The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-06-23
pity FoR TnE PooR.

y LULtAe raHHEN
III Gordon Noel Hurtel never writes
anything more, ssfhe Baiiif's Salev
Is sufficient Co draw love and praise
trom all good people. It has kindled
4 q kindly feeling toward him, and what
Ia better, 1t has warmed our pity and
enlisted our sympathy for the suffer-
Ing poor. How easy IL is for hearts TO
get hard aud charity to grow cold.
The sale OF the poor tenants house
hold goods to pay the landlords rent is
q much more common thing than Is
supposed. The picture ia not over
drawn. IL 1t 10 not sold by the consta-
bic 1t Is by the auctioneer. ]
pass AN auction sale of old furniture
but whatI linger and look and ponder.
There is al unwritten chapter of want
and misery in every old bureau and
sofa and chair. There are hearts ach-
ing somewhere. There Is sadness
under some roof. III the sale paid the
debt there would be some comfort, but
the costs of court, the drayage and
commissions takes about all-for, as
Mr.. Hurtel says:
"Such worthless old rubbish will go
for q 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. II that did not
really happen, something akin to it Is
happening every day in our crowded
cities. What we see when we visit
them is only the sunshine and glitter
that wealth has brought to the favor
ed few. WE walk or ride on Peach
tree and wonder and admire, but who
seeks the dark alleys where the poor
congregate? Judge Bleckley wrote a
beautiful poem, called "a Tale of Two
Cities.the City of Life and the City Of
Death Atlanta and its cemetery !;
and his contrast between their inhab-
true. But there is a more pathetic
contrast between the very rich and
the very poor in every crowded me-
trOpolis. Sometimes we condone our
neglect of poverty and suffering by
saying they are not worth b%efriending
they are ungrateful-they brought
their misery upon themselves-or, If
you feed them and set them up for to-
day they will want more tomorrow.
Some folks say that private charity is
against public policy, but m expe-
rience and observation Is that the best
way to quiet u conscieaces Is to help
JtheM@give help in some way. There
are q few professional beggars, but
not enough to %impoverish anybody in
this Southern country. But those
who are really poor and do actually
suffer for good shelter, good food and
comfortable clothing are many and in
%creasing in numbers every day.
My wife cut out those touching
verses about the bailiff's sale and says
they remind her of Tom Hoods "Song
of the Shirt"
sob, for one short hour
To feel as | I used to feel,
Before L knew the woes of want,
Or the work that costs q meal"
That "Song of the Shirt awakened
: all LondOn to the sufferings of poor
women and it has come down 20 us
/! along the corridors of time and quick
ened our sympathies and enlarged our
charities. Oh, that our rich people
would sometimes read it and drop q
, tear of sympathy and then go out into
the by-ways and do something for
. ~humanity's sake. Rockefeller is O
, great philanthropist in his way, bu,
George Peabody will outrank him in
the annals of history and the judgment
1 of heaven. Why does not some multi
millionaire follow his example and
provide cheap homes for the poor O,
our cities L have heard it said thai
F.: it was Tom Hoods poem thai first in
t spired him to build cheap lodgings for
8 the poor of London. His plans for 81
. doing were not carried out for severa'
years, but he could not erase from his
memory the lines
I "That shattered roof-this naked door,
] a table-a broken chair,
And a val so blank my shadow | thank
For sometimes falling there"
He spent three millions on those
/. lodging houses and they are still .
$ comfort to the thousands who occur,
them. Human nature is not SO mear
l and selfish as 1T is t%houghtlcss and for
: getful. Our best emotions need re.
minders. Every now and then q pa
: thetic picture must be draw n, q tende,
. poem must be written. We must sec
the poor with the faded shaw
+ GAS she wipes with its fringes a tear from
y her eye."
, Many o man has pity in his bra
+ and charity in his heart, but it.
bers because it does not see the M -,
of the unfortunate. Poverty shrink,
t from the public gaze. 1t hides anG
suffers end waits. and hence we sec
: large sums OF money gathered IL tho
1 churches to be sent to those affair of
I when there is more need of it at home
| Starving people do not GO to church
nor will they 20 half clad In unseemly
guishes from hunger and cold. True
: charity must hunt for distress and re.
lieve it.
, This reminds me of the convicts and
+ their pitiless condition. Most of them
| deserve their fate but among the 1900
! there are some who have expiated
F.! their offenses and ought to be set free,
+, The courts make mistakes sometimes,
ard no doubt there are many ~conyicts
paying penalties they do not owe.
} There Is not q more helpless creature
, upon earth than q friendless convict,
and we rejoice that Governor Akin.
8 son and the committee are making q
| searching examination. The Cover.
!, nor told me Of a negro boy who had
| served nine years and had eleven more
to serve. He went in u boy of fifteen
b charged with arson and now it appears
most clearly that he was not guilty,
] and 1t could have been SO proved, but
the witness, a substantial citizen, lived
out of the State and his evidence could
, not be had. The boy was convicted on
circumstantial evidence. The Cover.
nor has affidavits that place the limo
3 cence OF this negro beyond all doubt,
and OF course he has set him at liberty.
r He has shortened the terms of q great
many and his consideration for those
! who have behaved we'll receives un-
[ usual commentator.
: Reform is said to be one Of the oh.
jects Of punishment, and If the crimi-
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