practical charity

Irish Jesuit Province

Practical CharityAuthor(s): Ellen O'ConnorSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 45, No. 530 (Aug., 1917), pp. 497-501Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20504862 .

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[ 497 ]

PRACTICAL CHARITY

BY ELLEN O'CONNOR.

A NARROW lane-way with little children, none'too cleanly, plaving in the mud; a few women un

kempt and thriftless-looking standing about the doorways. A sujdden turn into one of those doorways; a queer rickety staircase with worn-ouit steps and unexpected twists; a door in an unexpected corner. And in the

miserable room into which that door opens lives one of the "4cases" whom the two convent girls* have come to visit

and help. She is a lonely widow, anywhere you like in the seventies. Her face is lined with the stories of all those years, and her eves are almost blind. Her only daughter is far away, finding it more than difficult to

keep a home of her own together. Her only son is a

hopeless invalid, so that life for her is no easy matter. She is delig,hted to see her visitors. They enquire about her religious duLties. They ask if she has got relief tickets. She has one for coal, but lacks the necessary money. So

out of the little ladies' purse come the funds, and out of

their little basket come a few eggs, shyly and tactfully

proferred. Then, armed with their gradually lightening load of good things, the two girls set off for their next

case. This time they wend their way through a less densely

populated district. Here there are fewer tenements, but more cottages in various stages of disrepair. Down an alley they turn. At the far end a flock of children is

gathered. The moment they recognise the new comers they ruish into the cottage with the news that "the young

ladies from the Convent" are coming. Along a dark passage, hung across with a grimy clothes-line, which does

* From a Convent in a certain country town in Ireland. This

Convent (whose wish to be unnamed one feels tempted to disregard) is doing a work of great social utility as well as one of great spiritual

profit in bringing its pupils into personal touch with the poor of its

neighbourhood.



498 THE IRISH MONTHLY

its best to help a few still grimier-looking articles of cloth ing to dry, the visitors pass and turn into the smnoky

kitchen. The mother is out working as well as the father. B-ut the children are gathered together under the capable wing of Biddy, the eldest, wlho mothers themi with all the

precocious wisdom whichl seventeen years of such an exist

ence gives. They are wretchedly poor. Two rooiims and ten little ones in the faniilv ! Poor little things! They ,are of all sizes and ages. All of themi- lhave the sanie

dark-bluie eyes, and in all the little eyes was the same

world-weary look, the look one sees in old wom-en's eyes.

Whly do so many children of the very poor look like tiny

changelings? Poor tired baby eves! Poor wizenied baby faces! VWhat a pity more of uis do not help them to keep)

for even a little longer in their eyes the briglhtness of HTeaven whlicll they left suclh a short wh-ile ago!

Yet the Convenit girls do something! and, little as it is, it is a consolation to be able to do it. They clhat witl the little ones about the schlool, so as to nmake suire that

this, the only hope wlichl the poor have for this world's suiecess, is not neglected. Tlhev chat of the Church, for the Chuirech is the on1ly decent lhome the poor know, religion

their onlv consolation. And onice again the little basket

is requiisitioned, anld the tiniest mite of all is promised Ea

little frock. How nany richi people, living tlhemiiselves in comfort,

do not realise wlhat real poverty means ! Only the poor

themselves and those wlho visit tlhenm, as these Convent girls do, can realise it.

Many people imagine the very poor to be indifferent to nmisery, and do not appreciate attempts to relieve it ! Many

maintain that when one gives old clotlhes in charity, the wearers will putt thiemn on anyhow and anyway, and will

let them go in pieces for want of a stitchl.

To a certain extent this may be true. For instance, the old woman to wlhom we have julst alluded would hardly

troutble to put a tuick in a skirt if it was too long for her

even if her sight were good. She would wear it as it is;

for she was never taught in her youing days to be lhandy

with her needle. So that with her, and people like her,



PRACTICAIL CHTARITY 499

doniors of clothes should make sure that tlleir gifts are

fairly suitable. Yet the frock that goes to the baby of

the family will probably be altered by Biddy. The mother

belongs to the older generation, but her daughter has

attended the Sewing Guild Class conducted by the girls

of the Convent. The nuns and " old girls" help too.

Sometimes they teach their pupils what kind of material

to buy. Then they show them how to cut the particular

garment required, and, lastlv, how to make it. For those

who cannot afford to buy the stuff all at once they have a

good plan of supplying the material, and tlhen, when the

garment is completed, of getting paid for it in easy instal

*ments. In this wav, the younger generation are taught to be thrifty purchasers and uiseful needlewomen.

