tment of Widows and Dependent Children," Mrs. L. Wolcott in
Proceedings of Fifteenth National Conference of Charities, pp. 137
_sq_. "Girls in a Factory Valley," Mrs. Lillie B. Chace Wyman in
"Atlantic," Vol. LXXVIII, pp. 391 _sq_. and 506 _sq_.

[1] Mrs. Roger Wolcott in Proceedings of International Congress of
Charities at Chicago, Volume on "Organization of Charities," p. 110.

{76}

CHAPTER V

THE CHILDREN

The visitor in the homes of the poor whose chief concern is with
questions of material relief often overlooks the children entirely,
unless they are large enough to be forced into the labor market and
made to contribute toward the family income. In charity meetings,
where visitors get together to discuss the difficulties of individual
families, it will often happen that the children are not mentioned. On
the other hand, there is a large class of charity workers who concern
themselves with the children only, and a strongly marked tendency of
modern charity is to treat the children of the poor quite apart from
and without any relation to their home life. "We constantly hear it
said," writes Mrs. James Putnam, "that we cannot help the older ones,
but that we must save the {77} children. It seems clear to me that to
help one without the other is usually an impossible task. Their
interests are too closely bound together." [1]

There is always danger, in our eagerness to help the children, that we
may only encourage parents to shirk their duty. Take the admirable
charities known as day nurseries. If care is not taken to exclude all
except the children of widows, or of women whose husbands are disabled,
these will only encourage laziness in the husband, and help to bring
about that unwholesome condition in which the wife is breadwinner,
homemaker, and child-bearer.

The first thing that a visitor should observe in a family where there
is a baby is whether the child is nursed too many months and too often.
A child should not be nursed during the night after it is six months
old. Solid food is usually given too soon; tea and coffee are often
given before the child is a year old, and to these is added "anything
on the table." {78} For the children's sake, the visitor should be very
observant. It is difficult, at first, to find out how they are fed,
bathed, and clothed, and whether they go to bed early, in clean beds
and ventilated rooms; but one can learn more by observation than by
direct ques