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Poor in the district where she resides. And it Should then be the duty of the Overseer of the Poor, to prosecute the husband for her support in the name of the county, to protect the treasury of the county against the expense. If the husband has property, it should be bound as security for his wife’s support; and if he have none, part of his wages should be appropriated to that purpose by the judgement of the court, (a magistrate’s,) and notice of that fact should bind the employer for the amount. A law of this kind in New York, has proved of great moral as well as public advantage.

Abandonment is quite common among the freed men, and especially where there are large families of children. The peculiar hardship in such cases is, that a woman with a 
large family of children, however well disposed to work, can not find employment. 
She must either become a charge upon the county or the Bureau; while the husband, divested of all encumbrance, finds no difficulty in getting enlarged wages.

There should be an amendment to the statute, to enable poor people, such as can not give security for costs, to take an appeal without such security, upon their producing satisfactory evidence of their pecuniary inability

Transcription Notes:
Unsure of last word on page after “pecuniary”. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-10 03:03:42