 be prepared to investigate as well as to teach. 
 
 That the physical condition of a child has 
 a great influence upon his mental ability as 
 well as his moral nature cannot be denied, 
 yet, according to Dr. Wood, the professor 
 of physical education in Teachers' College, 
 
 36 
 
THE GREATER WORK 
 
 Columbia University, seventy-five per cent 
 of the children attending our public schools 
 of America today, that is, fifteen millions 
 of them, need attention for physical defects. 
 
 The object of education is to fit the child 
 for its place in life, to so train it that it will 
 be able to fight its own battles. It is as nec- 
 essary that every child should be in a good 
 physical condition as it is that he should 
 be developed mentally, yet for some reason 
 in our zeal for the higher education we have 
 been inclined to neglect the physical side. 
 As long as children are not actually so sick 
 that they are unable to leave home they 
 are considered well enough to attend school. 
 
 Modern education has at last taken up 
 this matter of physical condition of the 
 school children with the result that in some 
 of the more progressive schools the children 
 finish the school year in the spring in bet- 
 ter health than when they entered in the 
 fall. In other schools that cling to the old- 
 fashioned methods and traditions, spring 
 finds the children wan and weary and it 
 
 37 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 takes the better part of the long vacation 
 of summer to place them in such a physical 
 condition that they will be able to return 
 to school at all. 
 
 In the majority of small towns and coun- 
 try districts the value of a trained school 
 physician or nurse is not realized. In fact, 
 they are looked upon with eyes of suspicion, 
 considered an unnecessary extravagance. 
 But when we consider that practically every 
 child in school is handicapped by the phys- 
 ical disabilities of the majority we may con- 
 sider that a teacher who understands the 
 education and development of the physical 
 body is as necessary as one who under- 
 stands the development and training of the 
 mind. 
 
 It will.. take a defective child much longer 
 to complete a given cmrse of study than it 
 will a perfectly normal child. If at the be- 
 ginning of a child's school career it could be 
 placed in a perfect physical condition, it 
 would be able to complete its course in less 
 time than otherwise and the community 
 
 38 
 
THE GREATER WORK 
 
 would be saved the expense required to keep 
 the child in school the extra time; therefore, 
 from an economical standpoint it is better 
 to attend to the child's physical develop- 
 ment. 
 
 It has been said that the boy without a 
 playground is like the man without a job. 
 It is the boy who is not kept busy with work 
 or wholesome play who has time and energy 
 to get into trouble. By keeping the boys 
 busy with supervised recreations outside of 
 school hours we will prevent many of the 
 immoral practices. The director of physical 
 education plays an important role in the 
 moral welfare of a child. 
 
 39 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE BLINDNESS OF PARENTS 
 
 1H\URING the past few years the public 
 -*^ has been much interested in the prose- 
 cution of the white slave investigation. 
 Every adult person had a more or less defi- 
 nite idea that there were in existence 
 immoral houses. But the majority of 
 women had no idea that their existence 
 should be of any especial interest to them. 
 The Hon. Edwin Sims, U. S. District 
 Attorney, Chicago, says: "There are some 
 things so far removed from the lives of 
 normal decent people as to be simply un- 
 believable by them. The white slave trade 
 of today is one of these incredible things. 
 The calmest, simplest statements of its facts 
 are almost beyond the comprehension of 
 belief of men /and women who are merci- 
 fully spared from contact with the dark 
 
 40 
 
THE BLINDNESS OF PARENTS 
 
 and hideous secrets of the * under-world ' 
 of the big cities. 
 
 " Naturally, wisely, every parent who 
 reads this statement will at once raise the 
 question : ' What excuse is there for the 
 open discussion of such a revolting condi- 
 tion of things? What good is there to be 
 served by flaunting so dark and disgusting 
 a subject before the family circle?' Only 
 one and that is a reason and not an ex- 
 cuse ! The recent examination of more than 
 two hundred ' white slaves ' by the office 
 of the United States district attorney at 
 Chicago has brought to light that literally 
 thousands of innocent girls from the coun- 
 try districts are every year entrapped into 
 a life of hopeless slavery and degradation 
 because parents in the country do not un- 
 derstand conditions as they exist and how 
 to protect their daughters from the ' white 
 slave ' traders who have reduced the art 
 of ruining young girls to a national and 
 an international system. I sincerely be- 
 lieve that nine-tenths of the parents of these 
 
 41 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 thousands of girls who every year are 
 snatched from lives of decency and com- 
 parative peace and dragged under the slime 
 of existence in the ' white slave world ' 
 have no idea that there is a trade in the 
 ruin of girls as much as there is a trade 
 in cattle or sheep or other products of the 
 farm. 
 
 " I have no disposition to add a single 
 word to what will open the eyes of the 
 parents to the fact that white slavery is 
 an existing condition a system of girl 
 hunting that is national and international 
 in its scope, that it literally consumes thou- 
 sands of girls clean, innocent girls every 
 year; that it is operated with a cruelty, a 
 barbarism that gives a new meaning to the 
 word fiend; that it is an imminent peril to 
 every girl in the country who has a desire 
 to get into the city and taste its excitement 
 and pleasures ! " 
 
 One of the worst obstacles that is to be 
 overcome in the work of protecting innocent 
 girls and restoring to useful lives those who 
 
 42 
 
THE BLINDNESS OF PARENTS 
 
 have been betrayed is the blind incredulity 
 on the part of a large percentage of the 
 public. There are thousands of women all 
 over the country who know as little about 
 what is going on in the world as do so many 
 children. They are wonderfully ignorant 
 of the terrible conditions that are in exist- 
 ence all around them. Of course, their 
 blindness to these awful conditions makes 
 them more peaceful and contented for the 
 time being than they possibly could be if 
 they realized the temptations and perils 
 that are lying in wait for their daughters 
 and the daughters of their friends. But 
 this peace is not permanent and every year 
 thousands of mothers are rudely awakened 
 from their sleep of peace to find that while 
 they were asleep to the perils of the world 
 their daughters have been drawn into the 
 whirlpool. 
 
 This awakening of such parents comes 
 too late usually to do any good. The 
 recent agitation along this line has caused 
 many a mother to exclaim, " how terrible ! 
 
 43 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 I did not dream that such a condition of 
 affairs could exist in this country." 
 
 In this age no young girl is beyond temp- 
 tation. She needs all the protection pos- 
 sible, and in order to protect her the parents 
 and teachers must be awake to the dangers 
 and provided with the best means of protec- 
 tion. One of the things hardest to make hon- 
 est and trusting parents believe is that there 
 can be people in the world who make it their 
 business to lead girls into a life of shame. 
 But such is the case whether we believe it 
 or not. The men and women who ply this 
 trade lay their plans more carefully and 
 employ more artifices than can be conceived 
 of by the ordinary parent. The wonder is 
 that more are not caught in their net. 
 
 Another fact which the public finds it 
 hard to believe is that the girls who are 
 lured into the life of shame find it impos- 
 sible to escape from such a life, that they 
 are prisoners and slaves in every sense of 
 the word. 
 
 One common trick of these slave pro- 
 
 44 
 
THE BLINDNESS OF PARENTS 
 
 curers is the promise of a good position. 
 Many a girl has left school and gone to the 
 cities thinking she had obtained a definite 
 and desirable position. Perhaps she was to 
 be met at the station by the person who ob- 
 tained the position for her. Too late she 
 finds her position is in a house of ill-fame. 
 So common has this trick become that in 
 every large city there are organizations of 
 social workers who offer through the 
 churches to look up the desirability of any 
 position which has been obtained by a girl 
 so that should it prove to be a lure of the 
 destroyer she could be warned before it was 
 too late. 
 
