There is no duty of those persons having control of a family where principle and practice are more at variance than in regulating the dress of young girls, especially at the most important and critical period of life. It is a difficult duty for parents and teachers to contend with the power of fashion, which at this time of a young girl’s life is frequently the ruling thought, and when to be out of the fashion, to be odd and not dress as all her companions do, is a mortification and grief that no argument or instructions can relieve. The mother is often so overborne that, in spite of her better wishes, the daughter adopts modes of dress alike ruinous to health and to beauty. The greatest protection against such an emergency is to train a child to understand the construction of her own body, and to impress upon her, in early days, her obligations to the invisible Friend and Guardian of her life, the “Former of her body and the Father of her spirit,” who has committed to her care so precious and beautiful a casket. And the more she can be made to realize the skill and beauty of construction shown in her earthly frame, the more will she feel the obligation to protect it from injury and abuse. It is a singular fact that the war of fashion has attacked most fatally what seems to be the strongest foundation and defense of the body, the bones. For this reason, the construction and functions of this part of the body will now receive attention. The bones are composed of two substances, one animal, and the other mineral. The animal part is a very fine net-work, called _cellular membrane_. In this are deposited the harder mineral substances, which are composed principally of carbonate and phosphate of lime. In very early life, the bones consist chiefly of the animal part, and are then soft and pliant. As the child advances in age, the bones grow harder, by the gradual deposition of the phosphate of lime, which is supplied by the food, and carried to the bones by the blood. In old age, the hardest material preponderates; making the bones more brittle than in earlier life. The bones are covered with a thin skin or membrane, filled with small blood-vessels which convey nourishment to them. Where the bones unite with others to form joints, they are covered with _cartilage_, which is a smooth, white, elastic substance. This enables the joints to move smoothly, while its elasticity prevents injuries from sudden jars. The joints are bound together by strong, elastic bands called _ligaments_, which hold them firmly and prevent dislocation. Between the ends of the bones that unite to form joints are small sacks or bags, that contain a soft lubricating fluid. This answers the same purpose for the joints as oil in making machinery work smoothly, while the supply is constant and always in exact proportion to the demand.