A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two PartsCrumpler, Rebecca Lee
Science
A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two Parts
Crumpler, Rebecca Lee
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene; Women -- Health and hygiene
At what age should a girl marry? is a question frequently asked by young
girls of some confiding friend, and almost as frequently
unsatisfactorily answered. Suppose the question be amended thus:—At what
age and _how_ should young girls marry? The answer to the last clause I
would say, taking all things into consideration, with the consent of
parents or guardians, it is best for a young woman to accept a suitor
who is respectable, vigorous, industrious, and but a few years her
senior, if not of an equal age. One who gives evidence, previous to
wedlock, of being both capable and willing to take the entire
responsibility of a wife upon himself. No objections, of course, to a
union with wealth, all other things being equal. No sickly, sensitive
young girl need expect to have it all sunshine, even with an
industrious, well-meaning man for a husband, rich or poor. The age of a
young woman should be about 19 or 20. It should be remembered that the
union of persons of premature growth, that is before the body is well
developed on either side, favors weakly children. And the same is true
of the union of persons far advanced in years. Weakly mixtures also
produce delicate children. A union of persons whose parents are of
unmixed blood, and whose statures are nearly in proportion, usually
turns out well. A man’s age should be between 22 and 25 when taking the
responsibility of a family upon him. I will add just here that the way
to be happy after marriage is to continue in the careful routine of the
courting days, till it becomes a well understood thing between the two.
After marriage, if medical aid is required by the wife, let it be sought
in a direction that there will never be cause to regret. Some women are
over anxious for a family, and by their nervous whims make themselves
and those around them unhappy. But it is to be deplored that there is a
much larger class of young women whose minds are dark on the subject of
preservation of health, and who soon forget, if they ever thought of the
liabilities of a married life. On taking cold or feeling languid or
nauseated a physician must at once be sent for. It should be borne in
mind that many women begin to show signs of pregnancy by cold, severe
pain in the head, back, stomach, or various parts of the body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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