ndividual loses his separate self to
find a larger and nobler self in a common good in which each individual
shares, and which none may monopolize;--the birthplace of the soul as of
the body is in the family. The nursery of virtue, the inspirer of
devotion, the teacher of self-sacrifice, the institutor of love, the
family is the foundation of all those higher and nobler qualities of
mind and heart which lift man above the level of sagacious brutes.

THE DUTY.

+The family a common good.+--Membership in the family involves the
recognition that the true life of the individual is to be found only in
union with other members; in regard for their rights; in deference to
their wishes; and in devotion to that common interest in which each
member shares. Each member must live for the sake of the whole family.
Children owe to their parents obedience, and such service as they are
able to render. Parents, on the other hand, owe to children support,
training, and an education sufficient to give them a fair start in life.
Brothers and sisters owe to each other mutual helpfulness and
protection. All joys and sorrows, all hopes and fears, all plans and
purposes should be talked over, and carried out in common. No parent
should have a plan or ambition or enthusiasm into which he does not
invite the confidence and sympathy of his child. No child should cherish
a thought or purpose or imagination which he cannot share with father or
mother. It is the duty of the parent to enter sympathetically into the
sports and recreations and studies and curiosities of the child. It is
the duty of the child to interest himself in whatever the father and
mother are doing to support the family and promote its welfare. Between
parent and child, brother and sister, there should be no secrets; no
ground on which one member lives in selfish isolation from the rest.

+The basis of right marriage.+--These relations come by nature, and we
grow into them so gradually that we are scarcely conscious of their
existence, unless we stop on purpose to think of them. Marriage, or the
foundation of a new family, however, is a step which we take for
ourselves, once for all, in the maturity of our conscious powers. To
know in advance the true from the false, the real from the artificial,
the genuine from the counterfeit, the blessed from the wretched basis of
marriage is the most important piece of information a young man or woman
can acquire. The test is simple but