Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/233

 exclusion of all else it can make him more vigorous in everything he does.

What the having of a purpose can accomplish for an individual is illustrated by the story of Mrs. Quinn.

Mrs. Quinn presented a paradox in that she loved her children and at the same time neglected them. For that matter she neglected herself. Neither their clothing nor hers was ever clean, and she allowed the house to become as unkempt as its tenants. She was an evasive person. It was easier for her to lie than to tell the truth, and she was rapidly teaching her children, both directly and by example, this method of approaching life. Yet she was gentle and affectionate with them and it was evident—at least to the social case worker—that any better ordering of Mrs. Quinn's life would come about through her devotion to the children.

Every attempt to use their welfare as a means of influencing her failed. Then came a crisis in Mrs. Quinn's affairs. One morning she called to see the social worker with the news that she had given up her home and had rented two furnished rooms to which she intended to move the family. The truth was that she had equipped the house