The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-10-26

people IN a new world, unencumbered with
traditions or musty authorities, only
hundred years ago Now we have the
faults, far outweighed by corresponding
virtues, of a very young, entirely buoyant
and exceptionally prosperous common
wealth
The Germans, comparatively, seldom beg,
because they are generally educated, and
because the laws against begging are very
stringent and likely to be enforced The
commonalty are very poor, however-the
whole empire is poor to degree little under
stood heTe-and the temptation, therefore,
to ask for money, especially OF stran-
gers, when not observed by the police, Is
strong beyond their power Of resistance.
In the large cities vagabonds are many and
thirsty and solicitations for drink money
(trinkgeld) frequent in populous quarters
after dark. A large number of people, too,
are idle because they cannot get work, and
idle people soon drift into mendicancy in
spite of ordinances In Prussia little beg
gary is seen; but in the southern part OF
Bavaria, and in many othsx. districts, for
eigners are often besoughu for aims on all
sorts of pretexts.
Americans are thus approached more
frequently than any other people, though
they are usually confounded outside the
big towns with the English. Mendicants
everywhere are practical physiognomists;
they can tell better than Lavater, or any Of
his disciples. whether passing face is
benevolent or weak enough to give for the
asking.
Americans are Individually distinguished
by kindheartedness above any and every
other people, and this trait is more or less
visible in their countenances. They go
nowhere abroad without paying for their
gracious aspect, and as a result they find
more beggars than other peoples do. They
carry sign on which is written, IF you
want charity apply here" and the de-
mands on them are therefore countless
and perpetual. / have been assured by
Germans that beggars are unknown in
Berlin, Posen, Magdeburg or Schwerin-
after had been impOrtuned for aims in
each of those cities a score of times day
Natives are not qualified to judge of such
cases They are apt TO be avoided by men
dicants, who are afraid of arrest if they ap-
ply to them, and who, moreover, discover
no groschens or kreutzers in their physi-
ognomies.
- III Lu6 Iudlu,
from beggars, thanks, in measure, to the
vigilance of the police; but the southern
provinces are more or less infested with
them. Paris has fewer than any other Euro
pean city. One may spend weeks there with
out any annoyance of the kind. The French
are extremely industrious, and hard as
they have to work for money they general
ly prefer to earn it honestly. The great
revolution of 1889, sanguinary and horri-
bic as it was, endowed the country with
degree of strength, independence and prog
ress that still animates it. The people are
intelligent even when uneducated, are dis
inclined to superstition, are thrifty and
temperate. Consequently mendicancy has
none of the attractions which it has for the
other Latin nations.
The inhabitants of Ireland, except in
the north, with many noble qualities,
are so needless and lavish that they
rarely provide for the morrow. Hence,
with unfavorable surroundings, they are
generally very poor, and hence again prone
to beggary. AT the lakes OF Killarney
they are seen in the perfection OF mendi-
cancy. They are SO witty, SO eloquent, SO
picturesque, SO extravagant that tourists
bestow aims for the entertainment fur
nished. The southern Irish beg on occa-
sion wherever they are, at the same time
that they give profUsely. They do it much
after the Italian fashion, as if it were
species of histrionism for which they were
rehearsing.
If there be any part of Europe in which
you would say, at a venture, there are no
beggars, that part would seem to be Eng
land. Yet it abounds, London notably, in
beggars of the lowest, most hardened, re-
pulsive order. Nor is mendicancy confined
TO the rank and file. 1t is hard to discover
any class who will not take money. have
not yet tried the Prince of Wales or his
set, and l suspend my Judgment for the
time, accordingly.
What Of the Americans? They, thank
nature and the cause Of freedom, are in
capable of begging They would rather
work or borrow or default. Mendicancy
is not in their temperament, their fate or
their horoscope. Destiny, which governs
mankind, reserves Americans not to beg,
but to be begged of, all over the globe. !
Except for them, begging would cease from
lack of material supply. Beggars are the !
cause of begging; Americans are its effect. |
JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE.