CHAPTER II 

 MARRIAGE 



MARRIAGE, as distinct from the pairing of animals, 

 is a social institution and has originated wilk human 

 needs. The human child takes longer than the young 

 animal to attain maturity ; its development is slow, so 

 that it needs the care of the parents for a long time, 

 before it is able to fend for itself. The mother's 

 natural function is to see her child safely along the 

 path of life; it thus comes about that mother and 

 offspring are bound together by the needs of the 

 child. To primitive people, the connection between 

 the mother and the child is much more evident and 

 familiar than that between the father and the child, 

 which is not so obvious. Indeed, the physical fact 

 of fatherhood is often unknown. Now the tie which 

 binds a man to his mate and causes him to find sus- 

 tenance for her and the offspring would also induce 

 him to stay much longer with her when their needs 

 last longer. This would be the first beginnings of 

 true family life. 



Marriage has its root in the family. In some 

 tribes a marriage is not recognized until a child is 

 born, and barrenness in a woman has been a legiti- 

 mate ground for divorce throughout the ages. There 

 have been various stages of marriage, which, accord- 



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