This letter was left by Miss Alice Law, aged 26, an editor employed
by a local publishing firm in Chicago, who committed suicide by
asphyxiation:
I am ending my life because I am seized with an acute
disinclination to live, and I believe I have an absolute right
to end my life if I wish. The struggle is too hard. There is too
much work, too much monotony, too much weariness and not enough
art, music, recreation and rest.
I am to change it. I am in my right mind. My reasoning powers
are as good as ever. I go because I want to. The chief reason is
because I am too near starved. Let the State pay my expenses.
If I were blind, crippled or had an incurable disease the State
would be obliged to take care of me. So I think I will take
advantage of my rights and be buried at the public expense, as I
have no money to defray the putting of me under ground.
The prices charged for a casket and burial are too exorbitant
for persons in moderate circumstances. It just keeps the family
in bankruptcy for a year. This condition is outrageous, and I
do not want this injustice in my case.
Doubtless Christianity has achieved much, but in the light of such a
revelation of suffering and despair, under conditions of modern life,
there would seem yet much to do.
(2412)
* * * * *
At a dinner given in honor of Mr. Carnegie by the surviving members of
the United States Military Telegraph Corps of the Civil War, he said:
Comrades, I was born in poverty, and would not exchange its
sacred memories with the richest millionaire’s son who ever
breathed. What does he know about mother or father? These are
mere names to him. Give me the life of the boy whose mother is
nurse, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, teacher, angel, and saint,
all in one, and whose father is guide, exemplar, and friend. No
servants to come between. These are the boys who are born to the
best fortune. Some men think that poverty is a dreadful burden,
and that wealth leads to happiness. What do they know about it?
They know only one side; they imagine the other. I have lived
both, and I know there is very little in wealth that can add to
human happiness beyond the small comforts of life. Millionaires
who laugh are very rare. My experience is that wealth is apt to
take the smiles away. (Text.)
(2413)
* * * * *
The reason the Yankees are smart is because they have to wrest
a precarious subsistence from a reluctant soil. “What shall I
do to make my son get forward in the world?” asked an English
lord of a bishop. “Give him poverty and parts.” Well, that’s
the reason the sons of the Pilgrims have all got on in the
world.--JOHN R. PAXTON.
(2414)
=Poverty as a Stimulus=--See COMPENSATION IN TRIALS.