Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/560

556 strand of the stream of life that finds lodgment in them ceases with their death. This is a pity; and it is a pity, too, that back of the dream there should not be also the reality. One can not help feeling that the children of Dante and Beatrice would have added something of great worth to the fact of existence.

And that this may come in the future we must remodel our medieval institution of marriage. It must cease to be a political convenience or a religious sacrament and must become a biological truth. We must make it impossible for the state to sanction and for the church to sanctify the marriage of imbeciles and of old men and young girls. Women must be emancipated socially, as they have been emancipated intellectually and economically; and they must be given larger and more direct share in choosing their life mates. We must put family finances on a basis of equal partnership that will attract self-supporting and self-respecting women. We must provide ample opportunities for young people to meet and know each other and we must recognize the fact that it is always a sin for men and women to live in the close companionship of marriage if they do not love each other.