EDITOR'S TABLE. 



121 



have more or less fulfilled the same 

 role. 



The two principal questions which 

 to-day confront society relate to the 

 future relations of men and women 

 and the education of the rising gen- 

 eration. The allegation is freely 

 made in many quarters that mar- 

 riage is a failure ; and no doubt fre- 

 quently it is. None the less, how- 

 ever, is it the case that no scheme 

 that has ever been proposed as a sub- 

 stitute for marriage merits a mo- 

 ment's consideration. It is easy to 

 provide theoi*etically for the gratifi- 

 cation of passion and impulse, but 

 not so easy by any means to show 

 how by any union less solemn and 

 abiding than marriage the higher 

 natures of men and women can be 

 duly developed and their lower pro- 

 pensities kept in check. We do not 

 look to any new woman for light on 

 this question ; but we do look to the 

 best women of to-day, those who to 

 purity and soundness of instinct add 

 a trained capacity for independent 

 and intelligent judgment, to join 

 with the best men iu indicating the 

 higher path which the generations 

 of the future may tread. We may 

 be sure of this, that the path is one 

 not of less but of greater self-control, 

 and that redemption frofti the mis- 

 eries which attach, in too many cases, 

 to marriage as it is will be found in 

 an elevation and purification of the 

 whole idea of marriage. Not that 

 the idea has not been held in its 

 highest purity by many in different 

 ages ; not that the world has ever 

 lacked examples of ideal marriage, 

 but that there has never been a suffi- 

 ciently wide recognition of its true 

 nature and possibilities. There is a 

 gospel on the subject which has to 

 be preached and, so far as individual 

 action can do it, enforced the gos- 

 pel that the true happiness of a man 

 and woman united in marriage bonds 

 consists iu learning, as years go on, 



to love and respect one another more 

 and more, and in aiding and stimu- 

 lating one another more and more to 

 right and noble action, each gaining 

 strength through the other, each find- 

 ing in the other the means of achiev- 

 ing a true individual completeness. 

 The true gospel is that there is 

 more in marriage than for the most 

 part poets have sung or romancers 

 dreamed, and that the failures of 

 which we hear so much haye been, 

 in the main, failures to grasp the 

 true conception of it and to make 

 a right preparation for the duties 

 which it in vol ves. 



Does not all this mean, it may 

 be asked, that many are unfit 

 through defect of character, and oth- 

 ers through ignorance and general 

 inferiority of thought and sentiment, 

 to make the best of marriage ? It cer- 

 tainly does, and here the no less im- 

 portant problem of education comes 

 in. In these days we look too much 

 to the state to solve our problems for 

 us. There are some problems which 

 the state can not solve, and one, we 

 do not hesitate to say, is the problem 

 of a true education. The state can 

 levy taxes and employ agents and 

 make regulations ; but it can not speak 

 with the voice of father or mother; 

 it can not speak confidentially to the 

 young of their deepest interests. It 

 can enjoin rules of conduct, but it 

 can not guide aspiration ; it can not 

 meet what, in a broad sense, we may 

 speak of as spiritual needs. If the 

 rising generation is to be adequately 

 educated, the best men and women 

 of the day must come together and 

 consider how it is to be done how 

 the work, of the state is to be supple- 

 mented by individual endeavor, so 

 that growth in character may keep 

 pace with growth in knowledge and 

 intelligence. There are two main 

 ways in which, at first sight, it seems 

 possible this might be done, or at 

 least more or less hopefully attempt- 



