On all sides
to-day we see the aberrations of womanhood in a hundred forms, and the
consequences thereof. Wrong education is partly, beyond a doubt, to be
indicted for this state of things, and the right direction is so clearly
indicated by nature and by the deepest intuitions of both sexes that we
cannot much longer delay to take it.
Perhaps the reader will have patience whilst for a little we discuss the
facts upon which right education for motherhood must be based. Some may
suppose that by education for womanhood is meant simply one form or
other of instruction; say, for instance, in the certainly important
matter of infant feeding. At present, however, I am not thinking of
instruction at all, but of education--the leading forth, that is to say,
in right proportion and in right direction of the natural constituents
of the girl. If we are to be right in our methods we must have some
clear understanding of what those constituents are, and we must
therefore address ourselves now to getting, if possible, clear and
accurate notions of the material with which we have to deal; in other
words, we must discuss the psychology of parenthood. We shall perhaps
realize then that though the instruction of mothers in being is very
necessary and very important, that comes in at the end of our duty, and
that we shall never achieve what we might achieve unless we begin at the
beginning.
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