478 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



Every young woman should resent the first appear- 

 ance of attentions of the sort referred to. There is no 

 other safe point at which the line may be drawn. In- 

 deed, we are of the opinion that the freedom with which 

 mothers allow strangers to handle their children, 

 caressing and fondling them, has a decided influence 

 to break down the barriers of modesty, and to pervert 

 the instincts so as to prepare them for the evils to which 

 we have called attention, in later years. 



Getting a Husband.— The women who are willing 

 to ' ' live and die as old maids ' ' are very rare exceptions 

 among the sex. The average woman looks upon the 

 spinster as having the most wretched and undesirable 

 lot possible; and yet it is unquestionably true that the 

 average ^'old maid" is vastly happier in her lot and 

 more useful to the world than quite a large proportion 

 of wives. Certainly there is a vast deal of useful work 

 which can be better accomplished by those who can 

 give it their undivided attention, than by those whose 

 minds and energies are necessarily devoted to husband, 

 children, and domestic cares. We doubt not that the 

 world would be vastly better off if there were a much 

 larger number of useful old maids and a less number 

 of helpless, good-for-nothing, sickly wives. Neverthe- 

 less, the average woman expects to marry sometime, 

 and it may be worth while to devote a little space to 

 the consideration of what sort of a man a husband 

 ought to be. In another chapter the characteristics of 

 persons of both sexes who ought not to marry at all 

 have been pointed out. A man possessing any of the 

 defects named is not tit to be the husband of any woman 

 worthy of a good husband. To the suggestions else- 

 where made, we add the following: 



1. Be sure that the man whom you accept as a hus- 



