The very fact of the existence of these special courts as an alternative to the old police courts, where children used to be herded with every class of miscreant and criminal, is a big step forward. As I came in, a tiny red-haired boy stood in the dock beside a large, kindly constable-was asked to plead "guilty" or "not guilty" to a charge of stealing food. He was referred to throughout as "the prisoner," and the marshaling of all the solemn ritual of the law struck one with a sense of almost comic incongruity when one looked at the size of the child-and the size of his offence. (Four children were tried during the aftternoon for stealing a little moss valued at sixpence, and one for kicking a football about on the pavement.)

TWO MAIN POINTS.

The main points which struck me during the course of the afternoon were:

(1) That nearly all the children had either stolen food, or had sold stolen goods in order to buy food. There were a few exceptions in those "who wanted to go to the pictures." Stealing food is not a sign of moral perversion but of physical need. And the remedy is clearly neither to try nor, to punish, but to feed.

(2) In almost all the cases, the mothers of the children summoned were either out at work or dead.

A subsidiary point which struck me was that whilst the industrial school appeared to have a representative present urgingwith complete disinterestedness and the best

intentions-their advantages upon the magistrate, the mother and child were unrepresented by any form of counsel, and being ignorant of procedure and naturally inarticulate, it seemed to me they might often allow their case to go by default. I must add that the magistrate whom I had the privilege of watching at work was one who would have made the faultiest system into a good working-machine. I was deeply impressed throughout by his humanity and imagination, his sympathy with the children and his evident unwillingness to part them from their mothers.

If the administration of these Courts were clogs, given to such men as this one need have no misgivings; but I was appalled by the extent of his power, and by the thought of its being vested in other less wise and gentle hands. In two hours or so he could, at his discretion, have removed some twenty children from the homes and dealt them round to various institutions like a pack of cards.

INSTITUTIONS.

But, it may be urged, what is wrong with "institutions?" The children will be fed, clothed and educated there much better probably than they would have been at home. But however scientific the system, however humane and hygienic the regime, an “institution" is a bleak and dreary soil in which to plant a child. It has an atmosphere in which children fade. Children were not meant to grow up collectively in mother is dearer to her than any one else in the whole big world. She is back in the old home now, but the dew is brushed from the flower, since it has been tarnished by such experience, and it is up to this erratic girl to make good, to let the big world see that there is some good in her after all.

But just now only Fate knows what the next chapter in her strange life will be. The judge finally allowed her to remarry

regimented herds. Each child should have its own individual socket, its personal context, its home. Above all, the protective and nourishing love of its mother should be about like the air it breathes.

This is a factor in life for which there is no scientific "substitute." Little babies have been known to die for want of it, though all the so-called necessaries of life were freely supplied. Older children who lack it do not die, but without it some parts of them never properly come to life. A whole generation of men has passed from us in the glory of youth. The world is like an orchard from which the blossom has fallen in a night, leaving only the bare stark boughs of infirmity and age.

REPARATION.

Humanity owes some amends to the civilization it has outraged and devastated. To those who have died for it, it owes a debt it can never repay. Reparation must be made to the future. Where is the future, we ask, and what can it hold but the wreckage of the past? We strain our eyes vainly towards a far horizon. But the future is at hand-it is quite close to us, helpless, plastic, infinitely potential. The future is a child-a mother and child, for we cannot think of them apart-and it is to them, and to their relationship with one another, that we must look for the building-up of a new heaven and a new earth.

After this war there will be thousands of fatherless children, and the conditions at present prevailing might make them motherless as well unless they were materially altered. We hope and believe that in the case of the widows and children of soldiers and sailors some provision will be made which will enable the mother to devote herself to her children without anxiety as to their daily needs. But we should like to see this provision extended to all widows with fatherless children, believing as we do that the interests of the community demand it no less in their case than in that of the soldiers and sailors.

