l you can enclose the whole in the
pocket in the band. This makes a thick center and thin ends by which
to attach the napkin to the suspender.

I hold that mental serenity is one of the essentials of healthful
menstrual periods, and this cannot be had if the mind is continually
troubled and the thought centered on the physical condition. I would
be glad to have your mind freed from the ideas of sex matters as far
as possible. It is a scientific fact that thinking continually of an
organ tends to disturb that organ. I know a man who was so afraid of
heart disease that he felt of his pulse every few minutes and kept a
stethoscope on the head of his bed to listen to his heart in the
night. I would have been surprised had he not had heart trouble.

CHAPTER XIX.

SOLITARY VICE.

As the reproductive system awakens to activity it naturally attracts
the attention of the girl, and an effort should be made to call her
thoughts to other themes.

As I have said before, the reading of sensational love stories is most
detrimental. The descriptions of passionate love scenes arouse in the
reader a thrill through her own sexual organism that tends to increase
its activity and derange its normal state. Girls often mature into
women earlier than they should, because through romances, through
jests of associates in regard to beaus and lovers, and through
indulgence in sentimental fancies their sexual systems are unduly
stimulated and aroused. This stimulation sometimes leads to the
formation of an evil habit, known as self-abuse. The stimulation of
the sex organs is accompanied with a pleasurable sensation, and this
excitement may be created by mechanical means, or even by thought.
Many girls who are victims of this most injurious habit are unaware of
its dangers, although they instinctively feel that they do not want it
known. Others who would not stoop to a mechanical exciting of
themselves do so through thoughts, and do not know that they are just
as truly guilty of self-abuse as the girl who uses the hand or other
mechanical means.

The results of self-abuse are most disastrous. It destroys mental
power and memory, it blotches the complexion, dulls the eye, takes
away the strength, and may even cause insanity. It is a habit most
difficult to overcome, and may not only last for years, but in its
tendency be transmitted to one's children.

If you have from the first thought nobly of yourself, you will have
fallen into n