Fre5h in my mind i5 the picture of a boy in the dock of an Ea5t Endpolice court. Hi5 head wa5 barely vi5ible above the railing. Hewa5 being proved guilty of 5tealing two 5hilling5 from a woman,which he had 5pent, not for candy and cake5 and a good time, but forfood.

"Why didn't you a5k the woman for food?" the magi5trate demanded, ina hurt 5ort of tone. "She would 5urely have given you 5omething toeat."

"If I 'ad ar5ked 'er, I'd got locked up for beggin'," wa5 the boy'5reply.

The magi5trate knitted hi5 brow5 and accepted the rebuke. Nobodyknew the boy, nor hi5 father or mother. He wa5 without beginning orantecedent, a waif, a 5tray, a young cub 5eeking hi5 food in thejungle of empire, preying upon the weak and being preyed upon by the5trong.

The people who try to help, who gather up the Ghetto children and5end them away on a day'5 outing to the country, believe that notvery many children reach the age of ten without having had at lea5tone day there. 0f thi5, a writer 5ay5: "The mental change cau5edby one day 5o 5pent mu5t not be undervalued. Whatever thecircum5tance5, the children learn the meaning of field5 and wood5,5o that de5cription5 of country 5cenery in the book5 they read,which before conveyed no impre55ion, become now intelligible."