all.
They are born, moreover, with diseased bodies, often with the taint of
alcoholism in their veins; too often with some other inherited malady,
such as epilepsy or unsound mind, as a direct result of parental
excesses. How can we say that we 'do not let children suffer,' so long
as alms keeps together thousands of these so-called homes in our large
cities, and, worst of all, so long as into these homes thousands of
helpless, unfortunate babies are born every year? If I were one of
these same little ones, and could see what the charitable people were
about, I should feel inclined to say: 'Ladies and gentlemen, you have
supplied the doctor, and the nurse, {52} and the fuel, and the sick
diet; doubtless you mean it kindly, but I have been assisted into a
world where you don't intend to give me a fair chance. You know that
my father won't work for me, that my mother has no time to care for me,
and that my brothers and sisters must fare worse than ever, now that
there's one more mouth to feed. Moreover, my nerves are none of the
strongest, and my body none of the stoutest. Unless you intend to do a
great deal more for me, I'm sorry you didn't do less. Frankly, I don't
thank you.'" [3]

Often when a man finds that charitable people are quite in earnest,
that they really intend to place upon his shoulders the responsibility
of his own family, he will bestir himself and go to work. He is not
likely to stay and let his family starve. In fact, I have often found
that the withholding of relief from the family of the married vagabond
has the immediate effect of improving the material condition of the
family--the man has either found work or left home. This method of
being charitable requires courage, but if {53} people would only see
how wretchedness is perpetuated by the temporizing method, it would
require courage to give small doles.

In many states there are laws for the punishment of the man that will
not support his family. Some of these enactments are of very little
use, but several of the New England states have effective laws.[4]
When a complete cutting off of charitable supplies fails to bring a man
to some sense of his duty, the visitor should try to have him punished
by the courts. The evidence of one who has faithfully visited a family
for a long time is very valuable in such cases, though conviction is
often difficult to secure for lack of the wife's testimony. If the
married vagabond that has been pu