 Another favorite device of the white 
 slaver for landing victims is the runaway 
 marriage trick. The alleged summer re- 
 sorts and excursion centers which are so 
 widely advertised as Gretna Greens and as 
 places where the usual legal and official 
 formalities preliminary to respectable mar- 
 riage are reduced to the minimum are star 
 recruiting stations for the white slave 
 
 45 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 traffic. So common is this trick that a wise 
 mother should refuse to allow her daughter 
 to visit one of these places or to go on one 
 of the pleasure excursions unless accom- 
 panied by some older member of the family. 
 Also, every mother should teach her daugh- 
 ter that any man who proposed such a mar- 
 riage was to be looked upon with suspicion, 
 and should not be trusted for an instant. 
 
 Then there is the restaurant trick. The 
 girl is induced to go to what she thinks is 
 a restaurant and then perhaps is taken into 
 a private room only to find that this room 
 leads to her prison. Girls cannot be too 
 suspicious of going to unknown places with 
 comparative strangers either men or 
 women. 
 
 The moving picture shows furnish to 
 these slavers another opportunity of mis- 
 leading girls. These shows naturally attract 
 children and very young girls. Evidence 
 has been procured which proves that many 
 girls owe their ruin to frequenting them. 
 As an instance of this, three girls met as 
 
 46 
 
THE BLINDNESS OF PARENTS 
 
 many young men at a moving picture show 
 and at the end of the performance were 
 induced to leave the theatre by a side door 
 which was found to open into an adjoining 
 building and all passed the night together. 
 
 Massage parlors and manicure parlors, 
 upon investigation, were often proved to 
 have been used as a bait for these vile pro- 
 curers. Many of these places were found to be 
 not equipped for their legitimate work but 
 to be nothing more than disorderly houses. 
 
 The investigations of the United States 
 courts have resulted in the imprisonment of 
 many of these panderers, but there are 
 many more still unconvicted and the dan- 
 ger to young girls is ever present. The 
 parents cannot be too watchful in their pro- 
 tection, and to be watchful they must be 
 cognizant of the dangers and of the methods 
 in use. The daughters must be so educated 
 that they are prepared to cope with the 
 enemy. Remember, as Browning says, " Ig- 
 norance is not innocence, but sin." 
 
 47 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE STORY OF LIFE 
 
 EVERY teacher must need be a mission- 
 ary in that it befalls her to be ready 
 to give the parents the answer to that im- 
 portant question of " How shall I give this 
 information?" which naturally follows the 
 parent's realization of his or her duty to 
 the child. This question usually is ac- 
 companied by another, " When is the best 
 time?" 
 
 The answer to both questions must de- 
 pend upon the individual case. At a cer- 
 tain age a baby expresses a desire for some- 
 thing to bite. Before that time we make 
 no effort to force him to bite. Later he 
 finds he can help himself from one posi- 
 tion to another by creeping. Then in a 
 few months he discovers he is able to use his 
 feet and tries to walk. We do not try to 
 force any of these new ideas upon him but 
 
 48 
 
THE STORY OF LIFE 
 
 simply wait patiently until he expresses a 
 desire to acquire some new knowledge, then 
 we aid him and guide his efforts. 
 
 There comes a time in the life of every 
 child when he awakens to knowledge of 
 reproduction. Then is the time to give the 
 information. Some children commence to 
 inquire as early as three years. At such an 
 early age it is not necessary to go into de- 
 tails, as a very little information suffices 
 to satisfy the child. 
 
 Just how to tell the truths necessary must 
 vary with the age of the child. It is im- 
 portant to remember to be truthful to the 
 child. When a mother tells the child that 
 the stork or the doctor brings the baby, 
 she sets a seal upon untruth. Some day he 
 will learn that his mother has deceived him 
 and that behind her instruction lies an ele- 
 ment of secrecy, and secrecy, with its com- 
 panion, curiosity, is the cause of much un- 
 rest in after life. The child gathers the 
 idea that there must be something shame- 
 ful connected with the birth of a child 
 
 49 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 or his mother would not be ashamed to 
 tell him the truth. 
 
 Secondly, the child must be told scientific- 
 ally, thereby making this knowledge a basis 
 for later studies in biology. He can be 
 taught in a simple manner that all nature 
 comes from a seed ; that the mother makes 
 a tiny nest for the seed and that with all 
 seeds it is necessary for their growth that 
 the father give them some pollen. 
 
 Until these subjects are put before chil- 
 dren and young people with some degree of 
 intelligence and sympathetic handling, it 
 cannot be expected that anything but the 
 utmost confusion in mind and in morals 
 should reign in matters of sex. It seems 
 incredible that our thoughts could be so un- 
 clean that we find it impossible to give to 
 our children the information they need on 
 these most sacred subjects, but instead we 
 allow them to obtain their information 
 whenever and wherever they can and in the 
 most unclean manner. A child at the age 
 of puberty is capable of the most sensitive, 
 
 50 
 
THE STORY OF LIFE 
 
 affectional and serene appreciation of what 
 sex means and can absorb the teachings if 
 properly given without any shock to his 
 sense of the fitness of things. Indeed, 
 whenever these subjects are taught to the 
 child correctly they induce a feeling of rev- 
 erence for the mother that could not other- 
 wise be obtained. A little child when told 
 that she grew in a nest in mother's body 
 right underneath mother's heart at once be- 
 comes filled with a great love and wonder 
 for that mother. Then later to teach the 
 relation of fatherhood and how the love 
 of parents for each other and their desire 
 to have a child of their very own was the 
 reason for that child's existence these 
 things seem so natural to the child's mind 
 that has not been polluted with vulgar ideas 
 that they excite in him no sense of unfitness, 
 only a deep gratitude and a kind of tender 
 wonderment. 
 
 The great point to remember in teaching 
 these things to children is to satisfy their 
 present question and leave the understand- 
 
 51 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 ing that mother (or father) will always be 
 ready and willing to explain any problems 
 that are bothering the child. 
 
 So many girls have told me that when 
 they were between six and fourteen years 
 of age they had heard some things about the 
 nest where the babies grow and immedi- 
 ately went to their mothers and inquired 
 as to the truth of what they had heard. 
 The invariable answer received was, " Little 
 girls must not talk about such things." That 
 silenced the child and the mother heaved a 
 sigh of relief that the question had passed 
 off so smoothly and easily. That little sen- 
 tence has been the cause of innumerable 
 mistakes and misery. That little sentence 
 marked the beginning of the failure of the 
 child to confide in her mother, the child 
 never again would broach the subject to 
 her mother. However, that did not mean 
 that the child would not receive the infor- 
 mation requested; for, as a rule, the girls 
 who told of this incident also remarked that 
 they had received the information very soon 
 
 52 
 
THE STORY OF LIFE 
 
 from some older girl and frequently in a 
 vulgar manner. If a mother wishes to re- 
 tain the confidence of her daughter, if a 
 father wishes to retain the confidence of his 
 son, they both must keep a keen lookout for 
 the first questions and be prepared to answer 
 them at the time. 
 
