The man can for a more trifle get rid of all responsibility, though in general, most able to bear it, the woman has the dead weight, which often proves the destruction of her offspring, and herself, suicide and murder are the first-fruits frequently to her, but she loves her offspring, and perhaps he who deceived her, and for both their sakes fights the battle against fearful odds; for a few years at least, she will not last long, at length she sinks! she dies! where, oh! where! is the guardian for her child! Reader, there are many thousands of such! What becomes of them?
But there are other mothers of this class, more ignorant, have less of feeling, no education, no training, they advance from bad to worse, until they have five or six children, here are circumstances for children to come into the world grievously against them.

What becomes of these?
To avoid painful details I will answer the question, they become a pest to society, each a demoralizer of others, living upon the public--as tramps, begging impostors, thieves, teachers of thieves, and _cost the country more than five times their number born under other and better circumstances_.

God grant that spiritual light, philosophical light, and scientific light united, may enable us to find the remedy! The two grand causes of juvenile delinquency, we have seen then, to be the evil example of parents themselves; and the bad associations which children form at an early age, when, through neglect, they are suffered to be in the streets.

In the first instance, the parents of the children are wholly without excuse; in the second, though in some cases we may blame them, in others we cannot justly do so; but must admit, as an exculpation, the unfortunate circumstances of their condition in life.
It would be easy to shew, by a multitude of instances, the evil effects produced on children of a tender age by street associations.
But I think enough has been said to convince every reflecting mind that it is highly necessary that we should interfere in behalf of children so situated; and I shall conclude the present chapter by some remarks on the various habits and practices of the poor classes, which have at least an injurious tendency on the character of the rising generation.
As children are such imitative beings, I cannot help making a few observations on the tricks which are usually introduced into our _pantomimes_.

It is well known that those of the clown form a principal part of the entertainment.