 | The fiend's delight |  |
Mendicity's Mistake.
Your famishing beggar is a fish of as sorry
aspect as may readily be scared up. Generally
speaking, he is repulsive as to hat, abhorrent as to
vesture, squalid of boot, and in tout ensemble unseemly
and atrocious. His appeal for alms falls not more
vexingly upon the ear than his offensive personality
smites hard upon the eye. The touching effectiveness
of his tale is ever neutralized by the uncomeliness
of his raiment and the inartistic besmirchedness
of his countenance. His pleading is like the
pathos of some moving ballad from the lips of a
negro minstrel; shut your eyes and it shall make you
fumble in your pocket for your handkerchief; open
them, and you would fain draw out a pistol instead.
It is to be wished that Poverty would garb
his body in a clean skin, that Adversity would
would address himself unto your pocket from
beneath a downy hat. However, we cannot hope
to immediately impress these worthy mendicants
with the advantage of devoting a portion of their gains
to the purchase of purple and fine linen, instead
of expending their all upon the pleasures of the table
and riotous living; but our duty unto them remains.
The very least that one can do for the offensive
needy is to direct them to the nearest clothier.
That, therefore, is the proper course.
| The fiend's delight | |