out astonishment and pity St. Chrysostom's description of woman as "a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a deadly fascination, and a painted ill." In few respects has mankind made a greater advance than in the relations of men and women. It is terrible to think how women suffer in savage life; and even among the intellectual Greeks, with rare exceptions, they seem to have been treated rather as housekeepers or playthings than as the angels who make a heaven of home. The Hindoo proverb that you should "never strike a wife, even with a flower," though a considerable advance, tells a melancholy tale of what must previously have been. In The Origin of Civilisation I have given many cases showing how small a part family affection plays in savage life. Here I will only mention one case in illustration. The Algonquin (North America) language contained no word for "to love," so that when the missionaries translated the Bible into it they were obliged to invent one. What a life, and what a language, without love. Yet in marriage even the rough passion of a savage may contrast favourably with any cold calculation, which is almost sure, like the enchanted hoard of the Nibelungs, to bring misfortune. In the Finnish epic, the Kalevala, Ilmarinnen, the divine smith, forges a bride of gold and silver for Wainamoinen, who was pleased at first to have so rich a wife, but soon found her intolerably cold, for, in spite of fires and furs, whenever he touched her she froze him. Moreover, apart from mere coldness, how much we suffer from foolish quarrels about trifles; from hasty words thoughtlessly repeated (sometimes without the context or tone which would have de prived them of any sting); from mere How much would misunderstandings. that charity which "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things," effect to smooth away the sorrows of life and add to the happiness of home. Home indeed may be a haven of repose from the storms and perils of the world. But to secure this we must not be content to pave it with good intentions, but must make it bright and cheerful. If our life be one of toil and of suffering, if the world outside be cold and dreary, what a pleasure to return to the sunshine of happy faces and the warmth of hearts we love. Ꮮ "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, And the man that getteth understanding: For the merchandise of it is better than silver, And the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies : And all the things thou canst desire are not to be com pared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, And in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace." PROVERBS OF SOLOMON. THOSE who have not tried for themselves can hardly imagine how much Science adds to the interest and variety of life. It is altogether a mistake to regard it as 1 The substance of this was delivered at Mason College, Birmingham, dry, difficult, or prosaic-much of it is as easy as it is interesting. A wise instinct of old united the prophet and the 66 seer." Technical works, descriptions of species, etc., bear the same relation to science as dictionaries do to literature. In endless aspects science is as wonderful and interesting as a fairy tale. "There are things whose strong reality Outshines our fairyland; in shape and hues And the strange constellations which the Muse O'er her wild universe is skilful to diffuse." 1 Occasionally, indeed, Science may destroy some poetical myth of antiquity, such as the ancient Hindoo explanation of rivers, that "Indra dug out their beds with his thunderbolts, and sent them forth by long continuous paths." But the real causes of natural phenomena are far more striking, and contain more real poetry, than those which have occurred to the untrained imagination of mankind. |