THE DATA 27 



The children of Deborah's grandparents, Justin and 

 Eunice, were as follows : first, Martha, the mother of 

 our Deborah, whose story has already been partly told. 

 This woman is supposed to have had three illegitimate 

 children before Deborah was born. They died in in- 

 fancy. The next younger half sister of Deborah was 

 placed out by a charitable organization when very 

 young. From their records we learn that in five years 

 she had been tried in thirteen different families and by 

 all found impossible. In one of these she set the barn 

 on fire. When found by our field worker, she had 

 grown to be a girl of twenty, pretty, graceful, but of 

 low mentality. She had already followed the instinct 

 implanted in her by her mother, and was on the point 

 of giving birth to an illegitimate child. She was sent 

 to a hospital. The child died, and then the girl was 

 placed permanently in a home for feeble-minded. An 

 own brother of this girl was placed out in a private 

 family. When a little under sixteen, his foster mother 

 died and her husband married again. Thus the boy 

 was turned adrift. Having been well trained, and 

 being naturally of an agreeable disposition, he easily 

 found employment. Bad company, however, soon led 

 to his discharge. He has now drifted into one of our 

 big cities. It requires no prophet to predict his future. 



