colored material about the aberrations of lovers and the possible ways
in which marriage can be wrecked. It is sheer untruth to say that most
marriages are failures. In most indeed there are ups and downs. The
most affectionate couples make mistakes and quarrel over trifles. Love
does not make all tempers smooth in a hurry. But love does teach people
how to get past such troubles. It does bring balance and repose into
life for both husband and wife. It does tend to produce efficiency and
health in those who handle it truly. It does make for normal and happy
development.

It is only with this background of positive truth about normal love
that I can approach the other questions which must be dealt with in
this book. If we are going to inquire as to the sanctions of the
received moral standards, and the reasons which make the moral struggle
worth while--if we are going to find the truth about the way in which
to conduct married life, and find any light on the question of birth
control, it can only be in relation to the positive truth about love
and its manifold reactions on human beings. We shall never learn to
manage the emotions and desires which arise from our sexual natures
until we have first understood what it is that nature is trying to
achieve through these means. To a number of these further questions I
shall pass on in the succeeding chapters.

I hope I may do so now on the assumption that anything is worth while
if only we can conserve for ourselves the possibility of such a career
of experience as I have outlined, and that whatever spoils such
experience beforehand, or renders it impossible, is really an enemy
both to our well-being and our happiness. If

"Life, with all it yields of joy and woe