182 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



ness, but are detrimental to the offspring. It has been 

 proved beyond room for question that mulattoes are 

 not so long-lived as either blacks or whites. 



10. Persons who are unable to sustain themselves 

 or a family should not marry. 



Both moral and social obligations— if the two ob- 

 ligations may exist independently— forbid marriage to 

 a young man who is scarcely able to provide for him- 

 self, much less to support a wife and family. The 

 theory advocated by some, that two can live almost as 

 cheaply as one, so that a saving will be made by a 

 union of two in marriage, is a most fallacious one. 

 There may be occasional exceptions, but in general, 

 young people who marry with this idea in their heads, 

 find that they have reasoned not wisely. It will not be 

 disputed that a married couple may live upon what 

 is often spent foolishly by a young man; but a young 

 man can be economical if he will; and if he does not 

 learn economy before marriage, it is likely that he 

 never will learn it. 



The marriage of paupers, to beget pauper children 

 and foist them upon the community for support, is an 

 outrage against society. We believe it is not improper 

 to speak out plainly upon this subject, and in no un- 

 certain tone, notwithstanding the popular prejudice 

 which cries, ''Hush, be quiet; don't interfere with in- 

 dividual rights, don't disturb the peace of society," 

 whenever anything is said that has a bearing on a 

 regard for propriety in matters relating to one of the 

 most ancient, the most sacred, and the most abused 

 of all divinely appointed human institutions. We have 

 never been able to account for this strange averseness 

 to the consideration of this phase of the matrimonial 

 question, and the determined effort often made to ig- 



