Global Digital Store – Ebooks and Softwares

Author: Abdul-Qadir

  • You Won that eBay Auction! Now What Do You Do?

    You Won that eBay Auction! Now What Do You Do?

    It's a heady feeling when you win your first eBay auction: a mixture of happiness and perhaps just a little fear. After all, there seems to be so much to do before you can actually get your item. What do you do next?

    The simple answer is: you send payment to the seller, as quickly as possible. The quicker you pay, the more your seller will like you, and the sooner your item will arrive. But how you go about it? That all depends on how you plan to pay.

    PayPal.

    PayPal is one of the most popular options for paying on eBay, to the point where eBay decided to buy the company. It allows instant electronic payment across the Internet. Money goes instantly from your credit or debit card to the seller's PayPal account, where they can either use it for Internet purchases or transfer it out to their bank.

    eBay offer incentives for using PayPal, and almost all sellers now accept it. Its instant nature makes sellers very happy, and means that they can have your item packed and sent and leave you some positive feedback within a few hours of the auction ending. When paying by PayPal, you will be covered by PayPal's own insurances and guarantees, as well as any that your card might have.

    Cheques and Money Orders.

    This is payment the old-fashioned way, and will lead to a long wait to your item. You need to post the cheque or money order, then the seller has to take it to the bank and get it cleared, and only then do they send the item. The only reason to use this method is if either you or the seller distrusts electronic payment methods. If you're willing to go to the trouble with these sellers, though, you might get an item very cheaply, as most buyers just can't be bothered.

    When you pay by cheque or money order, make sure to print the eBay order confirmation page (it will be emailed to you) and put it in the envelope with your payment. Underline or circle key information like your mailing address and the item number. Finally, remember to be patient: keep in contact with the seller, as it really can take a month or two before everything falls into place and your item turns up.

    Money Transfers and Bank Deposits.

    Some sellers may ask you to pay them using a wire service like Western Union, or simply give you a bank account number and ask you to pay money into it. Unless you really trust the seller, this is generally a bad idea – these methods are hard to trace and you're unlikely to get any money back if anything goes wrong. Paying in cash, it hardly needs to be said, is an even worse idea.

    It's all a lot to take in, isn't it? I'm sure by now you've got a few questions, which is why the next email will be a little eBay buyer's FAQ. Let's hope we can solve any problems you might have.

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  • Advertising in the 20th Century

    Advertising increased dramatically in the United States as industrialization expanded the supply of manufactured products. In order to profit from this higher rate of production, industry needed to recruit workers as consumers of factory products. It did so through the invention of mass marketing designed to influence the population’s economic behavior on a larger scale. In the 1910s and 1920s, advertisers in the U.S. adopted the doctrine that human instincts could be targeted and harnessed – “sublimated” into the desire to purchase commodities. Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, became associated with the method and is now often considered the founder of modern advertising.

    The tobacco industry was one of the firsts to make use of mass production, with the introduction of the Bonsack machine to roll cigarettes. The Bonsack machine allowed the production of cigarettes for a mass markets, and the tobacco industry needed to match such an increase in supply with the creation of a demand from the masses through advertising. The tobacco companies pioneered the new advertising techniques when they hired Bernays to create positive associations with tobacco smoking.advertisement

    Advertising was also used as a vehicle for cultural assimilation, encouraging workers to exchange their traditional habits and community structure in favor of a shared “modern” lifestyle. An important tool for influencing immigrant workers was the American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers (AAFLN). The AAFLN was primarily an advertising agency but also gained heavily centralized control over much of the immigrant press.

    At the turn of the 20th century, there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women’s insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today’s standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message “The skin you love to touch”.
    On the radio from the 1920s
    Advertisement for a live radio broadcast, sponsored by a milk company and published in the Los Angeles Times on May 6, 1930

    In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. As time passed, many non-profit organizations followed suit in setting up their own radio stations, and included: schools, clubs and civic groups.

    When the practice of sponsoring programs was popularized, each individual radio program was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the business’ name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio station owners soon realized they could earn more money by selling sponsorship rights in small time allocations to multiple businesses throughout their radio station’s broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship rights to single businesses per show.

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  • Budgeting For Emergency Funds?

    Budgeting For Emergency Funds?

    Emergency funds are considered to be a necessity as far as financial security is concerned, since it can provide one with financial resources that one can resort to and depend on when an emergency arises such that when one is sick and have the burden of paying huge medical bills, or unexpected home or major car repair.

    When one has no emergency fund, one can be obliged to acquire debt on your credit card that might take several years to repay with interest that would later cost so much more.

    However by putting an extra thirty to fifty dollars every month in an individual “emergency savings account” one can be secured with what emergency the future may bring. In doing this, it is recommended that one regards the emergency fund as an additional bill, to be punctually paid each month.

    Yes, one can and should budget and allocate the extra money for emergency fund, as this is very significant when one refers to his “financial future”. Here, the goal is to create savings from budgeting your income; the emergency savings should ideally be equal to at least three months your living expenditures.

    What's important is that you should steadily put a certain amount of money aside, and only use it for real emergencies.

    Not like an investment, the success of one’s long-term savings funds does not really count on the amount of return or interests but on placing a fixed amount of money away constantly and steadily so to have immediate access to it at all times.

    In spite of one’s financial status, the initial step in the process of constructing an emergency fund is by knowing where your money is presently being consumed or spent.

