CARE OF THE HOMELESS THE HELPLESS AND THE VICIOUS



XXXVII.

CARE OF THE HOMELESS, THE HELPLESS, AND THE VICIOUS.


In considering the duties of the Christian family in regard to the
helpless and vicious classes, some recently developed facts need to
be considered. We have stated that the great end for which, the family
was instituted is the training to virtue and happiness of our whole
race, as the children of our Heavenly Father, and this with chief
reference to their eternal existence after death. In the teachings of
our Lord we find that it is for sinners--for the lost and wandering
sheep, that he is most tenderly concerned. It is not those who by
careful training and happy temperaments have escaped the dangers of
life that God and good angels most anxiously watch. "For there is more
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine
that went not astray."

The hardest work of all is to restore a guilty, selfish, hardened
spirit to honor, truth, and purity; and this is the divine labor to
which the pitying Saviour calls all his true followers; to lift up the
fallen, to sustain the weak, to protect the tempted, to bind up the
broken-hearted, and especially to rescue the sinful. This is the
peculiar privilege of woman in the sacred retreat of a "Christian
home." And it is for such self-denying ministries that she is to train
all who are under her care and influence, both by her teaching and by
her example.

In connection with these distinctive principles of Christ for which
the family state was instituted, let the following facts be considered.
The Massachusetts Board of State Charities, consisting of some of the
most benevolent and intelligent gentlemen of that State, in pursuance
of their official duty visited all the State institutions, and held
twenty-five meetings during the year 1867-8. By these visits and
consequent discussions they arrived at certain conclusions, which may
be briefly condensed as follows.

No state or nation excels Massachusetts in a wise and generous care
of the helpless, poor, and vicious. The agents employed for this end
are frugal, industrious, intelligent, and benevolent men and women,
with high moral principles. The pauper and criminal classes requiring
to be cared for by Massachusetts are less in proportion to the whole
number of inhabitants than in any other state or nation. Yet, admirable
as are these comparative results, there is room for improvement in a
most important particular. The report of the Board urges that the
present mode of collecting special classes in great establishments,
though it may be the best in a choice of evils, is not the best method
for the physical, social, and moral improvement of those classes; as
it involves many unfortunate influences (which are stated at large:)
and the report suggests that a better way would be to scatter these
unfortunates from temporary receiving asylums into families of Christian
people all over the State.

It is suggested in view of the above, that collecting fallen women
into one large community is not the best way to create a pure moral
atmosphere; and that gathering one or two hundred children in one
establishment is not so good for them as to give each child a home in
some loving Christian family. So of the aged and the sick, the blessings
of a quiet home, and the tender, patient nursing of true Christian
love, must be sought in a Christian family; not in a great asylum.

In view of these important facts and suggestions, it may be inquired,
if the great end and aim of the family state is to train the inmates
to self-denying love and labor for the weak, the suffering, and the
sinful, how can it be done where there are no young children, no aged
persons, no invalids, and no sinful ones for whom such sacrifices are
to be made?

Why are orphan children thrown upon the world, why are the aged held
in a useless, suffering life, except that they may aid in cultivating
tender love and labor for the helpless, and reverence for the hoary
head? And yet, how few children are trained thus to regard the orphan,
the aged, the helpless, and the vicious around them!

Great houses are built for these destitute ones, and all the labor and
self-denial in taking care of them is transferred to paid agents, while
thousands of families are thus deprived of all opportunity to cultivate
the distinctive virtues of the Christian household.

In this connection, let us look at some facts recently published in
the city of New-York.

The writer, Rev. W. O. Van Meter, says in his report:

"The following astounding statistics are carefully selected from the
Reports of the Police, Board of Health, Citizens' Association, and
more than twelve years' personal experience."

