The Washington herald., 1907-08-12
TALKS ON CHARITY
DR.. Van Schaick Discusses
Camp Good Will Incident.
FACTORS FOR UPLIFTING MAN
Organized Relief, Settlement Houses
Among the Agencies for Social
GOOd-Greatest of All Is Home and
It's Infiuences-SOciety Not Perfect,
but Ats Evolution Certain.

The Church and the ChaTllleS series
OF sermons by Rev. John Van Schaick,
jr., at the Church of Our Father, was
enriched yesterday morning by an inter
esting discourse. inspired by the recent
loss and recovery Of a waif from Camp
Good VIII.
The circumstances and events of the
past week make me think of our re-
sponsibility for a little child and of the
words of our Master, 'Whosoever shall
receive one such little child, receiveth
me. said the speaker.
II have been particularly Interested in
the fate Of one child. I do not need 20
tell again the story.
Lesson of the search.
''For forty-eight hours. almost. the
child was lost. Intense interest and sym
pathy was felt by the rich and the poor.
SOlGiers, citizens. and pOlicemen-men,
women. and children joined in the search.
Hour after hour, under blazing sun or
through dense masses of underbrush. the
search was kept up. When at last the
glad CRY went up, Here he is!' that cry
echoed in every home in Washington and
in thousands Of other homes In our
country.
4 am not here to-day to speak Of
Camp Good Will OF its work. The pure
unadulterated JOY and sunshine Of the
place have spoken all through the weeks
Of the summer. / am not here to talk
about lost children literally or figura-
lively, for there is 30 son Of pcrdition.'
want 10 speak of the great subject sug-
gested by the search. the worth OF a
single child. and the forces OF human
society organized 10 bring it out
Mighty physical instruments were en-
ployed at Camp Good VIII Thursday and
Friday, backed by the power and the
dignity OF municipal and national gov
eFnments.
Even mightier mental, moral, and spir-
itual, as well as physical instruments
every day are employed for the child.
backed by the love and the power OF
Almighty God
Other Instances Of Charity.
Not only may a child wander away
into the woods. A child may be placed
in danger of disease. 1 saw five little
children on Wednesday playing over d
mother desperately III Of tuberculosis,
and these five children, the oldest OF
which was ten, We're the only caretakers
that she had.
I saw something else. I saw quick
action by the Associated Charities. the
employment at once Of hospital agencies
Of this city. and the Board of Chndren's 5
Guardians providing for the care Of the
little ones. The day was when that
mother would have died alone and her
children followed her one by one 20 the
grave-victims Of the Great White
Plague. Now probably they are saved.
in the third place, there are the agen-
cies. moral and spiritual No man can
enumerate them all There is the social
settlement, that stands as a beacon light
IN the darker places of a city. There is
the church Of Jesus Christ There is the
Christian home.
mo one can know Of the work Of Toyn-
bee Hail IN London. or Hull House IN
Chicago. OF even the smaller settlements
in Washington. without a feeling OF in
tense admiration and respect.
NO one can deny that with all its i'm
perfections and supeTstitions, the church,
Catholic and Protestant, and the syna-
gogue. are mighty generators Of spiritual
power
Greutest of All, the Home.
But greater than church or settlement.
mighter than school or college. in the de-
velopment Of the child, Is the home
Upon every citizen is a responsibility
for the care OF the home. That response
bility is not discharged by mob violence
and lynch law. nor by invoking a terrible
law called the unwritten, where the ac-
cused has not even a chance to make re-
ply
''The right OF the home is vindicated
best by law and order. by setting the
children an example Of respect for the
mandates Of courts and judges, and by
every man living tAe kind Of life that viii
qualify him 70 win the love OF woman
and make a home of his own.
FaIIacy of a socialist.
Not long ago a socialist declared that
every philanthropist, and every charity
worker, did more harm to society than
selfish and vicious men. What the vicious
did was apparent; but what the charity
workers and social reformers did was TO
patch UP a weak and wheezy old social
machine and make # go, when we had
better destroy it and throw it away.
81 have heard that before. I make
no claim that society as organized is
perfect, but it is my deep and sincere con-
viction that social evolution and not rev.
olution is the way we must 60
Parents and teachers, charity workers
and church workers, statesmen and citi-
zens, leaders and followers are among
the forces that are whirling the old world
on and up toward a clearer light, a higher
law, a better day"