    When one recognizes and determines where one’s earnings are spent, then it will be easy for one to choose and make a decision where to trim down expenses. In other words, budget.

    Budgeting is putting or setting aside money for anticipated and unanticipated future use.  It is here that one sets up a goal so as to save.  So set an emergency fund as your goal.

    Checking, savings, money market accounts and “certificates of deposits”, are great places to keep one’s cash that might be needed on quick notice.

    The amount saved from budgeting can either go to your savings goal, emergency fund or both.  One could utilize the money saved from budgeting financial expenses by saving half of it to your savings account and half of it for emergencies. This way, you achieve your goals in savings and at the same time put in funds for emergency use.  It’s your choice.

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  • Circus Entertainment

    Circus Entertainment

    A circus, described as "one of the most brazen of entertainment forms", is a special type of theatrical performance, involving acrobatics and often performing animals, usually thought of as a travelling show, although permanent venues have also been used. Philip Astley is regarded as the founder of the modern circus in the second half of the 18th century and Jules Léotard is the French performer credited with developing the art of the trapeze, considered synonymous with circuses. Astley brought together performances that were generally familiar in traditional British fairs "at least since the beginning of the 17th century": "tumbling, rope-dancing, juggling, animal tricks and so on". It has been claimed that "there is no direct link between the Roman circus and the circus of modern times. … Between the demise of the Roman 'circus' and the foundation of Astley's Amphitheatre in London some 1300 years later, the nearest thing to a circus ring was the rough circle formed by the curious onlookers who gathered around the itinerant tumbler or juggler on a village green."

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  • PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

    When should parents begin telling a child of his origin?—When a child asks about his origin he is old enough to be told the first story. Some children will ask about this by the time they are three or four years old, others not until they are five or six. A normally developing child will certainly become interested in this matter by the sixth year. If a child has not asked about his origin by the time he is six, it would be wise for the parents to ascertain by questioning him whether he has received this information elsewhere.

    If they find he has gained this information from the vicious, what should they do?—I would suggest that they wisely, tactfully and kindly ask him to tell them all he has heard, promising him that they will tell him the real truth in a number of very interesting stories. If he has received only very limited information, I would tell him at once the story of the plants and promise him another story in a few days or weeks about the oysters. If he has received considerable information in half-truth and learned several vulgar expressions, I would tell him these stories of life, one at the time and one each day until I had covered all the half-truths he had learned. I would endeavor skillfully to impress him with the sacredness of the laws of life. I would try to induce him to discard every false name he has learned by giving him the chaste pure names. I would teach him that we should be modest and discreet regarding these organs, and when and how to speak of them; that we should carefully avoid entertaining the idea they are in themselves sinful or that they are our shame and humiliation; that these organs and their functions are sacred, delicate and pure; and that they are our pride and our glory.

    If this advice were universally followed by teachers, ministers and parents among all children over ten, youths and adults, it would immediately reform and purify society.

    “If a child, especially a boy, is not fully satisfied with the information contained in these stories, and should ask for a more detailed explanation of the child’s origin, how would you answer him?”—I would first try to decide whether the child is prompted by natural or morbid curiosity. If the child is sincere, very bright and inquisitive, you will have a very pleasant task and one that should result in only good to the child. I would start with the plant and show just how the two natures reach eachother in the seed. Then I would pass in my detailed explanation to the oyster and fish. I would call his attention to the real visible examples of mating among the insects, birds, and domestic animals. I would call his attention to the father and mother of insects and birds as they build their cells and nests to receive their eggs when laid. I would call attention to the fact that food is stored up in the egg or cell for the young before and after it is hatched. I would call his attention to the fact that among the animals where the young is born alive, that the mother furnishes the young with food before it is born. If the child has witnessed the mating of the birds and domestic animals and this is explained to him in detail, the necessity for a detailed discussion of human mating will be avoided. The child could be informed that human mating is practically the same.

    If the child is prompted by morbid curiosity, the task is a more difficult one, the ideal results are not so certain, but the above method is the only one that can be safely followed.

    To be able to give sex and social purity truths effectively to children and youths, what qualifications should parents and teachers have?—They should have tact or skill. It is possible to approach them in such a way as to do great harm. This qualification comes to one as a result of careful study of these subjects, the{120}consciousness of personal responsibility and a realization of the child’s need of being safeguarded by a clear knowledge of the truth. (2) They should be able to discard all words and phrases they learned from the ignorant on the street and playground. They should be able to use a chaste, simple, scientific sex vocabulary. (3) They should be free from all mental and moral taint. No one can tell or willingly listen to a lascivious joke and then be able to tell effectively a child of his origin, the functions of his sexual system and his temptations and dangers in connection with them.

    “Would it be safe for all parents and teachers to give sex information to children?”—It would, if all possessed the qualifications mentioned. A thief is not the proper person to teach honesty to a child. A liar is not the proper person to teach truth. A tobacco-using father is not the one to teach his boy not to use cigarettes. A swearing man is not qualified to teach his boy not to swear. Occasionally a child is saved from one or more of these vices by becoming utterly disgusted with the vice in his father. The child is an imitator. The child is quick to detect the difference between teaching and practice. One must practice what he teaches, if he expects his child or pupil to accept and follow his teaching.

