190 SAVAGE SUEVIVALS 



bondage which was accepted by woman when she 

 gave her pledge of slavery and devotion. The 

 coining of the groom with his aids to the marriage 

 is a figurative marauding expedition. The honey- 

 moon is the abduction. And the missile-throwing 

 indulged in by friends and relatives on the de- 

 parture of the wedded couple is a good-humored 

 counterfeit of the armed protest made by rel- 

 atives of old when a bride-snatcher came among 

 them. 



In all countries where there is a rapid change 

 going on from the monarchial to the democratic 

 form of government, there are always a great 

 many vestigial features of the old monarchial or- 

 der of things surviving in the new order. The 

 English House of Lords was anciently the main 

 law-making body of England, aside from the king. 

 But its power has gradually passed over to the 

 House of Commons, which more truly represents 

 the people. The House of Lords survives thru the 

 momentum which has come down from a time in 

 the past when it was useful. The same thing is 

 true of the English king. The king originally had 

 almost unlimited power and authority. But he has 

 been hedged about and deprived of one prerog- 

 ative after another, first by the House of Lords 

 and later by the House of Commons, until he has 

 become the vermiform appendix of the English 

 government. 



Our competitive system of industry is a ves- 

 tigial institution. It is a survival from the mili- 



