The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-07-15
4 CHEERFUL GIVER.
NOVELIST AoWELlS DESCRIBES HIS
TRIBULATIONS.

and the Contest Between Two Con-
sciences Unsettled-A Usually Calm Mind,
but . Compromise Was Arranged.
Mr.. W. D. Howells has written for
The Century two papers entitled ''Trib-
Nations Of a Cheerful Giver," giving
his experiences with the begging frater-
nifty. The following is taken from the
first paper:
Some months ago, as I was passing
through a down town street ON my way
to the elevated station, l saw a man
sitting on the steps Of a house. He
seemed to be resting his elbows on his
knees and holding out both his hands.
AS l came nearer I perceived that he
had no hands, but only stumps, where
the fingers had been cut off close to the
palms, and that it was these stumps he
was holding out in the mute appeal
which was his form of begging. Other
wise he did not ask charity. When I ap-
preached him he did not look up, and
when l stopped in front Of him he did
not speak. l thought this rather fine in
its way; except for his mutilation,
which the man really could not help,
there was nothing to offend the taste,
and his immobile silence was certainly
impressive.
| decided at once to give him some
thing, for when l am in the presence Of
want or ever the appearance Of want,
there is something that says to me,
Give to him that asketh," and I have
to give or else go away with a bad CON
science-a thing l hate. Of course I do
not give much. for l wish to be q good
citizen as we'll as a good Christian, and
as soon as l obey that voice which I can
not disobey 1 hear another voice re-
preaching me for encouraging street
beggary. l have been taught that street
beggary is wrong, and when I have to
unbutton two coats and go through three
or four pockets before I can reach the
small coin l mean to give in compli-
ance with that imperative voice, I GER
tainly feel it to be wrong. So / compro-
mise, and l am never able to make sure
that either Of those voices is satisfied
with me-. l am not even satisfied with
myself, but I am better satisfied than if
| gave nothing. That was the selfish
reason l now had for deciding to yield
to my better nature and to obey the
voice which babe me "Give to him that
asketh, for, as l said, I hate a bad CON
science, and Of two bad consciences l
always choose the least, which, in a
case like this, is the one that incensed
political economy gives me-
l put my hand into my hip pocket,
where keep my silver, and found moth
ing there but half dollar. This at once
changed the whole current Of my feel
ings, and it was not chill penury that
repressed my noble rage, but chill afiu-
ence. 1t was manifestly wrong to give
half a dollar to a man who had no
hands or to any sort of beggar. I was
willing to commit a small act of Incl
vism, but i had not the courage to fout
political economy to the extent Of 80
cents, and I felt that when I was bid
den "Give to him that asketh" I was
never meant to give SO much as q half
dollar, but a cent, or a half dime, or at
the most a quarter. / wished I had q
quarter. I would gladly have given q
quarter, but there was nothing in my
pocket but that fatal, that inexorably
indivisible half dollar, the continent Of
two quarters, but not practically . quar-
ter. I would have asked anybody in
sight to change it for me, but there was
no one passing; it was a quiet street Of
brownstone dwellings, and not a
thronged ~thoroughfare at any time. At
that hour of the late afternoon it was
deserted, except for the beggar and my
self, and am not sur that he had any
business to be sitting there on the steps
of another mans house, or that I had
the right to encourage his invasion by
giving him anything. For a moment I
did not know quite what to do. To be
sure, I was not bound to the man in
any way. He had not asked me for char
ity, and l had barely paused before
him. l could go IN and ignore the in
cident. l thought of doing this, but
then l thought Of the bad conscience /
should be certain to have, and I could
not go on. l glanced across the street,
and near the corner / saw a decent look
ing restaurant, and "Wait a minute l
said to the man, as if he were likely to
go away, and I ran across to get my
half dollar changed at the restaurant.
was now quite resolved to give him
a quarter, and be done with it; the
thing was getting to be a bore. But
when l entered the restaurant I saw no
u there but a young man quite at the
end of a long room, and when he had
come all the way forward to find what
I wanted I was ashamed to ask him to
change my half dollar, and I pretended
that I wanted q package of Sweet Ca
poral cigarettes, which I did not want,
and which it was a pure waste for me
to buy, since I do not smoke, though
doubtless it was better to buy them and
encourage commerce than to give the
half dollar and encourage beggary. At
any rate, I instinctively felt that I had
political economy o N my side in the
transaction, and l made haste to 90 back
! tn the man on the stems md cocuro INV