142 SEX-LORE 



great number. It is less wasteful to have four or 

 five children and keep them, than to do as the 

 notorious charwoman, who in her pride boasted: " I 

 surely ought to know all about children, for I've had 

 ten and buried eight." And her case can hardly be 

 said to be very exceptional. We have become too 

 sensitive to, and conscious of, the value of human life 

 to be proud of the mere fact of producing live.-stock. 

 What we wish is to keep our little ones with us once 

 they are here. Such an ideal implies a considerable 

 step forward in the elimination of human waste. 

 But not only are we desirous of keeping them, w 

 are also more anxious than ever before to give them 

 every chance of health and happiness, and to give 

 them a fair start in life, so that they may have its 

 full benefit. 



Our age has rightly been called " the century of 

 the child." We are only beginning to wake up to 

 the fact that on the children depends the future of 

 the world, that as we sow, so they shall reap. Not 

 only do we desire that the younger generation shall 

 be given full scope, everyone according to his ability; 

 but also that the future race shall be born with 

 a good initial share of it. It is for this reason that 

 a new movement has arisen among more enlightened 

 people against the propagation of bad stock. In 

 olden times, we have seen, weaklings were killed by 

 exposure, as is still done by primitive peoples. Cruel 

 as it seems, there was some justification for it: it 

 prevented suffering to the individual and relieved 

 society of the burden of useless]f members. With 

 time, however, the human "conscience revolted 

 against such a savage practice, with the result that 