    If parents and teachers do not possess these qualifications, what should they do?—It is their duty to prepare themselves for this service. Under present social conditions, they are not qualified to be at the head of a family, or to teach children unless they have these qualifications. Those who have these responsibilities upon them and feel that they cannot at present effectively perform these duties can secure the services of others or they can place in the hands of a child or youth a safe and interesting book containing what the child needs to know.

    If a child is told these delicate truths will he not tell other children about them?—That will depend upon the nature of the child, the way he has been trained and the tact used in telling the story of life. Some children have inherited a gossipy nature and some have been unfortunately trained. They would. But most children would not seek to inform other children; they would not seek this information from the vicious when they know they could obtain the truth from parents and teachers.

    Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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  • Advertising in Yellow Pages

    Advertising in Yellow Pages

    Some people believe that yellow pages do not receive response like other advertising methods do and this is true to some extent but not in totality. When talking about traditional yellow pages, there sure is a decline in number of people opting for advertising in it. According to a recent report, even the most attractive advertisement in a particular section is not getting the response from callers like they used to get before. On the contrary, the prices of placing ads in directories are on a rise, which speaks a different, story altogether.

    In reality different categories are witnessing different rates of decline. Like the lawyers category is seeing the maximum decline, where as emergency service provider’s section has the same call rate. And sections like mobile phones, real estate and furniture are seeing a rise due to the increasing customer demand. Altering the size of the advertisement or changing the look cannot do wonders any more.

    Experts suggest that relying on yellow pages to get customers isn’t enough. Other options should be considered as well along with it. With the Internet reaching every home, nearly half of the Internet users use the net everyday. They prefer to buy stuff online, from the comfort of their homes. Research should be done on the Internet to get reviews about the product. People, who don’t usually shop online, also are also opting to shop online as information is provided at the click of a mouse. It is easier for people to trust as customers who used the product give their feedback about the product after using it.

    A relatively newer concept is the yellow pages going online. The good thing about them is that they are updated frequently unlike the printed directories and can be viewed from any part of the world. According to researches conducted, the response increased by twenty five percent every year. So those who are interested to invest in yellow pages advertising can think of going online.  Directories are submitted to search engines, which on typing a keyword or phrase bring the results. Small and local businesses, too, can land on the pages brought by the result. The cost of creating a website can be saved if all the relevant information about the company is included in the online yellow pages. Look out for the date to renew the directory listing, and if there is a need to change the advertisement, it is not a big problem on online yellow pages. Some starter websites offer to place advertisement in their yellow pages for free. Search out for such websites on the Internet.
    Advertising in Yellow Pages
    Larger businesses can start their own websites and place links in the online yellow pages. Articles can be framed about the business and can be submitted to Ezines and websites related to the area of business. Some websites also allow posting articles for free. The purpose of the yellow pages is basically to get potential customers but that doesn’t mean that existing customers should be neglected. Steps should be taken to strengthen the relationship with them and to retain their trust by maintaining the standard of the products supplied to them. Once they are completely satisfied, the price-rise won’t bother them and they will talk about the company to people they know, which will fetch new customers.

    The objective is to work smartly and select the right method of advertising. If a business isn’t using any other method for advertising apart from using yellow pages, it can cause problems and the products may not sell. Analyze how much money is spent on placing ads in directories and estimate whether the amount of customers the business gets is desirable. Whenever a call is received from a potential customer, ask them how they got to know about the enterprise. This will help to analyze which advertising method is ideal for the business. It is never late to correct the mistake and go for the right method.

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  • THE FOURTH STORY—BABY ANIMALS AND MAN

    As the days and months glided by, our little girls were greeted one autumn morning by the advent of a little baby brother. Wife had given consent, years gone by, for me to tell the foregoing stories of life; but, only a few months before the above event, she had requested the privilege of telling this last story, as the girls would naturally ask of her how the little fellow came. This she told them, in a way no doubt, better than I could have done.

    In lecturing to multiplied thousands of boys and many hundreds of girls, I have told the stories of life much as I did to my little girls, with this story added.

    Baby animals.—We will now study God’s plan of increase in the higher animals and man. We shall find many striking resemblances and interesting variations between the lower forms of life that we have studied and the higher forms that we shall now study. All along the ascending scale of life we have found male and female organs of sex, possessing male and female natures. We have found that the male organs of sex produce a fertilizing substance called pollen in plants and semen in animals; that the female organs of sex produce seeds in plants and eggs in animals. We have found that every new plant, fish, insect, and bird comes from the union of the pollen with the seed, or the semen with the eggs. This last fact is true of the higher animals and man. We found that the seed of the plants are fertilized in the ovaries of the mother organs; that eggs of fish are fertilized outside of the body of the mother; that the eggs of insects and birds are fertilized inside of the mother’s body. This last plan is also true of the higher animals and man. We found that the seed of plants were sown or planted in the soil; that the eggs of fish were deposited in water; that the eggs of insects and birds were laid in some specially arranged place for them, usually called nests. In the higher animals and man the young starts from a tiny fertilized egg and grows in an organ in the mother’s body, called the womb, until it is strong and old enough to be born.

