National Life and Character 315 



propositions with which I must as heartily dis- 

 agree. He seems to lament the change which is 

 making the irresponsible despot as much of an anom- 

 aly in the family as in the State. He seems to think 

 that this will weaken the family. It may do so, in 

 some instances, exactly as the abolition of a des- 

 potism may produce anarchy; but the movement is 

 essentially as good in one case as in the other. To 

 all who have known really happy family lives, that 

 is to all who have known or have witnessed the 

 greatest happiness which there can be on this earth, 

 it is hardly necessary to say that the highest ideal 

 of the family is attainable only where the father 

 and mother stand to each other as lovers and friends, 

 with equal rights. In these homes the children are 

 bound to father and mother by ties of love, respect, 

 and obedience, which are simply strengthened by 

 the fact that they are treated as reasonable beings 

 with rights of their own, and that the rule of the 

 household is changed to suit the changing years, as 

 childhood passes into manhood and womanhood. 

 In such a home the family is not weakened; it is 

 strengthened. This is no unattainable ideal. Every 

 one knows hundreds of homes where it is more or 

 less perfectly realized, and it is an ideal incom- 

 parably higher than the ideal of the beneficent auto- 

 crat which it has so largely supplanted. 



The final chapter of Mr. Pearson's book is entitled 

 "The Decay of Character." He believes that our 

 world is becoming a world with less adventure and 

 energy, less brightness and hope. He believes that 



