ther a boy or a girl;
and in the case of a daughter, her husband was obliged to take the
name of the family and to live in the wife's home. Spanish women
always retain their own names after marriage, and as far back as the
fourth century we find them at the Synod of Elvira resisting an
attempt to limit this freedom. The practice is still common for
children to use the name of the mother coupled with that of the
father, and even, in some cases, alone, showing a quite unusual
absence of preference for paternal descent. This is very significant.
It explains the recognition given in old Spain to the unmarried
mother; even to-day in no country, that I know, does less social
stigma fall on a child born out of wedlock. The profound Spanish
veneration of the Virgin Mary, as well as the number of female saints,
is another indication of the honour paid to women, which must, I am
certain, be connected with a far back time when goddesses were
worshipped. I would note, too, the fine Spanish understanding of
hospitality. This belongs to the ideals of communal life. I know
nothing to equal it in the common habits of other European countries.
It may be compared with the conditions in the joint-family communities
of the American Indians.[215]

[215] See pp. 107-109.

Much more might be said on the position of the Spanish women. I have,
however, written elsewhere of these women,[216] of their intelligence,
and strength, and beauty, and of the active part they take still in
the industrial life of the country. There can be no question that some
features of the maternal customs have left their imprint on the
domestic life of Spain, and this, as I believe, explains how women
here have in certain directions, preserved a freedom of action and
privileges, which even in England have never been established, and
only of late claimed.

[216] _Spain Revisited; Things Seen in Spain; Moorish
Cities._

As we may expect, there is less direct evidence of mother-right in the
other European countries than is the case in conservative Spain.
Dargun, who has written much on this subject,[217] believes that
maternal descent was formerly practised among the Germans. He holds
further "that the ancient Aryans at the time of their dispersion
regarded kinship through the mother as the sole, or chief, basis of
blood-kinship, and all their family rights were governed by this
principle." There is much conflict of opinion on this matter, and it
would