Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-10
CHARITIES.
Sam P. Jones Contsasts NewTes- lament and Human Standards.
Giving for Advertising Purposes-Not R~ai- ly Giving to Destow That Which We Do Not Want-Need of More
 Real Boncfactora.
lcoprRrGHT. 1885 ]

ture term, meaning simply practical deed kindly done for brother.
 Our Saviour gave us an illustration of pure, simple charity in the follow ing parable: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead And by chance there came down certain priest that way, and when he saw him he passed by on tho other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at that place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side But a cer- Samaritan, as he journeyed came where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and tool, care of him. And on the morrow when he departed he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him: Take care of him and whatsoever thou spcndcst more, when I como again Twill repay thee. ,"
 The priest by his very obligation was bound to care for brother, the Lcvitc none the less bound by his vows. The Samaritan, who hated the Jew and without conscience upon the question, was the man who practiccd charity. Out of kind heart he did practical deed to help brother.
 In this country we have organized charities and bencvolences which look toward the amelioration of the condi- tion of humanity. In these times these institutions are not equal to the task. Collections for the poor are taken every Sunday in the churches; they range from eighty-fivc cents to forty dollars. Most of these collections would seem to come from paupers, end as charity be- gins at home the money ought to be re- funded on the spot.
 Then we have committees in the churches that look after the poor. Some churches give charity balls, and thus they connect the sweetest word in all the Christian language with one of society's most balcful and hurtful things-a ball.
 Then we have contributions from millionaires. I saw the other day an- nounced by the Associated Press that millionaire in Washington City had given five thousand dollars to the poor of the city. This makes good news for the Associated Press; it is rare occur renee. I have often wondered if such gifts would be made at all if the giver thought that it would never be cxnown; there may be few still alive who give in the Scriptural way to charity, who twill not let their left hand know what their right hand doeth."
 A man who gives five thousand dol lars to charity and circulates it, or suf- fers it to be circulated by press and mouth, really gives about one dollar to charity and four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars to himself-he takes that much in glory.
 A millionaire out west boasted the other day that he raised several thou. sand bushels of wheat this last year on his Iowa farm, and that the railroad rates were so heavy upon his wheat that it would not pay it's own way to market Out of the generosity of his soul he pro posed to the president oi one of our leading railroads that if hc would haul the wheat free of chargo to the Ne brasl1a sufferers he woula generously give them the wheat. The trade was made, and he did a mighty charitable deed by giving wheat that was worth nothing to him.
 There are mighty lot of folks in this world who are willing to give away anything and everything that they dc not need and do not want.
 The charities of the average man in this country would shame him to his face if he would keep record of them. Many man thinks he is giving away thousands when, if the record had been made as honestly as he gave, it would amount to such pittance that he would destroy the record in sheer con. tempt for himself.
 How much we give does not test our generosity, but how much we have after we have given is far better test.
 She who gave most and made the record as the most generous of all givers was the poor widow who gave two mites, which was all she had. Iii thou seest thy brother have need and shut up thy bowels of compassion against him." condemnation instead of commendation comes to every such n man. These are times of millionaires and paupers and the masses of human ity range between the two Poverty is indeed poverty when brought in con. tact with great riches and luxury. Take it as it is in New York city. Mil. lionaires with half dozen luxurious homes more or less, when right down the street a dozen families crowd into one little tenement house and thou sands sleep on the awnings and in the parks when the weather will admit.
 No wonder men sour and rebel Phil. osophers may prattie and political and social economists may write, but after all we are not brotherhood, we have but little interest each in the other. My own native state few days ago shipped train load of provisions to starving Nebraskans. A citizen of my own town said: We should make up a car load here" Ireplied q will give one hun dred bushels of corn to the enterprise. ' Some one remarked: "What fine ad. vertisement for our town when it shall go abroad that Cartersville, Ga., shipped a car load of provisions to the starving west" I replied: "I don't want any