arises mainly from menstruation not
being duly and properly performed.

2. THE BOUNDARY-LINE.--Menstruation--"the periods"--the appearance of the
catamenia or the menses--is then one of the most important epochs in a
girl's life. It is the boundary-line, the landmark between childhood and
womanhood; it is the threshold, so to speak, of a woman's life. Her body
now develops and expands, and her mental capacity enlarges and improves.

3. THE COMMENCEMENT OF MENSTRUATION.--A good beginning at this time is
peculiarly necessary, or a girl's health is sure to suffer, and different
organs of the body--her lungs, for instance, may become imperiled. A
healthy continuation, at regular periods, is also much needed, or
conception, when she is married, may not occur. Great attention and
skillful management is required to ward off many formidable diseases, which
at the close of menstruation--at "the change of life"--are more likely than
at any time to be developed. If she marry when very young, marriage weakens
her system, and prevents a full development of her body. Moreover, such an
one is, during the progress of her labor, prone to convulsions--which is a
very serious childbed complication.

4. EARLY MARRIAGES.--Statistics prove that twenty per cent--20 in every
100--of females who marry are under age, and that such early marriages are
often followed by serious, and sometimes even by fatal consequences to
mother, to progeny, or to both. Parents ought, therefore, to persuade their
daughters not to marry until they are of age--twenty-one; they should point
out to them the risk and danger likely to ensue if their advice be not
followed; they should impress upon their minds the old adage:

"Early wed,
Early dead."

5. TIME TO MARRY.--Parents who have the real interest and happiness of
their daughters at heart, ought, in consonance with the laws of physiology,
to discountenance marriage before twenty; and the nearer the girls arrive
at {341} the age of twenty-five before the consummation of this important
rite, the greater the probability that, physically and morally, they will
be protected against those risks which precocious marriages bring in their
train.

6. FEEBLE PARENTS.--Feeble parents have generally feeble children; diseased
parents, diseased children; nervous parents, nervous children;--"like
begets like." It is sad to reflect, that the innocent have to suffer, not
only for the guilty, but for the thoughtless and inc