ican population is under that age. In an
equal number of American and foreign families, the births will be nearly
three times as many in the latter as in the former. In some of the old
towns, the records of a hundred years do not show a single instance of
a married couple without children. The New York census of 1865 shows
that, out of nine hundred and ninety-three thousand two hundred and
thirty-six married women, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand seven
hundred and forty-five had no children, and three hundred and
thirty-three thousand only had one or two.

"In the small town of Billerica, there are ninety families with ten or
more children; five of these had fourteen, and one twenty-one: the total
in the ninety families is ten hundred and ninety-three. The birth-rates
show that American families _do not_ increase at _all_, and the
inspection of the registration in other States shows that the same
remark applies to all."

Many parts of Vermont are undergoing a gradual depopulation. Sandgate
had a population of 1,187 in 1810, and 805 in 1860.

The town of Rupert had a population of 1,848 in 1800, which had
diminished to 1,103 in 1860.

The town of Arlington was settled in the year 1762. In the year 1800 all
the arable and pasturage land was occupied, and the inhabitants
numbered 1,569. In 1830 the number had decreased to 1,207, and in 1860
to 1,146.

Mrs. A. B. Boone says, in her book "The Increase of Crime," "I have
frequently heard women say 'I don't mind having one or two children, but
no more for me.' When I first heard these expressions I thought it
merely a joke, but eventually I found out they _meant_ what they said,
and I was amazed. And when these women do condescend to have one or two
children, what sort of a lifelong inheritance are they giving their
offspring? ill-health even unto death. Frequently I come in contact with
women of thirty, and even twenty-five, so debilitated that they are far
more fit for hospitals than to fill the sacred office of either wife or
mother.

"I am sorry to add that the crime of _child-murder_ is carried on to the
greatest extent among the wealthy. In Cambridgeport, a medical lady
informed me that she was continually applied to for this purpose, and
always refused in the most decided manner; but, to her knowledge, one
woman performed, on an average, from a hundred to a hundred and fifty
cases in a week. And yet churches abound in this place.

"The Rev. Dr. Todd has w