Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-12-30
OUR BUSINESS.

-
But you were always a good man
of business, Jacob" faltered Scrooge.
"Business!' cried the ghost. wiring
ing it's hand again. mankind was
my business. The common welfare,
was my business; charity, mercy,
fOrbearance and beney0lence were
all my business. The dealings of my
trade were but as a drop of water
in the comprehensive ocean of
my business. Dickens "Christmas
Carol"
The great novelist who wrote the beau
tiful story from which the foregoing is
an extract was something of a preaAher
i'm his day, and delivered a great many
splendid sermOns-but none better than
the one quoted here.
Marley's ghost, he tells us, discovered
what his real business had been. I'm
happily for him he waited until he be-
came a ghost to make the discovery
when it was too late. Mankind was his
business.
Not mere s~entimentality this. but truth
as deep as the abyss and as high as
heaven. Truth that lies at the bottom of
all Il religions and all our %philanthro-
PfT.V Truth announced sbyssthe Father
of Mercies through the tongues and pens
of law-givers, prophets, apostles and
saints. Because mankind is our bust
ness the missionaries 90 out to the ma
lions i'm darkness, the Red Cross agents
seek to assuage the anguish of shot-man-
gled men on the battlefields, and c~iviliza-
ton bushes itself with the care of the
sick, the insane and predetermined. ALL
the laws in our statute books for
the preservation of the public health,
for the protection of widows and or
phans, for the security of life and prop
erty are there because mankind is our
business.
Because mankind is our business, The
Herald once more ventures to call atten-
ton to the needs of the Charity House
and all the noble work undertaken by
the promoters Of the home. Let not the
beautiful Christmas impulse, which has
been SO fruitful of good thus far, die
as the Christmas holidays pass.
Remember that the winter is by no
means over. Remember also that while
ours is an exceedingly mild climate com
pared with that of places further north.
it is nevertheless cruel winter in the fire
less homes of those who have lived here
for years. whose bodies have never been
braced to the severer cold of northern
lands, and who have to face the cold. inn
properly clad and insuficiently fed.
These unfortunates are our business.
More especially because they live and
suffer in our sight. For the sQualor and
wretchedness of other lands; for the
horrors of Mexican and Balkan battle
fields; for the suflerings in the big world
away from us: for all these we must
draw largely upon our ~imaginations if
we would appreciate them; but we can
see for ourselves the suffering of the des-
titute here. Let us not shut our eyes
to their condition nor harden our hearts
to their needs.
Y
For If these people are not our bust
ness there is NO truth in our profession
of faith nor in all our smooth platitudes
about fraternity and hrotherly love; our
sentimental PHILOSOPHERS are mere froth.
and our hymns of praise and Worship to
the Father are empty words. full of
sound and fury. signifying nothing"
mankind is our business. The com
mon welfare is our business. charity,
mercy. forebearancc and benevolence are,
all. our business. The dealings of our
trade are but as drops of water in the
comprehensive ocean of business
Heaven give us grace to attend to our
business-which is also the Fathers
business-before the night cometh where
in no man a work.