Part 23 (2/2)
The ladies of the Prison a.s.sociation have been from time to time engaged in the endeavor to procure funds for establis.h.i.+ng this asylum.[35] They have met, thus far, with little success; but touched by the position of several women, who, on receiving their discharge, were anxiously waiting in hope there would be means provided to save them from return to their former suffering and polluted life, they have taken a house, and begun their good work, in faith that Heaven must take heed that such an enterprise may not fail, and touch the hearts of men to aid it.
They have taken a house, and secured the superintendence of an excellent matron. There are already six women under her care. But this house is unprovided with furniture, or the means of securing food for body and mind to these unfortunates, during the brief novitiate which gives them so much to learn and unlearn.
The object is to lend a helping hand to the many who show a desire of reformation, but have hitherto been inevitably repelled into infamy by the lack of friends to find them honest employment, and a temporary refuge till it can be procured. Efforts will be made to instruct them how to break up bad habits, and begin a healthy course for body and mind.
The house has in it scarcely any thing. It is a true Lazarus establishment, asking for the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table. Old furniture would be acceptable, clothes, books that are no longer needed by their owners.
This statement we make in appealing to the poor, though they are, usually, the most generous. Not that they are, originally, better than the rich, but circ.u.mstances have fitted them to appreciate the misfortunes, the trials, the wrongs that beset those a little lower than themselves. But we have seen too many instances where those who were educated in luxury would cast aside sloth and selfishness with eagerness when once awakened to better things, not to hope in appealing to the rich also.
And to all we appeal: to the poor, who will know how to sympathize with those who are not only poor but degraded, diseased, likely to be hurried onward to a shameful, hopeless death; to the rich, to equalize the advantages of which they have received more than their share; to men, to atone for wrongs inflicted by men on that ”weaker s.e.x,” who should, they say, be soft, confiding, dependent on them for protection; to women, to feel for those who have not been guarded either by social influence or inward strength from that first mistake which the opinion of the world makes irrevocable for women alone. Since their danger is so great, their fall so remediless, let mercies be multiplied when there is a chance of that partial restoration which society at present permits.
In New York we have come little into contact with that cla.s.s of society which has a surplus of leisure at command; but in other cities we have, found in their ranks many--some men, more women--who wanted only a decided object and clear light to fill the n.o.ble office of disinterested educators and guardians to their less fortunate fellows. It has been our happiness, in not a few instances, by merely apprising such persons of what was to be done, to rouse that generous spirit which relieved them from ennui and a gradual ossification of the whole system, and transferred them into a thoughtful, sympathetic, and beneficent existence. Such, no doubt, are near us here, if we could but know it. A poet writes thus of the cities:--
Cities of proud hotels, Houses of rich and great, A stack of smoking chimneys, A roof of frozen slate!
It cannot conquer folly, Time, and s.p.a.ce, conquering steam, And the light, outspeeding telegraph, Bears nothing on its beam.
The politics are base, The letters do not cheer, And 'tis far in the deeps of history, The voice that speaketh clear.
Trade and the streets insnare us, Our bodies are weak and worn, We plot and corrupt each other, And we despoil the unborn.
Yet there in the parlor sits Some figure of n.o.ble guise, Our angel in a stranger's form, Or woman's pleading eyes.
Or only a flas.h.i.+ng sunbeam In at the window pane, Or music pours on mortals Its beautiful disdain.
These ”pleading eyes,” these ”angels in strangers' forms,” we meet, or seem to meet, as we pa.s.s through the thoroughfares of this great city.
We do not know their names or homes. We cannot go to those still and sheltered abodes and tell them the tales that would be sure to awaken the heart to a deep and active interest in this matter. But should these words meet their eyes, we would say, ”Have you entertained your leisure hours with the Mysteries of Paris, or the pathetic story of Violet Woodville?” Then you have some idea how innocence, worthy of the brightest planet, may be betrayed by want, or by the most generous tenderness; how the energies of a n.o.ble reformation may lie hidden beneath the ashes of a long burning, as in the case of ”La Louve.” You must have felt that yourselves are not better, only more protected children of G.o.d than these. Do you want to link these fictions, which have made you weep, with facts around you where your pity might be of use? Go to the Penitentiary at Blackwell's Island. You may be repelled by seeing those who are in health while at work together, keeping up one another's careless spirit and effrontery by bad a.s.sociation. But see them in the Hospital,--where the worn features of the sick show the sad ruins of past loveliness, past gentleness. See in the eyes of the nurses the woman's spirit still, so kindly, so inspiring. See those little girls huddled in a corner, their neglected dress and hair contrasting with some ribbon of cherished finery held fast in a childish hand. Think what ”sweet seventeen” was to you, and what it is to them, and see if you do not wish to aid in any enterprise that gives them a chance of better days. We a.s.sume no higher claim for this enterprise. The dreadful social malady which creates the need of it, is one that imperatively demands deep-searching, preventive measures; it is beyond cure. But, here and there, some precious soul may be saved from unwilling sin, unutterable woe. Is not the hope to save here and there _one_ worthy of great and persistent sacrifice?
THE RICH MAN.
AN IDEAL SKETCH.
In my walks through this city, the sight of s.p.a.cious and expensive dwelling-houses now in process of building, has called up the following reverie.
All benevolent persons, whether deeply-thinking on, or deeply-feeling, the woes, difficulties, and dangers of our present social system, are agreed that either great improvements are needed, or a thorough reform.
Those who desire the latter include the majority of thinkers. And we ourselves, both from personal observation and the testimony of others, are convinced that a radical reform is needed; not a reform that rejects the instruction of the past, or a.s.serts that G.o.d and man have made mistakes till now. We believe that all past developments have taken place under natural and necessary laws, and that the Paternal Spirit has at no period forgotten his children, but granted to all generations and all ages their chances of good to balance inevitable ills. We prize the past; we recognize it as our parent, our nurse, and our teacher; and we know that for a time the new wine required the old bottles, to prevent its being spilled upon the ground.
Still we feel that the time is come which not only permits, but demands, a wider statement and a n.o.bler action. The aspect of society presents mighty problems, which must be solved by the soul of man ”divinely-intending” itself to the task, or all will become worse instead of better, and ere long the social fabric totter to decay.
Yet while the new measures are ripening, and the new men educating, there is still room on the old platform for some worthy action. It is possible for a man of piety, resolution, and good sense, to lead a life which, if not expansive, generous, graceful, and pure from suspicion and contempt, is yet not entirely unworthy of his position as the child of G.o.d, and ruler of a planet.
Let us take, then, some men just where they find themselves, in a mixed state of society, where, in quant.i.ty, we are free to say the bad preponderates, though the good, from its superior energy in quality, may finally redeem and efface its plague-spots.
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