It is also shown that more young girls join church than boys. Some girls seem almost consumed by the desire to do good and be good in every thought and word and act, and have been known to go through various forms of self punishment, such as fasting, sacrificing pleasure, etc. Again, others spend hours in absolute devotion to the neglect of health and studies. It is very easily seen why the church takes its “flock,” while still in the adolescent period, for at no subsequent time is the girl's mind so plastic or impressionable. If the same girl who enters the convent at 18 years had waited until 22, she would very likely not have entered, for the mental changes are most intense from 16 to 18 years of age. Another common emotional awakening of girlhood is the affections. In boys this awakening causes them to gather together in gangs. They follow their leader whom they greatly admire and obey. In girls it assumes a more simple form, the devotion to a girl friend of her own age, and the affection between them is deep and intense while it lasts. They tell their most private thoughts in secret to each other, dividing all honors, pleasures and gifts; they are almost inseparable, and I have known a girl whose affection was so deep for her “chum” that she wore mourning when the chum's father died. Another form of affection which the girl of this age manifests is that for an older woman, often a teacher or neighbor. Parents sometimes look askance at this relation, and rightly so, for a friendship can be beneficial or harmful according to the character of the older woman. But with all these interests there is nothing so all-absorbing or so interesting to the adolescent girl as =herself=. She has become conscious of =self=. Now she burns with ambition to go out into the world and do mighty things. She feels sure she will be a great singer, or a dancer, or, perhaps, an actress. Again, she feels she will write a wonderful book—about herself—or at least she will be the heroine. Or she will write a wonderful tragic play; or she will nurse on the battlefields and care for the sick and dying. These, together with thousands of other desires, burn in her mind, and can be increased or lessened according to the character of the books she reads. The literature placed in a girl's hands at this age has as great an influence on her thoughts and acts as her companions. In early adolescence this self-consciousness manifests itself in modesty, blushing, giggling, physical awkwardness, mentioned earlier on this subject, all signs that the girl is conscious of that inner self—the ego. It is at this stage when the mother tries to explain what the menstrual period means to the girl that she is met with icy indifference. She refuses to talk on this subject, or anything pertaining to the sex subject, because she has just become conscious of her sex, and everything connected with it seems offensively personal.