436 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



beguiled into everlasting ruin by a soul-destroying 

 vice which works unseen, and often so insidiously 

 that its results are unperceived until the ruin is 

 complete. 



The nature of the subject necessitates that we should 

 speak plainly, though delicately, and we shall endeavor 

 to make our language comprehensible by any one old 

 enough to be benefited by the perusal of this chapter. 

 We desire that all who read these pages may receive 

 lasting benefit by so doing. The subject is one upon 

 which every girl ought to be informed, and to which 

 she should give serious attention, so as to become 

 intelligent concerning the evils and dangers to which 

 girls are exposed from this source. 



Girlhood. —Nothing is so suggestive of innocence 

 and purity as the simple beauty of girlhood when seen 

 in its natural freshness, though too seldom, nowadays, 

 is it possible to find in our young girls the natural grace 

 and healthy beauty which were common among the little 

 maidens of a quarter of a century ago. The ruddy 

 cheeks, bright eyes, and red lips, which are indicative 

 of a high degree of healthy vigor, are not so often seen 

 to-day as formerly among the small girls in our public 

 schools, and passing to and fro upon the streets. The 

 pale cheeks, languid eyes, and almost colorless lips 

 which we more often see, indicate weakly constitutions 

 and delicate health, and prophesy a short and suffer- 

 ing life to many. Various causes are at work to pro- 

 duce this unfortunate decline; and while we hope that 

 in the larger share of cases, bad diet, improper cloth- 

 ing, confinement in poorly ventilated rooms with too 

 little exercise, and similar causes, are the active agents, 

 we are obliged to recognize the fact that there is in 

 far too many cases another cause, the very mention of 



