Nearly every crime could be wiped away in one generation by giving the criminal a chance. The life of a burglar, of a thief, of a prostitute, is not a bed of roses. Men and women are only driven to these lives after other means have failed. Theirs are not the simple, natural lives of children, nor of the childhood of the world; but men and women can learn these professions or be bred to them. After other resources are exhausted they will be chosen for the simple reason that life is sweet. With all its pangs and bitterness, it is the nature of life to send its poor tendrils deep into the earth and cling with all its force and power to this poor, fleeting, transitory world. Men are slow to admit that punishment is wrong and that each human soul is the irresponsible, unconscious product of all that has gone before; and yet every kind and wise parent in the world proves by his every relation with his child that he knows that he is the author of his being and the molder of his character, and that he, the parent, is infinitely more responsible for the soul he launches than is the child himself. There might be some measure of justice in trying and punishing the parent for the conduct of the child, but even this does not reach back. The source of every life runs back to the Infinite itself. Every right thinking father does his best to have his child reared in those influences and surroundings which will best contribute to his physical, mental and moral growth. Even then he feels that the future is doubtful enough; that man is weak and finite and blind; that he sees but a little way into the dim, uncertain future; that he is filled with passions, emotions and desires; that he must travel a path beset with all sorts of temptations and promises; that his weak sight will look upon beautiful cities and fair prospects which are only mirages and sent to beguile and insnare his soul. Few judges, if called upon, would not sooner slay their innocent sleeping child with their own loving hands, than abandon him to grow up in the streets or make his way unaided through the tangled mazes that confront the homeless and the poor; and yet these same judges will coolly arraign men who all their lives have walked in the shadows through a tangled maze beset with passion and fear, and sentence them to death and ask God to have mercy on their souls. Every man who loves his child and seeks to surround him with what is best for his physical, mental and moral needs denies in his very life the right of man to judge and punish his fellow man. CHAPTER IX IMPOSSIBILITY OF JUST JUDGMENT