d nothing
concerning their sexual functions, nor of the consequences of
these. At Zurich a school has been instituted for nurses and
midwives which will soon give good results. This school is also
open to young girls who, without becoming professional nurses,
desire to learn how to take care of the sick in their own
families, and especially the newly born. This is an experiment
worthy of encouragement which should be extended universally.

"The awkwardness, incapacity and ignorance of a young wife, when
she starts housekeeping and has a baby, are astonishing. She
often pays dearly for it, in spite of the instinct which is so
much talked about. It is not the same as with animals, whose
instincts are sufficient for the care of the young.

"A lady doctor of Zurich, Madame Hilfiker, has lately developed
a scheme of much greater importance, which will require a great
effort on the part of women and the intervention of legislation,
if it is to be realized. Men, she says, maintain their muscular
strength by military service. Every young woman, who is not
prevented by her occupation, should perform the equivalent of
military service, from the age of eighteen, in obligatory
service for a year, in hospitals, asylums, maternities,
_creches_ (public nurseries) or public kitchens. Such training
would be extremely useful for future wives, and would at the
same time provide the institutions in question with useful
workers. Why should men be the only ones to perform obligatory
social service? I expect," says Madame Schmid, "many adverse
criticisms on this proposal, one of which I will refute at
once. The ladies of the middle classes will strongly object
because their daughters will see and hear so many things which
ought to be hidden till they marry! But why should they be
hidden? In order to prepare our daughters for marriage, is it
not logical to begin by telling them what it is, what it
involves and what it exacts?" ("_L'Education sociale de nos
filles_," 1904.)

In neglecting this duty our parents and teachers commit a veritable
crime. Does a normal man ever marry without knowing what he is doing?
Yet our young girls are kept by their mothers in insensate and often
dangerous ignorance of their whole future. Whoever invented this
absurd and mischievous idea that a young girl should remain ignorant