The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-01-13

some homeless neWsboy who offers
you the evening paper. He il OF the
same clay az the petted-darling of the
millionaire, and Of the world that now
gives him scant courtesy he may some
Iday confer more lasting good than
many a youth for whose feet the path
WAY of life 10 made smooth and rose
lstrewn.
All are alike in the eyes of Him
Who is not the only 'lapidary of the
stars, but the fnisher as, well of the
weeds Of the wayside.'
Governor John G. Brady, OF Alaska,
who went to that country from Yale
College in order to do missionary
work, was one Of carload of home
less children some years ago from
New York to Illinois. 1t is said that
Judge Greene of that State, offered to
take the "dirtiest, raggedest, ugIiest
one of the lot, the one that no one
else would have" The future Gov
ernor Of Alaska answered to the de-
lscription.
George W. Childs, the famous
philanthropist and publisher Of the
Philadelphia Ledger, was left as a
tiny, nameless baby on doorstep.
He was, a child, SO they called him
Childs, and gave him the name Of
| George Washington. Did ever the
Saving and training of waif bear
richer fruit?
George Peabody, who has been
called Prince of PhiIanthropists,
was not Waif but his parents were
very poor and his early education and
opportunities limited. He began bust
ness life in country store as clerk
at the early age of eleven. He be-
came very wealthy and gave with a
large-hearted liberality Aside from
the personal requests in his will, he
gave to various charities and worthy
institutions about ten million dollars.
| Thomas A. Edison, the greatest in
ventor of the day had only two months
schooling, and at the age of twelve
was earning his way as train boy on
the Grand Trunk Railway
When Isaac Rich came from Cape
Cod to Boston he had only the cloth
ing on his back and four dollars in
his pocket; yet he became the founder
of Boston University.
O, the poor boys, the waits, the toll
burdened children who have done
great deeds in the world: They have
sung immortal songs, written death
less poems, painted time defying pic
lures; they have preached sermons,
led armies and guided reforms; time
and time again they have shown that
the poorest child may have in him a
spark of celestial fire.
Poverty walked with the childhood
OF. Lincoln, "the rail splitter" Henry
Wilson was not afraid to say on the
floor of the United States Senate, that
he was "born in poverty, and want sat
by his cradle
Maria Mitchell became famous
astronomer while living on seventy
five dollars year. Garfield swept the
schoolroom, carried in wood and
water, and built the fires to assist
himself in obtaining an education.
John Wanamaker, the merchant
prince; Elias Howe, the inventor of
the sewing machine; John Roach, the
great shipbuilder; Peter Cooper, the
| founder of the Cooper Union, were all
poor boys.
| How much worse off than the
poorest of the poor was Fred Douglas,
the colored slave boy, who learned his
| alphabet from the sign boards and the
words he found on pieces of paper?
Yet. he became the educated and elo-
quent man, the leader of his race.
Then think of Andrew Jackson, the
son Of poor Irish Immigrants, in their
log hut in the pine woods of North
Carolina, going at the age of fourteen
to fight in the war of the Revolution.
At fifteen he was alone in the world,
without father. mother or brother, yet
he became Judge, Member of Con-
gress, United States Senator, Gen
eral, and finally President of this
great and glorious Republic.
Take courage, poor boys, and you,
the trainers and educators of poor
boys; consider the names here given,
picked at random from the almost
endless list. What indeed is the
worth of child? What is the worth
of wait? Of such inestimable value,
In very truth, that to help them and
uplift them is work worthy of
Angels.
| .-FE Dunne's NeDsboDs' Journal