 Later on the special sexual needs of the 
 boy or the girl can be explained, the neces- 
 sity of cleanliness and the danger of self- 
 abuse. The need of self-control and the 
 possibility of deflecting physical desire to 
 other channels and the great gain resulting ; 
 all these things the youth of either sex are 
 capable of understanding and appreciating, 
 and the knowledge given early will prevent 
 many physical and moral wrecks. 
 
 Parent-teacher associations are of great 
 value in bringing the work of the home and 
 of the school into harmony. Here the real 
 mothers and the universal mothers the 
 teachers can plan together how best to de- 
 velop the child physically, mentally and 
 morally. 
 
 S3 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE GIRL 
 
 GIRLS who have not been properly in- 
 structed do not realize what kind of 
 an impression they make upon men by 
 their clothes, actions and habits, and un- 
 thinkingly expose themselves to misunder- 
 standing. An eminent lawyer said to 
 me recently, " Why do you not tell girls 
 what real men think of them when 
 they appear on the streets with painted 
 faces, peek-a-boo waists and thin, silk hose 
 worn with shoes more appropriate for the 
 ball room? If girls imitate the demimonde 
 in their dress they must expect to be treated 
 accordingly." There is in every girl's na- 
 ture a desire to appear attractive in the eyes 
 of those of the opposite sex and this desire 
 leads to extremes of dressing. These ex- 
 
 54 
 
THE GIRL 
 
 tremes of dressing naturally attract the 
 attention of men, and the girl feels flattered 
 and continues her course, not realizing 
 what impression the men really obtain. 
 Then, when the man makes the advances 
 that her manner of dressing has led him to 
 believe he can make, she is very much in- 
 sulted and resentful. The fault lies in the 
 fact that the girl has not been properly edu- 
 cated and has received exaggerated and 
 entirely wrong ideas of life. 
 
 In every normal girl's heart there is an 
 inborn love of the beautiful and a desire to 
 make herself attractive. This may mani- 
 fest itself in various ways, according to the 
 environment and culture of the individual. 
 In mere babies we see a tendency to deco- 
 rate with flowers and ribbons. How much 
 pride the small girl takes in her new dress, 
 her new shoes or new hat! As the girl 
 grows older and enters the business world, 
 her love for the beautiful is encouraged by 
 her companions. She makes a struggle to 
 have as pretty clothes and as many rings 
 
 55 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 as her girl friends. If she is in moderate 
 circumstances, or is dependent upon her 
 own efforts and must buy not only the 
 luxuries but also the necessities of life with 
 her pitifully small wages, she sometimes is 
 tempted to sacrifice health and comfort to 
 have style. 
 
 Instead of comfortable shoes with thick 
 soles that would protect her feet from the 
 wet and the heat of the pavements, she buys 
 high-heeled, thin-soled shoes not suited to 
 the shape of her feet. They crowd her toes, 
 throw the foot out of shape and produce 
 corns and bunions, causing the wearer to 
 hobble home every night to nurse her poor, 
 tired, aching feet. 
 
 She oftentimes goes without lunches, and 
 sometimes without a good nourishing din- 
 ner that she may buy some fancy collar, 
 tie or belt. Sometimes, the struggle is too 
 much for her and her health breaks down, 
 or is so injured that the way is paved for 
 tuberculosis or other diseases. 
 
 Ofttimes in the midst of her troubles, 
 
 56 
 
THE GIRL 
 
 when she is quite discouraged with the 
 never-ending struggle to make both ends 
 meet, there comes into her life some older 
 girl, more experienced in the ways of the 
 world, a woman whom our young girl has 
 admired because she always is dressed in 
 the latest and most extreme styles, always 
 has plenty of admiration and invitations to 
 dances, theaters and other places of amuse- 
 ment. This woman tells her of an easy 
 way to obtain the things her heart desires. 
 Not realizing the dangers, she follows the 
 wicked advice of her friend. Sometimes 
 she escapes with a few bruises, but many a 
 girl carries the scars through life. She may 
 take precautions to avoid the natural results 
 of her acts, but she seldom dreams of the 
 risks she is running of contagion from one 
 of the black plagues. It is not uncommon 
 for physicians to be called upon to treat 
 these diseases in young girls. 
 
 Of course, these things are more common 
 in the cities than in the country districts, 
 but the country places are not immune. Rare 
 
 57 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 is it to find a country village that has not 
 been invaded by the summer boarders or 
 other travelers, bringing with them city 
 ideas and modern laxity of morals. Every 
 railroad improvement has brought the 
 country and city closer together. The coun- 
 try young people think nothing of running 
 into the city to do their shopping, and be- 
 sides doing their shopping, they absorb and 
 bring home with them city ideas. 
 
 The country girl may go through life to 
 the altar with nothing to hide and nothing 
 to regret if she has not encountered wrong 
 companions nor inherited traits of reckless- 
 ness. But the country girl going to the city 
 to work is in great danger. Unless she is 
 possessed of unusual independence and com- 
 mon sense, she soon is tempted to copy the 
 dress and manners of the smart set. She 
 attends questionable places of amusement 
 cheap imitations of the more expensive 
 resorts. She goes in the company of young 
 men who make a good appearance, who are 
 regarded as good " dressers." She does 
 
 58 
 
THE GIRL 
 
 this without any regard to their reputation, 
 believing that she is capable of taking care 
 of herself. How often later events prove 
 she is not ! 
 
 In pioneer times, the girl stayed at home 
 and helped with the household tasks. She 
 carded and spun the wool into yarn, wove 
 the cloth and then fashioned it into various 
 garments. In the summer time she canned 
 and dried the fruits and vegetables for the 
 winter's use. The weekly task of baking 
 for a large family was mare than one 
 woman could accomplish unaided. The 
 families were large and their needs many, 
 so until a girl married and went to a home 
 of her own, she was needed to help her 
 mother. Hers was a busy life, but it was 
 not all work and no play. During the win- 
 ter there were the singing school, the husk- 
 ing bee, and the various dances. But all 
 these usually were attended by the whole 
 family, and often several families went in 
 one big sleigh. Seldom did she encounter 
 any men except under the protection of the 
 
 59 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 home roof. Hers was the protected home 
 life. 
 
 Times have changed since then. With all 
 the modern inventions that have displaced 
 the home work, the girl is not so much 
 needed at home in the household duties. 
 Where formerly her help was required in 
 weaving, sewing, spinning, cooking and 
 canning, now these things nearly all are 
 done in factories and offices. Besides, her 
 earnings often are required to help out the 
 family income. With all the changes in 
 her work and environment, there has not 
 been the change in her education and prepa- 
 ration. In the protected home life of our 
 ancestors, ignorance might have been re- 
 garded as innocence. But things are dif- 
 ferent now. The opportunities for the mis- 
 leading of young girls are becoming more 
 plentiful every day. The temptations come 
 to her dressed in such alluring clothes that 
 she does not see the lurking danger. A 
 child attracted by the pretty flower of the 
 thistle has no way of knowing of the thorns 
 
 60 
 
THE GIRL 
 
 underneath unless it has been taught by 
 some one older and more experienced. 
 
 Sin is nothing but a mistake, and it pro- 
 ceeds from ignorance! For instance, if I 
 do not know that fire burns, I may put my 
 finger into it and get burned. The result of 
 this mistake is the burning of the finger, 
 and this has taught me once for all that fire 
 burns. I never again shall put my finger 
 into the fire! So every mistake is a great 
 teacher in the long run. No one is born so 
 perfect as not to commit any mistake or 
 any sin. The girl of the present age must 
 be prepared to meet the temptations thrown 
 about her. 
 
