sometimes seen, that after all the rest had failed, either from want
of skill, or the too great vigilance of the shop-keeper, the boy
who acted as leader has started out, and by a display of superior
dexterity, would have carried off the prize, had it not happened that
some one was thus purposely watching his conduct. When detected, if an
old offender, he will either look you in tire face with the greatest
effrontery and an expression of defiance, or he will feign to cry,
and tell you he was hungry, has no father nor mother, &c.; though
frequently, on further inquiry, I have found the whole story to be
false.

Alas! there is _one_ class of children, with whom I know not how to
deal, I mean those without the natural protectors. 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