The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-11
Snecial to The Globe.

InuSlaSllC persons, New -4oTh< IepOIt-
ers are generally enthusiastic, have
gone so fas as to cali young A. g.. p
Stokes the American Tolstoi The
young millionaire, With his acceptable.
modesty, would promptly disdaln anya
such fiattering appelation, I, knowing! |
that the difference between his own |
case and that of the great Russian is,
incaIculable.
But, taken as type of a new genus
in the American social system, Mr.;
Stokes will do very we'll without any
comparisons whatever.
The new social conditions which are
being created in this country Will de-
velop more men of this type as the
years roll by. for in them may be seen
the possibility of averting- social rev.
olution which others born to- wealth
and high place are doing their utmost
to bring about. s>'
Mr.. Stokes is young. man., thirty
years of age, who has found a new
gospel in Christian socialism. and be-.
ccme in consequence resident work
er in the University settlement in Riv-
ington street, New York.. Ss5.n II
In casting off the ShackleS, Of fash
ionable life Mr. Stokes says he was
influenced by nothing more strongly
than a quotation from one of Oscar
Wildes plays, which reads. Modern,
fashionable society is a dead thing
smeared with gold,H. and the reading
of BuIwer Lytten's The. DisoWned.'
The latter work depicts the case of a
young man who was disinherited for
having sympathies with a. lower So
cial element than, that into which he
was born.
Mr.. Stokes case Is entirely different
IF hn lnHf p his
wealthy parents yield to the young
mans foible and take it gracefully that
their gifted son. sees fit to divert him
self in the way that he is doing and for
which he has sacrificed the use 7of
princeIy homes in the Murray hill sec
ton and at LenoX.
Mr. Stokes is a veritahle knight
Grant, for he boasts descent from such
titled people as the Montespedans of
Normandy, while by way of philanthropy
ic blood among his ancestors was one
phic blood among his ancestors was one
of the founders Of the New York Peace
society and the American Tract So
Ciety.
Seventeen hours of each work day
are devoted by Mr.. Stokes to work in
tended to brighten and benefit the lives
of the poorer classes of New York,
such, for instance, as he finds resident
in the immediate neighborhOod of the
Settlement in RiVington street and of
his other charge, the Hartley house
on Forty sixth street, of which he has
for some time been head worker.
While other persons of his social type
are busy digging into the musty rec
0rdS of the past for genealogical trees,
Mr.. Stokes has very little concern about
such THINGS preferring to let his own
descendants, in case he ever marries,
have TO beast only that their father
was an honest worker in the cause
of humanity.
That his present course is not a fad
with him is proved by the fact that
Mr.. Stokes has for six years past been
connected with the Hartley house.
One IF the things which had a pow
erful influence In shaping Mr.. Stokes
course was his experience as an ambu-
lance surgeon at Roosevelt hospital,
which happened after he had graduated
as a physician about ten years ago.
During his hospital career Mr.. Stokes
saw much of the misery existing in our
midst, which nothing was done to
ameliOrdte.
Mr.. Stokes gives as his reason for
moving down to Rivington street from
his quarters uptown that he wished to
be in touch with things, with the real
world Of everyday people and the use
full workers whose aim is social bet
terment
The people who live here" said he
"are self-respecting, self-supporting
American ClIlZ6IlS. as 1DI6UlS0uC 9DO
moral as any in New York. They are
working here to improve the conditions
under which they live and am work
ing with them; that is all"
How exquisitely ironical are the
words with which Mr.. Stokes caps of
this simple statement of fact:
Some of my friends tell me that
have left behind all fun, all pleasure
Even were that true 1 would answer
that fun is not the main purpose OF
life. But it is not true. This is the
most interesting life 1 have ever led
1t is deep, whole souled enjoyment
from beginning to end. Those who
render the most social service are those
who have the most enjoyment of life
The weight of these words it would
be hard to overestimate. TO those who
have lived the life of careless leisure
or even to those who have studied II
closely, there is small satisfaction in it
The slaves of fashion and society are
rather to be pitied than envied. Theil
circuit is the narrOWest of the narrow
their aims so sordid as to give no last
ing satisfaction, their response from
other hearts so shallow as to convey
no ring of true friendship.
Contrast such a life with that of ont
who has the means to relieve the al
most measureless suffering that may
be found or every hand in our broad
country under existing. economic con
to relieve, as far as means and help
full advice will accomplish it, the strug
Cling brother! What a harvest of sat
isfaction is that mans lot, and how
splendid a recempense does one feel h
receives for the devotion and sacriffc
incurred in the labor?
Of course the lives of all young mil
liOnaireS cannot be devoted to distrib
uting the resources of Inilffonaires par
ents, or there would, in sthe long rur
be nothing to Distribute. But Will
the present unequal distribution o
wealth, accidental or otherwise, con
tinues, there will be need for many me-
of the caliber Of young Stokes. throug'
whom the long expected and long dis
CuSSed social millennium maybe per
haps wrought out. <
According TO his pedigree, the ances
tors Of young Stokes came to this cour
try long before George Washington Wa
born He is. therefore. an American
the Americans, and it is, .seemly that h
should be one of the inauguratorS of :
aYOcation for millionaireS, for
was exactly to throw off the yoke of a
English aristocracy that his ancestors mi
grated hither.
There is strong vein of the practice
in the makeup of Mr.. Stokes, as might. /
expected from the descendant OF sue
SireS.
He has devoted his time through tt
medium of the University Settlement be
cause he considers it to be one Of Il
most practical means of meeting the e.
igencieS of the hour.
He concludes that it's usefulness as
civic center, where public spirited me