278 SOCIAL PROGRESS 



protect themselves against the crowd that they 

 are compelled by their impulses to contemn and 

 to respect. It is often claimed for the monogamic 

 family that it provides a nursery and a class-room 

 for the next generation, and is essential to civiliza- 

 tion, if only on this account. It may certainly 

 enable children to profit to the utmost by a 

 mother's care, and by the expenditure which a 

 father is willing to incur upon those whose 

 interests he identifies with his own. But many 

 mothers are inefficient nurses : few parents are 

 inspiring teachers ; and from long time past, in 

 the upper classes of English society, mothers have 

 been content to leave their little sons to be 

 instructed by schoolmasters, and to be initiated 

 by other boys into the ways of life. The difference 

 between the ideal of family life and its actualities 

 has been recognized by the State, which during 

 the last generation has itself undertaken to 

 educate the children of the poorer classes, and 

 has even commenced to feed them. These 

 children generally regard the school house as their 

 home, and feel more respect for the school- 

 mistress than for their mothers. And this is no 

 matter for surprise. Family life loses its attrac- 

 tiveness in a single-roomed lodging and amidst 

 the recreations of the pavement. 



If, marriage apart, we endeavour to analyse 

 the cement which consolidates human society, 

 we shall find, here again, a variety of elements. 

 Some relationships, such as that of master and 

 slave, are upheld by the narrowest impulses of 

 selfish interest : others, such as comradeship, 

 display the depth of our social, or unselfish, 

 sympathies. Sympathy may be warmed by 