 Everything pertaining to the origin of 
 life, the relationship of the sexes and the 
 sacredness of such matters should be deli- 
 cately taught the growing girl by her mother 
 or some one competent to speak of such 
 things. 
 
 The existing conditions of the present age 
 should be explained to her in such a way 
 that while she retains her belief and faith 
 
 61 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 in good, clean-minded men, she still will be 
 prepared to cope with those who are not so 
 clean-minded and learn to distrust those 
 who are not willing that the daylight should 
 shine upon their actions. Such knowledge 
 is the best protection a girl entering the 
 business world could have, and to allow her 
 to go without it is a crime. If the girl falls 
 because of ignorance, the parents are to 
 blame. 
 
 "Why was I not taught these things?" 
 is the cry of many an unfortunate girl. 
 
 " But I know so little about these things 
 myself, how can I explain them to my 
 child ? " says one mother. 
 
 It is time for the mothers to commence to 
 study. 
 
 When a mother is entrusted with a daugh- 
 ter she takes upon herself a duty a duty 
 she must perform. If she was brought 
 up in ignorance and suffered through her 
 mistakes, she should safeguard her daugh- 
 ter against the same misfortune. 
 
 The universal motherhood of teachers has 
 
 62 
 
THE GIRL 
 
 a glorious opportunity of preparing the com- 
 ing generation for future motherhood and 
 fatherhood. 
 
 Every mother should talk freely with her 
 young daughter. Enter into her life. She 
 should try to remember her own tastes and 
 thoughts at her daughter's age ; become her 
 chum and not her dictator. The reward 
 will be the joy of confidence and satisfac- 
 tion of, " Well done, thou good and faithful 
 servant, thou hast been faithful over a few 
 things, enter thou into the joy " of knowing 
 you are saving your daughter. Why do we 
 condemn the unfortunate girl, who, per- 
 haps, has made only one misstep, and that 
 through ignorance or misplaced confidence ? 
 She did no worse than many of her com- 
 panions, but they were more worldly wise 
 than she! 
 
 " He that is without sin among you, let 
 him first cast a stone at her." 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE BOY 
 
 TTVURING the course of his life, the boy 
 -^ passes through a great many stages in 
 which his ideals change greatly, and the 
 things that most appeal to him and interest 
 him change also. But it is a noticeable fact 
 that it always is something heroic or manly 
 that is raised as the goal of his ambition. 
 As a small boy, the friendly policeman usu- 
 ally represents his ideal, showing thus early 
 his respect for law and order. At this age, 
 his greatest ambition is to be a policeman 
 and wear a uniform. 
 
 At another stage of his life, when he has 
 been hearing stories of the bravery, courage 
 and strength of the American Indian, he is 
 filled with the desire to run away and join 
 some roving band, don their costumes and 
 participate in their deeds of valor. To him 
 
 64 
 
THE BOY 
 
 the quiet home life seems very " tame " and 
 hardly worth while. 
 
 Even the youngest boy in school can be 
 appealed to through stories of knights. The 
 kindergarten story of "Cedric" has made 
 the days much easier for many a primary 
 teacher. With Cedric as an ideal, it is easy 
 to bring about improvements in the boy's 
 everyday life; for if he would grow to be 
 like Cedric, he must do the things that 
 Cedric did. 
 
 A few years later, when the boy may have 
 been reading stories of the great campaigns 
 of the Civil or Revolutionary Wars, the 
 growing boy is fired with the ambition to 
 become like one of these heroes, perhaps 
 even to become a great general. A deep 
 impression is made upon him and for 
 months, it may be years, he lives in a world 
 of camps and campaigns, of bivouacs and 
 battles. He plans for the time when he may 
 go to West Point. His everyday life, even, 
 is planned to prepare him for that glorious 
 time. He drills his younger comrades in 
 
 65 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 the technic of warfare, but teaching them 
 above all to obey their captain quickly, cor- 
 rectly and without question. 
 
 All through his childhood, everything 
 that is manly appeals to him. Among his 
 acquaintances usually is some man who 
 represents to him his ideal of manhood, and 
 whom he consciously or unconsciously tries 
 to imitate. Unfortunately, however, he has 
 not arrived at an age at which he is able 
 to distinguish just what qualities make the 
 man and he is liable to imitate some of the 
 man's faults, thinking they are virtues. In 
 this way the boy, noticing that many men 
 smoke, thinks that smoking must be one of 
 the necessary attributes of manhood and so 
 he tries to do likewise, counting as nothing 
 the hours of misery that must be endured 
 before he has acquired the desired habit. 
 
 If the boy during his stage of hero wor- 
 ship encountered only good, clean-minded 
 men, who inspired him with real manly 
 traits, all our social problems would be 
 solved during the next generation with very 
 
 66 
 
THE BOY 
 
 little effort. Unfortunately, the boy in his 
 progress through life is thrown with a great 
 many misanthropes who teach him harmful 
 practices. 
 
 The boy in the city encounters many 
 whose chief delight seems to be in poisoning 
 his young mind, while the country boy, per- 
 haps during his hour of rest in the shade at 
 noonday, listens with wide-open ears to the 
 questionable stories by the hired man. He 
 is told of the many things a man is priv- 
 ileged to do; he often is the listener to many 
 despicable stories about women and girls, 
 stories that give him a wrong idea of the 
 relations of the sexes, that cause him to 
 believe that there are certain practices that 
 are his privilege by right of sex and which 
 he must exercise if he would be a man. His 
 imagination is so filled with these unwhole- 
 some stories that he is unable to see the 
 fallacy of their theories. He does not stop 
 to question why it is that these same men 
 are weak, shiftless and unsuccessful, while 
 his father and other clean-minded men are 
 
 67 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 great, strong men who do things in the 
 world. 
 
 We talk about the privileges of mother- 
 hood, of the mother's responsibility in shap- 
 ing the future of her children, but it seems 
 to me that the fathers have as great a priv- 
 ilege and as great a responsibility in the 
 training of their sons and inculcating in 
 their young minds right ideas of the priv- 
 ileges and responsibilities of manhood. In 
 the growing youth's mind there arise many 
 questions that he would like to talk over 
 with his father, but he feels diffident about 
 asking him. Too often the boy grows up 
 and goes away to college without ever talk- 
 ing with his father about manhood. 
 
 Many parents do not speak freely with 
 their children on matters of development. 
 In all matters concerning his business rela- 
 tions and success, the boy has received care- 
 ful instruction. He has not been left to 
 work out those problems by himself but is 
 given the benefit of the experiences of those 
 who have trodden the road before. But in 
 
 68 
 
THE BOY 
 
 this matter so vital to his whole life, he has 
 been left to clear his own path through the 
 woods. With no guide and bewildered with 
 the new ideas and experiences that crowd 
 upon him, is it any wonder that he loses his 
 way, wanders off the straight path, falls oft- 
 times into some bog that perhaps was hid- 
 den from his sight by the surrounding 
 flowers and to which he has been lured by 
 siren music? A most unusual boy, indeed, 
 would he be if he did not encounter bram- 
 bles or mudholes. Fortunate is he if he 
 eventually climbs back to the road again 
 with no deep scars to mar his future. Who 
 is to blame for the many falls of youth? 
 Surely not the boy, for he was not capable 
 of seeing the hidden dangers. Is it neces- 
 sary for every boy to sow his wild oats, 
 seeds of which always may be intruding 
 upon his happiness ? Could he not be wisely 
 and gently taught by his father that he 
 might avoid the pitfalls which cause him so 
 many regrets in later years? 
 
