Milford chronicle., 1906-09-14

tutIehln MOIh AOI ouc man III Il large
city there are five applicants for the
positi bn. In 1888 there were 10000
deaths in the city of London; 1910
took place in the public warehouses,
lib in public hospitals and $50 in pub
lie asylums. This made in all 1862
paupeGs who died that year in Lon
don. In other words, at least one-fifth
Of all the people dying in London in
one year were dependent upon public
charity. The records of other cities are
only u little better. There were over
100000 paupers in 1883 in England
alone But today one out of every te"
persons who die in New York city is
buried in potters field That means
when they die they leave not an estate
large enough even TO pay for the pine
box which covers them and the hire of
the hearse which drags them to their
grave nor the fee of the gravedigger
who digs the hole in which the coffin
is lowered. One-tenth of all the popu-
lation which die in New York city are
buried in potter's field Now, DR. Bar
nardo and General William Booth in
telligently recognized these social con-
ditions. and they sent forth their colo
nists by the thousands and the tens OF
thousands.
Thank God, l say, for DR.. Barnar-
do. In the winter nights he rOamed
about the London streets gathering
the raggedest and most forlOrn of boys
and girls into his public orphanage.
But no sooner had he collected them
there than he sent them out by almost
every steamer to the farthermOst colo
nies. There they were adopted. There,
amid the pure, sweet influence of the
country, the boys and the girls of the
London slums became the noble Chris
tian men and women of the farm and
| country village DR.. BarnardO saved
the man by colOnizing the boy, while
| General Booth sent his Salvation Ar
my soldiers into the city slums and
gathered the men and the women to-
gether and took them out of their sur
/ rOundngs and placed them upon the
farms and saved them also. Thus, my
| brother, you and | should embrace ey-
cry means we can find to take boy
or a girl or man or a woman out of
the overcrOwded city and send them
out to the soil, out into the farming re-
gions. Then we are doing Gods work
as DR.. Barnardo did it and William
Booth is doing it today.
The Institutional Church.
But we must do more than simply
colonize our boys and girls in country
places. We must carry the institution
al church into our poor districts and
fight sin on its own ground. The sim
| pie fact is that many Of our churches
are going to pieces simply because the
people do not have enough to do. The
congregations listen to sermons, but
do not work for Christ.
When Jacob Rlis started in his long
ten years war to give Fairgrounds to
| the children of the congested east and
west sides Of New York he could not
find enough room for the poor, even
| though millions of dollars worth Of
buildings were condemned and turned
into public Fairgrounds. Then happy
! idea struck him. why can we not
turn the roofs Of our public schools in
to Fairgrounds for childrenT "Ab-
surd," said the politicians. absurd" /"
said the teachers. Absurd" said al
most every one But Jacob Riis kept
on. and now the roofs of many of
those public school buildings have
been turned into Fairgrounds for the
scholars. At last the common people
have come to learn that a magnificent
school building Is not to be kept Idle
all the time With the exception Of the
few hours when school isain session.
The public school buildings are now
used for public libraries and public
lectures and public concerts and public
Fairgrounds. Why cannot our church
learn the same leEson2
The churches are gradually deserting
the poorer sections Of our cities not be-
cause they are not needed there, but
because they do not do their duty as
they ought to do it. The poor Of our
large cities need a church building for
something more than place where
they snail aILeuu utfluE SCI NANC oASS
or twice on the Sabbath day. They
need a church building where men and
women can come and find Christian
fellowship and help in social inter
course. They need church building
where poor mothers can come and
leave their babies while they them
selves 90 out for a days work. They
need a church building for an intelli-
gence Office and a dispensary. They
need a church building where a man
or woman can go in all times or
trouble and always find it a temple OF
refuge" Oh, why do we not as Chris
tian people grasp the gospel opportu-
nifty and go back into the poorer Sec
tions of the city and teach women how
to sew and how to keep the babies
clean and teach ignorant, tired men
how to work as well as how to pray
and to sing and to listen to Gods
word?
I want you to realize that Christ was
preaching a practical gospel sermon