The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-27
"A PERSONAL VISIT TO THOSE
WHO KNOCK AT CHARITY'S DOOR

We sometimes calculate quietly the
amounts of suffering that could be almost
eliminated in a community by a con-
certed action ON the part of the church
societies and club women of the city.
We further predict that if the mothers
of Birmingham knew the actual wants
and heartaches of many other less fortu-
nate mothers they could not enjoy this
Sundays dinner. That there is great
want and distrese is a fact, and one only
needs to be out among the folks to see it.
Now we do not mean that our people
are uncharitable, far from it, | DOUBT
there is city anywhere of its size with
more generous people and with more de-
manded of them, but even then there is
still greater need. How are we going
to meet the situation, we can't deny it.
and we will find the truth of the state
ment from every charity and philan-
thropic worker of the city. The business
men say each day the demand on them
is amazing. isn't it time somebody is
saying something to wake the people
up?'
Visit some of these homes and you don't
| have to ask what they need, you will see
they need you-many too proud to let the
world know their anguish would rather
do without than ask for aid. Others forced
| to seek the bread that sustalns life. It
is very true one half the world litt.s
knows how the other half lives TSoJ a
day passes we do not see some feeble,
poorly dressed woman looking for bread,
maybe she has babe in her arms; have
you no desire to see that home? There
is a way of reaching it and we who stand
for the city's interests should know these
homes, their needs and their environ
ments. Should carry to them a bit of
The sunshine that comes our way.
Watch the Applicants
We, many of us, feel we maybe have
done our share when we have contributed
an amount to the charity fund; this is only
the beginning. Is it not a pleasure to
pull a flower from our own garden? Just
so it is a pleasure to know those who
need us. Spend one day near the office
OF the Associated Charities, or at the
Woman's Welfare office, and systemat-
ically take the addresses of those who
ask help, then get into your machine and
ride to those homes; then go home to
your lawns of green, your living room
of comfort. and your table of plenty;
then tell us how you feel When you
have seen these sad phases of life there
will be an army of splendid women Civ
ing of themselves to alleviate the anxious
lives of the poor homes in our midst
There will be bundles of clothing, and
meals for the sick and more than all of
this, there will be kind words left at
every door.
We ride a 1pno bfphxpax VIC aF ~ of+
and see the novels with doors and win
dows closed, we little DEAN Of what the
walls enclose We could but think of
this as we drove out with Mrs. Newton to
the little shanty on the roadside The
weeds were growing high all around She
lived there with her schickens, and the
| plunder that her robber husband had coll
! lected from here and there. She had
| bread but how did she get It? The stolen
| things were concealed, many for a long
| time, and they were the property of peo-
| pie at her very door, and yet nobody
| knew. Did anybody ever open her door;
| II they had they would have found a
woman suffering worse than hunger-a
woman who needed friend somebody tc
SO long with this fend until she had most
| lost her wits, and her soul only lived
when she reached the jail and felix's were
kind to her.
Not Only Thing Needed
| This proves that bread is not the onl,
| thing needed in the world to keen body
and soul together People in distress need
| somebody to give them light and hope
somebody to help them get out the rut,
| and cheer them up.
| True, sometimes people are imposed
upon by the unworthy, and we neglect the
others as the result and yet the unworthy
need personal interest-some place or some
one to interest themselves in placing them
where they will not prey on the public to
the detrment of those who are deserv-
ing.
Need for Missionary Work
AGAIN often we spend valuable time
finding why these unfortunate conditions
exist and while we are looking for the
germ, the malady is killing. There should
be some immediate relief fund" and
then trace ancestral causes. There is
great need for real missionary work In
Birmingham today, and the interests of
humanity can but be served by the co.
operation of the entire church member
ship to meet the needs. The entire field
could be quickly covered in this manner
speedy attention and relief could be given
and instead Of interfering with any or
ganlzed effort would be strong auxiliary
in dispatching aid. The work would abb
sorb a nominal amount OF each individ-
ual time, put engage so much human in
terest that 1t would become a work OF
love more than a duty fuliilied.
In some of the homes OF distress you
find the true heroine-the mother with
smile on her face, from behind which you
can see the anxious heart administering to
the needs of her sick little ones.
As we gazed upon the face of a very
Ill child, lying almost unconsciously upon
its pillow, with little hope of being there
long glanced a hA nd ha
just had that look of Christian hope hiding
behind despair. and we knew all of her