426 PLAIN FACTS FOE OLD AND YOUNG 



who pay the penalty by becoming martyrs to paralysis, 

 softening of the brain, and driveling idiocy." 



Dr. Gardner quotes the Abbe Maury as follows: "I 

 hold as certain that after fifty years of age a man of 

 sense ought to renounce the pleasures of love. Each 

 time that he allows himself this gratification is a pellet 

 of earth thrown upon his coffin." 



Dr. Gardner further says: ''Alliances of this sort 

 have taken place in every epoch of humanity, from the 

 time of the patriarchs to the present day, alliances re- 

 pugnant to nature, between men bordering on decrepi- 

 tude and poor young girls, who are sacrificed by their 

 parents for position, or who sell themselves for gold. 

 There is in these monstrous alliances something which 

 we know not how to brand sufficiently energetically, in 

 considering the reciprocal relations of the pair thus 

 wrongfully united, and the lot of children which may 

 result from them. Let us admit, for an instant, that 

 the marriage has been concluded with the full consent 

 of the young girl, and that no external pressure has 

 been exerted upon her will, — as is generally the rule, 

 • — it will none the less happen that reflection and ex- 

 perience will tardily bring regrets, and the sharper, 

 as the evil will be without remedy ; but if compulsion, 

 or what is often the same thing, persuasion, had been 

 employed to obtain the consent which the law demands, 

 the result would have been more prompt and vehement. 

 From this moment, the common life becomes odious 

 to the unhappy victim, and culpable hopes will arise 

 in her desolate heart, so heavy is the chain she carries. 

 In fact, the love of the old man becomes ridiculous and 

 horrid to her, and we cannot sufficiently sympathize 

 with the unfortunate person whose duty (?) it is to 

 submit to it. If we think of it an instant, we shall 



