Another such irritating hypocrisy is the oligarchic attitude towards

mendicity as against organized charity
Another such irritating hypocrisy is the oligarchic attitude towards
mendicity as against organized charity. Here again, as in the case
of cleanliness and of athletics, the attitude would be perfectly
human and intelligible if it were not maintained as a merit.
Just as the obvious thing about soap is that it is a convenience,
so the obvious thing about beggars is that they are an inconvenience.
The rich would deserve very little blame if they simply said
that they never dealt directly with beggars, because in modern
urban civilization it is impossible to deal directly with beggars;
or if not impossible, at least very difficult. But these people do not
refuse money to beggars on the ground that such charity is difficult.
They refuse it on the grossly hypocritical ground that such
charity is easy. They say, with the most grotesque gravity,
'Anyone can put his hand in his pocket and give a poor man a penny;
but we, philanthropists, go home and brood and travail over
the poor man"s troubles until we have discovered exactly
what jail, reformatory, workhouse, or lunatic asylum it will
really be best for him to go to.' This is all sheer lying.
They do not brood about the man when they get home, and if they
did it would not alter the original fact that their motive for
discouraging beggars is the perfectly rational one that beggars
are a bother. A man may easily be forgiven for not doing this
or that incidental act of charity, especially when the question
is as genuinely difficult as is the case of mendicity.
But there is something quite pestilently Pecksniffian about
shrinking from a hard task on the plea that it is not hard enough.
If any man will really try talking to the ten beggars who come
to his door he will soon find out whether it is really so much
easier than the labor of writing a check for a hospital.

Dancing combines wholesome exercise, social enjoyment, and the

acquirement of skill and grace, but it is seldom of much hygienic value
because it is frequently overdone, and often involves bad air and loss
of sleep
Dancing combines wholesome exercise, social enjoyment, and the
acquirement of skill and grace, but it is seldom of much hygienic value
because it is frequently overdone, and often involves bad air and loss
of sleep. In one large plant where the employes were examined by the
Life Extension Institute, the management regarded the harmful effect of
dancing as their chief obstacle to efficiency. Many of the large force
of girls and women were accustomed to dance until late in the night,
bringing on a condition of chronic fatigue.

This is a practice

As full of labor as a wise man"s art:
For folly, that he wisely shows, is fit;
But wise men, folly-fallen, quite taint their wit
This is a practice
As full of labor as a wise man"s art:
For folly, that he wisely shows, is fit;
But wise men, folly-fallen, quite taint their wit.'