_"Duty! Unlimited--eternal--new!" And I? My idol on a petty shrine Fell as I turned, and Cowardice and Sloth Fell too, unmasked, false Duty covering both-- While the true Duty, all-embracing, high, Showed the clear line of noble deeds to do._ _And then the great voice rang out to the turn, And all my terror left me, all my shame, While every dream of joy from earliest youth Came back and lived!--that joy unhoped was truth, All joy, all hope, all truth, all peace grew one, Life opened clear, and Love? Love was its name!_ _So when the great word "Mother!" rang once more, I saw at last its meaning and its place; Not the blind passion of the brooding past, But Mother--the World's Mother--come at last, To love as she had never loved before-- To feed and guard and teach the human race._ _The world was full of music clear and high! The world was full of light! The world was free! And I? Awake at last, in joy untold, Saw Love and Duty broad as life unrolled-- Wide as the earth--unbounded as the sky-- Home was the World--the World was Home to me!_ THE HOME I INTRODUCTORY In offering this study to a public accustomed only to the unquestioning acceptance of the home as something perfect, holy, quite above discussion, a word of explanation is needed. First, let it be clearly and definitely stated, the purpose of this book is to maintain and improve the home. Criticism there is, deep and thorough; but not with the intention of robbing us of one essential element of home life--rather of saving us from conditions not only unessential, but gravely detrimental to home life. Every human being should have a home; the single person his or her home; and the family their home. The home should offer to the individual rest, peace, quiet, comfort, health, and that degree of personal expression requisite; and these conditions should be maintained by the best methods of the time. The home should be to the child a place of happiness and true development; to the adult a place of happiness and that beautiful reinforcement of the spirit needed by the world's workers. We are here to perform our best service to society, and to find our best individual growth and expression; a right home is essential to both these uses. The place of childhood's glowing memories, of youth's ideals, of the calm satisfaction of mature life, of peaceful shelter for the aged; this is not attacked, this we shall not lose, but gain more universally. What is here asserted is that our real home life is clogged and injured by a number of conditions which are not necessary, which are directly inimical to the home; and that we shall do well to lay these aside. As to the element of sanctity--that which is really sacred can bear examination, no darkened room is needed for real miracles; mystery and shadow belong to jugglers, not to the truth.