 Hero stories may be made the basis of 
 
 69 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 much valuable instruction in schools. All 
 through the ages we find examples of whole- 
 some men who lived clean lives, keeping 
 their bodies strong and healthful and con- 
 serving their energies that they might be 
 used in doing noble deeds. Men who wasted 
 their energies in their youth by riotous 
 living might, indeed, for a few years, seem 
 to be achieving great success, but before 
 long the dissipations told on their systems 
 and they were unable to continue. Could 
 we know the secret history of many brilliant 
 men who shone for a time as stars of the 
 first magnitude, but, like the comet, enjoyed 
 only a brief appearance, we would find the 
 cause of their setting lies in some of the 
 mistakes of youth. Why is it so many 
 brilliant men are nipped off in the very be- 
 ginning of their careers by paralysis or 
 some other disease of obscure origin? No 
 one but the man himself or the old family 
 physician would be able to answer such a 
 question. 
 
 The prevalent idea common among men 
 
 70 
 
THE BOY 
 
 that the most common of the black plagues, 
 gonorrhoea, is no worse than a cold is to 
 be deplored. Recent medical knowledge has 
 brought to light the fact that it persists in 
 the deeper structures long after it appar- 
 ently has been cured and may reappear at 
 any time after an unusual strain. As a 
 result, many wives are thus unwittingly 
 infected by their husbands, and many homes 
 are childless. Indeed, it is possible for this 
 disease to so affect the life-giving elements 
 that they are incapable of performing their 
 function. 
 
 I believe every boy wishes to become a 
 strong, well-developed, successful man. No 
 boy ever deliberately planned otherwise. 
 There are careless boys and thoughtless 
 boys boys who follow courses and prac- 
 tice habits that ultimately must defeat suc- 
 cess and end in disappointment, but they 
 always do so through carelessness or igno- 
 rance never deliberately planned action. If 
 the average boy desires to make the most 
 of his life, and deliberately plans to use his 
 
 71 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 time and opportunities in the best way, he 
 always succeeds. His success is certain, 
 although it may not be along the lines first 
 planned, as he may develop new and unex- 
 pected talents. Many of our most success- 
 ful men tried many avenues before they 
 found the one best suited to them. Many 
 others have awakened to the fact that they 
 have wasted many years and dissipated 
 much energy before they planned out their 
 life's course. Although they may achieve 
 great success they always feel that this suc- 
 cess might have been greater if they had 
 not wasted so many precious years before 
 finding their real work. 
 
 In school days the boy is led by the wise 
 teacher to see the right way of gaining 
 the knowledge he needs. But there is a 
 knowledge of the structure of the body, of 
 the meaning of certain desires, of the func- 
 tions of their organs, the necessity for 
 cleanliness, the results of abuse and the dan- 
 ger of acquiring certain diseases known as 
 the black plagues, that cannot be given in 
 
 72 
 
THE BOY 
 
 the public schools by the teachers ; that can- 
 not be given by the mothers, for the boy is 
 inclined to think, " Oh, you're not a man, 
 you can't understand a man." Who, then, 
 is to give this knowledge so necessary to the 
 boy's welfare? It is the father's duty to see 
 that the boy is given this knowledge and 
 given it in the right manner and early 
 enough to forestall wrong ideas. 
 
 The directors of physical education among 
 boys and young men should assume the 
 role of universal fathers to those who need 
 this help. A boy will give up many bad 
 habits if he is shown that they have a tend- 
 ency to make him a weakling and prevent 
 his physical development. 
 
 It is not the poor boy of the city streets 
 alone that is most in need of this knowl- 
 edge. In the city, various organizations 
 make it their chief business to look after 
 the youth, providing healthful amusements, 
 good companions and various helpful sug- 
 gestions. The country boy has none of 
 these. Very little effort is used or is 
 
 73 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 thought necessary to save the country boys. 
 But the tendency of the country is city- 
 ward and generally the country youth be- 
 comes the city youth. Upon the training he 
 has received before going to the city, upon 
 the ideals he cherishes, depend his future 
 actions. " I'd have done better if I'd known 
 better," said a fine specimen of redeemed 
 young manhood as he recounted some of 
 his experience to the city minister, "but it 
 wasn't the temptations of the city which 
 proved to be my undoing. I was lost be- 
 fore I came here lost to virtue, honor, 
 truth and I lost these attributes on the 
 farm." 
 
 No one can come in contact with children 
 and young people without feeling the need 
 of a united effort on the part of parents, 
 physicians and teachers to lessen the im- 
 moral tendencies, with their degrading ef- 
 fects, to which the present generation is 
 subjected. Knowledge of the right sort 
 will prevent many nervous wrecks caused 
 by the boy reading literature sent out by 
 
 74 
 
THE BOY 
 
 various questionable medical houses which 
 instill into his young mind a fear that he 
 unconsciously is drifting into a dangerous 
 condition when in reality nature simply is 
 asserting itself and there is no cause to 
 worry. 
 
 Many parents realize the need of giving 
 such instruction but hesitate on account of 
 ignorance of facts or of the best manner 
 of presenting such sacred subjects, so the 
 instruction is postponed from day to day 
 until it is too late. Then the regrets. 
 
 How to present this knowledge to the 
 child depends upon his age, environment 
 and circumstances. With the very young 
 child, who lives almost entirely in a world 
 of imagination, the poetical fancies often 
 can be used to good advantage. But when 
 the boy has reached a school age and asso- 
 ciates with older boys, things begin to 
 assume more natural proportions and the 
 world takes on a more real aspect. Then 
 it is the boy wants more material explana- 
 tions, demands practical truths. A man can 
 
 75 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 ill afford to allow vulgar representations of 
 these most sacred truths to be given to his 
 boy by his companions, but he may rest 
 assured they will be and the boy will listen 
 unless this has been forestalled by knowl- 
 edge given by a wise parent. Fortunate is 
 the boy whose father is a companion to 
 him. The man who can break away from 
 his business cares, become his boy's chum, 
 take long walks with him, talking about the 
 wonders and mysteries of nature, gradually 
 leading up to nature's method of repro- 
 ducing her kind and teaching him the sacred- 
 ness of the human body, will be fully repaid 
 for his effort. 
 
 Many men through selfishness or igno- 
 rance neglect these vital talks with their 
 sons. In many instances the boy grows to 
 manhood with only a distorted view of the 
 meaning of fatherhood or motherhood un- 
 less some broad-minded man comes in con- 
 tact with his life. 
 
 The majority of teachers in the public 
 schools are immature girls who cannot real- 
 
 76 
 
THE BOY 
 
 ize the needs, desires and temptations of an 
 adolescent boy. At this age the boy needs 
 association with men. No community is 
 giving its boys full value unless it provides 
 on the school faculty some well-poised man 
 who understands boys and who can and 
 does direct their physical lives so as to de- 
 velop strong moral characters capable of 
 becoming useful citizens. 
 
 77 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 A WELL DIRECTED CHILDHOOD 
 
 UPON the training a child receives dur- 
 ing the early years of his life, upon 
 the ideals engendered during that period 
 depends, to a large extent, the entire course 
 of his after life. 
 
