INJURY OF THE NEST We who love birds would not do anything to injure their homes, but there are some children who have not learned to love birds or who are thoughtless and injure their nests, sometimes even tearing them to pieces or breaking off the limb of the tree. There also are thoughtless children who do things to injure their bodies. You would think it very foolish to allow someone to put a bee on your face that would sting you and yet there are some thoughtless children who would do just that if you would let them. They might even try to tell you it would not hurt you, but of course you would know better. You, who know how necessary is every part of the body, would not allow anyone to injure any part of it, especially the part that contains the mother nest. Think how badly the mother bird must have felt when the child destroyed the nest, and think how badly you would feel, when it came time for you to marry and have a baby, if you found the nest had been so injured that you could not have any. You know, the nest as well as the rest of the body belongs to you alone, and no one has a right to injure it, but sometimes girls are as careless or as thoughtless as the boy with the bee and do things that are harmful. I have told you how to care for this mother nest so it will grow well and strong, but now I must tell you something more. As you go out in the world you will meet some girls and some boys who have never been told these things and do not understand all the things you do. Sometimes they have very wrong ideas and will do many things that are harmful. Not only that, but they will try to get you to do them. Some little girls who do not understand what their organs are for will even play with them, for they think it gives them a pleasurable sensation. I am sure they would not do this if they understood that by so doing they were injuring the precious nest. You know if you or anyone else would put things into your eyes or ears or play with them in any way you might lose your sight or hearing. It is the same way with the mother nest and other organs. The best plan is to just keep them clean and then not touch them at any other time nor allow anyone else to do so. But in bathing the parts you must be careful to have your own towel and not use any cloths that have been used by other people, for there are some dreadful diseases, called the black plagues, that can be carried to these organs by anything that is not strictly clean, and these diseases sometimes destroy the nest and ovules. So you must be careful in all you do.