one_ is as
much as I can usually endure, and not that for any length of time. Among
the children round the fire, there was one which was very beautiful. It
had black hair and eyes, and when we stopped before it, it laughed and
crowed at a great rate. I could not help wondering that any human mother
could have abandoned so beautiful a babe--one that would have been "a
well-spring of pleasure" in many a home.

I was next shown into the apartment for children afflicted with diseases
of the eye. The room was carefully shaded, and the cradles were covered
with blue or green cloth. There was quite a number of children in this
department, and all of them seemed to be well cared for. I was shown
into another apartment devoted entirely to the sick children, and its
appointments were excellent. It was wholesome and clean, the air was
pure as that of the country, and the rooms were high and commodious.
Other apartments are shown to the visitor which contain the linen used
in the hospital, and where all kinds of work are performed, and
finally, the pretty little chapel which I have alluded to before.

In former times the government made it easy for any mother to resign her
infant to the care of the state. This was done properly and with a good
object in view, which was to prevent infanticide. It was intended that
mothers should not only find it easy to cast off their children in this
manner, but that it might be done with secrecy. A box was placed outside
of the hospital and a bell-handle was near it, and all that the mother
had to do was, to place her babe in the box and pull the bell. No one
saw her, no questions could be asked, and the box sliding upon grooves
was drawn inside the wall. The mother could leave some mark upon the
dress of the child, or if this was not done, an exact inventory of the
effects of the little stranger was always recorded in the hospital, that
in after years the child might be identified by its parents if they
wished. The numbers that were deposited in the Paris hospital were very
great under those pleasant regulations. It is not strange, and one
cannot escape the conviction, that such a system afforded a temptation
to the women, and indeed men of the good classes to sin. A woman might
escape to a great extent the penalty of a wicked deed. It held out a
premium to immorality. But on the other hand it prevented infanticide to
a great extent. The reasons why the government revoked the regulations
were, f