New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-10-31

voluntary payment of tihes to charity. There IS
something singuarly offensive to the Ameri-
can in the idea Of tlthes. 1t vaguely suggests
the poor Irishman robbed Of lis pig to sup
port a Church Of which tie knows nothing.
Our American thank, God That neither Church
nor Sovereign has any hold upon him he is his
own master; his money, time, labor are free,
TO Use ior his own advancement.
Yet the fact is that he does ray tithes
Of Them all, aud the 1.-THE is not 50 often a
tenth as the half and he Is lucky If il be not
the whole. As to how or 80 whom he shall
pay if, that is usually settled for him when he
is a boy, by the blood that is in hin, by the
talk which goes on at lis fathers table, by
the behavior Of his mother, by the books
given TO him to read. At twelve years Of age
boys and girls have pretty clear ideas
of an owner waiting out IN the world for them
TO serve. and they begin Of their own accord
to pay him the biggest share OF their thoughts,
hopes work and tall1-all the material, in
short. that goes to make men or women OF
them. This, their owner is neither God nor
the Devil it is nothing SO live or 50 supreme
as either it is money, or fashion, or dozen
or more wcl-drcs-ed folk in the town or viii
iage whom the WJr>hIppcr calls Society. With
young, ardent people it is most frequently
vague, intangible something which Is dubbed
the World. Some day, they hope, lis unseen
mouth will take mp their names and repeat
them with a loud blast. That viii be pay
meut enough. Think Of all The toll, the agony,
the struggle Of young men and women for
those wages! The tithcs taken by this inyis
ible Thing cover almost all human effort,
J. Ia. %,
and train for through half the yelrl For a
single shout and cheer on the campus when
he shall win the hurdle race a windy noise
over in a moment. What takes the explorer
up to die of scuIVy or starvation in the Arctic
Circle2 Do you suppose he really cares a silver
for science or Sir John Fankln7 His
name in large type in n morning newspaper
will LLy him for that prolonged torture. Look
ut the poems, essays, novels brought out each
year-pcd together they would outbuild the
Tower of Babcl-the unstable pictures, the
useless inventions, the lives lost in battle
tithcs, tithcs, tithes, paid to that deaf, blind,
uumovinc shadow, Fame
But there is something enrolling after all,
even to the lookers-on, in this phase
Of paganism, common as it is. The god
worshipped is big, and the tribute paid
him usually draws out the best strength of
the victim. There are, however, some little
nasty dyinities to whom some of us pay
tthcs, and in the paying we grow steadily
through life meaner and smaller and more
unclean Oddly enough, it is the wOrshippers
of the same god who see most clearly the
effects of the worship upon each other. 1t is
the farmer who scrimps body and soul to add
another acre to his patch, who feeds his
drudge Of wife and ignorant children
on the refuse of the farm while he
sends the wholesome food to market,
that calls the rich man of the town Dives or
miser, and swears he has sold his soul to the
devil for money. 1t is the mechanics wife
who apes the latest style with keen anxiety
in her cheap, sleaZy gown who shuddcrs with
pious horror ut the pride and waStefulness in
her rich neighbours velvcts and laces. "Why
"was not this sold and given to the poor 2"
we cry of all costly ointments which do not
belong to ourselves. "Why does not this
"painter teach religious lesson by his art
"Why have not that mans books high didactic
purpose Why does not this rich man
build colleges or aSylums Why do not
clergymen preach the gospel for nothing ~
pay tthcs to the devil or his servants.
Meantime, we pay our own, somewhere to
something, every day and every hour not in
money alone, but in labor in time, in our
hest endeavors, in our life's blood Ii is
surely worth our while 10 stop moment and
see to what and where we pay them. They
are not always paid with selfish or wicked
purpose. Take it all in all the world we
live in is neither selfish nor wicked. Halt
the men in it and almost all of the women |
are draining their lives to pay tribute to /
their children husbands are sacrificing them !
selves to their wives, wives to their hus-
bands here a selfish invalid hangs like |
dead weight on some patient drudge there a |
worthless scamp saps the strength of a whole |
family. This kind of sacrifice is all noble |
and prasewOrthy in its intention. But let |
these unselfish folk see that it as noble in |
action as in purpose that they do not pay |
tithes to those they love of worthless |
anse and cumin and omit weightier |
matters. How many mothers to-day are |
making life burden to themselves |
and their families in order that their |
children and houses should be tricked out in |
certain fashionf Tucks, embroidery, a |
given number of sweepinss, certain style of |
housekeeping; these are their ideas of the |
highest duties of wife and mother. while |
they know nothing Of the secret life, the |
thoughts or hopes of husband and children. |
How many men are working themselves liter |
ally to death that their families may keep |
I'D appearances before a certain circle |
How many clergymen give their whole effort |
to set savory intellectual feast before their
people every Sunday, or to establish certain
petty church government or formula, while |
the souls of their hearers wander In dark |
ness 7 The intent in each case is noble 4; the |
performance is pitlable.
There is One to whom our tithes are DUE |