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consternation and humiliation by being privately notified by the head master of a boys' school that their boys would not be reëntered for another term at his school. 'A fearful condition of immorality,' wrote the head master, 'has been unearthed at the school, and in order to set an example to the rest of the boys, every boy concerned will be denied reëntrance to this school.'

"The 'fearful condition of immorality' discovered in the school was, as the head master privately explained, traceable, as it generally is, 'to one boy, the son of a family of unquestioned standing in its community,' and he has involved the other boys.

"The boy in question was not a vicious lad: on the contrary, he was a boy possessed of more than ordinary good characteristics. When he was brought up before the head master and the full result of his baneful influence was explained to him the boy was panic stricken.

"'Didn't you realize what you were doing?' asked the head master.

"'No,' replied the boy, who was nineteen and really a young man: 'I knew it was wrong, yes, but I didn't realize how wrong. As a matter of fact,' said the boy, 'I didn't know what I was doing, and how I was getting the boys into a thing that I now see is more serious than I had any idea of.'

"'Didn't your father and mother ever explain these things to you?' asked the head master.

"'Not a word,' answered the boy, and then as a grim look came on his face he said: 'God! I wish they had!'

"A pleasant realization must it be to the parents of this boy as they read this sentence in the head master's letter to the father of this boy:

"'I cannot but feel that your criminal negligence in the most vital duty that can come to a parent is the direct cause in this twofold calamity: first, of the downfall of your own son; and second, of the downfall of each of the other forty boys, and of the humiliation in which they and their parents find themselves. These are hard words to say to you, but they are true, and I say them not alone as the head master of this school, but also as one father to another, and as one man to another.'"

In the growing youth's mind there arise many questions that he would like to talk over with his father, but he feels diffident about asking him. Too often the boy grows up and goes away to college without ever talking with his father about manhood. In all matters concerning his business relations and success, the boy has received careful instruction. He has not been left to work out those problems by himself but is given the benefit of the experiences of those who have trodden the road before. But in this matter so vital to his whole life, he has been left to clear his own path through the woods. With no guide and bewildered with the new ideas and experiences that crowd upon him, is it any wonder he loses his way, wanders off the straight path, falls ofttimes into some bog that perhaps was hidden from his sight by surrounding flowers and to which he has been lured by siren music?

The father's duty to his son is plain—and must not be neglected. In some cases the mother must attend to this duty and for the future welfare of her son she must see that he receives adequate instruction.

CHAPTER XXII HOW SHALL THE CHILD BE TOLD?

Every mother and every father realizes that there are certain things incident to reproduction that must be learned by the child at an early age. They realize, too, that it is preferable that this information should be imparted by the parents. But, on account of their own lack of instruction, they find two problems confronting them. How and when shall I tell my child are the questions uppermost in many parents' minds.

The answer to the first question must depend upon the individual case. At a certain age a baby expresses a desire for something to bite. Before that time we make no effort to force him to bite. Later he finds he can help himself from one position to another by creeping. Then in a few months he discovers he is able to use his feet and tries to walk. We do not try to force any of these new ideas upon him but simply wait patiently until he expresses a desire to acquire some new knowledge, then we aid him and guide his efforts.

There comes a time in the life of every child when he awakens to knowledge of reproduction. Then is the time to give the information. Some children commence to inquire as early as three years. At such an early age it is not necessary to go into details, as a very little information suffices to satisfy the child.

Just how to tell the truths necessary must vary with the age of the child. It is important to remember to be truthful to the child. When a mother tells the child that the stork or the doctor brings the baby, she sets a seal upon evasion. Some day he will learn that his mother has deceived him and that behind her instruction lies an element of secrecy, and secrecy with its companion curiosity is the cause of much unrest in after life. The child gathers the idea that there must be something shameful connected with the birth of a child or his mother would not be ashamed to tell him the truth.

Secondly, the child must be told scientifically that this knowledge may form a basis for later studies in biology. He can be taught in a simple manner that all nature comes from a seed; that the mother makes a tiny nest for the seed and that with all seeds it is necessary for their growth that the father gives them some pollen.

