I did not want to hurt the old man's feelings, and I felt that if he could get any comfort out of that marriage, I would be the last one to take it from him, so I kept silent; but when I looked over his family, and I counted five children that were partially idiotic, I thought that the Phrenologist had decidedly the best of the argument. And suppose you do live with a good woman for forty years and never have a quarrel, is that anything to your credit? Certainly not. The man who couldn't live with a good woman for forty years, and not insult her, ought to be ridden out of town on a rail. And the woman who can't live with a good man, the same length of time, without getting her name on the police court records for smashing a frying-pan over his head, is not fit to move in good society. It is desirable that the association of man and woman in marriage should be amiable, but that is not all that is to be desired. Neither is the physiological improvement of offspring the sole thing to be considered. The married pair may surround themselves with beautiful children, but if the conditions of the marriage have made them poor, if the parents are unable to educate their children, or to give them the necessities and advantages which are prompted by a laudable ambition, life will be shorn of most of its charms. And, on the other hand, if life is spent in one long scramble for riches, and there is in the union nothing but the elements of sordid wealth, the actual standard of that marriage, as to the true richness of life, will be poor indeed. These three grand consummations of Amiable Association, Financial Success, and Physiological Improvement are most devoutly to be wished, but how shall they be attained? Before I proceed to give you my own theory, I want to tear down one or two others. I am nothing if not combative, and believe that the best way to establish truth is to begin by tearing down error. I wish to attack, in the first place, a theory much taught and too generally practiced, that one should seek, in matrimony, a companion as near like himself as possible. It is astonishing to see what a hold this theory has upon the public mind, considering the fact that it never has had any good results to support it. A distinguished Physiologist, in a recent work which has been extensively circulated, uses these words in speaking of a proper selection in matrimony:-- "What should be sought for is a congenial companion. A congenial companion is one who, under any given set of circumstances, will think, feel and act exactly as we would, not for the sake of agreeing with us, but of his own free will, etc."