And
therefore, being what we are, it is a good thing for our own sakes that
we should be bound.
Even though the bonds should actually mean pain, it is still good that
they should be allowed to bind, though it be only for the sake of the
children. Passionate lovers do not think of children, but society must
needs put their claims before all others. Probably the historical
reason why society came to insist on monogamy and to condemn all
irregular unions lay in the fact that it is the inalienable right of a
child to be brought up by a father and a mother, and that no society
can be strong and finely ordered unless its foundations are laid in
family life, wherein men and women co-operate to give the rising
generation every possible chance.
I assume that I am addressing honest minds that wish to handle the
issues of life sincerely and wisely, and to them I am sure it must be
worth pointing out that it can never be right for individuals to order
their lives on principles which could not be given a universal
application. I can well understand a passionate couple being quite
sure that they will hold to one another throughout life, though they be
in no way legally tied.
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