How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.

threw her mother into a panic. Half the children’s doctors in London were called in consultation to her bedside. A hushed and ominous quiet lay over her sick room, mysterious nurses passed like ghosts 'through the doors, and the ubiquitous shadow of her frenzied mother pervaded the atmosphere of an entire year of Elsie’s life. Precautions were redoubled, contacts with other children were curtailed, interminable visits to doctors began. At this early age Elsie suddenly realized the social value of pain. The least sign of pain was the signal for the convention of doctors and nurses, and a new panic on the part of her mother. A headache was sufficient excuse for avoiding the unpleasant tasks of school for several days. When Elsie was twenty-one, her mother gave her a fitting “ coming out ” party, and in the course of the years her frail beauty had won the hearts of several admirers. During this period of admiration, parties, and dances, Elsie was very happy. They fitted beautifully into her pattern—the life of a misunderstood princess. She married an eminently attractive young man supposedly of good family and estimable character. Her mother, anxious to see her happily married at last, breathed a sigh of relief as the young couple left for a honeymoon in Italy. She felt that she had done her duty, that she had properly prepared her child for life in the world. She had realized her ideal for her child—and as all the elements of this fairy-tale life had been realized almost like clock¬ work, Elsie’s mother did not doubt for one moment that the customary sequel “ and they lived happily ever after ” would follow her carefully laid plans. But as the train left Charing Cross, Elsie’s difficulties began. This was her first experience as an independent human being. About sex and the art of love she knew nothing. Her knowledge of the physiology of cohabita¬ tion was nil, her ideas about childbirth even more vague than those of the average twelve-year-old child. She knew nothing of men, and when her husband proved to be something of a sexual pervert, and subsequently a professional blackmailer and forger, despite his good