send an officer with me, I know, and we will
take the child by force. If its real mother then comes forward and shows
herself at all worthy to have the care of it, well; if not, I will see
that it is taken care of. I know where to place it."

To this proposition Mr. Paulding had no objection to offer.

"If you take that course, and act promptly, you can no doubt get
possession of the poor thing. Indeed, sir"--and the missionary spoke
with much earnestness--"if men of influence like yourself would come
here and look the evil of suffering and neglected children in the face,
and then do what they could to destroy that evil, there would soon be
joy in heaven over the good work accomplished by their hands. I could
give you a list of ten or twenty influential citizens whose will would
be next to law in a matter like this who could in a month, if they put
heart and hand to it, do such a work for humanity here as would make the
angels glad. But they are too busy with their great enterprises to give
thought and effort to a work like this."

A shadow fell across the missionary's face. There was a tone of
discouragement in his voice.

"The great question is _what_ to do," said Mr. Dinneford. "There are no
problems so hard to solve as these problems of social evil. If men and
women choose to debase themselves, who is to hinder? The vicious heart
seeks a vicious life. While the heart is depraved the life will be evil.
So long as the fountain is corrupt the water will be foul."

"There is a side to all this that most people do not consider," answered
Mr. Paulding. "Self-hurt is one thing, hurt of the neighbor quite
another. It may be questioned whether society has a right to touch the
individual freedom of a member in anything that affects himself alone.
But the moment he begins to hurt his neighbor, whether from ill-will
or for gain, then it is the duty of society to restrain him. The common
weal demands this, to say nothing of Christian obligation. If a man were
to set up an exhibition in our city dangerous to life and limb, but
so fascinating as to attract large numbers to witness and participate
therein, and if hundreds were maimed or killed every year, do you think
any one would question the right of our authorities to repress it? And
yet to-day there are in our city more than twenty thousand persons who
live by doing things a thousand times more hurtful to the people than
any such exhibition could possibly be. And what is