II S HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



life of the manufacturing towns ; and, perhaps 

 most of all, the influx of a subtle paganism which 

 quietly ignores and shirks responsibility, — all 

 these make imperative a careful study of facts 

 relating to the home, which is the foundation 

 of all national prosperity and of pure and endur- 

 ing civilization. After all has been said, the best 

 guarantee of the perpetuity of pure and faithful 

 home life is found in mutual love, founded on 

 knowledge, on companionableness, and on that 

 perfect adaptation of one soul to another which 

 makes life in common a beautiful and enduring 

 harmony. This end cannot be secured by arti- 

 ficial means ; but it may be promoted by leading 

 parents and young people to a wise and thorough 

 study of certain great truths of life, truths which 

 it has been the object of this chapter to bring 

 before the reader. 



Love, therefore, is the word of power, and the 

 final word regarding the home. Indeed love, 

 human and divine, is the foundation and central 

 pillar of the home. However much help we 

 may gain from the study of heredity and envi- 

 ronment, that study leaves us at last where all 

 inquiry must end — in the consciousness that 

 after man has done his utmost, if his ideals are 



