Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-03-19
Den SATURDAY slaaT.
POVERTY.

for our Saturday Night but Il Is
rich IN ils materials, though we
feel poorly prepared at this time
70 dsvslOpa them "richly."
The AReentb, the hundredth, the
thoussndth week Of work has pass-
ed over, and this may be the thou
sandth Saturday night Of labor or
reflection.
How many, very many, can look
back from tonight over the, per-
haps, gloomy vista Of so very
many week endings, aud while
finding il easy to recall the tolls,
struggles and trials thereof, lind it
yet more difficult to reckon up the
gains thereof.
Ny friend, you have climbed q
long way up the hill Of life, though
you may not be old, aud II is to
you, you that have been fighting
this life battle, a life battle in more
senses than one, that we wish for
the nOnCe to address Ourself.
The photographer will tell us
that poverty Is "the destituliOn Of
property Indulgence ; want Of con-
reaient means Of subsistence" But
with all the learned wisdom the
dellner brings TO his aid, how
"poOr' 4 definition Is this, and how
far short Of cOmpleteness' True,
too true, II Is that the Children's
cry for bread, the orphans wall Of
want, the widows grOan Of suffer.
Jog, the husband and brothers feel.
iag Of despair, are bitter testimony
of p~Overty's rigorous despOtism.
Poor children, without fault or
blame, deprived Of parents and
protectors, thrown upon the ten.
der mercies" OF the world, and
doomed to endure the Lnawings Of
hunger, the nakedness Of a want Of
clothing, and the exposure Of a
wrelched houselessness!
Where In this wide world shall
they look for comfort for a provis.
ion, for are and ~fOSterage! Where
butin the reluctant precincts Of the
Asylum-Or driven to seek it in
the lowest channel Of desperation
and guilt?
Upon whom shall we place the
" Onas prObdndf" for the guilt, If
we may 60 term Il, which doOns
the widow 10 cOnsort with want =:
Want is 8 creature Of life, but he is
a kinsman Of Death! Can We
think 0fthe awful situation Of such
an one, without feeling that Hood
had her In his mind when he wrote
that touching and expressive "Song
Of the Shirt!' Well did the poet
eauseh her to say:
Hwhy thOuldI talk Of Death,
'rhat phantom Of grisly Doue,
fhted not lear his terrible shape,
~ ltt 80 like my own!
II Is 20 like my own.
Because Of the lsGts keep
y, 19dl that bysId should be W ideaT,
tnI And ncsh, anu blood, 80 cheap.
III All! what pen viii not shrink
from the task Of pOnraylng the
woes and d%estltutiOn Of the power
lty stricken woman She may
work, and strive, and toll; she
may calculate, devise, aud cOntrive {;
she may "ply her needle and
thread" in =" poverty, hunger and
dirt" and in spite Of labor, waiting
and prayer, her poor, shrunken,
starved body may sink into a pau.
pers grave, unknelled, uncotfined,
aud unknown Co.,.
And yetheaped upon this physi-
cal bergavment, Ills bodily lacking,
the husband father has the Goals Of
lire that are blown into a flame of
torture, by distress Tor his dear
ones.
And what Is that distress? .,
who shall tell?
Could he but suffer alone; could
his frame and his body be the only
one that endured the terrible pri-
vatiOns ; could his be the only heart
breaking beneath Its load, then the
ease were mitigated. But not so.
He Is fated to see his flowers and
blossoms cut down about him, his
treasurers and loves gradually
perish, aud he, with the will and
heart TO save, bound hand and foot,
powerless aud impOtent!
Terrible thought indeed, aud aw-
full the apprehension!
But, let us ask, is there no other
pOint1
Is there not. afterali, and in spite
of photographers, . poverty from
which We should shrink almost as
from tho dismal picture our pen
has painted? Is there no poverty
of the mind, no poverty of the
sOui2
Is there no suffering that has
r. ~. Tas