Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-15
IDEAL MARRYING
ACES e To 26,
SAYSEXPERT
'PerSonS Who Wed After They
Are Thirty Are Most SusCept-
ibIe to AffinitieS.

LONDON, Aug 15.-What is the best
age at which to marry, and why?
These questions were answered by DR..
Frederick L. Hoffman, LID, F. S. S.,
one of the delegates to the International
Eugenics congress.
incidentally Dr. Hoffman. who occupied
the position of statistician to the Pruden-
tial Insurance Company of Newark, N. j..
exploded what he described as one of
the most popular fallacies that has ever
prevailed regarding successful marriages.
My experience and observation" said
DR. Hoffman, have convinced me that
the best ages for marrying are between
% and 26 for men and women alike.
have no faith III the theory that there
should be a wide disparity between the
age of the man and the woman.
My reason for fixing on between %
and Is as the ideal marrying age for both
sexes are, roughly. these:
Physically Best Then.
THE man and the woman are then, so
far as marriage is concerned, at their best
physical, mental and moral development.
Their hereditary traits now are dominant.
On the one hand the twig has been bent
or the temperament has been moulded in
the form it will probably retain, with a
little modification, for life.
ION the other hand they are both suf-
ficiently plastic and malleable to readjust
themselves and- become mutually com
plimentary to one another. In other
words, the man is willing to sacrifice
himself to the happiness of the woman,
and the woman to the happiness of the
man. This is one of the essential condi-
tons of real marriage. Perfect coordina-
ton is another.
"A boy or a girl of, say, IS, quite apart
from other considerations, can not be ex-
pected to know his or her mind This
point l think, requires no elaboration. AT
the same time [ should like to state with
all possible emphasis that every man of
% or thereabouts who is earning his liv-
ing and wishes to marry should be per-
mitted to do So provided only that he and
his prospective partner are healthy.
His Salary No object.
THE woman Of d mans choice has no
right whatever TO demand that he shall
be earning certain number of dollars
a week before he enters into wedlock with
her. l strongly deprecate these so-called
marriages of convenience Moreover,
10 restriction should be placed-within
reason, of coursc-on the number of chill
dren. No marriage is perfect or satisfy
Ing II lueIe are Ip ClllulGH dS IT'S JUL
come
Men particularly who are over the age
of 80 and wish to marry do so at their
peril At this age or over a man is gem
orally so strongly individualized so set
in his judgments, that to often in court
ing a wife he is only cQurting disaster.
Again a marriage celebrated after 30
tends to become an affair of friendship
than anything else, and this in my opin-
ion, at least, is by no means all, or any
thing approaching all, that marriage
should signify. Although | confess have
no facts to bear out my contention on
this point, observation leads me to think
that the sudden appearance on the scene
of 'affinites' of both sexes frequently
follows these r-30 marriages.
and now let me just touch on the
question of successful marriages. There
was never greater fallacy than the
popular belief that a REALLY successful
marriage is necessarily a happy one. In
deed, | consider that that marriage is
still incomplete which does not know sor-
row, loss, disappointment, aye, and even
DEATH