It was in the nineteenth century that this state of things reached its full development.

The sons of the family were usually able, as they grew up, to escape and elude it, although they thereby often created an undesirable divorce from the home, and often suffered, as well as inflicted, much pain in tearing themselves loose from the spiritual bonds--especially perhaps in matters of religion--woven by long tradition to bind them to their parents.

It was on the daughters that the chief stress fell.

For the working class, indeed, there was often the possibility of escape into hard labour, if only that of marriage.

But such escape was not possible, immediately or at all, for a large number.