Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/26

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the family in contrast to the days when he was lord and the woman subject. Then he was in a sense superior to the family and outside of its laws. For spiritual and intellectual companionship he looked to other men, and both before and in marriage, society condoned in him a standard of sex morality different from that which it demanded of his wife.

To-day, woman, with vastly increased opportunity for education and with an extension of interest to all human activities, offers to man a relationship that is rich in its intellectual and spiritual possibilities. She is capable of a fineness and delicacy of appreciation that challenges his understanding, while the single standard of sex morality causes the physical basis of marriage to be of increasing significance.

Even the appearance of the home has become a factor in determining the success of the association of husband and wife. The business of financing and administering the household calls forth ever greater ability and the growing appreciation of the psychology of childhood has added to the importance of the family as an educational institution.

Marriage is the most complicated of all adjust-