The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-02-19


alone No man can dig a sewer In this climate
on muscle made of bread; even the excel
lent article made by Mr. Bryce is not enough;
] know "the law of supply and demand" and
the inhuman stuff that is taught in the text
books on political economy, and know that
women are working in this city for So week,
and find themselves" and know where they
will find themselves after short while on these
condtions-in the graveyard, or in worse place.
So am not surprised that the ordinary working
man OF his State has not much of anything over.
If sickness comes, flood flame, he is soon
helpless
take it that many Thousand men, their wives
and their children, to day dependent for food
and fire and flannel on their neighbors, and this
from no fault of their own Many of us have
tried, and perhaps are now trying, the problem
OF being Door and getting along. We have
bought coal by the bueketful ard potatoes in a
saucer, and have discovered that the cost of
things increases the less you buy.
1.-THE destruction of the poor is their poverty"
is my meditation every time see a maG buy a
little of anything He pays for it. It costs as
much TO wait on man for a nckel's worth a
dollars worth. 1t takes as much paper and
Irvine to Tie the package with, and the time of
the man who ties it, and the man with only q
nickel pays the waiter.
THE PATIENCE OF BENEvoLENcE
We are in, not for battle, but for campaign.
If the distress would only recede with the water
it would be an easier war, but the result of this
flood Will not be measured for some months.
There will be few people drowned starved to
death in tins week, hut many will die afterward
from what is happening now. 1t is a struggle to
keep one small family on North Delaware street
well. They ATE sheltered, fed and clothed, but one
or more OF them is on the verge of fever all the
time in this shifting weather. What will it be then
to those people who look out of third-stOry win
dows on the waste of dark water. The
thing is terrible for young men in the pride of
their strength, but what is it to the old and feeble?
Think of il, for children and for the mothers of
children, and for those already sick. God bless
them! Several people will remember If they
live to remember) that their birthday was on
one of the days of the deluge.
Va fANrr arnHr fnp aCff 1an
most generous effort. There must be letting
up and no sagging back The exposure of these
days OF hardship will tell a fearful story in the
way of sickness and death, Those places now
under water win be dangerous places TO live In
after the sun shines. Life and health VIII suffer
in the drying out. People are generous, bur are
they patiently generOusi Can they be generous
by the month";
"If but this tedious battle could be fought,
Like Spartas heroes, in one rocky pass
One day be spent in dyingl
Men then had sought the spot,
And Bsen cut down like grass"
But, as I said, it is a campaign. There will he
an army OF men out OF work for some time to
come.
There are, suppose, in every community some
mean men who never give to anybody or any
thing | have nothing TO say to these. In
due time Death will handle them, and they will go
TO their own place. 1t Is great comfort to me to
know that all these mean men will die-be taken
hence. 1t is "A fancy of mine that their souls will
not be dealt with individualy-that being too
small business. They will be put in o box to-
gether, and the box will be-condemned. For the
sake of reaching these am glad the Legislature
has voted an appropriation. The only collector
tnat can reach such wretches is tax collector
But the bulk OF people are generous, and feel like
lending a hand and standing by. Christian, at
such time as tins, knows know exactly what to do
Rot look backward and you need not look for
ward. 1t is not a time for curious inquiries into
the types in Leviticus or the outcome IN Ravela-
TONS 1t Is time to "bear one another's bur-
dens and so fulhil the law of Christ"
am not anxious about the shape of my crown
dnt,bf nfInh aahn I r,,ir,
willing to go to heaven bareheaded. and remain
there for sumo time without crown. Oae can
What the children of Lawrenceburg need now is
food and fire and woe The soul of man is
first in Importance but the body of a man is first
in time. "First, that which is natural; afterward,
that which is spiritual" Any inattention to hese
matters of life ana health and comfort, on the
part OF the church, will make intilels. Chris
tians must not only belong to this army of relief,
tagging in the rear-be camp-followers-but must
be in the van. Now is the time TO adorn the COS
pei and do what Christ would do If He were here.
There Ia no doubt what Jesus would say were He
here, what He would do, what He would carry,
Feel with these people. See their fires put out.
"A cry in the night is a fearful thing" See the
trundle-bed of baby lodged against the sUeeple
of a church. That speaks in reasons
HUMAN WEAKNESS AND THE ELTMENIs
There three things beyond our control-we
have not mastered them yet-wind, fire. water.
There is nothing built by man that will stand
against the elements in earnest. In spite of all
our inventions, and thai we live In the nineteenth
century, we are in the hand of God
as helpless as Noah was, except that humanity
is now never before organized. 1t is one. We
do not feel when the fever strikes Memphis or
the flame Chicago that that is their business
II Is our business. do not at this time regret
that we have not water front-just now we
have water enough-or that cannot walk the
aises of a pine wood or see a volcano, but
know very well that We are Ia the path of dam
ger. We can be made 10 send ont cry for help
that will make the wires Jingle any day in any
year, and touch the heart of the world. We are
part of the whole. mans arm is not any safer
than his leg. thoughtful man walking a slip.
perry street does not laugh long at the fall of his
neighbor. Humanity is a commonwealth. and
the sorrow of our friends along the
beautiful river will continue to make
itself felt in every inland town
We shall all share willingly unwiiingly in the
Wales is not any more aristocratic in kind or de-
gree than that of a London alley. 1t Is the same
typhoid fever. The poison of life is in the air
we breathe. We cannot absent ourselves from
any human felicity or infelicity. The fall OF any
man lowers the value of the human race, de-
preciates the common stock, and, therefore, l
am unwilling to believe evil Of anyone, not on
his account, but for myself
ORGANIZED SOCIETY.
We see the value OF society and organization
at such a time as this, and also OF human inven-
ton, of the use of lightning and steam. Sup
pose fire In old Carthage, or Athens or Rome.
| Who would have heard of IT. and when would
they have heard OF itf The old-fashioned galley
or sail boat lie not as quick as hunger. The news
| wonld come few months after the graves of
the people in trouble green; and the feeling
| on receipt OF the news would have been one of
| cOngratulation that another enemy was dead
| another rival buried,
Now the sorrow of soul over the sea Is known
] to you before he has wiped his eyes, and Christ