believe that a man is permitted to marry his
deceased son's wife. Let me quote from the "China Press" which has
special facilities for obtaining news from America. "Boston, March 24.
The engagement of Mrs. Katherine M. B., widow of Charles A. B., and
daughter of George C. F., chairman of the ........, Board of ........,
to her father-in-law, Frank A. B., of ........, became known to-day.
Charles A. B. was killed at the ........ Road crossing in ........ on
March 29, 1910, by a locomotive which struck a carriage in which he was
driving to the First Congregational Church, to serve as best man at the
wedding of Miss H. R. F., another daughter of S. F., to L. G. B. of
........ His wife, who was in the carriage with him and was to have
been matron at the wedding, was severely injured. Her mother-in-law,
Mrs. Frank A. B., died some months later."[1] I suppose the marriage
has since been consummated. If a father is permitted to marry his
deceased son's wife, in fairness a son should be allowed to marry his
deceased father's wife. I presume that there is a law in the United
States or in some of the states against marriages within the prohibited
degrees of consanguinity and affinity, but I confess that the more I
study the subject the more I am confused as to what is or what is not
within the prohibited degrees.

In China the law on this subject is extremely rigid, and consequently
its infraction is exceedingly rare; I have, as a matter of fact, never
heard of the marriage laws in China being broken. In "Liao Chai", a
famous collection of Chinese tales, it is recorded that a young widow
married her son and moved to another part of the country, so that their
identity and relationship should be concealed. They seemed to have
lived very happily together. After many years, when they had had
children and grandchildren, their true relationship was accidentally
discovered. A complaint was laid before the local authorities. After
a long deliberation and careful review of the case, and to eradicate
such "unnatural offspring", as they were termed, it was decided that
the two offenders, and all their children and grandchildren should be
burned to death, which sentence was duly carried out. I doubt if the
story is authentic. It was probably fabricated by the author that it
might serve as a warning. The sentence, if true, was too severe; the
offspring who were innocent contributories to the crime deserved pity
rather than pun