Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/159

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vidual in trouble is working out his own way of life.

The application of this principle is as various as are human beings. In one of its aspects it is illustrated by the manner in which George O'Brien came to arrange for the care of his motherless baby.

He had fallen in love with Mrs. Ledoux, whose husband had deserted her, and the young people—for they were still in their early twenties—had become parents without marriage. A few months after the baby's birth, Mrs. Ledoux entered the last stages of consumption. She lived with her widowed mother and eight brothers and sisters. For her own comfort and for the protection of the other members of the family, it was important that she go to a hospital. This she hesitated to do.

The social case worker who had been asked to help decided to discuss the situation with Mr. O'Brien, both because she knew that Mrs. Ledoux would enter the hospital if he wanted her to do so, and because it was important that some plan be made for the future of the baby.

"I've been quite anxious to have a talk with you about Mrs. Ledoux's illness," she said as she