Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-02-28
How Best to Help the Poor.

1t is not great while since | saw, among
other things sent to a sort of depot for char
liable distribution, lot of lace frills and
collars, quite too much worn to be of the
slightest use to anybody. And that made
me think that when we bestow aims we
ought not to bestow them of the things only
that are of no use to us, and are in our way.
Worn-out shoes and tattered gowns will not
warm the poor; and Swiss rufiie is not
boon to woman who has not even "a calico
gown. Yet everybody does not need this
advice. I" 1t is a real pleasure to give said
a friend, as she sat by me the other day, ar
rayed in the rich splendor OF velvet and the
soft comfort of furs. 81 never found out
what a luxury it was until this winter and
now have learned to make sacrifices, that
| may help to relieve some of the many who
are in distress" Well" / answered. al
know you are generous, and that nobody ever
brings a subscription paper to you in vain
but would like to know some of the ways
you can find to practice self-denial for sweet
charitys sake my idea being that she
could be as benefcent as she chose without
self-denial. However, she told me how,
where she used to wear several pairs of
gloves, she now wore one pair carefully, hav-
ing them cleaned, and putting her glove
money religiously into her poor-box; how,
on bright days, when she had been accus-
toned to ride, she walked, aud saved the car
fare TO buy somebody loaf of bread and
how, in one little way and another she ac-
cumulated enough to pay rent and buy coal
and -four and shoes for respectable families
who had never before been obliged to accept
assistance. The rich, as well as the poor
feel the pressure of a long period of financial
prostration. They have losses here and dis
appointments there; property once valuable
now returns no incomes; and real estate
which a few years ago was source of for
tune, is but an incumbrance for which they
must pay taxes. So many who live in pleas
ant houses and dress in rich attire feel ius-
titled in retrenching wherever they can. In
Decd retrenchment is with many stern ne
cessity. They cannot, if they would, launch
out into the extravagances which at some
former time were the ordinary accompani-
ments of life. Instead, however, of cutting
off any of the adornments of their dress, or
doing without some of the supertiuites OF
their table, their economy takes another
form. They halve the annual amount they
have been used to donate 10 the charitable
institutions of their city; they withhold
their quiet gifts TO the envelope fund of their
church, and they reduce the number of peo-
pie who work for them. Instead of employ
ing men to remove the snow, to dig the gar
den, and to do various little Jobs in the way
OF home repairs, they attend to these them
selves. They dismiss the young girl who has
been doing upstairs work--she was they
| think, a luxury, and Ill hard times luXuries
must be dispensed with. Ladies who have
been accustomed to have much of their sew
ing done by a seamstress do it themselves,
and in many cases sons aud daughters are
/ talr l. 81. L..l
been sent and are added to the already over
crowded ranks of the public schools. | am
convinced that the truest charity is that
which gives, not bread OF aims directly, but
work. 1t is far better Tor the young girl,
whose wan face tells its own piteous tale OF
want that she should enter your house and
give you a return, in labor of some kind for
| the money you bestowed ON her Ii is far
better that you should keep your servant,
even at less wages, than turn her adrift in
pinching times. Her monthly stipend puts
foods into the mouths of little brothers and
sisters at home, or it pays the rent, and so
removes from her mothers mind the one
haunting phantom of poverty in the cities
the dread of not being ready with the money
when the landlord calls, and terror of being
turned shelterless on the bare street. 1t is
better to 60 without n new coat, or new
hat, or a new suit of clothes than TO get these
things and procure the means TO do so by
paying as little as you can for necessary
help. These observations do not apply, OF
course, to those who feel that they have no
margin whatever ior anything except the
absolute requirements of existence. BE Just
always before you are generous. If you
have anything to spare, spare it in such a
way that II may bless and uplitt those who
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