desires to mate, to have and rear children, and to make a home. To
this his sexual and parental instincts impel him; they are nature's
provision for the perpetuation of the race. The sex instinct attracts
the man and the woman to each other, and marriage is the sanction of
society to their union; the parental instinct gives birth to children
and leads the father and mother to protect the child through the long
years of dependence. Marriage and parenthood are twin obligations that
the individual owes to the race. Celibacy makes no contribution to the
perpetuation of the race, and unregulated sexual intercourse is a
blight upon society. Marriage lays the foundation of the home and
makes possible the values that belong to that institution. Children
hold the family together; separation and divorce are most common in
childless homes. Personal service and sacrifice are engendered in the
care of children; therefore it is that the family without children is
not a perfect family, but an abnormality as a social institution. For
these reasons custom and law protect the home, and religion declares
marriage a sacred bond and reproduction a sacred function.

It is the long experience of the race that has made plain the
fundamental importance of the marriage relation, and history shows how
step by step man and woman have struggled toward higher standards of
mutual appreciation and co-operation. From past history and present
tendencies it is possible to determine values and weaknesses and to
point out dangers and possibilities. As the family group is
fundamental to an understanding of the community, so the relation of
man and woman are essential to a comprehension of the complete family,
and investigation of their relations must precede a study of the
social development of the child in the home, or of the economic
relations of the farmer and his assistants. Nothing more clearly
illustrates the factors that enter into all human relations than the
story of how the family came to be.

READING REFERENCES

HENDERSON: _Social Elements_, pages 62-70.

ELLWOOD: _Sociology and Modern Social Problems_, 1913 edition,
pages 74-82.

BOSANQUET: _The Family_, pages 241-259.

DEALEY: _The Family in Its Sociological Aspects_, pages 1-11.

BUTTERFIELD: "Rural Life and the Family," _American Journal of
Sociology_, vol. 14, pages 721-725.

HENDERSON: "Are Modern Industry and City Life Unfavorable to the
Family?"