that material advantages are secondary to this unspeakable blessing; that thrift, knowledge of household economy, power of creating an attractive home, are essential to the attainment of this great good, then her instincts, by an inevitable law of nature, will tend to the acquirement of these qualifications. If, on the contrary, she feels, through the influence of society (still unexpressed), that physical effects are the things chiefly sought for, that physical charm or the power exercised by corporeal sex is the chief or only possession that draws attention to her, then, by the same inevitable law, she will strive to exercise this physical power, and the means of doing so will become the all-absorbing occupation of an ever-increasing number of young women. As already stated, the direct result of the mastery of young men by irresistible physical instinct will be to create a necessity in young women for dress which will bring physical attractions into prominence or supply their deficiency. The craving for riches and luxury, the ignorance of economy, so often urged as an obstacle to marriage, are the inevitable results of licentiousness, which strengthens and cultivates exclusively material desires and necessities. Children should look forward to beginning life as simply as their parents began it, but with the added advantages of education. It is a totally false principle that they should expect to begin where their parents left off. Filial honour for their parents’ lives and inherited vigour would alike lead them to commence life with extreme simplicity. The power of rendering such simplicity attractive would prove that they had acquired the refinement and breadth of view which is the result of true culture instead of being enervated by luxury. They would thus, whilst beginning life as did their parents, begin it, nevertheless, from a vantage-ground, the result of their parents’ labours. Each generation would thus make a solid gain in life instead of encountering the destructive results which always attend the strife for material luxury. There are many important points bearing on this vital question of early marriage--such as the exercise of self-control in married life and the teaching of sound physiology, which is needed to reconcile marriage with foresight--whose discussion would be out of place in the present essay. But that the topic must be thoroughly and wisely considered by parents resolved to aid one another in securing this inevitable reform, is certain. The increasing tendency to delay marriage is so serious an evil, that methods for checking this tendency must be found if our worth as a nation is to continue. The early and solemn betrothal of young people is an old custom now fallen into disuse. The possibility of its readoption as a beneficial social practice, with its duration, duties, and privileges, is worthy of serious consideration.