y increasing, and though the exact
opposite has been proved to be the case and he has apologized, he will
have forgotten the correction in a few months, and will break out
again into renewed lamentation. He has told us that we are physically
deteriorating, and in such awful tones that we have shuddered, and
many of us have believed. And considering that the death-rate is
decreasing, that slums are decreasing, that disease is decreasing,
that the agricultural labourer eats more than ever he did, our
credence does not do much credit to our reasoning powers, does it? Of
course, there is that terrible "influx" into the towns, but I for one
should be much interested to know wherein the existence of the rustic
in times past was healthier than the existence of the town-dwellers of
to-day. The personal appearance of agricultural veterans does not help
me; they resemble starved 'bus-drivers twisted out of shape by
lightning.

But the _piece de resistance_ of the praiser of the past is now
marriage, with discreet hints about the birth-rate. The praiser of the
past is going to have a magnificent time with the subject of marriage.
The first moanings of the tempest have already been heard. Bishops
have looked askance at the birth-rate, and have mentioned their
displeasure. The matter is serious. As the phrase goes, "it strikes at
the root." We are marrying later, my friends. Some of us, in the hurry
and pre-occupation of business, are quite forgetting to marry. It is
the duty of the citizen to marry and have children, and we are
neglecting our duty, we are growing selfish! No longer are produced
the glorious "quiverfuls" of old times! Our fathers married at twenty;
we marry at thirty-five. Why? Because a gross and enervating luxury
has overtaken us. What will become of England if this continues? There
will be no England! Hence we must look to it! And so on, in the same
strain.

I should like to ask all those who have raised and will raise such
outcries. Have you read "X"? Now, the book that I refer to as "X" is a
mysterious work, written rather more than a hundred years ago by an
English curate. It is a classic of English science; indeed, it is one
of the great scientific books of the world. It has immensely
influenced all the scientific thought of the nineteenth century,
especially Darwin's. Mr. H.G. Wells, as cited in "Chambers's
Cyclopaedia of English Literature," describes it as "the most
'shattering' book that ever has or wi