a home that is burning is not a proper
place to seek safety in. When an ostrich fears danger he buries his head
in the sand, under the impression that if his head is out of sight he is
safe from danger. This is his instinctive plan of procedure in the
presence of danger, and it is the plan of every ostrich, everywhere,
always. A little reasoning would show them how foolish the idea is--but
they cannot reason. That is the province of man alone. If the first
member of a flock of sheep jumps over a fence to get into the next
field, every member of the flock will follow, each one jumping the
fence, though there may be an open gate between the two fields a few
yards away. Instinct dictates the plan to the sheep as they have
received instructions from their ancestors always to "follow the lead."
This is their hereditary legacy and they cannot disobey it.

Animals are born with instincts which need only circumstances to bring
them out. Now a baby is not born with instincts of this character,--it
has not even the instinct to help itself; it cannot find the breasts
that were made for it; it is more helpless than the baby cat or dog or
worm. Therefore a baby in whose brain the potential faculty of reason is
slumbering must of necessity begin its career wholly dependent upon the
supervision and love of its mother, until such time as it may be capable
of reasoning for itself. Motherhood is therefore the supreme privilege
of womanhood. It cannot be superseded, hence the fundamental factor in
any system of race culture, or in any system of infant mortality, must
tend to raise the quality and the intelligence of motherhood as a basic
necessity. Motherhood at the present time, though the most important and
sacred profession in the world, is almost exclusively carried on by
unskilled labor. The maternal instinct is deeply rooted and universal;
its absence must be regarded as an abnormality, or as a product of
misdirected education. The requisites for the mothers of the future
should be absolute physical health and love of children.

If nature endowed a baby with instincts there would be no need for
reason or education. Education cannot teach a cat how to nurse or wash a
kitten any better than it does,--its instinct is good enough. The mother
of a human baby, however, is not born with the instinct which enables
her to care for her baby equally as well as the cat cares for her
kitten. She must be educated or taught to care for it. She can