The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1896-05-29

some bills.
mir. Thompson" she said, 81 thank
you for insisting that 1 should come
here. You have opened my eyes to some
things / was blind to before. Take this
it is only very small part of the
heavy debt owe you. Buy fuel. food,
clothing, furniture, medicines-what-
ever you and your sick family most re-
quire. Spend it freely, but pay no rent;
this room shall never cost you another
cent"
GOD bless you, madame!" Thompson
exclaimed, his eyes filling with tears.
Il take your gifts now with glad and
thankful heart. l felt sure that all you
needed was to see and understand. But,
oh, remember that there are others in
this house almost as badly off as you
found me-"
Il shall not forget" said Mrs. Phelps,
as she departed.
Upon reaching home Mrs. Phelps
went to her room and shut herself in.
Her visit to James Thompson had i'm
deed been a revelation to her. How had
she discharged the responsibility which
the possession of great wealth carries
with it? BY lavishing money ON
flowers. music, rich viands and the like,
when SO many were lacking the neces-
saries of life. And, most humiliating
thought of all, much of the very wealth
which she enjoyed had been earned
for her by those same starving poor.
Theirs it was-not hers-if justice were
done. In her humiliation she knelt and
offered what was, perhaps, the first real
prayer that had risen from her lips
for long time; prayer in which she
craved pardon for the thoughtlessness,
selfishness and frivolity of the past,
and consecrated her wealth to the serv-
ice of Christ and of those concerning
whom He said: "Inasmuch as We have
done it unto one of the least of these
we have done it unto Me-"
A year has passed. James Thompson
with his wife and daughter, both of
whom have been restored to health. are
living in a neat, pleasant house, the
gift of Mrs. Phelps, through whose in
strumentality Thompson has procured
lucrative employment. The year has
witnessed some other changes, too
especially in the real estate owned by
Mrs. Phelps. Very promptly she called
upon her agent and gave that individual
some instructions which fairly took his
breath away. She obtained from him
list OF all tenements owned by her,
and then set to work to systematically
visit each house and the families occu-
pying it. Such poverty, squalor and
degradation as she encountered! As
a result of this inspection. she ordered
o general reduction of the rents, q
thorough cleaning Of all the houses
| and numerous repairs, while some
crazy habitations she ordered to be de-
molished.
A company of philanthropic persons,
| organized through her efforts, pur.
chased On entire block of rickety tene-
ments. tore them down and erected a
series of modern structures in which
suites of rooms were offered at rates far
lower than those prevailing in the sur
rounding tenements. The houses were
soon filed with a population who had
clean quarters to start with and every
inducement to keep them so. And con-
trary to all expectations the enterprise
has yielded fair rate of interest on the
money invested in it.
| Phelps & Co. no longer pay starvation
wages to their employees. Mrs. Phelps
husband had bequeathed her a controll-
| ing interest in the firm, and one day she
startled the other partners by propos-
ing heavy increase in the rates paid
for making up clothing. They de-
INJURED, and said that such an increase
would bankrupt the firm. But Mrs.
Phelps persisted in her demand, and
| finally induced the senior partner to
accompany her to the abodes of some Of
the people employed by the firm. They
| had not visited many places when he
said he had seen quite enough.
"IIow do you suppose the patronage
Of Phelps d Co. would be affected"
asked Mrs. Phelps, ''if our customers
were aware that their new garments
had been lying few hours before on
the dirty floor of tenement or on the
bed of child sick with contagious
! disease?"
Being unable to answer this question
satisfactorily, both partners quietly
submitted to the inevitable. The wnges
were raised, and, far from becoming
bankrupt, the firm of Phelps & Co. is
more prosperous than ever. And Mrs.
Phelps to-day is very cheerful. happy
noman-far happier than when she
was a devotee at the altar of fashion.
| For she knows that she has the smile
of Him TO whom she has consecrated
not only her wealth and her time, but
nerself-N. Y Observer.
| Man only blames himself in order