sult to the Creator.

"But I have not told you yet of the evil effects in the displacement of
the bowels. Do you remember how many feet of intestines there are in the
body?"

"About twenty feet of small and about four feet of large intestines."

"And how are they held in place?"

"Why, I don't just remember."

"The small intestines are encased in a membrane called the mesentery. It
is just as if I folded this strip of cloth in the middle lengthwise and
put my finger inside of the fold. The small intestines lie in the middle
fold of the mesentery, and the edges of the mesentery are gathered up
like a ruffle and fastened to the spine in a space of about six inches,
leaving it to flare out like a very full ruffle. In this way, you see,
the intestines are left free, and yet cannot tie themselves in knots as
they might if but laid loosely in the abdominal cavity.

[Illustration: Fig. 1.--A natural figure and a normal pose.]

[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Corseted figure producing abnormal pose.]

"If the waist is constricted above them, they sink down and pull on this
attachment, and that often causes backache and inability to stand or
walk with comfort. It may also press the reproductive organs out of
place, and so cause much pain and suffering at menstruation.

"I am of the opinion that women were not intended to be invalids in any
degree because of their womanhood; and very likely there would be much
less flow at menstrual periods if women and girls lived in accordance
with Nature's laws."

"But, mother, you have not told me what this blood is for. It seems as
if it would not be necessary for women to go through such an experience
every month."

"Perhaps we do not fully know why it should be so, but we do know when
the little child is growing in its little room, the mother does not have
the menstrual flow; so we may suppose that it goes to nourish the
child."

"O, I see, and when not needed for the child, it just passes away."

"Yes, and every time this occurs it says to the woman that she is a
perfect woman, capable of all the duties of the wife and mother. This
thought should make her think very sacredly of herself."

For a few moments there was silence between mother and daughter, broken
only by the sound of the falling rain. At length Helen spoke. "Mother,
there is something I want to ask you about. You remember last summer,
when Mrs. Vale and Mrs. Odell called on you, I was in the library and
they did not