PARENTAL ADAPTATION. 107 



ally is due in some measure to the fact that mar- 

 riages are not usually contracted by free choice, 

 but through accidental circumstances." 



The search for the secret of adaptation in mar- 

 riage and domestic bliss, like the search for the 

 Philosopher's Stone and the Fountain of Eternal 

 Youth, has been long and diligent. That every 

 life has its counterpart, every soul its mate, its The Search for 

 other self, which if found would make life com- aLaw * 

 plete, "love law and duty a pleasure," is the testi- 

 mony of every normal nature. How shall we 

 find this counterpart? And how shall we know 

 this, our soul mate, even should we find it, are 

 questions that but few have been able to answer 

 satisfactorily to themselves. It is highly prob- 

 able that most of those who have been so fortu- 

 nate as to find a companion whose .life corres- 

 ponded perfectly to their own are more indebted Finding a Mate, 

 to chance association than to judgment or the ap- 

 plication of the laws of adaptation. O. S. Fow- 

 ler used to say that only one couple in ten were 

 really well adapted; my ow r n observations would 

 hardly accord with this. In the careful study of 

 over a thousand families, I have fo.und most of 

 them fairly well mated and comparatively happy ; 

 yet it is a sad fact that many excellent persons do 

 fail to find in their companions that perfect re- 

 sponse, that oneness of thought, feeling and de- 

 sire, that the soul demands and that a perfect 

 adaptation should give. 



The degree of adaptability varies with indi- 

 viduals. Some are so constituted that their adapt- 

 ability is very limited. It is questionable whether 

 any one could be found who would form their 



