To this jewel, so hardly won, so long toiled for, it would be natural to suppose that woman would cling with all the force of her nature; all the more as education broadened her capacity for reflection and deepened her consciousness of self. On the contrary, the little learning she has so far acquired seems, as usual, a dangerous thing, and with the development of self-consciousness the keen, unerring _flair_ of her instinct for the one thing needful has been blunted and enfeebled. It is not necessary to give undue weight to the blatant and empty-headed crew who announce marriage to be a failure, and that women are tired of, and will no longer submit to, child-bearing. There are crowing hens in all barnyards, and their loud antics never materially affect the price of eggs. But that the women of our own time should treat marriage--that hard-won, dear-bought triumph--with such profligate recklessness amazes me. We are making ducks and drakes of the treasure heaped up for us by our mothers. How long will this imperfectly monogamous animal respect an institution which is all for our benefit, if we ourselves regard it so lightly? The modern woman is so spoiled, so indulged, that she does not realize how much a man gives and how little he gets in marriage. He gives a half, sometimes--indeed often--more than half, of his earnings, his name and its honour, his protection and defence of her person, and a lifelong responsibility for her and her children, and he gets--what? Her person, and it is to be hoped her affection. The woman of the present day lays too much stress upon this gift of her person. She appears to think that this gift alone renders man her eternal debtor. To speak a little brutally, he knows that he can easily buy a like gift elsewhere and for a less price. I remember that last year Alice complained of some of Ned's small foibles. "Oh, you must be patient with him," I said. "Think how much he gives you; home, name, support, protection--everything. He works hard for you every day. You are under tremendous obligations to him." "Well, if you put it that way--" she answered resentfully, "but don't I give him love and affection in return?" "Yes," I countered triumphantly, "but he gives you equal love and all these other things beside. It seems to me there's no question who gives most." She opened her eyes rather wide and looked thoughtful. July 17. The Ideal Husband. It being the "silly season" a controversy is raging in the daily papers as to the ideal wife and the ideal husband, and much correspondence is occurring under various anonyms. Alas!--the only ideal husband who ever lived married the only ideal wife ever born. They were cut off in the flower of their youth--some time during the first years of the Pliocene Period--and minute fossil fragments of their bones are now worn as relics by pious celibates, and are said to have worked miracles.