imperfectly developed female, and is only capable of producing males.]

[Footnote 20: I owe my first clear apprehension of the gradual evolution
of the preservative and altruistic elements in nature, arising from the
struggle for existence, to a sermon of Dr. Abbott's called _The
Manifestation of the Son of God_, now, I fear, out of print. Of course
Darwin recognized these factors as a necessary complement to the
survival of the fittest, else had there been no fittest to survive; but
the exigencies of proving his theory of the origin of species
necessitated his dwelling on the destructive and weeding-out elements of
Nature--"Nature red in tooth and claw," rather than the equally
pervasive Nature of the brooding wing and the flowing breast. Had not
Professor Drummond unfortunately mixed it up with a good deal of
extraneous sentiment, his main thesis would scarcely have been
impugned.]

[Footnote 21: In case this method of teaching should seem to some
mothers too difficult, I intend to embody it in a simple "Mother's Talk
on Life and Birth," which a mother can read with her boys.]

[Footnote 22: See a White Cross paper of mine called _My Little Sister_.
Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., London.]

[Footnote 23: Twice since the wreck of the _Birkenhead_ has the same
true manhood been evinced on the high seas in the face of almost certain
death--once in the wreck of the troopship, the _Warren Hastings_, and
again by the crew and the civilian passengers of the _Stella_. Perfect
order was maintained, and though, ultimately all the men were saved, not
a man stirred hand or foot to save himself till the women and children
had first been safely got on shore.]

[Footnote 24: _French and English_, by Philip Hamerton, p. 44.]

[Footnote 25: _The British Zulu_. Wells Gardner, Darton and Co.,
London.]

CHAPTER VII

EARLY MANHOOD

If, in the words of the great educator I have already quoted, the chief
moral teaching and moral trend of the character must be given in the
schoolboy days, yet early manhood presents its own fruitful field for
the influence of a mother on the side of whatsoever things are pure and
lovely. The methods of exerting this influence must change as your son
grows from a boy into a man; the inevitable reticence, the exquisite
reserve of sex, must interfere with the old boyish confidences and with
your own freedom of speech. Other barriers, too, will most likely spring
up as your son goes forth into t