THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 



A STUDY IN THE HEREDITY OF FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 



CHAPTER I 



THE STORY OF DEBORAH 



ONE bright October day, fourteen years ago, there 

 came to the Training School at Vineland, a little eight- 

 year-old girl. She had been born in an almshouse. Her 

 mother had afterwards married, not the father of this 

 child, but the prospective father of another child, and 

 later had divorced him and married another man, who 

 was also the father of some of her children. She had 

 been led to do this through the efforts of well-meaning 

 people who felt that it was a great misfortune for a child 

 to be born into the world illegitimately. From their 

 standpoint the argument was good, because the mother 

 with four or five younger children was unable to provide 

 adequately for this little girl, whom both husbands re- 

 fused to support. 



On the plea that the child did not get along well at 

 school and might possibly be feeble-minded, she gained 



