The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-02-19
Was She to be Commended :?

A religious newspaper lately went into
pious ecstacies over young girl who,
though compelled to earn her living by
hard work at machine sewing, yet CON
rrived by dint of denying herself all but
the barest necessaries Of life. to contribute
quite literally to fund for the erection
of church edifce. The periodical
aforesaid praised the girl most lavisEly
and held her up as an example worthy of
imitation.
I question whether she ought not TO
be severely censured for such course of
conduct. Girls who support themselves
by taking in sewing do not fare at all
sumptuouslv if they have work all the
year round (Which is of rare occurrence)
and when they expcnd I'll their meagrc
earnings on themselves. To say of a girl
of this class that she confines her expen-
ditures to;;''bare necessities" means that
she lives on bread and tea, goes without
proper under clothing, and denies herself
the comfortable wrap which she needs to
protect her from cold and storms. She
moreover leaves herself without any re-
serve fund, and when work is slack, or
when it stops altogether, how is she to
subsist? II sickness overtakes her she is
com PEELED to 60 to the hospital and
add one more to the host who, through
ignorance, vice and Incidence have be-
come burdens on the public. Burdens
which you, my thrifty frienss, are taxed
to support. 1t is the self-respecting, self
denying and frugal in the community
who are taxed for the maintenance Of
hospitals, prisons and alms-houses. Has
any one right to increase the pauper
class or to recommend measures which
will land those who adopt them in
eleemosynary institutional Besides being
a burden the poor girl will not have the
care and attention she would receive at a
private house. She will be very much al
the mercy of doctors and nurses, who arc
not always the most humane of people
Most likely she will be experimental OF
by halfhedged physicians, and subjected
to treatment which, although perfect.
legitimate, cannot fail to be extremel,
distasteful to woman, however low i,
the scale Of refinement she may be. Ane
| the object of all this self-sacrifice is what
TO clothe the naked or feed the starving
No, it is that certain congregation ma
have a fine building in which to hold its
service. And then they have tn
effrontery to call this ''giving to the Lord.
Where IN the Bible is it comm anded o
ven intimated that costly churches are
necessity or that they are particular,
desirable; and where is the chapter ant
verse wherein we are enjoined to reduc
ourselves to abject poverty in orde
that the "Temple CT the Lord" may b
beautifed2 Solving to the LORD" in
deed! It's vanity and pride and nc
righteousness which dedicates piles G
marble and stone that cost from fit
thousand to one million dollars to th
service ofGod.
. Christ could be content with ''uppe
rooms," but we of this century must hav
our marble troAted buildings finishe
with stained-glass windows. costly alta1
pieces and expensive uphclstry. W
l count it, too, as thing worthy Of a
commentator that the poor should star1
their bodies and their minds in ord,
, that our church ediices may be artistica
: ~ frescoed and provided with ali tn
modern requirements Of elegant worshi
"Giving to the Lord!' It's rank bla
. phemy to saw that.