 Marshall 's wife was heavily involved in charitable activities in Washington and spent considerable time working at the Diet Kitchen Welfare Center providing free meals to impoverished children . In 1917 she became acquainted with a mother of newborn twins , one of whom was chronically ill . The child 's parents were unable to get adequate treatment for their son 's condition . Lois Marshall formed a close bond with the baby , who was named Clarence Ignatius Morrison , and offered to take him and help him find treatment . She and Marshall had been unable to have children , and when she brought the baby home , Marshall told her that she could " keep him , provided he did not squall ... " . Marshall grew to love the boy and wrote that he " never walked the streets of Washington with as sure a certainty as he walked into my heart " , and , as the boy grew older , that he was " beautiful as an angel ; brilliant beyond his years ; lovable from every standpoint " . 
