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painful trial; for much of the bounty which, under more favorable circumstances, would have been appropriated for their comfort, has been diverted into other channels. The families of the absolutely poor have, indeed, greatly increased among us, during the past winter, by the failure of all the kinds of employment to which the poor look for support; and, with beggary, we have reason to fear, that the tendencies and preparations have increased to crime and misery. This is a state of things, which demands serious consideration. For all those, even of the most absolutely poor, who are yet poor by the act of God, there is no difficulty of making a tolerably competent provision. But for the poverty which is originating in ignorance and sin, and in which ignorance and sin are indefinitely extending among us, some, and no small accountableness, lies with those who might devise, and provide, the means for its prevention. Is it asked, who are those that share this accountableness with the most depraved of our poor? I answer, every one who understands, or who might if he would understand, the means of its prevention, and who yet fails to advance the measures, by which multitudes of our fellow-beings might be rescued from degradation and ruin.

Secondly. There are those who are but occasionally, and partially poor.

These are in the opposite extreme to those, who are constantly, and absolutely poor. They are now on one, and now on the other side of the line, between competence and poverty. This is a division of the poor, which calls for a strong interest, and sympathy. It includes a considerable number of journeymen mechanics, and of other men who depend on monthly wages, or on daily earnings; and who, in a time of general prosperity, are poor only when either they, or some of their family, are

visited with protracted sickness. It includes also tailoresses, a subordinate class of milliners, respectable nurses, skilful and industrious laundresses, and some others who are constantly supplied with work, while they can do it, by the enterprising mechanics who employ them. Some of this class, by maintaining a wise economy in their expenditures, can, and do, make an important provision for the seasons of the failure of work, or of debility and sickness, by depositing all which they can spare from their earnings, in the Savings Bank. Some of them, however, who have large families, can but meet their necessary expenses by their daily labors. But while the heads of these families have their health, they need not, and they ask not for, charity. They are not then poor. It is important, however, to understand, that a very small reverse of circumstances may, in a short time, bring them to poverty. To these reverses they are constantly exposed; and, while suffering under them, they will be partially, and temporarily poor. I have said that sickness may bring them to temporary poverty. So also may any personal injury, which disqualifies them for any considerable time for labor. So also may the failure of their employer. And so also may a temporary suspension of demand for the products of their labor. Some of this class have suffered greatly through the past winter. They have, in truth, suffered far more, and some of them from pressing want, than they who have lived amidst the greatest filth, and whose whole dependence has been upon daily beggary. I must again refer to examples.

But here, I must say, that I feel obliged to speak in very general terms, because it is by no means impossible, that my report may fall into the hands of some, whom I must have in my view in speaking of this division of the poor; and I would neither gratify vanity, nor offend deli

cacy, by personalities which may easily be recognised. While I am cautious not to indulge my imagination, by supposing what does not exist, I will be alike careful not so to designate individuals, that either themselves, or others, may feel that I am calling attention to them.

It is well known, that a large number of those, who have depended on their wages, or their small salaries, for the support of their families within the past year, have been thrown out of employment. Take the case, then, first, of those who have husbanded their small means with the best economy, and who have laid by something for a day of trouble.' They have been obliged to have recourse to this little fund, and it is at last expended. They have been industrious, temperate, and upright, as well as frugal. They have cherished a sense of the worth of character, and have felt themselves to be respectable, and respected. And they never wanted work, while there was any active demand for service, in the department of labor in which they were educated. But in consequence of the prevailing embarrassments in commerce, and in mercantile enterprise, they have been thrown out of employment. How hard is it, with such men, to beg! How unutterably distressing to them is poverty! They may shrink from debt; and yet they must contract debts, which they have perhaps no confidence that they will ever be able to pay. These are circumstances, which, to my knowledge, have wrung bitter tears from men, who, with interesting families around them, for which they could once provide amply, have gone from day to day to their homes, unable to supply the food and fuel, without which their families could not be comfortable. And I have witnessed, too, the desperation of mind to which this condition may bring a man. He that is willing to live by beggary, and who has been accustomed through his life to

poverty, disorder, and dirt, knows nothing of the sufferings of him, who, having lived in cleanliness and comfort by his honest industry, is brought to those circumstances, in which not even his readiness for any honest service will enable him to pay for a shelter, and for food, for his family.

I visit families, in which, by the united industry of the husband and wife, or of the parents and children, or perhaps by the single efforts of a mother, a comfortable support is obtained, while they have health and employment. But suppose one of these families, by the failure of those who employed them, not to be able for some months to find more than half the work, which is indispensable for their support. Yet rent must be paid, and food, and fuel, and clothing, must be provided. But how? He, or she, to whom the family have looked for this provision, cannot now make it. Let any one, then, who would understand the actual condition of this family, pause for a while, and dwell upon it, and attempt to make it his own. O, how open would be our hearts, and hands, to the relief of such sufferers, if our sympathy with them were in any measure accordant with that, which we should think we had a right to claim, if we were ourselves in any comparative state of embarrassment and want!- Or, suppose that a husband, on whose daily labors a family has depended, is taken off from his labors by months of sickness. I might use almost any terms, in describing the distress of families in this condition, and the description would be no fiction. There are indeed families, belonging to this division of the poor, and with which I am intimately connected, which, even through the past winter, have not looked to me, or to any one else, for charity. While hundreds have not been able to obtain more than the work of a day or two in a week, they have had as

much as they could do every day. And they have neither been interrupted in their labors by sickness, or by any untoward event. Yet it would not surprise me, at any time, to find them in need of temporary assistance, without which they might fall into lasting embarrassments. This, I repeat, is a highly interesting class of the population of a city. For although there is not more virtue in any condition of society, than is to be found among families of this class, while they have employment and the means of self-support, their moral dangers are yet very great in the time of any considerable and continued distress, arising from the difficulty of providing for their daily wants. In this application of it, most emphatically, is charity twice blessed; and, to a benevolent mind, at least quite equal is the good and happiness which is received, to that which is imparted. By the well-timed, and judiciously directed kindness of a few weeks, or it may be of a few months, even years of competence and comfort may be secured.

Thirdly. Besides the constantly, and absolutely poor, and those who are poor but occasionally, and partially, there is a very large intermediate division, consisting of those who are often, and considerably dependent upon charity. Here, also, I must explain myself by facts and examples.

In speaking of those who are but occasionally, and temporarily poor, I ought to have remarked, that, among men, this class consists of those, who not only obtain constant employment while they are able to work, or while there is any work to be done in their department of labor, but who also have a decided superiority of skill and character to recommend them to their employers. And, among females, of those, who, if they work for tailors, can do the finest parts of their work, and can do it in the

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