aw
her dress tightly around her yielding form, and stand or dance at a
party for hours together; she will not skate for hours; she will
probably not ride for hours on a trotting horse; she will not take long
walks; she will not race violently upstairs, or plunge violently down,
because she has been taught to believe that no one can with impunity
array her individual will against the laws of nature; and thus two of
the most frequent causes of trouble, which are displacements or the
bending forward of any organ, will be avoided. If she persists in trying
experiments, she will not be obliged to experiment for a very long time
in order to satisfy herself that the wisdom of ancient tradition is of
more value than her individual opinion; but the girl who has been
properly educated for fourteen years has already made this discovery.
However, if, after all advice, any one should persist in so unreasonable
a course, she is, when fully grown, a rational and responsible being,
and, as such, is answerable alone to herself and to her Creator for the
marring of his workmanship. What folly, what worse than folly, should we
think it in the managers of a steamship to intrust the care of the
machinery to an engineer who knew nothing of its construction, or of the
way in which the parts act upon one another; and yet, the mother who
leaves her daughter in ignorance, and then does not carefully guard her
herself, is guilty of worse than this; and when the evil is done, the
advice of the wisest physician can only be the enjoinment of the very
sanitary rules which she herself should have long before enforced; for
"the true method of Sexual Education must remain that which has been
always hitherto spoken of, that of correct living."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mrs. E. M. King, _Contemporary Review_, Dec., 1873, in an article on
"Cooeperative Housekeeping."

[2] _Principles of Political Economy_, Mill. American Ed., D. Appleton &
Co., Vol. I., p. 551.

[3] _Body and Mind_, 2d Ed., p. 300.

[4] Referring to New York, Boston, or places on same isotherm.

[5] I have never seen the actual figures given on this subject, and in
the interest of positive science, therefore, subjoin the following,
which any one can easily verify for herself. The following articles,
viz., merino and cotton drawers, flannel skirt, a light Balmoral, a
short, light hoop, corsets, and dress-skirts, over and under, weighed
9lbs. 4oz. Avoirdupois. It must be also remembered that