WHACKING A WIDOW.

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 695, 25 October 1913, Page 8

WHACKING A WIDOW.

The Boy who, : Worked for his Mother.

A HARD case is reported 'from - Christchurch. A widow, with five '•• children to support, 6ent the eldest, a bov of thirteen, to work. Then she was haled to the Magistrate's Court for keeping the boy from school. Evidence showed that the woman was in desperate case. . The boy liked school, but•:was.-eager:to -work to help h:s mouther.:. The case was held over for enquiry. The position, is not easy. In the first place, a boy of thirteen should certainl" be kept to school. In the second, a widow with five children should not be deprived of such help as her eldest boy can give. For widows in that position the State.should make some special provision; The State needs children, and must care for them. A dole from the Charitable Aid Board is not enough, in these exceptional cases. There should be some way in which the children of a widow can be cared for in euch a way /Chat the-widow's life shall not be one long and hopeless drudgery and torture. A woman left with five children to rear and train deserves something.