180 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



grade is just as truly characteristic of the higher apes 

 as of lower man. And thus the family life of man is 

 the physiological result of, and rooted in, mammalian 

 structure. 



And the benefits of family life are too great and 

 numerous to even enumerate. First of all the family is 

 the school of unselfishness. All the love of the parent 

 is drawn out for the helpless and dependent child, and 

 grows as the parent works and thinks for it. And the 

 child returns a fraction of his parents' love. Within 

 the close bond of the family the struggle for place and 

 opportunity is replaced by mutual helpfulness ; and 

 this doing and burden-bearing with and for each other 

 is a constant exercise in the practice of love. And with 

 out this mutual love and helpfulness the family cannot 

 exist. 



And slowly man begins to apply the lessons learned 

 in the family to other relations with partners, neighbors, 

 and friends. Slowly he discovers that an entirely self- 

 ish life defeats its own ends. A voice within him tells 

 him continually that love is better than selfishness and 

 ministering better than being ministered unto. It 

 dawns upon him that it is against the nature of things 

 that other people should be so selfish and grasping ; a 

 few begin to apply the moral to themselves, and a few 

 of these to act accordingly. 



And what a change the few steps which man has 

 taken in this direction have wrought in his life. Says 

 Professor Huxley : " In place of ruthless self-assertion 

 it demands self-restraint, in place of thrusting aside or 

 treading down all competitors, it requires that the in- 

 dividual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fel- 

 lows ; its influence is directed not so much to the sur- 



