VI. A widow with one child, if able to do housework, may usually be self-supporting at domestic service. If better adapted to some other form of employment, she may prefer to make some arrangement for the care of her child, either in a home of her own or at board. It is found that there are many families who will readily receive for general housework, or for some special branch of household service, a mother with a child, allowing for the board of the child on a fair basis of exchange toward the compensation of the mother, and of course allowing the mother also to give so much time as is necessary to the care of her child. In many instances this arrangement is far better both for the child and for the mother than employment which causes them to be separated during the day, even if the remunera tion of such employment is enough to provide a caretaker to look after the home, and to care for the child, or to pay for board of the latter in a private family. Much depends, however, upon the circumstances of the case as to the choice among various plans. Aside from the presence of some cause of distress such as might be otherwise present, there is nothing in the social status of a widow with one child which would make dependence upon charity in evitable. With a young infant, with a child requiring exceptional care, and especially in a period of distress or of transition, such as might immediately follow the death of a husband who has been the breadwinner of the family, financial aid might be advisable, and there may always be such changes resulting from the death of father, brothers, or others from whom assistance has been obtained, as will temporary need. Other things being equal, a widow with an infant child has naturally greater burdens than a childless woman, but she has also a greater motive to application and good habits, and if qualified physically and by experience for any one of many occupations, she will have little occasion to ask for outside help.
VII. The considerations which lead us to prefer that a widow or deserted wife with infant child should find such work as will enable her to keep her offspring with her, apply with redoubled force when the child is born out of wedlock. The unmarried mother who is separated from her child is deprived of a safeguard of which she is some times in sore need ; and separation, whether the child is placed in an institution, or given to a foster-mother, or abandoned completely, is likely to result in the child's death. The mortality in foundling asylums has always been notoriously high ; and while the chance of the found ling for life in a good boarding home is greater, this is only brought about by a degree of vigilance and personal devotion that is rare.
It is recorded by those who have had long experience in the care of dependent children, that mothers who relin quish their offspring at birth as a rule gradually cease to care for them, and seldom attempt to reestablish the nat ural relation. Subsequent illegitimate births are more fre quent, and this may sometimes be directly attributed, on the testimony of the mother herself, to the fact of the sep aration in the first instance. Foundling asylums and maternity hospitals which care for mother and child for a suitable period and subsequently place the mother with the child at domestic service, or at other suitable employ ment, therefore do their simple duty toward both child and mother. In New York and Boston a separate agency for the particular purpose of providing situations, mainly in the country, for mothers and infants; has demon strated its great usefulness,' while in Philadelphia and other cities similar work is done by the Children's Aid Society.
It is believed that the foundling asylum to which a new-born infant might be brought and deposited by the mother, with no requirements that the latter should make herself known, served as a perceptible check upon infanti cide, and that there was a time when this awful crime occurred more frequently than can readily be conceived.' On the other hand it is held that the existence of such institutions, making easy the abandonment of children, removed a deterring check upon illegitimacy. A change of plan, by which mothers are induced to enter the institu tion with the child, has been for the better, although the subsequent separation often permitted prevents the reap ing of the full possible benefits of the change.
If the point at which the problem is taken up is the care of the mother and child after birth, there is no better solution than that of finding situations in good homes for such as are by nature and experience suited to this kind of employment. It is essential, however, that the charac ter and standing of the employers be thoroughly ascer tained, and it is advisable that those who have aided in finding such employment shall keep in touch with the mother by correspondence, or still better by personal visits. In fact, of course, the problem does not begin at the point which we have assumed. Guidance and counsel before confinement, removal of any social causes which lead to this form of dependence, and educational influ ences begun far back in childhood are the true beginnings, and in the last of these attention should be directed toward the reformation and training of the two sexes alike.
VIII. It is conceivable that a widower, upon his wife's Viii. It is conceivable that a widower, upon his wife's death, should find himself seriously embarrassed in mak ing provision for the care of his children, even though his income had been amply sufficient to care for the entire family. In the normal family the contribution made by I Known in Boston as the Charity for Aiding Mothers and Infants, and in New York as the Agency for Providing Situations in the Country for Destitute Mothers with Children—a branch of the State Charities Aid Association.
the mother to the common welfare is fully equal to that of the father even though it is not so readily measured in dollars and cents. The loss of the mother may well be held to reduce by one-half the effective income of the family, even though she does not earn a dollar of money, and even if the father contributes his share in the training and discipline of the children and in the heavier part of the household work. It does not follow, however, that normally the loss of the wife causes the family of the wage-earner to become dependent upon outside aid. It may be expected to result in a distinct deprivation of physical comforts, besides the greater and immeasurable loss of companionship and guidance. There should, how ever, be a margin between the standard of living, which is to be fully realized only when both heads of the family are living and in good health, and that lower level of self-support beneath which charitable assistance becomes necessary. In many instances even the higher level may be maintained if one of the children, especially if a daugh ter, is old enough to take up the household cares, or if some near relative of the husband is in position to step into the vacant place.