The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-12-10
COOPERATIVE CHARITY.

1t does one good to read about the Queens
Daughters and the knowledge gained adds to APP
probation of cooperative charity. This does not
interfere with individual charity. 1t does not and
cannot stiAe that feeling of pleasure one feels who
hands the beggar dollar and no questions asked.
Much assail mans depravity, we arc con-
stantly reminded by examples that vice is not with
out one virtue, at least. No matter how bad the
man or woman may be- there yet remains strain
of humanity which yields to compassion for suffer
ing. Hence charity is the usual and not the rare
thing to be found among the children of men; and
by this mean the charity of giving. 1t is apart
from the charity of speech and thought. Meas
ured by the charity of giving the other is humanity
considered molehill beside the mountain
Compare the results of individual with CO.
operative charity. and what do perceive! As
a product of the first, the pleasure of giving, min
glcd with self-esteem. but without complete knowl-
edge of the way the gift was expended. By the
cooperative method We conscious that the
dollar given is followed in its travel of expenditure
By viglant agent. Very few charitable persons,
acting on their own hook, could propose concert,
hire singers to participate, pay the rent of
ming to end. so that out of it would como round
sum of money for a worthy object. But score of
charitable people could easily undertake it and
gather pleasure, even amusement, i'll undertaking
it. All illustrating the maxim of many mckles
making the muckle.
That is the way they do things in Denver, these
Queens Daughters. That is the way they do things
in Yonkers, n Y. as we perceive through an ac-
count given by the Catholic News. At their fort
nightly meetings some scholar. invited beforehand.
delivers lecture or sociology. or history or liter
ature, frequently augmented by stereopticon views,
In one of these lectures Father Mcmillan spoke
"The Submerged Tenth We all know what
that means and who they are. Happily, west
em civilization has thus far escaped the bemish of
the east, Its pnching poverty, and its awful spec
tace of children packed with grown folks in close
and sitting tenements, shock to the natural mod
esty of sex. Three thousand people live in one
block The priest pointed out that even amid such
surroundings the poor visited by the charitable re-
scented any air of patronage by the rich 1t is the
old Adam sticking out in the man, and we do not
blame them. There are certain ways of approach
ing these people, said Father Mcmillan. you
must not put on an air of condescension when you
visit them, but you must meet them on a plane of
equality They are not to be commisserated with
They will accept friendship and food but not pity
Little hints how to improve their rooms will be re-
coived gratefully after they have come to know you
The girls also will accept advice as to the trimming
of their hats
AT another of those meetings the Queens
Daughters were addressed b. Rev Cornelius Cliff
ford of Newark, n. j. He lectured ON Sir Leslie
Stephen and Luxury" Not many who spend even
a large share of time reading, remember running
across Sir Leslie Stephen. He was not advertised
SO well Wagner. of The Simple Life" But
what Stephen said and wrote, Wagner is say
ing now. There is nothing new under the sun
Luxury is social vice that is peculiar to most
natures, says Stephen. We cannot Judge whether
it is right to have lace OIL our pillows or even a
bed to sleep IN while others are without food or
shelter, for if do we face most peculiar situa
ton. The man who spends money merely for the
sake of spending be taken for his worth or for
what he is considered in society. If you would I'M
derstand Just what luxury means, ask yourself how
rich you would like to be. And if you had your
desire there would not be any limit to your wants
Eat only enough to sustain life and you feel com
Portable. Overload your stomach and you are mis-
cradle.
In order TO make use of wealth a certain
amount of intelligence is necessars. Stephen
thinks that men of wealth who say they are more
miserable than poor men are hypocrites for who
OF them would be willing to change places with the
poor man.. Luxury is a relative term of ciyiliza
ton. When you increase mans wants you in |
crease his ciyilization-you raise him TO a higher