Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-12-17

1t is told among the angels that in
a rummage sale of microbed garments
conducted not far from Salem, but
lcng ways from heaven, Of a poor lad,
with bare feet, shivering with cold,
who bung about the door gazing long
ingly at pair of old shoes. The bro.
gans he so admired would have held
his feet, but with no chance ef it,
unless it might have been the'o one he
would have had should some one have
given him the shoes. Why didn't he
buy them was the wonder of the hour3
They were cheap and plenty Of leath-
er in themj enough, in fact, that if
he and his little sister should, per-
chance, have been attending the same
school, they could both ride in them.
A spectator to this affair, and, fortu
nately, the one who had generously
donated the shoes, approached the lad,
and learning his condition, was moved
to aid him. Her appeal to the promo
ters failed to arouse enough sympathy
to float the shoes over to him on an
ocean of tears. The incident closed
by this donor of the shoes buyeing her
own contribution and presenting the
shoes, along with pair of warm
stockings, to the barefoot lad and
sending him home happy and dry shod.
In a short article it is impossible to
60 into various details wherein lies,
in its completeness, the real causes of
such thoughtlessness and want of gen.
uine charity. Suffice it TO say, the in
cident only calls attention once more
to the blindness we sometimes have
even in the service of the Lord. IL is
bad enough to sell dirty rags for the
maintenance of the cause of Chris
tianity but to turn from the gates a
poor, barefooted boy without being
touched by his pitiable condition, is
worse when done in the cause of relig.
ion. To any one who has ever expe-
rienced wet feet for want of shoes,
cold for want of clothes and hunger
for want of food, will never fail to
observe similar conditions around him.
But those who do not know. the ter
rors of poverty, hunger and cold are
blinded by their comforts to the dis
tress appealing to them for relief Sa-
loon keepers prosper because they al
ways give the hungry "free lunch. "
Praising God with the earnings of rum
mage, or scummage, sales, as it should
be called, cheapens the noble and ex-
alted character of Christianity and
causes it to whine at the portals of
commercial beggary. We may, indeed,
pity the blind who are blind in the
eyes, but shall we not also pity our
selves who are not only blind in our
eyes, but in our head and hearth Shall
we turn away the poor and grasp the
widow s mite as if it were the last
cent between you, your cause and the
poorhouse, while we fawn before opu-
lencef
These are some of the things we
find taking place on the race course.
All the runners never forget that ill
spoken maxim, "The race of life is
intense. The runners are treading
upon each others heels; woe to him
who stops TO tie his shoestrings." "
Acting under the influence of this
false sentiment, the runners do not
know what is going on in the grand
stand They do not see the hard
pressed, the weak nor the hungry.
They are bent to win. They do not
know there are other relations in life.
They do not know that these people
among whom they have lived are not
there for the sole purpose. of making