LIFE COMPANIONSHIP 



person would wish to rob the aspiring youth of One jot 

 of his pleasure-giving ambition. Only too soon, in 

 most cases, will he cast it aside, as he treads the rough 

 path of experience. Nor, for that matter, would it be 

 possible to dampen that ardor which owes its being to 

 young blood pulsing strong in resilient arteries. At 

 this stage of his career, the youth is for the most part 

 beyond the pale of advice. He scorns the experience 

 gained in an earlier generation. Old-fogy notions are 

 not to check the promptings of his innate genius. 



Moreover such youths often think themselves pro- 

 vided with all the comforts that matrimony could offer, 

 without its attendant responsibilities and worriments. 

 They regard the "love in a cottage" idea as obsolete; 

 and as for "a loaf of bread, a glass of wine, and Thou" 

 why, they have the "Thou" on occasion, and are 

 able to provide more sumptuous fare for mutual en- 

 joyment than if the possession were permanent. 



The attitude of mind here implied is one that has 

 always found full development in the world's great 

 cities, as an outgrowth of the ever-advancing standards 

 of luxurious living. It reached a climax, for example, 

 in imperial Rome when Augustus was led to put an 

 official premium on matrimony, and to penalize celibacy. 

 It seems a menace to the public weal, because its vo- 

 taries by hypothesis of a better class fail to per- 

 petuate their qualities; and it takes from the sum of 

 individual happiness, since as we have agreed to ad- 

 mitthe surest goal to this lies along the matrimonial 

 way. It is a propensity that is the more deserving of 



