Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-15
THINGS IN GENERAL.
Matters which Must Be Considered in En-
deavoring to Better the Condition Of
the Lowly-An Experiment Being Made
by New York College Girls.

quoting from some unnamed authority, "salt
is that part of q potato, on account of which,
If there isn't any, the potato doesn't taste
good"
This relation between the salt and the po-
tato is Just about the relation which per
sonal interest bears to the uplifting of the
poor. The poor must be upltfted. We are
all agreed upon that There is no disgrace
in poverty, but there is fearful loss in it
loss of health, loss of enjoyment, loss of
character, loss of opportunity. Of course. I
mean the kind of poverty which includes
dirt And we want to uplift and better these
brethren of ours who are down. Now, how
to do it?
The Professor of Things in General looks
out over the situation past and present, and
makes bold to pronounce that without the
personal interest of men and women who
are well Off there is no possible uplifting of
men and women who are worse OFF. l sup
pose that if people are hungry they may be
effectually fed by throwing biscuits out of
fourth-story windows. Anyhow, they will
getthe biscuits. But if it seems good to do
more for people than to stay their stomachs;
if it be confessed that human beings, though
unwashed and ragged are really different
from pigs, and ought to be given their din
ners some other way than out of trough;
story windows is not sufficient. Nor is a loaf
of bread at the end of pair of tongs good
symbol of Christian charity.
General Personal Interest.
The touch of salt, ''on account of which, if
there isn't any," the helping of the poor
doesn't help the poor, is genuine personal
interest No matter howlow down man
is,.be he beggar OF criminal, though he lie in
a gutter or lie in patrol wagon, or sleep in
a cell, the only way to uplift him is to begin
by taking him by the hand Only man can
help man.
In Australia, that amazingly progressive
country which is "up'to everything that is
worth while in this progressive generation,
they turn over certain classes of criminals
out of the police court into the barracks Of
the Salvation Army. l would like to know
how much real reformation is accomplished
at Morganza. In go these unmanageable
boys and incorrigible girls, and by and by
come out-what? Perhaps they come out
reputable citizens. / know nothing about
it. But seem to remember reading some
where the other day that all the reform
schools in this country put together do not
reform q hundred cases in a year, would
really like to know the actual value of Nor
ganza as an uplifting and saving influence in
the community.
No machine can manufacture man. And
though you get a patent process by which
you may put in money at one end and have
it come out soup tickets at the other end,
that will not really help man. l may feed
him like pig, as 1 said, but man is not all
stomach. All genuine uplifting of a man
begins (where the Salvation Army begins)
at the mans heart. And machines have no
heart, tongs have no heart, institutions have
no heart.
was particularly pleased with Bishop
Potter's article, the other day, on the
"Gospel for Wealth." because he empha-
sized just this fact, that personal in
terest must precede all real and per-
manent help. The best paragraph in
that article was that quotation from
the experience of a good woman, who
went herself and spoke to another woman
on the street, and tried to get her off the
street One by one! That is the formula
which is gong to regenerate society and
bring in that wonderful twentieth century
which the prophets are trying to show US.
One must help one. The social and economic
evils of our day can be cured, like the old
"King's evil" only by the touch ofthe human
hand.
An Experiment of College Girls.
That is the plan which they are trying at
95 Rivington street, New York, in the "Col-
lege Settlement" A company of brave and
wise young college girls, graduates of Vas
sar, Smith, Wellesly and Bryn Mawr, have
gone to housekeeping down in the Bowery,
and are devoting themselves to the business
of getting acquainted with their neighbors.
There is a description of this good work in
this months LippfncoH'S, worth reading. The.
house has a housekeeper who lives there all
the year round, once a teacher in an uptown
seminary. Around gather the girls, Sin
relays, some remaining only two, others as
long as ten months at time, to help in the
good work"
These young women pay each of them Sc a
week for their board, at the same time tax
ing care of their own rooms and helping in
the preparation of their own meals That
Is, they pay $6a week for the privilege of
acting as maidseryant in the Bowery!, They
want to teach people that housework is an
honorable occupation; that to cook cabbage
is as much worth doing well as to play on
the piano. and that washing china and paint
ing china are alike reputable. This is one of
the least parts of their mission. Their main
purpose, suppose, in this is to keep them
selves on a level with their neighbors. You
do your own work and so do we.
A Feature Worthy of Imitation.
wish, though, that this feature of the col
lege settlement could be initiated and en-
phasized. We want somebody who will do
for women's work in the house what st. Ben
edict and his monks did long ago for mans
work out of doors, taking 1t up and dignity
ing it by their example. People thought
that fieldwork was for slaves till they saw
saints and scholars doing it. And people
think to-day that housework is for servants
And Young womena willing to doanything
else rather than this. There is an at
mosphere Of degradation about it. But this
is all artificial, unnecessary, not in the
nature of things. In William Norris Utopia,
described in "News From Nowhere" the
ladies prepare the viands and serve them,
taking turns. You remember, in the Louvre
that fine painting Of Murillo's called the
Kitchen of the Angels" where celestial |
servants handle the pots and kettles The
Professor of Things in General wouid'like to
see emphasized among the $40 commercial |
now open to women the art of
getting dinner. He would like to see the 4
noble vocation of general housework" dig |
nified and uplifted.
1t would not be necessary to go into a
settlement" to do this part of the |
good work which they are doing at 95 Riy-
ington street. Though, confess, it would |
be about ten thousand times as hard.
The Rivington street colony began with |
the children, made friends with the street |
archins, persuaded them with games and |
pictures and eonciliated them with candy.
Then, ofcourse, they naturally called upon |
their parents. By and by, they began to |
gather the children into clubs. To amuse- |
nent they added instruction. And all the |
time, whether the programme was game or |
sermon, there was that uplifting atmos- |
ohere about them of cleanliness and refine /