than one thought, one inspiration. If it, however, suffuses that
one thought into the hearts of men its existence will have been
justified. We have no criterion or standard by which to judge the
ethical value of a thought. If a thought conveys an inspiration to
another and is productive of moral growth it has life and value because
it creates.

To exist is to blindly follow the primal instincts. To live is to
think, to reason, to grow mentally. Consequently we must have ideals, we
must cling tenaciously to these ideals, and, "We must know what we
want."

THE YOUNG WIFE'S INCENTIVE TO SELF-CULTURE.--A young wife has a real
incentive to self-culture if she hopes to maintain her position in the
home and in the affection of her husband. A man has always the advantage
of being actively engaged in one of the two ways of acquiring knowledge.
He mingles with people. He gains considerable knowledge and frequently
cultivation unwittingly. He grows with his business, and as it increases
he becomes more important in the community. He mingles with keener,
wide-awake business men, his wits are sharpened, his brain must be alert
and virile. A healthy active brain grows, it is responsive, it absorbs
knowledge. As he climbs higher, he wears off the crude corners and
assumes a worldly cultivation, which men of sound business sense can
adapt to suit any social exigency. The wife does not have these
advantages, and, unless she appreciates this point, she is very apt to
remain where she was when she married, so far as mental culture is
concerned. Now to be wife in a true sense, she must be companion. She
must keep pace with his prosperity on the one hand and with his
intelligence on the other. The more culture and knowledge a man attains
the more critical he becomes, the more cultivated his tastes, the more
cultivation he demands. Qualities that did not always grate upon his
sensibilities become acutely objectionable in his higher mental state. A
man may be loyal at heart, but he resents the inaptitude of a wife who
fails to keep the mental pace. He is willing to give his wife the
benefits of his material prosperity, but he cannot give her the finer
evidences of his higher mentality, because, while she may have proved
true as a wife, she failed as a companion. She fell behind in culture.
He cannot give that which she cannot receive. The young wife should
appreciate the difference between moral disloyalty on the part of her
husband, and me