The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-30
of the Orphan Asylum in this city. which comes

of the Orphan Asylum in this city, which comes in
somewhere between the limb of the tree and the hard
.+cne to catch the poor sparrows that may fall.
A soldier friend of mine in this city tells me of his
hospital days. woun..ed, sick, he lay on his cot and
the prefunctory little chaplain -sad to hustle in, and
say, Soldier what can l do for von.n He ,.ould not
20 anything for him, was not made right. his voice
was metallic ana his heart in the wrong place, and
then he tells me that the good old Catholic father
would stroll in and sit on the side of the cot, and say
nothing, put his cool hand on his hot forehead, shake
up his pillow, turn it the cool side up, mix him q
pleasant drink, write a letter for him, keep the flies
Oh, tell stories, sing an Irish ballad; coax him to sleep.
The money that is expended by this society does not
represent at all what is done. 1t is money and a visit,
and the visit is as much as the money.
have oftentimes thought what it might be to bein an
absolutely healthy, rich and perfect world. There are
some considerations that make me think that this is a
better world than that would be. We are imperfect
11nr Sa and are not adapted to an absolutely
perfectly healthy community is like the community of
Sparta, in which the children deformed, or indolent,
were exposed to death. 1t is a well COM
munity; but it is a brutal community. Better
have sickness in this world, and poverty,
.han for US to grow up without sympathy
and without friendship. I am glad that we are in
a world where so much remains to be done. The
captain of Company Z came to me after we mustered
out, at the close of the war, and said: Captain, we are
out of a job, and | look back now to the few weeks
that came after the war as the most wretched weeks
of my life. There is a kind of encouragement in
being now in the midst of the battle. I shall go back
this movement in this city as l saw them, and 1 shall
report the progress as 1 see it tonight, and shall pro-
woke the city of Denver to good works. / find where
l live now no trouble whatever in getting the money
that we want. We get the money as
trouble in getting a mans time. Time
is what we want. The time of men that axe able to do
this business intelligently. Not every man is a good
collector. We want the best men in every city to
take this work in hand and carry it forward There
was a time when men magnifed the passive Virtues.
We are coming now to a time when the active virtues
can be magnifed. The old world, we are told, is a
discipline; the new world is an opportunity. I often
read the story of the Good Samaritan, and always find
something new in it. I read it newly the other
day. The Good Samaritan was a man of
means. A poor man can be a Christian, but
to be an active Christian, and to do real good he must
have a beast, and wine, and oil; and you must have
more than this-an inclination to lend your time, to
stop right in the road when you are on an erranI of
business to attend to an errand of love. 1 want to
impress this matter of time upon you because it is the
real question. At Denver our committee of last year
wanted to retire for a new committee. There are not
two good committees in one city. 1t wants the same
men over and over again, the men who have had ex-
perience. A few men of this kind can go upon
this city or any city, living in it,
acquainted with it, with it's wealth, and raise the
get these mems time, and their time is valuable. I
propose in Denver to go forward until we gather ev-
erything into this organization, and to so unity all
these things that one collection made every fall shall
include every benevolent thing that there is carried
forward In that city. l am persuaded we are on
the right track, and this is the road, andI seem to hear
the voice of God saying, walk ye in it.
The music of the occasion was furnished by
MIR. Levi, Mrs. lowering, Mrs. Watson, Mr..
Allen and Mr.. Leckner. The exercises closed
with a benediction by Rev. r. ". Hunter.