... statistics relating to marriages and births show that of the children born in the Republic almost sixty per cent are illegitimate. These figures, while serious, are rendered less alarming than would appear at first sight by the large number of what the census-takers term "consensual unions" among the humbler classes, or cases where a man and woman, though not united by marriage ceremony, live together publicly as man and wife, rear a family and are as faithful to each other as if they were legitimately married. "Married but not parsoned" is the way ... — Santo Domingo - A Country With A Future • Otto Schoenrich