erity. We believe,--in fact we know,
that the first few months after marriage is the critical period in every
woman's life so far as the attainment of happiness and success is
concerned. No physician can practice medicine for years and fail to have
this truth impressed upon him again and again.

Every intelligent person knows that most young girls enter into the
marriage relationship without a real understanding of its true meaning,
or even a serious thought regarding its duties or its responsibilities.
Maternity is thrust upon these physically and mentally immature young
wives, and they assume the principal role in a relationship that is
onerous and exacting. We know that the duties of wife and mother require
an intelligence which is rendered efficient only by experience. We know
that young wives acquire habits which undermine their health and their
morals unwittingly. And we also know that the product of this
diversified inefficiency is what constitutes the decadence and the
degeneracy of the human race. Is it any wonder that mistakes occur, that
heartaches abound, and that homes are degraded?

What is the remedy? Education! Systematized instruction; an efficient
and everlasting propaganda of education carried into the homes of the
thousands of young wives and mothers who are willing, but who do not
know how to play their part creditably and efficiently.

THE FORMATIVE PERIOD.--The period prior to marriage is the formative
period, the character building years. Matrimony is to be the test of how
we have built our castle. The success of the matrimonial venture--for
every marriage is an experiment--depends absolutely upon the result of
the first year. We would, therefore, seriously, and earnestly, request
the young wife to think deeply upon this problem and not to ignore the
fact that the success of the venture is absolutely dependent upon her
efforts to a very large degree. Some may assert that the husband is the
essential equation, so far as happiness and success is concerned in the
matrimonial venture. We do not think so. A home is what the woman makes
it. A man may not be an ideal husband, or even a good father, though his
home, to his children, may be heaven itself if the wife is a born
mother and a good woman. On the other hand a man may be patient, hard
working, self-sacrificing, good father, but he cannot make a happy home,
for his children, if his wife is not the right kind of a woman.

A true marriage implie