    The earliest stage of plant life in the little seed is called an embryo. When the seed has been planted and the little embryo appears above ground, it is then a little baby plant. The earliest stage of animal life in the egg of the fish, insect or bird, is an embryo. The mother part of the plant stores up food in the seed and the growing embryo feeds upon this food, until its little roots have grown down into the soil where they can take up food from the soil and the blades or leaves are large enough to receive light and heat from the sun and food from the atmosphere. The mother fish, insect and bird store up food in their eggs for the little embryos to live upon until they are hatched. Among the higher animals and man, the embryo begins with the tiny fertilized egg in the mother’s womb and receives nourishment and life from the mother’s blood through a duct, called the placenta, which is connected with the mother’s womb at one end while the other end connects with the body of the embryo at a point called the navel. In this way the mother furnishes the young with all the air, food, water and life that it gets until it is born. Among the higher animals and man the young when born are very tender and helpless. For several weeks or months they are fed on milk from their mother’s breasts. In higher forms of life the birth of young is attended by greater sacrifice and suffering than in lower forms of life. For months, and in the case of man, for years, the parents must labor and sacrifice to feed, protect and educate them. Birth in the human family is attended by greater suffering and the little baby is more helpless and tender, and for this reason requires more tender care than the young of any other animal. You have observed that in the lower forms of life where the parents do not have to suffer to bring their young into{ the world or labor to provide for them food or shelter that they do not love their young. As we ascend the scale of life in our study, we find that love exists between the parents and young just in proportion as the parents suffer and labor for their young.

    One of the most impressive and effective ways of telling the story of life in man was told by a wise and queenly mother in the following true story. This mother introduces the story by telling how solicitous she became about her little boy when he was about seven or eight years old. He was in the public school where he was likely any day to hear the story of life from some wicked boy. She was anxious that her boy should hear this story first from his mother’s lips.

    How a mother told the story of life to her boy.—In telling the story, the mother said:

    One morning, the opportunity that I had been praying and watching for, came. I observed my little boy playing rather roughly, not cruelly, with the pet cat. Speaking kindly to him, I said, “Son, don’t be rough with the old cat; handle her gently.” “Why, mamma?” he replied. “Son, mamma cannot make the reason clear to you now, but you obey mamma and in about ten days, mamma will tell you a very beautiful story, and, then you will understand.” As those days glided by, with pride I observed the unusual attention and kindness he showed the old cat. One morning, about ten days later, he came running into my presence, perfectly delighted, wonderfully elated, and overflowing with joy, he invited me out the back way to see what he had found. I anticipated his discovery, but I wanted him to have all the pleasure. So, I offered him my hand while he proudly led the way. As we stepped from the back porch, turning he pointed his finger under the floor; I looked, and there was the old mother cat and by her side were four as beautiful little kittens, basking in the sunlight, as the human eye ever saw. He bragged about having found them; called my attention to their color and markings; and claimed two of them as his own.

    We sat down on a rustic seat where we could still see them. We admired their plumpness, color, eyes and playfulness and chatted together about them. At length I said, “Son, do you remember about ten days ago when you were playing rather roughly and I asked you to handle the old cat tenderly?” Promptly he replied; “Yes, mamma, and you promised me that in about ten days you would tell me a beautiful story that would explain why I should handle the old cat kindly. Can you tell me that story this morning?” “Yes, son, mamma is ready to tell you the sweetest and purest story that a mother can tell her son. When mamma asked you to be kind to the old cat, those fourlittle kittens were then in her body. That was why the old cat was larger than she is now. The little kittens were then much smaller and very tender, and, had you been rough with the old cat, you might have injured them; and, then, they might have been born crippled, deformed or dead. When they were born three or four days ago their little eyes were so tender that the full light of the sun would have put out their sight, so they were born with their eyelids closed and glued together. The old cat knew how tender their eyes would be, so three or four days ago she went away back under the dark floor and gave them birth. As they have grown older and their eyes have become stronger, every few hours the old cat has brought them a few feet nearer the light. Meanwhile, their eyelids have gradually opened until they can now look up at the sun as well as you can. If they had been born out in the open, the full light of the sun would have made their tender little eyes very sore or put them out.”

    By this time I saw that my boy was very anxious to ask me a question. I was just as eager for him to ask it. I believed that he was going to ask the very question that my mother heart longed for him to ask; the very question that I believed God wanted my little boy to ask. I paused and looked into his little upturned face. As his deep, true blue eyes met mine, spontaneously, naturally, seriously he enquired, “Mamma, was I once in your body, too?” “Yes, son, you were formed in mamma’s body, in a little nest or home underneath mamma’s heart. You started as a little cell. For two hundred and eighty long days, nine full months, nearly a whole year, you were growing in mamma’s body. Mamma knew that you were there and loved and prayed for you long before you were born. Mamma had to be careful not to meet with an accident lest you might be born crippled, deformed or dead. Mamma had to be cautious about the food she ate, the air she breathed, the water she drank, the exercise she took, all she thought and did; because you were united to mamma by a little cord filled with blood vessels, through which mamma was supplying you from her blood with all the materials necessary for your forming body, mind and soul. In this way you were being influenced by mamma. Mamma was anxious that you might have a healthy and perfect body and grow up to be a smart, good and great man. If mamma had been angry, untruthful or dishonest during these months that you were a part of her, you might have been born with an ugly disposition, tendency to steal or be untruthful. Mamma was very careful about all she thought, said and did during the months you were a part of her body.

