The record-union., 1894-02-27
MISDIRBCTED PHILANTHROPY.
How Women Waste Their Time,
Money and Energy.

Much Good Could be Done Among the
Poor About Us if Effort Was
Properly Directed.
tSpeclal Correspondence of RECoRD-UNIoN.l
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 19.-Said man l
know to me the other day: ~ woman
has got to give vent to her feelings in
some way. She has to love some one;
if it isn't man, then it's a cat, or dog.
or a bird, or maybe one Of those
snaky-looking chameleons." And then
l looked apprehensively toward a little
covered box OH my dressing-table and
wondered if he knew that l had been
foolish enough to purchase one of the
said snaKy chameleons, though be is said
to my credit l cannot bring myself to
wear him. [ take various covert peeps at
him during the course of the day, but
am always careful to put the cover on the
box with alacrity whenever he shows
even the slightest indication Of moving.
1 would not admit for worlds that l am
afraid of him-oh, dear, no; | am only
getting used to my new pet, that is all.
Then the mau who was talking con-
tinued: "If she doesn't love a man or
some sort Of an animal, then she takes 10
converting the heathen, and sends all Of
her pin money to some far away country,
or else intrustS it to some lOng-haired
missionary, who invests it for her, and
causes her ancient heart TO thrill and
palpitate as it did unmentionable
years ago when her first beau came
sparkling her, when he calls her
Sister But she don't stop at sending
the heathen money, let me tell you; she
spends her spare time making all sorts Of
woOlen garments for the nude and dusky
African. She is most particular in seeing
just what shade of flannel is most becom-
ing to his brunette complexion; she sees
TO it with scrupulous care that the thread
is the exact shade of the goods, and,
above all, she sees that the clothes are
nice and warm. 1t would be so dreadful
if the poor little cherub of the tropics
should catch horrid cold"
He paused and gazed into the fire. as
though wondering what 10 say next; but
L retrained from interrupting him, be-
cause | knew what ne said was correct,
though he was sarcastic about il.
Presently he proceeded: Sometimes
these loVelorn women take to visiting the
prisoners; condoling and signing over
them, not to mention the pent up gush
within them, which they allow to escape
all bounds, and bubble over the injured
prisoner with charming indiscrimination
Then there are the flowers and fruits with
which they deluge the sneak-thief and
footpad. and all their cOterie of victims
whom the cruel law is depriving Of lib
erty.
There seems to be a peculiar fascina-
ton about murderers to these women,
4 {1,o, I,
better they like him. They take him un-
der their protective wing as their especial
protege. They deluge him with every
sort OF luxury their fertile brains can in
vent for his comfort and to beguile the
tediousness Of Imprisonment. They over
whelm the jaller with orders for his COM
fort. They go before the Governor of the
State, and casting themselves at his au-
gust feet, beg him with fearful supplica-
tion to magnanimously exert his execu-
tive clemency. Then they go back TO the
prisoner and buoy him with fresh hopes,
in fact, before they leave him they imbue
him with the idea that ne is poor,
abused, injured martyr. Then they go
before the Governor again, until in sheer
desperation at their persistency he signs
an order for the release OF the prisoner,
and then what do the women do but the
instant the prison doors are unlocked?
They take the injured victim by the hand
and marry him, and perhaps are killed
ere long for their pains, though / cannot
say that the world is any worse Oft for
thesloss of a few such female cranks.
Take the women who infeSt these
haunts of vice. trace back their history,
and you will find that somewhere there
is low trait in them, inherited from
some ancestor. Not that believe in the
law of hereditary, mind you. Any man
or woman with the proper amount of
push and energy and ambition can rise
above their birth aud surroundings and
become respectable members of society.
When a man finds himself behind prison
bars it is usually through his own fault,
and his birth hasn't had anything to do
with il.
''If the prisoners of our country were
treated with the same sort OF rlgOr meted
out to the English criminal, we would
have less of the morbid sentImentalists.
Again, the women who fritter away
their time sympathiZing with the MUIR
derer and the thief are usually women of
Independent means of their own. They
think they are doing great and glorious
action In spending their money on the
prisoner and going about trying to enlist
sympathy for him by saying that they
are so sorry for the poor fellow If
these same women would take their
money and help some poor but deserving
it not be better action ?"
He paused TO take breath, while l nod
ded my head atfirmatively. There are
thousands of men and women struggling
against bitter odds to whom helping
hand in time of need would be received
with unspeakable gratitude, and yet, be-
cause these people have committed no Of
tense against the law; because they have
not robbed and murdered and forged
notes, they are passed by and utterly ig-
nored, while the criminal is elevated. Is
this right? Is this justice? Is it giving
our young sons good example? If the
money and time and energy thus wasted
were given over to the really deserving
poor, this world would be much better
place than it is to-day.
'Of course | don't think we can ever
hope to have this old world of ours be-
come veritable dream of Utopia, but we
can each in our way help to make it a lit
tie better and brighter for those who are
not as well off as ourselves, if we only go
about it in the right way. Let the GRIM
inal take care of himself; as l said before,
it is his own fault that he finds himself in
his unpleasant predieament, and as Pooh
Bah has it, let the punishment fit the
Awarded Highest +