nished is still incurably lazy and
irresponsible, the visitor should not allow his desire to reform the
man to stand in the way of the best interests of the children, born and
unborn. The wife's duty to her husband is a very sacred one, But so is
her duty to her children. When {54} all other measures fail, the home
should be broken up.

Only those who have had wide charitable experience will be likely to
consider this separation of man and wife justifiable. Says Mrs.
Josephine Shaw Lowell: "I have not the slightest doubt that it is a
_wrong_; and a great wrong, to give help to the family of a drunkard or
an immoral man who will not support them. Unless the woman will remove
her children from his influence, it should be understood that no public
or private charity, and no charitable individual, has the right to help
perpetuate and maintain such families as are brought forth by drunkards
and vicious men and women." [5]

It is unnecessary to say that the advocates of separation as a last
resort do not approve of divorce, which would only multiply sham homes.
They recognize in certain cases "the sad fact of incurability," and are
prepared to take courageous measures in order that the innocent may not
suffer with the guilty.[6]

{55}

The following history of a Baltimore married vagabond will illustrate
the need of separation in certain cases: Several years ago the
Baltimore Charity Organization Society made the acquaintance of the
family of a good-looking German shoemaker, who had married a plain,
hard-working woman some years his senior. Soon after their marriage he
began to neglect his work, and, depending more and more on his wife's
exertions for his support, he took to drink. Child-bearing often
incapacitated the wife for work, and church and charitable friends
aided at such times. When the sixth child was a year old, he deserted
his family for a while, but came back again, after having been in jail
for disorderly conduct. The Charity Organization Society, seeing no
chance of reforming the man, suggested that his wife leave him, but the
German pastor strongly objected to any separation of man and wife, and
nothing was done. A discouraging aspect of the situation was that the
man taught his children to deceive the hard-working mother. When the
seventh baby was born, and charity had supplied a registered nurse,
baby linen, {56} a doctor, fuel, and food, it was discovered that the
man had sold the fuel suppl