Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/316

 and higher classes it is so to a large though diminishing degree. Nevertheless, Marie Corelli states, and we agree, that it is the cash-box that governs the actions of far too many in entering upon the most serious duty of life; and if the man and wife do not realize the importance and sacredness of the tie, the result must be, as the novelist says, that the man and wife will drag down rather than uplift each other.

In a magazine article which Marie Corelli wrote some time ago, she drew a delightful picture of an artist and his wife in Capri who live on £100 a year in perfect bliss. When one views the picture she draws of their life it is easy to think one has found something like the lost paradise. Still, if we all tried love on £100 a year in Capri the housing problem would soon become as serious a matter there as it is to-day in our great cities. Love on £100 a year, or less or more, must be tried by most of us under less favorable geographical circumstances; but under whatever circumstances true it is, as Miss Corelli insists, that God's law of love will make of marriage a successful and happy undertaking.

Marriage on very moderate means is not attractive. And why? According to Marie Corelli, because Love is not sufficient for the average girl;