work never was done with ease or without pain and loss
and the investment of much time. Patient study of the problems of the
family is a part of the price which all may pay.

No nobler social work, no deeper religious work, no higher educational
work is done anywhere than that of the men and women, high or humble,
who set themselves to the fitting of their children for life's business,
equipping them with principles and habits upon which they may fall back
in trying hours, and making of home the sweetest, strongest, holiest,
happiest place on earth.

Heaven only knows the price that must be paid for that; heaven only
knows the worth of that work. But if we are wise we shall each take up
our work for our world where it lies nearest to us, in co-operation with
parents, in service and sacrifice as parents or kin, our work in the
shop where manhood is in the making, where it is being made fit to dwell
long in the land, in the family at home.

I. References for Study

Edward Lyttleton, _The Corner-Stone of Education_, chaps. i, vii.
Putnam, $1.50.

A. Gandier, "Religious Education in the Home," _Religious
Education_, June, 1914, pp. 233-42.

II. Further Reading

_The Family a Religious Agency_

C.F. and C.B. Thwing, _The Family_. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, $1.60.

J.D. Folsom, _Religious Education in the Home_. Eaton & Mains,
$0.75.

G.A. Coe, _Education in Religion and Morals_. Revell, $1.35.

_The Place of the Family_

A.J. Todd, _The Family as an Educational Agency_. Putnam, $2.00.

W.F. Lofthouse, _Ethics and the Family_. Hodder & Stoughton, $2.50.

J.B. Robins, _The Family a Necessity_. Revell, $1.25.

III. Topics for Discussion

1. Describe the changes within recent times in the conditions of
the home, its work, housing, and supplies. How far have these
changes affected the community of the family, the continuity of its
personal relationships, and its religious service?

2. What are the fundamental causes of family disasters? Admitting
that there are sufficient grounds for divorce in numerous
instances, what other causes enter into the high number of
divorces?

3. State in your own terms the ultimate reasons for the maintenance
of a family.

4. What are the motives which would make people willing to bear the
high cost of founding and conducting a home?