The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-08
Tho Duty OF Pebble aad Private CHAR
ity-Thc sufrerings Of tho Poor.


niless and unemployed have thus at least
been spared the extreme suffering attendant
upon severe cold. This has certainly been
fortunate, in view of the extraordinary destitu-
ton occasioned by the financial calamity OF Last
fall Nevertheless the thought OF there being
much unrelieved misery at our doors rarely
occurs to those who enjoy well warmed homes
and sufficiency of wholesome food, and who
do not know how much misery Is endured
even in apparently moderate weather, by those
who have but scanty clothing and more scanty
I nourishment Although it is true that we have
had but very few severe days this winter. the
! weather has been cold damp and unhealthy,
and there has really been as much need Of
aid to the poor as if the thermometer
had stood d great portion OF the time
below zero. The snow and the frost again
adnonish Us that the winter is not yet over.
The charitable societies and individual charity
have yet wide field before them. and if the
efforts they have made so efectually in the
past be continued without relaxation much
suffering may be spared during the next Two
or three months.
We have already shown how nobly New
York is in the habit Of providing for its poor
and have borne testimony to the benevolence
of our citizens in their private capacity
While we expend million and a half dollars
annually on the institutions under the charge
Of the public Commission Of Charities and
Correction, and find, in addition to this some
one hundred charitable societies and institu-
tons in existence more or less of public
character, we may we'll feel that neglect of
the poor cannot be justly laid at our doors.
We have besides . constant stream
of charity flowing in for the relief Of
suffering, from balls, theatrical entertainments,
fairs and other projects, for which we are in
great measure indebted to the ladies of New
York. Yet, even with all these good works to
our credit, we may well doubt whether we do
our full duty towards our unfortunate fellow
beings, and whether we do not heedessly
| allow much misery to 60 unrelieved which
very little additional exertion and iberality
might avert. Probably there are few who
really understand how much suffering there is
in a great city like New York, especially in q
season of commercial depression, when many
thousands of industrious people, who are ordi-
narily enabled to earn a decent living for their
families, are suddenly thrown out of work and
driven to choose between public aid. beggary
and starvation. Most of us have general
knowledge that there are great num-
Der of unemployed workingmen in our
midst, and much want among the labor
ing classes but few think deeply enough
to form an adequate idea of the quiet unob-
trusive silent misery endured by one class of
the poor; by those who have occupied good
position in better days, and whose pride and
self-respect, combating with absolute starva-
ton, not unfrequently win the day and leave
their victims to die in misery, unnoticed and
unrelieved. 1t is to this sort of suffering that
we desire especially to direct the thoughts of
our public officers and Of charitable individu-
ais, for as the winter draws towards a close
the necessities of these poor creatures become
the greater. For two or three months they
may manage to keep body and soul together
without aid, for they have generally some re-
sources in the few articles of furniture or
wearing apparel they may have gathered about
them in better days. But as time steals on
they part with all these, and then they have
nothing to do but to lie down and die,
unless Christian hands bring to them the
necessary relief. Let those who doubt the &C
curacy Of this statement make inquiry at the
pawnshops of the city-those thermometers
of the peoples sufferings-and they will be
startled at the descriptions of the customers
who have frequented their counters this win
ter, and of the articles with which, one by
one, they have been compelled to part
The laboring classes have generally benefit
societies to extend to them some aid, and
they are, besides, wisely sought out by our
public charities in order that relief may reach
them before they are tempted into association
with the dangerous men who are the declared
enemies of society, and who are constantly on
the watch for their victims among the un-
employed. But ''genteel poverty" as it is
sometimes called, is left to suffer in secret,
and too frequently does suffer to the extreme
end before its wretchedness is discovered or
even suspected. 1t should be the effort of
charity to search out this misery, for, beyond
question, fearful amount of it exists in New
York at the present moment. One way of
accomplishing this is by the individual efforts
of charitably disposed persons and of tie
visiting committees of churches and benevo-
lent associations. If the secrets of some of
the tenement house rooms and lodging
houses could be laid bare before
the public eye to-day we should, no
doubt, be startled and Mortified by the
tragic stories they would reveal. In rejecting
upon these things we must not forget that the
present winter is one Of exceptional sufering
that our public institutions have been called
upon to expend an extraordinary amount of
money on the poor; that private charity has
been taxed more heavily than ordinarily for
the relief of the cases that obtrude themselves
on public notice. We may be assured, there