THE EVOLUTION OF A FATHER. 295 



Evolution takes nothing for granted. The affection 

 between husband and wife is, of all the immeasurable 

 forms of Love, the most beautiful, the most lasting, 

 and the most divine ; yet up to this time we have 

 not been able even to record its existence. The 

 finished results of Evolution appear so natural to 

 us, looking back from this late day, that we contin- 

 ually ignore the difficulties it had to meet, and forget 

 how every single step in progress from the lowest to 

 the highest had to be carried at the bayonet's point. 

 The most informed naturalist probably has never 

 given Nature credit for a thousandth part of the work 

 she has done, or has succeeded in presenting to his 

 mind more than a surface outline of the gigantic 

 series of problems she had to solve. In lower Nature, 

 as a simple fact, male and female do not love one 

 another ; and in the lower reaches of Human Nature, 

 husband and wife do not love one another. Among 

 exceptional nations, for the last few hours of the 

 world's history, husbands and wives have truly loved ; 

 but for the vast mass of Mankind, during the long 

 ages which preceded historic times, conjugal love was 

 probably all but unknown. 



Now here is a very pretty problem for Evolution. 

 She has at once to make good Husbands and good 

 Fathers out of lawless savages. Unless this problem 

 is solved the higher progress of the world is at an end. 

 It is the mature opinion of every one who has thought 

 upon the history of the world, that the thing of 

 highest importance for all times and to all nations is 

 Family Life. When the Family was instituted, and 

 not till then, the higher Evolution of the world was 

 secured. Hence the exceptional value of the Father's 



