seem
very hard. At any rate, there came a time when, as the writer in
Deuteronomy says, "If the man like not to take his brother's wife" he
could refuse the family service. It cost him, however, in such cases a
severe ordeal. He could be haled before the elders on the complaint
that he "refused to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel." The
widow "could loose his shoe from his feet and spit in his face" and
say "so shall it be done unto the man that doth not build up his
brother's house."

The large requirement for the brother, thus indicated, passed outward
to the next of kin in certain circumstances. There are many deeply
interesting accounts of readjustment of family life through the taking
over by the living of duties once undertaken by the dead. The lovely
idyl of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, shows this widely spreading
brother-duty. Here the mother-in-law, so sweet and so wise that her
sons' wives loved her deeply, shrewdly manages a contact between Ruth
and Boaz to the lasting service of her son's inheritance of name and
land. The whole story is redolent of the finer side of ancient forms
of familial duty, the man being rich and generous enough to take on
his more remote relative's responsibilities, the young widow being
sweet and charming enough to capture the interest of the rich man even
before he knows who she is, and the mother-in-law showing
statesmanship of the highest order in managing the affair, together
with such fine character of her own that all respect and love her.

To-day we have left in law and custom but the shadow of these ancient
demands upon brothers in the family. That shadow is limited to the
purely economic aspect of brotherly responsibilities. The old law of
inheritance made the sons the preferred heirs. Only when there was no
son could the daughter inherit if at all. The responsibility of that
heir, however, was often made commensurate with his inheritance. He
must financially care for the near relatives--the father and mother
first, the sister and brother next, the uncles and aunts and cousins
not to be forgotten.

=Present Demands of Kinship.=--The existing statutes make it incumbent
upon any man in receipt of income beyond his own immediate needs to do
what is possible to prevent his near relatives from requiring aid
from the general public. The custom of all charitable organizations
when appealed to for aid for individuals, or for a family, is to ask,
"What can your relatives do