THE MYTH IN MARRIAGE _by Alice Hubbard_ _The Roycrofters East Aurora N.Y._ Copyright, 1912 By Alice Hubbard CONTENTS FOREWORD 7 ROMANCE 13 THE REVELATION 19 FACTS 21 AN AWAKENING 25 THE NATURAL MARRIAGE 29 THE SOCIAL MARRIAGE 33 THE MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE 37 CONCLUSION 39 THE BUSINESS OF MARRIAGE 41 PRIMITIVE BONDAGE 45 NATURE'S METHOD 49 ECONOMIC FREEDOM 53 CITIZENS 55 ENFORCED DEPENDENCE 63 HOMOGENEITY 71 ROMANCE 75 FOREWORD Marriage is a subject of interest to all adults, and at one time in almost every life it is the vision that fills the horizon. To many it is a mirage. To a few it proves to be the hills from whence cometh their strength. The rising sun of romance tips every blade of grass, every leaf and flower and twig, with the mystery and miracle of color and perfume. The noonday light reveals truth that the half-light of the dawn could not show. And evening twilight garners all the richness of marriage. The purpose of this book is to enlighten by bringing into the light of day experiences that must come into the lives of women and men. --_Alice Hubbard._ The Myth in Marriage There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.--_Emerson._ ROMANCE _The object of love expands and grows before us to eternity, until it includes all that is lovely, and we become all that can love.--Thoreau._ Marriage, although a most common incident in life, is understood as little as is birth, life and death. People are perpetually ignorant on the subject, and insist upon remaining in this state until the veil of their temple is rent in twain, and their holy of holies has daylight thrown upon it. Love is a sacred mystery whose secret is as yet locked away from mortals. We recognize a few of its manifestations and dream of its power. We connect it in our thoughts with marriage and birth, but we assume its presence: we do not bring proof. Love is spirit, and can not be analyzed nor understood. The most that man can apprehend of it is to know its absence or its presence. Its most refined manifestations have come to us with the development of intellect. There are only a few examples of the manifestation of great love in history. So rare are the people capable of its expression that the whole world wonders and in awe has said that the Creator is Love.