These accusations and demands so boldly made are not to be disposed of by mere mockery. With deep sorrow we must admit the absolute truth of the charge that too many men clamber out of the abyss of debauchery to a blighted marriage. But the demand for equal moral rights, for the abandonment of the hitherto prevalent bisexual ethical standards, is in vain conflict with actuality, with the defensive instincts of young men, with the difficulties entailed by the struggle for existence, with the increasing pretensions (to sexual freedom) of women themselves; but above all is it in conflict with the thousand-year-old notions of sexual honor in the male and the female respectively, and with the undeniable fact that the mature man is capable of elevating himself out of the base intoxication of the senses characteristic of youth, to attain the noblest and most intimate married love, whereas the girl who has once descended into such an abyss sinks therein and is beyond the possibility of rescue. Thus early marriage with equal purity of husband and wife remains a postulate which the present can hardly be expected to satisfy, and one whose fulfilment must be left to the future. In consequence of modern writings and discussions concerning the erotic problem, there has arisen a hypersensibility on the part of women in respect of the conditions in which they pass their married life, leading them to demand greater independence, a greater expansion of their own individuality; this tendency must, however, be resisted, if the marriage is to be a happy one, with mutual comfort and reciprocal consideration, one suitable, not for exceptional beings in an ideal state, but for men and women as they really are. In such a marriage, affection and a sense of duty will strengthen love and preserve fidelity. A prudent, clever woman will always understand how, notwithstanding all necessary self-surrender, to preserve the freedom of her own individuality and the esteem of her husband. Marriages based upon true inclination usually result in the birth of stronger and more beautiful children than marriages in which the money-bags were the sole or the principal determining cause. In England, where people commonly marry when still quite young, beautiful and healthy children are more often seen than in France, where marriages of expediency form the great majority. According to _Bertillon_, of 1,000 young men from 20 to 25 years of age, in England 120 marry, but in France less than half that number, viz., 57 only. And 100 wives between the ages of 15 and 40 give birth annually, in England to 39 children, in France to 26 only, a number less by one-third.