what she
may obtain in the nursery. What satisfaction is there in proving that
she is far below where she ought to be, if inexorable circumstance
prevent her from climbing higher? What use is there in telling her
that she will alienate her husband and injure her children by her
course, when there is no other course for her to pursue? What can she
do about it?

There is one thing that she need not do. She need not sit down and
write a book, affirming that the most glorious and desirable condition
imaginable. She need not lift up her voice and declare that "she lives
above the ills and disquietudes of her condition, in an atmosphere of
love and peace and pleasure far beyond the storms and conflicts of this
material life." Who ever heard of the mother of a young and increasing
family living in an atmosphere of peace, not to say pleasure, above
conflicts and storms? Who does not know that the private history of
families with the ordinary allowance of brains is a record of recurring
internecine warfare? If she said less, we might believe her. When she
says so much, we cannot help suspecting. To make the best of any
thing, it is not necessary to declare that it is the best thing.
Children must be taken care of; but it is altogether probable that
there are too many of them. Some people think that opinion several
times more atrocious than murder in the first degree; but I see no
atrocity in it. I think there is an immense quantity of nonsense
about, regarding this thing. I believe in Malthus,--a great deal more
than Malthus did himself. The prosperity of a country is often
measured by its population; but quite likely it should be taken in
inverse ratio. I certainly do not see why the mere multiplication of
the species is so indicative of prosperity. Mobs are not so altogether
lovely that one should desire their indefinite increase. A village is
honorable, not according to the number, but the character of its
residents. The drunkards and the paupers and the thieves and the
idiots rather diminish than increase its respectability. It seems to me
that the world would be greatly benefited by thinning out. Most of the
places that I have seen would be much unproved by being decimated, not
to say quinqueted or bisected. If people are stubborn and rebellious,
stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, the fewer of them the
better. A small population, trained to honor and virtue, to liberality
of culture and brea