, 1880-02-15

him. Crowds of remote relatives turn up In
every direction pressing the demands of kin.
| ship, the most of whom he never heard o1
before and never wants to hear OF again.
| Blackmailers and adventuresses try their arts
| upon him. He is coaxed, to1mented, and
| threatened. On the street, at his home, in
his Office, at every turn, he Is harassed by
| these importlnate and often impudent
beggars- If he gives, he is not
| thanked; If he refuses, he Is abused.
| Gratitude does not figure in the matter at all
| The claimants assert their claims as per-
sonal right. Having never provided for
themselves, they hare come to believe that
they have the right to be provided for. To
all intents and purposes they are communistic
mendicants, demanding that the liberal rich
have no personal right to their money, but
must give it up whenever 1t Is asked for by
the lame and the lazy. The donor not only
gets no gratitude, but he gets no reputation
except the very undesirable reputation aris-
ing from having his 1ibera1ity advertised far
and wide, which only serves to swell the
ranks Of the hungry crowd. The more ha
gives the more this crowd demand and the
less gratitude it displays. It is not long be-
fore he becomes the victim Of every beggar in
the community, and has to endure not only
his appeals for help but his inso(ence. There
is no persecution more irritating, no victim
more helpless. Unfortunately, it Is not a
criminal offense to besiege philanthropic
man, and it would be impolitic to throw gar
rulous and impudent mendicants out OF
doors, because they might sue him for as
IT, Ln. +on I.,~o 1n4
and they give him little rest in business
hours OF out OF them. Their ingenious per-
sfstence is superior to all his devices for es-
Gaping them. If he escapes them at the Of
fee, he finds them at the house. II he
lodges them at the front door, they turn up
at the back door, and sometimes they even
succeed in getting into the drawing-room
and library. Undoubtedly among all these
applicants there are some people whose
claims are merito1ous, and who need and de-
serve the commiseration and help Of the
phi1anthropist. But how is he to distinguish
them in the motley throng, the great majority
Of whom are professional giftseekers? II
he were allowed any free will in the
matter he would undoubtedly be glad to dis
play his generosity, but every demand made
upon him is Of q compulsory nature, until at
last he hates the sight Of beggar, and comes
to wish that he had never given q cent to any |
one.
There is only one avenue Of escape from
this constant and inso1ent importantly, and !
that is, for the donor to cease giving publicly |
and let himself be advertised as curmud- |
geon, or skint1int, or miser, and secure |
the widest possible circulation for the advet- |
tisement This will relieve him from the in
decent opportunities Of the mob, and give
him the opportunity to relieve distress pri-
vately and in q manner that cannot be known |
to the general public. However undesirable
such reputation may appear to him, it will
save him from the torment of his prosecutors
and remove a grieyous burden from his life. |
And he may have the consolation of knowing
that public almsgivlng breeds pauperism,
laziness, and deprives the worthy
poor Of help which they might otherwise
have However able man may be in other
directions, it requires unusual ability to be-
stow public benefactions without making his
life fntolerable. 1t Is thankless task at
best, and, even when most judiciously done,
entails no gratitude and does no good to
society.