"A genius for affection." Yes; there is such a thing, and no other genius
is so great. The phrase means something more than a capacity, or even a
talent for loving. That is common to all human beings, more or less. A man
or woman without it would be a monster, such as has probably never been on
the earth. All men and women, whatever be their shortcomings in other
directions, have this impulse, this faculty, in a degree. It takes shape
in family ties: makes clumsy and unfortunate work of them in perhaps two
cases out of three,--wives tormenting husbands, husbands neglecting and
humiliating wives, parents maltreating and ruining children, children
disobeying and grieving parents, and brothers and sisters quarrelling to
the point of proverbial mention; but under all this, in spite of all this,
the love is there. A great trouble or a sudden emergency will bring it
out. In any common danger, hands clasp closely and quarrels are forgotten;
over a sick-bed hard ways soften into yearning tenderness; and by a grave,
alas! what hot tears fall! The poor, imperfect love which had let itself
be wearied and harassed by the frictions of life, or hindered and warped
by a body full of diseased nerves, comes running, too late, with its
effort to make up lost opportunities.
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