The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-03-07

mou are suffering Tor crimes committed
under circumstances paralleling the
above. LabOring under misfortune of
some kind, without friends. money or
work, they have applied to their fellow
man for means to get bread, and have
been refused by those amply able to
grant the temporary relief, either
through work, or small loan; with
starvation staring them in the face,
perhaps with wife and little babes
awaiting their frultless return, they
have become desperate and committed
that act, which has ruined their own,
and who can say how many other lives
The refusal of dollar to many good
honest and industrious man in his hour
of great need, has sent him to prison, to
the scaffold, or to the grave That there
are many imposters in the world, can
not be denied; men who traffic and live
on their fellow man; but it requires no
skill to discern them from the true
metal. a thoroughly honest and worthy
person can be picked out of thousand
OF such creatures, as easily as gold can
be picked from brass. There is ring
in their voice that is unmistakable,
their story is clear, concise, honest and
we are made to feel their candor if we
but open our hearts to their cry, the cry
of distress that is too often heard
throughout our land. But that all pre-
vailing spirit of selfshness has closed
our hearts against the cry Of the nm
fortunate, the poor and the weak, I'M
til too late, and we are forced to 90
down into our pockets and furnish the
means to try and suppress. or cure, the
result of that which our selfishness has
created. Leaving aside the distinctive
ly honest man, the man who has never
committed a dishonest action in his
life, is it christian. is it manly, to con-
slider as wholly lost the man who has
fallen once or perhaps twice, and has
suffered for his offences? Could it not
have been possible, that the very
moment he needed succor, when great
temptations assailed him, he approached
some man, some brother, and begged
him to save him, by>giving him employ
ment or temporary relief; and the re-
fusal to do so, because he was stranger
and unknown, his sincerity doubted,
his weakness overcame him and he
again fell, perhaps beyond all re-
demptlon. The man who says: "A
man who is at heart honest cannot ever
do wrong" is simply talking; he has no
conception of what he says, in fact, he
was never friendless, penniless and
hungry, or denied the privilege of
earning his living, and can form no
correct idea of the desperation of
such position. Not all men fall;
neither do all men get caught. Mans
inhumanity to man is the direct cause
of the greater part of lifes misery and
crime. We should have more faith in
each other, remembering always that
one destiny awaits us all: the great
judgment seat, the great eternity. 1t
lies with each one Of Gods creatures
to help smooth the pathway in lifes
Journey of a weak brother. AS the
darkest cloud has silver lining, so also
has the hardest sinsstained heart its
soft and tenderspot let us aim to reach
it; strengthen and build upa desire tC
become worthy the confidence anC
trust we impose upon it, and man will
become better, the world happier. Let
us trust each other more; for once that
we are deceived, thousand times will
the bread cast upon the waters be re
turned to us, sweetened with Gods
blessing, and a consciousness Of duty
performed.