Page:The Virile Powers of Superb Manhood.djvu/84

76 never be acquired unless this condition is entered at the proper period of life. It may be put off; the day of its consummation may be delayed; but it must come before the powers of manhood and womanhood are on the wane, or one will never be able to taste its joys and its benefits in the brightness and strength of full maturity. Successful men nearly always marry; many of them are fathers of large families. The founding of a home with one for whom there exists a reverential love, is usually one of the first steps to fame and fortune. It makes one feel settled in life: it confines the efforts towards a more definite goal. The seriousness and responsibilities of home life give strength to the will and steadiness to life's aims and to the powers of persistence.

The environments of life, mental, moral and physical, influence to a remarkable degree that element in the human mind and body which indicates the age or time when marriage should be consummated. If deeply absorbed in a profession, or in study of any