Missouri Housekeepers' Conference Association. 451 



secured, at least to the guilty party, for a reasonable time for 

 the sake of public decency. Perhaps a uniform Federal divorce 

 and marriage law enacted by the Federal Congress, if the Federal 

 Constitution could be amended to permit such a thing, would help 

 somewhat. 



But it is evident that in relaying the foundations for a stable 

 family life in our country, main reliance must be placed upon 

 education, rather than upon legislation. This education must be 

 given in the school, in the church and in the home itself. In the 

 school, children can be-taught the sacredness of the family life, and 

 the function of the family in social order, the importance of a pure 

 and wholesome family life as the foundation of a nation's greatness. 

 Again, in the school, the children can be taught the sciences and 

 arts upon which a wholesome home life rests upon its material side. 

 The movement to establish the teaching of domestic science or 

 home economics in our public schools is a salutary one. The 

 church, and especially the Protestant church, has not done its full 

 duty by the home in the past. It should devote more time to teach- 

 ing the ethical ideals of Jesus concerning the family life, both in 

 the Sunday school and in the pulpit. Finally, the home itself must 

 teach the young the sacredness of the family. Boys should be 

 taught the same standards of morality as girls; and both should 

 be taught to look upon marriage and the family, not as an indul- 

 gence, or as simply a means to personal happiness, but rather as 

 a means to a wholesome, unselfish, and noble human life. 



THE HOME. 



A BUSINESS PROPOSITION. 



(Mrs. Emilia Page Tracy, Ohillicothe, Mo.) 



History tells us how the first man was banished from home, 

 and how Eve (through loyalty to him) went also; thus keeping- 

 intact the home life, of which, and to which, woman was merely 

 subordinate until about 2,000 years ago, when the salvation of the 

 world being made possible through woman, her sphere was recog- 

 nized and the education of her talents began. We see from this 

 why the foundation of the home is religious sentiment — how it is 

 the outcome of the elements of revelation that influence the will 

 of man and compel him to subordinate brute force to the ideals 

 of honor and of love. 



