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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1900)
6 Conservative * KAB. What does ho think of , ray Scotch colHo ? Ho looks BO far away With searching eyes so deep , BO speaking With words ho cannot say. Across the wide and rolling pralrio Wo two together walk In fond companionship , two comrades Whose hearts together talk. Ho looks at mo with comprehension Of all my love for him , While In his face glows such affection , It makes my eyes grow dim. And when I pat his head and smiling Bend down to scan his face , It brightens like a sunbeam's shining Then off we go at rapid pace , To roam on plains of fair Nebraska , To wander through ravine , To climb the sloping hill-top's summit And look beyond o'er waves of green. Up there , my Rab seems lost in thinking And looks BO far , so far Away , like sculptured statue standing. Silent , lest the scene I mar , I stand beside him , feeling , knowing Where all his thoughts must bo And mine go too , to "Bonnie Scotland , " Our home-land o'er the sea. I see the hills of blooming heather , I hear the shepherd's cry , And feel the bracing air of Highlands That proudly greet the sky. And like a flood comes sweep of visions , The gathered clans appear In gayest hues and plaids of tartan , The chieftain's plumes are near. Hark 1 Loud and shrill the bagpipe's calling , The herald's shout alarms , And Scottish heroes come with springing To lead their hosts to arms. The warlike pictures fade and vanish , The air is filled with song , The harper sings of love and glory In ballads quaint and long. Now quickly , gaily , rings the music That leads the Highland Fling And merrily the stalwart dancers In skirts of tartan swing. And then , the strains grow faint and fainter Like tales of ancient lore , Soft whispered calls come up from woodlands And wo are back once more. Again amidst the roll of prairies , We're in the sunlit-land And " Rab , " I say , and Rab looks toward me And well , wo understand 1 We've both been roaming o'er the heather , Both hearts the charm have felt And love that draw us to the Highlands Where once our fathers dwelt. MARY FKENOH MORTON. PROGRESS IN PHILANTHROPY. New demands were laid upon modern communities by the vast increase of pop ulation , the congestion of cities , the vicissitudes of speculative commerce , the swift changes in industry , the rapid separation of operatives from control of instruments of production. Charity itself often created a demand for itself , and sanitary science spared the weak from elimination by disease and hard- ship. Modern philanthropy has , however , marched forward with discovery and invention with science and art. It has taken the form of legal relief , inspired by the community conscience , while the voluntary associations and churches have led the way and tried the experi ments , not without lavish expenditures of generous individuals. The history of the German inner mis sion , catholic and protestant , best illus trates the most complete and organic development of unified movement , be ginning with the depraved and as cending steadily to higher and wider enterprises , on behalf of the working classes. The same works are carried for ward in America with less unity but more invention , private initiative and generous contributions. The directories of our great city charities are bulky volumes , and our selection of illustrations must be severe ly limited to a few typical examples which indicate the direction and genius of the movement. Of the inner spirit and motive it it more difficult to judge than of the magnitude of gifts and the improvement in methods. Yet it is through study of external manifestations that we are enabled to interpret the actions and dispositions of the soul. Blind Education. The education of the blind and of deaf mutes is a function of our school system , not of our charities. And yet many of these pupils are from depend ent families and would be helpless with out public assistance. Their infirmity makes eloquent appeal to social sym pathy , and response has come in costly institutions , improvements in methods of teaching , provision of suitable books , and organization of self-help among adults. From motives of safety as well as of humanity , attention was early called to the insane. The progress of social care of this class has been marked by greater kindness and skill , by the substitution of the detached cottage system for the older , more expensive and less suitable congregate style ; the provision of de tention hospitals instead of restraint with criminals in station houses and jails ; the tendency to remove chronic cases from pauper houses to asylums. A saint canonized by all friends of those bereft of reason was Dorothea Lynde Dix , a Massachusetts school teacher , who was taught sympathy by early orphanage and the dictates of a noble spirit , who learned the needs of the insane by visiting institutions and by travel in Europe. From 1837 she ad dressed committees and legislatures in all the states and contributed greatly to the effort to transfer the insane from local jails and almshouses to hospitals erected by the commonwealth and con ducted by experts. The apparent in crease in insanity shown by statistics is partly due to the greater readiness of friends of the insane to place them in hospitals for nervous diseases in the early stage when cure is most hopeful , and also to the longer life of patients under modern conditions. Opulent and generous commonwealths now very generally provide for all citizens thus afflicted , without invidious distinction between pauper aad pay patients a triumph of the democratic principle. Feeble Minded. One of the finest examples of speciali zation applied to humane organizations is the recent establishment of colonies of epileptics. The story has just been told in the beautiful volume of Mr. W. P. Letchworth. An enlightened public de mands for this unfortunate class the quiet and seclusion , the open air life , the industrial opportunity of farm , garden and shop , which are required by the nature of this malady. Admirable models may be cited in Ohio and New York , while excellent provisions are made in several states , and a general movement to secure legislation through out the union deserves universal and hearty cooperation. Of the feeble-minded , idiots and im beciles it is said there are about as many as of the insane. They are generally in capable of self-support in competitive life. Recently this fact has been practi cally recognized , and schools have be come permanent asylums for the segre gation of those who are unfit to be parents and unable to meet the demands of struggle in industrial society. This segregation is especially necessary in the case of girls and women of childbearing - bearing age. All this class would be happier in colonies where their labor would produce the cost of subsistence in a simple and comfortable way of life. This is the best example of the grow ing determination of society to eliminate the unfit and consciously give prefer ence to the capable. A humane method has been found for exterminating grad ually the vicious stock , and this method will doubtless be extended to habitual drunkards and.criminals , and to epilep tics. In prison science and art , philan thropy displays the highest proof of goodness , charity to social enemies. But it is a rational ani austere charity. For revenge and retribution have been sub stituted social protection and individual reformation. Deprivation of liberty and severe industrial training have been found to be more deterrent , more hu mane and more efficient than torture and capital punishment for theft. The grade and mark system has been widely intro duced , and the prisoner is enabled to measure and direct his own preparation for liberty. Conditional liberation on parole and under guardianship com pletes the application of the terminable sentence and introduces the offender to his new trial of freedom by stages. Elmira reformatory , opened in 1876 , embodies the principles of modern re formatory methods. Prison Reform. The National Prison Association , or ganized by Dr. F. H. Wines in 1870 , has TV
