The elephant, not only the largest but the most intelligent of animals, provides us with an excellent example. It is faithful and tenderly loving to the female of its choice, mating only every third year and then for no more than five days, and so secretly as never to be seen, until, on the sixth day, it appears and goes at once to wash its whole body in the river, unwilling to return to the herd until thus purified. Such good and modest habits are an example to husband and wife.
ATTRIBUTION:
St. Francis De Sales (1567–1622), French churchman, devotional writer. Introduction to the Devout Life, pt. 3, ch. 39 (1609).
