254 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



but we know as a matter of fact that the advice of 

 parents is not by any means invariably wise when the 

 marriage of their children, old or young, is in ques- 

 tion, and also that most of the marriages entered into 

 by girls under sixteen are contracted against the advice 

 and wishes of, and too often without the knowledge of, 

 the parents of the girl. Assuredly if a girl of sixteen 

 be unable to choose upon whom she shall bestow her 

 favours temporarily, she should be deemed unable to 

 choose a partner for life, or to delegate to another so 

 momentous a duty. 



Now that the ecclesiastical element forms no 

 necessary part of the wedding ceremony, and the 

 marriage bond has become a mere civil contract in 

 the eye of the law, it is difficult to see why a girl of 

 twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years of age should be 

 able to enter into a life-long contract of a sexual 

 nature, and at the same time be unable to enter into 

 a temporary contract of a similar kind. If the law 

 denies her the right in the one case, it should deny 

 her the right in the other. If she be unable to 

 choose a lover, as she most certainly is, she is unable 

 to choose a husband, and no hardship could possibly 

 arise from forbidding her the right. At present the 

 ages at which the marriage contract can be legally 

 entered into are (i Jac., c. i) twelve and fourteen for 

 girls and boys respectively, which is absurd consider- 

 ing how imperfectly developed children are at those 

 ages in these countries. I do not suppose any one 

 would seriously object if it were enacted that girls 



