Chapter 1

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ALMOST A MAN.

BY MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M. D.

Author of TEACHING TRUTH, CHILD-CONFIDENCE REWARDED, THE MAN WONDERFUL IN THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL, etc.

"What is man that thou art mindful of him?" DAVID.

"Every true man is a cause, a country and an age." EMERSON.

"God on thee Abundantly his gifts hath also poured; Inward and outward both his image fair." MILTON.

PUBLISHED BY WOOD-ALLEN PUBLISHING CO. ANN ARBOR, MICH.

COPYRIGHTED BY MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M. D. 1895.

CONTENTS.

PAGE Prelude iii Almost a Man 5 A Gateway and a Gift 22 The White Cross 40

PRELUDE.

Two lads had crossed the sunny meadow-land of childhood and stood by the gate, at the entrance to the rougher paths of youth leading up to the grander heights of maturity. They glanced backward, but not with regret, for their eyes shone with eagerness to climb the upward way. As they waited, an angel came bearing a gift for each, which he gave them, saying: "I have brought you a wondrous gift, not for yourselves but for others. Listen."

And they bent their heads and listened. And one said: "I hear most entrancing music. It thrills my very being. It is for me, for me."

But the angel said: "Listen again. Shut your ears to those bewildering tones and you will hear a deeper, holier strain."

But the youth said: "No, I hear only that melody which speaks to my own heart. I can hear nothing else."

The other youth too took the gift and, bending his head at the command of the angel, said: "I hear that sweet entrancing strain which speaks to myself, and which promises me pleasure; but deeper than all that I hear a tone soft, sweet and low, that sounds like the voices of happy children, and of a mother singing to her babe."

The angel smiled. "It is for them," he said, "that you must keep your gift. And in the years to come that music will be to you the sweetest in the world."

So the youths started on their devious ways through the hilly land of youth. There were bird-songs and flowers; there were bright paths, and dark ones; there were sunny by-paths, which ended in dreamy forests; there were pitfalls in unexpected places; there was often sorrow where they looked for joy, and failure where they expected success. And the one listened oft to the entrancing music of his angelic gift, and was led to think only of himself, and his eye lost its fire, his feet often stumbled, and the days and nights had no pleasure for him. As he reached the heights of maturity he was met by a bright creature who laughed with great joy when he offered her his love and said exultantly: "I have kept myself pure for you," and he, knowing his own dark secrets, could make no reply but hung his head and was silent. And, thus silent, he heard no more the bewildering music of his youth, but instead there came to his ears the sound of a broken-hearted woman's sobs, and the weeping of children mourning the birthright that had been lost for them in their father's wayward youth. And the man said sighingly:

"O that I had my innocence again My untouched honor. But I wish in vain."

But the other lad turned a deaf ear to the brain-bewildering music and listened with his soul for the happy melodies of the future. And his eye grew brighter and his strength increased and his paths were straight and clean, and as he neared the heights of maturity he was met by one whose robe was shining in its brightness and who whispered: "I have kept myself pure for you."

And gladly he answered: "And I for you;" and so their lives became one, and the melody of happy children's voices drew nearer and nearer, and listening to the sweet voice of the mother singing to her babe, and looking into the bright and rosy faces that with every glance and motion thanked him for their dower of health and honor, he blessed the great Creator from whom he had received the wondrous gift of potential fatherhood, and gave thanks that he had wisely listened to the angel's voice bidding him keep his gift for those whose life, in the years to come, was to be his holiest possession.

ALMOST A MAN.

By Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.

"Let me take your book of quotations, please."

"Certainly, if I can find it. O, I remember. I let Susie Glenn take it. No doubt I can find it in her desk."

As she spoke Miss Bell walked to the desk and, finding the desired book, took possession of it. An open note dropped from it and fell upon the floor. Picking it up Miss Bell read: "My darling little sweetheart," and glancing at the close saw the signature, "Carl." Sending of notes in school was forbidden, therefore Miss Bell had no compunction of conscience in taking possession of this one, and, on the impulse of the moment, read it aloud to Miss Lane, her fellow-teacher. It was not only sentimental in tone but there were mysterious phrases which seemed to hold a deep and sinful significance. The women looked at each other with sorrowful faces.

"What shall I do about it?" asked Miss Bell.

"What a depth of wickedness it reveals!" exclaimed Miss Lane. "Who would have imagined that such a nice appearing boy as Carl Woodford could be so base? And Susie Glenn too, such a shy, modest little creature as she seems."

