Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1908 — The Monnett Home Deserving. [ARTICLE]

The Monnett Home Deserving.

The Jasper County Democrat givei the stamp of disapproval to the effort made by the Republican to secure aid for the Monnett Home, and argues very incorrectlj and without much knowledge of the plan or purpose of the home. The gift of Miss Monnett to the Chicago School for city, Home and Foreign Missions, so far as the lane in Newton township or even the ten acres in Rensselaer was for the express purpose of having a building at the headquarters in Chicago erected in memory of/her mother and at a cost of between $35,000 and $40,000. The residence was all that Miss Monnett had given for the founding of the children’s home. The Training School head decided, however, to make the ten acres adjoining the property a part of the plan to establish a permanent and’eventually a large school here. If we do not misunderstnd char ities of this kind, it is never the purpose of centra] bodies to tell the women in charge of the branch institutions that they will be supported and can take things easy. The charity that exists without labor is not what constant planning and struggling will do, The best work and the best money that enters the churches of any community is that which has been earned by the good women of the church who have made sacrifices to procure it

Had Miss Monnett wished that the entire or any greater part of her estate go toward this movement Bhe could have so stipulated. But these branches are all self-supporting and are not endowed and they could not accomplish the work they do if they were. Indolence In the management would soon result in stagnation and all charity is based on contiuual scratching. The Chicago Training School has not asked Rensselaer for a cent to support this school. It publishes a monthly pajjer with a circulation of 30,000, which goes to charitable people all over the country, and in this paper is the appeal made, and the contributors are always glad to assist any worthy charity that may result in the rescue of little girls, in educating and putting them in a position to be of service to the world. And so the Monnett Chldren’s Home is a dependency and its work will be in charge of good Christian women whose lives are devoted to rescue and they will make it the home of the formerly homeless, but Rensselaer is not asked to support it. Mrs. Wilson, the matron, decided that if she could get a start in the poultry business she could have the chickens and the little inmates help her scratch for a living and she availed herself of the offer the Republican had made to assist her in the work in any way it

could. Thr result has been that many people have decided that they could spare a little and it has been given with free hearts and in the Spirit of charity that is real and hot assumed. The appeal has not aimed to secure money from those who could not willingly give and those who have not contributed are in no way criticised. But they need no newspaper spokesman to plead for them. If a dollar or a quarter or a dime can contribute to the rescue of a little girl it has accomplished a laudable purpose and the giver has made no error.

Charity does not always begin at home. We have sent money from Rensselaer to accomplish rescue and missionary work In every country. Our charity has not been confined to the state nor the United States, and we have not hitherto been In the habit of saying, "charity I begins at home.” When San Francisco needed aid Rensselaer was one of the first to give. The charities supported by the state are not doing the work that the Monnett Children’s Home pro poses to do, and to say that it 1b would be to discredit the entire work of the Deaconesses. It Is hoped to secure aid from the charities approached thru the appeal in the paper published by the training school to erct new buildings, and one Is now being planned, and is to be a school house for the inmates, with dormatories above. When charity Is discussed "from a clear business observation” it usually suffers from a selfishness that hides behind some flimsy excuses. In the meantime many people are coming to the aid of Mrs. Wilson and are contributing with a heart full of gratitude that they are able to help even In a small way, any movement to aid the less fortunate. And Mrs. Wilson will continue to scratch’ and the chickens that were contributed will scratch some also, and we will (withdraw no money from the contribution box. |#U|