It would hardly seem necessary to be said, and yet many experiences of husbands and wives prove that it needs to be said, that both parties should take great pains to keep their bodies, all parts of them, always sweet and clean.  Strange as it may seem, many wives are exceedingly careless in this respect!  It is a matter of common report among men, that harlots take more pains to make and keep their bodies, and especially their genitals, clean and attractive, than many wives do!  Surely, this ought not to be so, and yet it often is.

And that it is, is only one more unfortunate result that springs from the feeling of “Oh, we are married now.”  The wife or the husband feels that there is no longer any need of wooing each other.  All of which leads to woe, woe, woe!  The wife should keep her whole body so sweet and clean that her husband can kiss her from top to toe, if he wants to—­and the chances are that he will want to, if she so keeps herself!  In the one case, such a caress is a bit of heaven to a husband, in the other it is a bit of hell!  It will disgust where it ought to delight.  And when a wife disgusts her husband, the end of a happy married life has come!

The wife should always wash her vulva with soap and warm water before retiring, and if reservatus is to be engaged in in the morning, after urination, she should thoroughly cleanse the parts before union takes place.  Let her be ever mindful to keep her “love cup” worthy to meet its lover.

And the husband should be equally careful to keep his body sweet and clean.  He should wash the glans penis thoroughly, with soap and water, at least once every day, drawing the foreskin back so as to fully cleanse the indenture above the gland, which secretes a substance that very soon emits an offensive odor unless removed.  Both parties should keep their arm pits so that they will not be “smelly,” and the feet should likewise be kept inodorous.

One of the chief objections to smoking or chewing tobacco is that it spoils the breath, and so makes it offensive to the wife, whereas it should be most attractive.  In a word, both the husband and wife cannot be too careful, in all ways, in making and keeping their bodies mutually attractive.  As has already been said, the sole aim of all the sexual experience of a husband and wife should be to raise the function more and more away from the plane of physical gratification and elevate it continually towards the realm of mental and spiritual delight.  This is a mission of sex in the human family that should be made the most of.  It involves the cultivation of the Art of Love, which is truly the art of arts, par excellence.

The secret of success in establishing righteous and happy sex relations between husband and wife is, on the part of the man, that all his actions should be those of a loving gentleman.  This does not mean effeminacy on his part—­he must be virile, bold, strong, aggressive, positive, compelling.  And yet, all these manly virtues must be expressed in terms of loving and gentle ACTS.  This is a paradox, but it is true!