"Do you suppose it is really as bad as it seems to us? Those expressions which appear to indicate such--such almost criminal intimacy perhaps they do not understand fully."

"Don't you believe it," said Miss Lane. "I tell you these children are wiser in sin than we older people can imagine. That boy needs to be whipped within an inch of his life, the little reprobate! I'd give him such a lecture as would make his eyes open wide for once. I'd make him understand that he'd better not let me catch him in such mischief again. And I'd tell Mrs. Glenn about it so that she could punish Susie."

"I really am afraid that the result would not be what we wish. Suppose we go and talk it over with Dr. Barrett. Maybe she can tell us what to do."

Dr. Barrett received the ladies with cordiality and professed herself willing to aid them in the solution of their problem. She did not appear as shocked as they did, and even smiled a little as Miss Lane, in indignant tones, read aloud the offending note.

"Don't you think that little rascal should be nearly annihilated?" she asked, turning to the Doctor.

"I think he should be instructed," replied the latter. "Will you send him to me, Miss Bell?"

"Most gladly, but I don't believe he will come."

"Yes he will, if you don't frighten him beforehand. Don't say a word to him about the affair, but send him with a note to me and tell him to wait for an answer."

The next evening Carl appeared at the Doctor's residence with the note from Miss Bell. "I am to wait for an answer," he said.

Dr. Barrett only nodded as she wrote on steadily for a moment, seeming too much engrossed in her work to notice him. Then she read the note, thought a moment, excused herself and left the room. Returning immediately she said, "It will be half an hour before the answer is ready. Can you wait?"

"O certainly."

"Then sit down here and look over the Youth's Companion while I finish my letter."

For some moments there was silence and then the Doctor, laying down her pen, turned to the boy and said, pleasantly; "You are Carl Woodford, are you not?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"It has been so long since I saw you that you have almost grown out of my knowledge. You are getting to be almost a man. You must be fifteen years old."

"Not quite. I will be next June."

"Almost a man," said Dr. Barrett softly as she looked thoughtfully into the fire. After a moment's silence she asked, "Carl, what is it to be a man?"

The boy drew himself up with a self-conscious air as he replied.

"Why, to have your growth, and get into business for yourself."

"Well, that is not quite it," said the Doctor smiling, "for I have my growth and am in business for myself, and yet I am not a man."

"Maybe it means having a mustache," said Carl, with a slight flush.

"That has something to do with it certainly, but Mrs. Flynn has a mustache, and she is not a man."

"Well, I don't know how to explain it then," said Carl.

"You have studied grammar, will you parse the word man?"

"Man is a common noun, masculine gender, third----"

"What does masculine gender mean?"

"It means male."

"Then to be a man means to be a male. How does the grammar define gender?"

"The distinction of nouns with regard to sex."

"Have you studied physiology?"

"Yes'm."

"Was it the physiology of man or woman?"

"Why, it didn't say anything but physiology."

"You studied, then, only those organs in which men and women are alike, as in their muscular and nervous systems, and in the organs of digestion; in fact you learned only of the organs which are for the preservation of the individual. You learned nothing of them in regard to sex, which is termed special physiology."

A wave of color was creeping over Carl's face, seeing which the Doctor said:

"As you have never studied this special physiology supposing you try to forget that any one has ever told you anything about it, and let us for a few minutes talk of it as of God's laws. We believe God to be pure, and we cannot believe that he would make a law that was founded on impurity. It is true we are able to think of his laws in an impure way, but that is our fault, not his. Let us now try to think his pure thoughts after him. If there are two sexes created by the Almighty he must have a pure purpose in creating them. We seldom think how much of beauty and melody and loveliness is due to sex.

"It is because of sex that we are gathered in families and enjoy all the delights of home. It is because of sex that we have ties of kindred, brothers, sisters, father, mother, uncles, aunts and cousins. Think of the pleasant home gatherings at Christmas or Thanksgiving, or upon family birthdays, with all the relatives, old and young, meeting in love and sympathy; think of the sweet prattle of children in the home; think of the tender ministrations of mother or sister in times of sorrow or illness or death, and remember that these are possible because of sex. Men may build themselves fine club houses where they congregate to smoke or drink or eat together, but these are not homes. Women may go away by themselves into a convent and give up the world, but in so doing they give up the home; for in a real true home there must be parents and children, and this comes through sex. We may go even farther and say with Mr. Grant Allen that everything high and ennobling in our nature springs directly from the fact of sex. He claims that to it 'we owe our love of color, of graceful forms, of melodious sound, of rhythmical motion, the evolution of music, of poetry, of romance, of painting, of sculpture, of decorative art, of dramatic entertainment. From it,' he says, 'springs the love of beauty, around it all beautiful arts circle as their centre. Its subtle aroma pervades all literature, and to it we owe the heart and all that is best within it.'

