air shirt.[12] To argue in that way is to give up one's birthright as
a reasonable being.

[12] "The haircloth encased the whole body down to the
knees; the hair drawers, as well as the rest of the dress,
being covered on the outside with white linen so as to
escape observation; and the whole so fastened together as to
admit of being readily taken off for his daily scourgings,
of which yesterday's portion was still apparent in the
stripes on his body. Such austerity had hitherto been
unknown to English saints, and the marvel was increased by
the sight--to our notions so revolting--of the innumerable
vermin with which the haircloth abounded--boiling over with
them, as one account describes it, like water in a simmering
cauldron. At the dreadful sight all the enthusiasm of the
previous night revived with double ardour. They looked at
each other in silent wonder, then exclaimed, 'See, see what
a true monk he was, and we knew it not!' and burst into
alternate fits of weeping and laughter, between the sorrow
of having lost such a head, and the joy of having found such
a saint." (_Historical Memorials of Canterbury_, by the Rev.
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D.)

Upon certain points modern Socialism is emphatic; women and children
must not be dealt with as private property, women must be citizens
equally with men, children must not be casually born, their parents
must be known and worthy; that is to say there must be deliberation in
begetting children, marriage under conditions. And there Socialism
stops.

Socialism has not even worked out what are the reasonable conditions
of a State marriage contract, and it would be ridiculous to pretend it
had. This is not a defect in Socialism particularly, but a defect in
human knowledge. At countless points in the tangle of questions
involved, the facts are not clearly known. Socialism does not present
any theory whatever about the duration of marriage, whether, as among
the Roman Catholics, it should be absolutely for life, or, as some
hold, for ever; or, as among the various divorce-permitting Protestant
bodies, until this or that eventuality; or even, as Mr. George
Meredith suggested some years ago, for a term of ten years. In these
matters Socialism does not decide, and it is quite reasonable to argue
that Socialism need not decide. Soci