378 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



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

 tinually 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 Evolu- 

 tion. 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 



