Along this blossoming and over-arched pathway, and through this long
line of temptations that throw their garlands upon the brow, and ring
their music into the ear, go a great host.
No one can estimate the homes that have been shattered by the
dissipations of the club-house. There are weak women who would never
consent to a husband's absence in the evening, however important the
duty that takes him away. Any man who wishes to take his share of the
public burdens and is willing to work for the political, educational,
and social advancement of the community must of necessity spend some
of his evenings away from home. There are associations and churches
that have a right to demand a share of a man's presence and means, and
that is a weak woman who always looks offended when her husband goes
out in the evening.
But club-houses become a pest when they demand all a man's evenings;
and that is a result we are called to deplore. Every head of a
household is called to be its educator, its companion, its religious
instructor and exemplar; not only to furnish the wardrobe and to make
the money to pay the bills when they come in, but to give his
highest intellectual energies and social faculties to the amusement,
instruction, and improvement of the household.
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