, a doctor's daughter, who suffered
continuously from pain in the abdomen, and from back-pain which
increased so greatly at the time of the menses that she was in the
habit of going to bed for several days, to be waited on with
solicitous care by her family. In an attempt to cure the trouble she
had undergone an operation to suspend the uterus, but the pain had
continued as before. When she came to me, I explained to her that
there was no physical difficulty and that her trouble was wholly
nervous. I made her play tennis every day and she had just finished a
game when her period came on. She stayed up for luncheon, went for a
walk in the afternoon, ate her dinner with the family, and behaved
like other people. Her mother telephoned that evening and when I told
her what her daughter had been doing, she gasped in astonishment. She
had difficulty in believing that the new order was not miracle but
simply the working out of natural law. Since that time her daughter
has had no more trouble.

=The Ounce of Prevention.= If young girls had wiser counselors in
their mothers and physicians, the misconception would never occur, and
such an indirect outlet would not be needed; the organic sensations
incident to puberty and the recurring menstrual period would have
something of the significance of the annunciation to Mary, bringing
wonder and a sense of well-being.

When your little daughter arrives at maturity, give her a joyous
initiation into the noble order of women. She will welcome the new
function as a badge of womanhood and as a harbinger of wonderful
things to come.

A girl of fifteen came under my care to be helped out of a mood of
increasing depression and uneasiness. Her glance was furtive, yet
anxiously expectant. Tears came unbidden as she sat alone or fingered
the keys of the piano. Tactful questioning elicited no response as to
reasons for her unhappiness. Opportunities for giving confidence were
not accepted. At a chance moment our talk drifted to the subject of
menstruation. "Your periods are regular and easy; and do you know what
they are for?" Then I painted for her a picture of the preparations
that are made throughout the whole organism, for the germ-cell that
comes each month and has in it all the possibilities of a new little
life.

The result of this confidential talk may seem fanciful to any one but
an eye-witness. We had only a week's association, but the depression
ceased, the furtive look and depre