THE BEGINNINGS OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION 141 



Women were frequently cast out of the famih" to 

 care for themselves, and after the death of the hus- 

 band the wife was forced to sacrifice her life at his 

 grave. It is, however, unnecessary to dwell in detail 

 upon the vicissitudes of the early family life. Such 

 a diversity is not surprising, and, indeed, was inevi- 

 table. In all races the particular form of family life 

 was adjusted by custom, although in later centuries 

 it was regulated by law. 



Under these conditions it is clear that only those 

 families in which harmony and unity were main- 

 tained would continue to hold their own in the strug- 

 gle. Families in which there was a well-developed 

 mutual dependence and willingness to yield individ- 

 ual interest to the general good would be able to 

 present a united front to their enemies, while those 

 in which indi\ddual interests were placed before 

 family interests would break to pieces and soon dis- 

 appear. In this way customs of obedience to the 

 family head would tend to be preserved and become 

 binding uj^on the family ; that is, they would become 

 duties. It is clear also that these duties would be 

 confined to the members of the family and not extend 

 to strangers. Within the family, custom would allow 

 each to do as he wished only so far as this was pos- 

 sible without interfering with the rights of others; 

 but in his relations to strangers or enemies he could 

 do absolutely as he willed. 



But loose as was the family attachment, uncer- 

 tain as were its relations, the family nevertheless was 

 the foundation of advance, and marked the first step 

 in the rise upward from the brute nature toward 

 civilization. The beginning of the family was a 

 revolution of vast import; for while families, in a 



