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170 Brieux
the defendants; we see all the sordidness of pov
erty, the inability to procure the bare necessities of
life, and the dread of the unwelcome child.
A schoolmistress, although earning a few hun
dred francs, and living with her husband, is com
pelled to have an abortion performed because an
other child would mean hunger for all of them.
Schoolmistress. We just managed to get along by
being most careful; and several times we cut down ex
penses it did not seem possible to cut down. A third
child coming upset everything. We couldn t have lived.
We should have all starved. Besides, the inspectors and
directresses don t like us to have many children, espe
cially if we nurse them ourselves. They told me to hide
myself when I was suckling the last one. I only had ten
minutes to do it in, at the recreation, at ten o clock and
at two o clock; and when my mother brought baby to me
I had to shut myself up with him in a dark closet.
The couple Tupln stand before the bar to de
fend themselves against the charge of criminal
abortion. Tupln has been out of work for a long
time and is driven by misery to drink. He is
known to the police as a disreputable character.
One of his sons is serving a sentence for theft,
and a daughter is a woman of the streets. But
Tupln is a thinking man. He proves that his
earnings at best are not enough to supply the
needs of an already large family. The daily
nourishment of five children consists of a four-
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