4.  THE PROPER TIME.—­To obtain the best results, conception should take place only when both parties are in the best physical condition.  If either parent is in any way indisposed at the time of conception the results will be seen in the health of the child.  Many children brought in the world with diseases or other infirmities stamped upon their feeble frames show the indiscretion and ignorance of parents.

5.  DURING PREGNANCY.—­During pregnancy the mother should take time for self improvement and cultivate an interest for admiring beautiful pictures or engravings which represent cheerful and beautiful figures.  Secure a few good books illustrating art, with some fine representations of statues and other attractive pictures.  The purchase of several illustrated an journals might answer the purpose.

6.  WHAT TO AVOID.—­Pregnant mothers should avoid thinking of ugly people, or those marked by any deformity or disease; avoid injury, fright and disease of any kind.  Also avoid ungraceful position and awkward attitude, but cultivate grace and beauty in herself.  Avoid difficulty with neighbors or other trouble.

7.  GOOD CARE.—­She should keep herself in good physical condition, and the system well nourished, as a want of food always injures the child.

8.  THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.—­The mother should read suitable articles in newspapers or good books, keep her mind occupied.  If she cultivates a desire for intellectual improvement, the same desire will be more or less manifested in the growth and development of the child.

9.  LIKE PRODUCES LIKE, everywhere and always—­in general forms and in particular features—­in mental qualities and in bodily conditions—­in tendencies of thought and in habits of action.  Let this grand truth be deeply impressed upon the hearts of all who desire or expect to become parents.

10.  HEREDITY.—­Male children generally inherit the peculiar traits and diseases of the mother and female children those of the father.

11.  ADVICE.—­Therefore it is urged that during the period of utero-gestation, especial pains should be taken to render the life of the female as harmonious as possible, that her surroundings should all be of a nature calculated to inspire the mind with thoughts of physical and mental beauties and perfections, and that she should be guarded against all influences, of whatever character, having a deteriorative tendency.

[Illustration]

[Illustration:  THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY.]

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EDUCATION OF THE CHILD IN THE WOMB.

“A lady once interviewed a prominent college president and asked him when the education of a child should begin.  ’Twenty-five years before it is born,’ was the prompt reply.”

No better answer was ever given to that question Every mother may well consider it.

1.  THE UNBORN CHILD AFFECTED BY THE THOUGHTS AND THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE MOTHER.—­That the child is affected in the womb of the mother, through the influences apparently connected with objects by which she is surrounded, appears to have been well known in ancient days, as well as at the present time.