Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/154

 "Children know what they want, but they don't always want the right things. We expect adults to decide rightly most of the time at least."

The family was plainly convinced of this point and she turned to another phase of the same question.

"When Annie still lived at home, was she interested in a lot of different things or did she seem to be 'hipped' on only one thing?"

"Oh, my!" exclaimed the sister who had spoken before, "I guess she was 'hipped' all right. She used to be crazy about cleaning and wouldn't even let father sit on any of the chairs after she had dusted. If he did, she'd almost throw a fit. Really, I don't know what's come over her lately, but since the baby came she hasn't cared a bit about anything else."

"Nothing has come over her," the social worker explained. "She simply hasn't the ability to be interested in the many things you can be interested in. She has room for only one interest. Before she was married, she cleaned. After her marriage she wanted furniture and spent all her money for it. When the baby came she did nothing but take care of him and everything else had