Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-12-07
THE SOUTHERN STATES A FIELD
FOR AMERICAN PHILAN-
THROPISTS.

THRoP1STS.
The people of the United States are Just
lly celebrated for the vastness of their phil
ianthropic works. The sun ever smiles up
on our labors of love. Every cline from
Greenland S icy mountains to the remote
regions of the Ant-artie Continent, has re-
.ceived the substantial blessings of our iber-
.ality. Philanthropy has been taught until
1t is as much a part of our social system Jas
education itself The infant first learns to
lisp demand for the smallest contribution
Ito assist in the education Of far off Atrie' S
8dusky sons or India Bnddhistic millions.
With an increase years comes an advance
of charity the penny increases to a pound;
from few thousand we have advanced to
millions, and with the force Of education
and the increase Of wealth, We are destined
to advance year after year, until every OBJ
ilct worthy Of charity be reached through
out the broad expanse Of the Globe. In
the disL4-.sa,ion of SO much charity, great
care, tact and ingenuity must be brought
into requisition to secure its proper dissenI-
nation. We are too apt to see the mote IN
astranger's 5 eye while we d6not eousiderthe
Beam flowing from our own. All around
rs there are objects most worthy of our
most liberal donations. yet we see them not,
and give our most special attention
and gifts to the regeneration; for the
moral and religious training of the anthro-
biological Figi Islanders This is com
monty denominatedi very properly, False
Philanthropy.
Charity begins at home. This apho-
rism is only observed when we speak o. our
individuality of our personal abilities 10
contribute in the broader and more gener-
al acceptation, in which it should be used, it
is seldom practiced. Not because the
objects of charity are less frequent in our
midst, but because we attribute too much to
our influences and associations, and too
frequently presume that our charitable in
stitutions are amply sufficient for all the
purposes for which they have been designed.
Distance lends enchantment to the view
in this great religious impulse of the hui
man heart, asweI as in many other practical
relations of life. We contemplate the mis-
cries of Asia and Africa from America.
The instrument through which We gaze at
the heathenish masses, who worship gods
of their own creation, is of the largest cali
bre; while the miseries in every community,
which can readily be relieved by the expen-
diture of few paltry dollars, are visible to
the naked eye and are of such common
occurrence, that by their frequency, they so
familiarize themselves to US that we cannot
see in them the objects of philanthropist.
And above all this man Is an egoistic crea-
ture, and not always disposed to follow the
scriptural injunction, Let not thy left hand
know what thy right hand doeth. 1t IS
pleasant thing to see ones name iu print in
front of fine array of figures, to be follow
ed with the eulogistic remarks of those who
prize such liberal benefactions, aud who de
sire to impress upon the charitable the
beauty of initiating so illustrious an exam
pie.
If "Charity begins at home, and we feel
determined to individualize the phrase, let
us apply it to ourselves as an individual ma
ton, not as an individual man or woman.
In this aspect, upon close scrutiny, we can
find sufficient objects Of philanthropy, to
employ the whole American philanthropic
system, for the next ten or twenty years In
the States that have just emerged from one
of the most bloody and terrible rebellions
which it has ever been the duty Of the his
torian to record. For long years the histo-
ry Of these States portrays a system Of
exclusiveness and barbaric practices. To
men who held sentiments antagOnistlc with
the prevailing system they were as lnaeces-
sible as the Chinese Empire has long been
to the world without. The minister Of
Christ who preached, Whatsoever yewould
that men should do to you do ye even Sc
to them, was unceremoniously elected,
provided he did not define the sense to have
no reference to master and servant. The
literature that inculcated higher civiliza.
ton than that produced by slavery, was con
signed to the flames and its author notified
that coat of tar and feather" awaited
him if he ever dared to set his impious feet
upon the sacred soil of Dixie" The mar
who entertained liberal views of Church anC
State and Morality, who believed Democ
racy did not mean slavery, was elevated t.
the boughs of the nearest tree, became tn
target of some inhuman monster or palC
the penalty for histemerity at tie glitterinl
point of bowie knife. These were tn
natural defences of an institution whicl
could not otherwise be successfully defended
Thanks to the Cheat Ruler Of nations, ant
the strong arms OF Northern freemen, thes
relics Of barbarism-this barbarism itself
have been swept away as chaff before fu
rious hurricane.
A field is now open for the reception {
all the philanthropy that the great North
ern philanthropists can bestow. And fo
once in cur lives let us be practical let ou
philanthropy stay at home, instead Of goin
to the Hindus or Abysinians to find object
for our material sympathies. Let US pou
our donations upon the objects of Chart
in the Southern States and bring them u
to the standard of the civilization Of Il
latter half of the nineteenth century aft
we have done this, after we have eonsidere