The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-11-23
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER %, 1915
The Charity of Prosperity.

brought q new problem. The charity
Of prosperity is and must be different
sort than the charity Of depression. At
this season Of the year when one has In
his nostrils the aroma of the browning
Thanksgiving turkey, when the reds
and green's of Christmas begin to re-
fleet the radiance and good will to man
which extended in every way from the
manager in Bethlehem and the charity
which featured the shadow Of the cross
on Calvary, the hearts Of men and wo-
men seem to be particularly opened to
Purse strings are loosened to relieve
distress Of every kind and we go out
into the highways and the by-ways to
find someone to whom out of our abund-
ance or near abundance we may extend
something which may relieve and up
lift.
The prosperity of the present year
has changed the nature of giving. The
wolf is not bowling at the doors of
stricken families, work and good wages
has made many people who in other
years felt the sting of poverty and the
need Of material charity self-sustaining
and self-respecting. Many of them will
this year have a feeling of resentment
to the suggestion of the charity of
aims. They have learned how much it
means to men and women to be self
supporting and the pride which they
have come to take in themselves has
caused them to seek not the charity
which might relieve the pinch of want
but rather the kindly advice which
might make them better able to know
how to live under their new condition.
Charity this year is not necessarily
measured in dollars and cents. There
is new standard for helpfulness and
the standard of the charity of prosper
ity is entirely different from that of
other years.
The charity of prosperity is going to
be expressed in heart throbs. Not the
charity of aims but the charity of hu-
man helpfulness and human hopeful
ness 1t is the charity that insinuates
itself into the lonely lives of men and
women and brings into their hearts the
radiance of friendliness which is going
to dispel the gloom of isolation and
neglect.
The objects of this charity of pros
perity are to be found among the rich
and the poor. The expenditure of him
who spreads this new charity is going
to be in words and deeds rather than
IN dollars and cents. 1t is going into
homes made richer by existing condi-
tions to teach men and women how
best to enjoy the better things of life.
1t may not carry food to satisfy the
appetite but kindly sympathy to enrich
the heart.
IL is the highest form Of charity and
In it may be found all the satisfaction
that comes from the relief of material
suffering. Its riches are found in Civ
ing just as in any other charity and the
returns are to be new and better
friends, better feeling between men
and women, the elimination of caste
and distinction and the approach just a
little nearer to the human brotherhood.
The need of this charity in Kenosha
has been often expressed Breaking
down the barriers of an eighty-year old
community may not be the easiest
thing in the world but it can be made
lot easier if all of us decide that this
year we will practice the charity of
prosperity and get some of the lonliness
out of Kenosha by putting into Keno
sha more of that friendliness which the
heart Graves.
True, the poor we have always with
us and there is going to be chance for
material charity, not only during the
red and green Christmas season, but
during the entire year. We have or
gained this charitable work so that
no one is going to be neglected. An
army of "Good Fellows" will fill
baskets with food and clothing and add
to them toys and goodies for the chill
dren and give assurance that there will
be none who are hungry or miserable in
festive seasons. We need not worry
about this. But the other picture-the
picture Of the lonliness of heart-the
picture of the longing for human sym
pathy-is just as appealing as the pic
ture of the pinch of want. If it be
true that charity loveth all things, that
1t vaunteth not itself, that it is not
pulled up, surely the real way for the
expression of charity is to preach the
doctrine of love as well as the doctrine
Of giving. The wonderful opportunity
for preaching the doctrine of real fell
lowship offered in Kenosha should not
be forgotten. There is no season in the
year when it would be better to start
just such charity. 1t comes as a de
velopment of the community feeling
the spirit Of neighborly good will and
It holds for all of us development:
along lines which we have never trav
eled before. n in this season Of COCO