"Mental Efficiency And Other Hints to Men and Women"

Which is right? No one will ever be able to decide. But neither the one system nor the other will apply itself well to all or nearly all cases.

There have been thousands of romantic marriages in England of which it may be said that it would have been better had the French system been in force to prevent their existence.

And, equally, thousands of possible romantic marriages have been prevented in France which, had the English system prevailed there, would have turned out excellently.

The prevalence of dowries in England would not render the English system perfect (for it must be remembered that money is only one of several ingredients in the French marriage), but it would considerably improve it. However, we are not a provident race, and we are not likely to become one. So our young men must reconcile themselves to the continued absence of dowries.

The reader may be excused for imagining that I am at the end of my remarks. I am not. All that precedes is a mere preliminary to what follows. I want to regard the case of the man who has given the English system a fair trial and found it futile. Thus, we wait on chance in England. We wait for love to arrive.

Suppose it doesn't arrive? Where is the English system then? Assume that a man in a position to marry reaches thirty-five or forty without having fallen in love. Why should he not try the French system for a change?

Any marriage is better than none at all. Naturally, in England, he couldn't go up to the Chosen Fair and announce: I am not precisely in love with you, but will you marry me? He would put it differently. And she would understand. And do you think she would refuse?

MENTAL EFFICIENCY

VI BOOKS

THE PHYSICAL SIDE

THE chief interest of many of my readers is avowedly books; they may, they probably do, profess other interests, but they are primarily " bookmen," and when one is a bookman one is a bookman during about twenty-three and three-quarter hours in every day. Now, bookmen are capable of understanding things about books which cannot be put into words; they are not like mere sub- scribers to circulating libraries; for them a book is not just a book -- it is a book.

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