1864.] 315 f^""^- 



marred Heaven's highest gift, we are ah-eady loving those nearest like 

 unto celestial beings. 



In considering the members of this little community, whose repe- 

 titions make the commonwealth, it is unprofitable to advert to the 

 often contested point of the mental superiority of the sexes; for each 

 is incomparably superior to the other, in the respective spheres of 

 action most obviously assigned them by their Creator. Without 

 their inherent differences the family could not be made up; would 

 not have its sustaining attraction and interest. These differences 

 make the accord of the whole. Without the husband performed the 

 duties for the flimily he is best fitted to fulfil, or, if the wife per- 

 formed not those she is best qualified to perform, they never would 

 be well performed; and without the beautiful relations which we per- 

 ceive to be harmoniously maintained under the influence of the affec- 

 tions, the family could not continue to exist ; and with the loss of 

 these domestic ties and relations, all that is most humanizing and 

 conservative of the welfare of the race would be lost. It is very 

 true, as Michelet says, "To educate a daughter is to educate society 

 itself. Society proceeds from the family, of which the wife is the 

 living bond." 



Are we curious to consider the nature of the government that be- 

 longs to the family ? Let us try the comparison then between this 

 and other forms of government. It is not a monarchy; nor an aris- 

 tocracy ; nor a republic. True, the law regards the husband as its 

 head ; and in relation to law and to the political government, this is 

 generally his position. But in the family, happily constituted, he is 

 not king, nor sole ruler. The wife and mother must share his rule, 

 and must constantly perform many the most duties of that rule. 

 Yet, is she not queen; at least, not queen-absolute; for his authority 

 is paramount, if, unhappily, they differ. But she is more than queen- 

 consort ; for the government is not that which He intended who set 

 them in faniily, if their power be not conjoint and harmonious. If 

 the husband be wise, and wisely mated, the ostensible rule of the 

 family will be hers, who is most constantly present to regulate, order, 

 and compose all differences. She will, therefore, be more than queen- 

 regent; for she exerts, not a merely delegated, but her own author- 

 ity, as well as his ; with the advantage of his counsel in the execu- 

 tive council chamber of two ; where, indeed, he may have a veto 

 power, to be sparingly exercised. What she is, and what she will 

 do, if she be prudent and wise and exertive, the mother of King 

 Lemuel has inimitably described : "Her price is above rubies. The 



