The Monitor-register., 1897-11-12

e1AS0 hSN tAOLA " oh ~
wood in my cellar to see whether they
wanted to work. l offered to pay them
we'll for it. | have heard the saw going
for about three minutes, and then ]
went down, and, 10, the wood, but no
sawl They are the pest of society. and
they stand in the way of the Lords
poor, who ought to be helped and will
be helped While there are thousands
of industrious men who cannot get any
work, these men who do not want any
work come in and make that plea. Sleep
ing at night at public expense in the
station house. During the day getting
their food at your doorstep. Imprison-
ment does not scare them. They would
like it. Blackwell S island or Moyamen
sing prison would be a comfortable
home for them. They would have no OBJ
lection to the almshouse, for they like
thin soup if they cannot get mock tur-
tie.
like for that class of people the scant
bill of fare that Paul wrote out for the
Thessalonian ~loafers, "If any work not,
neither should he eat. By what law of
God or man is it right that you and /
should toll day i'll and day out until
our hands are blistered and our arms
ache and our brain gets numb and her
be called upon to support what in the
United States are about 2, 600, 600 loaf
ers? They are a very dangerous class.
Let the public authorities keep their
eyes on them.
The Oppressed Poor.
Among the %uprooting classes l place
the oppressed poor. Poverty to a GER
tain extent is Christening, but after that,
when it drives a man to the wall and
he hears his children cry in vain for
bread, it sometimes makes him desper-
ate. | think that there are thousands of
honest men lacerated into v~agabondism.
There are men crushed under burdens
for which they are not half paid. While
there is no excuse for c%riminality, even
in oppression, | state it as a simple fact
that much of the scoundrelism of the
community is consequent upon i'll treat
ment There are many men and women
battered and bruised and stung until
the hour of despair has come, and they
stand with the ferocity of a wild beast
which. pursued until it can run no lon
ger, turns round, foaming and bleeding,
to fight the hounds
There Is a vast underground city life
that is appalling and shameful. 1t wal
lows and steams with putrefaction. You
go down the stairs, which are wet and
decayed with filth, and at the bottom
you find the poor victims on the floor,
cold, sick, three-fourths dead, sinking
into a still darker corner under the
CLEAN of the lantern of the police.
There has not been a breath of fresh air
in that room for five years literally.
There they are, men, women, children,
blacks, whites, Mary Magdalene with
out her repentance and Lazarus without
his God. These are the dives into
which the ~pickpockets and the thieves
go, as we'll as a great many who would
like a different life, but cannot get it
These places are the sores of the city
which bleed perpetual corruption. They
are the underlying volcano that threat
Il us with a Caracas earthquake 1t
rolls and roars and surges and heaves
and rocks and blasphemes and dies.
And there are only two outlets for it
the police court and the potter's field.
In other words, they must either go to
prison or to hell Oh, you never saw it,
you say. You never will see it until on
the day when these staggering wretches
shall ONE up in the light of the Judg-
ment throne and while all hearts are
being revealed God will ask you what
you did to help them.
There is another layer of poverty and
restitution not SO squalid, but almost
as helpless You hear their incessant
wailing for bread and clothes and fire.
Their eyes are sunken. Their cheek
bones stand out Their hands are damp
with slow consumption. Their flesh is
pulled up with ~dropsies. Their breath is
like that Of a charnel house. They zeal
the o of the wheels of fashion over
head and the gay laughter of men and
maidens and wonder why God gave to
others SO much and to them so little
Some of them thrust into an infidelity
like that Of the poor German girl who,
when told in the midst of her wretchcd-
ness that God was good. said: mo,
no good God. just look at me. No good
God"
The Christian Duty.