Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-10

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FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO
CHILDREN. No. 100 EAST TWENTY
THIRD STREET, CoRHER FOURTH
AVENUE, NEW YORK, October :, 1Ss8
DEAR MADAM-President Gerry directs M
to say in reply to your letter Of thu inst,
that he must decline TO grant your request con
tadned therein. have the honor 70 remain.
EFELLows JENKINS Supl.
Mr.. jay Gould's letters are all opened bv
his confidential private secretary. Those
which relate 10 business affairs in which he
is interested are laid upon his desk. All
ofhaf5 of vhateTer nature are consigned to
Oblivion In the waste basket His mail il
enormous, and besides the nanal amonnt o.
begging letters there are thtsptening one, a.
we'll
His daughter, Miss Helen Gould. Is wsIl
known for her chauiies, and since she has
been such frequent visitor At the Hospital
for Crippled Children, where she akes
books and pictures and sometimes 4 COX or
two Of sweets, she has been pretty constaatl7
besieged with letters requesting assistance
in some shape or other. These missives
came usually from suburban towns and from
mothers who have sick or crippled children
whom they wish to remove to some New
York hospital, and for thst purpose they re-
quest loan. One such letter rsce1red bv
Miss Gould this summer was from q young
woman who wished to place her little lame
brother''-so the note ran-in q hospital and
for this purpose she begged the loan Of SIS.
Miss Could directed inquiries to be made
regarding this letter, as she considered the
object worthy one, but IS investigates
failed to reveal said young woman Wiz the
lame brother attachment. Miss Gould natar.
ally concluded she had been imposed upon.
- - L. L.
fate accorded to those received By her father.
The Vanderbilts, OF course, receive hosts
Of similar letters from all sorts and condi-
tiOns OF people-there is the man with
"valuable" patent; be states his reanirs-
ments as in the neighborhood Of several
hundred dollars. Then there is the poor
student or artist, who begs the loan Of $500,
which viii be repaid in q few years; the
seamstress, who cannot pay her rent. and
wants "to borrow the loan" Of SO. No no
tice is taken of any Of these letters.
WOMEN NOT OFTEN BEGGARa
Mr.. Childs' and Mr.. Drexsl's mail i
carefully sorted every day By their seors.
taries. Any letters of q begging natnr8
which zeem TO be genuine-or rather II they
bear the stamp Of poverty and Worth--als
sometimes answered. if, upon Investigation.
the writers are found worthy. As q rule,
however, the worthy poor are the last to beg
assistance.
Ex-Postmaster james says that he re-
ceiYes many letters from people who request
work or q small loan. 'The latter letters I
put in the waste-basket. Very few are from
women. As q rule they are more self-reliant
and plucky than men, for if q woman can
get bread water is free, and she won't BEG.
People write to q lady who, like Mra
Astor, is famed for giving, and say thai
they have lame sister who needs crutoh,
and would she be sure to send one silver.
mounted, because the family is proud one
and would not accept q common thing. In
nearly all these cases the writer goes into
a very long account Of what it has cost her
to ask you Ia perfect stranger) for so. The
Of this billet-doux finishes it with
q partial feeling that she Is totally wrong in
having caused this sensitive, proud creaturs
the pain Of asking favor Of her. One Of
these letters, written By q person, who,
really, however, needed the help Of some
surgeon in New York, was emphatic on one
point: she would not travel second-elass.
nor would she come North without q silk
Another suppliant was sure
she would "need gloves and . travelling bar
and plain gown (broWn merino prefefredl
and perhaps so Cor make il 500 il
money"
1t is very easy to abuse the rich for noe
"doing more, but il anyone could look at
the begging letters which come to even one
rich man or woman, or even at the cor
of those who ara not very rich,
he would change his mind. No person
who has achieved success in any walk Of
life but can tell the story Of an almost
fabulous readiness on the part Of = largo
majority Of the lazy, incompetent and IN
successful, to borrow the results Of that sue
sess. The world is full Of tramps who are
ready to spend the money Of Mr.. Astor and
Mr. Vanderbilt; the world is full Of people
who consider from the fact that q certain
person has done one or two services %
,harity, be is therefore to be expected 70 Do
p morel
SWEETBRIAn.