t till the age of
about twenty-five years, so as to enable him to avoid prostitution,
promiscuous sexual intercourse or masturbation--this young man, I
maintain, has the best chance of gaining the first prize in life. If
he is free from prejudice and is not afraid of using anticonceptional
measures for a certain time, he may then marry a young girl, to whom
he may become permanently attached, if their two characters suit each
other.

A young girl may very well marry at seventeen or eighteen, or at any
rate between eighteen and nineteen. She is then sexually mature and
her mentality is sufficiently developed, so that the difference in age
we have required may be obtained. Young people thus united may
continue their studies before procreating children, and their marriage
will stimulate them to work.

When the intoxication of the honeymoon is over, the continuance of
conjugal happiness depends on an intimate adaptation of the two
conjoints in sentiments, intelligence and sexual appetite; an
adaptation which purifies love on both sides. Work in common, a common
ideal, mutual respect full of affection but free from flattery, and a
reciprocal education which does not degenerate into pedantry nor
tyranny, are the principal conditions for conjugal happiness.

It is absolutely necessary to avoid everything which causes reparation
or exclusion, even in appearance. At the risk of appearing ridiculous
in the eyes of certain superior persons, I repeat that separation of
beds and bedrooms is a dangerous experiment to make in marriage, and
that it may easily lead to estrangement, even when based on the
highest motives.

It is the same, in a still higher degree, with sexual continence in
marriage, even when it does not last for years, excepting in cases of
grave disease or senile impotence.

It is often stated that a woman should avoid coitus for long periods,
because among certain savage races the husband does not cohabit with
her during pregnancy and the two years of nursing which follow it; the
woman being considered by religion as "impure" during this period. But
this proves nothing, for this custom only concerns polygamists, who
make up for it with other women. If our monogamous marriage is to be
natural, and not satisfied with words and illusions, it is necessary
for sexual intercourse to be intimate and constant, and it should only
be interrupted for short intervals, corresponding to the natural
wants of the two conjoints