• ABOLISHING THE SLUMS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—I am certain that the views of your correspondent " Clericus Audax " are shared by many of his brethren in the Church of England, both married and single. May I give two cases which have come to my knowledge in my pastoral work ?
(1) A poor, bedridden woman, living in a back street, told me that she was married at the age of 19, and had 22 children in as many years. Of this vast family, only two have survived to adult life, one being a mental defective. To quote her words to me : "I went every year to the funeral of a baby, with another on the way." (2) In a neighbouring street there lives a man who is the father of over 20 children, by two marriages. Most of these children survive, and are likely to be a great expense to the community on account of poor physique and very low intelligence.
I am equally certain that if the prejudice against birth- control, as an entirely decent and laudable practice, is to be overcome, the work of education must be done by women amongst women. The male point of view is really quite unimportant, as in the man's case the matter admits of a very simple solution. But it is quite otherwise with a wife, who may need protection from a careless and inconsiderate husband. In contrast to the sad cases mentioned above, it is a pleasure to visit the happy homes of young married people, to observe the entire absence of fear and anxiety in the mother, and the care and affection which are bestowed on their small families of healthy children, whose births have been properly spaced. Only when a child is born in response to a real desire for parenthood can it be described (in the words of the psalm for The Chuirching of Women) as "all heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord."—! am, Sir, &e., NICODEMUS.
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