All these parts are composed of most keenly responsive nerves, and they are covered with a thin, delicate and exceedingly sensitive skin, almost exactly such as lines the cheeks and the mouth.  Both the clitoris and the lips are filled with expandable blood vessels, and in a state of tumescence they are greatly enlarged by a flow of blood into the parts.  The clitoris, in this condition, undergoes an enlargement, or “erection,” which is exactly like that of the glans penis.  So much as to the physiology of this part of the female sex organs, all of which should be well understood by every bride and bridegroom, though often it is not.

Now, in its virgin state, the vulva has another part, not yet named, and this is the hymen, or “maiden-head” as it is commonly known.  This is a membrane that grows across the forward, or upper part of the vaginal opening, and so closes up nearly all that part of the vulva.  This hymen is not always present, however, even in a state of undoubted virginity.  Sometimes it is torn away in childhood by the little girl’s fingers, as she “plays with herself.”  Sometimes it is ruptured by lifting, again it is broken away by the use of a large-sized female syringe. For all these reasons, it is not right to conclude that a bride is not a virgin because the hymen is not present and in evidence at the first coition.

Now many young husbands, and some young wives, are wholly ignorant of the existence of the hymen, and of the troubles it may cause at the second part of the sexual act, in a first meeting.  This membrane is often quite tough and strong.  It is grown fast to the lower part of the clitoris and to the inside surfaces of the smaller lips, and it covers so much of the vaginal opening that it is practically impossible for the erect penis to enter the vagina so long as it is present.  Now if, under these conditions, the bride and groom (especially the latter) are ignorant of the real construction of the parts, and so should try to make a union of the organs, they would find such union obstructed, if not impossible; and if the man, puzzled, and impatient, and passion-driven, should force a hasty entrance into the vagina, rupturing the hymen ruthlessly, he would hurt the woman cruelly, probably cause her to bleed freely from the wounded parts, and shock her seriously!  All of which would be a score against the husband, would brand him as a brute, or a bungler, and so tend to make his “sun-aimed arrow alight in the mud.”

The thing to do here, is, first of all, to know the situation and to talk it over, and carefully, delicately, do the best that can be done about it.  If the conditions are fully understood by the bride and groom, they can, in almost every case, by working and moving together carefully, overcome the obstacle, remove the hymen with little or no pain or loss of blood.

As a matter of fact, when the time for meeting comes, if all the facts are known, and the husband will hold his erect penis still and steady against the hymen, the bride will so press against it, and “wiggle around” it, that by her own motions, she will break the membrane and so be rid of it.  She knows how much pain she can endure, and when the pressure is too hard she can relieve it by her own action!  Anyhow, what is done she does herself, and so can never charge up against her husband!