It gives life a beautiful purpose. By properly educating a child, preventing it from making the mistakes which we had to pay for so dearly, and strengthening its mind with our own rich experiences, we produce a better man and advance slowly but surely toward the final goal of existence, which is perfection.
You are quite right, brother. When I was little I loved to torture animals. That developed cruelty in me. I won't allow my son to torture animals. Even after I had grown up I often made mistakes in my friendships and love. I chose friends who were unworthy and women who were faithless. I'll explain to my son--
Your wife is feeling very bad. She wants to see you.
_[The Relatives seat themselves in a semicircle. Solemn silence for a time. Someone in Gray stands motionless in the corner, His stony face turned toward them._
--No, I don't think so. She is a very impatient woman and makes too much of her pains. All women bear children and none of them die. I have borne six children.
--Yes, her face was purple from screaming. I noticed it.
--Not from screaming, but from laboring. You don't understand about these things. My face got purple too, but I didn't scream.
--Not long ago an acquaintance of mine, the civil engineer's wife, gave birth to a child, and she scarcely made a sound.
--I know. There's no need for my brother to be so upset. One must be firm and take things calmly. And I'm afraid, too, he'll introduce a lot of his fantastic notions in the bringing up of his children and indulge their every whim.
--He's a very weak character. He has little enough money, and yet he lends it to people who don't deserve to be trusted.
--Do you know how much the child's layette cost?
--Don't talk to me of it! It gets on my nerves, my brother's extravagance does. I often quarrel with him because he's so improvident.
--They say a stork brings babies. What sort of a stork is it?
--Don't talk nonsense. I gave birth to five children right in your presence, and I'm no stork, thank the Lord.
_[The young men burst our laughing again. The Elderly Woman eyes them long and sternly._
--It's only a superstition. Children are born in an absolutely natural way, firmly established by science. They've moved to new quarters now.