Marriage Relation
29
The father should bear in mind that the treatment of his wife before
the birth of his offspring will materially affect the disposition of the
mother during that period, and will have very much to do with the
character developed by the child after its birth. Many fathers have
been so anxious to obtain property fast, that higher considerations have
been sacrificed and some men have been criminally neglectful of the
mother and her offspring, and too frequently the lives of both have
been sacrificed to the strong desire to accumulate wealth. Many do
not immediately suffer this heavy penalty for their wrong-doing, and
are asleep to the result of their course. The condition of the wife is
sometimes no better that than of a slave, and sometimes she is equally
guilty with the husband, of squandering physical strength, to obtain
means to live fashionably. It is a crime for such to have children,
for their offspring will often be deficient in physical, mental, and
moral worth, and will bear the miserable, close, selfish impress of their
parents; and the world will be cursed with their meanness.
It is the duty of men and women to act with reason in regard to
their labor. They should not exhaust their energies unnecessarily, for
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by doing this, they not only bring suffering upon themselves, but,
by their errors, bring anxiety, weariness, and suffering, upon those
they love. What calls for such an amount of labor? Intemperance
in eating and in drinking, and the desire for wealth, have led to this
intemperance in labor. If the appetite is controlled, and that food
only which is healthful be taken, there will be so great a saving of
expense, that men and women will not be compelled to labor beyond
their strength, and thus violate the laws of health. The desire of men
and women to accumulate property is not sinful, if, in their efforts to
attain their object, they do not forget God, and transgress the last six
precepts of Jehovah, which dictate the duty of man to his fellow-man,
and place themselves in a position where it is impossible for them to
glorify God in their bodies and spirits which are his. If, in their haste
to be rich, they overtax their energies and violate the laws of their
being, they place themselves in a condition where they cannot render
to God perfect service, and are pursuing a course of sin. Property thus
obtained is at an immense sacrifice.
Hard labor and anxious care often make the father nervous, im-
patient, and exacting. He does not notice the tired look of his wife,
who has labored, with her feebler strength, just as hard as he has la-
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