Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-13
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Mrs. Charles tudlnston Never Wear.
led Of WeII.Doins-"When She
Started to Help a Person, She
Never Let Co.
Dy SARAH ID. LOXyRIE

THE day after she died up in the Adron.
- dacks | was talking with somr one who
Knew Mrs. Charles Ludington very we'll lie
snid OF her thing that has remained in my
her distinguishing trait
lie said: when she once started to help
person, she never let go.'
IT was that never letting CO. in those
who love us and to whom we are nearly
related by ties Of love or of kinship that
saves tho day for us many time, from our
thoughtless, impetuous youth to our most
demanding old age.
Many OF us have that holding on" quail.
ity in more or hess degree for those we love,
or for those who nre our near Of kin, but
very few OF us have n protecting relationship
for our distant kin, let alone for strangers
whom we have once befricnded. We let
such 60, on one excuse or another, once the
episode Of our original interest in them is
past and we generally resent being expected
10 take them on again for some new neces-
sity or because the old one shows ten
dcncy not TO finish up.
The mere fact that our third cousin once
removed or that the charity Of last year Is
still down and out does not cnthuse us the
second time as 1t did the first, and even.
tually gives most of us fretted sense CT
being done The very interesting reasons
for. pension seem less and less interesting
and more and more unjustiinble ns the pen.
eioner grows expectant on our hands. And
there Is always the good reason that our pen
ness. So that often. because we nre bored or
want new outlet for our interests and can
not manage the old and the new, or think
that we cannot, We "let go"
WfI1CH makes that characteristic os the
w woman whose death many persons will
feel poignantly both here and in New YORK
giver out of the ordinary. She never let
GO
She had been III now for five years. and
for a great part of that time compelled to be
away from all the stir of tho interests that
were very much hers to guide when sh" was
WELL But not one Of those persons or or
ganiaations has suffered because she was
shut. in. In real sense she was never. to
the day she died. shut in. Even to save
her life she could not drop her interest or
her watching care for the things that had
appealed to her for her steady. generous
soltcitous help.
All the business of that help, MS well as
the writing or reading of reports. IN ght be
lifted. but her thoughts went on. and What
she thought was trapslnted sooner or ia''F
into helpfulness for some one or something
that the walls of her room or the hedges OF
her garden or the hills that trimmed her view
could not shut out.
T HAD a curious instance Of that half
l. day after she had died | found that
there wns something that I could DO ihaf
had to be written at some length and It was
necessary Tor me TO ma stenogrhpher' Vi
az least a typewriter.
The village of Snranac is a town and !
did not know wher" TO look for what ]
wanted. Finally I saw an Office marked hy
the Red Cross insignia and ] went IN
there to inquire ! saw in that Office,
two typewrittng machines, one in use and
one on table covered up. ! was directed
70 where public stonographiC office was sup
ros"d 10 he doing business; hut 50 doubt
fully that, | rather guessed it would t nt
10 Ap. So asked TO be allowed to use tho
extra machine in tho Rcd Cross Office. cy-
planning my haste and the urgency OF III"
mail matter.
The man at the head of the Office and the
two clerks were polite. hut firm that the
Office could not bo invaded for such purpose
as I proposed. And it seemed as though !
would have 10 waste valuable time reaching
further when the woman with me said ur-
gcntly. but II Is for business concerning
Mrs. Ludngtou's death she is writing.
never saw quicker change. Every
thing in that Office was nut at my. disposal.
But es | sat there writing. | could under
stand why the multiplicity Of the demands
on all three of III" force and on the othc"
itself made my request on first thought
TOO much of n complication 10 be agreed to.
Later the chief Of the Office came to me
and said: Part of our very. furry, here TO-
day is our own inward despair at this death.
II you could know what that woman has
done for us daily hourly
After all. she had only been in that com
munitv two years. and never in ITS streets
7 doubt if she had been able TO sec any Of
those three workers. but her imagination
had found them out. and understood the
need Of the hundreds Of cases that they
handled of the fricndess people that come mp
to SarAunc to live or die. And from the
first, they said, she had Sccn huIwArk to
them. They could count upon her mot 10
let 60.
WE HAVE 50 many theories about the
w ppris Of pauperizing and the duty we
have for the children and the Childlikc peo-
rle that are drrcndcnt upon US 10 make
them stand on their own.
When we push them "f 10 sink or swim,
We tell ourselves that they must learn sooner
or later. and perhaps sooner will be better.
We do not regard ourselves so much n
stewards Of what We possess as stewards Of
their power Of earning or saving or doing
without. We resent their taking our help
for granted, rs though their necessity mad"
our responsibility. or let us say, their weak
ness oven had something to do with our
strength in the mind Of rhe Creator Of rs
both We not only ''lot GO" bur wc push
something away with sense that what Is
ours Is ours: ms though we were actually,
nc the saying Is. self made
Some one ono" defined HON" rs place
mono Of us deserved. and fathers and moth
crs as people who looked after YOU nccord-
ing to your need, not according 10 your
deserts That kind of love and care We have
all been better for having, wh" have pos
srSscd II
IN the instance Of this particular giv"r,
there muAt have been something thar made
home and the secure rights Of kinshlp and
the daily so)icitudr Of love exceedingly pre-
rious. that she shared her joy in it with so
many and with 50 understanding thought
fulnesS.
WH,, 10 Yo,, Kno,po