The Conservation of the Family

This is a book out of the common run, for it deals with the obvious. Such a statement may seem a paradox, but is not really so, for English-speaking peoples are disinclined to dissect their own feelings or to criticise what custom had ordained as most suitable for them. Mr. Popenoe is somewhat of a casuist, but he makes out a good case for monogamy and a large family, the latter an ideal which modern conditions are against for financial reasons. He is in favour of " the Lord will provide" attitude of mind in the father, but does not seem to realise that education has robbed women of the old time inferiority complex which compelled them to tolerate a position of serfdom, not to say martyrdom. He would seem to forget that the disabled, disgruntled, jaded, faded wife of the Victorian era who died in her early 'fifties is not a very fascinating or attractive picture for emulation to-day, for life is uot a sprint but