great task if they had not so often to adjust
themselves during the first year to the needs and masterful claims of
a baby. There is no form of tyranny equal to that of the infant, who,
assured of his right to unlimited service from all in sight, makes his
demands at all times and in all ways. He pays for his subjection of
parents and grandparents and they are all usually willing slaves. But
it is often a great advantage if the parents, at least, have had a
chance to make full acquaintance with each other's pet weaknesses and
each other's best qualities before "the baldheaded tyrant from No
Man's Land" makes his appearance. It is, therefore, clearly a matter
of frank and full discussion and settlement before marriage not only
as to the fundamental question of whether or not there shall be
children, but also if, as is the case in the overwhelming majority of
cases, the young people hope for offspring, when they shall begin to
call them to the home.

The thing of all others to be avoided is the outgrown idea that
heavenly magic attends completely to these matters. It is earthly
wisdom and unselfishness and good intent that are needed in this as in
all the great decisions of life. Hence, there can be nothing more
absurdly out of drawing with a rationalized civilization than any law
which forbids the serious discussion of this most vital of social
questions or one that forbids the full dissemination of scientific
knowledge needed by those who would do the right thing in the parental
as in all other relations of life.

=What Is the Just Financial Basis of the Household?=--The sixth
question that has right of debate before the marriage ceremony is that
of the financial support of the household and of the distribution of
the joint income. The use of the words joint income prejudges the case
on this point. The old idea was of one purse, of right that of the
"head of the family," and whatever it held was his to disburse. He it
was who determined how the wife should be fed and clothed and
sheltered. If he were generous and kind she fared well; if the
opposite she fared ill. Her legal right was only the same as that of
her minor child. Now the case is wholly different. In spite of some
inconsistent left-over laws that can make a showing of belated tyranny
when culled from old statute books, the financial right of the wife in
the household is generally recognized. It is, however, still true that
no logical system of financial sh