Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1853-07-08
From Arthur's Home Gazette.
CHARETT---fTS OBJECTS.
BY MRS. SARAH HEPBURN HAYS.

IS my neighbor' replied, "A man went
Il down from Jerusalem to Jericho" and the
parable which followed is the most beautiful
which language has ever recorded Story.
telling, though often abused is the medium,
by which truth can be most irresistably con
veyed to the majority of minds, and in the
present instance we have desire to portray
in some slight degree the Importance of Cha
rity in everyday life.
A great deal has been said and written on
the subject of indiscriminate giving, and ma
ny who have little sympathy with the needy
or distressed, make the supposed unworthii-
ness of the object an excuse for Withholding
their aims; while others, who really possess
a large proportion of the milk of thurman kind
ness, in awaiting great opportunities to do
| good, overlook all in their immediate path
way, as beneath their notice. And vet it was
the "wldow's mite" which, amid the MANY
rich gifts cast into the treasury, won the ap-
proval of the Searcher of hearts; and we have
| His assurance that a cup of cold water given
in proper spirit, shall not lose its reward.
Our design III the present sketch is to call
the attention of our sex to subject which
has IN too many instances escaped their at
| tention: for our ideas of charity embrace
wide field, and we hold that it should at all
times be united with justice, when those less
favored than ourselves are concerned.
81 do not intend hereafter to have wash
ing done more than once in two weeks said
the rich MIS-. Percy, in reply to an observa-
ton OF her husband, who was standings at the
window, looking at a woman who was up to
her knees in the snow, hanging clothes on
line in the yard. Il declare it is too bad to
be paying that poking old thing half-a-dol-
lar week for our wash, and only six in the
family. There she has been at it since sew
en- o'clock this morning, and now it is almost
four. It will require but two or three hours
longer if get her once fortnight, and I
shall save twenty-five cents week bv it."
When your own sex are concerned, YOU
women are the closest beings" said Mr.. p.
laughing "Do just as you please however"
he continued, as he observed a frown gather
on the brow of his wife; for my part, |
should be glad if washing days were blotted
entirely from the calendar
At this moment the washerwoman passed
the window with her stiffened skirts and al
most frozen hands and arms. Some emo
tions of pity stirring in his breast at the sight,
he again asked, Z" DO you think it will be ex-
actly right, my dear, to make old Phoebe do
| the same amount of labor for half the wages z"
Of course it will" replied Mrs Percy, de-
cidedly; ave are bound to do the best we
can for ourselves. If she objects, she can say
so. There are plenty of poor | can get, who
will be glad to come and by this arrange
ment | shall save thirteen dollars a year"
" So much" returned Mr.. p, carelessly,
"How these things do run upw Here the
matter ended as far as they were concerned.
Not SO with old Phoebe" as she was called
In reality, however, Phoebe was not vet for
ty; it was hardship which had scanned her
once blooming face ond brought on prema-
! turely the appearance of age. On going to
| Mrs. Percy in the evening after she had fin
ished her wash, for the meager sum she had
earned, that lady had spoken somewhat harsh
! ly about her being so Slow and mentioned
the new arrangement she intended to carry
into effect, leaving it optional with the poor
woman to accept or decline. After a mo-
ment's hesitation, Phoebe, whose necessities
allowed her no choice, agreed to the proposal,
and the lady, who had been fumbling in her
purse remarked:
81 have no change, nothing less than this
three dollar bill. Suppose | pay you by the
month hereafter; it will save me great deal
of trouble, and will try to give you your
dollar month regularly"
Phoebe's pale cheek waxed still moro ghast-
ly as Mrs. Percy spoke, but it was not within
that lady's province to notice the color of a
washerwoman's face She did, however, OBJ
serve her lingering, weary steps, as she pro-
ceeded through the yard, and conscience
whispered some reproaches, which were so
unpleasant and unwelcome, that she endeav-
ored to dispe them by turning to the luxuri-
Gus supper which was spread before her.
And here | would pause to observe that what
ever method may be adopted to reconcile the
conscience to Withholding money so justly
due, so hardly earned, she disobeyed the po-
sitive Injunction of that God who has not left
| the time of payment optional with ourselves,
but who has said" The wages of him that
is hired, shall not, abide with thee all night
until the morning. 10 chap, Is.
verse.
The husband of Phoebe was day laborer;
when not intoxicated he was kind; but this
was of rare occurrence, for most of his earn
ings went for ardent spirits, and the labor Of
the poor wife and mother was the main sup
port of herself and four children--the eldest
nine years, the youngest only eighteen months
old. As she neared the wretehed howell she
had left early in the morning, she saw the IA
ces of her four little ones pressed close against
the window.
"Mother's coming, mothers coming" they
shouted as they saw her approaching through
the gloom, and as she unlocked the door,
which she had been obliged to fasten to keep
them from straying away, they all sprang to
her arms at once.
"God bless you, my babesm she exclaim-
ed, gathering them to her heart, "yoa have
not been minute absent from my mind this
dav. And what have you suffered" she adj
ded clasping the youngest, a sickly attenua-
Al I,oL;nc, ob;a,+ ~ bar hraaSt Oh IT