those that have cherished sobriety and justice, and acknowledged the
Divine law of righteousness?

Which are the families that have been most serene and pure and truly
fortunate? Those in which there has been no discipline, no restraint, no
common faith, no mutual love? Or those in which sincere religion has
swayed life to its stern and gracious laws, those in which parents and
children have walked together to the House of God, and knelt together at
His altar, and rejoiced together in His service?

I tell you, my brother-men, it has become too much the fashion in these
latter days to sneer and jeer at the old-fashioned ways of the
old-fashioned American household. Something too much of iron there may
have been in the Puritan's temper; something too little of sunlight may
have come in through the narrow windows of his house. But that house had
foundations, and the virile virtues lived in it. There were plenty of
red corpuscles in his blood, and his heart beat in time with the eternal
laws of right, even though its pulsations sometimes seemed a little slow
and heavy. It would be well for us if we could get back into the old
way, which proved itself to be the good way, and maintain, as our
fathers did, the sanctity of the family, the sacredness of the
marriage-vow, the solemnity of the mutual duties binding parents and
children together. From the households that followed this way have come
men that could rule themselves as well as their fellows, women that
could be trusted as well as loved. Read the history of such families,
and you will understand the truth of the poet's words:--

"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,--
These three alone lead life to sovereign power."