What can he do?
To whom is he to apply for relief?
To private charity?
To benevolent individuals?
Certainly not--there is his parish.

There are the parish vestry, the parish infirmary, the parish surgeon, the parish officers, the parish beadle.

Excellent institutions, and gentle, kind-hearted men.

The woman dies--she is buried by the parish.

The children have no protector--they are taken care of by the parish.