Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-23
HELP VERSUS CHARITY.

ed the good old apostle would be
to come back among US and wit
ness the debasing construction we
have pnt upon the best of his
three graces-charity. This has
come to be understood as mere
alms-giving, the most uncharitable
thing, sometimes, that we can do
for those Of our fellow-creatures
who are down.
Charity! The greatest charity
IS that which gives to a man those
things that Of right belong to him,
and which he cannot be happy
without: the CHANCE to work his
way without injury to others, and
the ABILITY to do his work to the
best advantage for himself and
those dependent upon him: which
really means to the best advan-
tage for society; for the ideal So
ciety is that which is composed Of
self-respecting workers, and not
lazy idlers, whether these be gen
tlemen" or tramps
How to teach true selfrespect
and a regard for honest work, is
the problem of the day, on the
solution of which hangs not only
our industrial but also our social
and religious future. Thes the
ology which breaches a hell or
heaven after death and takes no
note of the hell on earth that is or
the heaven here that might be,
must in time pass to the limbo of
dead creeds that failed to satisfy
the wants of the soul because they
ignored the needs Of the body.
Soul and body are more nearly
linked than preachers, will allow.
The simple facts are::s-1zaaWe are
here-we cannot help that. We
must live somehow, while here;
but most Of US live badly. Why
SO? Can we live any better?
How?
The following anonymous par
agraph, which falls under our eye
as we write homorously proves
the material basis of things:
How shall we reach the masses?'
asks religious paper. Dear brother
you can best reach them with a spoon.
Go for them with a knife and fork.
Humanity's tender point is it's paunch.
The concience of man may be scared
as with hot iron, but his paw is ever
open to Impressions. His intellect may
be stunted, but bis appetite is giant
Take him to a concert or the theatre,
feeding place, where he may gorge
himself before he sleeps. The little
struggling church that bankrupts itself
still further by venturing on lecture
course, iually lifts itself clear out of
debt by a series of suppers. A man
who will not pay fifty cents for a book
will dump one dollar and fifty cents
worth of dinner into his system. A pi; :
mic without ten parts of feed to one part
of band is fiat failure. When we re
ceive' distinguished guest we feed
him; when we say good bye to an emf
nent citizen we give him something TO
eat. We have feast for the wedding
guests, luncheon for the watchers, and
a light collation. for the mourners.
There are a thousand restaurants to one
library, yea, more. BY and by, if the
principles of evolution be true, this
world will be peopled by a race of stom-
achs with legs and arms. The legs will
be needed to carry the stomach to the
trough, and the arms to fill it up"
HENRY WARD BEECHER CON
fessed, as a result of pretty wide
observation, that when mans
liver is out of order, the whole
kingdom Of heaven is out of joint"
"a more terse and suggestive way
of boiling down the same idea
And Victor HUGO declared that
"you may soar on the wings of
the ideal till you reach the seventh
heaven, but you must come down
to dinner
We all need dinner, and we
need appetite for dinner, in order
to enjoy it or get its benefits.
But we need to work at something
not only to maintain good appe-
tite, but to procure the food to
satisfy it. Work being necessary,
then, to full existence, it is of vital
importance that our young men
should be taught to work WELL,
in order to live well. The major
ity of those in the various branch
es Of the printing art, for example,
are poorly equipped for anything
like training to make progress in
their craft. This is a misfortune,
to remedy which the AMERICAN
ART PRINTING is devoting its ener-
gies.
1t is true that Heaven helps those
who help themselves" 1t is also
true that heaven helps those who
HELP OTHERS to help themselves,
as we have daily proved to US in
the steadily increasing demand for
this magazine. As one of our