The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-10-30
THE BLESSINGS
OF POVERTY

History repeats itself. Just as in the
past no evil has been attacked but that
some sober brow would bless it and
approve it with a text" SO now, the
most serious question with us is the
question of poverty, and the apology
which pious men make for not remOV-
ing the cause of this evil is couChed in
the words of Jesus, Eye have the poor
always with you" Jesus might have
said: Slaves we have always with you"
He might have said: "Emperors We
have always with you" He might have
said: "Lepers We have always with
YOU The people to whom He spoke
knew a civilization without these. He
stated what was a fact, that when He
was gone there would still be oppor-
tunity to help the poor. To distort this
statement into meaning that never in
all centuries could men hope to solve
the problem of poverty-this interpre-
tation is either puerile or malicious
although it is continually made by men
who think well of themselves both for
wisdom and piety
Not only do men resign themselves
to the inevitableness of poverty, but
they even try to persuade themselves
that poverty is a blessing. They never
think it is a blessing to themselves,
but they talk softly about the blessings
of other peoples poverty. General
Booth of the Salvation Army recently
preached a sermon in which he gave
seven reasons for considering poverty
a blessing. The Salvation Army claims
to have fed Christmas day, in New
York city, $4,000 people. Monstrous!
Seven reasons for the blessedness of
eating your Christmas dinner at a
charity trough with $4,000 other pau
pers! The blessings of poverty! You
might as we'll talk of the gentleness of
, a Dakota blizzard. 1t would be as APP
propriate to speak of a balmy St. Louis
cyclone. Can not the preachers give
us a sermon on the hOpefulness of de-
spair or on the pleasurableness of
pain? l have heard it said of these
preachers that they think in their
hearts. They seem to me to think in
their stomachs. Poverty means want,
cold, hunger, shame, hate, vice, crime;
it means bodily sickness and moral de-
graduation.
Poverty is a curse, and l know of no
work so deeply religious and so truly
in accord with the spirit of the Naza-
rene as the work of using the political
tools that are within our reach in this
republic to put an end to the wrongs
which breed poverty in the sight of
plenty and cause the slums of human
misery to mock the triumphs of civil
lizatiOn.
Let us not blaspheme the memory of
that Lover of Men by quoting His
words against those who point the way
to a higher civilization in which power
ty as we know it will not be. Let us
rather address ourselves to this splen-
did task as the only way in which we
in our time have opportunity to con-
i tinue his work in the world.
In the garnet of a tenement house
which stands in the shadow of five
churches there lived a family with sew
en- children. During the intense heat
of last July the youngest, nursing
baby, fell sick. In a single day it wilt
ed like a flower. Night brought no re-
lief. All night long the ugly brick
walls gave forth heat like great hui
man ovens. The mother carried the
little sufferer down in the street in
hope of finding a breath of air She
went to a market place near by, and,
sitting on the curbstOne, rocked the
babe in her arms, watching it's twitch-
ing hands and pleading face The old
, cathedral clock tOlled away the hours.
At last the clatter of hoofs and rum
bic of wheels announced the rising tide
of humanity. But that day brought
no light to the mothers heart for in
the gray dawn of that morning she
saw the light of her life go out, and
on her arms she felt the heaViness of
death. You may read in the health re-
ports that the baby died of some dis
ease with Latin name. 1t died of
starvation.
The father works from six in the
morning until seven at night. On Sat
urday he works until twelve at night.
| On Sunday he works until noon. For
a he A
sober, honest, Industrious, willing man
never lived. And the mother, ah, the
| struggle she has had to make 81 satisfy
| the claims of the landlord and the gro
| Ger and pay for shoes and clothes and
school books. The truth is, she had
not enough to eat, and the baby, there
fore, was not properly nourlshed. It's
puny body became the culture ground
for disease germs, which it would have
had a chance of resisting if it had had
good food and pure air. Not having
these, it died, virtually of starvation.
Mothers, have you known what it
means to stand in the lonely nursery
with arms so empty and breasts so
! full? Fathers, have you listened in
vain for the music of the little feet
and the merry voice in the silent hall?
Have not these common experiences of
joy and sorrow taught you the great
lesson of human brotherhood? How
long will you insult your unfortunate
fellows with aims? When will you see
the need of changing the laws that de-
ny them justice? When will you learn
to hear IN the cry of these children Of
poverty the voice of your Christ? In
asmuch as we have done it unto one
of the least of these We have done l..
unto ma."-Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow,
The Pilgrim, Cincinnati