THE STATUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 449 



everywhere we find it leading either to destruction of daughters, or to 

 low estimation and ill-treatment of them. Throuojh lono: ascendina: 

 stages of social life the desire thus arising persists ; as instance the 

 statement of Herodotus, that every Persian prided himself on the 

 number of his sons, and it is even said that an annual prize was given 

 by the monarch to the Persian who could show most sons living. 

 Obviously the social motive, thus coming in aid of the parental 

 motive, served to raise the status of male children above that of 

 female. 



A reason for the care of sons implied in the passage of Ecclesias- 

 ticus which says, " He left behind him an avenger against his ene- 

 mies," is a reason which has weighed with all races in barbarous and 

 semi-civilized states. The sacred duty of blood-revenge, earliest of 

 recognized obligations among men, survives so long as societies 

 remain predominantly warlike ; and it generates an anxiety to have a 

 male representative who shall retaliate upon those from whom injuries 

 have been received. This bequest of quarrels to be fought out, trace- 

 able down to recent times among so-called Christians, as in the will 

 of Brantome, has, of course, all along raised the value of sons, and has 

 so put upon the harsh treatment of them a check not put upon the 

 harsh treatment of daughters whence a further differentiation of 

 status. 



The development of ancestor-worship, which, enjoining sacrifices 

 to be made by each man at the tombs of his immediate and more 

 remote male progenitors, implies anticipation of like sacrifices to his 

 own ghost by his son, initiates yet another motive for cherishing sons 

 adds to the parental regard for children a feeling which tells in favor 

 of males rather than of females. The effects of this motive are at the 

 present time shown us by the Chinese, among whom the death of an 

 only son is especially lamented, because there will be no one to make 

 offerings at the grave, and among whom the peremptory need for a 

 son hence ai'ising is held to justify the taking of a concubine, though, 

 "if a person has sons by his wife (for daughters never enter into the 

 account), it is considered derogatory to take a handmaid at all." On 

 recalling Egyptian wall-paintings and papyri, and the like evidence 

 furnished by Assyrian records, showing that sacrifices to ancestors 

 were performed by their male descendant on remembering, too, that 

 among ancient Aryans, Hindoo, Greek, Roman, the daughter was inca- 

 pable of this function, and that sons were, therefore, required for main- 

 taining the family-cult we are shown how this developed form of 

 the primitive religion, while it strengthened filial subordination, 

 added an incentive to parental care of sons, but not of daughters. 



In brief, then, the relations of adults to young among human 



beings, originally like those among animals, began to assume higher 



forms under the influence of the several desires to obtain an aider in 



fighting enemies, to provide an avenger for injuries received, and to 



VOL. XI. 29 



