Are there reliable tests of the virginity of a girl?—The only test which a man has a right to make before or after marriage is a modest demeanor, absence of familiarity, a pure state of mind and an innocent expression in the face and look of the eye. The physical presence of the hymen, or a flow of blood at the consummation of marriage, should not be made the test of a young wife’s virginity. In some cases the hymen is absent from birth and in others only partially represented. Where girls may have had leucorrhœa the parts are relaxed and no blood appears. In stout blonds the presence of blood is the exception and not the rule.
What is the relation of “spooning” to the sex problems of young people?—This is a growing evil. It is the kindergarten to prostitution. Young people cannot engage in “spooning” and maintain a pure state of mind. When the mind is engaged in sensual thoughts and wishes the sexual system is stimulated and inflamed by a rush of blood to those parts and passion becomes more or less intense. In this state virtue is in great danger.
What is the relation of suggestive pictures and books to the problems of sex in young people?—The suggestive sentences and pictures on post cards, bill boards, the novel and serial story all tainted with immorality; and in the moving pictures found in most five and ten cent shows, are positively pernicious. They lead young people to believe that hugging, kissing, lying or sitting on each other’s lap, and all other forms of “spooning,” are natural, harmless and a necessary part of the entertainment among young people. The young man who would offer to present a young woman with a suggestive post card or book is stupidly ignorant or viciously immoral. If young ladies value their virtue and have the proper regard for young men, they will not accept such cards and book, nor allow them in their parlors. All women and girls and all virtuous men should protest against the production, sale and distribution of all books, cards, and pictures encouraging “spooning” and the improper dress of the female as an insult to virtuous girlhood and womanhood and dangerous to the virtue of boyhood and manhood.
CHAPTER XXXIII
BEAUTY OF BATHING
(By Annette Kellermann.—By Permission of Physical Culture.)
In presenting to our readers the opinions and advice of Annette Kellermann, we publish the words of one who knows whereof she speaks. Miss Kellermann is celebrated for the beauty of her face and form as she is for her remarkable proficiency as an athlete. More than that, she is one who has fought her way from indifferent health to strength and beauty of the highest order, and her discussion of this subject should prove very readable.—The Editor.
Architects of beauty.—Nearly everyone looks upon beauty as an extraneous “something.” Here is a quality which is in the greatest measure a physical endowment, yet the average woman casting about for means of cultivating it never for one moment seeks for its acquirement through physical means. All sorts of devices and medicines and complicated and costly methods are believed in and followed, as though beauty were bestowed in about the same fashion that a poster is slapped on a billboard. Gazing at the stars, she sees not what lies to her hand. For beauty, poetical though its conception may be, has its roots in prosaic ground. The same factors which build up flesh and blood, bones, muscle and nerves of the body are the architects of beauty. Beauty is of the body and not apart from it, and its builders are those processes which maintain bodily health: breathing, eating, drinking, exercise, bathing and sleep. Its acquisition does not depend on chance, but its development lies within the control of each one of us.
