The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-08
OLD CLOTHES.
How and where to Dispose of Cast
OF Garments to the Best Advan-
tage.

This and the spring are the times
when the clothing of a family is sifted
out and much given away: and wom-
an who has worked among the poor,
both in the cities and in the country,
gives a very sensible word or two about
the matter She says: Never give
away clothes to poor people that need
mending or buttons or anything OF
that sort. Give them away whole and
clean and if you have any pieces of the
stuffs give them also and in neat
bundle"
The very poor have very little time
TO mend for ali their time is taken
in the struggle for daily bread and
little Of that. People who have not
been much among them cannot realize
what it is to these people to have
clothes given them, especially for their
children, that are in good condition
Mended and clean. they are a lesson,
an object lesson that people in other
and more fortunate classes DO not at
all understand. Very often these poor
women, while deeply grateful for such
gifts, have nothing to mend clothes
with-no needles and no thread and
assuredly not pieces to patch with.
Then, too. they have no time very
often and very usually no ability to do
the work, and so the clothes go on to
the poor little children in the condition
in which they are received. 1t is simply
thoughtlessneSS that the clothing is so
given, and because attention has never
been called to it, for it would be q small
matter for the mother who gives them
away to give q day, if need be, 70 the
mendin= or 70 give it to the family
seamstress to do, or still better to hire
some poor woman who needs the work
to do it and pay her for it, perhaps af-
forwards giving her the clothing to use
herself, or to give away to those whom
she may know of who need the things.
But this last plan must be carefully
managed, for such clothing means
money and could be pawned for a small
sum. and unless a person is known to be
absolutely trustworthy it is well TO
dispense the clothing from headquar-
tiers. Never give away finery to any
poor people. 1t does them no good and
positive harm.
They want whole, neat, clean, thin or
thick clothing, as the season may be
but finery never. Old silk dresses are
a curse and not blessing, and the
same with old and soiled ribbons. If
one can find one of the thrifty country
women who knit rag carpets or who
prepare the rags for the loom, or who
make homemade silk curtains-that is
the place to use all such stuff. Really
beautiful curtains may be made out of
scraps of silk and sometimes thew are
good enough to be made into little
quilts for cribs, or for the lining of a
comforter. Those things are done in
the country. where there is more lei
sure than in the hurried rush of city
life, and many a gown is taken home
soiled or rcushed andspoiled that would
be a boon to q girl in the country where
the summer has been spent. 1t is GER
tain that attention need only be called
to the matter to bring about a reform
as to how clothes are given away and
where-also what. 1t is astonishing as
che goes through the world to find how
very generally people are ready to
help one another.
KATHERINE B. FOOT