The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-03-02
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AN AMATEUR SAMARITAN.
What Her One Visit to Poor Family
Taught Her.

| What Her One Visit to Poor Family
Taught Her.
| She was society girl, frivolous, dain-
| ty, spoiled. She fell in love with the
new curate, and often as he slipped tea
In the drowsy, violet scented air of her
| drawing room he talked to her of her
duties to the poor. She was touched.
| She began to talk Of having a mission,
| of feeling herself fitted for higher things
| than fashion afforded. She began to
wear black and walk with her eyes low
cred.
At last she was attracted to help poor
| family on Avenue A.
Secretly she set out on a bright De-
| cember morning, marmalade in a small
monogrammed bag, her heart beating
fast, but comfortable feeling surging
through her that the world was a little
better for her having been born.
The smells on Avenue A upset her a
little, and with inward qualms she re-
GREETED that she had forgotten her vinai
grette. But she went boldly on. feeling
more and more noble as she grew i'll and
white.
at last she reached her destination.
It was dark, Ill smelling tenement. On
the doorstep, where she was the cynosure
Of group of hapless youngsters, she
wayered.
What lay beyond that reeking dark
ness? And for the first time she began
to wonder what these people were like
she was going to visit. She became
aware that she was about to invade their
privacy with nothing more material for
their aid than some marmalade. After
ward, of course, if she found them "de-
serving" she intended to send provisions
and coal. But how would they stand
the ordeal that would test their WORTH
ness, without which possession they
might according to the curate's ethics
of charity starve at pleasure?
She dashed in wildly, cropping her way
along by passing her daintily gloved
hands over the damp walls. Oh, how
far away home seemed, the curate, her
blue and white boudoir, her pet dog
everything! She felt in a maze of hor-
ror until at last she saw CLEAN of light
through the transom of door.
Without pausing to question if this
were her destination, she knocked. The
door was opened promptly, and before
her terrified eyes stood brawny, shirt
sleeved, shock headed individual.
II want to see Mrs. ST." she faltered.
He eyed her.
81 know we. Yer wan of thin tract
givin, starvation faced lady visitors to
the poor, amt yer Much good ye do
thin, ma'am. The poor don't want ye,
nor the likes of we, to teach them to be
God fearin-it's food they want and fire,
ma'am. Yis! What have we in that
bag? Let me see. All, jelly an a
Bible, as 1 thought. Lave thin both be-
hind ye next time, ma'am. for we haven't
heart fer the wan, nor stomach fer the
other. Now go-go, 1 say, before 1 set
the dog on yer
And the society girl departed. 1t
didn't matter that, as she learned after
ward, she had been interviewed by the
wrong person. She took the shock head
ed mans remarks seriously to heart, de-
spite the curate's philosophy, and when
she went again to Avenue A she was &C
companied by a maid, who carried a
hamper of good food to the needy fam
lily. Moreover, while she talked to poor,
hollow checked Mrs. S. and held the
baby, she heard from below the rasping
of the shovels that poured in the coal she
had sent.
You see, Molly" she said to her chum
next day, Il think it's better to feed
them when they're hungry, whatever
| their deserts, and rouse them to help
themselves afterward. My one visit
| taught me that" KATE JORDAN.