All of nature’s maternal processes, from the initial of life in the tiny egg, through all the mysterious and interesting changes of embryonic and fetal development, until the babe is easily and quickly conveyed by muscular energy from its warm, cozy, maternal abode and introduced to a world of independent life and activity, are a sublime miracle--the miracle of motherhood. =The maternal instinct.=--The maternal instinct is inherent in every normal girl. It is this maternal nature that prompts little girls to play with their dolls and with childish glee and innocent sincerity to organize their doll families into beautiful imitation of real life. The natural desire of every girl, as she matures during the years of adolescence, is that she may one day become a mother. =A perfect body essential to ideal motherhood.=--The beautiful ideals of wifehood and the sacred ideals of motherhood can come in their fullness only to those who make themselves worthy. The broad-minded, sensible girl will not bind her young growing figure with a corset, pinch her undeveloped feet by wearing tight, high-heeled shoes, ruin her neck with high, stiff collars, expose her shoulders and bosom to the varying changes of temperature by wearing low-necked dresses, ruin her health and throttle her mind and soul in a cradle of ignorance. =The independent girl.=--All girls should qualify themselves for some vocation, aside from marriage. The girl who stays at home and has nothing to do but dress and primp and wait for some man to come along and marry her is likely to develop into a flippant, extravagant social nonentity. The girl who qualifies herself for some vocation will not be a burden to her parents. She will learn the value of money, will acquire self-confidence and personal dignity, will multiply the red corpuscles in her blood, and thus be able to give her hand and heart to her coming prince with the knowledge that she is quite capable of entering upon the new duties of home-building. =All girls should have training for motherhood.=--But whatever be the place or position to which you may aspire, you should also seek the training necessary to ideal motherhood. Your mother instinct calls for plenty of roomy quarters for the fetus. It is the mother instinct that demands open-air athletics, free chest expansion and a correct poise and carriage of body. It is the mother love that calls for books and magazines that give special articles on courtship, marriage and the sacred mission of motherhood. CHAPTER XXXII SOME PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED =How young can a girl become a mother?=--It would be possible but not likely for her to become pregnant soon after her first menstruation. If the ova should be fertilized at that time she would become a mother. In most cases the ova would be too weak for impregnation to be perfect. Should it occur, as it does in some cases, soon after puberty begins, it is always unfortunate for the girl and her child.