San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-10-04


though you are decaying Physically, you are
a superb success along the line of mercantile
endeavor and commercial enterprisel
OF course, you know yourself. And pre-
cisely as you, a success, know yourself to be
a success, so you, fzzle, know yourself to
be "a fizzle. Every man is type Why it is
fact that we are all, in certain lines, unique
peculiar, individual, it is equally fact that
we all represent great bodies of similarly
organized, identically developed men or wo
men, here, there and everywhere Some
people say, "Oh, he's a good hearted fellow
he will give his last dollar"
Well, yes, but is it good heart that gives
its last dollar, but would hesitate, even if he
didn't refuse to give literal, personal, indi
vidual, hand to hand, heart to heart, body to
body comforts' Recurring to the doctor
thought moment, don't believe it would
be a physical possibility for me, who have
pretty good control of my physical organs at
that, to make practice of visiting hospitals,
of coming into personal contact with disease,
of upsetting my stomach by annoying my
nose. 1t is one thing to draw a check and
send it by mail or messenger; it is another
thing to go about doing good, visiting the
sick, helping the friendless, uplifting the be-
reaved attending to the literal, physical
necessities of poor, dirty devels in the very
cutters of humanity.
Talk about giving money as an evidence
of generosity. That's all nonsense 1t all
depends upon circumstances. What sort of
generosity is it when you have 500 in your
pocket and somebody comes along asking you
for five or ten, that you give it, without re-
gard to anything under heavens except the
particular 500 you have in your pocket Z
That 800 may belong to some creditor. You
may owe that money to some man to whom
its payment would be a positive relief. You
don't think of equities, you don't care the
turn Of your hand for your creditor; you let
Browne walk all over creation rather than
deprive yourself of a moments comfort,
peace, happiness, luxury; yet because you
give five or ten dollars to some poor devil
who happens to want it, you are credited the
world around as being generous hearted,
free handed man, who would give his last
dollar to help creature in distress.
You buy paper of newsboy. You hand
him dime Rather than be bothered to
wait for the change, or to have his dirty
little fists paving over handful of coin to
find the change you say, "Oh, keepit. Never
mind that" Why do you say il. Are you
touched with pity for the boys necessitiesl
Is it the logical sequence Of any careful
thought, estimate, Judgment of the little
chap: Do you even so SO far as to think
that i; would please the boy? Not bit of
it. It is, nine tines ont of ten, an inchoate
desire, an unthought of impulse to be rid Of
the annoyance OF the boy and the unpleas-
antncsS of his dirt; get some benevolent old
lady, looking over her spectacles and her
stomach, seeing you let the little boy go off
with five OF SIX cents more than belong to
him, smiles all over with cherubic CLEAN,
and tells her family, whom she joins in hum
bic home uAGt evening, about the generous
man who gave five cents to little newsboy."
Joe Towards Letter in Boston Globe