How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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parental over-religiosity. Her mother is a very saintly woman whose vision is bounded by the Sunday School, the Gospels, a vivid belief in Hell, and the hope of a heavenly apotheosis near the throne of God. She has three children, all girls. The eldest escaped the atmosphere of sanctity by becoming a cabaret dancer. The second girl ran away from home at the age of seventeen to meet a dubious fate. Edna is the youngest child. Her saintly mother determined that her youngest daughter should be “ saved for Jesus ”. After thirty-eight years of unnatural life in sanctimonious seclusion from every worldly interest, after thirty-eight years of vivid terror of Hell, and an equally vivid belief in the sinfulness of lipstick, rouge, pretty clothes, dancing, Sunday amusements, films, bridge—in fact, everything but prayer and ascetic sanctity, Edna was kissed at a Sunday School picnic by a young minister of her congregation. She believed that she had committed the “ unpardonable sin ”. She returned to her home confused and depressed and strangely agitated. At her mother’s insistent questioning about the events of the picnic she broke into uncontroll¬ able fits of weeping and laughter. On the following day her expected menstrual period did not appear. She believed that the minister’s kiss had made her pregnant. She clumsily attempted suicide and was removed to a private asylum where we saw her first, fondling the only rag doll her mother had ever allowed her to have, mumbling incoherent prayers punctuated by the unforgettable cackling laughter of dementia praecox. I leave the final evaluation of religious education to theologians and metaphysicians, but as a psychiatrist who has witnessed the untoward effects of intense religious training in countless instances, I advise that religious dogma, doctrines of “ original sin ”, of damnation and hell-fire, of salvation by faith and not by works, and kindred theological fictions be administered in small doses, and very infrequently, by parents who desire their sons and daughters to grow up into healthy-minded adults.