a series of questions upon the point to
Mr. Curtis. The answers did not please Mr. Greeley. He broke in once or
twice, saying, "Am not I to have a chance to speak? ". But I persisted
and said, "Nay, but we have agreed to listen to Mr. Curtis." The upshot
was, that, in his opinion, the miseries of the poor in New York were not
owing to the rich, but mainly to themselves; that there was ordinarily
remunerative labor enough for them; and that, but in exceptional
cases of sickness and especial misfortune, those who fell into utter
destitution and beggary came to that pass through their idleness, their
recklessness, or their vices. That was always my opinion. They besieged
our door from morning till night, and I was obliged to help them, to
look after them, to go to their houses; my family was worn out with
these offices. But I looked upon beggary as, in all ordinary cases,
prima facie evidence that there was something wrong behind it.

The great evil and mischief lay in indiscriminate charity. Many were the
walks we took to avoid this, and often with little satisfaction. I have
walked across the whole breadth of the city, [92] on a winter's day,
to find a man dressed better than I was, with blue broadcloth and metal
buttons and new boots, and just sitting down to a very comfortable
dinner. The wife was rather taken aback by my entrance, it was she who
had come to me, and the man, of course, must say something for himself,
and this it was: He "had fallen behind of late, in consequence of not
receiving his rents from England. He was the owner of two houses in
Sheffield." "Well," I said, "If that is so, you are better off than I
am;" and I took a not very courteous leave of them.

To give help in a better way, an Employment Society was formed in our
church to cut out and prepare garments for poor women to sew, and
be paid for it. A salesroom was opened in Amity Street, to sell the
articles made up, at a trifling addition to their cost. The ladies of
the congregation were in attendance at the church, in a large ante-room,
to prepare the garments and give them out, and a hundred or more poor
women came every Thursday to bring their work and receive more; and they
have been coming to this day. It was thought an excellent plan, and was
adopted by other churches. The ladies of All Souls joined in it, and the
institution is now transferred to that church.

One day, in the winter I think of 1837, I heard of an association of
gentl