"We read of knights of old fighting for 'fayre ladye,' of heroes who died to save wives and children; we cannot take up a book of poetry without realizing how love of men and women has been the inspiration of the poet in all ages. And this is not all that we owe to sex. In all organic life we find the same force at work. The song of the nightingale is a call to his mate, the chirp of cricket, the song of the thrush, the note of the grasshopper, every charming voice in wild nature are notes of love, and were it not for these, field and forest would be silent. Among the animals we can trace the beauty of form and of covering to the same source. And even in the inanimate world of plants and trees we find sex as the source of life and beauty. The bright tinted flowers are the homes of the father and mother and babies of the plant and without the male and female principle in plants there would be no bud or blossom and no fruit. Remember when you see the beauty of the apple orchard in the spring and the glowing fruit in the autumn that these are the expression of sex-life in the tree."

"My!" exclaimed Carl, "I never thought of all that before."

"I presume not, and many who are older than you have no thoughts of sex but those which are low and vile. But when you consider how the same principle reaches through all nature, and upon it depends so much that is beautiful and charming you cannot believe that is in itself vile and unholy, can you? If we are to think God's thoughts after him we must come to look upon sex as something to be thought of and spoken of only with reverence, never to be jested about or debased in any way. You begin to see that more is involved in the coming into manhood than you had supposed. But we have not gone over the whole matter yet. You have read the first chapter of Genesis how that God made man in his own image, and out of the dust of the earth. We do not suppose that he made him out of dirt and water, as a child makes mud-pies, but we may accept this as a statement of the scientific fact that in man are found the same elements as in the earth, such as iron, soda, lime, etc. What we want to think of now is the statement that God created man by his direct power. Then we are told he made woman also. These are the first living human beings of whom we have record. Who is the third?"

"Cain."

"And who made Cain?"

"God," answered Carl glibly, as if that must be the only orthodox answer.

"In the same way that he made Adam and Eve?"

Carl blushed and was silent.

"You were not embarrassed when I spoke of the creation of Adam and Eve, you have no reason to be embarrassed when I speak of the creation of Cain. All was in accordance with the divine will, and must therefore be right. We cannot say positively that God thought this or that, but we have a right to judge from his acts what his purposes were. We have a right to suppose that he created the earth intending to people it with human beings. Of course every possible plan for doing this was open to him. He might have created each individual as he did Adam, but what would have been the result? We should have stood, each one alone, in selfish solitariness, like a lot of ten-pins, able to knock each other down but not to help each other up. Each one would have been thinking only of himself and his own selfish interests. This plan could not commend itself to a compassionate Creator, and we can imagine that he would say to himself: 'That would never do. I must put these, my children, in such relation to each other that they will have love for each other; that they will be bound by ties so strong that nothing can break them; they must be created in such a way that they will also understand their relation to me and love me as their life-giver. To do this I will share with them my greatest power, that of creation. I will let them help me people the world. By this creative power they shall come to understand how I, their heavenly Father, love them, and yearn over them, and by their dependence as children upon their parents they shall learn to depend upon and trust me.' From the plan God adopted for peopling the earth we may suppose this to have been his process of thought. So you see that sex comes as a wondrous gift from God, a gift endowed with a marvelous power, and therefore to be held most sacred. When I spoke of you as being almost a man it was with the thought that now is being conferred upon you this gift of sex."

Carl looked up with some surprise. "Why, I have always been a boy."

"True. And a boy is a being who will become a man. But he is not endowed with the functions of sex until he is about fourteen years old. Then sex begins to make itself felt in his whole being. He grows taller rapidly; he gains in breadth; he begins to see the long-looked-for mustache; he notices the growth of the special organs of sex; he begins to feel more manly; to enjoy the society of girls as never before; and desires to treat them with more attention. This is a time when, if he is wrongly taught, he may fall into great wrong-doing and injure himself, and not that alone, but those who are to come after him. I have not yet told you of the great responsibilities that come with this gift of sex."

