The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-07
A "sMARTv CHARITY.

A "SMART" CHARITY.
An English magazine Of rather wide
circulation in this country prints in
it's February number a history of
philanthropy, so called, carried on in
the East end of London by members
of the English nobility. 1t is written
in good faith, but had the writer the
faintest sense of hunlor he or she (thc
article Is anonymous) would never
have penned line Of it. Jack Lon
don, in his stern arraignment of the
metropolis, declared that there was but
one charity carried on in the terrible
East end abyss that was not futile
Certainly, if all resemble the one de-
scribed known as Happy Evenings"
it is easy to understand Mr.. London's
estimate of their value. But lest we
be accused of overlooking the beam in
our own eye while pointing out the
mote in our brothers, we hasten to add
that Happy Evenings" unconsciously
holds up to ridicule not London West
enders alone. but all those who go i'll
for charity as they would go in for
golf, because it is smart and because
it enables them to let the light of their
philanthropy shine before men.
According to the article. the object Of
thoca uho pIoppad and ORC ovacTtfru
the Happy Evenings" charity was to
teach the East end children how to
play, ito put a thought beneath their
rags to ennoble the hearts struggle"
So one evening in the week these chill
dren Of the slums are gathered in a
school room and are initiated into the
mysteries of battledore and shuttle
cock, sack races, picture books. dolls
and doll dressmaking. How much they
may profit by this initiation, and
whether or not, in their novels, they
continue to play on those nights that
are not happy evenings" the writer
does not say. Perhaps he doesn't know.
But he does say that the charity is con-
Quoted by "a body Of kind-hearted la
dies and gentlemen, numbering some
will find in Burke or 'Debrett, who
take pleasure in going down amongst
the slums of London and teaching the
slum waits how to play"
1t is not necessary to read narrowing
accounts of the conditions in the East
end of London to be impressed with
the irony of a charity whose object is
the teaching of those little denizens OF
the slums how to play. A glance at
statistics compiled by conservative OBJ
servers is sufficient to convince anyone
that one evening of happy play during
the week would not "ennoble the
hearts struggle" or even make the
struggle less hopeless. Prematurely
old, half fed-can anybody hope that
happy. hght-hearted youth will come
and shuttlecock? Do those ladies and
gentlemen with the high and noble
names believe that the nursing Of doll
one evening in the week or the spinning
of top will impart to those children
the slightest realization of what child
hood really means?
Many crimes are committed in the
name of charity, and not in the East
end of London only. There are many
who take pleasure in going down
amongst the slums." And until those
people either let charity, or what they
are pleased to call charity, alone alto
gether, or until they make up their
| minds to face the slums as they would
| face a shameful condition in their own
homes, namely, with a sense of guilt,
the crimes will be repeated. This story
| of the happy evenings" in the East
| end would be funny if it were not so
pitiful. To read it after one has read
''The People of the Abyss" is to feel
very hopeless, indeed, for the future OF
England