Section 7.— A MATRIMONIAL BUREAU.
There is another direction in which something ought to be done to restore the natural advantages enjoyed by every rural community which have been destroyed by the increasing tendency of mankind to come together in huge masses. I refer to that which is after all- one of the most important elements in every human life, that of marrying and giving in marriage. In the natural life of a country village all the lads and lasses grow up together, they meet together in religious associations, in daily employments, and in their amusements on the village green. They have learned their A, B, C and pothooks together, and when the time comes for pairing off they have had excellent opportunities of knowing the qualities and the defects of those whom they select as their partners in life. Everything in such a community lends itself naturally to the indispensable preliminaries of love-making, and courtships, which, however much they may be laughed at, contribute more than most things to the happiness 01 life. But in a great city all this is destroyed. In London at the present moment how many hundreds, nay thousands, of young, men and young women, who are living in lodgings, are practically without any opportunity of making the acquaintance of each other, or of any one of the other sex ! The street is no doubt the city substitute for the village green, and what a substitute it is !
It has been bitterly said by one who knew well what he was- talking about, " There are thousands of young men to-day who have no right to call any woman by her Christian name, except the girls they meet plying their dreadiul trade in our public thoroughfares." As long as that is the case, vice has an enormous advantage over virtue ; such an abnormal social arrangement interdicts morality and places a vast premium upon prostitution. We must get back to nature if we have to cope with this ghastly evil.
There ought to be more opportunities afforded for healthy human intercourse between 3 r oung men and young women, nor can Society