three groups cannot be treated identically; each period has its own
peculiar needs. The problem of sorting out the individuals and meeting the
needs of each group is difficult because of our traditional neglect of the
whole task. But of any particular lesson we may agree with him who says,
"Better a year too early than an hour too late."

The earliest safeguard, rather regimen than instruction, is the
inculcation of the idea and habit of "Hands off" the sex organs. The
little child is taught this by his mother, and it becomes second nature.
The pre-pubescent boy and girl may receive some slight but impressive
additional perception as to the danger of meddling in any way. They should
also be warned strictly against any other person who offers to tamper with
their sex organs or adjacent parts of the body. Let them understand that
they are justified in any means of defense, the fist, a club, or a stone;
and that the offender is forever damned by his act and must never again
be trusted; and, of course, that they should at once lay the whole case
before their parents or other persons in authority.

The special instruction of the pre-pubescent and pubescent periods is as
yet by no means fully agreed upon among experts. We can give here only a
few points that seem fairly clear.

(1) Girls should know in advance enough of the general facts of
menstruation so that the onset of the period may not cause, as it now does
in thousands of cases, shock and sometimes dangerous errors of conduct.
They should also know that the sexual nature of men is active and
aggressive instead of passive and defensive as in the woman; and that
hence the woman must in general take the leading part in the control of
the sexual relation, or, at least, of those preliminary intimacies that
tend to culminate in sexual union. If it be contended that this is a