Milford chronicle., 1906-05-18

.tter the city had been burned out. /
went from feeding station to feeding
station. There found men and wom-
en- standing in line awaiting their turn.
They were there by the scores, by the
hundreds and the thousands. Some Of
these men and women were dressed In
the garments Of wealth. Some had on
Persian lamb coats. Some wore seal
skin sacks. Behind them were those
who were dressed in the clothes Of the
humble laborer. They all were equals
now. Their money was gone in many
cases. They had lost their all and
could lose no more. "But who are
these people who are distributing the
food and the clothing?' l asked again
and again. "Who are these men who
are running the automobiles and car
rylng the sick to the hospitals and
looking after the city," "They are the
men who, like ourselves, have lost all"
would come back the answer. Like us,
when they want food, they take their
places in line to get it, but as soon as
they are fed they go on the relief COM
/ mittees. If they have houses still
standing they open them to take in the
homeless. 1t was the grandest sight I
ever saw Having lost their all, there
were thousands upon thousands who
not only suffered in silence, but at the
same time gave their substance and
energy to care for others. This help
was not given by people Of only one
social station, but of all stations. Ine
aristocrat was there working side by
side with the plebeian, the college grad
uate with the ilIiterate man. There
they were all working side by side to
help each other.
But l cannot close without one other |
word of cOngratulatiOn as well as Of |
warning. No sooner did the cry Of help |
come from the burning city than at |
once clothing and breadstuffs came |
pouring in. Within few hours Sacra-
mentO sent her donations. Then came |
Los Angeles with her carloads. Then /
the Portland and the Denver trains
filed with food supplies came rolling
in, while off in the distance we could
hear the revolving wheels of trains
coming from cities of the far east.
San Francisco would have starved to
death had not this help come. And so
plentifully did 1t come that believe
there was not a hungry man, woman
or child In all the city when l was
there. By the beneficent contributions
of her sister cities San Francisco was
not only fed, but well fed. So impress
ed was l with this fact that, though
had in my pocket some money given to
me to distribute to the sufferers,
found no one hungry and no one ma
ked.
Now, what did 1 do? I said to my
self: "San Francisco is having a hard
time now, but the hardest time will be
those days that are ahead In few
weeks this free distribution of food
and clothing will stop. Then the labor
ers will go to work, and there viii oe
plenty Of work for every ablebodied
man who can work in the streets or at
other manual labor. Then the hard
pinch is to come. 1t will come to the
widow and the old folks who cannot
work with their hands. It will come to
the boarding house keeper and to the
young girls and the invalids." Then /
took some of that money and gave it to
the San Francisco pastors and said:
'YOu distribute this money to the suf-
fering poor Of the household of faith.
Do not distribute it now, but within
few weeks Then it will be sorely
needed. Within five weeks there will
be a hundred sufferers in San Fran
cisco where there are only ten now"
Thus l beg and implore the big hearted
people of these United States not to
halt in their contributions for the San
Francisco sufferers. Do not feel be-
cause you have tided them over the
first few days that this is all the help
that will be needed.
As'I was riding home in the train
gentleman said to me: "There have
been more fortunes lost in this fire
than have ever existed. know Of a
dozen men who claim they had lost
yet who I know never had
a dollar In the bank" Thus when a fire
starts like this there are scores of men
who come around begging for bread,
claiming that they are refugees from
San Francisco and have been thrown
out of work and lost their all. The
simple fact is they were tramps before
the fire, they always have been tramps
and always will be tramps. But be-
cause we are now and again imposed
upon by bad men let us not refuse to
help the thousands and the hundreds
of thousands who are needy and who
always have done right and who will
try to do right in the future If we only
put them on their feet at the present
time.
But the earthquake has disclosed a
bright side in still another sense. Sad
was it to hear the awful news of the
suffering. But no sooner did the news
come than all over the land our
churches and our people went to work.
Our children gave. Fathers and moth
ORC and sisters and 1,rofharS all QaVe. /