William Acton, M. R. C. S., an English physician, eminent in his profession, says: “True continence is complete control over the passions, exercised by one who has felt their power, and who, were it not for his steady will, not only could but would indulge them. * * * Granted, that continence is a trial, a sore trial, a bitter trial, if you will, what, I would ask, is the use or object of a trial but to try, to test, to elicit, strengthen and brace whatever of sterling, whatever of valuable, there is in the thing tried? To yield at once, is this the right way to meet a trial? To lay down one’s arms at the first threatening of conflict, is this a creditable escape from trial, to say no more? Nay, is it safe, when the trial is imposed by the highest possible authority? Our object ought to be to preserve a pure and healthy mind in a pure and healthy body. Judiciously directed, training and exercise of both toward this definite object would, I am sure, in most cases, reduce the difficulty of living a chaste life to the minimum, and indeed render the conflict rather a proud and thankful sense of self-command than an arduous struggle. * * * The man who can command even his thoughts will have an easier task in keeping himself continent than he who cannot. He has great power who, when physical temptations assail him can determinedly apply his mind to other subjects, and employ the whole force of his will in turning away from the danger.”
Carpenter, in a late edition of his work, says to those who urge the wants of nature as an excuse for the illicit gratification of the sexual passion: “Try the effects of close mental application to some ennobling pursuit, in combination with vigorous bodily exercise, before you assert that the appetite is unrestrainable, and act upon that assertion.”
To parents desiring the best interests of offspring, these quotations from men of known scientific and professional reputation are worthy of careful thought. Lives based upon these truths will make motherhood desired, and offspring a blessing.
To secure the best possible conditions for maternity, a lady should never lose sight of the value of congenial, absorbing occupation. There should be no leisure to foster morbid symptoms. Having neither financial need nor desire for following a special vocation, the systematic pursuit of some study, as geology, natural history or botany, will make conditions for satisfactory pre-natal culture.
Who knows but by throwing her whole soul into the search, and thus being carried out of herself by these ennobling pursuits, she may become the mother of a Humboldt, an Agassiz or an Audubon.
A letter lies before me from a lady who had long been a sufferer from chronic diseases. By following the instructions of Tokology since her marriage, and for some months previous to pregnancy, she has overcome most of her troubles. She writes: “I have good news for you. Two months from now I expect to become a mother. The past six months’ life has been a constant joy. I never have had such good health, consequently such good spirits and enjoyment in my work. I am now spending four or five hours a day in study—German and music, and at his earnest request, Latin, with my husband.
“I do my own housework, and with my sewing, social demands and daily walks, am busy every moment, yet, strange to say, I never seemed to have as much leisure as now. We live simply, and, I believe, sensibly, and I try to do the things that are best physically and mentally for me as a mother, and for the little one who is now part of my life.” This lady finds absorbing interest in training classes of young girls for a noble womanhood and motherhood.
So many objects of philanthropic interest now appeal to every woman that there is abundant opportunity to reach out beyond self. In every direction the needs of humanity demand of all who have hitherto been idlers, that they try the blessedness of unselfish endeavor. By responding bravely to these appeals in the days of prospective maternity, the mother will find both present and future reward.
In pregnancy, as in chronic diseases, symptoms are often attributed to imagination. It has been proven that the imagination or belief can create, not only symptoms, but actual disease. Physicians recognize this fact, but are slow to acknowledge the correlative one, that this same imagination or belief is of untold therapeutic value in medical practice.
Dr. Evans says: “As thought and existence are identical, a change of thought must necessarily modify our existence. To think a change in our bodily condition, and not merely to think about it, will determine all the living forces toward that result, as certainly as a stream issuing from a fountain will flow in another direction when we change the direction of its channel.”