Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-11-22
The Robertson a..oeia.,on.


Saturday was such day a. 10 remind US
of the approaching winter, and lead us to
consid of the duties its coming imposes.
Should the winter prove hard and long, as
some OF its predecessors. it will bring with it
much suffering aud misery. 1t well known
that poverty does its most fearful work in
the cities; and though ours l. as free from its
blightlng effects any other of equal size in
the Union. il is "a melancholy fact that here
too we have the poor, who depend TO great
,teDt up charity for their comfort and
subsistence. The great increase Of the cost
of living in Nashville, within the past few
years-the greatly enhanced price OF house
rent, of beef, bacon, -four. meal, sugar, fuel
&c &c, have rend red it difficult tor many OF
those who come to live among us to exc out
a scanty cxistenc,. In the winter season,
when The necessities Of all are greatest, many
"a frail mother is Obliged to put shivering
child into a cold bed, and lie down beside ii
with al aching head. not knowing whence Is
to come food for the morrow. The misdetds
of few often bring these misfOrtunes aud
Inis ries upon many. The wife and child are
not responsible for the drunken or vaghbond
husband. But shall they he suffered 10 per-
ish a our doors, or at best prOlOng pr Car
ions and mis-, r;tble existence, i'll extreme sui-
fering and want? Tn, re can be but one an
wer. 1t is the Winter that lays its icy hand
upon the needy, and hangs the hearts Of
the poor with pail of frosty desolaiion
Then is the tine when benevol ne diHus
its smallest charity over the poserty-sirick-
en-, and arOuses emotions in the pCor HIATT
that revires hopes of a better day.
To dispense such beneVolcHce the Robert
son Association; was organic d. Ii has be-
in existence but few years, and yet it has
achieved d wonderful amount of good, s
pen -ed much Charity, and relieved much snf-
fering. To those who can afford it they make
an app al To come To their help in this truly
meritorious work. The heat OF the burden
will soon he upon them, AID without aid they
can do but little.
In ord n that our citizens might accomplish
the double end Of helping the poor and being
benefited at the time, the Robertson
Association have announced a series OF Ice
lures. The lecturers are each OF distinguished
ability, and will furnish more than compcn-
sation Tor the admission ticket. These Ice
turesare for the sole purpose Of relieving sui
firing in our city. The lecturers receive
nothing for their services, the Association re-
Gives nothing for it, and every cent OF the
receipts, after paying necessary EXPENSES, is
rcligiously applied to benevolent objects.
Under these circumstances We have been
mortified and astonished at the neglect with
which the lectures already delivered have
been received by the public of Nashville. We
can very we'll afford to give our money to
itinerant sham-amusament mongcrs, bY humid
r dis and thousands but when an ornate
scholar, and a finished orator proposes intel
lectual entertainment of the first order, we
turn on our heels and sigh Tor the circus, or
Ethiopian minslrelsy, or for some >uch splend-
did sight as the Australian Bear! :" II we
ar to patronize these latter. ! it be done;
hut why the discrimination? Why lavish our
means or these to the ut r neglect OF calls OF
mercy and sympathy and benevOlence Ia be-
half of the sick, and hungry, aud naked OF
our very midst: We may r,cur again to this
subject soon.