    “Mamma knew about the day that you would leave your little home and come into this world. For hours mamma suffered great pain. The faithful doctor was present and did all he could to lessen mamma’s suffering. Papa stood at my side, held my hands in his, often stooped over and kissed my lips, cheeks and brow. As soon as you were born, the air rushed into your lungs and you cried, just as all little babies do when they are born alive. Mamma heard your baby cry and it thrilled her with joy known only to a mother, when she knows that her little baby is alive. But, son, when you were born and for many weeks and months, you were tiny, tender and helpless. No one in this world, and, God could not have found an angel in all of heaven who could have cared for you as well as mamma could. Mamma fed you at her breast, held you in her lap, fondled you in her arms and sung lullabies to you. When you were only a few weeks old you would have the colic. All night long your little body would be racked with pain and mamma would walk the floor with you, rub your little body and sing to you.” By this time my little boy was standing up close by my side, had both arms thrown around my neck, his little lips were kissing my cheek, and tears were rolling down his on to mine. Then he said, “Mamma, I am glad you have told me that story. I love you better now. I did not know that you loved and prayed for me before you ever saw me; that you were so careful that I might be well born; that you had to suffer so much when I was born; and that you cared for me so good when I was so small and when I was sick. This story will help me love you better and I will try never to disobey or tell you a falsehood.”

     

    Do you not see how much better it was for this boy to hear the story of his life from the pure lips of his loving mother, than to hear it first from the lips of some ignorant and wicked boy or man? Well this is the story of your life. You cannot understand now how much your mamma suffered in bringing you into this world. Then, both your father and mother have made many sacrifices for you and are deeply interested in your future. If you should make a shipwreck of life, I am sure that their old days would be spent in grief. How can you repay your parents for all their sacrifices? If you will keep your thoughts, words and actions pure, every time your parents see or think of you, they will be thrilled with joy and appreciation. Will you not now promise yourself and promise God that by His forgiveness of the past, grace and help now and in the future, that you will keep yourself pure? When you have done this will you not go and kiss mamma, and tell her that you love her better than ever before and that you are determined to live up to her prayers and wishes?

    Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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  • THE THIRD STORY—BABY BIRDS

    When our little girls were seven and nine this talk was given. The previous stories were reviewed bringing out the resemblances and differences. They were permitted to ask questions. In this talk they were very alert to see and apply all the lessons learned from previous stories.

    The beginning of love.—In this review of the story of life, among the plants and fish, we found no love or personal feeling between the male and female. Among the insects and reptiles we found that the males and females choose each other, when led by instinct to bring their young into the world. From the fish to the birds we find the simplest form of love and interest on the part of the parents in their young. This is shown by the care the parents take in the protection and care of the eggs and the food prepared for the young before they are hatched. The male crawfish picks up the fertilized eggs with his feelers, that are arranged in a double row underneath his tail, and, by means of these feelers, he carries the eggs close to his body until they are nearly ready to hatch. The frogs and toads show great tenderness for their eggs. A great many books have been written about all these animals and when you are older you will be greatly interested in learning more of the detail of reproduction among these curious animals. Among all the animals we have studied the male and female separate as soon as the eggs are fertilized and laid, in other cases as soon as the eggs begin to hatch. The parent animals show no interest in their young after they are hatched and their children never know their parents or love them.

    The ant and the bee.—Two exceptions should be made to the above statement, the bee and the ant. They do not pair off and mate, as do other insects, but they live in colonies, or societies. They do not seem to have any special interest in their offspring or even a mate, but in the whole community of bees or ants. The perfect social organizations they form and the homes they build rival the skill and intelligence of man. There are some interesting books written about the bee and ant by persons who have spent years in studying them. When you are older you may be interested in reading such books.

    Baby birds.—We will study God’s plan among the birds. In studying the family life of the birds we find a higher form of instinct, more love and care for each other and their young than among the animals we have studied.

    We often feel disgusted at the ugly, slimy toads, lizards and serpents living in swamps and pools. But not so with the birds. Most of them are very interesting and beautiful and some are fine musicians. Among most of the wild birds of the fields and forests, in the spring time the male chooses among the females the one that most suits his fancy and they are mated or married. When they decide to raise them a family they build them a nest. This is their home. The partridge and lark build their nests on the ground, the swallow in chimneys, the pigeons in barns, the woodcocks and woodpeckers in hollow limbs, the wild ducks and geese on the ledges of rocky cliffs, or in the high grass and weeds on the edge of a lake, but most birds build their homes in bushes and trees. The cuckoo does not build a nest, but lays her eggs in the nest of other birds, to get rid of all labor and trouble of hatching, feeding and rearing her young. We feel a natural contempt for the cuckoo. In every female bird there are organs called ovaries where at certain seasons little eggs are formed.

    While small or soft they are fertilized by the male bird. As the egg grows in the body of the mother bird a hard thin shell is formed around them. When the eggs are fully formed and the nest is completed, the mother bird lays the eggs in the nest, usually one egg a day. For several days these eggs must have some extra heat or they will not hatch. Among most birds, the mother sits on her eggs so that the warmth of her body will cause the fertilized cell in each egg to form the little bird. While she sits on the eggs the father bird gathers fresh berries and worms and brings them to the mother bird to eat. When not bringing her water or food, he is usually found perched upon a nearby limb cheering his wife by talking and singing to her. When her little legs become tired, he will take her place, while she goes and finds fresh food or water. When the little birds are hatched, from sunrise to sunset the parents are busy catching worms and insects and feeding their young. As their children grow older and larger, in some mysterious way, they teach them the danger of men and guns, cats and snakes. When they are about grown they are taught to fly. From this time until the next spring they will live in flocks, when they will again mate and raise a family. In this way all the beautiful feathery songsters are brought into this world.

    Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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  • THE SECOND STORY—BABY OYSTERS AND FISH

    The story of baby oysters.—Before telling this story to my little girls I reviewed the story of the plants. This refreshed in their minds certain very important laws that they had learned in the first talk. This talk was given when they were about six and eight years old.

    In studying the story of life among the plants, you will remember that we learned that in most plants the male and female organs of sex were in the same flower. Among the lower forms of animal life, we find both the male and female natures in the same animal. The oyster furnishes a good example. These little animals are surrounded with and fastened to a very hard and heavy shell. These animals live in great masses and their shells are cemented together. Growing in this way they cannot move about, or mix and mingle with each other. The mother parts of the oyster produce little eggs which are fertilized by a substance formed by other organs containing the father nature. The fertilized egg, when laid, floats off and becomes attached to the shell of some oyster on a nearby rock.{ Later, it hatches and the little baby oyster forms about its body a hard shell that is made larger as the little animal grows. In this way the little oysters come into the world. Among the oysters, we find the same laws that we found in the plants, i. e., each baby oyster must have a father and mother and the father and mother natures must unite. In the plants the father and mother natures unite in a little seed; in the oyster this union takes place in a little egg.

    When God made the fish, lizards, snakes, birds and higher animals, he gave to one a papa or male nature, with suitable sexual organs; to another animal of the same kind he gave a mamma or female nature, with suitable female or sexual organs. In the plants we find that the female sexual organs, the ovaries, produced little seed. We found that the male sexual organs, the stamens, produced a fine powdery substance called pollen. Among the animals, the sexual organs of the mother produces little eggs and the sexual organs of the father produces a fluid called semen.

    The story of baby fish.—Now we will study the fish. In the spring season of the year thousands of tiny eggs are formed in the ovaries of the mother fish. When these eggs are matured, the mother fishes swim in large crowds, called “schools,” from the deep water of a stream, river or sea to some shallow place that seems to them to be suitable for a nest or home for their young. The mother fishes lay their eggs in a mass of albuminous substance, like the white of an egg, that spreads out in a very thin sheet holding the little eggs one in a place and close together. The father fishes swim along sometimes a foot, a yard or more behind the mothers and expel from their bodies the semen that unites with and fertilizes the eggs. This special fluid of the male fish is formed by his sexual glands, called testes. In this way the father nature unites with the mother nature to produce every little fish that comes into this world.

    Why the mother fish lays so many eggs.—The female fish forms thousands of these little eggs in her body each year. The female codfish has been known to lay as many as 6,000,000 eggs in one season. You could not count as many in a lifetime. The reason why the mother fish produces so many eggs is, that not one fish egg in twenty-five, on an average, will ever hatch and not more than one out of twenty-five little fishes ever grow to be an inch long. They have little, or no, protection, and they have so many enemies. There are hogs, turtles, crocodiles and alligators; the ducks, geese and other water fowls; as well as most of the fish that feed upon fish eggs and small fish. That the streams, rivers and seas may be kept supplied with an abundance of fish, God has planned for the mother fish to lay thousands of eggs.{

    All baby fish are orphans.—Most kinds of fish leave their eggs as soon as they are laid and fertilized and never see or know their young. There are a few male fish, known as game fish, which swim over and around the eggs until they are hatched to keep other kinds of fish from eating the eggs. As soon as the eggs are hatched, he leaves. In this way all little fish grow up as orphans. They never know or enjoy the presence of their parents. The parent fish do not labor or sacrifice for their young, and, for this reason, they have no love for them. Should they ever meet their young in the river or sea they would have no way of knowing them or of feeling any sense of joy.

    Fish do not pair off.—We found in the study of the plants that the seed were fertilized while in the pod or ovary. In the fish we found that the eggs are fertilized outside of the mother’s body. In nearly all the animals above the fish the eggs or ova are fertilized while in the mother’s body. There is no love between the male and the female fish. They do not pair off and live in families. Among all the spiders, lizards, serpents, many of the insects, crawfish, frogs and toads there is a tendency, at certain seasons, for the male to choose a female with a view to a home and family. But among all the animals we have named, many of the male and female animals part or leave each other as soon as the eggs are fertilized, and all{ the others leave each other as soon as the eggs are hatched. The love of the male for the female lasts but for a little time; while there is no love for their young after they are hatched. Before the young are hatched some of their parents show interest in their eggs and make some provisions for their young when hatched. But this is all done before the young are hatched. The young all grow up as little orphans.

    Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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  • THE FIRST STORY—BABY PLANTS

    The author’s experience.—When our girls, Fay and Fern, were six and four years of age, they became interested in learning about their coming into the world. Their mamma had told me of their puzzling questions. We agreed that I should tell them a story of life, every six months or a year, until they were nine or ten. Then their mamma should tell them the last story, the story of their life.

    A few days later some young men, whom we were helping through college, and I were working among the flowers, when one of the girls made some inquiry about the relation of birds. This naturally opened the way for my first talk. I promised her and her sister a very interesting story at the rest hour at noon. As ever, they were both anxious to hear a new story. Dinner over, they followed me into the greenhouse. I gathered a number of flowers and invited them to be seated near me while I told them the story.

