Imagine a wedding scene in a rural home. The only daughter, a young woman of ideal age for marriage, is joining her heart and her hand, for weal or for woe, to those of a young man of suitable character. But strange and unexpected as it may seem, there are many tears on the part of the immediate relatives of the girl. Her parents are manifesting the strange emotion of solemnity at a time when gaiety might be expected. Why is it? you ask. The whole situation has an interesting and inspiring history. It is simply this: During all her years the parents of this girl have watched her grow up, through infancy, childhood, maidenhood, and finally into the full maturity of a woman; and every stage of her growth has been carefully safe-guarded by them. They have made the home life and the home work serve her needs and purposes in a most beautiful and instructive manner. They seem to have attempted at all times to put into their daughter's life just such experience as would become a helpful part of her growing character. And what a reward! What a splendid satisfaction to the worthy parents to be able to contribute to society such a product of their affectionate care and training! A BALANCED LIFE FOR THE GIRL Should we follow it out, the biography of the good young woman mentioned above would teach many a valuable lesson to the parents of other girls--would teach them that a growing girl has her specific needs and her inherent rights, which must be provided for by her parents through the proper kind of directing and caretaking. A certain amount of restraint, of work, of play, of recreation, of social experiences, of practice in self-dependence, of opportunity for service of others--yes, a certain amount of all these things must be conscientiously supplied for the life of the growing girl so that she may develop into a well-rounded character. Parents are not accused of intentional wrong to their daughters. Such cases are rare. The chief sins against the daughters of the rural homes are the sins of neglect, of indifference, and of ignorance as to what were necessary to be done. So what we may accomplish in this chapter is, first to arouse parents to an appreciation of the seriousness of the problem before them; and second, to offer some specific aids to the better achievement of the task of bringing up a girl to the rural home. It is a well-established principle in plant propagation that certain nutrient elements must be present in the soil before growth will go on properly. It does not satisfy the needs of the plant for some of the chemical substances to be present in large amount if the others be absent. There must be a sort of balanced ration for the vegetable life. Similarly in case of that tender plant of the household, the young girl; she can be kept alive on work and study alone, but for beautiful and symmetrical growth other elements of character-nourishment are necessary. What are they? The reader is referred to Chapter I for a general list.