literature upon the
subject, by conference with men and women who know, and by personal
and professional experience, that what follows is written.

III

THE CORRECT MENTAL ATTITUDE

So much by way of general remarks regarding the subject in hand. It
is more the especial purpose of what follows, however, to treat of the
matter of marriage in particular, _to say something definite to young
husbands and wives that shall be of real benefit to them_, not only by
way of starting them out right in the new and untried way upon which
they have entered, but to help them to make that way a realm
of perpetual and ever increasing joy to both parties concerned,
throughout its entire course, their whole lives long.

Be it said, then, first, that it is the duty of every bride and groom,
before they engage in sexual commerce with each other, to acquaint
themselves thoroughly with the anatomy and physiology of the sex
organs of human beings, both male and female, and to make the
acquirement of such knowledge as dispassionate and matter-of-fact
an affair as though they were studying the nature, construction and
functions of the stomach, or the digestive processes entire, or the
nature and use of any of the other bodily organs. "Clear and clean am
I within and without; clear and clean is every scrap and part of me,
and no part shall be held more sacred or preferred above another. For
divine am I, and all I am, or contain."

Now the normal young man or woman would do just this, would pursue a
study of sex in this way, were it not for the fact that they have
been taught, time out of mind, that to do this is immodest, not to
say indecent or positively wicked. They have longed to be possessed
of such knowledge, all their lives; in most cases more than any other
form of wisdom that it was possible for them to make their own. But
its acquirement has been placed beyond their possible reach, and it
is only by the most clandestine and often nasty means that they have
attained what little they know. But the quotation made in the last
paragraph, sounds the key note of what is _right_ in this matter,
and the first effort made by the reader of these pages should be to
establish in himself or herself the _condition of mind which these
lines embody._

And it had better be said, right here, that for most young people this
will be found to be no _easy_ thing to do. Nor should the reader feel
ashamed or chagrined, or at odds with himself or