Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/238

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in convincing herself of the truth of her story. When, before two years had passed, she was about to be confined again, this time having become involved with another man, she insisted that she had been assaulted.

She gave the social case worker a most circumstantial account of her marriage and even went with her to call upon the clergyman who she said had performed the ceremony. She was willing to prosecute the man whom she accused of being the father of her second child, although she had been intimate with several other men.

The motive underlying all this was her desire for a normal family life. Rather than be wholly without it she preferred to imagine it. Thereby she was, of course, making impossible the attainment of the very thing she wanted. Realizing this the social worker tried to help the girl to face the facts of her situation so that she might ultimately free herself for the forming of a wholesome married life. The visit to the clergyman was only one of the measures taken to convince the young woman that she was not married and that it would be wiser for her to recognize this. When even the clergyman's denial of the ceremony did not cause her to face the facts, the social worker