NOTE.--A clever and delightful friend of mine, a spinster by choice, takes exception to my views on the single estate. I should be deeply grieved if any words of mine were to cause pain to other women. I have said before that some of the best women are spinsters, which is sad to a believer in marriage like myself. Two of the sweetest and noblest women I know are unmarried; one of them especially seems absolutely without a thought of self, and has worked hard for others all her life, giving her powers of brain and body to their utmost limit, and the treasures of her beautiful heart generously and without stint. I beg my readers to note that I have tried to differentiate between those spinsters who do not want to marry and those who do; between the rich spinster who can command all the amenities of life, and the poor one compelled to a relentless and unceasing round of uncongenial toil. Still more do I wish to distinguish between the placid contented woman who can adapt herself to circumstances and find a quiet sort of happiness in any life--and the less well-balanced, more passionate natures, with deeper desires and an imperious need of loving. It is this need of loving stifled, crushed and fought against that awakens my profound compassion--a compassion which my friend informs me is wasted and misplaced. My readers must judge. PART II CAUSES OF FAILURE ‘For Marriage is like Life in this, that it is a field of battle, not a bed of roses.’ --R. L. STEVENSON. ‘Marriage is to me apostasy, profanation of the sanctuary of my soul, violation of my manhood, sale of my birthright, shameful surrender, ignominious capitulation, acceptance of defeat.’ --_Man and Superman._ ‘A wise man should avoid married life, as though it were a burning pit of live coals.’ --_Dhammika Sutta._ I THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MARRIAGE ‘Marriage is the great mistake that wipes out the smaller stupidities of Love.’ --SCHOPENHAUER. In one of his essays Stevenson says: ‘I am so often filled with wonder that so many marriages are passable successes, and so few come to open failure, the more so as I fail to understand the principle on which people regulate their choice.’ Out of the chaos which envelops this ‘principle’ four special motives seem to stand out, and we can therefore roughly divide the marriages that take place into five sections thus-- 1. The Marriage of Passion. 2. The Marriage of Convenience. 3. Marriage for a Purpose. 4. Haphazard Marriage. 5. The Marriage of Affection. * * *