The Four Epochs of Womans Life | Page 5

some industrial occupation. This may be
housekeeping or any other occupation for which she has taste or talent.
A healthy mental occupation is an absolute necessity to prevent the
individual from becoming self-centered. And to become self-centered is
the first step on the certain road to chronic invalidism.
A most important part of an education is the knowledge of how to
procure the most perfect development of the body possible, and how to
maintain the health. This has not been touched upon here, since the
outlines for the general physical education have already been given in
"Hygiene and Physical Culture for Women,"* and the present volume
concerns itself only with the four critical epochs of woman's life.
* By Anna M. Galbraith, M. D.; published by Dodd, Mead & Co.
With this broad view of an education, as a means to procure the best
physique possible; a mind disciplined to meet to the greatest advantage
all the vicissitudes of life; an intellect developed along the lines of its
greatest possibilities; and an occupation chosen in accordance with the
tastes and talents of the individual; it becomes an incontrovertible fact
that the education is the controlling factor in the physical life of every
woman.
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"Be not simply good; be good for something."
THOREAU. _________________

PART I.-- MAIDENHOOD.
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CHAPTER I.
PUBERTY.
Sexual Development; Age of Puberty; Physical Changes at Puberty;
First Onset of Menstruation; Psychic Changes at Puberty.
"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead
life to sovereign power."
-- "OEnone."
Sexual Development.-- Sexual development goes on during all the
years of childhood, but is not complete in the female sex until between
the twenty-second and the twenty-fifth year. If the child has no
inherited taint, and has been properly educated morally, physically, and
intellectually, it must follow that the structural development of the
pelvic organs has been normal; and normal organs always perform their
functions perfectly.
The commencement of the ovarian function does not cause any more
profound change in the system and habits than does dentition. The
various epochs of life are generally spoken of as if they were
paroxysmal-- as though they were separated by some tremendous
chasm, which had to be leapt over or fallen into. Nature makes no such
egregious blunders; preparations for every change in life have been
going on for a very long time before the evidences of such change
become manifest.
In a healthy girl the psychic and physical changes incident to puberty
occur so gradually as to escape the girl's own notice. The first and, if
the girl has not been properly prepared for it, always startling change is
the appearance of the menstrual flow. The mother who has not told her

daughter of this coming change in her life before it is due has
committed a serious error; it is no uncommon occurrence for girls who
know nothing of this function to get into a tub of cold water to stop the
flow; and if they stay in long enough, it generally does stop, and the
girl's health may be ruined for life.
The opinion of Dr. Ely van de Warker is that "if healthy ovulation is
the outcome of healthy childhood, the function will obey the law of
periodicity year by year, and all this time the young woman will be able
to sustain uninterrupted physical and intellectual work as well as the
young man. Not that the laws of health may be violated with impunity
at puberty or any other time of a woman's life; but a law of health is no
more binding upon a young woman than it is upon a young man; and
there really is no such thing as one law for women and another for
men."
Age of Puberty.-- In the temperate regions the age of puberty is reached
between the ages of twelve and fourteen years. The girl is then said to
be nubile; that is, as soon as menstruation appears it is possible for her
to bear children; but she is by no means sufficiently developed to do so,
as she herself will not be completely developed physically or mentally
before the age of twenty-two or twenty-five years.
Physical Changes at Puberty.-- The physical changes that gradually
take place, beginning at the time of puberty, are: the breasts, pelvis, and
neck enlarge; hair develops over the pubis and in the arm-pits; the
voice alters. As a rule, women continue to grow in stature until the
twenty-fifth year. It is said that brunettes develop sooner than blondes,
and that large women develop more slowly than women of small
stature; city girls develop younger than girls brought up in the country.
Whatever stimulates the emotions causes a premature development of
the sexual organs; as children's parties, late hours, sensational novels,
loose stories, the drama