; and have shewn, that it is
almost certain, that the children of such persons will learn every
species of vice. But there are other kinds of dangers which more
immediately affect the body, and are the cause of more accidents
than people in general imagine. I shall here notice some of the most
prominent, and hope to be able to convince the unprejudiced mind, that
it would be a charity to take charge of the infant poor, even leaving
the idea of their learning any thing good at school entirely out of
the question; and surely those persons, who disapprove of educating
the poor at all, will see the propriety of keeping, if possible, their
children safe from accidents, and preserving the lives of many little
ones, who would otherwise be lost to their country, from their falling
a prey to surrounding dangers.

It is well known that many poor people are obliged to live in garrets,
three or four stories high, with a family of six or seven children;
and it will not appear improbable that, when the children are left by
themselves, they should frequently meet with accidents by tumbling
down stairs; some breaking their backs, others their legs or arms;
and to this cause alone, perhaps, may be traced a vast number of the
cripples that daily appear as mendicants in our streets. When the
poor parents return from their daily labour, they sometimes have the
mortification of finding that one, or probably two, of their children,
are gone to an hospital; which of course makes them unhappy, and
unfits them for going through their daily labour. This dead weight,
which is continually on the minds of parents, is frequently the cause
of their being unable to please their employers, and the consequence
sometimes is, they are thrown out of work altogether; whereas, if
they were certain that their children were taken care of, they would
proceed with their daily labour cheerfully, and be enabled to give
more satisfaction to their employers than they otherwise can do.

Other parents I have known, who, when obliged to go out, have locked
their children in a room to prevent them from getting into the street,
or falling down stairs, and who have taken every precaution, as
they imagined, to protect their children; but the little creatures,
perhaps, after fretting and crying for hours at being thus confined,
have ventured to get up to the window, in order to see what was
passing in the street, when one, over-reaching itself, has fallen out
and been kil