XIII 



LIFE COMPANIONSHIP 



I TRUST it needs no argument to show that 

 for the average normal person the decision 

 to many is a wise decision. The institution 

 of marriage was the foundation rock of nascent civil- 

 ization and has been the cornerstone of all higher 

 social development. In individual cases the founda- 

 tion crumbles, amidst the jeers of ever-present scoffers, 

 but this tells only of human imperfectibility; it offers 

 no argument against the institution itself. As well 

 condemn life in houses because now and then a dwelling 

 collapses to the destruction of its inhabitants. 



But if marry we must and should, what, then, is the 

 marriageable age ? Is it on the whole desirable that the 

 young man should marry at the very outset of his career 

 and the maiden so soon as she is well out of school ? Or 

 should the selection of a life-companion be deferred 

 until such time as a certain amount of experience of 

 the world has matured the judgment of the choosers? 

 The great difficulty with our query is that early and 

 fervid attachments are commonly thought of as savor- 

 ing of the romantic or poetic, and as being therefore 

 somewhat removed from the pale of sordid analysis. 

 Yet in sober truth they should be dealt with in terms 

 of natural history. It is as natural for adolescent youth 

 of opposite sexes to attract each other as for birds to 

 mate in the spring. And the youth might mate as 



