STERILITY OF THE CAPABLES. 141 



themselves with town life. The future has, no doubt, 

 possibilities, for the clerk may rise, and the shop 

 attendant may become himself a master, and with 

 these possibilities in view most are inclined to wait 

 in hope, many fondly believing in their power and 

 certainty of eventual success. Marriage, however, is 

 a very serious thing, for though the country hand is 

 comfortable enough with his fifteen shillings a week, 

 free cottage, etc., and a wife used to roughing it, the 

 clerk has to mate with a woman who has to be 

 dressed like a lady, and who has placed a foot on 

 that ladder which strikes all who find themselves 

 upon it with the folly of wishing to appear to be on 

 one rung above that on which they really rest. His 

 means are, therefore, quite inadequate for marriage, 

 unless with discomfort and privation, and it tends, 

 therefore, to be postponed. This especially will be 

 the case with those whose capacity is opening out a 

 brighter future, and who would naturally hesitate 

 before they imperil this by a course which, to say the 

 least, might complicate the issue. 



A step further we come to occupations which re- 

 quire a long preliminary training, and we find that the 

 time of marriage is postponed maybe to the later 

 years of life. An artist requires years of careful 

 training before his work can reach a standard which 

 is of marketable value, and even then his progress is 

 generally delayed while a connection is being estab- 



