But this kind of man is not universal, and one may judge what follows, where there is a man who will not yield, or yields only because he no longer cares for anything but his personal ease and indulgence—seeking for pleasure, though unlawful, abroad, as the only recompense attainable for the loss of happiness at home!
Such a man feels that life is insupportable, where he makes so wretched an object—to be merely the mute beast of burden for the family, without receiving so much tenderness and consideration as is accorded to the dogs lolling in the lazy laps of the females of the house! He seeks, therefore, abroad for some means of enjoyment, though illicit!
This sort of picture is to be seen everywhere in the Barbarian Literature, and is constantly shown in all its minute and miserable exhibition at the Courts of Divorce.
Adultery, which in our Flowery Land is punished by death, is not so much as a crime among the English Barbarians. And, as it is the chief cause for which the bond of marriage may be wholly severed, one may judge whether the Court do not encourage the immorality. For when parties wish to live apart, here is a way to secure it, lying directly in the path of desire and opportunity. Then, too, the seduction of a maiden, which with us may be punished even to death, receives no sort of reprobation in the Court, and scarcely in Society. If the ruined girl be of low caste, her relatives feel no disgrace if the seducer be a High-Caste—rather an honour; receive from him some paltry sum (not so much as he lavishes upon some favourite dogs), and buy with the money a husband for her from her own Caste!
With us a guilty intrigue is almost unknown; with the Barbarians it is almost a pursuit.
None the less, there is too much vigour in the organism; too much moral, intellectual, and physical strength, to suffer total decay. As is always the case, where the mind is active, even Idolatry itself has intermixed a pure morality, and the Barbarian nature, still unformed, untrained; still rude and stirred by passion and by force; wrestles with the divine instinct, and, unconsciously, often moulds to its light.
Away from the glitter and sham (sometimes in it, but not of it), there are quiet families which live lives of honour. The father works honestly and cheerfully; the wife, in her house, finds the beginning and end of her aims, of her love, and her duty. The husband-father is head; on him rests all responsibility, and to him belong obedience. This is not exacted; it is not questioned. It is founded in love and respect; love and loving obedience spontaneously arising from uncorrupted natures. His whole being responds with unmeasured joy. Whatever is pure, high, tender; all are for these—his wife, his family; so true, so trusting, so helpful, so delightful. He feels no hardship; there can be no sacrifice, for these; all that is done is in harmony with himself. Everywhere he is in accord. The very ills and misfortunes of life touch him not, for he is living in the divine order.
And from such a man, the inside-life being serene, outer ills fall away. He is so clear and simple; so whole that nature smiles for him, even in pain and sorrow; he lives in the presence and calm of the Sovereign Lord.
These families are the Salt which saves. Among the Barbarians they are generally obscure, and as wholly unconscious of the service which they render as are the glittering inanities which ignore them. This should be reversed, and the Inanities sink into obscurity.