STANDARD OF COMPARISON. 89 



Cyclopedia, Vol. III., p. 189, a series of tables showing the ages of 

 fathers for the births of 977,446 children. From these tables I am 

 able to calculate the percentage of children for different ages of 

 Irish fathers which I have put into a table that will compare them 

 with the fathers used in our standard. This table shows a very 

 marked difference, and that the ages of Irish, fathers and Irish 

 mothers are almost identical. While it is a fact that where mar- 

 riages are early there is less difference between the ages of husbands 

 and wives than where marriages are late, I doubt if this table repre- 

 sents the whole truth. What is apparent, however, is that our 

 adopted standard is a high one, and one that is higher than would 

 have been the case if I had adopted the available statistics instead 

 of obtaining my own from an original source. 



TABLE IV. 



PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN AT DIFFERENT AGES OF FATHERS. 



Fathers. Ireland, Redfields, 



1 9th century. i8th century. 



Under 17 .39 



17 to 25 46.18 1542 



26 to 35 45.53 49.58 



36 to 45 6.92 26.25 



46 to 55 .86 5.83 



Over 55 .12 2.92 



MARRIAGES GROWING LATER. 



It is a well recognized and often commented upon fact that, 

 for the last century or more, marriages have been growing later and 

 later, and in comparing my standard with the recorded marriages 

 of Redfields during the first half of the nineteenth century I find 

 that this is true of this particular group of persons. Remembering 



