THE EVOLUTION OF A MOTHER 369 



educative moment of all — when the spark of life 

 in her little one burned low. Parents could be no 

 use to their offspring physically, and the offspring 

 could be no use to their parents psychically. Th( 

 young required no Infancy ; the old acquired no' 

 Sympathy. Even among the other Mammalia or 

 the Birds the Mother's chance was small. There 

 Infancy extends to a few days or weeks, yet is but 

 an incident in a life preoccupied with sterner tasks. 

 A lioness will bleed for her cub to-day, and in to- 

 morrow's struggle for life contend with it to the 

 death. A sheep knows its lamb only while it is a 

 lamb. The affection in these cases, fierce enough 

 while it lasts, is soon forgotten, and the traces it 

 left in the brain are obliterated before they have 

 furrowed into habit. Among the Carnivora it is 

 instructive to observe that while the brief span of 

 infancy admits of the Mother learning a little Love, 

 the father, for want of even so brief a lesson, remains 

 untouched, so wholly untouched indeed that the 

 Mother has often to hide her offspring from him 

 lest they be devoured. Love then had no chance 

 till the Human Mother came. To her alone was 

 given a curriculum prolonged enough to let her 

 graduate in the school of the affections. Not for 

 days or weeks, but for months, as the cry of her 

 infant's helplessness went forth, she must stand 



2 A 



