CHAPTER XXIV.

MOTHERS’ MEETINGS, STUDY CLUBS AND BOOKS.

The Awakening Along New Lines.—A Better Brand of Mothers.—Books that Will Help Along This Line.—Mothers’ Clubs as Factors.—Their Need in Cities, Villages, and Rural Communities.—A Rich Mine.

A book like this cannot enter into close details, or give minute directions; hence we have deemed it advisable to append a list of books and pamphlets which should be in every mother’s library. Were every young wife to make a painstaking study of books like these with the fixed intent of preparing herself for motherhood, what a millennial day would dawn for the race.

The following list (to which have been added a few others) I have copied from the library of a club of mothers, who have interested themselves in gathering the best they could find in the line of instruction and helpfulness to a wife and mother. This list may be further increased by many other helpful books, but serves as a suggestive list for those who are not conversant with such literature:

The Children of The Future, $1.00 Nora Archibald Smith.

What is Worth While? .35 Anna Robertson Brown.

Power Through Repose, 1.00 Anna Payson Call.

The Republic of Childhood, (3 vols.) 3.00 Kate Douglass Wiggin.

A Mother’s Ideals, 1.50 Andrea Hofer Proudfoot.

A Study of Child Nature, 1.00 Elizabeth Harrison.

Child Culture, .30 Hannah Whitall Smith.

The Home Training of Children, .50 J. C. Fernauld.

Literary Landmarks, 1.25 Mary E. Burt.

Gentle Measures, 1.25 Jacob Abbott.

Mothers the True Reformers, .10 Mrs. W. L. W. Miller.

A Treatise on Prayer, .75 Rev. Edward Bickersteith.

Home Making, 1.00

Loving My Neighbor, .35

The Golden Gate of Prayer, .75 Rev. J. R. Miller, D. D.

The Ministry of Intercession, .75 Rev. Andrew Murray.

Stepping Heavenward, .75 Mrs. E. Prentiss.

With God in The World, 1.00 Chas. H. Brent.

The Kingship of Self Control, .30 Wm. George Jordan.

From Girlhood to Motherhood, .30 Mary Lowe Dickinson.

Seed Thoughts for Mothers, .35 Mrs. Minnie E. Paul.

Bringing up Boys, .50 Kate Upson Clark.

What a Young Boy Ought to Know, 1.00

What a Young Man Ought to Know, 1.00

What a Young Husband Ought to Know, 1.00

What a Man of Forty-five Ought to Know, 1.00 Sylvanus Stall, D. D.

What a Young Girl Ought to Know, 1.00

What a Young Woman Ought to Know, 1.00 Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.

Children, Their Models and Critics, .75 Auretta R. Aldrich.

Children’s Rights, 1.00 Kate Douglass Wiggins.

Great Books as Life Teachers, 1.50 Newell Dwight Hillis.

Letters to Mothers, 1.50 Susan E. Blow.

Character, .75 Samuel Smiles.

A Holy Temple, .05 Rev. F. B. Meyer.

A Song of Life, 1.25 Life and Love, 1.25 Margaret Warner Morley.

Hints on Child Training, 1.25 H. Clay Trumbull, D. D.

Bits of Talks about Home Matters, 1.00 H. H.

The Study of Children, 1.00 Francis Warner.

The Evening and The Morning, 1.00 Rev. Armstrong Black.

Christian Nurture, 1.50 Horace Bushnell, D. D.

The Development of the Child, 1.25 Care of the Child in Health, 1.25 Nathan Oppenheim, M. D.

The Boy Problem, .75 Wm. Byron Forbush.

Of Making One’s Self Beautiful, .50 Wm. C. Gannett.

Imago Christi, 1.50 Rev. Jas. Stalker, D. D.

Home Thoughts, 1.50 C.

Maternal Responsibilities, .10 E. F. A. Drake, M. D.

From A Child’s Standpoint, 1.00 Florence Hull Winterburn.

Education, 1.00 Herbert Spencer.

