The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

your business Ia prospering you give your employees no shore of the prosperity, Now, my brother want to ask you, Is that equareY Is that right7 If you ask those men with whom you are associated to share your adverslty when 1t oomea, ought you not to let those same faithful men and women share your prosperity2
 But there is another large class of peo- pie who noed your help today and who have a right to claim lt They are not the old men and women nor the middle aged. They are not tho people who for years have been living by your side They are not the people with whom perhaps you are even acquainted. But they are the boys and the girls or the young folks who are standing upon the threshold of life with some fearful mental or physical or spiritual handicap. These young peo- pie have on them tho taint of bad an- cestral heritage, or by financial misfor- tune they are compelled to grow up amid vitlating social environments Unless some one comes to their help they are domed to make failure out of life be. fore they start, God expects you to help them.
 The Child BreadWlnner.
 Here, for instance, is a young boy who has a large number of brothers and sis ters, He Is born in the beautiful city of Philadelphia. But thousands and hun dreds of thousands of families are there, and he Is only an atom in great crowd. His father is a hard working, brave, noble man. But one day scaffoldinS upon which he Is working drops, and almost immediately the husband and father is dead. His mangled corpse Is carried home to the little cottage. Now how is that young boy ten years of age to get an ed- ucation? Who is to feed him and to ed- ucate him and to clothe him? The moth CT? Well, if the mother Is to be the bread- winner, who will stay at home and look after the children? Can a weak mother do mans work and a woman's work at the same time? Is 1t possible for her to be In two places at the same time? Unless some one comes to this woman's help that boy will have no chance for success, He will be sent forth to help earn his living almost before he is out of the nursery. He may become a news boy. He may be pitilessly thrown among the vile influences of street gutter Then his moral character, In all proba- blity, will be wrecked while he Is yet only a little child. Who will be the Stephen Grard to reach out the helping hand to rescue that child?
 Have you ever visited Girard callege In Philadelphia? It is one of the noblest in- stitutions in the world. It was founded by old miser. Stephen Girard during his lifetime was Shylock who always demanded his full pound of flesh from his victims. In his financial dealings he seemed to be as merciless as an Ebernez- CT Scrooge a wrinSled up, shrivecd hearted Marley. But, though stephen Gl- rard was mercenary. he was no fool. He knew that he could not take his gold across the river Styx, so as he began 10 grow old and come nearer and nearer to the end of life he said to himself: "I must leave this money behind when l die. I xx.t11 tA hA .tr t. yh1VR will do the most good" Then he asked himself this question: "Who are the peo- pie who most need help? Why, they arc the children who have no fathers to help them along and to give them the right kind of a start" So Stephen Girard Jumped all his fortune together. He left
 1t to a board of trustees to establish an institution in which the fatherless boys of Pennsylvania could be clothed and fed l and educated until they were able to take 1 care of themselves. Could he have done a greater work with his money? Tell mo. | 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 1 help the helpless young folks. this plea ought to come especially home to those ] who have never been blessed with ehl-
 
 1 into whose heart there has never come a little child to love and 10 develop. No human life is complete without a child. My friend, if you have not a child, bone l of your bone and flesh of your fesh to 1 love and to nurture, then for your own good as well for the good of some | helpless children, l beg and plead with 1 you to adopt one Do not be afraid that an adopted child account of it's un- fOrf, fa fG f,nax tt1 l T. J. Barnado, the greatest authority on 1 children of the slums that ever lived and 1 the one man who saved more children to | God and to worldly usefulness and re- l spectabilty than other men, gave this as l his testimony: "l am strongly Of the l opinion that there Is no inherent tenden- l oy in any boy or girl. no matter how de- 1 scended how surrounded, which may l not be eradicated or at least subiugated under favorable conditions. In the fierce contest between heredity and environ ment, firmly believe that all other things being equal environment is the more po- tent No one is hopelessly handicapped by hls birth conditions" In other words, with so many children in founding asylums who need your help, are yon goin sto 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 child sake adopt a child just as soon as you can. God never meant you to live with out 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 financial aid and spiritual help to those who seem to havo a 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 themselves, 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 back bone of faith in himself has been broken. Men are often spoiled for life by too much centure man does wrong; he commits pitches into him. He is driven out of the store. out of the church, ont of respect able society No matter where he goes his sin dogs his footsteps. Now my friends. I want to tell you that no man has ever fallen so low in sin but there Is vet some good in him. If we only so about it in the right way. We can win that man back to the paths Of truth ana of right Don't growl a man Into being bad. but love a man Into being good. Lastly. we should help those who have | lived their lives and are now In the h. l dian summer of their earthly existence, as well as the middle aged who have