Is it not lamentably true that the many mothers consider their work done when they have fed and clothed their children, and restrained them from the glaring evils of the day; and is it not as true that many of them have given little or no thought as to the best methods in which these three things shall be done? The question of preparation for maidenhood and boyhood, for manhood and womanhood, is never considered for a moment. It has not dawned upon the many that they should teach their children that they are a small part, but nevertheless a very important part of the great living, thinking, striving world. That the next generation will be the better or the worse because they are a part of it. That they can fit themselves to be a blessing, or neglecting the fitting, make themselves a curse to the coming generation. Teach them that before they can understand and help others, they must know themselves. Begin with their earliest instinctive questionings to answer truthfully, and glorify the thoughts that nature has implanted in every human heart, and that unless properly understood will become a snare and temptation to them. Many girls who have gone astray, or in some measure have become victims of their ignorance, have said to me in their remorse, “Oh, doctor, if my mother had only taught me these things, I should not have made the mistakes I have made. Why do mothers keep their girls in such ignorance?” And many a mother, who has grown grey with the weight of care and years, after listening to a talk on maternal responsibilities, has exclaimed, “If I had only known these things while training my children, what a difference it would have made with my boys and girls, and how much of sorrow and regret I could have spared them all these years. How much less of regret should I have had.” I like to think that in great measure, the mother is responsible for what her children know and don’t know. Ah, but you say, how can a mother be responsible for teaching her children aright when she has not been so taught herself? Doesn’t this very question prove my statement? Because the mothers behind you have shirked their responsibility, have you a right to shirk yours? Remember what we have already quoted, “What we need most is a generation of educated mothers.” And by this word “educated” is not meant “college trained” alone, but thoughtful, earnest, wide-awake, self-cultured women as well, who have at heart the highest good of themselves as well as those who come after them; and who are willing to give time and careful painstaking thought and research to the care of the home and to the mental, moral and physical training of their children. To such mothers every question of the little ones comes as the divine right exercised by the individual child, and as such receives proper attention and reply.