"Crafty, cunning, and a thorough little demon," was the police description of the child. Evidence in court showed Roland was clever, highly sensitive and subject to fits of passion in which he broke chairs, smashed ornaments and tore clothing to bits. His mother made a pitiful figure in court when she protested tearfully against "an artist's child being treated like a little guttersnipe."

The boy showed the police where he had buried his loot. His mother thought him in bed at the times when he was committing his burglaries.

O, how many criminals are made by such neglect! That mother would resent the accusation of neglect; she probably would explain that she had been particularly attentive to the boy. Perhaps so; but probably in matters that were of little real import in character development. She took too much for granted, assuming that an artistic temperament, presumably inherited from the father, was a guaranty of moral stability. This mistake is becoming so alarmingly frequent that the sooner we stamp it as inexcusable and culpable the better.

It is utterly illogical for a parent to reason that a child is necessarily good because he is bright. The world's great

est criminals have often been of superior mental caliber. The very fact that little Roland was peculiarly precocious should have been a cause for extra caution and watchfulness by his parents. Naturally, the "smart" child will think of things which do not occur to his less keen companions; in a bunch of little rowdies, you will not find a dullard at the wheel, it is always one of those of whom teachers commonly say "he could stand high in his class if he wanted to." Certainly, this does not prove mentality in children undesirable; but it shows the necessity of great care in dealing with the bright child. Intellect is like money, it "makes a good man better and a bad man worse;" properly handled, the bright child has a splendid basis for sterling character.

Another mistake often made by mothers in hard circumstances, is to give up the wrong child. God forbid that mothers have to give up any of their loved ones (and the time is coming when they will not have to); but when it is inevitable that one must be "put out," great care should be exercised in deciding which one. Most parents feel that they can better trust the bright child, that he will develop faster and be the sooner able to care for himself. In the majority of cases, this is the one that most needs the mother's guidance— a guardianship for which there is no real substitute. The child of average abilities and propensities is in far less danger in an institution (when one has to be so placed) than the highly strung, ultra-receptive and impressionable one. This is only one of the many, many problems that may confront parents and others who care for the young, and emphasize the importance of studying children individually.

It is no trifling task to rear a child,

particularly a typical boy. There are trials and cares involved that tax parents to the last notch. But O, to succeed! The responsibility is no less glorious than grave. Any true mother desires above all else to retain her children (and every country whose national heart is in the right place will sooner or later legislate in favor of their doing. so, just as the United States is doing). Mothers who leave much of the child's training to nurses and others, suffer a two-fold loss; they not only miss the chance to inculcate the principles they wish the child to possess, but they give over a large part of the sweetness of motherhood to the nurse. That is to

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to me, "because I know that after he is ten or twelve years old it will be mighty hard to alter his ideas."

As Mrs. Burton Chance has well said, we would have a vastly different crop of children if all mothers could realize in time instead of after it is too late that before he is ten years old her boy has in all probability received the standards, values and impressions that are to be the background of his whole life. The years before ten are indeed the mother's (and father's) golden planting time; then the ground is fallow for the seed, and opportunity is ripe and close at hand for the permanent and glorious fashioning of the new life. There is no

say, that the mother who neglects or puts off teaching her child cannot expect the facile mind to lie idle and await her pleasure. The injury from her neglect. is both negative and positive-she does not plant the flower, but leaves the gate open for the possible sowing of weeds.

Personality is a great working force with children. No paid instructor can hand on the heritage of culture and the hard-won ideals that we older foks have made our own. There is no other way than by daily loving companionship. "I am having my boy with me every minute I possibly can," said a young father

use of denying it; to inspire a child it is necessary to be. His scales weigh justly, his mills grind very small, he has the gift of allegience and fidelity and a hunger to imitate. But he is hard to fool, and to win him, one must be.

To quote Mrs. Chance again, "O mothers! You who create men to be the strength and prop of the future, look first into your own hearts. Are you willing to be the pattern, to live the kind of life that will kindle in your little boys the most glorious spirit of worship and passion of emulation? Are you willing to pay the price? I believe that

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it is the mother who indicates her son's potential development or fixes his certain limitations even long years before he is a man."

"All that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother." Do you suppose Abraham Lincoln spoke these words to please or flatter his mother? I hardly think so. Such a tribute from such a man could be but one thing-the natural fruit of a good mother's patient, devoted, courageous life. Unless the mother is willing to be the pole toward which the fluctuating needle of her boy's life must always point in test and trial, it is in vain that she hires expensive tutors or sends him to fine schools. He may turn out a "pretty good sort of a fellow," but if he has not had a real mother, one who before he was ten gave herself whole-heartedly to him and prepared him to go forth upon the glorious adventure of life as a true knight, he has lost something hard to put in words, but as real as the many other mysteries which surround us, and he goes to the battle without the armor she alone can buckle upon him.

Few things are more painful to wellmeaning parents than to have outsiders call their attention to traits in the chil

JUDGE NEIL IN PARIS

The readers of the Juvenile Court Record are well informed about the work of Judge Henry Neil, who has established Mothers' Pension laws in thirty states. Judge Neil was recently in Paris and under date of June 10th wrote us as follows: I am now in Paris for the purpose of establishing a Mothers' Pension System in France.

The Juvenile Court in Paris, in which I sat today, was started in 1911, patterned after the Juvenile Court of Chicago, but there are three judges sitting in each case, while in Chicago we have only one judge.

The Paris court has no power to grant pensions to mothers of dependent children and is of very little help to the poor, as it can in no way relieve poverty.

I expect to change the system here so that the children's courts will have the power to grant money to fit mothers with

dren which should have been corrected long before. A neighbor of mine would not believe that her boy would break a window then lie about it. The lad became such a nuisance that he had to be reported to his parents, and they were almost insulting in their "righteous indignation." It should be added though that once convinced, these parents took up the work of correction seriously. It certainly is regrettable that so many parents try to believe their offspring essentially different from all other children of the same age. It is one of the hardest of all human weaknesses to combat. Not until the actual facts are "rubbed in" will fond mothers, blinded by love and pride, believe that their coddled little darling is made of the same common clay as the plebeian kid, dirty and ragged, across the alley. Ill health, loneliness, introspection, temptation and the hosts of other enemies of childhood, are not barred out by wealth and station. They are ever ready to steal into any home where parental ignorance or neglect leaves the way open. Study each child, and plan its discipline according to its individuality.

dependent children in the same way as this is done in Chicago.

In France there are many women lawyers and they wear long black robes in court just as the men do.

In the Children's Court each person is represented by a lawyer, free of charge.

DEPUTY WARDEN

The Illinois State Civil Service Commission will hold examinations at several Illinois points on August 18, 1917, to provide an eligible list for use in case vacancies occur in the position of

Deputy Warden.

This position occurs at the Chester and Joliet Penitentiaries. Salary, $150 to $200 a month with full maintenance. Open to men (citizen of Illinois) over 30. Good physical condition required.

For further details and application blanks address State Civil Service Commission, Springfield, Illinois.