 This does not mean that he is to be neg- 
 lected in later years for, until he has reached 
 manhood's estate and especially during his 
 adolescent days, he needs a firm, wise coun- 
 selor. A boy or girl who has been rightly 
 trained up to the age of twelve or fourteen 
 very seldom will go far astray. By that 
 time, his habits and ideals are quite firmly 
 rooted and it would take an unusually 
 strong mind, or influence, to detach them. 
 
 The training of a child should commence 
 the moment it is born. It is possible to so 
 " spoil " a child the first three days of its 
 
 78 
 
A WELL DIRECTED CHILDHOOD 
 
 life that there will be no peace or comfort 
 in the home unless the baby is coddled and 
 waited upon continually. The baby tyrant 
 soon learns if father is to be his slave. He 
 soon learns if father's rest at night is to be 
 undisturbed, or if long night walks are to 
 be the regular program. Judge Mary Bar- 
 telme of the Juvenile Court of Chicago says 
 that many a girl or boy in court has been 
 brought there by a life of selfishness and 
 lack of self-control engendered by over- 
 indulgent parents. The unwise parent's 
 idea is "How can I get it for my child?" 
 not " Should he have it ? " These indulgent 
 parents do not realize that the greatest kind- 
 ness to a child is to train him in habits that 
 will make his life a success. 
 
 A baby should be trained from birth in 
 habits of regularity by being fed and bathed 
 at definite periods. Now is the time, also, 
 to establish regular habits that will prevent 
 in later years that bane of health, con- 
 stipation. 
 
 If the unthinking father or mother wishes 
 
 79 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 the child to grow up to be a drunkard or a 
 drug fiend, now is the time to commence 
 that course by giving the baby soothing 
 syrups and various other remedies recom- 
 mended by the well meaning neighbors, or 
 designing advertiser. Practically all sooth- 
 ing syrups contain some harmful drug, as 
 opium or morphine. If they do not contain 
 these they contain alcohol. Look out for 
 the remedies called tinctures. They contain 
 enough alcohol to make the baby drunk. Of 
 course these quiet the baby and cause it to 
 sleep. It is drunk! An over-dose may so 
 soothe it that it never will awaken. These 
 babies that are started out in the habit of 
 having soothing syrups are the children 
 that later are continually requiring some of 
 the patent tonics that contain alcohol. They 
 have acquired the habit and crave the effect 
 of the alcohol. A few years later they be- 
 come the habitues of the harmless drink 
 counters. Many of these drinks contain 
 cocaine or other harmful drugs. Later these 
 children, grown to manhood, feel the desire 
 
 80 
 
A WELL DIRECTED CHILDHOOD 
 
 for a stronger stimulant and, before long, 
 are confirmed drunkards or drug users. And 
 the mother or nurse with her soother is to 
 blame ! 
 
 If you want your child to end his days 
 in the insane asylum, or become a degener- 
 ate from solitary vice, neglect the generative 
 organs when he is small. The generative 
 organs of both the boy and the girl have a 
 secretion which, if allowed to remain, acts 
 as an irritant to the parts. It is as necessary 
 to keep these parts clean as it is to keep the 
 nose or any other organ free from dirt and 
 accumulated secretions. From birth, the 
 foreskin of the boy should be retracted 
 every day and the parts thoroughly cleansed. 
 The same is true of the girl. If the parts 
 are not cleansed, there is a constant irrita- 
 tion which causes the child to rub the parts, 
 and the habit of self-abuse is started. Make 
 it a point to cleanse these parts thoroughly 
 every day and as soon as the child is old 
 enough teach him to do it. It will prevent 
 many disorders in later life. Perhaps the 
 
 81 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 boy, or girl, needs a circumcision. Have 
 your family physician examine him and be 
 sure. 
 
 If you want your child to come to believe 
 that you are an untruthful or an unreliable 
 person, or that you are not conversant with 
 the things that you should know, begin to 
 tell him falsehoods and evade the truth 
 when he is small. When your child of four 
 or five asks you where the baby came from, 
 tell him some fanciful story about the stork 
 bringing it or that you found it under a cab- 
 bage leaf. He will find out soon that you 
 have lied to him and will not bother you 
 with other questions. 
 
 If you want to instill into your child's 
 mind vulgar ideas about the most sacred 
 relations, turn him away, when he begins to 
 inquire, by saying, " Shame, you must not 
 talk about such things." 
 
 But if you are a true parent and want to 
 retain the confidence of your child, and have 
 him learn the truthful meaning of most 
 intimate and sacred relations, tell him the 
 
 82 
 
A WELL DIRECTED CHILDHOOD 
 
 truth always. When the -child commences 
 to inquire where the baby came from, ex- 
 plain about the flowers and the birds with 
 their nests. Then explain that baby grew 
 in a little nest right under mother's heart, 
 and that is the reason why mother loves her 
 child so much. Explain the necessity of 
 caring for any mother who is carrying the 
 baby in its little nest. It is not necessary to 
 go into details. Children are satisfied with 
 very simple explanations, but they must be 
 truthful. If mother and father do not 
 always tell the truth, they cannot blame the 
 child if it tells a falsehood. 
 
 Before the child enters school at the age 
 of six, it should know where babies come 
 from, and the dangers of self-abuse. Other- 
 wise it will be instructed, by some playmate, 
 in various vices. A number of girls have 
 told me that they were taught the habit of 
 self -abuse when they were only four or five 
 years old. 
 
 See that the child's clothing is not so tight 
 as to irritate the delicate organs. See 
 
 83 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 that it eats only plain, nourishing food. Give 
 it a moderate amount of sweets and very 
 little meat. A limited amount of pure, 
 home-made candy is good for a child, but a 
 small quantity of cheap stuff is harmful. 
 Keep the child interested at home if you do 
 not want him to get the habit of roaming 
 the streets. The long, winter evenings 
 should be well spent in reading helpful books 
 or in quiet amusements. Let the children 
 pop corn and pull candy once in a while. It 
 will do them good and instill a love of home. 
 
 Study your child to see his inclinations. 
 Do not try to force your boy to follow your 
 occupation or to take up some profession 
 that makes a nice appearance. If he is 
 inclined to mechanics, put him in a shop or 
 in a technical school and let him learn to be 
 an expert in the line for which he is adapted, 
 instead of making him a second-rate lawyer 
 or a second-rate doctor with a constant 
 struggle to eke out a bare living. 
 
 When your children have the usual chil- 
 dren's diseases, do not treat them as a mat- 
 
 84 
 
A WELL DIRECTED CHILDHOOD 
 
 ter of little importance. Many a man or 
 woman is sterile for life owing to a neg- 
 lected case of mumps that affected the testi- 
 cles or ovaries. Many a person owes a 
 chronic inflammation of the kidneys to an 
 attack of the measles that was considered 
 too light to consult a doctor. 
 
 When your daughter is at the age of 
 puberty, see that she rests a day or two at 
 her menstrual period. It even would be 
 better to keep her out of school for a year 
 than to have her spend the remainder of her 
 life as a nervous invalid, which condition 
 often results from strain at the age of 
 puberty. Watch her that she does not enter 
 exciting contests that cause too great a 
 strain on her nervous system. She needs 
 exercise but it should always be of a light, 
 nerve-quieting kind, as walking or swim- 
 ming. 
 
