The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1899-11-19

Adylsed Phiianthropy.
To there an eficient remedy for the
unequal social conditions of rich and
poor, Of learned and unlearned, in
these modern days?
Let MS conceive OF a family-hus-
band and wife, brother and sister,
mother and son-belonging to the
wealthy class which has become con-
vincsd that 1t is criminal to live in
afluence and unrestrained luxury in
the face of the miserable poverty of
the masses and the actual starvation
OF thousands.
We will assume that these people
relinquish the enjoyment of their
wealth, forsake their cultured envi.
rons and, setting aside an annual
pittance for their support, resolve to
60 and live among the poor, to suffer
with them and to assuage their mis-
cry to the best of their ability. Still
better, they may plan to distribute
all their wealth among the needy,
and ike their fellow bread earners,
exc out an existence by such light
manual or literary labor as they are
capable Of. They have settled down
in humble quarters, begin to instruct
the children of their neighbors,
nurse the sick and comfort the dy-
ing, and in every possible manner
seek to ameliorate the distress
around them.
No other life seems more exalted
than does this. Nevertheless. it Is or
must become hell on earth, provid-
ed these earnest, helpful people are
not hypocrites or live life of self-de-
ception.
These well-meaning, philanthropy
lists sacrifice the prodigality, inde-
pendence and pomp which their
money can provide. They do this
because they regard all men as breth-
rem and children of one Heavenly
Father, not equal as to ability and
merit. but equal as to their inaliena-
BILE right to live and to all that life
can offer.
These heroes have left refined So
ciety because they believe in hu-
man determination which finds ex-
preston not in empty words. but in
real deeds, and because they want to
take the initiative in the realization
of the final fraternization of all man
kind.
This experiment launches our
be1efactors into shocking situations,
SO long as they persist earnestly in
their endeavors, not deceiving them
selves or others. Accustomed from
early childhood to order, comfort
and cleanliness, they feel that it is
not wrong to dissent from most of
the neighbors in these qualities.
They have papered the walls of their
apartment, removed all dirt and YER
min from it, and the furniture,
though plain and oheap, is spotless
clean.
The news of the arrival of the
philanthropists and of their good in
tentions spreads like wildfire among
the proletarians. At first, when 1t is
known that the newcomers actually
give of their belongings and their sell
vices without expecting anything iii
return, they are besieged only with
verbal and written petitions for aid.
But these petitions are soon changed
into peremptory demands. Begging
is changed into formal requests for a
division of superf1uous possessions.
Despite the erroneous conception of
the poor as to ownership, the new
Corners find it necessary, on account
of the awful poverty and misery
around them, to give away all that
can be spared from their abundance.
But gradually they find it neces-
sary not only to give them the abund-
ance, but also from their self-im-
posed penury.
A small quantity of milk is placed
aside for the coffee and oatmeal of
breakfast, but across the street is a
pair of twin babies, whose mother is
very Ill anu eau uO lOuSSE uuHS sc
them.
Pillows and bed covers are given
away one by one until, like Jesus
Christ, their Master, and His dis
ciples, they are deprived of their
beds altogether, and the bare floor
becomes their couch-for yonder
lies cripple sick unto death, shiver-
ing in rags and a bed of filthy straw,
and there are hundreds of poor
scurvy creatures who must be pro-
tected from the bitter cold of the
night.
Not even the vermin can be kept
out of the house, for they feel in
duty bound to provide shelter for
the ill clad beggars who knock on