Howard Times

The Luxury of Doing Good.

Ingratitude is the meanest of the vices, and its existence is often discouraging to the man who wants to help his kind, but thank heaven, there are people who rise above this feeling of depression, and labor earnestly to succor even the mentally obtuse who do not realize when they are being benefited, and like the beasts, accept a favor without even an impulse of gratefulness. Ay, these ingrates are even worse than the brute creation, for the dog recognizes and loves the hand that feeds him, though there are human beings who sneer at those who afford them eleemosynary comfort and malign those who have tried to relieve them in spite of their laziness and folly.

Those who have labored in philanthropic directions have often been astonished at the deception and double dealing with which they have been met. They have found persons appealing to them for assistance who have snug little bank accounts which they will not touch under any consideration, and when they have refused assistance to petitions coming from such source have been overwhelmed with loud-mouthed abuse in which blasphemy was seldom absent.

Nevertheless, the good work of our charitable organizations goes on. It never ceases. Its angels of mercy always bear in mind that it is better to be a thousand times deceived than to once only wound the breast of truth. And there are private philanthropists who are constantly doing good in spite of all temptations to regard all applicants for aid as imposters. The fact is that those most deserving shrink from the task of asking help and often suffer in silence, while people more brazen beg and beg and beg again with a persistency that shows they are devoid of shame, or even common decency.

The latter are the professional beggars, who are too indolent to attempt to earn an honest living.

The philanthropists whom we refer are often laughed at by the more hard-hearted neighbors who never bestow charity at all, because they pretend to be afraid that they will be cheated, but they are, according to the New York Mail, easily taken in where all kinds of fraudulent schemes which promise quick returns from the investment of a small amount of money are presented. They are, indeed, more often overreached than the man or woman who enjoys the luxury of doing good.—Newport Mercury.