 Take an interest in the schools your chil- 
 dren attend and see that they are suited to 
 your child's needs. Do not have your boy 
 learn ideas that will make him a fop and 
 
 85 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 spoil him for a useful life. Do not have 
 your girl placed in a position where she 
 ruins herself for wifehood and motherhood 
 in order to keep up with her classes. There 
 is too much of a tendency in the public 
 schools to require the same amount of work 
 from all children. Only harm results from 
 such a course, for all children are not built 
 nor gifted alike. No farmer would think 
 of training a race horse and a plow horse 
 in the same manner. There is as much dif- 
 ference in children and their needs as there 
 is in colts. 
 
 We have given more attention to the rais- 
 ing of colts than we have of children. The 
 government has a department to experiment 
 and produce the best results in the raising of 
 plants and animals. It provides lectures and 
 instruction to teach ordinary people how to 
 make the most of their property, their ani- 
 mals and gardens. We need a department 
 that is organized to teach men and women 
 how to care for themselves and produce the 
 best quality in children. Your children are 
 
 86 
 
A WELL DIRECTED CHILDHOOD 
 
 more important than your stock, your farm 
 or your business. The highest creation of 
 God is man. 
 
 87 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE COWORKERS 
 
 T T IS regrettable that the schools and other 
 * organizations apparently should be in 
 antagonistic positions. All educational or- 
 ganizations are working for the same ulti- 
 mate outcome. There is too much work to 
 be done to waste any time, or energy in 
 back-biting, fault-finding and unjust or un- 
 kind criticism. All those interested in the 
 welfare of the race should work in harmony. 
 Although we all agree that the parents 
 are the proper persons to instruct their chil- 
 dren in these subjects pertaining to their 
 physical and moral welfare, at the present 
 time all parents are not prepared to do so. 
 Others, therefore, must come to their assist- 
 ance. The schools reach and help many, but 
 there is much work to be done by others be- 
 sides teachers and parents. 
 
 88 
 
THE COWORKERS 
 
 Oftentimes an outsider understands a 
 child even better than do the parents. It 
 may be that the spiritual adviser has a 
 trained and keen insight into human char- 
 acter and human needs and because of his 
 position may give advice that would not be 
 received kindly from any one else. The 
 clean minded servant of God should become 
 a deep student in these health matters so 
 closely concerned with the spiritual life of 
 both children and parents. He should lose 
 no opportunity of bringing the truths to 
 their attention. 
 
 The teacher in the Sunday School has a 
 similar opportunity. She or he may have 
 the rare quality of inviting confidence. These 
 teachers should be chosen carefully by the 
 head of the church and not in the hit-or- 
 miss fashion too often employed. Training 
 classes for teachers should be on the weekly 
 calendar of the church and no one should be 
 entrusted with the moral and spiritual wel- 
 fare of a child until he has proven himself 
 qualified. Immature youths should not be 
 
 89 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 selected to teach those of the opposite sex. 
 They may be able to teach the words of the 
 text, but seldom will be capable of driving 
 home the divine lesson. A carefully selected 
 reference library for teachers should be pro- 
 vided. This library should contain books 
 on the care and rearing of children. Quite 
 frequently moral relapses are due to physical 
 defects. The spiritual and physical natures 
 cannot be separated entirely and the teacher 
 must know how to harmonize one with the 
 other. 
 
 The various women's organizations should 
 plan classes for their less fortunate sisters 
 who have not had the opportunity of learn- 
 ing how to become better mothers. The 
 men's organizations might well concern 
 themselves with the welfare of their sons, 
 instead of setting them an example of selfish 
 indulgence. Boys and girls need training 
 for fatherhood and motherhood and it is 
 the fathers and mothers of this generation 
 who should plan and have carried out such 
 courses, and not be content to criticize those 
 
 90 
 
THE COWORKERS 
 
 who are trying to remedy defects caused by 
 the neglect of parents. Teachers and edu- 
 cators are striving for the best methods. 
 
 The newspapers are assisting materially 
 in this campaign for better health, while the 
 various magazines designed especially for 
 women were among the pioneers in this cru- 
 sade. Nearly every one of these has its 
 health department in charge of a woman 
 physician, who not only writes health talks 
 each month but also answers many personal 
 letters relating to individual cases. No drugs 
 are prescribed, but the best advice from 
 a hygienic standpoint is given. The 
 "Mother's Magazine" is making a special 
 campaign for more intelligent parenthood. 
 The girls of this generation are the mothers 
 of the next, and only by inculcating right 
 ideals into the minds of the growing girls 
 can we expect to have mothers prepared to 
 train their own daughters. A great many 
 girls who have made mistakes say that the 
 cause of their downfall was the advice and 
 example of associates leading irregular lives. 
 
 91 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 These girls are scattered through the com- 
 munity to an extent hard to realize by people 
 who have not had any special interest in 
 these matters, and are a menace to the 
 daughters of respectable, hard-working fam- 
 ilies with whom they come in contact. If 
 each thinking woman would make it a point 
 to become a "big sister" to some lonesome 
 or misunderstood girl, we would not have 
 the same problems confronting us that we 
 do now. If at the same time every right- 
 minded man would become a " big brother " 
 to some immature youth, we would not need 
 to enlarge our courts and homes for delin- 
 quent boys. 
 
 The athletic directors in the various or- 
 ganizations should be prepared to guide the 
 moral development which is so closely re- 
 lated to the physical. Many a boy can be 
 reached through gymnasium work who can- 
 not be interested in any other way. It has 
 been found often that a well-balanced, ear- 
 nest director of physical education has more 
 influence than anybody else in persuading 
 
 92 
 
THE COWORKERS 
 
 growing boys to give up certain practices, 
 as cigarette smoking. A boy will give up 
 cigarettes if he thinks this practice will 
 handicap him in physical sports. For the 
 sake of a boy's moral development his ath- 
 letic sports should be properly supervised. 
 
 Even the theatres have their part in this 
 great work for race and individual better- 
 ment. There are many people who have 
 passed beyond the school age and who never 
 attend church. They could not be induced 
 to attend a scientific lecture, but they do 
 flock to the theatres. It is possible through 
 the theatres to reach many who could not be 
 reached in any other way. Seldom is there 
 heard a stronger sermon for race better- 
 ment than that driven home in Damaged 
 Goods, as played by Richard Bennett. Here, 
 indeed, can be seen the lesson of the greater 
 love that might mean the loss of a little 
 pleasure but would save years of misery. 
 
 Physicians would seem to be the natural 
 teachers of the public in all matters concern- 
 ing health. But this subject, health, is 
 
 93 
 
SEX HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 so great that it is impossible for any- 
 one to know thoroughly all its branches, 
 so this has come to be an age of special- 
 ists. The average physician cannot spare 
 the time to become a public educator. 
 He instructs those who come to him, but 
 the medical associations have found it best 
 to send out physicians who have been edu- 
 cated as teachers to instruct the general pub- 
 lic through lectures. A man cannot prepare 
 himself to become a teacher without neglect- 
 ing his patients. He cannot give the proper 
 time and energy to the sick, and at the same 
 time go hither and thither giving lectures 
 and teaching classes. The physicians in 
 smaller communities should be prepared to 
 tell the public where they can get the in- 
 formation they desire, either by means of 
 lectures or books. 
 
 Every organization should be making a 
 chapter for race betterment. No one society 
 or individual can reach all people. It re- 
 quires many pages by many people to make 
 a complete book of life. 
 
 94 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE 
 
 You can obtain further help in solving 
 the problems discussed by Dr. Lowry in 
 this work from the books by the same 
 author described in the following pages. 
 
