ural institution, should be based, in each case,
upon her indications.

There is need here for a reform which is more radical and fundamental
than any that can be named, just because it deals with our central
social institution, and concerns the natural composition and qualities
of the next generation. I mean that reform in education which will
direct itself towards rightly moulding and favouring the worthy choice
of each other by young people, and especially the worthy choice of men
by women. It will further come to be seen that everything which vitiates
this choice--as, for instance, the economic dependence of women, great
excess of women in a community, the inheritance of large fortunes--is
ultimately to be condemned on that final ground, if on no other.

But whilst these sociological propositions may be laid down, let us see
what can be said in the present state of things by way of advice to the
girl into whose hands this book may fall. Perhaps it may be permitted to
use the more direct form of address.

You may have been told that where poverty comes in at the door, love
flies out at the window.[15] You may have heard it said that so and so
has made a good marriage because her husband has a large income. You may
be inclined to judge the success of marriage by what you see. I warn you
solemnly that the worth or unworth of your marriage, the success or
failure of your life will depend, far more than upon all other things
put together, upon the personal qualities of the man you choose.

If these be not good in themselves, your marriage will fail, certainly;
even if they be good in themselves your marriage will fail, probably,
unless they also be nicely adapted to your own character and tastes and
temperament and needs. There are thus two distinct requirements; the
first absolutely cardinal, the second very nearly so. You are utterly
wrong if you suppose that the first of these can be ignored: if your
husband is not a worthy man, you are doomed. And you are almost
certainly wrong if you suppose that lack of community in tastes and in
interests, in objects of admiration and adoration does not matter. But
let us consider what are the factors of the man for which a girl _does_
choose.

For what, if it comes to that, does a man choose? Here is Herbert
Spencer's reply to that question:--"The truth is that out of the many
elements uniting in various proportions, to produce in a man's breast
the complex emotion we call l