in different
latitudes. We have said that in the middle temperate zone the proper age
is fourteen years and six months. Let us now see what conditions lead to
deviations from this age in our climate.

First on the list is that sacred fire handed down to us from our
ancestors, which we call, in our material language, the _constitution._

The females of certain races, certain families, it is often noticed,
mature earlier than their neighbours. Jewesses, for example, are always
precocious, earlier by one or two years. So are colored girls, and those
of creole lineage. We can guess the reasons here. No doubt these
children still retain in their blood the tropic fire which, at
comparatively recent periods, their forefathers felt under the vertical
rays of the torrid zone.

Nor is this all. It is well ascertained, from numerous observations,
that brunettes develope sooner than their blonde sisters; that those who
will grow to be large women are slower than those whose stature will be
small; that the dark-haired and black-eyed are more precocious in this
respect than the light-haired and blue-eyed; that the fat, sluggish girl
is more tardy than the slender, active one; that, in general, what is
known as the nervo-bilious temperament is ever ahead of that called the
lymphatic or phlegmatic.

It is a familiar fact, that it is not a good sign to see this change
before the usual average time. It betokens a weakly, excitable,
diminutive frame. Hard labor, vigorous, regular muscular exertion--prime
health, in other words--never tends to anticipate this epoch, but rather
to retard it.

With this warning fresh in our ears, let us now rehearse what causes
constantly incline unduly to hasten puberty, and thus to forestall wise
Nature in her plans for health and beauty. They are of two
kinds,--physical and mental.

Idleness of body, highly-seasoned food, stimulating beverages, such as
beer, wine, liqueurs, and, in a less degree, coffee and tea, irregular
habits of sleep,--these are the physical causes of premature
development. But the mental causes are still more potent.

Whatever _stimulates the emotions_ leads to an unnaturally early sexual
life. Late hours, children's parties, sensational novels, 'flashy'
papers, love stories, the drama, the ball-room, talk of beaux, love, and
marriage,--that atmosphere of riper years which is so often and so
injudiciously thrown around childhood,--all hasten the event which
transforms the g