IMPOSING ON CHARITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13638, 4 July 1908, Page 6

IMPOSING ON CHARITY.

(To Uiei Editor of, the " Timaru Herald.") Sir,—Jn view o£ a recent case and the somewhat resultant, .humiliation to those who acted without, the very necessary penetration needed in such cases, some reminiscences have been revived in my experiences of years gonfe ■ by. There is nothing iliat needs a keener knowledge, of human nature than the enquiry into chariiy cases. Jn the" city of the. " Golden West" of Victoria (Ballarat) some sixteen yea is ago toy wife and 1 .noticed a woman crying bittetfy with apron to her ' eyes at . a street corner. •%: On approaching iuid asking the catuse of her trouble, amid sobs .she replied':—"Her ltttle boy had died and husband out of work. ; They had no money to bury him.," To give her the silver we could • spare was the weak, act' of. a moment. 'Jlnv.o days /jitter to my surprise the- " Courier" of that city report.sd that. a womiin .had ■ byen arrested lor collecting niohty ali over the place on .the «ame plea. No bov dead and no poverty at ail. . ' A blind man holding a, dog by a . string at. that time .used to s.and outside of it leading bank in the marveuote ciuyon the I'atra. His hand outstretched, he was a most pitiable object standing there alt. day in ail weariheis. It. was my cusuom to drop a small coin into his. paim when passing. At. last this panry mite coriatntnetl me. 1 asKed him wuere he lived so that- more substantial, heip.'coiiiu be rendered.' There ,w..ci some evasion in the reply. One evening as he was feeling his; way along tlio j»rb widi a i.ick and his. nog pulung-the. cord homeward,. I followed until lie enteied a coitiiortable and- wellrto-do " cottage in Aortii Melbourne. Hum glimpses ot (he gaiuen, and opfn doors it; was as good., as my own home. , Softie yeaits atler... when -tub, man ateu it came, otic that he was wealthy and with the.; imiititiuHii passing . him daiiy by the balilc ; his weeKjy receipts wtrre considerable. .

Again, a clever, young fellow, who had b-jtn riieastd ii;om nutou and bet ei- ways once related to .me, an ot lus u raise the . wind when' ylmi.cit penniless. Mt. took a loom in a common lodging' house and appropriated a. block of yellow soap of the washing tub sort- Cutting it into small. cubes about the eize of a uice lie neatly wrapped each in silver papersimilar to, the chocolate, wrapper order. Getting an/empty ci.ise, then a treacle tin on. a stick with some fat and tow in it he's ood on the. u.iifr: at the leading corner ot the town, the torch flaring away. He then talked while the crowd gathered. He was a - genius but wi.h not much education. Like A.rterririi Ward the only school he had attended was a "school of whoiea—where they learned to spout." At any rate he expatiated on his wonderful " corncure, .to be used tliree nigh.s in sucotssion, the thirds application caused the corn to shell off. , At a shilling tt block they went off in great demand ,'to the lucky buyers.

Yet again two la<ly friends were pepped by a woman in the street, and a>ked lor help as her husband had died, and she wished to avoid a paufwr'ti fiin: ral. They would not render help just- (lien but wisely asked for her addivsu and (hey would feall' in the evening; which- the accrodingly did and found tilings as related. 'l'he cprpse wag laid out on the bed covered by a sheet- which they pulied back in order to get -a glimpse, at- "the pale and ghastly face. After comforting the woman, who was. in ; (ears, they emptied; their purses, leaving some £3 in all, and! promised to call in the morning with -the balance necessary and left. At.-the.street-corner; one said abruptly.: 1, 1 iiave left my umbrella." Going back she, without knocking- opened the. door, and to lieishocking surprise and alarm t lie corpse was sitting up in bed with chalked face counting the money. . The man who doles on t' charity needs a etrong element of suspicion in his makeup or the very elect (rill be deceived. For

all this \vt should hot refuse charity, but wcei-cise great cure <r a great, deal moie harm than good is the result. The Rev. Win. haw, known as a mystic and conjurer, chopped his large stipend down,'to give, the overplus away. Besides this he die ributed a large fortune- in the same manner until he demoralised the whole district in which lie lived.—l am, etc., KLERIKOS.