It is a fact, which may not be generally known,
that a remnant of the patriarchal system still
lingers in the midst of the new dispensation
which inculcates love and equality. And the
country (of all countries in the world) where
this autocratic paternal government is to be
met with is Scotland. In the Catholic countries
of Europe, the love and duty of children centre
in the mother. In Spain, Italy, and Germany,
and particularly in France, the mother is the
guiding star of the family. The German mother
is a sacred idea; the French mother is a poetical
one. When a Frenchman gets sentimental, he
never fails to rave about his mother. When he
goes into battle, he invokes the name of "ma
mère." When he lies dying on the field, his
last words are for "ma mère." When he
escapes this fate and returns to France,
victorious, his first desire is to embrace "ma
mère." When he gets tipsy—which, to his
credit, is seldom—he maunders about "ma
mère." Toujours ma mère! The German is
not so high-flown on the subject, but possibly
he is more in earnest in his affection. When
you meet him abroad in the world, he has
always pleasant recollections of his "moder" to
impart to you. How rarely you hear him talk
about his "fader!"

As you come north, however, among Celts,
Saxons, and Scandinavians, the father rises in
importance and the mother sinks. I cannot
believe that race is the sole cause of this
difference in feeling; for while in Scotland you find
the father pre-eminent in the affections of the
children, in Ireland it is the mother who attracts
the largest share of attachment. In England
the mother is of less importance than in France,
less even than in Ireland. This may be
explained partly by the difference in religion,
partly by the laws of succession and primogeniture.
In the Catholic religion, the material idea
is quite as sacred as the paternal one, while it
has the additional attributes of humanity
imparted to it. The Virgin Mary, with the
Saviour of the World at her breast, is the ever
present symbol of maternal origin and maternal
love. In Protestant England this is wanting to
the great mass of the people; and the aristocracy,
who set the fashion even in social habits, inculcate
the idea of inheritance from the father,
naturally inviting duty, if not love, towards the
male head of the family. In English aristocratic
society it matters little—so far as name
and property are concerned—who your mother
is. She may be a washerwoman or a dancing-
girl. You, the eldest son, are as much a Duke
and a Montmorency as if your mother had been
a scion of the noblest house in the land. It is
your father from whom you get all your glory
and all your possessions. Such is the
subordination of the sons of the aristocratic classes
to the paternal idea, that they will even take
their politics from their fathers, against their
own convictions. In a purely domestic way,
however, the English mother occupies a most
honourable position. She is loved, respected,
and looked up to, and the usages of society, no
less than the dictates of natural reverence,
establish her claim to the most delicate and
chivalrous consideration. In one department of the
household she is all supreme.

This is not quite the case in Scotland. The
Scotch father is sternly patriarchal. The wife
is in a great measure subordinate to him even
in domestic matters. In England and Ireland,
and indeed in most other Christian countries,
the children take their religion and their piety
from their mothers; in Scotland they take them
from their fathers. This is chiefly to be observed
among the middle and lower classes. You will
find many Scotch households in the rural
districts, where the father is a sort of potentate in
his house. He has the best room, the best
chair, the best knife and fork, the silver spoon.
The tit-bits and the luxuries are reserved for
him. His wife speaks of him with awe and
reverence, and calls him "Mister," even to her
own relations. When this majestic father
expresses his views, his wife sits mum, never
daring to put in a word. If he be given to
religion, he will have his way in that; if he be
given to whisky-toddy, he will have his way in
that also. He will decide the doctrine of
predestination, and equally determine for himself
how many tumblers are good for him after
dinner. Education, I fancy, is at the bottom
of this Scotch singularity. The men are better
educated than the women. Intellectually they
are not companions for each other. The result
of this state of things is, that the children "take
to" the father rather than to the mother. You
will rarely see a Scotch boy kissing his mother;
yet it is common to see him caressing his
father. I believe that, if a Scotch father and
mother were to come out from their home to
seek fortune elsewhere, and one were to turn to
the right and the other to the left, the children
would, in most cases, follow the father. In
Ireland and France, I believe they would follow
the mother. In England, probably some would
follow the father and some the mother. But
the influence in each case would be different.
Yet in all Christian countries the primary idea
of a mother is one that instinctively associates
itself with love and tenderness and sympathy.
However important the father may make himself,
there are matters which he cannot assist
us in. We may consult him on the affairs
of life and the world, but it is to the mother
that we go for advice, sympathy, and
consolation in the affairs of the heart and the
sensibilities. It is on her bosom that we pillow
the weary head, into her ear that we pour
the tale of our soul's woe, from her lips that
we hear the sweet spoken words of comfort and
consolation.

And how little can we return to her for all
her patience with us, all her care, all her love
for us. When we are young unfledged birds in
the nest, we cling close to her, taking her warm
breast and her protecting wings as our birthright
—as yet unconscious of our debt of gratitude.
And when our feathers grow, we fly away
and leave her—fly away to build nests of our