It is only those nations where the teachings and example of Christ
have had most influence that man has ever assumed his obligations of
self-sacrificing benevolence in the family. And even in Christian
communities, the duty of wives to obey their husbands has been more
strenuously urged than the obligations of the husband to love his wife
"as Christ loved the Church."
Here it is needful to notice that the distinctive duty of obedience
to man does not rest on women who do not enter the relations of married
life. A woman who inherits property, or who earns her own livelihood,
can institute the family state, adopt orphan children and employ
suitable helpers in training them; and then to her will appertain the
authority and rights that belong to man as the head of a family. And
when every woman is trained to some self-supporting business, she will
not be tempted to enter the family state as a subordinate, except by
that love for which there is no need of law.
These general principles being stated, some details in regard to
domestic manners will be enumerated. In the first place, there should
be required in the family a strict attention to the rules of precedence,
and those modes of address appropriate to the various relations to be
sustained.
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