The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-09-03

Girard during his lifetime was a Shy
lock who always demanded his full
pound of flesh from his victims. In
his financial dealings he seemed to be
as merciless as an Ebenezer Scrooge or
q wrinkled up. shriyeled hearted Mar
ley. But, though Stephen Girard was
mercenary, he was no fool. He knew
that he could not take his gold across
the river Styx, so as he began to grow
old and come nearer and nearer to the
end of life he said to himself: Il must
leave this money behind when | die.
l will leave it to the people to whom 1t
can do the most good" Then he asked
himself this question: "Who are the
people who most need help? Why.
they are the children who have no ia
theirs to help them along and to give
them the right kind of a start" so
Stephen Girard Jumped all his fortune
together. He left it to a board of
trustees to establish an institution i'll
which the fatherless boys of Pennsyl-
vania could be clothed and fed and ed
ucated until they We're able to take
care OF themselves. Could he have
done a srander work with his money
Tell me, with so many helpless young
people about, cannot You do something
to help those young folks by your side :
Protection of Youth.
But, though all people should try to
help the helpless young folks, this plea
ought to come especially home to those
who have never been blessed with chill
dren. God pity the man or the woman
into whose heart there has never come
little child to love and to develop.
child My friend, if you have not a
child, bone of your bone and flesh of
your flesh, to love and to nurture, then
for your own good as well as for the
good of some helpless children | beg
and plead with you to adopt one. Do
not be afraid that an adopted child, on
account of its unfortunate parents,
may turn out bad. DR.. L. J. BarnardO.
the greatest authority on children of
the slums that ever lived and the one
man who saved more children to God
and to worldly usefulness and respecta-
bility than other men, gave this as his
testimony: Il am strongly of the opin-
ion that there is no Inherent tendency
in any boy or girl. no matter how
descended or how surrounded, which
may not be eradicated or at least sub
jugated under favorable conditions. In
the fierce contest between heredity and
environment l firmly believe that, all
other things being equal, environment
is the more potent. No one is hopeless
~ handicapped by his birth conditions. y
In other words, with so many children
in our founding asylums who need
your help, are you going to turn your
back upon them and keep on growing
more selfish and mean as you are
aging? For Gods sake, for your own
sake as well as for the children's sake,
adopt child just as soon as you can.
God never meant you to live without
the loving influence of some little child
in your home. Take some child to
your heart and throw your protecting
arms about it.
The Helping Hand.
We are to help those standing upon
the threshold of life. We must do
more than that-we are to extend finan-
cial aid and spiritual help to these
who seem to have made complete
failure Of ~life.. We should extend
the helping hand to those whose sins
and errors have flung them down, and
to those who have lost faith in them
selves, and to those whom the world
has cast aside as useless and of no
account. One of the hardest tasks in
the world is to save man after his
backbone of faith in himself has been
broken. Men are often spoiled for
life by too much censure. A man does
wrong; he commits an awful sin, and
at once the world pitches into him.
He Is driven out of the store, out OF
the church. out of respectable society.
No matter where he goes, his sin dogs
his footsteps. Now, my friends,
want to tell you that no man has ever
fallen so low in sin but there is yet
some good in him. If we only go
about it in the right way, we can win
that man back to the paths of truth
and of right Don't growl a man into
being bad, but love man into being
good.
Lastly, we should help those who
have lived their lives and are now in
the Indian summer of their earthly
existence, as well as the middle aged
who have erred, and those who are
young. We should help the aged and
the cripples and the. chronic invalids
and those whose lives will always be
dependent upon others. You are to
do this not only afor those who are
your kith and kin, but also for those
who have no direct claim upon your
benefaction.
Pity the Unfortunate.
Now, why should you not help the
manned and the halt and the deaf
and the dumb and the blind! Are
you going to save your money and
leave it to your ablebofied children, 81
that they can lie around in ease and dc
nothing? Do you not realize that ev
Dry dol1ar Won viya tn your children