He then gives the following description of a section of the city only
a few rods from the stores and residences of those who count their
wealth by hundreds of thousands and millions, many of them professing
to be followers of Christ:

"First, we see old sheds, stable lofts, dilapidated buildings, too
worthless to be repaired, lofts over warehouses and shops; cellars,
too worthless for business purposes, and too unhealthy for horses or
pigs, and therefore occupied by human beings at high rent.--Second,
houses erected for tenant purposes. Take one near our Mission, as a
fair specimen of the better class of '_model_' tenant houses. It
contains one hundred and twenty-six families--is entered at the sides
from alleys eight feet wide; and by reason of another barrack of equal
height, the rooms are so darkened, that on a cloudy day it is impossible
to sew in them without artificial light. It has not one room that can
be thoroughly ventilated.

"The vaults and sewers which are to carry off the filth of one hundred
and twenty-six families have grated openings in the alleys, and doorways
in the cellars, through which the deadly miasma penetrates and poisons
the air of the house and courts. The water-closets for the whole vast
establishment are a range of stalls, without doors, and accessible not
only from the building, but even from the street. Comfort here is out
of the question; common decency impossible, and the horrid brutalities
of the passenger-ship are day after day repeated, but on a larger
scale.

"In similar dwellings are living five hundred and ten thousand persons,
(nearly one half of the inhabitants of the city,) chiefly from the
laboring classes, of very moderate means, and also the uncounted
thousands of those who do not know to-day what they shall have to live
on to-morrow. This immense population is found chiefly in an area of
less than four square miles. The vagrant and neglected children among
them would form a procession in double file eight miles long from the
Battery to Harlem.

"In the Fourth ward, the tenant-house population is crowded at the
rate of two hundred and ninety thousand inhabitants to the square mile.
Such packing was probably never equaled in any other city. Were the
buildings occupied by these miserable creatures removed, and the people
placed by each other, there would be but one and two ninths of a square
yard for each, and this unparalleled packing is _increasing_. Two
hundred and twenty-four families in the ward live below the sidewalk,
many of them _below high-water mark_. Often in very high tide they are
driven from their cellars or lie in bed until the tide ebbs. Not one
half of the houses have any drain or connection with the sewer. The
liquid refuse is emptied on the sidewalk or into the street, giving
forth sickening exhalations, and uniting its fetid streams with others
from similar sources. There are more than four hundred families in
this ward whose homes can only be reached by wading through a disgusting
deposit of filthy refuse. 'In one tenant-house one hundred and forty-six
were sick with small-pox, typhus fever, scarlatina, measles, marasmus,
phthisis pulmonalis, dysentery, and chronic diarrhea. In another,
containing three hundred and forty-nine persons, _one in nineteen died_
during the year, and on the day of inspection, which was during the most
healthy season of the year, there were one hundred and fifteen persons
sick! In another (in the Sixth Ward, but near us,) are sixty-five
families; seventy-seven persons were sick or diseased at the time of
inspection, and one in four _always_ sick. In fifteen of these families
twenty-five children were living, thirty-seven had died.'

"Here are found the lowest class of sailor boarding-houses, dance-
houses, and dens of infamy. There are _less than two dwelling-houses
for each rum-hole_. Here are the poorest, vilest, most degraded,
and desperate representatives of all nations. In the homes of thousands
here, a ray of sunlight never shines, a flower never blooms, a bird
song is never heard, a breath of pure air never breathed." A procession
of vagrant and neglected children that in double file would reach eight
miles, living in such filth, vice, and unhealthful pollution; all of
them God's children, all Christ's younger brethren, to save whom he
humbled himself, even to the shameful death of the cross!

Meantime, the city of New York has millions of wealth placed in the
hands of men and women who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ,
and to have consecrated themselves, their time, and their wealth to
his service. And they daily are passing and repassing within a stone's
throw of the streets where all this misery and sin are accumulated!

