debts, while in the middle-class, gift-giving was looked upon one's financial capabilities. Unfortunately, the mother very often could not compete in the area of gift-giving, thus the act of gift-giving become symbolic as to the exclusive duty of the father providing for his children. By 1870, the shift from working at home to working outside of the home began to take place and the child now saw the father as one who was away often and only appeared at certain times and certain days. When home, these times became rituals, one of which was the entire family gathering together for prayers or "family time". In affluent households, this was usually no more than an hour before dinner. For the middle-class, life was less structured and these periods were typically longer and included reading, music and conversation. And while the essence of fatherhood was placed on work, fatherhood was not reduced to bread-winning alone, but also in part to his role as "protector". It was the father who provided the homestead and the protection against external threats. He also played the role of "protector" against impurity (sexual impropriety) and was responsible for maintaing an environment for his wife's moral teachings. The one characteristic of Victorian manhood that stood firm relative to his role of father was authority because he provided for them and because they had not reached the "age of reason". 2 Boys, however, were given direction by their father and expected to obey him, daughters were still expected to