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
