“The Senate and Assembly of the State of Arizona recognizes the truth that not easy divorce laws, but easy marriage laws, are at the root of the conjugal evil; that men and women have been accustomed to marry, disagree, and divorce in less time than should have been allowed for a proper period of betrothal; that the loose system now prevailing often results in children destitute of the inherent virility of virtue and affection; that no adequate defenses have hitherto been builded for the protection of young females too unthoughtful and too trusting; that the laws underlying the physical as well as the mental constitution, with their multiple of subtile, gravitating, and repellant forces, have hitherto been wholly unstudied, or disregarded; that the arbitrary conditions of society compel woman to accept marriage, in violation of her higher aims; that in certain human organizations the conditions created by propinquity are altogether false and ephemeral; that certain other human organizations are, by nature, filled with inordinate vanity and self-love, which qualities, beguiling the judgment, constitute fickleness and instability of purpose, and that the true solution of the great social problem is likely to be found in preventive rather than in remedial laws. Therefore, be it enacted”— “Hold up, John,” said Dr. Eustace. “That is all my mentality can assimilate without a rest. Are you not reading from an essay by Mona Caird, or a novel by Tolstoi? Is that really and truly the preamble of a law enacted by a Western Legislature? Have all the cranks, and all the theorists, and all the moonstruck, long-haired, green-goggled reformers on earth, been turned loose in Arizona?” “Doctor,” said the professor solemnly, “the truth is a persistent fly, that cannot be brushed away with the wisps of ridicule. The Arizona legislators have fearlessly attempted to deal with conditions which every close observer of our social life knows to be existent.” “Papa,” said the baroness, interestedly, “in what way is it proposed to deal with the problem? Please read further.” “The law is too lengthy,” said the professor, after glancing over a few pages, “to be read in detail, but I will summarize it for you. Marriages are declared void unless the parties procure a license, which can only be issued by an examining board of men and women, composed in part of physicians, and in part of graduates of some reputable school, dedicated to physiological observations and esoteric thought and investigation.” “Anything about ability to boil a potato or sew on a button?” interrupted the doctor. “Peace, scoffer,” said the professor. “It seems to be required that all applicants for license shall have had an acquaintance of at least one year, and be under marriage engagement for six months, and shall pass examination by the board upon their mutual eligibility, as expressed through temperament, complexion, tastes, education, traits of character, and general conditions of fitness.”