uberty_." She adds that the chief
obstacle in the way is the girl's own likes and dislikes, and the
ignorance of her mother who has been accustomed to think that
pain is a woman's natural lot.

Such a period of rest from mental strain, while it would fortify
the organism in its resistance to any reasonable strain later,
need by no means be lost for education in the wider sense of the
word, for the education required in classrooms is but a small
part of the education required for life. Nor should it by any
means be reserved merely for the sickly and delicate girl. The
tragic part of the present neglect to give girls a really sound
and fitting education is that the best and finest girls are
thereby so often ruined. Even the English policeman, who
admittedly belongs in physical vigor and nervous balance to the
flower of the population, is unable to bear the strain of his
life, and is said to be worn out in twenty-five years. It is
equally foolish to submit the finest flowers of girlhood to a
strain which is admittedly too severe.

It seems to be clear that the main factor in the common sexual and general
invalidism of girls and young women is bad hygiene, in the first place
consisting in neglect of the menstrual functions and in the second place
in faulty habits generally. In all the more essential matters that concern
the hygiene of the body the traditions of girls--and this seems to be more
especially the case in the Anglo-Saxon countries--are inferior to those of
youths. Women are much more inclined than men to subordinate these things
to what seems to them some more urgent interest or fancy of the moment;
they are trained to wear awkward and constricting garments, they are
indifferent to regular and substantial meals, preferring innutritious and
indigestible foods and drinks; they are apt to disregard the demands of
the bowels and the bladder out of laziness or modesty; they are even
indifferent to physical cleanliness.[29] In a great number of minor ways,
which separately may seem to be of little importance, they play into the
hands of an environment which, not always having been adequately adjusted
to their special needs, would exert a considerable stress and strain even
if they carefully sought to guard themselves against it. It has been found
in an American Women's College in which about half the scholars wore
corsets and half not, that nearly all