Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

302 THE CHARLOTTE MEDICAL JOURNAL ':\
Obtained. A writer on this subject said a should commence when they are very young
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mother told him that when her daughter by teachmg them the beautiful laws and
Tsked her questions she answered them in arrangements of nature ,n the reproduction
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the spirit that such instruction should be of plants and flowers emphasizing the sex t
given He savs: "This girl after receiv- differentiation Gradually as shementally
fng a straight-forward answer from her develops, she should be led along nature s
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mother kissed her and said 'Mother, I am paths up to the reproduction of birds then
rrtofvou " Who can sav that this girl animals, explaining their mating habits
was injured by this knowledge obtained and the season therefor. \X hen nature was j
roL uch a source? Did not this mother, giving the girl the first earb' signs of her i
Hhis instructing her daughter, erect own reproductive powers she should have ;
around her a "stone wall" of protection: the whole truth plainly told her. Now he ,
for what lessons or impressions are more girl will see the beauty, the wonderful, the
beneficial or more lasting to man or woman ethical side of norma sexual feeling and
than are those received from mother? The sensual sensations will be suppressed. She |
very word "mother" seems to carry a halo will seek for no mysteries to dream about,:,
of love and protection. Again Dr. Howard have no morbid curiosity to lead her to ex-,
says "The^e are thousands of girls in the periuient, but be m the normal condition o^
upper and middle classes who, while not a heallhy woman who knows and will bej
hinocent, are ignorant of the primal laws master of natural passions until the time ot ,
of nature, many have tried to get the in- mating comes."
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formation their\dolescent longings crave. So far I have devoted my attention o the^
many have tried to seek out the mystery girls and nearly all writers on the subject
after having been snubbed or denied by that I have read do the same thing. This
their mothers. If the opportune moment is right to some extent for upon the woman i
arrives, and it generallv does, the girl falls rests the sacredness of the home, of mora s
into the selacious seductiveness of some of Christianity. A woman-a womanly ,
vicious minded woman, the seeds ot false woman-I admire and respect above all i
sexual education are sown and their spumy things on earth. It seems to me that when ,
growth forever crowds out the tender tie the great Creator was creating the earch and ,
between mother and daughter, and as the the fullness thereof He saved the best of all:
mother dissembled, so will the daughter His materials and of this He made .^
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,, In an ariicle I read recently is this thought, I
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That the maternal instinct or feeling of which I most cordially endorse. The writer;
motherhood is a natural attribute of a girl says, "The agitation m favor of woman s
and is born in them is evidenced by the care "rights" is, m reality, a movement to deand
maternal love the little mother bestows throne a queen, ^/^Y ^^ ."°"'^"'^'
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on her doll. Why should not this feeling woman is the one adorable thing in all the I
be explained to the gid when of proper worid. As a woman, she is a living textage
and she be taught the beautv and grave book of moral education for man as a wife,
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responsibility of motherhood while she is at she dignifies and makes human and lioh
the same time impressed with the beauty what man shares with the bru e; as a,
and grave importance of virtue and chastity, mother, she reigns supreme, for the hand;,
as well as instructed and warned regarding that rocks the cradle wields the destinies ol
the misery and shame of those who lose generations and ages.
these beautiful characteristics? The ques- But what about our boys? W e must retion
verv naturallv presents itself: How member the cradle just as often contains .,
shall we teach these things? I think this little man as a little woman, and he is ju -
should be left, in a great measure, to the as deserving of our care, is just f "iP°r
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judgment and tact of each individual; but ant in his sphere as is the giriin he.s. io 1
this I will say: Don't snub or evade your often we hear a mother say: Oh, JoUnii).
son or daughter when they come to you for is alright; he is a boy; but I ^m aiixiouM
information. Gain and hold their coiifi- about Mary." Look after Mary, of course
dence, and remember life is new to them, but don't neglect Johnny. It is a sad com ,
and their young minds are busy with the mentary on the humanity as well as tm,
problems that are daily presented, to use Christianity of our State ^Mississippi tha,,
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slang, "thev are from Missouri, and must she has no reformatory school and heh
be shown,'"' and it is far better for you to "convicts" range in age from htteen year:,
teach them than for them to go elsewhere to ripe old age. In an article in oneof ou,,
for information, which they will surely do newspapers commenting on tliis^ state o,i
if refused bv you. affairs I found this thought: \ ou h an |
\oain I quote from Dr. Howard, who criminality are as far apart as the pole^, n
says" "The truth as we know it should be the formative period of juvenihty there mav.
instilled into the mind of every giri. I be the elements of either crimmality or o.
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