Dr. Barrett rose and, bringing a book from the shelves, opened it and showed Carl an illustration, saying; "Did you ever see such a picture as this?"

"What are they?" asked he. "They look like pollywogs."

"As much like them as anything. But they are not pollywogs. They have a bigger sounding name than that. They are called _spermatozoa_, or each one is a _spermatozoon_. They are so tiny that they are not visible except with the aid of a microscope, and yet they are alive and very active. They live and move in a fluid called _semen_, and they are the living principle contributed by the male to the formation of a new creature. Each one contains in itself all the particular traits, characteristics or talents which the father would confer on the child of which this spermatozoon would form a part. You are like your father in some things, I suppose."

"Yes, I am like papa in size and in my love for mathematics. He says I have his quick temper, too."

"That leads me to speak of another fact. You see that you were a part of your father during his whole life, and you were affected by all that affected him. You were changed or modified by his habits. If he tried to curb his quick temper, it has made it easier for you to control yourself; but if he allowed it full sway, it has made it harder for you. If he were truthful and honest, it has made it easy for you to be the same; but if he were wild and dissipated, it would make it easier for you to yield to the same temptations."

"Was that what he meant when he said he was not surprised that Will Grey was so bad a boy, for his father was a very wild young man?"

"Yes, that was exactly what he meant."

"If that is so why don't fathers tell their boys about it so that they can behave better when they are young?"

"That is just what I think they ought to do, but unfortunately people have thought they must not talk of these things to young folks for fear it will make them bad instead of good."

"Well, I guess that would depend upon the way they told it. Now they don't tell it right, but leave the boys to be told in wrong ways, and that really does lead them to be bad. No one ever talked to me as you have to-night, and I am sure it makes me want to be better."

"That ought to be the effect, and I believe it would be if boys were only 'told right,' as you say. But I have told you only half the story. Here is another picture. These are called _ova_. One is an _ovum_, and these are the principle the mother gives to the future child. They are greatly magnified. It would take 240 of them lying side by side to make a row an inch long, so we say they are 1/240 of an inch in diameter, but tiny as they are, each ovum contains all the traits or talents that the mother gives to the child of which this particular ovum may form a part. Your mother is English, your father American. Their childhood and youth were spent thousands of miles apart, and yet both were working by the habits of their lives to create you in your peculiar traits and talents. Are you like your parents in any of their capabilities?"

"Yes, I am like mother in her love for music; you know she is a fine musician."

"Yes, and in the cultivation of her own musical ability she made it easier for you to learn music; just as your father, in his study as an engineer, has given you a love for mathematics."

"But my grandfather and great-grandfather were engineers, and I am going to be one, too."

"It is true that you inherit from your grandparents, also, but it must be through your parents, and they may have changed the direction of the inheritance. This important fact you should know and remember. You can change yourself by education so that the inheritance of your children may be quite changed. For example, if you know that you lack perseverance, you can, by constantly making a mighty effort to overcome this defect, compel yourself to persevere, and this would tend to give your children perseverance. So you see we need not despair because we have inherited faults from our ancestors, but we should determine all the more that we will not pass these defects on to later generations."

"I guess that is what Dr. Brice meant when he said that mother's good care of her health had overcome in us children to a great extent the tendency to consumption which is in her family. Nearly all my cousins on her side die with it, but when she was a little girl her father made her live out of doors all the time and she grew strong, and we none of us seem to have any tendency to consumption."

"You see then the value of caring for yourself in youth, not only for your own sake but for that of your children. Your mother did not know that she would ever have children to be benefitted by her out-door life. But one day she met a young man who pleased her, and as they grew to know each other better they came to love each other so that they wished to leave home and friends and make their own home and live their united lives separate and apart from all the rest of the world. So they were married, as we say. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman under the sanction of the law. This is the closest and most sacred human relation. In this relation the _spermatozoon_ of the man unites with the germ or _ovum_ of the woman and a new life is begun. When your parents knew that such a little life had begun in their home they felt a great and holy joy, and desired that every good might surround it in its development. You were the first to come into your father's home. After your life had begun you were still so small as not to be visible to the naked eye, and would have been lost had you come into the world. But a home had been prepared for you in your mother's body, where day by day you grew and grew. The food which she ate nourished you as well as herself. The air which she breathed was life to you as well as to her.