The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1894-05-09
A Preacher on the Poor
EDITOR BULLETIN:


The columns Of your cheerful con-
temporary the Star Of the md inst,
contained a portion OF a discourse
on Thorough Life Work" signed
Revd. A. s. Twomhly, from which
have selected the following passages
as being in my opinion, from a
Christian standpoint, open to criti-
cism:
But Christianity is not ONLY re-
ligion OF sacrifices. 1t is a religion
OF the richest rewards. Ii pays the
highest wages as one works on in
fidelity and in hope. For conscieu-
tious labor insures success. The
wretched poor are those who have
never been conscientious workers IN
anything. Then looseness runs
through the whole web of their lives.
or course there are some exceptions.
because of hereditary disease, ad.
verse circumstances and orphaned
conditions, and we cannot blame
those subject to these sad misfor-
tunes. They demand our sympa-
ject poor are the reckless, shiftless,
( vicious element in the community.
! Those who get nothing to do. except
in very hard times, are the do moth
ings.' Good work always commands
/ its price. Good workmen are turned
! off last when trade is dull aud taken
on first when trade revivps."
I The doctrine OF the average
preacher whose hearers, a in the
. present case, comprise the elite Of
! the commercial aud social world, il,
that men are the architects Of their
own fortunes, and that the road to
success lies equally before every
man, physical conditions excepted,
and he who is industrious aud moral
and honest, and conscientious gener-
ally. will come out ahead aud wear
silks and broadclo,h; whereas ",he
wretcbed poor are those who have
never been conscientious workers in
anything" aud are therefore poor
because they are not couscientiou
workers.
Wrong! q most reverend preac her;
/ altogether wrong. Men are the archi-
tects Of their own fortunes still, and
they rise on the stepping-stones Of
dead depositors, defrauded orphans
and widows, and low.priced coolies To
the higher plane Of wealth and
church standing.
No conscientious toilor" makes.
or can make, a competence by pure
industry and honesty, by digging ar
pick. and-shovcl business, or other
honorable employments Of the same
sort; aud IL is the broken.d down
handicraftsinan and pick. and shovel
gentlemen who crowd up the bencvo.
lent institutions of other lands. Al.
most anyone can make a competenr.
by loaning money on interest. or
floating a company on small or fcti.
tious capital aud watering the
stock, or kidnapping South Sea
Islanders at a cost II So head and
retailing them in lots to suit nj SIN
q head, or obtaining the ontrollinp
interest IN sugar plantations and
gambling with the stock. Or con,
trolling the supply Of the peoples
food ~ in the case Of our Beef Trus'
or organising a corporation for IN.
purpose of exhibiting abandoned
women in an immoral dance at q
midwinter fair. These perfectly
legal but immoral avenues To loca
wealth are not available To tn,
"wretched poor but To the "con
scientious labor" Of Sir Gallihad
Dives OF unctuous respect ability and
unimpeachsble church standing
All these are things which IL is no,
convenient for the kid-gloved dilet
tante professor OF theological moral
ity To see, much less to probe.
The truth is, that the Rev. DR.
Twombly, like tn" great majority d
his professional bret hren, has got
the situation Of the poor in an IN
verted sort Of way, and his facts ar,
all standing on their heads. Nor,
paupers come TO their sad fat,
through steady industry aud "con
scientious labor" than through AZ,
other cause. Some Of them are go
ing about Honolulu crippled anC
blasted through being indust riou'
in quarries, aud many NOR. ar,
wrecked through falling of higl
scsffoldings. A large lumber wer,
thrifty, earned very little, saved very
little for fifty years, aud then some
body boltsd with their savings il
their old age, and il they had druul
the money instead they would hav,
died in middle life aud never rcacho,
any poor old age at all. Almost al
the poor come to grief through some
sort or variety OF "cOnscientiOu'
labor" but the individual who go
disabled while loafng, or reached I
patriarchal age and b-came vene
rable pauper through hard eating
is myth. The assumption Of I'll,
average Tory that a man who il
poor must be base and lazy, an,
that the man who is rich must b,
honorable and indust rous--is a pul
pit fiction, and an obvious untrut h
The 'abject poor" is largely com
posed OF men who bring up thei
families on strict y Christian princi
Piles, and in order the better to d,
so avoid hearing the pulpit denun
ciat ion OF poverty on the one hand
and the revolving sympathy an'
aid" OF patronising ostentatiou
christian wealth on the oths
hand. The Lord pronounced a bless
ing on the poor and heaved Hi
! anathema a, the rich aud the scribe