his
mother's love not only all that has held him or her to moral conduct,
but much that makes life worth living. This, that makes home what it is
or should be, cannot be replaced by the State. The great infidel Robert
Ingersoll retains his hold on certain thoughtless classes, not by his
wit, which is keen, nor his eloquence, which is unquestioned, but
because he preaches a sort of religion of home, and claims to be the
only man, _par excellence_, who loves his wife and children.

The writer of this, when a judge, was remonstrated with for giving a
child to a mother whom he had divorced from her husband on the ground of
her infidelity. He made reply that the wife might be a bad woman and yet
a good mother. Certainly there was no one to take her place. The court
could not give the custody of the child to a man who thought so little
of its welfare as to come into court and ask for a decree of divorce.
The law had to be obeyed, and the divorce granted; but the custody of
the child was left to the discretion of the court, and the court
considered it merciful to leave the child with the mother rather than
give it to a father who, in asking for a divorce, served notice that he
would marry again and give this unfortunate to the care of a stepmother,
to torture it with the taint of its origin, and a conflict with the
natural affection for the newly found household and offspring.

The New England system of common schools recognizes the communistic
theory of right, in the State, to the child. It reduces this theory to
practice by supplanting the parent by the pedagogue. It teaches that to
instruct the child is to make it moral, and its instruction means, as we
have said, an abnormal development of the memory. A belief in this has
come to be a popular fetish. The man who ventures to comment on it, or
offers to amend or improve it, is hooted down as an enemy to his country
and an infidel to its perfection. Pulpits resound with thanks to God for
the blessings of free education, the press is filled with praise, while
on the stump eloquent orators assure applauding crowds that our
common-school system is the corner-stone of not only the great Republic,
but of our social existence.

And yet, where are we? From all this senseless noise let us turn to the
actual situation and consult the cold, naked facts. The increase of
crime and insanity in the United States within the last half-century is
something appalling. They have not only kep