Conditions are different, however, in the better homes of our citizens. There the debasing consequences of sordid poverty are absent. But still the two homes are, in many instances, identical in their lack of moral training, although the causes are different. In the one home, knowledge and capacity are wanting. In the other, knowledge and capacity are present but neglected. It is these latter cases of parental neglect of duty which warrant the appellation, “wayward parent.” It sometimes requires the alarm clock of filial delinquency to awaken the parent from his somnolence of indifference. The damage has then been done. They hasten to lock the stable after the horse is stolen, instead of taking precautionary measures at the needful time. “The difficult cases to deal with,” remarks Judge Julius N. Mayer of the Court of Special Sessions (Children’s Court) of New York City, “are the cases of children whose parents are industrious and reputable, but who seem to have no conception at all of their duties toward their children. They fail to make a study of the child. They fail to understand him. Frequently the father, who could well afford to give his child recreation, or a little spending money, will hold his son by so tight a rein that the child is bound to break away. It may seem a little thing, but I firmly believe that many a child would be saved from his initial wrong step if the parent would make him a small allowance. In the cases where such a course is pursued the child usually becomes a sort of a little business man, husbanding his resources and willing to spend no more than his allowance; but where the child has nothing it is not strange that he should fall into temptation.” The state of Colorado, in an important addition to the juvenile law, recognizes the existence of the wayward parent by declaring that all parents, guardians, and other persons, who in any manner cause or contribute to the delinquency of any child, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Judge Lindsey of the Juvenile Court of Denver has this excoriation for such parents: “Careless and incompetent parents are by no means confined to the poor. In fact, in my experience, the most blameworthy of such parents are among the so-called business men and prominent citizens. They seem to think their duty is ended when they have debauched the boy with luxury and the free use of money. They permit him to fill his life with a round of pleasure, and let him satiate his appetite without knowing what he is doing or whither he is drifting. They are too busy to become his chum or companion, and so he soon develops a secret and private life, which is often filled with corruption, and because of his standing or influence and money he may be kept out of the courts or the jails, but nevertheless is eventually added to society as a more dangerous citizen than many men who have been subjected to both. A financially well-to-do father once said to me that he was too busy to