This is a fact which
in itself must affect the doings and the prospects of civilization. An
assemblage of people in the twenties will not behave in the same way as
those in the forties. The probable effect must be towards conservatism,
and increasing rigidity. It is a question to be asked by the historian
of civilization how far these considerations bear upon the history of
past empires.
Another and most notable result of the modified relation between the
generations which ensues from increasing the age at marriage, is that
the parents, under the newer conditions, must necessarily be, on the
average, psychologically further from their children. The man who first
becomes a father at twenty-five, shall we say, may well expect still to
have something of the boy in him at thirty, especially as children keep
us young. He is thus a companion for his child and his child for him.
The same is true of women. It is good that a woman who still has
something of girlhood in her should become a mother. When the marriage
age is much delayed, people of both sexes tend to grow old more quickly
than if they had children to keep them young, and then when the children
come the psychological disparity is greater than it ought to be--greater
than is best either for parents or children.
Before we consider the question of individual development, let us note
the general trend of the marriage age.
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