THE WIDOW'S ALTERNATIVES. What is the present position of a widow with young children? She is faced with two alternatives:

1. Complete destitution.

2. Going out to work and leaving her children uncared-for for some twelve or fourteen hours a day.

Left to themselves, and very often of necessity locked out of their home, the children run about the streets, get into trouble of some kind-often of a very trivial kind-and are then brought before the magistrate. He has power, if he finds the mother is unable to support them, or unable to look after them-and at best she can only do one of the two-to send them away from her to a reformatory or industrial school.

But to those who are, perhaps rightly, suspicious of appeals to the heart in matters which must ultimately be resolved into terms of business, these may seem sentimental and irrelevant considerations. To these I would say that the severely practical arguments in favor of Judge Henry Neil's scheme for a pension for widowed mothers are by themselves overwhelmingly sufficient. The scheme can stand on its practical merits, without humanitarian props, as one which will ultimately effect a great saving of money and an enormous reduction in the amount of juvenile crime.

CHEAP AND HUMANE.

It is cheaper, as well as more humane, to leave a mother in charge of her own children, for she will look after them for nothing, and, given time to do so, she will probably look after them better than anyone else.

The state will be spared the vast expenses of its paid officials and reformatories, as well as a great deal of the judicial machinery set up to deal with juvenile crime.

Motherhood is the finest profession in the world, and its efficient discharge is of more vital importance to the state than that of any other.

Yet better provision is made for every form of industrial activity. A woman is paid for making pins-whilst for making and moulding the raw material of nations she receives no recognition or reward.

Let the state recognize what it owes to mothers, and give them a living wage. Let it see to it that they are enabled to discharge their infinitely great and essential function with dignity and peace of mind. Motherhood has many aspects. It is a great spiritual force-it can be made a great economic asset. Assess it high or low as you please, but do not waste it. For it is the mainspring of the future.

V

ERY much of the comfort of a child depends upon his having the right kind of clothing. This is especially true in summer. One hot day a mother came into an infant-welfare station in a large city bringing a screaming baby who would not be pacified.

The trained and sympathetic eye of the nurse in charge saw that the little feet were covered with knitted woolen socks. She asked the mother to take them off. Immediately the screams ceased and the baby stretched his naked feet in delight at being relieved of the intolerable irritation.

During the hot months children should wear just as little clothing as possible. Babies require only a diaper and one outer garment, while runabout babies and children up to five will be amply clothed in waist and drawers, with one outer garment, preferably a cotton slip, apron or rompers, or one of the many similar garments illustrated in the pattern books.

The one-piece dress is a great boon to busy mothers, being easy to make and to wash and iron. If the kimono sleeve is used the dress will be cooler, but in some garments the set-in sleeve is less clumsy and wears better.

Rompers, loose at the knee and lownecked and short-sleeved, may be used for little girls and boys alike. Denim overalls are rather cumbersome for the hottest weather, but are adapted to cool days.

Starched, frilled and fussy garments are all alike unsuitable for young children, whose clothing should be such as will make them perfectly comfortable and permit the freest play.

No child should have to think of his garments during the play hours; he should, of course, be subject to reasonable restric tions upon willful or mischievous soiling or destruction of his clothing.

Cotton is the best material for outside garments, since a child of this age should have no clothes that cannot be washed. Mothers disagree as to the comparative merits of white clothing and colored.

White garments may be boiled, and thus the amount of rubbing necessary to get them clean is very greatly lessened. On the other hand, white dresses are soiled almost as soon as the child begins to play out of doors.

It must be remembered that while white or light colors show the soil sooner, there may be just as much actual dirt on the darker ones. It must also be remembered that light colors like blue, green, lavender or pink are almost certain to fade unless they are washed with special care.

Striped and check ginghams fade less than plain materials, but often shrink badly in washing. Such materials should be shrunk before being made up. Seersucker and cotton crepe materials of many kinds have the great advantage of needing no ironing. These rough materials are not very cool, and if used for summer wear should have short sleeves and round neck to avoid chafing of the skin of the arms and neck.

Percale, galatea, madras, and the better grades of gingham or dress linen are all good materials for children's clothes. For hot weather almost any of the thin materials may be used.