172 INSTITUTION OF THE FAMILr. 



childless millionaire compared with those who own healthy 

 children. 



He who "owns" a good wife, she who "possesses" a 

 good husband, and that married pair who have a clear title 

 to smart and rosy little ones, with a domicile and neces- 

 sary appurtenances, belong to nature's nobility. 



To establish a family which shall float along down the 

 stream of time, to originate human interests and help create 

 its natural history, are among the noblest of powers. What 

 realm equals the family kingdom? What Governor-Gen- 

 eral is as absolute as its sovereign head, or what obedience 

 as willing or complete as that accorded by love? 



How wise the Spartans that permitted no man to sit in 

 the councils of the State who had not first qualified himself 

 by becoming the father of a family and thus ruling in a 

 minature state before he essayed the role of governor on the 

 larger platform. 



Institution of the Family. It is easy to recognize 

 the family as a divine order or arrangements all history 

 bears witness to its beneficence. It must then be under law ; 

 there must be lawful or orderly methods characteristic of 

 its development and establishment. 



He who ordained the family, ordained the laws by 

 which it should be begun and continued, and it becomes the 

 interest of every man who proposes to found a family to 

 learn how. 



If you desire a happy family, ascertain and obey these 

 laws, for the breach of them is the cause of all unhappi- 

 ness. 



Selection Before Love-making is the rule we have 

 already commended. Two should no more make love till 

 they have selected, been accepted and are engaged, than 

 enter a house till they have closed the bargain for it and 

 obtained its keys. Is it not strange that a distinction so 

 obvious should have received so little public attention ; 

 reduce it to practice and we shall have few " broken hearts" 

 and less sensuality. 