So in all our large cities and towns all over the land are found
similar, if not so extensive, collections of vice and misery. And even
where there are not such extremes of degradation, there are contrasts
of condition that should "give us pause." For example, in the vicinity
of our large towns and cities will be seen spacious mansions inhabited
by professed followers of Jesus Christ, each surrounded by ornamented
grounds. Not far from them will be seen small tenement-houses, abounding
with children, each house having about as many square yards of land
as the large houses have square acres. In the small tenements, the
boys rise early and go forth with the father to work from eight to ten
hours, with little opportunity for amusement or for reading or study.
In the large houses, the boys sleep till a late breakfast, then lounge
about till school-time, then spend three hours in school, stimulating
brain and nerves. Then home to a hearty dinner, and then again to
school.

So with the girls: in the tenement-houses, they, go to kitchens and
shops to work most of the day, with little chance for mental culture
or the refinements of taste. In the large mansions, the daughters sleep
late, do little or no labor for the family, and spend their time in
school, or in light reading, ornamental accomplishments, or amusement.

Thus one class are trained to feel that they are a privileged few for
whom others are to work, while they do little or nothing to promote
the improvement or enjoyment of their poorer neighbors.

Then, again, labor being confined chiefly to the unrefined and
uncultivated, is disgraced and rendered unattractive to the young. One
class is overworked, and the body deteriorates from excess. The other
class overwork the brain and nerves, and the neglected muscles grow
thin, flabby, and weak.

Notice also the style in which they accumulate the elegances of
civilization without even an attempt to elevate their destitute
neighbors to such culture and enjoyment. Their expensive pictures
multiply on their frescoed walls, their elegant books increase in their
closed bookcases, their fine pictures and prints remain shut in
portfolios, to be only occasionally opened by a privileged few. Their
handsome equipages are for the comfortable and prosperous--not for
the feeble and poor who have none of their own. All their social
amusements are exclusive, and their expensive entertainments are for
those only who can return the same to them.

Our Divine Master thus teaches, "When thou makest a feast, call not
thy kinsmen or thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again, and
a recompense he made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor,
for they can not recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the
resurrection of the just." Again, our Lord, after performing the most
servile office, taught thus: "If I, your Lord and Master, have washed
your feet, ye ought to wash one another's feet."

In all these large towns and cities are women of wealth and leisure,
who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. Some of them, having
property in their own right, live in large mansions, with equipage and
servants demanding a large outlay. They travel abroad, and gather
around themselves the elegant refinements of foreign lands. They give,
perhaps, a tenth of their time and income (which is far less than was
required of the Jews), for benevolent purposes, and then think and say
that they have consecrated themselves and _all_ they have to the
service of Christ.

If there is any thing plainly taught in the New Testament it is, that
the followers of Christ are to be different and distinct from the world
around them; "a peculiar people," and subject to opposition and ill-will
for their distinctive peculiarities.

Of these peculiarities demanded, _humility_ and _meekness_ are
conspicuous: "Come and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly, and
ye shall find rest." Now, the grand aim of the rich, worldly, and
ambitious is to be at least equal, or else to rise higher than others,
in wealth, honor, and position. This is the great struggle of humanity
in all ages, especially in this country, and among all classes, to
_rise higher_--to be as rich or richer than others--to be as well
dressed--to be more learned, or in more honored positions than others.
This was the very thing that made contention among the apostles, even
in the company of their Lord, as they walked and "disputed who should
be the greatest." "And Jesus sat down and called the twelve, and said
unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same _shall be last
and servant of all;_" and "he that is least among you shall be
great."

At another time, the ambitious mother of two disciples came and asked
that her sons might have the _highest_ place in his kingdom, and the
other disciples were "moved with indignation." Then the Lord taught
them that the honor and glory of his kingdom was to be exactly the
reverse of this world; and that whoever would be great must be a
_minister_, and who would be chief must be a _servant_; even as the Son
of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister.

Again, he rebuked the love of high position and the desire of being
counted wise as teachers of others: "Be not ye called Rabbi, neither
be ye called Master; but he that is greatest among you shall be your
servant, and whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased."

