ad abortions produced
on them and in two or three days they were as good as ever. Yes. But
they do not know Miss D who is resting in her grave, nor do they know
why Miss E and Mrs. F are invalids for life. The women who get over
their abortion experiences easily are apt to talk of their good luck;
the women who have become chronic invalids or who are resting in their
graves as a result of an abortion are not apt to talk of the matter.

And therefore, once more, remember, an abortion is no trifling matter.

One other piece of advice and I am through. Some men of a low moral and
mental caliber are under the influence of the pernicious idea that if a
girl has lost her virginity--no matter under what circumstances--she no
longer amounts to much and is free prey for everybody who may want her.
And, like beasts of prey, these wretched specimens of humanity pester
such a girl with much more impudence, more brazenness than they dare to
employ in the case of a girl who is still considered a virgin. And,
what is more, the girls themselves become poisoned with this pernicious
idea and dare not offer the same resistance that the virgin does. And
they often yield with resignation, though against their will, and
though they may experience a feeling of disgust against the man.

Now again, _don't you do it_. Do not nurse the medieval idea that
because you are not a virgin in the physical sense, you are "ruined,"
"no good," and an outcast. You are nothing of the kind. If through
some cause or other you are no longer in possession of an intact
hymen, it is your affair or misfortune, and nobody else's. Do not on
that account cast your eyes down and avoid meeting people. Carry your
head high, do not fear to meet people, and treat with contempt the
jeers of the stupid and ignorant. A person's entire character does not
depend upon the presence or absence of the hymen, and one misstep
should not ruin a person's whole life. A boy is not "ruined," is not
an outcast, because he has had sexual relations before marriage, and
while the boy's and girl's cases are not exactly identical, still the
poor girl should not be made to expiate one error all her life long.

It isn't fair.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

ADVICE TO PARENTS OF UNFORTUNATE GIRLS

Attitude of Parents Towards Unfortunate Girl--The Case of Edith
and What Her Father Did--The Pitiful Cases of Mary B. and Bridget
C.

Suppose you are the parents of a girl to whom a misfortun