300 THE EVOLUTION OF A FATHER. 



isting people. And it seems extremely probable that 

 among our early human ancestors, the Family proved, 

 if not the Society itself, at least the nucleus of it. I 

 do not, of course, deny that the tie which bound the 

 children to the Mother was much more intimate and 

 more lasting than that which bound them to the 

 Father; but it seems to me that the only result to 

 which a critical investigation of facts can lead us is, 

 that in all probability there has been no stage of 

 human development where marriage has not existed, 

 and that the father has always been, as a rule, the 

 protector of his Family." ^ 



But the process is not yet quite completed. With 

 the longer time together husband and wife may get 

 to know and lean upon one another a little, but the 

 time is still too short for deep affection, and there 

 remain one or two serious obstacles to remove. In- 

 deed, unless some further steps are taken, this first 

 achievement must end in failure. As a matter of fact, 

 it has often ended in failure, and there have been and 

 still are tribes and nations where love between hus- 

 band and wife is non-existent. Among the Hovas, we 

 are assured by authorities, the idea of love between 

 husband and wife is "hardly thought of"; that at 

 Winnebah " not even the appearance of affection " 

 exists between them ; that among the Beni-Amer it is 

 " considered even disgraceful for a wife to show any 

 affection for her husband " ; that the Chittagong Hill 

 tribes have " no idea of tenderness nor of chivalrous 

 devotion " ; and that the Eskimo treat their wives 

 "with great coldness and neglect." The savage 

 cruelty with which wives are treated by the Aus- 



1 Op. cit., pp. 42-50. 



