Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-03

SUNDAY, AUGUST 8,
stition; and that it may be the most brutality
cruel of all the superstitions known to this
generation Of men?
Because certain ones, by supreme force OF
character, have made final conquest Of adj
verse circumstances, shall we be wholly
ruthless toward the weaker ones who have
not supreme force? Their lives are full of
suffering effort, and they are without the
alleviation of success at last. Shall We
therefore throw gibe at them as they sink
out of sight, and tell them the world had no
use for such as they, anyhow?
y = u
Rights Of tho Majority.
And what right mas the world to decide
the matter? Is the world to have the un-
questioned privilege of drowning all the
Kittens it does not choose to keep? Not SO.
Those who are marked for the drowning
have the right to their own lives. Ii tney
may not become prize-winners at
the worlds bench show, they have
still the right to be humble and COM
Portable mousers on their own account.
And in this time OF enlightened advance
ment there ought to be some way In which
their honest and earnest endeavor would
we'll forbear to taunt them with their fail
ure. And there is this to be said, even of
the great ones who do wrest success from
cruel adversely: A man has a right to be
happy as we'll as great So it might be as
we'll for those of US who are more fortu-
nately placed to try what may be done to
make the conditions little easier for the
great ones as we'll as the small ones. Even
"the world" would find its account in that.
It would be better served in the long run:
The great would become still greater, and
the small and weak would have better
strength for the doing of their humble work.
The foot of the ladder is very good place
to start on the upward climb, II one happens
to be there at the beginning. But even he
who is able to step upon the middle rung to
begin with finds the distance long ana
weary and dizzy to the top.
The lower ones need the stimulus of
necessity. There will be plenty Of that left
for them, never fear. There is far less
danger of their being over-helped than
under-helped. Necessity will no doubt
continue to prick them sharply enough for
all stimulating purposes. The great danger
is that necessity will prick them through the
heart and they will tumble from the ladder
once for all.
A Ministering Angel.
Here is a woman who has solved the
problem in her own way. She, also, believes
in the survival of the ittest. But she be-
lieves that the ittest to survive are those
who try by all honest and earnest endeavor
to keep life in themselves. They need not
be those possessed of the most brute force.
Those who cannot deal crushing, sledge-
hammer blows for themselves, she believes
in helping to strike such blows as will suf-
fee. She has money and leisure, and sor-
row made her tender hearted for all in
trouble. She wanted an interest in life, and
she found that interest in helping
to make lite easier to those
around her who found it hard.
She did not undertake any great work. No
body has ever seen her name in print.
Even in her own little neighborhood she is
not known as professed apostle of benevo.
lence. But in her own little neighborhood
she has found plenty OF scope for her kindly
work, as any other may find who goes about
the search with human sympathy and Chris
tian purpose, earnest to do some good even
at the cost of some sacrifice.
In this case the sacrifice required is not
very great one. The time devoted to much
of the work could be spared by busy man,
if he felt disposed to use it so. The princi-
pal outlay is an abundance of kindly and
appreciative sympathy which makes the
possessor quick to think of others, and keen
to see and help their needs. Some money
this woman gives away, out and out, but
she does more good with the money she does
not give away, using it for the benefit of
those to whom she could not well give gifts.
- y
Little Deeds of Love.
A widow in her neighborhood had an
active and capable boy. She had no money
and no influence; and the boy, who was at
the foot of the ladder seemed likely to stay
there The other widow took the boy with
her on trip to the city, and when she came
back she left him there. She had found
place for him in business house. Anyone
of dozen men in the town who knew the
boy could have done the same thing, but
none of them did. A young girl of her
acquaintance needed some means of self
support. She wanted to learn stenography
and type-writing, but could not afford one of
the necessary dollars required for that
purpose. This woman speak of could not
offer her gift of the money, but she offered
q generous loan without interest. The offer
was accepted. The needed instruction was
paid for and then a situation at fair wages
was found for the girl. The situation is
still held, and a weekly payment is made
out of the salary toward liquidating the
debt.
Such things as these this woman is con-
stantly doing. They are things that vast
numbers of people could do every day who
never think of doing them at all. They are
things that can be done without giving Of
tense or entailing humiliation. And there
is no danger that they will foster the "psu-
per spirit we read SO much about. Help
toward self-help never does that. But
whether we all follow this woman's exam
Pile or not, let us quickly hear the last of the
doctrine that it does a man good to break
his back with heavy load and then knock
him down and trample on him-beoause it