Excerpt from The Happy Family
In all ancient discussion of the ethics of social behavior involved in the relation of wives to their husbands, the note is set by old Hammurabi, in the earliest of extant codes of law, when he defines a good wife as one who stays at home and attends diligently to the business of the household. She is a careful mistress, he says, does not gad about, nor neglect her house, nor belittle her husband. Failing these humble qualities, he advises that she be thrown into the river. That was a long time ago, about 2250 B.C.
It was a man's law, as most law is to this present day. Madame Hammurabi was not consulted in the making of it. It was unjust, as legislation is apt to be when one class legislates for another class. It implied a subjection which was natural enough in a day when strength of arm was the credential of both might and right. Nevertheless, it went fairly to the heart of the whole matter. It defined the characteristic duty of the woman as the peaceful and happy maintenance of the home. Such it was, and such it still remains.
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