    Praise a child for asking.—I opened the story by saying, “Mamma tells me that you have become interested in knowing where you were before you were born and how you got into this world. We have talked together about your interest in this matter and we are glad that you have asked these questions, and especially because you came first to us. For you to ask these questions so early in life indicates that you are very bright and intelligent. We are your natural teachers. We love you as no one else does or can. In the future, anything you wish to know about yourselves, come to us and we will take pleasure in telling you all that is best for you to know.”

    Why the child should be told gradually.—You would like to be able to read and understand all there is in the fourth reader. There is nothing in the fourth reader that could do you a particle of harm. There are many things in the fourth reader that you could not understand. Papa and mamma might read and try to explain them to you. Still, there would be some things that we could not make plain to you, for the reason that you are not old enough for your little minds to grasp them. You understand that you must learn first what there is in the first reader. When you have learned all there is in it, then you are ready for the second reader. The mastery of the second reader prepares you for the third and the third reader prepares you for the fourth. There are some things that you understand to-day, that you could not understand six months ago. This great world is full of things that you cannot understand now; but, as you grow older and your mind grows stronger, step by step, you will learn and understand things that you cannot understand now. There are so many things in this world that may be known, that no one lives long enough to learn them all. Just so, you would like to know how God brings little children into this world. This is God’s wonderful plan. It could not do you a bit of harm to know all about it, if you could understand it. But you are not old enough now. Papa can tell you a beautiful story about how God brings all the little sprigs of grass, weeds, vegetables and trees into the world now, and in a few months I can tell you about the mussels, oysters and fish. Then, when you are a year older, I will tell you about the birds; later, I will tell you about the higher animals. When you are eight or ten, mamma will tell you the last story—God’s beautiful plan of bringing little children into the home.

    Some things right one time and wrong at another.—You are both old enough to know that there are some things we do that is right for us to do under certain conditions, but would be very wrong for us to do under other conditions. Some things would be right to do during the week, but wrong if done on Sunday. Every few days you take an all-over bath. It is perfectly right for you to take these baths and for your mamma to help you. All people, who desire to live cleanly lives and enjoy good health, take frequent all-over baths. But you have noticed that when you take baths, other people are not invited to be present, not even papa is present. This is because our bodies are sacred. We wear clothing that our bodies may not be exposed to the gaze of other people.

    We do not speak the name of God and Jesus in a light and frivolous way because these names are sacred.

    Why we do not talk about the origin of life.—One of the most delicate, pure and sacred experiences connected with human life is God’s beautiful plan of bringing little children into the home. It is so sacred, pure and delicate that good people seldom speak of it, and never in a light and foolish way. It is for this reason that you have never heard your mamma and papa speak of it. It is right for fathers and mothers, husbands and wives to speak to each other about this matter; also, for grown people, when there is some good reason for doing so. It is not wise or best for little children to talk about how children come into the world except to their parents. We are your natural teachers and we want you always to feel free to come to us with questions about things of this nature. When you are older you will understand better why papa gives you this advice.

    Many men and women, boys and girls have not been carefully trained to be good. They get angry and quarrel or fight, use bad language, break the Sabbath, and do many other wrong things. Some appear to take pleasure in doing wrong and in leading others to do wrong. This class of people do not look upon God’s plan of bringing little children into the world as being pure and sacred. They use very bad language when they try to talk about the story of life or tell it to others. When little children hear these people talk about the story of life, their little minds and hearts are filled with bad words and very wicked thoughts. In this way many little boys and girls are started wrong in life and they are sure to have a hard and painful struggle to rid themselves of impure thoughts, words and habits in after life.

    It may not be very long until some schoolmate or someone older than you will say, “I know something that you don’t. You would like to know it and I will tell you, if you will not tell your papa and mamma about it.” Now, girls, whenever someone wants to tell you something and asks you not to tell your mamma and papa, you may be sure that it is wrong, that it will injure you, and most likely it is false. Mamma and papa would advise you to say to them, “We don’t want to hear anything that we cannot talk about to mamma and papa.”{

    Story of the plants.—The story of life that papa will tell you to-day will be about the plants, vegetables and trees, how their young come into the world. Papa has gathered some beautiful flowers with which to illustrate the story. This will be our first lesson in Botany. Every part of a plant has special names. Many of the names are too difficult for you to remember. When you get older you will learn and remember the names. The story of life in all flowering plants begins in the flower.

    The outer parts.—At sight, we notice that the many parts of a flower are arranged in whorls or circles. The outer whorl is called the (1) calix. You will notice that in some of these flowers, the calix is highly colored, in others it looks like little green leaves and in some of the flowers the calix is absent. You will observe that in some flowers the calix is composed of four or more parts. These separate parts are called (2) sepals. In other flowers the sepals have grown together so they appear to be only one sepal. In such flowers we count the sepals by the small notches on top.

    The second whorl is called the (3) corolla. This whorl is usually the most highly colored part of the flower. If either of these whorls is absent in a flower, it is the calix. Sometimes both whorls are absent. The separate parts of the corolla are called (4) petals. Sometimes the petals are separate from the base of the flower. In other flowers they are more or less united.

