Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-06-16
Earth's Poor.

The following essay was read by
Miss Ada Thurman, of McMinnville,
Tenn, at the commencement eXer-
cises of the Winchester Normal,
Winchester, Tenn.
In the cold, dark, desolate streets,
beneath the rude shelter of crum-
bling roofs, amid cruelty, suffering
and tears, live many of earth's poor.
The wind sings dirge as it passes
unchecked from the wintry blast
without to the shivering forms with
in. AS it whirls up the old-fashioned
chimney its moan is laden with the
sobs of children crying for bread.
The fire burns low on the hearth and
beside the dying embers, broken
hearted wives and mothers sit rocking
their griefs and woes. Husbands and
fathers bending beneath their burden
are digging their premature graves.
Little children on whose faces care
has left footprints, play beside the
rude doorways. Their little bare
feet tremble on the cold slippery
street; their forms, hunger-pinched
and thin, shiver as the north wind
whistles by; the discordant laugh,
the jeer and sneer, the Quarrels of the
games tell of the hearts within,
hardening under suffering. Their
untaught tongues brood horrible dis
cord and strike pity into the heart of
the passer-by. Their wants are I'M
noticed their desires unqualified,
their pleasures are crushed by stern
necessity, and they know no child
hood. A few of these little beings
know love in their homes, pure ten
der love and their souls look beseech-
ingly through their sad eyes, yearn-
ing for better, happier life, but far
the greater number know but the
sterner part of life's battle, uncheered
by the cordial of all earth's woes
and the outlines of their young faces
are sharp and angular, destitute Of
tenderness and compassion. Thus
dwarfed in body and soul, these little
ones will one day enter active life
and eternity! In such school, with
pain, want and woe for masters, what
wonder that thieves are reared and
murderers bred? that griefs abound
and crimes multiply? The noble
heart that passes through the ordeal
unscathed, is the nobler for its trials,
and many of earth's bravest and best
have suffered thus.
Up the street and across the town,
where the avenues are broad and
business huns merrily, mansion sue
ceeds mansion, each trying to excel
in beauty, marble steps and splendid
rooms give promise of happiness
within, Surely no poverty turks here
to drain the SOUPS life-blood, no
pain, no want, no woe, has ever
stained these floors with their I'M
hallowed feet. .
All! methinks I hear a whisper
borne on the wind to my spirit,
"Contentment is not bought with
wealth, nor happiness with station
and power"
Here too, may be found breaking
hearts and saddened lives.
Two tyrants rule in homes like
these, demanding as tributes the
lives of their subjects, confscating
the good of every soul to their relent-
less sway: Society and gold. Men
who have spent their vital energies
in the pursuit of wealth, who have
chased it as the sociology the butter
fly, to find it when grasped but a
lifeless thing whose golden glitter
stains the soul. Women whose lives
have been sacrificed on the affairs of
society and fashion; children who
have been left to drift, drift with the
ide: such are thy poor, oh earth,