ion indicates compression either by lacing or tight clothing.
Exercise in the open air, take long walks and vigorous exercise, using
care not to overdo it. Housework will prove a panacea for many of the
ills which flesh is heir to. One hour's exercise at the wash-tub is of
far more value, from a physical standpoint, than hours at the piano.
Boating is most excellent exercise and within the reach of many. Care
in dressing is also important, and, fortunately, fashion is coming to
the rescue here. It is essential that no garments be suspended from
the waist. Let the shoulders bear the weight of all the clothing, so
that the organs of the body may be left free and unimpeded.

27. "SLEEP SHOULD BE HAD regularly and abundantly. Avoid late hours,
undue excitement, evil associations; partake of plain, nutritious
food, and health will be your reward. There is one way of destroying
health, which, fortunately, is not as common among girls as boys,
and which must be mentioned ere this chapter closes. Self-abuse is
practised among growing girls to such an extent as to arouse serious
alarm. Many a girl has been led to handle and play with her sexual
organs through the advice of some girl who has obtained temporary
pleasure in that way; or, perchance, chafing has been followed by
rubbing until the organs have become congested with blood, and in this
accidental manner the girl discovered what seems to her a source of
pleasure, but which, alas, is a source of misery, and even death.

28. "AS IN THE BOY, SO IN THE GIRL, self-abuse causes an undue amount
of blood to flow to those organs, thus depriving other parts of the
body of its nourishment, the weakest part first showing the effect of
want of sustenance. All that has been said upon this loathsome subject
in the preceding chapter for boys might well be repeated here, but
space forbids. Read that chapter again, and know that the same signs
that betray the boy will make known the girl addicted to the vice.
The bloodless lips, the dull, heavy eye surrounded with dark rings,
the nerveless hand, the blanched cheek, the short breath, the old,
faded look, the weakened memory and silly irritability tell the story
all too plainly. The same evil result follows, ending perhaps in
death, or worse, in insanity. Aside from the injury the girl does
herself by yielding to this habit, there is one other reason which
appeals to the conscience, and that is, self-abuse is an offence
against moral law it