The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-01-18
-YvHAT is the ideal Of charity? I:

| NTHAT is the ideal OF charity? II
w is the good Samaritan, who took
infinite pains to help one stranger whom
he chanced upon by the way, and if
everyone should be neighborly in this
sense to any who fall into distress and
comes naturally into his life, no one
would have to go about hunting for peo-
pie to help, or in other words, there
would be no need of charities"
Charity is not an occupation; it is not
even piece of lite. 1t is life. 1t per-
vades all relations. A man cannot be
charitable and yet overwork and under
pay his employes-a woman cannot be
charitable and yet browbeat and scorn
her servants or backbite her acquain-
tances.
A Confusion of Terms.
If the nature is charitable, it will show
itself in charity to all, to rich and poor
alike. If the nature is uncharitable, to
be member of twenty Boards, to know
all about the dangers of pauperizing
and the advantages of organized char
ity, will not make it otherwise, but will
probably intensity the hardness. And
because charities" are confounded with
charity, because to be connected with
charities" does, in some unaccountable
manner, satisfy the conscience, which
thus fails to feel it's own selfshness and
cruelty is one of the reasons why "char-
tiles" do interfere with true charity. 1t
seems often as if charities were the in
suit which the rich add to the injuries
which they heap upon the poor. But
people usually are not to blame for sub
stituting charities" for charity; at least
not entirely to blame. They do not see
the world as it is because they have not
been brought up to do so, and not hav.
ing much imagination, they do not for
themselves discover the truth, and it is
necessary to understand the facts if this
error is to be avoided,
Working for Idlers.
The facts are that the great mass of
the population in any community is
working hard to keep that community
alive. They work primarily for them
selves, but they work also for all the
idlere, who though they do nothing to
keep themselves alive, yet are kept alive
and are fed and clothed, some at but lit
tie expense per head to the workers, and
others at large expense per head. OF
course it is this great mass of men and
women who work who ought to be the
objects of charity, of love, partly because
they are the great mase, partly because
they are the workers, partly because
their lives are very hard and could be
made much easier by little charity,
even by very little thought, on the part
of their fellowmen. Strangely enough,
however, this great mass of the people
these men who work all night in cell
lars to give us our daily bread. these
men who bring milk and vegetables to
US every day, these men who dig out
from the dark caverns the coal that
warns us, who, by their faithfulness and
intelligence carry us safely on thunder
ing railway trains, to whose watchful-
ness we confide our lives without a
thought; these women who cook for us
and wait upon us and clothe us-all
these men and women without whom we
could not live in comfort for one day,
without whom we could not live at all
for one month, we forget. We seldom
think of them at all, unless we are forced
to. When they undertake to seek some
slight improvement in their lot, we have
to think of them, but it is with some-
thing of the feeling, perhaps, which the
stakeholder felt upon hearing of an in
surrection of slaves. Their hardships,
their suffering, their weary bones and
aching heads, are nothing to us; we &C.
cept all the benefits they confer on US,
and never even give them thought far
less our love, our charity. They do not
usually complain or ask for sympathy.
and they seldom receive any They
struggle and work, they live and die,and
very few people trouble themselves
about them, little realizing that, instead
of helping them they are often sadly
hindering them, and even adding to their
hardships by their vain efforts to help an
entirely different set of people-the peo-
pie who are the "beneficiaries of chari
ties.'
These are the poor idlers, the failures,
the broken down men and women who
could not stand the strain of the work
ing life because Of some special weak
ness either Of body, or mind, or charac-
ter. These people do appeal for char
ity," they do task for help" they do en-
large upon their distress, and though,
as l have said, to try to help them,
though vainly, often results in increase
of suffering to the great mass of men
and women who work, yet charities"
still continue and still are supported by
thoughtless people who pride themselves
on their kindheartedness. This harm is
done in various ways. Charities" some
times tempt their benefciaries to idle,
nees, and sometimes they do not. In the
first case the harm done is directly to
the person 80 tempted, who thus lose
character. independence and the means