Then, as to the strife after wealth, into which all are now rushing
so earnestly, the Lord teaches: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures
on earth. Whosoever of you forsaketh not all that he hath can not be
my disciple. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves with
bags that wax not old--a treasure in heaven that faileth not." To the
rich young man, asking how to gain eternal life, the reply was, "Sell
all thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me." When the
poor widow cast in _all her living_ she was approved. When the
first Christians were "filled with the Holy Ghost," they sold all their
possessions, to be distributed to those that had need, and were
approved.

And nowhere do we find any direction or approval of laying up money
for self or for children. A man is admonished to provide sustenance
and education for his family, but never to lay up money for them; and
the history of the children of the rich is a warning that, even in a
temporal view, the chances are all against the results of such use of
property. We are to spend all to _save the world_; For this we
are to labor and sacrifice ease and wealth, and we are to train children
to the same self-sacrificing labors; All that is spent for earthly
pleasure ends here. Nothing goes into the future world as a good secured
but training our own and other immortal minds. Thus only can we lay
up treasures in heaven.

There is a crisis at hand in the history of individuals, of the church,
and of our nation, which must inaugurate a new enterprise to save "the
whole world." There must be something coming in the Christian churches
more consistent, more comprehensive, more in keeping with the command
of our ascending Lord--"Go ye (_all_ my followers) into _all the world_,
and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth shall be
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned!"

It is in hope and anticipation of such a "revival" of the true,
self-denying spirit of Christ and of his earnest followers, that plans
have been drawn for simple modes of living, in which both labor and
economy may be practiced for benevolent ends, and yet without
sacrificing the refinements of high civilization. One method is
exhibited in the first chapters, adapted to country residence. In what
follows will be presented a plan for a city home, having the same aim.

The chief points are to secure economy of labor and time by the
_selection and close packing of conveniences_, and also economy
of health by a proper mode of _warming and ventilation_. In this
connection will be indicated opportunities and modes that thus may be
attained for aiding to save the vicious, comfort the suffering, and
instruct the ignorant. Fig. 71 is the ground plan, of a city tenement
occupying two lots of twenty-two feet front, in which there can be no
side windows; as is the case with most city houses. There are two front
and two back-parlors, each twenty feet square, with a bedroom and
kitchen appended to each: making four complete sets of living-rooms.
A central hall runs from basement to roof, and is lighted by skylights.
There is also a ventilating recess running from basement to roof with
whitened walls, and windows opening into it secure both light and air
to the bedrooms. On one end of this recess is a trash-flue closed with
a door in the basement, and opening into each story, which must be
kept closed to prevent an upward draught, causing dust and light
articles to rise. At the other end is a dumb-waiter, running from
cellar to roof, and opening into the hall of each story. Four chimneys
are constructed near the centre of the house, one for each suite of
rooms, to receive a smoke-pipe of cast-iron or terra cotta, as described
previously, with a space around it for warm air; and this serves as
the exhausting-shaft to carry off the vitiated air from parlors,
kitchens, bedrooms, and water-closets. In each kitchen is a stove such
as is described in Chapter IV., its pipe connecting with the central
cast-iron or terra cotta pipe. The stove can be inclosed by sliding
doors shutting off the heat in warm weather. These kitchen stoves, and
a large stove in the basement to warm the central hall, would suffice
for all the rooms, except in the coldest months, when a small terra
cotta stove, made for this purpose, or even an ordinary iron stove,
placed by one window in each of the parlors, would give the additional
heat needed; while fresh air could be admitted from the windows behind
the stove, and thus be partially warmed.

This exhibits the essential feature and peculiarity of Mr. Leeds's
system of ventilation, before described. Fresh air, admitted at the
bottom of a slightly raised window, is to enter below a window-seat
which projects over the stove; the air being thus warmed before entering
the room. The flue of the stove is seen (in the finished corner of
Fig. 71, which is a model for the four other suites of rooms on each
floor) running along the wall to the _front_ chimney, which also
receives the corresponding stove-flue from the nearest window in the
adjoining parlor: the same arrangement being repeated at the back of
the house. This, the two front and back chimneys are for the heating
and ventilating parlor stoves; the four central chimneys for cooking,
heating, and ventilation.

