ed with greater power, vigor or capacity
than the female; therefore, confinement or limitation of the congress
to the companionship of one male with one female, as in monogamic
marriage, gives the healthy balance to the marital union. The
polygamic husband must either suffer from the consequences of
excessive indulgence or his wives from poverty of sexual
gratification; probably both would be the case.

POLYANDRY

is equally as proper as polygamy, yet it never in the history of man
obtained a foothold. The system is more logical than polygamy, because
the wife's dependence would be distributed between two or more
husbands, in which case she would be better insured against poverty
and her support would be guaranteed by greater probability.

We have now described the history and aspect of the two customs, and
will conclude the subject by remarking that a man is morally and
physically entitled to but one wife, and that a plurality is a great
wrong to the female and in total opposition to the ordinance of
nature. Wherever polygamy is the custom the female is held in slavish
subjection. It only prospers in proportion to the ignorance of the
sex. Intelligent and civilized woman will always rebel against such
debasement and servitude.

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

It would probably be interesting to many to describe the marriage
ceremonies observed by different nations, but to enter into a
descriptive detail would occupy too much space. It is sufficient to
say that while some wives are wooed and won, others are bought and
sold; while in some countries the husband brings the wife to his home,
in others, as in Formosa, the daughter brings her husband to her
father's house, and he is considered one of the family, while the
sons, upon marriage, leave the family forever. In civilized countries,
the ceremonies are either ministerial or magisterial, and are more or
less religious in character; while in others, less civilized, the
gaining of a wife depends upon a foot-race, in which the female has
the start of one-third the distance of the course, as is the custom
in Lapland. In Caffraria, the lover must first fight himself into the
affections of his ladylove, and if he defeats all his rivals she
becomes his wife without further ceremony. Among the Congo tribes, a
wife is taken upon trial for a year, and if not suited to the standard
of taste of the husband, he returns her to h