The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-07-10
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
uE DrLArEs UPON THE RARITY
CA CHRISTIAN CHARITY
Tho "soug of the shirt'' and "rho
Ballin's sale" Draw Love aud
Praise.


sufficient 10 draw love and praise from
an good people. II has kindled kind
" feeling toward him, and what ia
better, II has warmed our pity aud en-
listed our sympathy for the suffering
poor. How easy II "a for hearts 10 Get
hard aud charity TO grow cold. Tho
sale Of the poor tenants household
goods to pay the landlords rent is a
much more common thing than is sup-
posed. The picture is not overdrawn.
M il is not sold by the constable II Is
by the auotioneer never pass an
auction sale Of old furniture but what
linger and look and ponder. There
is an unwritton chapter OF want and
misery In every old bureau and sofa
aud chair. There are hearts aching
somewhere. There is sadness under
some roof. II the sale paid the debt
there would be some comfort, but the
costs Of court, the drayago and com.
missions, takes about all-for, as Mr..
Hurtel says;
"such worthless old rubbish will 20
for a song"
"Alas for the rarity OF Christian
charity" when the bereaved mother
has to spend her last quarter to buy in
her dead baby's chair. If that did not
really happen, something akin to it is
happening every day in our crowded
cities. What we see when we visit
them ia only the sunshine and glitter
that wealth has brought 10 the favored
few. We walk OF ride on Peaohtree
and wonder and admire, but who seeks
the dark alleys where the poor congre.
gate? Judge Bleckley wrote q beauti.
full poem, called "a Tale Of Two Cities
the City of Life and the City OF
Death"-Atlanta and it's cemetery; and
his contrast between their inhabitants
is wonderfully graphic and true. But
there is a more pathetic contrast be-
tween the very rich and the very poor
in every crowded metropolis. Some.
times we oondone our neglect
Of poverty and suffering by saying
tney are not worth befriendiDg-they
are ungrateful-they brought their
misery upon themselves-or, if you
feed them and set them up for today
they will want more tomorrow. Some
folks say that private charity is against
public policy, but my experience and
observation is that the best way to
quiet our eonsciences is to help them
give help in some way. There are 9
few professional beggars, but not
enough to impoverish anybody in this
southern country. But those who are
reilly poor and do actually suffer fol-
good shelter, good food and comforta'
BILE clothing are many and are increas.
ing in numbers every day.
My wife cut out those touching
verses about the bailiff's sale and says
they remind her of Tom Hoods "Sone
Of the Shirt"
"Oh, for one short hour
To feel as used to feel
Before knew the woes of want,
Or the work that costs a meal"
That 'Song of the Shirt" awakened
all London to the sufferings of poor
women, and it has come down to III
along the corridors of time and quick.
ened our sympathies and enlarged oul
charities. Oh, that our rich people
would sometimes read it and drop g
tear of sympathy and then go out into
the by-ways and do something for hu.
manity's sake. Rockefeller is a great
philanthropist in his way, but George
Peabody will outrank him in the an.
nails of history and the judgment Of
heaven. Why does not some multi
millionaire follow his example and pro
vide cheap homes for the poor of oul
cities? have heard it said that it wal
Tom Hoods poem that first inspired
him to build cheap lodgings for the
poor of London. His plans for SO do
ing were not carried out for several
years, but he could not erase from hi
memory the lines:
sThat shattered roof this naked floor
A table-a broken chair,
And wall so blank my shadow thank
For sometimes falling there"
He spent three millions on thos,
lodging houses and they are still
comfort to the thousands who occupy
them. Human nature is not SO meal
and selfish as it is thoughtless and for
sy,getful Our best emotions need re.
nninders. Every now and then pa
thetic picture must be drawn,a tender
poem must be written. We mustsee tn
poor woman with the faded SHAWL
'As she wipes with its fringes tear from he
eye.
Many a man has pity in his breast
and charity in his heart, but it slum
bers because it does not see the miser,
Of the unfortunate. Poverty shrink
from the public gaze. 1t hides itsel
and suffers and waits, and hence W
see large sums of money gathered il
the churches to be sent to those afa
rpf when there is more need of it q
l. 4