Until these subjects are put before children and young people with some degree of intelligence and sympathetic handling, it cannot be expected that anything but the utmost confusion in mind and in morals should reign in matters of sex. It seems incredible that our thoughts could be so unclean that we find it impossible to give to our children the information they need on these most sacred subjects, but instead we allow them to obtain their information whenever and wherever they can and in the most unclean manner. A child at the age of puberty is capable of the most sensitive, affectional and serene appreciation of what sex means and can absorb the teachings if properly given without any shock to his sense of the fitness of things. Indeed whenever these subjects are taught to the child correctly they induce a feeling of reverence for the mother that could not otherwise be obtained. A little child when told that she grew in a nest in mother's body right underneath mother's heart at once becomes filled with a great love and wonder for that mother. Then later to teach the relation of fatherhood and how the love of parents for each other and their desire to have a child of their very own was the cause of that child's existence—these things seem so natural to the child mind that has not been polluted with vulgar ideas that they excite in him no sense of unfitness, only a deep gratitude and a kind of tender wonderment.

The great point to remember in teaching these things to children is to satisfy their present question and leave the understanding that mother (or father) always stands ready and willing to explain any problems that are bothering the child.

So many girls have told me that when they were between six and fourteen years of age they had heard some things about the land where the babies grow and immediately went to their mothers and inquired as to the truth of what they had heard. The invariable answer received was, "Little girls must not talk about such things." That silenced the child and the mother heaved a sigh of relief that the question had passed off so smoothly and easily. That little sentence has been the cause of innumerable mistakes and misery. That little sentence marked the beginning of the failure of the child to confide in her mother, the child never again would broach the subject to her mother. However, that did not mean that the child would not receive the information requested; for, as a rule, the girls who told of this incidence also remarked that they had received the information very soon from some older girl and frequently in a vulgar manner. If a mother wishes to retain the confidence of her daughter, if a father wishes to retain the confidence of his son they both must keep a keen lookout for the first questions and be prepared to answer them at the time.

Later on the special sexual needs of the boy or the girl can be explained, the necessity of cleanliness and the danger of self-abuse. The need of self-control and the possibility of deflecting physical desire to other channels and the great gain resulting; all these things the youth of either sex are capable of understanding and appreciating, and the knowledge given early will prevent many physical and moral wrecks.

It is the duty of fathers and mothers to prepare themselves on these subjects so as to have the answer ready when the child first inquires. There is no excuse for not doing so, for educators all over the country stand ready to help any parents who call upon them. It is possible for every community to obtain the services of a lecturer or teacher who will instruct the parents. The individual can obtain books which explain all these things simply and plainly. There is no excuse for ignorance.

CHAPTER XXIII WOMEN IN BUSINESS

If all homes were ideal and all men likewise, there would be no question of woman suffrage or woman in business. But this is not an ideal world; all women who have kept their places and stayed at home, kept house and taken care of their children have not led ideal lives. In too many instances the home woman, the little wren, has been deserted for the gay song-bird. The necessities of life have forced other women into the business world—women whose preference would be for the ideal, quiet home life. One must not think that because a woman is leading a public life that she prefers it, that she has no desire for a home and little ones. Often her choice has been the lesser of two evils,—more to be desired than a life, married, but loveless; one in which she must slave from morn till eve and then receive as recompense curses and fault-finding.

The woman who refuses to so demean the married life as to enter into such a marriage, preferring instead the busy life of a bachelor maid, is to be admired rather than condemned. That she makes a success of her business life tends to show what some man has missed by not proving himself worthy to be her husband.

We hear so much about woman entering into business—just as though she had not always been in business. Stop and think about our ancestors on the farms. The woman shared the work equally with the man. He attended to the heavier work, while she attended to that which required less physical strength but more attention to details. The products of her industry often brought as much ready cash as that derived from the sale of the larger products of the farm. Many families depended for the yearly supply of clothes and luxuries

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