ially that of a help-mate--to bring cheer and comfort and
courage, and the tenderest of protection and support. "The hand that
rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world"--so says the old
adage. In any case, it is upon the sanctity and devotion of mother love
that the future of our race depends--and the deepest feeling of a manly
man has never doubted it.

There is much, much more that might be said about the relationship of a
father to a mother, and of a mother to a father. The right foundation
for it should be the deepest of moral and spiritual feelings. The true
significance of it cannot help being eternal, not temporary. In no
department of life, has the scientific principle of self-interest and
the rule of reason had a more confusing, corrupting, and destructive
influence. To attempt to translate the meaning of a marriage into terms
of a business partnership is a ghastly mockery.

This subject is too big and the discussion of it would carry us too far
afield, to be undertaken in the present connection. Our attention has
been confined, for the time being, to mother love and the formation of
character for the next generation.

And the next question which confronts mother love is the question of
schools and school education--one of the most perplexing and troubling
of all, and yet unavoidable.

Let us suppose that our mother is an ideal one--that she has
gladly responded with the best that is in her to her love and
responsibility--that she has cherished and nourished every tender
little bud in the heart and soul of her boy--that the twig of
character is rising up straight and beautiful, in every respect.

Then comes the day when Master Bob must go off to school--a day school,
or a boarding school, or first one and then the other.

Why does he have to do this? In the first place because it is the custom
every boy is supposed to do it, when he arrives at a certain age--and
then, to receive proper instruction, his brain must be taught, his mind
enlightened.

So off to school he must go, and when he gets there, a new and different
atmosphere surrounds him, a new influence is brought to bear on the
little character, so tenderly forming, and in the main the nature of
this influence is two-fold. First, there is the school-room and the
school books and the teaching of teachers--and second, there is the
companionship, intimacy, teaching, of the other boys with whom he is
thrown into contact.

As the action of