e grief and cankering care. All fear of
childbirth and all dread of maternal duties and sacrifices do not in
the least lessen the necessary unpleasantness associated with normal
labor. It lies in the choice of every expectant mother to journey
through the months of pregnancy with dissatisfaction and resentment or
with joy and serenity. "The child will be born and laid in your arms
to be fed, cared for, and reared, whether you weep or smile through
the months of waiting."

THE RESENTFUL MOTHER

A little woman came into our office the day of this writing, saying:
"Doctor, I'm just as mad as I can be; I don't want to be pregnant, I
just hate the idea." As I smiled upon this girl-wife of nineteen, I
drew from my desk a sheet of paper and slowly wrote down these words
for the head of a column: "Got a mad on," and for the head of another,
"Got a glad on;" and then we quickly set to work carefully to tabulate
all the results that having a "mad on" would bring. We found to her
dismay that its harvest would be sadness of the heart, husband
unhappy, work unbearable, while all church duties as well as social
functions would be sadly marred. Then, just as carefully, we
tabulated the benefits that would follow having a "glad on." Her face
broke into a smile; she laughed, and as she left the office she
assured me that she would accept Nature's decree, make the best of her
lot, and thus wisely align herself with the normal life demands of old
Mother Nature. This view of her experience, she came to see, would
bring the greatest amount of happiness to both herself and husband.
She left me, declaring that she was just "wild for a baby;" and there
is still echoing in my ears her parting words: "I'm leaving you, Oh,
such a happy girl! and I'm going home to Harold a happy and contented
expectant mother."

There often enters on the exit of a discontented and resentful
expectant mother, a woman, very much alone in the world--perhaps a
bachelor maid or a barren wife, who, as she sits in the office,
bitterly weeps and wails over her state of loneliness or sterility;
and so we are led to realize that discontentment is the lot of many
women; and we are sometimes led to regret that ours is not the power
to take from her that hath and give to her that hath not.

EARLY SIGNS OF PREGNANCY

Among the first questions an expectant mother asks is: "What are early
signs of pregnancy?" The answer briefly is:

1. Cessation of menstruation.