chmond,
_Boyhood_, p. 60). Sex must always be a mystery, but, as Mrs.
Richmond rightly says, "the real and true mysteries of generation
and birth are very different from the vulgar secretiveness with
which custom surrounds them."

The question as to the precise names to be given to the more
private bodily parts and functions is sometimes a little
difficult to solve. Every mother will naturally follow her own
instincts, and probably her own traditions, in this matter. I
have elsewhere pointed out (in the study of "The Evolution of
Modesty") how widespread and instinctive is the tendency to adopt
constantly new euphemisms in this field. The ancient and simple
words, which in England a great poet like Chaucer could still use
rightly and naturally, are so often dropped in the mud by the
vulgar that there is an instinctive hesitation nowadays in
applying them to beautiful uses. They are, however,
unquestionably the best, and, in their origin, the most dignified
and expressive words. Many persons are of opinion that on this
account they should be rescued from the mud, and their sacredness
taught to children. A medical friend writes that he always taught
his son that the vulgar sex names are really beautiful words of
ancient origin, and that when we understand them aright we cannot
possibly see in them any motive for low jesting. They are simple,
serious and solemn words, connoting the most central facts of
life, and only to ignorant and plebeian vulgarity can they cause
obscene mirth. An American man of science, who has privately and
anonymously printed some pamphlets on sex questions, also takes
this view, and consistently and methodically uses the ancient
and simple words. I am of opinion that this is the ideal to be
sought, but that there are obvious difficulties at present in the
way of attaining it. In any case, however, the mother should be
in possession of a very precise vocabulary for all the bodily
parts and acts which it concerns her children to know.

It is sometimes said that at this early age children should not be told,
even in a simple and elementary form, the real facts of their origin but
should, instead, hear a fairy-tale having in it perhaps some kind of
symbolic truth. This contention may be absolutely rejected, without
thereby, in any degree, denying the important place which f