When possible, in a large building, steam generated in the basement
heater will be found better than the parlor stove. In this case, the
room will be heated by the coil of steam-pipe mentioned before; the
slab covering it being the window-seat, or guard, under which the cool
fresh air is conducted to be warmed before passing into the room.

[Illustration: Fig. 71 Diagram of living quarters.]
Fig. 72 shows one side of the parlor, giving a series of sliding-
doors, behind which are hooks, shelves, and "shelf-boxes," as described
earlier in the book.

[Illustration: Fig. 72.]

The recess occupied by the sofa stands between these two closets. In
case the room is used for sleeping, the double couch on page 30 might
be substituted for the sofa, serving as a lounge by day, and two single
beds by night. The curtain hanging above can be so fastened by rings
on a strong semi-circular wire as to be let down while dressing and
undressing, as is done in some of our steamboats. Pockets and hooks
on the inside of the curtains may be made very useful.

[Illustration: Fig. 73.]

Fig. 73 represents another side of the same room where are two large
windows, each having a cushioned seat in its recess, (although one may
be occupied by a stove, as described above.) A study-table with drawers
or both the front and back sides furnishes large accommodations for
many small articles.

Fig. 74 represents a third side of the same room, with sliding doors
glazed from top to bottom to give light to the bedroom and kitchen.

[Illustration: Fig. 74.]

The fourth side appears on the ground plan (Fig. 71.) The ottomans and
a few chairs will complete the needful furniture.

By means of forms, shelves, and shelf-boxes, the kitchen, could hold
all stores and implements for cooking and setting tables, on the method
shown page 34. The eating table is close to the kitchen and sink, so
that few steps are required to bring and remove every article. Thus
stove, sink, cooking materials, the table and its furniture, are all
in close proximity, and yet, when the inmates are seated at table, the
sliding-doors will shut out the kitchen, while the bad air and smells
of cooking are earned off by the ventilating exhaust-shaft.

The bedroom has a bath-tub and water-closet. The tub need not be more
than four feet long, and a half-cover raised by a hinge will, when
down, hold wash-bowl and pitcher, when the tub is not in use. Around
the bedroom high and wide shelves and shelf-boxes near the ceiling
serve to store large articles; and narrower shelves with pegs under
them for clothing, protected by a curtain, furnish other conveniences
for storage. The trash-flue serves to send off rubbish, with but few
steps, and the dumb waiter brings up fuel, stores, etc. Each bedroom
must be provided with a ventilating register at the top, connecting
with the warm foul-air flue in the chimney.

For a family of four persons, one parlor, with its kitchen and bedroom,
couches and side closets, would supply all needful accommodations. For
a larger family, sliding-doors into the adjacent parlor, its appended
kitchen being arranged for another bedroom, would accommodate a family
of ten persons.

A front and a back entrance may be in the basement, which, can be used
for family stores, each family having one room. A general laundry with
drying closets could be provided in the attic, and lighted from the
roof.

Such a building, four stories high, would accommodate sixteen families
of four members, or eight larger families, and provide light, warmth,
ventilation, and more comforts and conveniences than are usually found
in most city houses built for only one family. Here young married
persons with frugal and benevolent tastes could commence housekeeping
in a style of comfort and good taste rarely excelled in mansions of
the rich. The spaces usually occupied by stairs, entries, closets,
etc., would on this plan be thrown into fine large airy rooms, with
every convenience close at hand.

In one of our large cities is to be found a Christian lady who inherited
a handsome establishment with means to support it in the style common
to the rich. In the spirit of Christ she "sold all that she had, and
gave to the poor," by establishing a _Home for Incurables_, and
making her home with them, giving her time and wealth to promoting
their temporal comfort and spiritual welfare. Was this doing _more_
than her duty--_more_ than the example and teachings of Christ require?

