What Every Mother Should Know; or, How Six Little Children Were Taught The TruthSanger, Margaret
Science
What Every Mother Should Know; or, How Six Little Children Were Taught The Truth
Sanger, Margaret
Sex instruction
Then she told him that as soon as the dishes were put away, she would
take him for a walk in the woods where the baby flowers come from, where
the mother kept them when they were baby seeds and also tell him how the
father and mother flower gave life to the little baby seeds, which
afterward grew into the lovely flowers we see all about us. She would
show him that he was once a little seed like the flower seed and kept in
a soft little nest in the same way.
Bobby’s mother now regretted that she had not begun earlier to tell this
story of the flower to Bobby. For she realized that had she done this
then, now when he had reached the stage of development where he was
curious about his own being, she could at once have taken up the story
of his own creation, and, of course, referred back to the story of the
creation of the lower species. This would have simplified matters
greatly. However, she decided it could never be too late and the easiest
and quickest way even now, was to begin with the flowers.
It now occurred to Bobby’s mother that to teach her child alone the
truths of Nature would be a most fruitless task; for in playing with his
companions, they would undo all her work unless they, too, were taught
the truths, and in the same way.
She consequently set about gathering in the children of the neighborhood
with whom Bobby played. She explained to the mothers what she was about
to do. Most of them strongly objected to their boys learning these
things which they considered of interest only to grown-ups. But five of
the mothers consented, and seemed delighted to have their children
taught the truths in this most beautiful and interesting manner.
Accordingly, she took five little children, together with her own,
ranging in ages from five to six and one-half years, and started in the
woods to hunt for the common wild flowers. Soon they were scrambling
over boulders and fallen trees in search of mountain pinks, violets,
buttercups, anemones, etc., calling and shouting to each other at each
new find, their faces bright and happy with the glow of health. It was a
picture never to be forgotten; and as they gathered around Bobby’s
mother, who was seated on a moss covered, fallen tree, they received
their first lesson.
As the buttercup was a little early—those on this particular outing
being the first ones found of the season—they naturally made it the most
popular flower; and so it became logically the first family to be
studied.
They were told that the whole buttercup, as they held it, was the
Buttercup House, whose color was yellow, and that inside the house,
within the petals, was the Buttercup Family.
“Is there a father?” asked one; “and a mother?” asked another.
“Yes, indeed; there must be a father and mother if there are to be any
seeds,” was the reply.
Then they were told that all forms of plant life have but one object and
that object is to reproduce their kind—“to make more flowers.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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