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Page 13
About a year later Mrs. Williams again applied, stating that her
husband's bond had lapsed, his payment had ceased, and that she had
no knowledge of his whereabouts. Although her home and children were
still immaculate she failed to satisfy the social worker who this
time visited her home with the plausible story which she had told
before. The children's health was not good and they seemed
unnaturally repressed and unhappy. Ugly reports that Mrs. Williams
drank came to the society. The school teacher deplored the effect
which the morbid nature of Mrs. Williams was having on her youngest
child--a daughter just entering adolescence. The son, a boy a little
older, was listless and unsatisfactory at his work, and defiant and
secretive toward any attempt to get to know him better. He spent
many nights away from home and was evidently not on good terms with
his mother. As soon as Mrs. Williams saw that real information was
desired she began indulging in fits of rage in which she displayed
such an exaggerated ego as to cause some doubts as to her mentality.
Baffled at every turn the case worker decided to interview the man,
if possible, to see if through him any clue to the situation might
be gained. The first step was to gain the confidence of a former
fellow-workman and friend of his who now maintained his own small
shop. This was done after several visits, the deserting husband
consenting to an evening meeting in his friend's shop.
A most illuminating interview followed. Mr. Williams was found to be
an intelligent though melancholy and self-centered man. The couple
had married somewhat late in life, it being Mrs. Williams' second
marriage. She had been strongly influenced by her mother to marry
him and had never had any real affection for him. It became very
evident from his story that the strongly developed egotism of both
the husband and wife had made a real marriage impossible between
them, and the visitor became convinced of the genuineness of Mr.
Williams' protestations that he endured the constant abuse and
ill-treatment of his wife as long as it had been possible to do so.
As her drinking habits took more hold upon her and he had realized
that the break was coming he had endeavored to place the children in
homes, and had once had his wife taken into court. There her
plausible story and good appearance resulted in the case being
dismissed with a reprimand to the husband. He then left home, but
continued to send her money at intervals, although as he got older
he was able to earn less at his trade. Socialism was his religion,
and it was his preaching of this doctrine in season and out to his
fellow workmen which had earned him the ill-will of his employers.
He defended his present mode of living, vigorously putting up a
strong argument that it was a real marriage, whereas the other had
only been a sham. He spoke in terms of affection of the woman who
was giving him the only real home he had ever known, and only wished
that the state of public opinion would permit his taking his young
daughter into his home. The boy, he realized, had grown entirely
away from him and they could never mean anything to each other. It
was his habit to make frequent trips back to the region where his
family lived in order that he might stand on the corner and watch
his children go by. He gave readily much information about his own
and his wife's past connections, including the addresses of many of
her relatives whose existence she had denied, and he successfully
proved that her claims as to his lapsed payments were false by
producing the entire series of post office receipts covering his
remittances to her and extending down to the very week of the
interview.[15]
There have been striking changes not only in the treatment of the
deserter but in that of his family. Writing in 1910, Miss Breed[16]
deprecates the habit of fostering the deserter's "easy-going conviction
that his family will get along somehow without him" by giving relief.
She approves offering full support in an institution, but is reluctant
to recommend any form of aid in the home, even from relatives. It is
better, she feels, to give entire support to some of the children in
foster homes, leaving the mother only those she can care for.
Much can be said for even so stringent a policy as this. An unstable
home, with a worthless father an intermittent member of the household,
is as bad an environment as children can have--its very fluctuations
making for nervous instability and a wrong point of view later on.
There is a possibility that other would-be deserters may be deterred by
temporarily breaking up the home, and that an occasional absconding
father may be brought back. But the fact remains that social workers
have, in practice, departed far from this point of view. Out of more
than twenty-five case workers of experience who were interviewed or
written to in preparation for this book, only one believed there had not
been a decided change toward a policy of more liberal relief.
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