Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-06-05
Poor Fellow and Bad Fellow.

The kinship Of pity to love is shown
among other ways in this, that it ideal
ICES its OBJ ect. Sympathy with one in
suffering suppresses for the time being
remembrance of his transgressions.
The feeling which vents itsel in poor
fellow!' on seeing one in agony, ex-
cludes the sthought.~of '.bad fellow, y
which might at another time arise.
Naturally, then. ifthe wretched are un-
known or but vaguely known, all the
dement's they may have are ignored;
and thus it happens that when, as just
now, the m.series Of the poor are depict
ed, they are thought of as the m;series
of hefdeserving poor, instead OF being
thought OF, as in large measure they
should be, as the miseries of'.the, unde-
serving poor. Those whose hardships are
set forth in pamphlets and proclaimed
in sermons and speeches which echo
throughout society are assume to be all
worthy souls, grievously wronged, and
none of them are thought:of as bearing
the penalties of their own misdeeds.
On hailing q cab in q London street it is
surprising how generally the door is
officiously opened by one who expects
to get something for his trouble. The
surprise lessons after counting the
many loangers about tavern doors. or
after observing the quickness with
which q street performance, or process
sion, draws from neighboring slums or
stable yards a group Of idlors. Seeing
how, numerous they are in every small
area, it becomes manifest that tens OF
thousands Of such swarm through Lon
don. s.They have no work" you say.
Say rather that they either refuse work
or quickly turn themselves outsof2 It.
They are simply good or-nothings. who
in one way or other live on the good
for something's Migrants and sots.
criminals and those on the way to
crime, youths whoaare burdens on hard
worked parents, men who appropriate
the wages of their wives, fellows who
share the gains of prostitutes, and then,
less visible and less numerous, there is
corresponding class of women. Is 1t
natural that happiness should be the
lot of such, or is it natural that they
should bring unhappiness on them
selves and those connected with them?
Is it not manifest that there must exist
in our m DIST an immense amount OF
misery wllch is a normal result of mis-
conduct, and ought not TO be dissociated
from it., There is q notion, always
more or less prevalent, and just now
vociferously expressed, that all social
suffering is removable, and that it is
the duty of somebody or other to re-
move it. Both these beliefs are false
To separate pain from ill-doing is TO
fight against the constitut on of things,
aud will be followed by far more pain.
Saving men from natural penalties OF
dissoiute living eventually necessitates
the infliction OF artificial penalties il
solitary cells, on tread wheels. and by
the lash / suppose dictum, on which
the current creed and the creed 81
science are at one, may be, considered
| to have as high an authority as can be
lfound. Well. if the command Elf any
would NOT work neither should he eat
| IS simply a Christian enunciation Of
that universal law Of nature under
which life has reached its present
height that law that . creature no,
energetic enough to maintain itsen
must die--the sole difference being
that the law which in the one case is ID
| be sartificia1iy enforced Is. in the othei
| case, q natural necesgitys Hef6er1
| Snencer. IN the C0uteu7D0rGrH ReU5esc,