Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-01-04
In ONES OWN CIRCLE.
A WOMAN WELLS WHY SHE GAVE UP
WORK AMONG THE LOVELY.


She Discovered That She Could Do
More Work Elsewhere-A Lesson for
Many Who Want to he of Some Use.
The experience of one young woman in
New York, whose parents could afford to
keep her in luxury, but who preferred to
do missionary work among the poor OF the
east side, is told by herself as followsi
why am no longer Summing as you
call iti Because have discovered that
can do more good In the social circle
where was born That may strike you
as strange. l only arrived at it myself by
actual experience, and it surprised me too.
When first became thoroughly imbued
with the idea that l must accomplish
come good work for the cause of humanity,
] naturally thought that most could be
done where the field seemed largest. Com
pairing the lot of the very poor and igno-
rant and depraved with the lot of those
among whom had been brought up, there
seemed to be no question as to where
ought 10 go and labor.
Having overcome the opposition of my
friends and having been accepted as a
worker by society which introduced me
to the people / wished to elevate, was a
good deal surprised to find most of them
did not desire elevation in the way in which
thought best for them. They were will
ing to be made rich, to be cured of diseases,
to have their homes improved by somebody
else, to have their children educated by
outsiders and to be amused and entertained
Rs much as you liked; but as for endurance,
patience, self denial, generosity, meekness,
virtue, sobriety, charity, these were not so
popular.
II found, too, that these people rather
resented my coming among them. They
watched me so closely for any sign Of pat
ronizing them that often they had not time
10 think of the truth of what / said TO
them Few of them thanked me for my
efforts on their behalf, and found it hard
TO remain even tolerably welcome visitor
TO their homes without condoning dizziness,
laziness, shiftlessness, wastefulness, rude
ness and coarseness. If were not welcome
could do no good, and If l were always
finding fault with the habits Of lifetime
certainly would not be welcome.
Deeply disappointed, after six months
Of work, at having made no appreciable
permanent improvement in the moral life
Of those among whom l labored, asked
one godly old woman for there are as
many saints among the poor as anywhere)
You're out of your depth, child said she.
What do you know of our lives, of our
ways, of our troubles, of our minds, of our
way Of looking at thingsf You don't I'M
derstand us and we don't understand you.
We don't see things in the same way, be-
cause we don't look at them from the same
point.
You tell these poor people to be clean
without knowing how much money and
time, which is the same thing, it costs TO
be clean. Cleanliness is one of the dearest
things In New York. You scorn laziness
but II you had been half fed from the era
die up, and that with food containing lit
tie nourishment, you would not have one
tenth of the energy you now have. Lszi-
ness Is some peoples only luxury. We're
shiftless, you say, and don't save our pen
mics.
If / denied myself everything but the
bare necessities Of life even such as
live, could not save more than five cents
day, fifteen dollars year, $3.50 in half a
century, which, II the bank did not burst
and rob me of it all, would give me thirty
dollars q year to live on when / am
too old TO work, too full of pains and
infrmities to make life on thirty dollars
year thing to be desired. There's many
slip 'twixt the cup and the lip in fifty
years, my girl, and we think IL better TO
employ our spare pennies while we are
sure Of them. Rude and coarse we are,
compared with your standard, but not
ruder or coarser than people of your wealth
and rank in society were some centuries
ago, am told; so don't despair of us, my
dear, but leave us to God aud ourselves
and time and go back to those who love
you.
Honestly now, don't you think there is
plenty of godlessness, selfishness, greed,
lust, cruelty, vanity, envy, back biting,
covetousness, deceit, folly, drunkenness
and other forms of vice among the people
you know in your own station in life 10
make a creditable record il you succeeded
In removing itp
Yes, auntie,' / said, 4 acknowledge
that. There is much to be done even In
my own family
"'And don't you really think now, II
your own life and motives are such as to
command the respect of your father, moth
er, sisters, brothers, cousins and dear
friends, that their love for you and yours
for them would give you more influence
over them than over Bill Sykes, the team
ster, whom you hear now disappearing in
the room over our head and threatening to
beat his wife for not having his supper
rsadyP
Yes, auntie, l think you're right
said as the truth of her words came home
to me. So here am among my own people
again, and believe now that the rich can
be elevated Just as well as the poor, and
that the Creator would just as soon see an
educated person reform and lead a useful,
virtuous life as an ignorant one, and / can