Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-12-02
The Winters Work,


The first two weeks in November
bring us the semi-annual reports from a
large majority Of charitable Institutions.
private and religious, throughout the
country AID, ON rcalng them, their
FIRST effect is astonishment at the vast
sums actually contributed by the wealth.
Ter for the poorer classes, and sad con,
viction Of their failure 10 produce any
permanent good result. 1t is all folly to
join in the popular ou'cry against the
calluusncss OF well-lo-do people. There
is not man in the country to-day, him
self not pluper, who is not taxed to
support this dead weight of pauperism
and criminals; there is not church
which Is tot also a CHART able institution.
In every town or village beneficiary so
c.etics are au appreclable power in its
politics.; while IN the cities alms-giving
becomes a fine ait, and has a remedy
ready for every species of suffering. Yet
in spite Of all this unfaillng store which
charity pours out OF her Golfers year by
year, there lie Pauperism and Crime as
big, as heavy, as helpless a weigh as ev-
er. in this slough have been swallow
ed up" said John Buuyan, "at least
twenty Thousand carloads of earth to
make good ground Of it, aud millions OF
wholesome instructions but it is the
Slough Of Despond still, and so it will
! b. When they have done all they oan.n
| We DO not believe in the willingness of
the denizens of this Slough OF Poverty
| to stay there, any more than in the un-
Willingness OF their more fortunate
brethren to help them out. II the cJun-
try was cursed with an uphealty climate,
over ? )pulaliUn, or poor soil, the pro-
! lem Of helpless pauperIsm would be ex-
plicable; but what can we make of it, in
the face OF national resources such as the
world can not equal for breadth and
abundance, and OF this lavish charity?
The sole solution is that help is appli-
ed in the wrong way. The earth is not
the kind, as John Bunyan would say, to
make good ground or Tie great aim
of our present charity is to help oar
needy brother, not TO help him to help
himself We put bread in his mouth,
not tools in his hand; hence lie is to be
fed tomorrow, and tomorrow. Every
county OF every State has its alms-hous-
es where hundreds of thousands OF
drunkards are kept at the public expense.
The whole country cannot afford halt
score Of inebriatc asylums where the
drunkard can be cured. If a penniless
woman sits down in dilt and rags to
starve, Church or State will surely take
her m; but If she looks about for some
school where she can learn decent trade
to earn her own living, where will she
find it? What is done TO give pauper
] i. ! Il nf h..
or useful citizens? They are not forced
to accept tie education which naturally
they refuse; the Houses of Refuge are
too often the mere hot-bels of vice, and,
except in one or two cases, teach them
only part of trade of no earthly
available value 10 them on dismissal. In
many parts of Germany a certain fund
is set aside to be lent to deserving young
mechanics or traiesmen at the beginning
OF their career, to b. repaid with inter-
est; such plan Or its principle is not
recognized among us. SO far as we know,
in any civil or religious body.
We have urged this view of Work VS..
: Aims, until we know Of no fresh words
in which to place it, simply because we
, believe in it lies our sole escape from the
crushing weight OF pauperism which is
sspping even our young carly strength.
! We urge it especially at this time be-
; cause we notice how rapidly the more
l rational view is difusing itself, and
how, especially in the eli $, aimless
aims -sivingis is taking the shlpe of schools
. dc,ign or of different handicraits, homes
aud eating houses for working-men aud
: women where comfortable board is sup
= piled at cost, rooms for instruction On
t sewing machines, etc. The list is as yes
+ lamentably small, but no leaven works
= like rational idea. There need be no
: fear that there will not always be among
! us excusable poverty enough to keep our
n purse strings lax and our hearts warm
: but lei us 90 to work heartily at once to
relieve ourselves of the clogging burden
y of an ablc-bodied brother and him of the
: heavier weight of our aims. There is
= much in the PruSian system which we
h can recommend to Philanlhropists as
i one which rils the Stale Of all useless
II matter and keeps alive the spirit of the
paople, by urging each beggar TO that
i use of his hands that alone will make
H., - ,,,,r an,onu mpn-N y TribIue