The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-10-03
EXTRAORDINARY INSTITUTIONS.


1t is the policy of every state in tho union
to establish ana support eleemosynary insll'
buttons in the form of lunstic, blind and deal
and dumb asylums, and if we mistake not,
one or two of tho older states have inebri
ate and idiotic asylums. That this is emil
nently proper, no rght.minded person, nc
citizen with drop of the milk Of human
kindness in his bosom, will even attempt to
gainsay. 1t is right, 1t is but human charity
il is but an exalted obedience
to the Divine mandate to love
thy brother as thyself, that the unfortunate,
the stricken of our kind, should be cared fer
out Of that bounty with which the loving
Father in His generous bestowsl of gifts has
entrusted us with. Who, with one spark Of
kindly feeling in his heart, with single gem
erous emotion in his bosom to ennoble him
and advance him a step toward the throne OF
God, ever saw blind man or woman, or
little child, that feeling of sympathy, OF
pity did not swell within him or deaf and
dumb man, or woman or child that he did not
sorrow for the inlliction an inscrutsblo fate
had fixed upon him or her; or
an insane person, the more form
OF a human being, with all of tho light gone
out of the mind and soul, unsurpassed by a
raving devil, as II we're, that peopled all the
world with flends incarnate, or dwelling ex-
ponent of nothing, with day and night, the
sun and moon and stars, the seasons and all
creation but blank, that did not feel IN awe
overshadow him, that was not reused to u
sensation of abject terror at the wonderful
power of the Creator of all created things /!
How prone is man to faultfnding; how
hard to please with the lines
that befall him in this life.
If he Is comfortably of, his soul is Knocked
with vain regrets that he has not more of
this worlds goods. If he is rich, he is dis
contented that no is not richer. If he is
poor, and those who are nearest and dearest
to him in life, those who are of his bosom
and of his loins, have rough places to travel
over instead of nowery meade, have only
hillsides to climb instead Of grassy walks in
pleasant valleys, his soul is embittsred and
the shadow side of life envelopes him, with
ne'er ray of sunlight TO break the gloom.
But there is no philosophy in this, there is
no faith in the mere 7, the justice of God, and
without faith, without love for Christ and
Him cruciled there is neither peace on earth
nor crown in heaven. Tho richest man
that lives, wi h his govt, with lis troubles il
taking care of hi, means, with the importu
mites for aid that daily beset him, with the
anxiety for his argoses that may be aloat,
or his ventures in tho field of speculation
with whatever skeleton there may DO in his
closet, and there arc but few households
without closet without their skeletons; not
one Of them lives who is not more blessed
than blind man, deaf and dumb man
or luuatic. No matter how
poor man may be, how hard struggle h,
may have day by day with the wolf at tn
door, however much his heart may ache an,
his soul sink within him at the sight of hi
pale faced wife with her anguish-torn heart
at the sight OF his weo children, innocen
and helpless, hollow-eyed and pinch-lippe
with hunger, yet If his limbs be whole, if HI
mind DO sound, if his sight DO clear, if hi
hearing and his speech bo unimpaired, he
better of than the blind, the manned, tn
deaf and dumb, tho insane. God doeth a
things we'll He has purpose in Al
his acts, in all the Affections Ii
visits upon His creatures and for every thor
that pricks the body, for every agony this
wracks the soul in this life, there is iewt
in the crown of the hereafter, a sweeter no,
in the hymns of praise and rejoicing ut tn
redemption of that soul, at the redemption {
that body from pain. Again we say it
right that these eleemosynary institutions ;
established and maintained by the state, an
we not only say that it is right, but we sa
it would be criminal negligence, a pitifu
disgracefal parsimony if it weI
not done. Prisons, strictly speal
ing, may not come unde
the head of eleemosynary institutions
yet viewed in correct light and considere
from humanitarian standpoint, they are q
that nature. When men commit crimes the
are imprisoned as much for reformation, a
much for the publication of their hearts an
the elevation of their minds above the d,
grading level of wrong,as for punishment. Tn
sympathy of every philanthropists of ever
good man and good citizen must go out I
'le criminal in his gives, the felon with h
snavsn head and his striped clothes. He
andera ban. The blacknes of q night
sGface Is upon him, and his soul is humi