_Any of these books can be ordered through the Vir Publishing Company._

A score of copies of Mary Wood-Allen’s booklets have been sold among the members, and copies of _The American Mother_, _The Mothers’ Journal_, and _Trained Motherhood_ are taken. This club meets once a month, and papers are read by the members, or by some invited guest. Physicians and ministers, school-teachers who have had success along certain lines; kindergartners, and lawyers have spoken to this company of women. Each year a printed program is issued, and the meetings are open to all who wish to attend, whether members or not. The discussions which have followed the papers, have been interesting and profitable in the extreme. One or two are appointed to open the discussion, and questions are freely asked. This club is only three years old, but it would be impossible to measure its influence for good, and its suggestive helpfulness in the community. Would that there were a similar society of women in every city in our land. Yea, more, in every village and rural community. Literary clubs and classes have multiplied, all over our land, _ad infinitum_; and is it not time that mothers’ classes were more common and popular? Depend upon it, more pleasure and profit can be gotten out of such a class, than from any other proposed line of study. Why? Because it goes to the very root of things, and comes so near to the hearts of all that it can but create interest.

Woman has done much in literary study and improvement, but here is a mine that has not been worked as it should have been; and depend upon it, no richer field can be found in all the realm of art, science or literature.

THE END.

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OFFICES OF PUBLICATION

IN THE UNITED STATES THE VIR PUBLISHING COMPANY 2237 LAND TITLE BUILDING PHILADELPHIA, PA.

IN ENGLAND THE VIR PUBLISHING COMPANY 7 IMPERIAL ARCADE, LUDGATE CIRCUS LONDON, E. C.

IN CANADA WILLIAM BRIGGS 29-33 RICHMOND STREET WEST TORONTO, ONTARIO

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Maternity Without Suffering

BY MRS. EMMA F. A. DRAKE, M. D.

Condensed Table of Contents

HEALTHFULNESS OF CHILD-BEARING—Wrong notion about child-bearing corrected—Dangerous subterfuges—Contrast between willing and unwilling mothers—Ennobling maternity—Causes of painful parturition—Suggestions for proper exercise—Errors in diet—A proper regimen—A contributing cause to pain—Is painless parturition possible?—Opinions of scientists and physicians—Reasons why some women have painless child-bearing—The author’s experience as a physician—The conditions necessary for painless maternity—Danger of extreme methods—Effects of bad advisers—Contributing factors of antenatal infanticide—Nothing to dread in normal childbirth—Extreme methods not necessary.

THE CRIME OF PRENATAL MURDER—The day of reckoning—Words of warning—The mother’s accomplice—How often to have children—Dangerous practices—The necessity of knowledge—Importance of a proper state of mind during pregnancy—How to make one’s life noble—The first steps in meddlesome midwifery.

THE NECESSARY PREPARATION FOR MOTHERHOOD—Exercise to be zealously sought—Home duties and domestic science—The best exercise—Some aids to physical development—Dress during pregnancy—The bath—Care of breasts and abdomen—Choice of physician and nurse—The husband’s part—Ailments of pregnancy—Troublesome ills—Morning sickness—Heartburn—Constipation—The prevention and treatment of piles—Other ills—Causes of nervous apprehension—Other mental conditions—Birthmarks—Threatened miscarriage.

HEREDITY, PREDISPOSITION AND ENVIRONMENT—The mother’s influence on the destiny of her child—A profitable study—What a mother can do for her children—Reasons why later children are stronger and brighter.

THE LYING-IN CHAMBER—The room—The bed—The mother’s dress—The articles necessary—After the advent of the baby—Necessity of knowledge—The disturbing things—Signs of pregnancy and the birth—The rational or presumptive signs—The time in reckoning—The duration of pregnancy—Exceptional cases—The disturbing stage of labor—Valuable suggestions—Directions for the nurse—Propriety of anæsthetics—Baby’s wardrobe—Requisite articles—Directions for their making—Baby’s first trunk—First toilet—Baby’s first dressing—Ensuring a night’s rest—The cradle—Hours of eating and sleeping—Proper kind of food.

Price { 50 Cents } net, post free { 2 s. }

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“What a Young Girl Ought to Know.”

BY MRS. MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M. D.

Condensed Table of Contents