The first sexual meeting of the bride and groom should never take place until at least ten days after the ceasing of the menstrual flow in the bride! This is a rule that should never be violated if the parties wish to "test out" the real condition as to whether or not the bride has any "free time." The chances are several to one that she has such leeway; but the fact can only be established by "proving up" and this can never be done if any chances are taken. Put this down as rule number one.
For this reason, it is well for the bride to fix the wedding day; and, if possible, for her to locate it sometime during the probably immune period. And the nearer she can bring this day to the beginning of such period of freedom from danger of pregnancy, the better. For, if it should happen that the first coitus should take place only a day or two before the time when another "monthly" was due, such excitement might hasten the passage of the nearly-ripe ovum into the uterus, and conception might occur. In which case, "all the fat would be in the fire," nothing would be proved, and the parties would be as ignorant as ever regarding the facts in their case.
And so, the first sexual meeting of a bride and bridegroom should be not earlier than ten days after the ceasing of the menstrual flow and not later than three days before the next monthly is due. Put that down as rule number two, never to be violated.
And if marriage takes place before this period of probable immunity on the part of the bride arrives, the only safe thing to do is to "patiently wait" till such time arrives. This may "require fortitude" on the part of both parties, but it is the only safe thing to do. And to do just that, will amply repay such waiting. The writer knows of a case where the wedding took place just three days before the bride's next monthly was due, and she and her husband waited for more than two weeks before they met sexually! But it paid to wait, for their doing so proved that the bride had two weeks of "free time" in each month, and this was worth all it cost to find out! Take time!
And now let it be added that it is a great accomplishment for a husband and wife to be free from a fear of pregnancy as a result of coitus. This is a thousand times truer for the woman than for the man, for it is she who has to bear the burden of what follows, if following there be. The husband can "do the deed" and go about his business. The wife, if "the fertile seed" takes root, has before her months of care and anxiety, and she risks her very life in what may come of it all. For these reasons, she has a right to dictate all the terms which are liable to cause her to become a mother. And yet she should do this with full regard for the husband, in love, in true wifely-womanhood. On this point, do not fail to read "The Helpmate," by May Sinclair. It is a story that no bride and bridegroom should fail to read and study, carefully.
The whole subject of how to engage in satisfactory coitus and avoid pregnancy may be summed up as follows:—The attainment of such a condition is well worth the most careful, earnest and honestly pains-taking endeavor. For, if such status be not reached, its lack will be a source of endless contentions and differences between the husband and wife. It will lead to jealousies, quarrels, and all sorts of marital woes. But, the situation once mastered, by the most loving and accurate of scientific methods of procedure, a happy married life is certain to result. Otherwise, the "married state" will always be in a condition of "unstable equilibrium." So let every bride and bridegroom begin, from the first, to try to establish the greatly to be desired accomplishment. If anything further on this point should be desired, consult a reliable physician.