"The first chapters were difficult for me, not because I could
not understand them, but owing to the strange and novel
experience which the truth made in me when plainly and
scientifically expounded. Wishing to read everything I applied
myself to the book laboriously. My first impression was that of
disgust for all human beings and mistrust of everything. But I
was soon glad to find that I was a very normal young girl, so
that this impression soon passed away. I was no longer excited
over conversations which I heard, but took a real interest in
them, and I was happy to have become acquainted with some one
who understood us young girls.

"I am, therefore, a young girl whose sensations are neither cold
nor perverse, and I am always rejoiced, in reading your book, to
see with what truth you describe our sexual impressions. Those
who maintain that we feel in this way the same as men make me
smile. In your book ("Hygiene of Marriage," p. 479) you say that
the idea of marriage awakens in a normal young girl a kind of
anguish and disgust, and that this feeling disappears as soon as
she has found some one whom she loves. This is extremely true
and well observed. I am in complete agreement with a friend with
whom I have often discussed your book; we young girls are very
little attracted by the purely sexual side of marriage, and we
should prefer to see children come into the world by some other
way than that ordained by Nature. This will, perhaps, make you
laugh. However, I think you will understand my feelings.

"When I had finished reading your book I became absolutely
tranquil, and my ideas were enlightened. It goes without saying
that it is no longer possible for me to be ingenuous, but I
should like to know what one gains by such naivety. It is very
easy to be innocent when one knows nothing, and this is of no
account. I never thought for a moment to find your book immoral,
and that is why I do not think you have done me any harm. Excuse
me for having written at such length, but I could not abbreviate
when dealing with such a serious question."

The author of this letter has, at my request, authorized me to publish
it anonymously. I think that the candor, the loyalty and the maturity
of judgment of the sentiments expressed by this young girl are of much
more value and are much more hea