the man ill-treated it, and was sentenced to four months' imprisonment. The little nature struggled against its unnatural sur- roundings for life, growing pale and sickly, as a plant that thrusts its stems into the darkness. But when it was one year and seven months old its father ill-treated it again, and Was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. While he Was in prison the child died from the effects of the ill-usage it had received. Its father (he dishonours the word) was charged with manslaughter, and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. On a legal point, however, the sentence Was disallowed, and the father released. Another child came to own him as father. When it was six months old it cried, baby- like, whilst being put to bed. The father struck the baby in the face. Three days later, at bedtime, he struck the tiny way- farer across the eyes, blackening both of them. The next day he hit the baby in the back with his clenched fist As a result of this savagery, he Was sentenced to a further six months. With such inhuman prodigies in the World, little wonder that the N.S.P.C.C, founded by the Rev. Benjamin Waugh in 1884, has found its ready hands full. The pow-erful position to which this society has grown may be gathered from the fact that, whereas in its first year 95 cases were dealt With by one inspector, in 1909-10, 52,670 cases w'ere dealt with by 250 inspectors. The full income in 1884 Was ;^903, whilst in 1909-10 it was ;£76,8oo. How the Inspectors Work Inspectors of the society do not keep their posts by securing prosecutions. Indeed, they are kept fully occupied in attending to cases with which the public acquaint them. People knowing of assault, ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment, or exposure of any children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health, should communicate immediately with the Director, N.S.P.C.C, Leicester Square, London, W.C. All necessary steps will be taken and expenses borne by the society. The informant's name is kept strictly private, except in cases, fortunately infrequent, where malice is proved. The society's methods of work, by which it has protected over 1,631,000 children, are simple. When information is received of a child needlessly suffering, the question to be settled is not, can the offender be prosecuted ; it is, by what means can the suffering be best stopped. The Warning: Note The society's inspectors call and warn the parents, and in many cases the object of the society is then fully realised. Sometimes the society undertakes the prosecution of parents, and often the result of punishment is so salutary that ultimately, out of the lowest hovel of starvelings arises a decent dwelling in which the children have good beds, fair meals, and no oppression. In cases of prosecution the society undertakes 263 WORLD OF WOMEN the care of the children and the supervision of them after release of the parents. In such cases the youngsters are boarded out by the N.S.P.C.C. in approved homes, the society paying all costs. One case presents an extremely sad story. The mother was a blind woman ; the stepfather, earning 25s. a Week, gave his children for ten weeks threepence a day to live on, spending the rest in drink. .One child, Lily, aged thirteen, was in the infir- mary ; another, Ada (aged eleven), was at home. The mother had received no money from the stepfather for two months. The inspector, acting upon this informa- tion, found that the little girl, Lily, was suffering from consumption, and that the poor blind mother and the child Ada were dependent for bare necessities on the charity of friends, the stepfather having left them. The Blind Mother's New Home The inspector caused the stepfather to return, and at the expense of infinite pains brought about great improvement in the home. The following Christmas, Lily — now out of the infirmary — and Ada were inited to join in a happy tea party of 200 children in which the society was interested. Now things in their home were going well. A visitor would not have recognised it for the same place. The inspector had no longer any need to visit the home, but being in the neighbourhood two years later, he called at the house, and the blind mother, recognising the voice of the man whose good work had wTought such a change in her life, asked, as she opened the door : " Is that the inspector ? I am glad to hear your voice again, sir ! " His mind reverting to the little girl who had been in the infirmary, he asked : " How is Lily, mother ? " With a catch in her voice, the sign of a great sorrow, and with her poor sightless eyes fixed on his face, the mother said : " Lily is in heaven, sir." " Ah ! " replied the officer. " How long has she been there ? " A moment's tense silence. Then came the mother's reply, in a voice subdued by indescribable grief : " She went in July, 1899, sir. She often talked about you before she died, and about the tea and the presents she got." The woman's voice trailed off into a husky whisper as she added : " May God always bless you for your kindness to us, and when you are passing, do not go by, but call in and speak to me, for the sake of my little girl." The inspector's voice was husky as he bade them good-bye. He had just lived through a moment which he could never forget, and the words of the Master appeared to a tear-dimmed sight, words of joy gleaming from a tablet of glory : " Suffer Httle chil- dren to come unto Me." In our next article in Part 3 of EVERY Woman's ENCYCi.oPiEUiA, we shall show how the threat work of child saving may be helped forward by women.
