ometimes feel that this new physical
function is a vexatious hindrance to their happiness. It is often
accompanied with pain, and its periodical recurrence interferes with
their plans for pleasure, and they in ignorance sometimes say,
rebelliously, "O, I hate being a woman!"

A young woman once came to consult me professionally. She was a
well-formed, good-looking girl, to all outward appearance lacking
nothing in her physical make-up; but she was now twenty-two and had
never menstruated, so she was aware that for some reason she was not
like other girls. She came to ask me to make an examination and find
out, if possible, what was wrong. She was engaged to be married, and
knew that motherhood was in some way connected with menstruation, and
she thought it might be possible that her physical condition would
preclude the possibility of her becoming a mother, and, if so, it
would be dishonorable to marry. Upon examination I discovered that all
the organs of reproduction were lacking. When I disclosed this fact to
her she exclaimed, with sadness, "Oh, why was I not made like other
girls? I have heard them complain because they were girls, but I think
if they were in my place, and knew that they could never have a home
and children of their own, they would feel they had greater reason
then to complain."

I think so, too. We seldom think of the fact that upon sex depend all
the sweet ties of home and family. It is because of sex that we are
fathers, mothers and children; that we have the dear family life, with
its anniversaries of weddings and birthdays. It is through sex that
the "desolate of the earth are set in families," and love and
generosity have sway instead of selfishness. For this reason we ought
to regard sex with reverent thought, to hold it sacred to the highest
purposes, to speak of it ever with purest delicacy, and never with
jesting or prurient smiles. I do not want you to center your thought
on the physical facts of sex, but I would like to have you feel that
womanhood, which is the mental, moral and physical expression of sex,
is a glorious, divine gift, to be received with solemn thankfulness.

I want you, for the sake of a perfect womanhood, to take care of your
bodily health, and yet I do not want you to feel that a woman must of
necessity be a periodical semi-invalid.

CHAPTER XV.

ARTIFICIALITIES OF CIVILIZED LIFE.

Menstruation is a perfectly physiological process and should be
without