The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-02-27
For TnH ARKANsAw TRAvELxR.
 SPIKES, PHILANTHRoPIST.
BY CALEB coRKscREw.

BY (ALhb COkkSCREW,
 :, Sykes is a psailanthropist. He knows he Is because everybody says so, and what everybody says must certainly be true. Spikes Is very modest, but that does not prevent him from recognizing his own merits. Spikes has, in common with the rest of mankind, some few pecu- liarities, among which, perhaps the most marked, and may say quite decidedly, so is the Idea that he Is a philanthropist whose especial mission is the succoring of fe- males in distress. Spikes is great on this succoring business, in fact, we may say that he began succoring very early in life, and is still sucker. While he is always on the watch for opportunities to get in his work in this line, yet it has been remarked that he does the most diligent and heartiest succoring in those cases where the recipients of his philanthropy ical assistance are the most fair to view and have passed the fewer milestones on this pilgrimage from the wet.nurse to the sexton. It has even been said by those who, while they may perhaps have been prejudiced yet it must be admitted were reasonably we'll informed, that Spikes has been known to pass with averted gaze more than one well authenticated case of [deserving charity and on the very next corner subscribe fifty dollars to the society for the suppression of vice among the Malays when solicited to do so by the gushing Miss Clarinda Allcash. It is also known fact that at home Spikes wife has only one calico dress year and is maid-of-all-work, baking the bread which fills the ever open mouths, and washing and mending the shirts, coats and brooches which are worn by the i've little Spikes, or, l might appropriately say the progeny of the Great Spikes
 ranging from the sturdy twenty.penny of thirteen years to the little shingle-nail ip short clothes. But of these matters the public has no business to inquire, nor does it care, so long as the name of Spikes heads its subscription lists with a goodly figure.
 Another of Spikes peculiarities is the constant reiteration of the fact that he has never been "taken in [" or "done |" ont of any money by any chsritable scheme for filling the pockets of the few at the expense of the many, other than those which bore the unmistakable stamp of responsibility and gentility. But as the pitcher which passes too often owe, the bar will some day CT other lose its nose in the cuspidor, so the great Spikes one day lost his head, as it were, and re- ceived blow which well-nigh clinched him and very effectually dampened his ardor as reliever of human woes. It came about in this way: :. have alluded to Spikes penchan, for l those works of charity which are cham pioned by those of the gentler sex upon whose cheek the relentless foot of time has lightly pressed, and therefore it was not at all surprising that when, one morn- ing last week, charming little lady in a most becoming suit of grey came into his office and with delightful hesitancy, as if impressed by the greatness of the great Spikes, interrogatedf "The philantArop- ist. MT. Spikes?" l say 1t was not at all surprising that his susceptible heart was touched and in his most suave manner he replied that he was Spikes, but phil anthropist oh, no, he did not lay claim to 90 great an honor. But she persisted that he was for "didn't everybody say soa" and after the usual preliminary taHy made known her errand. She wss, she said, sent out by the Grant Memorial Monument Association to solicit subscrip- tions and cash for the carrying on of tha, great work which was to do honor not only to that illustrious soldier, but also to the noble philanthropists who gave il their assistance, and who, she informed him, were to be only the most respected and honored of the land, and whose names would be handed down to posterity