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claims or hindrances this creature can be trained in the 

 spirit of the times and impregnated with the ideas which 

 the state recognises as the truth ; from a mere waif he 

 can be made a patriotic citizen and useful son of his 

 fatherland. But in fact we observe exactly the reverse 

 of all this. The charity child is bundled about hither 

 and thither, fed by any wet-nurse, nourished on the milk 

 of any cow, given over to the keeping of some half sa- 

 vage family where his diet is chiefly of unwholesome 

 fruits, and, unless his health is exceptionally strong, driven 

 into a premature grave. Those who survive the early 

 test grow up without the knowledge of a mother's love 

 bestowed upon themselves but able to observe it lavish- 

 ed upon others round ; they become hardened and some- 

 times malicious, and instead of good men and devoted 

 patriots too often we see as the result human monstro- 

 sities. Even where charity refuges exist many waifs pe- 

 rish in extreme youth, but where there are no refuges 

 there are still orphans and homeless mites needing such 

 aid, and in these places there are many baby-farms and 

 factories for production of angels; there are beggars 

 ready to cripple the defenceless children in the interests 

 of their begging trade ; there are thieves and scoundrels 

 seeking free apprentices ; in a word every agency is at 

 hand to mould from this raw material some vile shape, 

 but seemingly none to make out of it a man. 



We have in Russia only a few orphan refuges and 

 these can be found only in the large towns, whilst on 

 the other hand alms-houses are abundant, to be seen in 

 small district towns and even in many villages. 



When we examine into the history of these alms- 

 houses we find that they have been nearly all establish- 

 ed on the money furnished by wealthy donors, chiefly 

 of the merchant class. Some famous trader dies, leav- 

 ing in legacies hundreds of thousands or often millions,, 

 and on his death-bed, experiencing some natural pangs 

 of conscience for his sins, he pays a toll to charity for 

 his own soul's good. Having heard many times from 



