ents assuredly will-bung the bowels up more firmly than ever after the operation of the drug is once over. 216. If a young wife have costive bowels, let her, instead of either swallowing opening pills, or before even administering to herself an enema, try the effect of visiting the watercloset at one particular period regularly every morning of her life. It is surprising how soon, as a rule, the above simple plan will get the bowels into a regular state, so that in a short time both aperients and clysters will be perfectly unnecessary, to her great comfort and to her lasting benefit. "How use doth breed a habit in a man," and in woman too. But if the bowels are, without either medicine or enema, to be brought into a regular state, patience and perseverance must be her motto, as it ought to be for everything else which is worth the striving for. 217. If a wife's bowels be costive, she ought not to be anxious to take an aperient: she should wait awhile, and see what nature will do for her. Active purgatives, except in extreme cases (which only a doctor can determine), are an abomination. 218. In summing up my Advice to a Young Wife, I beg to give her the following inventory of some of the best physic to be found in the world:-Early rising; thorough morning ablution; good substantial plain food; great moderation in the use of stimulants; a cool and well-ventilated house, espe cially bedroom; an abundance of fresh air, exercise, and occupation; a cheerful, contented, happy spirit; and early going to bed all these are Nature's remedies, and are far superior and are far more agreeable than any others to be found in the materia medica. So true it is that Nature is, as a rule, the best doctor, and that a wife's health is pretty much as she herself chooses to make it. Shakspeare graphically and truthfully remarks that "Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to Heaven; the fated sky 219. By adopting the dictates of reason and of common sense, many of the nervous, useless, lackadaisical, fine ladies will be unknown, and we shall have instead blooming wives, who will in due time become the mothers of hardy, healthy, happy children. 220. In the foregoing pages the burden of my song has been health-the preservation of health-the most precious of God's gifts, and one that is frittered and fooled away as though it were but of little value. Health ought to be the first consideration of all, and of every young wife especially, as, when she is married, her life, her health, is not altogether her own, but her husband's and her family's. Oh! it is a glorious gift, a precious boon, to be in the enjoyment of perfect health, and is worth a little care and striving for! 221. In concluding the first division of my subject, let me entreat my fair reader to ponder well on what I have already said; let her remember that she has a glorious mission; let her thoroughly understand that if good habits and good rules be not formed and followed during the first year of her wifehood, they are not at all likely to be instituted afterwards. The first year is the golden opportunity to sow the seeds of usefulness, to make herself healthy and strong, and to cause her to be a blessing, a solace, and a comfort to her husband, her children, and all around her. The wife's mission concerns the husband quite as much as it does the wife herself :"The woman's cause is man's. They rise or sink Together. Dwarf'd or godlike, bond or free; If she be small, slight-natured, miserable, How shall men grow ?"-Tennyson. 222. I cannot, in closing this introductory chapter, do better than quote the following graphic and truthful description of a good, domestic wife : "Yes, a world of comfort Lies in that one word, wife. After a bickering day To come with jaded spirit home at night, And find the cheerful fire, the sweet repast, At which, in dress of happy cheeks and eyes, Love sits, and smiling, lightens all the board."-J. S. Knowles. 223. Pope has painted an admirable portrait of a wife, which is well worth studying and engraving on the mem ory: "She who ne'er answers till her husband cools, 224. George Herbert, two centuries and a half ago, beautifully describes his wife as "My joy, my life, my crown." and truly a good wife is emphatically a man's joy, his life, and his crown! 225. There is, too, in Wordsworth, a most exquisitely beautiful description of what a woman, if she be perfect, ought to be, which I cannot refrain from quoting. It is a perfect gem, a diamond of the first water, brilliant and sparking, without flaw or blemish : "A being breathing thoughtful breath A traveller betwixt life and death 226. Menstruation, during a period of about thirty years, plays a momentous part in the female economy; indeed, unless it be in every way properly and duly performed, it is neither possible that such a lady can be well, nor is it at all probable that she will conceive. The immense number of barren, of delicate, and of hysterical women there are in England, arises mainly from menstruation not being duly and properly performed. Sufficient attention has not hitherto been paid to this subject. I therefore purpose devoting an especial chapter to its due and careful consideration, and for which I beg my fair reader's earnest attention. It is a matter that deeply concerns her, as the due performance of Menstruation usually betokens health and happiness; while the converse frequently tells of ailments and misery. PART I. MENSTRUATION. Menstruation-" the periods”—is the manifestation, the proof positive, the sign-manual of puberty; the due performance of which is, as a rule, necessary for health and for conception; it always ceases during pregnancy, usually during suckling, and oftentimes during severe illness; it comes on generally to the day, and frequently to the very hour, every lunar month, for the space of about thirty years, and then disappears altogether; constituting, at its close, & change of life." 227. Barren wives-principally among "the upper ten thousand " are very numerous-one wife in every eight wives being barren-being childless! Must there not be some baneful influences at work to cause such a lamentable state of things? Undoubtedly, and many of them-indeed most of them -preventable! 228. "A tree is known by its fruit," so is a healthy womb -one capable of bearing a child-known usually by menstuation; for if menstruation be, in every way, properly and healthily performed, there is, as a rule, no reason, as far as the wife is herself concerned, why she should not conceive, carry, and, in due time, bring forth a living child: hence the importance of MENSTRUATION-the subject we are now about entering upon; and which, indeed, is one of the most important that can engage the attention of every wife, for if menstruation be healthy, the womb is healthy, and the woman, as a rule, is healthy, and capable both of conception and of child-bearing. 229. But to our subject: there is an important epoch in the life of a woman, which might be divided into three stages, namely: (1) the commencement of menstruation—of puberty; (2) the continuation, at regular periods, of menstruationthe child-bearing age; and (3) the close of menstruation—of child-bearing the change of life." 230. (1.) The commencement of menstruation : a good beginning at this time is peculiarly necessary, or a girl's health is sure to suffer, and different organs of the bodyher lungs, for instance-might become imperilled. (2.) The continuation of menstruation: a healthy continuation, at regular periods, is much needed, or conception, when she is married, might not be practicable. (3.) The close of menstruation requires great attention and skilful management, to ward off many formidable diseases, which at the close of menstruation—at "the change of life —are more likely than at any time to become developed. 231. Whether, therefore, it be at the commencement, at the continuation, or at the close, watchfulness and care must be paid to the subject, or irreparable mischief might, and probably will, ensue. 232. Menstruation-" the periods "--the appearance of the catamenia or the menses- -is then one of the most important epochs in a girl's life. It is the boundary-line, the landmark between childhood and womanhood; it is the threshold, so to speak, of a woman's life. Her body now developes and expands, und her mental capacity enlarges and improves. She then ceases to be a child, and she becomes a woman. She is now, for the first time, as a rule, able to conceive. 233. Although puberty has at this time commenced, it cannot be said that she is at her full perfection; it takes eight or ten years more to complete her organisation, which will bring her to the age of twenty-three or twenty-five years; which perhaps are the best ages for a woman, if she have both the chance and the inclination, to marry. 234. If she marry when very young, marriage weakens her system, and prevents a full development of her body. Besides, if she marry when she is only seventeen or eighteen, the bones of the pelvis-the bones of the lower part of the trunk are not at that time sufficiently developed; are not properly shaped for the purpose of labour; do not allow of sufficient space for the head of the child to readily pass, as though she were of the riper age of twenty-three or twentyfive. She might have in consequence a severe and dangerous confinement. She will most probably not only herself have a hard and lingering and perilous childbirth, but her innocent |