Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-04-26

H. 49,. 4. R1oAMNANNa
poor and In obscurity they have been com
Peheu 10 grind out their sorrows.
true, few here and there
heaven ordained, have shone II,
me'eorlc splendor from their lowly ob.
security, and won the admiration and
astonishinent Of the world; but the very
brightness OF their splendor has only re-.
Vealed IN darker contrast the iualienable
miSiortuneS that surround them, Phil
osophers nave grown gray trying 10 solve
we PROVEN, 70 give them life Of com.
paratlve ease Legislators famed alike
Tor craftsmanship and philanthropy from
beyond the days of Lycurgus have SAT In
solemn council celebrating, debating the
enigma, and when death overlook them
have been compelled to confess mania
utter inability successfully TO solve IL.
Law after law was enacted, but the moor
went still without relief, calling for food.
and "calling I'm vain TO ears that never
heard.n For time IL would seem that
during the administration OF Lycurpus
there was temporary relief in Sparta.
when sin order that he might expel from
the state arrogance and envy, luxury and
crime, and those yet more inyeterate dis
eases OF want and superfluity, he obtained
OF them TO renounce their properties, and
TO consent TO new division OF the land.
aud that they should live altogether on an
equal footing; merit to be their only road
TO emlnencei ana the disgrace OF evil, and
the credit OF worthy acts, their one
measure Of difference between man and
man" But this law came near causing
the death OF HIM who enacted It, and ii
was only by the most stringent prohibit
ton of intercourse with other states that
IT succeeded at all. A few years after the
death Of Lycurgus avarice again resumed
her former sway. So has 1t ever been
with acts Of this kind.
In all our great cities hundreds live In
the most destitute misery. II would
create surprise aud pity in you TO behold
them in their miserable haunts. They are
huddled together like animals, in bare
hats where the hot summer sun torments
them, and the winds of winter make them
SILVER day and night. They live like rats,
creating an impure atmosphere. They
are the first 10 be smitten by pestilence,
and suffer most.
From their huts they issue, some IN the
day, some in the night, searching for
something TO sustain lie, They 20 on
various errauds, some 10 labor, some to
steal, some TO black boots, sell news
papers, or to grind out their lives In some
mighty factory, while "their hearts blood
splashes upwards from the wheelsn into
the faces OF their employers. And that,
too, for bare pittance; hardly enough TO
keep life heaving within It's prison, let
alone giving them strength to labor. They
who claim TO be religious give layishly TO
foreign charity, but when asked TO aid
their own poor, whom they perhaps have
helped to make, they close their purses
mumbllng about hard times. Hard
times! Yes, to the poor when they petit
ton the charity OF their brother men. Is
not this strange condition OF affairs!
That foreigners whom we have never
known, In whose veins flows blood per
haps antagonistlc TO our own, appeal more
readily to our charity than the poor Of
! kindred blood, born beneath the same
sky, and nurtured on the same soil with
us2 Deny Ii, ye who may, would to God
1t were not so. However such charity
may seem 70 others, II does not appear to
me like charity; but more like sickly
affectation, "done to be seen OF men,"
and, shall ! say it, because 1t is
fashionable Aye, there's the rub
Because it is fashionablel Here is sin
that antagonizes the good there is in man,
| anu IndhGb MN MOAHHlHHNl NJ WIN
shadows and hollow formulas. Fashion,
thou curse OF society," Thou art q can
ker that eats out every good quality of the
human heartl But we are told In excuse,
the heather must have the light of the
gospel, or die in his sins. A weak argu-
ment this; tor are we all out OF our sins
aud our sins out of usp What we sim
ners go about preaching reform TO others,
and lecturlng them on ''goodi works."
while we are at heart call rottonness and
corruptionl" Good Cod look oil over
our country, especially in the cities and
the manufacturing portion, and then tell
me IL there is better chance among the
beathen than here to institute reform?
| II reform begins at home, are we prepared
TO reform others? My friends, our work
is not yet among the heather, 1t is ut our
own hearthstones. The poor, the untortu-
nate, the houseless and homeless are all
around us appealing TO our humanity, and
let them not appeal in vain! For the love
| of heaven az not for the love OF heaven,
for the love OF brethren in adversely, let
fashion 90 and sickly sentiment, Let us
succor those who cry to us from the
depths of vice and poverty. five believe
in good works let them be amongst our
own poor, for where under heaven could
charity be more fltly bestowed, and beau
| uful because fitting? Build charlty-houses
(might they not be made self-sustainingp)
aud give the poor employment. Build
school-houses and educate their children;
i and, out OF the filth and abominatlon OF
vice, many VIII rise up and call you
blessed.
What you think they are spurious
people and cannot see any good they DOR