Yet how prevalent is this crime in this day of our boasted
civilization ! Can children, who thus perchance become the
uninvited blessings to such households, hope for the best
inheritance when those subtle yet potent prenatal influences
are against them."

If children were only allowed to exist in accordance with



6o NEO-MALTHUSIANISM

selfish schemes, if they were reduced to comparatively small
and insignificant numbers, if some poor children of a family
were told they were unwelcome, we may well fear for the
future of child-life. The presence of children brings out the
best traits of character j it stimulates parents to work for
their sakes; it prevents wasteful extravagance. In these
respects, as well as in many others which are obvious,
children and family life are grand helps to form self-reliant,
daring, and enterprising character, such as the English race
has acquired through long effort, struggle, and impulse.
