Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-02-03
NO. 49,.
BECGARS. AND HOW TO TREAT THEM.

BECGARS. AND HOW TO TREAT THEM.
One of the most difficult things in the
world is the right administration of mate
rial help in cities like these, where beggary
Is reduced to fine art where it largely
consists III impudence and roguery Do
not know that | have been analyzed,
watched, and studied? Have not known,
| ottentmes, when applicants for assistance
have come to me, that they have inquired
what sort of a person am, and where nv
weak side is? The moment they began
to present their case, | saw that they were
going to try to get on that side, and
Strengthened myself up combatively, and
said, "No, you DON'T
There are great many cases in which
| turn away from my door persons who
apply for help, that am sorry about for
months afterwards but | cannot help it.
have the reputation of being a recklessly
generous man-which is not SO: and |
have great many friends who like to in
crease that reputation by saying to every
poor dog that comes to them for help,
MIR. Beecher is very kind-hearted man;
! 90 to him. and he will look into your case"
| suppose there are five hundred cases, in
the course of a year, of persons who come
to HE, and say that they were sent by
members of my society, who assured them
that | was II Kind man. | always say to
such persons, "Who sent youp" They
say, "Mr. So-and-so sent me- / say,
Did he give you anything?" If they say
that he did not, / say, Then | shall not
give you anything. Go right back to him,
and tell him to do something for you, and
send me letter, over his own signature,
assuring me of the fact, and then | will do
something for YOU
OF course do not suppose that any of
you ever did such thing. OF course, I
know that any of you would yourselves
give to persons in need that applied to you
for help, instead of sending them to me.
But when there is such an organized sys-
TEN of beggary one is perplexed to know
what to do
But there is a hopelessness in this mat
ter Of administering help, arising from the
consciousness that in so many cases one is
deceived by applicants for aid. There is
this feeling often; II have given away
hundred dollars this month, and am
pretty certain that ninety five dollars of it
have been squandered, and what thank
less business givingis is, where i'll nine times
ont of ten what you give is undeserved
and thrown away
Then right on top of that will come the
case of aperson apparently in distress. of
which will say, Il am sure this is all
right and | will give five or ten dollars.
as the case may be; and before the person
gets out of the house something or other
will turn up, something will appear on the
surface, that will satisfy me that | have
{ been taken IN again.
I | always pity the next two or three folks
that come after that. They get punished
for the imposition that has been practised
by others on met And then l turn upon
myself and say, "A pretty fellow, you are
These last were worthy cases, and you re-
fused to help them because you were so
stupid as to be taken in by those artful
cases" And there it is. A man that is
full of feeling cannot help being imposed
upon.
suppose l do slop orer sometimes.
Wen, never saw pan just full of milk
that did not slop over. If you do not want
put it in II big bucket. There will be no
stopping over then. And a man who has
only a pint of feeling, in an enormous
bucket, never slops over. But if man is
full of feeling, up to the very brim, how is
he going to carry himself without spilling
over? He cannot help it. There will be
dripping over the edges all the time. And
as every flower or blade of grass rejoices
when the rain falls upon it, so every recip-
lent along the way in which man with
Overlooking generous feeling walks is
thankful for his bounty.
How to carry nature full of feeling,
and administer without making mistakes,
do not know, you do not, nobody does,
nobody ever did, and nobody ever will
so we must take it and get along as best
we can. Life is kind of zig-zag any
how and we are obliged to resort to ex-
pedients, and make experiments, and
learn from our blunders, which are newt
able. We tiud out a great deal more from
mems mistakes than from their successes.
But after all, | am not sorry that have
been imposed upon, and that have trus-
ted men that were not worthy to be trusted.
am not sorry that | have been duped.
1t falls out from an abundance of generous
feeling. 1t is the mistake of disposition
that l think is a great deal better to have,
with all the impositions which it suffers,
than that kind of cold caution which pre-
vents you venturing anything on the side
of kindness, because yoWalways want to
be safe.
was much impressed with what once
heard my father say. His chance sayings
have been like rudders to me all my life
long \ man whom he had befriended
and done great deal for, turned against
/ him, and acted very meanly. One day
father came home very much excited about
f it, and | expected he was going to blow
out-for he shook his head in "a peculiar
way that he had when his feelings were
very much wrought up. He said. (raising
his hand, and bringing it down slowly,
but with great emphasis.) "Well, when l
have acted honorably toward man, and
he goes away and acts meanly toward me.
| am never sorry that acted honorably
toward him."
Now, think that was sign of nobility.
He had a great many of those signs in him.
Never be sorry, then, for any generous
thing that you ever did, even if it was be-
, trayed Never be sorry, that you were
magnanimous, if the man was mean after
ward. Never be sorry that you gave. 1t
was right for you to give, even if you We're
imposed upon. You cannot afford to keep