Plain Talks on Avoided Subjects by Henry N. (Henry Newell) Guernsey

Author:Henry N. (Henry Newell) Guernsey [Guernsey, Henry N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Google: LiY3AQAAMAAJ
Publisher: F.A. Davis
Published: 1882-01-15T02:41:53+00:00

CHAPTER V.

Adolescence of the Female.

Adolescence of the female embraces the period of life from the age of twelve or fourteen, to twenty-one years.

At about the twelfth or fourteenth year of the girl's life a marked change comes over her form, features and mental state. Unlike the male, the forms which in him are angular, become in her rounded, symmetrical and beautiful, and the characteristic feminine proportions are well marked; she becomes more graceful in her movements, her voice grows sweeter, more mellow, more powerful and capable of registering a higher tone. New feelings and desires are awakened in her mind. Her deportment becomes more commanding and less frivolous, and the girl is lost in the woman.

If she has been so fortunate as to have escaped all the dangers and baneful influences of infantile and childhood life, she is womanly indeed, and we behold her with an unburdened conscience, clear intellect, artless and candid address, good memory, buoyant spirits, a complexion bright, clear and, as the poet declares, “beautiful exceedingly.” Every function of her body is well performed, and no fatigue is experienced after moderate exertion. She evinces that elasticity of spirit and gracefulness of body, and happy control of her feelings which indicate healthfulness of both mind and body. Her whole time is given up to her studies, duties and amusements; and as she feels her stature increase and her intellect enlarge, she gladly prepares for her coming struggle with the world—though in a manner becoming to her sex. This, too, is no fanciful sketch, but is realized in thousands of cases every year. It is one which parents feel proud to witness in a daughter, and one in which the daughter takes a modest delight. We have said that every function of her body is well performed. The functions of the female body, which in a state of health are perfectly free from pain, are very numerous and, in the four years from fourteen to eighteen, she accomplishes an amount of physiological cell change and growth which Nature does not require of a boy in less than twice that number of years. It is obvious, therefore, that a girl upon whom Nature, for a limited period and for a definite purpose, imposes so great a physiological task, will not have as much power left for the tasks of school as a boy, of whom Nature requires less at the corresponding epoch. The functions of circulation, respiration, digestion, perspiration, nutrition and menstruation, though involuntary, are all important, dependent one upon another, and all develop at the proper time. Puberty is the proper time for the appearance of menstruation, one of the most important and sacred of her functions. It should not be feared, dreaded or regarded as a nuisance; it forms a part of herself; and she never commands the respect and forbearance of her friends, or even of her enemies, more than when it is known that she is “unwell.” It serves in many ways as a blessing to her, rather than an inconvenience.

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