h perfect truth, that in the great majority of American
families the educational influences come chiefly from the mother; they
are tacitly made over to her as a matter of course. The father has too
often very little to do with them. His work lies abroad, in the world
of business or politics, where all his time and attention are fully
absorbed. In this way the American mother rules the very heart of her
family. If at all worthy she has great influence with her husband; she
has great influence over her daughters; and as regards her sons, there
are too many cases in which hers is the only influence for good to
which they yield. Is there so little of true elevation and dignity in
this position that American women should be in such hot haste to
abandon it for a position as yet wholly untried, entirely theoretical
and visionary?

It will be said that all women are not married, that all wives are not
mothers, that there are childless widows and many single women in the
country. Quite true, but in a rapid sketch one looks at the chief
features only; and home life, with its varied duties, is, of course,
the principal point in every Christian country. The picture is
essentially correct, without touching on lesser details. We pause here
to observe also that almost every single woman has a home somewhere.
She makes a home for herself, or she is ingrafted on the home of
others, and wherever she may be--even in that wretched kind of
existence, boarding-house life--she may, if she choose, carry something
of the home spirit with her. In fact, every true woman instinctively
does so, whatever be the roof that covers her head. She thinks for
others, she plans for others, she serves others, she loves and
cherishes others, she unconsciously throws something of the web of home
feeling and home action over those near her, and over the dwelling she
inhabits. She carries the spirit of home and its duties into the niche
allotted to her--a niche with which she is generally far more contented
than the world at large believes--a niche which is never so narrow but
that it provides abundant material for varied work--often very pleasant
work too. Let it be understood, once for all, that the champions of
widows and single women are very much given to talking and writing
absurdly on this point. Their premises are often wholly false. They
often fancy discontent and disappointment and inaction where those
elements have no existence. Certainly it is not in