Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-03-14

| tiny baby in long clothes The mother
ana one OF the children were sick and
the little baby alling The room III
which they dwelt was upstairs, and
water coal--everything had to be car
red up and down rlckety staircase
while the crowded condition Of this one
small apartment can be imagined. 1t
was ill-lighted and ventilated, and
with prevalent serious sickness the
conditions were indescribable. Shortly
after our attention was called to them,
the mother died; and during this trou-
BILE / took the baby to my home, car
ing for IL and nursing It for several
months. 1t grew better under the Inn
proved conditions, but pinned again
when taken home, They all went back
10 Colorado soon afterward. and [
have heard since that the baby died.
1t in hard to imagine how one meets
these troubles attended as they are by
extreme poverty, and other domestic
anxietles.
OLD AND INF'IRM.
"Some OF the pitiful cases are those
of the old and inhrm--some of them
deserted by children or other natural
guardians and left to the mercy of pub
lie charity One of these whose sons
ill-treated her shamefully was ptifully
afraid of the infirmary, and lived in
pathetic conditions of loneliness and
poverty rather than go there. Nurses
were sent to her, but she took small
comfort in their own or others aid, as
she had a mania that everyone thieved
from her. No possible temptation eN-
listed In the unfortunate creatures be-
longings but she was in great anxiety
constantly about her needles and
thread, which she believed We're con-
stantly pilfered by those about her She
became so helpless finally that ruse'
had to be practised to get her into the
better care and atmosphere of the in
Urinary.
She was asked IL she minded staying
there while her home was thoroughly
cleaned, and In this way was induced
to go. Once there. she was for a time
comparatively contented but soon be-
gan to g-rieve again over her situation.
Finally a granddaughter sent for her
to make her home In California, so that
the old lady's longing for Just n home
with her own folks" was realized.
FOR A SICK SISTER"
Besides these cases OF real need, how
ever, there are many where the Relief
Society are deceived. Some of the peo-
people who apply for help use It as a
peculiar form of graft-eithar from
viciousness, or some inherited or habit
ual trait OF greed. One old lady made
constant calls for provisions from the
society, declaring. when faced with
proofs of the many things sent to ans
wer TO her calls, that she had given
them to a sick sister" Questions
terious ''inyisible sister" were inter-
minably avoided, and that local Sarah
Camp" indeed never appeared in the
flesh. When the old lady died a ward
robe was moved IN her room and dis
closed hidden recess in which was
piled sack upon sack OF -four. sides"
Of harl and bacon, both SO long kept as
to be hopelessly spolled-together with
sugar, and other things too numerous
to mention which this queer sort of
miser had without any ostensible rea-
son, secured and hid away.
LOAN OF THIRTY DOLLARS.
Both presidents and members often
give from their own pocketbooks and
this too. to people afterwards proven
unworthy the charity. Mrs. Thomas
was once approached by Il respectable
looking woman VINO asked for the loan
of $50 from the Relief Society TO pay
one months rent. to save her from
being turned out by her landlord. She
had taken q house in which she meant
to take borders, and needed only the
first months rent, as the boarders
would meet the after expenses Mrs.
Thomas did not feel like calling on the
society for the new call; in fact, the
funds just then were too low to make It
possible. TO furnish such an amount,
even az loan. Touched by the appeal,
however. Mrs. Thomas advanced from
her own purse the months rent. II
was the last glimpse she ever had OF
that ar her respectable looking appli
cant.
The romances indeed, of one kind or
other. which transpire IN the records
of our local relief corps would M "a
book and sometime. perhaps the data
viii be furnished and compiled among
the other interesting annals of the
| state.