Suppose several ladies of similar views and character in one city,
having only moderate wealth, and leisure, unite to erect such a building
as the one described, in a light and healthful part of the city of New
York, and then should take up their residence in it, and from the vast
accumulation of misery and sin at hand on every side, should select
the orphans, the aged, the sick, and the sinful, and spend time and
money for their temporal and spiritual elevation; would they do
_more_ than the example and teachings of Christ enjoin? Or would
their enjoyment, even in this life, be diminished by exchanging a
routine chiefly of personal gratification for such self-denying
ministries? It was "for _the joy_ that was set before Him" through
the everlasting ages that our Lord "endured the cross," and it is to
the same supernal glories that he invites his followers, and by the
same path he trod.

Here it probably will be said that all rich women can not do what is
here suggested, owing to multitudinous claims, or to incapacity of
mind or body for carrying out such an attempt. It will also be said
that there are many other ways for practicing self-denial besides
selling our homes and taking a humbler style of living. This is all
true. But we are told that there are "greatest" and "least" in that
kingdom of heaven where the chief happiness is in living to serve
others, and not for self. Those who can not change their expensive
style of living, and are obliged to spend most of their thoughts and
wealth on self and those who are a part of self, will be among the
least and lowest in happiness and honor, while those who take the low
places on earth to raise others will be the happiest and most honored
in the kingdom of heaven.

There are many residences in our large cities where women claiming to
be Christ's followers live in almost solitary grandeur till the warm
season, and then shut them up to spend their time at watering-places
or country resorts. The property invested in such city establishments,
and the income required to keep them up, would secure "Christian homes"
to many suffering, neglected, homeless children of Christ, who are
living in impure air, with all the debasing influences found in city
tenement-houses. Meantime, the owners of this wealth are suffering in
mind and body for want of some grand and noble object in life. If such
could not personally live in such an establishment as is here described,
by self-denying arrangements and combination with others they could
provide and superintend one.

Our minds are created in the image of our Father in heaven, and capable
of being made happy, as his is, by the outpouring of blessings on
others. And when we are invited by our divine Lord to take his yoke
and bear his burden, it is for our own highest happiness as well as
for the good of others. And whoever truly obeys finds the yoke easy
and the burden light, and that they bring rest to the soul. But those
who shrink from the true good, to live a life of self-indulgent ease,
will surely find that mere earthly enjoyments pall on the taste, that
they perish in the using, that they never satisfy the cravings of a
soul created for a higher sphere and nobler mission.

The Bible represents that there is an emergency-a great conflict in
the world unseen-and that we on earth, who are Christ's people, are
to take a part in this conflict and in the "fellowship of his
sufferings," to redeem his children from the slavery of sin and eternal
death; and there is the same call to labor and sacrifice now as there
was when he commanded, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel
to _every_ creature."

But is not the larger part of the church--especially those who have
wealth--practically living on no higher principles than the pious Jews
and virtuous heathen? Are they not living just as if there were no
great emergency, no terrible risks and danger to their fellow-men in
the life to, come? Are they not living just as if all men were safe
after they leave this world, and all we need to aim at is to make
ourselves and others virtuous and happy in this life, without disturbing
anxiety about the life to come? And is the _training_ of most
Christian families diverse from that of pious Jews, in reference to
the dangers of our fellow-men in the future state, and the consequent
duty of labor and sacrifice in order to extend the true religion all
over the earth?

One mode of avoiding self-denial in style of living is by the plea
that, if all rich Christiana gave up the expensive establishments
common to this class and adopted such economies as are here suggested,
it would tend to lower civilization and take away support from those
living by the fine arts. But while the world is rushing on to such
profuse expenditure, will not all these elegancies and refinements be
abundantly supported, and is there as much danger in this direction
as there is of avoiding the self-denying example of Christ and his
early followers? They gave up all they had, and "were scattered abroad,
preaching the word;" and was there any reason existing then for
self-denying labor that does not exist now? There are more idolaters
and more sinful men now, in actual numbers, than there were then; while
teaching them the way of eternal life does not now, as it did then,
involve the "loss of all things" and "deaths often."

