Holly! The man who did it--if he knows
whom he was settling for--was a fool not to face the camp and get credit
for it. Every man would have shaken hands with him. But just because there
is a little mystery about it, they try to make it out a crime. Pooh!"

"Oh, child!" exclaimed Mrs. Huzzard, totally scandalized. "A murder! Of
course it is a crime--the greatest."

"I don't think so. It is a greater crime to bring a soul into the world
and then neglect it--let it drift into any hell on earth that nets
it--than it is to send a soul out of the world, to meet heaven, if it
deserves it. There are times when murder is justifiable, but there are
certain other crimes that nothing could ever justify."

"Why, 'Tana!" and Mrs. Huzzard looked at her helplessly. But Miss Slocum
gave the girl a more understanding regard.

"You speak very bitterly for a young girl; as if you had thought a great
deal on this question."

"I have," she acknowledged, promptly; "you think it is not a very nice
question for girls to study about, don't you? Well, it isn't nice, but
it's true. I happen to be one of the souls dragged into life by people who
didn't think they had responsibilities. Miss Slocum, maybe that is why I
am extra bitter on the subject."

"But not--not against your parents, 'Tana?" said Mrs. Huzzard, in dismay.

The girl's mouth drew hard and unlovely at the question.

"I don't know much about religion," she said, after a little, "and I don't
know that it matters much--now don't faint, Mrs. Huzzard! but I'm pretty
certain old married men who had families were the ones who laid down the
law about children in the Bible. They say 'spare the rod and spoil the
child,' and then say 'honor your father and mother.' They seem to think it
a settled thing that all fathers and mothers are honorable--but they
ain't; and that all children need beating--and they don't."

"Oh, 'Tana!"

"And I think it is that one-sided commandment that makes folks think that
all the duty must go from children to the parents, and not a word is said
of the duty people owe to the souls they bring into the world. I don't
think it's a square deal."

"A square deal! Why, 'Tana!"

"Isn't it so?" she asked, moodily. "You think a girl is a pretty hard case
if she doesn't give proper respect and duty to her parents, don't you? But
suppose they are the sort of people no one can respect--what then? Seems
to me the first duty is from the parent to the children--the d