The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-01-15
NO. 46.

They prefer to pay l or l is per week for its
use. II they had the money they would not
purchase; and on several occasions when
benevolent persons have presented them
with barrows, they have Immediately sold
them at deduction OF hundred per cent.
to realize ready cash-nothing being in their
eyes so desirable as immediate money. The
owners OF the barrows, live like Lords.
One man owning 120 barrows worth e24o
| derived from them nett income of e3e0 a
year. Many of these owners who let bar.
rows on large scale, become wealthy in the
course of few years. and often retire to
ease and INDEPENDENCE in an ornamental
cottage or suburban villa.
With these meagre details we must here
stop. 1t is painful subject fnasnaueil as il
exhibits vast number oi huinaa beings
living in degraded stare. abandoned to
mere sensual life. The darkest clouds, now
ever, are lined with silver and this picture is
not without some cheering light. Evidence
is not wanting in even these wretched be-
ings, OF human goodness which would bring
We have never felt, when visiting these
haunts, any other sentiment than that of
commisseration for these unhappy victims OF
neglect. tits not difficult for the well-fed
moralist, seated in his easy chair, his slip
pered feet upon the fender and a bottle OF
ruby wine within reach, to expatiate on
the depravity Of human nature and the
beauties OF virtue, knowledge and religion.
Aye, preaching is indeed easy. We first
stigmatze these victims of misfortune as
BRITISH, stolid, wicked--then reap the
rewards of their labors and deny them the
dignity OF citizenship, take from them all
incentive to perseverance, all desire to be re-
spectacle, all future hope, and then declaim
against their recklessness, their disorderIy
habits, their ignorance and their wickedness,
In other words we never want plea for our
own shortcomings and misconduct.
Could the moralIst so easily stand the
Wear and tear of poverty? Were he sub
jected to their trials what would become of
him and his prudence and self-denial:
Where would be this we'll wined and we'll
dined homilist without hope to stimulate and
port to fortify? If instead of his leisure
60 moralze upon the frailties of human ma
ture, he were confined to some irksome en-
ployment from dawn till dusk, fed upon In
sufficient food, married to an overworked
and underfed factory girl, deprived of the
opened up by education, with
no place of recreation but the pot house or
the two-penny theatre, we imagine the COM
placent moralist would be little better than
those he looks down upon from the heights
Of his prosperity and enjoyment. AS no
life is pleasing to God but that which is
useful to mankind, would it not be wiser
and more virtuous to labor to redeem
these wretched people, instead of denouncng
them: Ifafter providing them healthy en-
ployment and remuneratYe wages suitable
forhours of relaxation, books,
lectures, concerts and exhbi-
tions in word, doing our duty, putting
our neighbor in possession OF all the adyan.
tages we enjoy, they continued incorrigible
it will be soon enough to inveigh against
their sins, the sins OF suffering humanity.
But some people viii never learn anything.
for this reason: becaEse they understood ev-
erything too soon. He is a good divine that
follows his own instructions, and these rail-
ing moralists would be more useful men and
more reliable guides if they preached less
and worked more, since it is agreed that the
characteristic OF man of
merit is to be ever active in laudabe pur-
suits