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106
50 more had casual employment, and all intended to resume
work as soon after confinement as they were able.
In visiting among the people one meets with a good
deal of destitution, and one often wonders how the poor
manage to get along at all and yet be so cheerful. They
seem to worry so little, but to have a sublime trust that,
to put it in their own words, " something will turn up."
The women are always pleased to see me and much
appreciate being visited.
If any mother happens to be out when I call she
invariably brings the baby to the Town Hall on my next
weighing day.
Our sale of Virol steadily increases, and it is a great
help in our work among the babies to be able to supply it
at a cheap rate to the poorer mothers, who would not
otherwise be able to afford it. Our Necessitous Children's
Fund pays part cost. It is marvellous how well the babies
thrive on it and how they improve in weight, many of them
gaining as much as three-quarters of a pound to a pound
a week, and the improvement is well maintained. I feel
sure that many of the more delicate babies would not now
be alive but for Virol.
In the majority of the cases visited I find the baby is
being breast-fed, and, owing to our being able (through the
Necessitous Children's Fund) to supply the mother with
milk, she has in many cases been able to continue to breastfeed
the baby when she would otherwise have been
obliged to wean it.
I always find that the mother would very willingly