As well as organising these sewing classes, the pupils of the Convent try themselves to tuirn out an article of

clothing for their poor every nmonth. One of these busy workers describes the particularly busy time which thev had before Christmas: "For mnanv weeks before the great Festival all our spare moments were employed in making

clothes. How we enjoyed the good work!-all sitting rouind the table chatting and working the machine in

turns; some cutting, sonme tacking, some sewing. Then when the day came for distributing the clothes, how we enjoyed seeing the delight of the children over their new frocks !"

But new frocks look odd amid grimy suirroundings. The people must also be tauight to make the most of their homes. The Convent has fouinded an Apostleship of Clean liness. Just like the Needlework Guild, it made astonishing changes in the houises. Of course useful prizes helped

much to its success. Tea-pots, kettles, and pictures even, were the nmost popular.

The sanme practical minds that planned the Cleanliness Campaign have also organised a Mfilk Association to supply new milk to the destitute poor who have young children or invalids to support. The town-a country town-is divided into several districts, each of which has a milk provider. And in proportion to the needs of each family, tickets issued by the Guiild are given to be distributed by



500 THE IRISH MONNTHLY

the providers. It is a capital idea, and has been found to work wonderfully well.

Another activity of their little Guild is the organising of regular visits to the local workhouse. Just as for the girls of the needlework classes, the busiest time of the workhouse visitors is Christmas. They nearly always manage to get up a Christmas tree, which is laden with dolls and toys of every kind for the children, and tobacco and snuff for the old people, and sweets for all. When the good things are distributed, everyone gathers into the schoolroom, which to the eyes of the poor inmates has been transformed into a veritable fairyland. One of the yoLuna visitors describes the concert which then follows. It is received with such enthusiasm that two old men contribute a song, to the huge delight of their cronies amiong the audience. After this, the cooncert party go through the wards and cheer the poor sick folk there with little presents of pictures and sweets. And indeed they feel amply re warded for their efforts by the showers of "God bless you,'' and " May you never want,'' which greet ther.

Such events are red-letter days in the lives of the work house inmates, especially as their youthful benefactors work with such wonderful good-will and bring a perfect

atmosphere of sunshine with them. Often, of course, the

visitors meet with a regular Mrs. Gummidge, who perpetu

ally bemoans her hard lot, always insisting that she is a Ai

poor lone creetuir," with reallv nothing worth living for.

But there are few of her type. Most of the poor are of

the Micawber turn of mind. They will lhelp one another and trust to the Lord for something to turn up. One old

lady used to boast that St. Joseph always sent her some

thing if she just waited. Their optimism is something extraordinarv. Without it I do not believe they could live throuah half their troubles.

And they are so wonderfuJly attached to one another !

Many an old woman has crossed the bar with just one

worry on her mind: how her " poor old man " can face his declining years alone? And the suirvivor never forgets to pray for those who have gone before. Though Molly

Lovell lost her brother and sister vears and years ago, she



PR.ACTICA4L CHARITY 501

never let a day pass, till she herself died, without collecting all the available children of the neighbourhood, and bring ing them in to say "a round o' the beads for Bridgy and

Paddy. "

Yes, one has to go to the poor if one wishes to know, with more than a hearsay knowledge, that Christian virtue is not the cheap, light and gaudy kind, but the solid and

well tested kind that will buy the wealth of Heaven. Nor need any girl fear harm in doing Christ's work. "c Of

little faith " is she who having taken ship with Christ fears

the storm. Of still weaker faith is the mother who fears to entrust her daughter to Christ's ship. How many less reliable captains does she not sometimes trust in!

Often parents wonider what their girl will do on leaving

school. If she has not to earn her livelihood there stretches before her a life somewhat blank and therefore somewhat

dangerous, for housekeeping is not now the absorbing and varied occulpation it was in the days of our grandmothers.

Here, then, is work for her to do-nay, work which

she should do-mtch of it or little of it as her leisure is

much or little. To apply the oil of charity to the wounds of body and heart and mind of the poor traveller who has fallen among thieves (and how literally truie this word is

often !) is not something which a girl can choose to do or

not to do, as her whim inclines her. If she does not

do it, she is as the Priest or the Levite, for she is as near

to the poor as they were.

And that oil of charity is so sacramental! It makes

happier and holier not merely Christ's poor but those who tend them! That she should tend them, every girl can learn by simply reading the Gospel. How m--uch good

she can do, and how best she can do it, she can learn from

the many noble ladies who, thank God, help the poor friends of Christ in every city and town of our land.



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