 Dr. Lowry is famous as the author of 
 the only books on sex hygiene which have 
 received the complete endorsement of the 
 leading educational, medical, and religious 
 authorities, who declare they are the first 
 books to meet the standards and require- 
 ments of the present great world movement 
 for sex education. 
 
 Many colleges and normal schools are 
 using Dr. Lowry's books for text pur- 
 poses and boards of education have adopted 
 them for the use of their teachers. 
 
 Dr. Lowry has had an unusually wide 
 training and experience, which enables her 
 to see this subject from more than one 
 view point. She taught many years in the 
 public schools; she is a graduate nurse; a 
 practicing physician, and medical college 
 lecturer. 
 
By E. B. LO WRY, M.D. 
 
 CONFIDENCES 
 
 Talks With a Young Girl Concerning 
 Herself 
 
 A book explaining the origin and develop- 
 ment of life in language intelligible to young 
 girls. The author, who is a physician of 
 wide experience and a pleasing writer, has' 
 very delicately and adequately treated this 
 important subject. 
 
 Carefully written and should be given to erery 
 young girl. American Motherhood. 
 
 A sweet and wholesome book and we are glad to 
 recommend it. Y. W. C. A. Monthly. 
 
 Every physician should read and circulate this book. 
 Journal of Therapeutics. 
 
 It will prove a boon to all mothers. Woman 's Era. 
 
 The reading of " Confidences " will open the heart 
 of a girl as sunshine the petals of a rose. Vegetarian 
 Magazine. 
 
 A book like this has a great mission before it, 
 Health. 
 
 Dr. Lowry's books are excellent and they can be 
 safely recommended. Journal of the American Med- 
 ical Association. 
 
 Delicate and adequate. -The Christian Guardian. 
 
 The author 's tribute to motherhood is a master- 
 piece, Chicago Inter Ocean. 
 
 Neatly bound in cloth. 16mo. 
 
 Price, 50 cents net; by mail, 55 cents 
 
 For sale by all booksellers and the publishers 
 
 Forbes & Company, 443 S. Dearborn St., Chicago 
 
By E. B. LOWRY, M.D. 
 
 TRUTHS 
 
 Talks With a Boy Concerning 
 Himself 
 
 A book containing the simple truths of 
 life development and sex which should be 
 given to every boy approaching manhood. 
 His future welfare demands it. This is the 
 first book to adequately and delicately pre- 
 sent these truths in language intelligible to 
 boys from ten to fourteen years of age, 
 
 " Truths" is the first satisfactory book on the sub- 
 ject. Health Culture Magazine. 
 
 Straightforward and modest, it is the best book oa 
 the subject. The American Friend. 
 
 Many a mother will be glad that such a book is 
 within reach of her child. Seattle Post Intelligencer. 
 
 We wish it might be read by all the boys in the 
 world. Eclectic Medical Journal. 
 
 The knowledge most essential to a growing boy is 
 told with scientific accuracy and in such a careful 
 manner that it will not be found objectionable by 
 thinking parents. Life and Health. 
 
 It is becoming more and more recognized that in- 
 struction in sexual hygiene is a necessary part of the 
 education of every boy and girl, and this book helps 
 to solve the problems. We recommend it to parents. 
 Chicago Medical Eecorder. 
 
 Decorated cover. Cloth, 16mo. 
 
 Price, 50 cents net; by mail, 55 cents 
 
 For sale by all "booksellers and the publishers 
 
 Forbes & Company, 443 S. Dearborn St., Chicago 
 
By E. B. LO WRY, M.D. 
 
 HERSELF 
 
 Talks With Women Concerning 
 Themselves 
 
 This book contains truths vitally impor- 
 tant to every woman. The health and happi- 
 ness of mothers and their children depend 
 upon their knowledge of the facts here 
 given with great clearness and conciseness 
 by a physician of national reputation in the 
 scientific care of women. 
 
 "Herself" is superior to all books on its subject. 
 The Independent. 
 
 It stands alone in the literature of the subject and 
 I am losing no opportunity to commend it. The Rev. 
 Lyman P. Powell. 
 
 Well written, skillful and conscientious. Margaret 
 E. Sangster. 
 
 A book the world has long needed. Mrs. W. N. 
 Hutt, National Chairman, School Hygiene, General 
 Federation of Women's Clubs. 
 
 A very excellent book that will save many from 
 physical and mental suffering. Iowa Medical Journal. 
 
 Should be recommended by physicians to all their 
 female patients. The Lancet-Clinic. 
 
 It is a book for the reading of which almost any 
 woman would be the better and give thanks. Chicago 
 Record-Herald. 
 
 Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. 
 Price, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.10 
 
 For sale "by all booksellers and the publishers 
 
 Forbes & Company, 443 S. Dearborn St., Chicago 
 
Bj E. B. LO WRY, M.D. 
 
 HIMSELF 
 
 Talks With Men Concerning 
 Themselves 
 
 This is regarded by all authorities as the 
 best book on sexual hygiene for men. No 
 man knowing its contents would be without 
 this important book. It tells plainly all of 
 the facts about sex and leads to health, hap- 
 piness and success. A book that points the 
 way to strong vitality and healthy manhood. 
 
 Every man ought to read this excellent, reliable 
 book. Philadelphia Telegraph. 
 
 The best book on sexual hygiene for men, and we 
 highly commend it. Baltimore American. 
 
 The more widely this splendid book is read the bet- 
 ter it will be for men and women. Boston Globe. 
 
 Every youth and man who can read English should 
 study this book. Portland Oregonian. 
 
 A rare book that treats its subject in a common- 
 sense fashion. Pittsburgh Post. 
 
 This is a storehouse of knowledge that should be 
 in the hands of every man. U. S. Medical Journal. 
 
 It is utterly free from hysteria and sticks straight 
 to the unadulterated truth. A valuable addition to 
 any man's library .-Sp okane Chronicle. 
 
 Illustrated. Cloth, ismo. 
 
 Price, $1.00 net; by mail. $1.10 
 
 For sale by all booksellers and the publishers 
 
 Forbes & Co., 443 S. Dearborn St., Chicago 
 
By E. B. LOWRY, M.D. 
 
 FALSE MODESTY 
 
 That Protects Vice by Ignorance 
 
 The most thorough and convincing ap- 
 peal ever made for the proper education of 
 the young in matters pertaining to sexual 
 hygiene by the foremost writer on the sub- 
 ject. A book of vital, helpful interest to 
 every parent, teacher, physician and min- 
 ister. 
 
 All parents and teachers should read this very im- 
 portant book. Boston Globe. 
 
 Dr. Lowry covers the case completely and in such a 
 manner that all can understand. Portland Telegram. 
 
 Dr. Lowry has rendered signal service to perplexed 
 and anxious parenthood. Los Angeles Herald. 
 
 An eloquent, effective and important book, it de- 
 serves the same high praise as Dr. Lowry's other 
 volumes. Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. 
 
 Will take a place of deserved prominence in the 
 literature devoted to the elevation of the race. Chi- 
 cago Journal. 
 
 Dr. Lowry's books combine medical knowledge, 
 simplicity, and purity in an unprecedented way. They 
 are chaste and void of offense to the most delicate 
 natures. The volumes are written with scientific ac- 
 curacy and clearness. The Journal of Education, 
 Boston. 
 
 Cloth, i6mo. 
 
 Price, 50 cents net; by mail, 55 cents 
 
 For sale by all booksellers and the publishers 
 Forbes & Co., 443 S. Dearborn St., Chicago 
 
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