THE TRUTH ABOUT MARRIAGE
have been given in marriage by parents, and usually without their consent. Willy-nilly they had to submit.
It is only in recent times that girls and women have been able to choose their own married partners, that is, to any large extent. Think what the girls and women of our day have to be congratulated upon. This new age in which we live has a meaning all its own to womankind.
Of course, we are sure that women in all countries have in the main submitted gracefully and carried out their part of the marriage contract; but the fact remains that no contract is properly a contract without the freely-given consent of both parties to it. While women have smiled, and even laughed, enjoyed their children and otherwise made the best of their virtual slavery, having as good a time as their spouses permitted, ideal marriage has been more rare than a perfect day in March.
Even in England and the United States, where we pride ourselves upon the freedom of the individual, the custom lingers here and there for the father of the bride, or someone who represents authority over the girl, to come forward at the wedding and give her to the groom. It is necessary, of course, for minors to be legally under the supervision of guar-
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