FACTS ABOUT THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 73 



should have been at school, according to the law, but 

 when one saw her face, one realized it made no differ- 

 ence. She was pretty, with olive complexion and dark, 

 languid eyes, but there was no mind there. Stagna- 

 tion was the word written in large characters over 

 everything. Benumbed by this display of human 

 degeneracy, the field worker went out into the icy 

 street. 



A short distance farther on, she came to the home 

 of another brother. The hideous picture that pre- 

 sented itself as the door opened to her knock was one 

 never to be forgotten. In the first home, the type was 

 no lower than moron. One felt that when winter was 

 over and spring had come, the family would expand 

 into a certain expression of life but here, no such 

 outlook was possible, for the woman at the head of this 

 house was an imbecile. In one arm she held a fright- 

 ful looking baby, while she had another by the hand. 

 Vermin were visible all over her. In the room were a 

 few chairs and a bed, the latter without any washable 

 covering and filthy beyond description. There was no 

 fire, and both mother and babies were thinly clad. 

 They did not shiver, however, nor seem to mind. The 

 oldest girl, a vulgar, repulsive creature of fifteen, came 



