Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-03-15
A LENTEN SUGGESTION.


pastor in the course of his sermon
said he would give one dollar to
anybody in the congregation who
would acknowledge the need of
money There was a pause which
prompted the preacher to say. II
told you So, evidently having used
the illustration to prove an argu-
ment that in Chicago there was one
IN need. But an old woman, scantily
clothed, bent with age and hard
ship, hobbled down the aisle and
accepted the gift. II am too old to
work" she said. Il need the money,
and after all, what is pride to me?
| will take the dollar home to my
poor sister with whom I am living,
and who can make use of it, God
knows"
There has been no report in the
papers of what the pastor said, but
it may be imagined that sthe old
WOman's need served as a text for
discourse upon the sentiment which
prevents poor people from advertis-
ing their need. 1t ought to prove
that in Chicago, perhaps the
wealthiest city in the world, there
as poverty so keen that it forces it's
victims to be willing to throw away
every vestige of fear of criticism in
the hope to obtain even the tenn
porary relief that one dollar can af-
Cord.
And only those who know what
poverty is know what an effort is
required to make thus open acknow-
I edgment Of it. People who have
comfortable means say glibly: IF I
were in need, no false pride would
prevent meg from saying so to the
end that might obtain assistance"
1t sounds well, but the difference is
all between needing money and not
needing it. The man who has been
in a tight place"-and in this west
ern country there are doubtless
thousands who can recall such
times will remember that the last
thing he felt like doing was to beg.
Ii he was out Of employment, in
strange city, without friends, re-
duced to the point where he has
raised the last raisable cent, owning
nothing but the clothes he wore. he
probably scorned to tell anyone of
his plight, and when he grew
hungry, pulled his belt a hole tighter
and turned in new direction in his
search for an opportunity to earn
enough to buy a meal. That.
fortunately, is the inclination of the
vast majority of men. There are
professional beggars, of course, but
they are not in need. They became
'beggars because it furnishes an easv
way Of obtaining a living. and if
they are able to earn money at anv
business they probably earn more
as begga1s. But honest, hard work
ing men and women, accustomed to
pay for what they eat and wear,
reduced by causes over which thew
have no control to poverty, dread
acknowledgment of it, ask no chart
ty, keep stiff upper lip" and
suffer in silence.
The Lenten season ought to afford
opportunities for the fortunate half
of the world to learn how the other
half is living. There is not much
disposition for people to go around
among their neighbors unless thew
are all we'll to do. Some times in
spasmodic philanthropy stunning"
is fashionable, and then the wretch
ed conditions of the extremely poor
are learned, but too often poverty
exists without being known of. The
trouble is due perhaps rather to
thoughtlessness than to selfishness.
A little vigilance and neighborly
care would speedily correct thisy
While Americans ara initiating
many of the customs and usages of
their British cousins, the admirable
one of the rich and the noble acting
as bountifll patrons of the poor
should not be overlooked. 1t is not
so much in the abstention from
meats and the pleasures of the
world that counts in Lenten OBJ
sservance, but IN the practice of