The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH OUR DAUGHTERS?

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And they are the foes of the race, albeit not always intentional, who set themselves against the removal of woman's
disabilities, shut in their faces the doors of education or
opportunity, or deny them any but the smallest and most
incomplete training. For it is true that " who educates a
woman educates a race."
Good health is a great prerequisite of successful or
happy living. To live worthily or happily, to accomplish
much for one's self or others when suffering much from pain
and disease, is attended with difficulty. Dr. Johnson used
to say that " every man is a rascal when he is sick." And
very much of the peevishness, irritability, capriciousness,
and impatience seen in men and women has its root in
bodily illness. The very morals suffer from disease of the
body. Therefore I would give to " our daughters" a good
physical education.
We shall by-and-by come to recognize the right of every
child to be well born, - sound in body, with inherited tendencies towards mental and moral health. We have learned
that it is possible to direct the operations of nature so as to
have finer breeds of horses, cattle, and fowls, to improve our
fruits, flowers, and grains. Science searches for the prenatal laws of being, and comes to the aid of all who wish to
improve the lower creation. When shall an enlightened
public sentiment demand that those who seek of God the
gift of little children shall make themselves worthy the gift,
by healthful and noble living, practical acquaintance with
prenatal laws of being, and all that relates to the hereditary
transmission of qualities.
If we would give to our daughters a good physiological
training we must attend carefully to their dress. The dress
of women at the present time is about as unhygienic as it
well can be. And many of our girls are made the victims