hat it means to be devoted to a welfare not his own. The same is true
no doubt of a great many women, those whose characters are too fickle
and unstable to permit of any deep and lasting attachment. Fortunately,
even in the case of such men and women, if they marry and have children,
some of the joy and meaning of this heart-life is still vouchsafed them.
They feel it for their sons and daughters.

If they have no children and are unmarried, there are mothers and
fathers, brothers and sisters to keep alive some measure of sympathy and
endearment. A human being who is totally bereft of such attachments,
without any feeling that comes from the heart for any one, is such a
rare exception that he need not be considered. Such lives, if they do
exist, would appear to normal beings as very pitiful.

As a usual thing, for most of us, the affections are constantly in
operation. Certain people who are near and dear to us are never really
out of our lives at all. Consciously or subconsciously, we carry them
with us wherever we go, tucked away in our hearts, ready to rise up at
the slightest provocation and take a vital part in our innermost
deliberations.

A little boy or girl of the right sort, with the right kind of loving
parents, grows up naturally with this feeling for them. In all sorts of
new experiences and questions of conduct, the thought comes
spontaneously: "What will mother think about this?" "She'll be terribly
surprised when I tell her that." "Father will be pleased and proud when
he knows what I've done." "I don't think she'd approve of that." "He'll
laugh at me, when he hears this." And so forth and so on, countless
times, in countless connections.

Mothers and fathers carry around a similar feeling with regard to their
children. Things that they see, things that they hear, things that they
read, plans and projects of all kinds, are spontaneously colored by the
consideration of their effect on the son or daughter--surprise,
pleasure, disappointment, good or ill.

The same thing takes place to a remarkable extent between a man and a
woman who love each other deeply. Nothing of importance can happen to
one, without an immediate reflection of the effect and bearing it will
have on the other. A frequent result of this is that, in order to give
pleasure to the other, one will act contrary to his own selfish
inclination. And the anticipation of this pleasure to be given to the
other can be strong enough to transfor