Charles IV and His Family, by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1800. Prado Museum, Madrid.

Charles IV and His Family, by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1800. Prado Museum, Madrid. 

Family

Volume V, Number 1 | winter 2012

Map

Family Planning

Fertility, contraception, and adoption practices from around the world.

View

Miscellany

Shortly after her ex-husband Louis Calhern married Julia Hoyt, the novelist and actress Ilka Chase found a set of visiting cards with the name “Mrs. Louis Calhern” on them. “They were the best cards—thin, flexible parchment, highly embossed,” Chase recalled, “and it seemed a pity to waste them, and so I mailed the box to my successor. But aware of Lou’s mercurial marital habits, I wrote on the top one, ‘Dear Julia, I hope these reach you in time.’ I received no acknowledgment.”

The root of the kingdom is in the State. The root of the State is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its Head.

—Mencius, c. 270 BC