Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-05-19
NEW YORK LETTER.
OVER syvTN MILLION DOLLARS GIVEN
To THE POOR OF GOTHAM ANNUALLY.
ills Fashionable 10 be .Charitsble-zxtrs-
VACANT Dressing Amongst the Poor
James Gordon Bennett-D slmonico.
correspondence OF tho Richmond Dispa,ch.l
Nrw NoRK. Mav lS. lSS9


wear approximates the sum the rich OF
New York give voluntarily to the poor.
This is from private purses and entirely
apart from tho charities OF the city gov
eminent Five hundred churches with
their missions and their innumerable
societies for giving relief to all sorts of
needs and three hundred secular so
eicties disburse this money.
As every woman of social importance
is connected with these societies II would
be useless 70 enumcrato them. Promi-
pont among tho practical workers is Mrs
Fred. Nandorailt, who has had sOherer
and moro broadening experience OF life
than most women of wealth and fashion,
and is therefore fun Of sympathy for the
unfortunate. She can remember the time
when her father kept two-cent shop IN
Providence. and still clearer - the
memory Of her first unfortunate mar
rage and the Cmbauassments OF a di-
aOrcc. She il a noble, wholo-souled
woman, whom neither adverse nor for
tnitous circumstances can spoil Her
favorlte work D. At one OF the working
girls missions of -. Georges church.
SWEET CHARITY.
Miss Grace Dodge is interested among
her other phisDthropics in these organ
lied missions and - an especial patron
Of n working girls club, where she gives
a urocticsl talk once n week. The four
daughters Of Bishop Potter are lndeiati-
gable mission workers The eldest
(ClarM has established two girls CLUBS.
urcsiios ut their business meetings, and
lectures before them every week. ueien
Potter shares IN this work, while Bertha
las charge OF "a night class III en-
broi3crv. Mrs. Elliott SheDard's IN
vorlte charity - the Young Woman &
Christian Association. AMI she IS never
tired Of lavishing money upon It.
As an illustration, when the young
women had recently holiday tea party
she ordered and presented them nix hun
bred bouquets AZ cost Of several hun
drcd dolnxs. She has Just given 70 the
association valuable block OF two
houses on Sixteenth street. IN one OF
which Ward McAlllstcr DOW resides, to be
converted INTO q boarding house for grs.
A considerable sum finds IT'S way 10 the
poor through the mediumship Of Father
huntington, called the Episcopal Monk,
who is a unique character II very good
looking young man, son OF Bishop hunt
ingtou. and nephew of br. Huntington,
of Grace church, Now York, who ha,
taken the vows OF poverty, cohbacy, and
chastity. and who ponds his time among
the poor.
C0MmNING PLEASURE WITH 1T.
So much activity cannot but produce
its effect upon the frivolous and charity
Is fashionable. Not the hind which sui
fers long and is not pulled mp not the
sort winch endureth all things | fear It
vauuts itself sometimes aud more or less
see,!eth it's own but IL never fails 10
being prompt with IFS check-hook, ano
j, is meant 20 be- kind. Pmhstia, OF
fifth avenue, by means Of kct'le-drums,
halls, fairs. and tAcatrcals keeps ny
constant froic for tha poor. Above
all II furnishes am excuse TO Kick Oyel
the traces of couyentionsGty.
Miss IhinstIa never by any chance
comes in contact with her beneiciarie'
aud Ina. the SuCuest idea concerning
them. There is in Philistias set 20,
much OF the feeling brutallY expressed
the other day by "a curled darling OF
fashion, who hearing Of the loss At sea Ol
several hundred immigrants shook hel
bangles. ran her lcwellcd and useless
fingers through her frizzes. aud remarked
that " perhaps 1t was good thing ; II
was the easiest WAY TO dispose of them.
In her home 1t has been a rule, time out
OF mind, that the family carriage must
never be seen west of Sixth nor east Of
Madison avenues. and what wonder II
her fancy pictures the unknown beyond
whore the poor live as full of horror.
TIE IEoTFR THING TO DO.
Tho society womans charity list plays
almost rs large a part in her social
economy az ler visiting list. Certain
charities she must not fail to patronize
ON pain Of losing caste. This is the way
% Is managed. ln her desk she keeps
what she calls an " Index IT is a book
containing a list of the charities to
which she contributes. Against each
entry is marked the dates on
which regular payments fall due.
whether annually or ottcner, together
with the amount to be given. As the dates
occur her private secretary makes ont
and dispatches the checks. When new
charity is projected a printed circular
stating its objects and the names of Its
PATRONS Is sent round The woman who
receives II scrutinizes the names upon II.
and If they are VI persons whose good
pr.sces she desires she subsCTbes and
rdls the new charity to her permanent
li-t When she receives card apprsinC
lcrofanincidenta entertainment, asking
"WIl Won take three tickets she
does not look al the nature OF the char
~ bat al the lnit OF patrons IN order TO
dcride. Reccipts Of n single parlor en-
tertAmzneut rise often TO thousand dol
lars. and II is probable that any ono of
half tho persons present were asked the
object OF the festival they would be I'M
able 20 tell
People who are not IN fashionable so
eietv bat who wish 20 be find charities
the most accessible breach IN the social
wall.
FTSERY AND POVERTY.
PEOPLE who write about the poor Of
New York should no longer use the
etereotvped descriptions Of rags and
v,retchedness which have been handed
down from former years. Nowadays It
does not follow at all that 4 poor person,
even d very pooI one, IS necessarily
ragged and unkempt.
The people who live in the poorest
quarters of New York city spend enough
money every wear Oh their clothes to rig
out III accustomed grandeur five times
thor number Of farmers wives and
daughters out in Iowa or Nebraska or
Kansas
The Tenth Ward contains within its
boundaries the mass of the worst power
tyin the CITY. its Inhabitants are nearly
al Of that wretched, hard-worked, under
paid class who. by the hardest and most
uaremItting labor, can barely earn
enough to keep themselves and Their
families alive. It's streets are narrow and
dIrsy aud i1-smelling, and are filled WITH
rompug children who swarm about Ike
Aies. They are lined by tall, bare, ugly