A growing girl requires _plenty_ of _good_ nourishment—as much as her appetite demands; and if she have it not, she will become either chlorotic, or consumptive, or delicate. Besides, _the greatest beautifier in the world is health_; therefore, by a mother studying the health of her daughter, she will, at the same time, adorn her body with beauty! I am sorry to say that too many parents think more of the beauty than of the health of their girls. Sad and lamentable infatuation! Nathaniel Hawthorne gives a graphic description of a delicate young lady. He says: “She is one of those delicate, nervous young creatures not uncommon in New England, and whom I suppose to have become what we find them by the gradually refining away of the physical system among young women. Some philosophers choose to glorify this habit of body by terming it spiritual; but, in my opinion, it is rather the effect of unwholesome food, bad air, lack of out-door exercise, and neglect of bathing, on the part of these damsels and their female progenitors, all resulting in a kind of hereditary dyspepsia.” Nathaniel Hawthorne, a distinguished American, was right. Such ladies, when he wrote, were not uncommon: but within the last two or three years, to their great credit be it spoken, “a change has come o’er the spirit of their dreams,” and they are wonderfully improved in health; for, with all reverence be it spoken, “God helps them who help themselves,” and they have helped themselves by attending to the rules of health: “The women of America are growing more and more handsome every year for just this reason. They are growing rounder of chest, fuller of limb, gaining substance and development in every direction. Whatever may be urged to the contrary, we believe this to be a demonstrable fact.... When the rising generation of American girls once begin to wear thick shoes, to take much exercise in the open air, to skate, to play croquet, and to affect the saddle, it not only begins to grow more wise but more healthful, and—which must follow as the night the day—more beautiful.” If a young girl had plenty of wholesome meat, varied from day to day, either plain roast or boiled, and neither stewed, nor hashed, nor highly seasoned, for her stomach; if she had an abundance of fresh air for her lungs; if she had plenty of active exercise, such as skipping, dancing, running, riding, swimming, for her muscles; if her clothing were warm and loose, and adapted to the season; if her mind were more occupied with active, _useful_ occupation, such as household work, than at present, and if she were kept calm and untroubled from the hurly-burly and excitement of fashionable life,—chlorosis would almost be an unknown disease. It is a complaint of rare occurrence with country girls, but of great frequency with fine city ladies. 382. _What treatment should you advise?_