ulting from the bondage in
which girls are kept. Let us give back to youth the indulgence of
those passions, those coquetries, love and its terrors, love and its
delights, and that fascinating company which followed the coming of
the Franks. At this vernal season of life no fault is irreparable, and
Hymen will come forth from the bosom of experiences, armed with
confidence, stripped of hatred, and love in marriage will be
justified, because it will have had the privilege of comparison.

In this change of manners the disgraceful plague of public
prostitution will perish of itself. It is especially at the time when
the man possesses the frankness and timidity of adolescence, that in
his pursuit of happiness he is competent to meet and struggle with
great and genuine passions of the heart. The soul is happy in making
great efforts of whatever kind; provided that it can act, that it can
stir and move, it makes little difference, even though it exercise its
power against itself. In this observation, the truth of which
everybody can see, there may be found one secret of successful
legislation, of tranquillity and happiness. And then, the pursuit of
learning has now become so highly developed that the most tempestuous
of our coming Mirabeaus can consume his energy either in the
indulgence of a passion or the study of a science. How many young
people have been saved from debauchery by self-chosen labors or the
persistent obstacles put in the way of a first love, a love that was
pure! And what young girl does not desire to prolong the delightful
childhood of sentiment, is not proud to have her nature known, and has
not felt the secret tremblings of timidity, the modesty of her secret
communings with herself, and wished to oppose them to the young
desires of a lover inexperienced as herself! The gallantry of the
Franks and the pleasures which attend it should then be the portion of
youth, and then would naturally result a union of soul, of mind, of
character, of habits, of temperament and of fortune, such as would
produce the happy equilibrium necessary for the felicity of the
married couple. This system would rest upon foundations wider and
freer, if girls were subjected to a carefully calculated system of
disinheritance; or if, in order to force men to choose only those who
promised happiness by their virtues, their character or their talents,
they married as in the United States without dowry.

In that case, the system adopt