The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-09-05
The Helping Hand.

One OF the best forms Of charity in
modern times is that of care for the
IeSIeatioh OF children, and Of persons
"hose llVes would otherwise be totally
IhreileNed from the wearing pressure Of
daily toll. The older idea of charity
was that Of food to the starving. and aid
to the sick and physically suffering. A
inner sympathy perceives the starving
soul, the sick and weary heart. and
aims to cheer and console them. This
higher humanity takes many forms
The Flower Mission is one; the societies
for the protection of children and of an
imals are others; the newsboys' exeur-
siOns. devised by the Times a few wears
since, and the "Fresh-air FundH of the
EreninQ Post, are forms of the same be-
DevOleuce, and so especially are the
homes by the sea and among the hills
for working women and giFls, due to
the charitable hearts OF thoughtful
women. The chief value of this kind Of
charity is its pure humanity. There is
nothing obligatory or perfunctory in it.
There is a palpable duty to feed those
who are actually starving and to nurse
the sick, and it is performed often in
an official and formal manner, which
deprives il of the soul of sympathy,
which is the true blessing of charity.
The description Of endowed charities
which Dickens gives awakens dis
tinct feeling of comniseratiOn for the
victims of chartered charities as if they
were victims of chartered cruelty and
there are pictures in early numbers OF
the Illustrated NetCs OF the Christmas
dole of Goals to the London poor, in
which this bedizened beadle seems to
typify the hard and cold spirit Of the
charity itself.
1t was exceedingly interesting at the
opening of the Flower Mission this year
to hear the most eminent surgeons aud
medical men in the city say, with full
hearts and eyes, that the little gifts of
flowers did more than medicines for the
patients in the public hospitals, and
that the secret Of the efficacy was the
revelation made by such gifts TO every
solitary waif of humanity, that it was
not outcast or forgotten. These gentle
men, indeed, said that surgical opera
tiOns were more successful on the flower
days, this happy sense of sympathy
serving as a tonic. There is the same
kind of bond in the excursions and sum-
mer homes of recreation. There is a
consciousness, generally involuntary,
that the enjoyment which is furnished
is an act of pure grace. Nothing but
goodness, humanity, generous sym
pathy, would devise such schemes, and
this is a consciousness that civilizes and
sOftens the soul.
Mr.. ThurlOw Weed, in more than one
of his letters to the Tribune, advocates
the constant proving of this sympathy
/ by personal contact with the poor, and
| there is no question that the true rem
l edy for social jealOusies is not a cOmmu-
nistic leveling, which is simply drying
/ up the fountains of common welfare,
| but an actual and practical under
standing of the situation of others, and
/ the helpful aud humane spirit of relief.
I The Christian theory of charity, as eX-
/ pounded in stories and legends, ac-
/ knOwledged the duty of relieving want,
and implied knowledge Of those who
were in want; and there is, indeed, no
real succor unless the want of the heart
I for intelligent sympathy is satisfied.
I This implies a constant widening of the
sphere of relief, and, as we said, it in
wolves necessary recreation as we'll as
necessary food. In these torrid days,
the hand that kindly leads little child
away from the nOisOme city lane and
tenement-hOuse, or the devoted working
woman from her chamber or her shop,
to breathe the air of the sea, or to be-
hold, however uncOnsciOusly, the beauty
Of the mountains, is surely the hand
over which the benedictiOu was spoken
"WhOsOever dOeth it to the least of the
little ones, dOeth it to me. ."-Hdrper'S
Weekly.