    The papa parts.—While the calix and corolla form the most attractive and beautiful parts, they are not the most important parts of a flower. The prettiest things are not always the best or most useful things. Let us now carefully examine these central organs. They are called the essential organs. Were it not for these organs in the flowers, no new grasses, plants, vegetables and trees would come into this world. Such a misfortune would rob this world of most of its beauty and much of its value. In this flower, the next whorl consists of a number of small slender organs. These are called (5) stamens. They are the father parts of the flower and possess the father nature. On top of these organs are little delicate bodies, poised lightly, and filled with a very fine dust. These little bodies are called (6) anthers. The fine grains of powder are called pollen. You can rub the pollen off with your finger. This dust varies slightly in color in different flowers.

    The mamma parts.—The central organ in this flower is called the pistil. The pistil is composed of three parts. At the base of the pistil is the (7) pod, more correctly called the ovary. In the ovary little seed are formed. On top of the ovary is a slender organ called the style. On top of the style is a spongy enlargement called the (9) stigma. The stigma, style and ovary form the mother part of the flower and possess the mother nature. In some plants each flower has more than one pistil.


    THE FIRST STORY—BABY PLANTS 1

    How the papa and mamma natures unite.—When the pollen is ripe, the anther cells burst open and the little, light, powdery pollen falls out and it is carried by gravity, the wind or by insects to the stigma. The little pores of the stigma open and admit the grains of pollen and the style carries the pollen to the ovary where it unites with the little seed. The seed are then said to be fertilized. This means that the father and mother natures have united in the seed. The seed grow and develop in the ovary. While this is being done, food for the little baby plants to live on while only a day or two old, is being stored up in the seed. In such seed is the tiny beginning of a future plant. The seed ripen in the pod. The pod bursts open and the seed fall upon the ground, or men gather them, and later plant them in the soil. The spring sunshine and rain cause the seed to sprout and as tiny stems appear above the ground, only an inch or so high, they are nothing in the world but little baby sprigs of grass, little baby weeds, little baby vegetables or little baby trees.

    When God created the first grasses, plants and trees, He commanded them to be “fruitful and multiply.” In this story you have learned how all the grown-up plants and trees obey this command of God.

    The two natures do not always exist in the same flower.—In the flowers we have studied, we found both the male and female organs in the same flower. Each flower possessed the two natures, male and female. But this is not true of all plants and trees. In some plants and trees flowers can be found having only stamens. These would be father-flowers. They could not produce seed or fruit. On some plants and trees may be found flowers having only pistils. These are mother-flowers. Flowers of these two kinds may be found growing on the same limb of a plant or tree, or on different limbs, or on different trees. The poplar and willow trees are examples of the last kind.

    In the case of the Indian corn, the ear of corn, including the cob, the grains, shuck and silk form the mother part of the cornstalk. The tassel of the cornstalk is the father part and contains the father nature. The tassel produces a great deal of pollen. You have, on passing through a patch of corn, noticed the pollen falling everywhere and covering everything. Ears of corn sometimes have as many as 1000 grains of corn to the cob. Each grain sends out one or more little silks beyond the shuck to catch some of the pollen. Should these little silks fail to catch the grains of pollen, no grains of corn would form on the cob. The father and mother natures must unite if little seed are formed. From this we learn why it is that every little sprig of grass, weed, vegetable, and tree must have a father and mother and their natures must unite.

    The three methods.—We mentioned three ways by which the pollen from the male organs is carried to the stigma of the female organ: wind, gravity and insects. In the corn, the ears are below the tassel and gravity is all that is necessary to carry the pollen to the silks. Where one tree bears bloom having only stamens and another tree of the same species bears flowers having only pistils, nature may use both the wind and insects in carrying the pollen from the male to the female tree. In some plants and trees the blooms are so constructed that gravity and the wind are of but little service. In such flowers a sweet juice is formed at the base of the flower. This attracts the bees and insects. As they press down into the flower to sip the sweet juice they rub off some of the pollen on to their wings, legs and back. The next flower they enter, some of this pollen is rubbed off on the stigma of that flower. In this way the seed are fertilized. From this we see that the real purpose of the sweet juice in the flower, is not produced for food for the insects, but for the purpose of attracting the insects so they may carry the pollen from one flower to another.

    A most wise, sacred and beautiful plan.—In this little story, you have learned in a general way God’s plan of bringing all little grasses, plants, vegetables and trees into being that come from a seed. You have learned two great laws, namely; every plant that comes from a seed must have a father and mother, and, the father and mother natures must unite in the seed. These two great laws are just as true in the animals and in the human family as among the plants. When we most admire a beautiful bed of flowers or a blooming tree, when we gather a bouquet of flowers to wear, or offer to a friend, at that very moment the two natures are uniting for the purpose of increasing their kind. God is the author of the male and female organs of the plants and for this reason the union of their two natures is sacred and pure. Plants were the first living things that God made; man was the last. The plants were at the bottom of God’s work of creation; man was at the top. If the same laws we have found in the plants, that enable them to bring their little children into the world, are the same laws that enable human fathers and mothers to bring their little children into the world, and since we found this plan to be sacred and pure among all the flowers; then this same plan, when used in the human family, must be pure and sacred. If man is so much higher in the scale of life than the flower, then these laws must be even more sacred in the human family. This will show you how very degrading it is to entertain low and vulgar thoughts about the coming of little children into this world, as some people do.

    Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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