Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-11-12

have no quarter. that the detectives are
after it. that the police club is being
brandished that the iron door Of the
prison is being opened that the judge
is ready to call the case Too great le-
niency to criminals is too great severity
to society
The Idle Class.
Among the uprOOting and devouring
classes in our midst are the idle OF
course do not refer TO the people who
are getting old or to the sick OF to those
who cannot get work, but | tell you to
look out for those athletic men and wo-
men who will not work When the
French nobleman was asked why he
kept busy when he had so large prop
erty, he said. Il keep on engraving so |
may not hang myself | do not care
who the man is, he cannot afford 10 be
idle 1t is from the idle classes that the
criminal classes are made up Charac-
ter, like water. gets putrid if 1t stands
still too long. Who can wonder that in
this world, where there is so much to
do, and all the hosts Of earth and heav-
en- and hell are plunging into the con-
flict, and angels are flying and God is
at work, and the universe is quake
with the marching and countermarch-
ing. that God lets his Indignation fall
upon man who chooses idleness? l
have watched these do nothings who
spend their time stroking their beard,
and retouching their toilet, and criti-
cising industrious people, and pass their
days and nights in barrooms uad club
houses. lounging and smoking and
chewing aud card playing They are
not only useless. but they are danger
Gus How hard it is for them TO while
away the hours
Alas. for theml If they do not know
how to while away an hour what will
they do when they have all eternity on
their hands? These men for awhile
smoke the best cigars and wear the best
broadcloth and move in the highest
spheres, but have noticed that very
soon they come down to the prison. the
almshouse or stop at the gallows
The police stations Of two Of our cities
furnish annually 200. 900 lodgings For
the most part these 200O 900 lodgings
are furnished TO ablebodied men and
women, people as able TO work as you
and | are When they are received no
longer at one police station because
they are "repeaters. they 60 TO some
other station. and so they keep moving
around They get their food at house
doors. stealing what they can lay their
hands Oh IN the front basement while
the servant is spreading the bread In the
back basement They will not work.
Time and again in the country districts
they have wanted hundreds and thou
sands of laborers. These men will not
90 They do not want TO work have
tried them have set them 10 saving
wood IN my cellar to see whether they
wanted to work offered 10 pay them
well for Il have heard the saw going
for about three minutes, and then l
went down, and, 10, the wood, but no
saw They are the pest Of society. and
they stand III 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 III aud make that plea Sleep
ing at night at public expense IN the
station house During the day getting
their food at your doorstep lmprison-
ment does not scare them. They would
like it. Blackwell island or Moyamen-
sing prison would be a comfortable
home for them. They would have no OBJ
lection 10 the almshouse, for they ike
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 l
should toll day in and day out until
our hands are blistered and our arms
ache and our brain gets numb and then
be called upon TO support what IN the
United States are about 2, 600, 900 loaf
ers? They are very dangerous class.
Let the public authorities keep their
eyes on them.
The Oppressed Poor.
Among the uprooting classes place
the oppressed poor Poverty TO a GER
tain extent is Christening. but after that
when il drives man to the wall and
he hears his children cry in vain for
bread, 1t sometimes makes him desper-
ate | think that there are thousands OF
honest men lacerated into vagabondism-
There are men crushed under burdens
for which they are not half paid While
there is no excuse for crimlnality, even
in oppression, state it as a simple fact
that much of the scoundrelism Of the
community is consequent upon III treat
meut 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 oeass
which. pursued until it can run no lon
ger. turns round. foaming and bleeding
70 fight the hounds
There is a vast underground city life
that ia appalling and shameful. IL wal
lows and steams with putrefaction. You
90 down the stairs, which are wet and
deoayed with Alth, and at the bottom
Won find the poor victims on the door.
cold. sick, three.fourths dead, sinking
into a still darker corner under the
CLEAN Of the lantern Of the police.
There has not been breath Of fresh ar
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
20, as well as a great many who would
like a different life but cannot get it
These places are the sores of the cit'
which bleed perpetual corruption IheS
are the underlying volcano that threat
ems us with Caracas earthquake.
rolls and roars and surges and heaye
and rocks and blasphemes and dies
And there are only two outlets Tor IL
the police court and the potter HELD
In other words. they must either go Q