(Editor's note: This subject has caused great controversy in our community, and Mr. Chronopoulos tries to give a cross section of thought in the following conversation he overheard.)

"So, you have broken things off."

"Of course, how could it be otherwise?"

"What did they tell you?"

"They said that they didn't have even one penny to give with her. Did they think I would marry her only for the way she parts her hair?"

"I suppose they even had intentions of leaving her hungry for one or two weeks 2"I am sure that you will agree with me when I say that many unhappy marriages, and many of our social evils can be directly blamed on our custom of giving a dowry. How many poor girls marry old wrecks; how many mothers live unhappy lives because they had no dowry. A few days ago, I saw an eighteen year old girl who had married a saloon keeper; for the first time since I had known her, I pitied her. I saw them out for a walk. He had his great stomach in front of him and her at his side. I pitied her because she had to live with that hippopotamus in order to wear pretty clothes and have a decent home. She had to marry him because he did not seek a dowry."

"Yes, wise man, but do you know that I left home when I was fifteen years old and worked for the next fifteen years in order to give dowry's to my sisters, and that I have just become free. And you are telling me to marry a girl for her love, and her Grandma's trunk--that is, if she even gets that. Nice logic."

"Exactly, my friend. Would you not have preferred being free from those obligations, and have had the right to marry five or ten years ago? Did it not occur to you that the grooms of your sisters were the ones who should have shouldered 3the responsibilities that were placed on your shoulders? Can you imagine the despair of your mother, if you had not existed? I, at least, see no sense in holding on to a custom that is nothing but a burden and a creator of misery."

"Swell, but why am I to be the 'goat'?"

"If you are not, your son will be forced to become one. In order to prove a new idea, we ourselves must test it out. This custom is a death blow to all our young hopes and dreams. It is keeping us in the social Middle Ages. It is the poison that kills the emotion of love, and murders conjugal harmony and happiness. Do you agree?"

"I do, but are you married?"

"No, I am not married I assure you."

"Then you are doubly worthy of congratulations, and when you find the chosen one of your 'heroic' heart, I will be your best man."

"That is agreeable to me."

"Good-by."

"Good-by."