respect must be the foundation on which the ideal married state is
built. The husband should realize that his wife's love for him induces
her to allow privileges of a personal nature which her innate chastity
and timidity might otherwise refuse. In return, he should accept these
privileges with consideration. He should, in particular, on his
wedding night, take care not to shock his young bride's sensibilities.
He may easily give her a shock from which she will not recover for
years, and lead her to form an antipathy against the very act which is
"the bond and seal of a truly happy married life."
BIRTH CONTROL
Material changes have taken place in the birth-rate of a number of
countries during the past fifteen or twenty years which cannot be
attributed to purely economic causes. They do not seem to depend on
such things as trade, employment and prices; but on the spread of an
idea or influence whose tendency must be deplored, that of "birth
control," a phrase much heard in these days.
The fact that a decline in human fertility and a falling birth rate
are most noticeable in the relatively prosperous countries is a proof
that it does not proceed from economic causes; but is due rather to
the spread of the doctrine that it is permissible to restrict or
control birth. In such countries as the United States, England and
Australasia, where the standards of human comfort and living are
notoriously high, the decline in the birth rate has been most
noticeable. On the other hand, we find perhaps the greatest decline in
the birth rate in France, a country where the general well-being
probably reaches a lower depth in the community than in any other part
of Europe. A comparison of the birth rates of France and of Ireland,
for example, offer a valuable illustration of the point under
consideration. In France, more than half the women who have reached
the age of nubility are married; in Ireland, generally speaking, less
than a third. In both countries the crude birth rate is far below that
in other European lands. Yet the fertility of the Irish wife exceeded
that of her French compeer by 44 per cent in 1880, and by no less than
84 per cent in 1900. And since that time the prolificity of the Irish
mother has so increased that she is now, approximately speaking,
inferior only to the Dutch or Finnish mother in this respect.