The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-15

NJ
 bodv on this green old earth makes rlls- takes sometimes. A few memoers ol t''e human family nobly great fall ihto CT TOTS but seldom; the great muiutuue stumble constantly and in countess ih- stances fatally. While all are In some degree sinful. there are comparatlVely few who are vicious. Good men anu saintly women. vastly outnumber llose VI evil minds, which is but another way oi saving the beloved old truth ana ooc- trine of life that there is more good than evil in the world
 If this were not true the world would ha of wretchedness alone for all save .,oso who devote their lives to religion. TO those who do not realize the truth- fulness of the great good truth life must he wretched unto pitifulness. For such as these there cannot be any hope since hone implies some degree of faith' or pe- lief.
 He or she Is the very hamburger Of nope and It's 1ulfllment who can make the world brighter for some one no rnal'ei whom. why or when-I had almost "rlt- ten. even if the doing of 1t made neces- sarv the telling of little white He. Yet there are many occasions when every one must either tell a harmless hn or he rude or unkind. "Even rich gifts wax noor w..en givers prove unkind = good preaching for mankind II ever there was such preaching.
 | Tn me of sympathetic nature who mas | closely studied the undertow of life as II | is in this City Beautiful of the Nation' II would seem that even the Presidency IL | self would be burden of grief 1T US ex- alted occupant could know or be made to know of the appalling misery of disap' pointment and grief that moans aoou' him. As 1t Is he knows nothing about IL He sees 1t at the top, not from the top The mere polite disappointment he op- serves when in the few personal instances | he is obliged to say no to polite pleading | for the high places does not spell to him a | lack of meat and bread and shelter This 1 latter condition Is far down, very faI down. below the President. One who IS actually in need could not ever be per mitted to plead to the President in per | son. For one to whom the cost of bas' ket of roses would be riches there is nc way to the audience chamber of the great
 Those who are acquainted with many forms of want must plead their own cause to understandable and clerks; and It IS to be said to the honor of government the pleaders are treated with perfect courtesy and Kindness. They tell of their misfor' | tunes, needs, maybe sorrows. and are heard with sympathy; their names are taken, and they ire given promise that | they will be considered for any available position that may become vacant. And for several hours daily the long procession passes in and out of these seats of the mighty: pass in with some little hope and out with no hope at all.
 
 And many of these seekers after the | little places on the laborers rolls art eminently worthy and deserving. There | is one of the seekers who seems to me te be the saddest of all who have come un der my observation. She is young l ! cated-a fair gentlewoman. She cam' hither a year or two ago, it appears, ant some months ago she brought for Con l gressman, who has the greatest goot | heart in the world, a letter of introduction | from far away in the Southwest. He be- | ing absent. it had been made my duty tC receive all persons who had public busi l ness with him. In that way she came tc my attention She looked i'll and worn but most gentle, and was of most gentle | speech.
 | Her story was long and bitterly hard but in every particular worthy of a goot woman; nobody could have doubted hel sincerity or her uprightness. In the mair | the story she told had to do with her hay. ing saved little money in honorable oc. | cupation in the village where she hat | dwelt; with her ambition to see something of the great world of which she had read so much; with her purpose to come tc the Capital and qualify for government work: with her close application to studie: needful for her to pass the requisite ex | animation, and how. for some reason | quite unaccountable to her but easy fol mo to perceive, she had failed to receiv, | a certificate from the commission, ant therefore was not qualified for perTnancn | employment
 She then related how shc had secured temporary work in one of the depart l ments on two or three occasions fo