Moreover, would not the fine arts, in the end, he better supported by
imparting culture and refined tastes to the neglected ones? Teaching
industry, thrift, and benevolence is far better than scattering alms,
which often do more harm than good; and would not enabling the masses
to enjoy the fine arts and purchase in a moderate style subserve the
interests of civilization as truly as for the rich to accumulate
treasures for themselves in the common exclusive style?

Suppose some Protestant lady of culture and fortune should unite with
an associate of congenial taste and benevolence to erect such a building
as here described, and then devote her time and wealth to the elevation
and salvation of the sinful and neglected, would she sacrifice as much
as does a Lady of the Sacred Heart or a Sister of Charity, many of
whom have been the daughters of princes and nobles? They resign to
their clergy and superiors not only the control of their wealth but
their time, labor, and conscience. In doing this, the Roman Catholic
lady is honored and admired as a saint, while taught that she is doing
more than her duty, and is thus laying up a store of good works to
repay for her own past deficiencies, and also to purchase grace and
pardon for humbler sinners. If this is really believed, how soothing
to a wounded conscience! And what a strong appeal to generous and
Christian feeling! And the more terrific the pictures of purgatory and
hell, the stronger the appeal to these humane and benevolent principles.

But how would it be with the Protestant woman practicing such
self-denial? For example, the lady of wealth and culture, who gave up
her property and time to provide a home for incurables--would her
pastor say she was doing _more_ than her duty? and if not, would
he preach to other rich women who, in other ways, could humble
themselves to raise up the poor, the ignorant, and the sinful, that
they are doing _less_ than their duty?

Is it not sometimes the case, that both minister and people, by example,
at least, seem to teach that, the more riches increase, the less demand
there is for economy, labor, and self-denial for the benefit of the
destitute and the sinful?

Protestants are little aware of the strong attractions which, are
drawing pious and benevolent women toward the Roman Catholic Church,
To the poor and neglected: in humble life are offered a quiet home,
with sympathy, and honored work. To the refined and ambitious are
offered the best society and high positions of honor and trust. To the
sinful are offered pardon for past offenses and a fresh supply of
"grace" for all acts of penitence or of benevolence. To the anxiously
conscientious, perplexed with contentions as to doctrines and duties,
are offered an infallible pope and clergy to decide what is truth and.
duty, and what is the true interpretation of the Bible, while they are
taught that the "faith" which saves the soul is implicit belief in the
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. All this enables many, even
of the intelligent, to receive the other parts of a system that
contradicts both common sense and the Bible.

Meantime, a highly educated priesthood, with no family ties to distract
attention, are organizing and employing devoted, self-denying women,
all over the land, to perform the distinctive work that Protestant
women, if wisely trained and organized by their clergy, could carry
out in thousands of scattered Christian homes and villages.

In the Protestant churches, women are educated only to be married; and
when not married, there is no position provided which is deemed as
honorable as that of a wife. But in the Roman Catholic Church, the
unmarried woman who devotes herself to works of Christian benevolence
is the most highly honored, and has a place of comfort and
respectability provided which is suited to her education and capacity.
Thus come great nunneries, with lady superiors to control conscience
and labor and wealth.

But a time is coming when the family state is to be honored and ennobled
by single women, qualified to sustain it by their own industries; women
who will both support and train the children of their Lord and Master
in the true style of Protestant independence, controlled by no superior
but Jesus Christ. And in the Bible they will find the Father of the
faithful, to both Jews and Gentiles, their great exemplar. For nearly
one hundred years Abraham had no child of his own; but his household,
whom he trained to the number of three hundred and eighteen, were
children of others. And he was the friend of God, chosen to be father
of many nations, because he would "command his household to do justice
and judgment and keep the way of the Lord."

The woman who from true love consents to resign her independence and
be supported by another, while she bears children and trains them for
heaven, has a noble mission; but the woman who earns her own
independence that she may train the neglected children of her Lord and
Saviour has a still higher one. And a day is coming when Protestant
women will be _trained_ for this their highest ministry and profession
as they never yet have been.