"Be sure and dress them in Sanitary Underwear; you can get it for Four
Dollars a Suit. Will you be good enough to have the Little Boy come from
under the Bed, and spell 'Ibex' for the Sweet Lady?"
"He's afraid of you."
"Kindly explain to him that I take an Interest in him, even though he is
the Offspring of an Obscure and Ignorant Workingman, while I am probably
the Grandest Thing that ever Swept up the Boulevard. I must go now, but
I will Return. Next time I come I hope to hear that your Husband has
stopped Drinking and is very Happy. Tell the Small Person under the Bed
that if he learns to spell 'Ibex' by the time I call again I will let
him look at my Rings. As for you, bear in mind that it is no Disgrace to
be Poor; it is simply Inconvenient; that's all."
Having delivered herself of these Helpful Remarks she would Duck, and
the Uplifted Mother would put a Nickel in the Can and send Lizzie over
to the Dutchman's.
In this manner the Benevolent Lady carried forward the Good Work, and
Dazzled the whole Region between O'Hara's Box Factory and the City Dump.
It didn't Cost anything, and she derived much Joy from the Knowledge
that Hundreds of People were Rubbering at her, and remarking in Choked
Whispers: "Say, ain't she the Smooth Article?"
But one day a Scrappy Kid, whose Mother didn't have any Lorgnette or
Diamond Ear-Bobs, spotted the Benevolent Lady. The Benevolent Lady had
been in the House telling his Mother that it was a Glorious Privilege to
wash for a Living.
After the Benevolent Lady went away the Kid's Mother sat down and had a
Good Cry, and the Scrappy Kid thought it was up to him. He went out to
the Alley and found a Tomato Can that was not working, and he waited.
In a little while the Benevolent Lady came out of a Basement, in which
she had been telling a Polish Family to look at her and be Happy. The
Scrappy Kid let drive, and the Tomato Can struck the Benevolent Lady
between the Shoulder Blades. She squawked and started to run, fell over
a Garbage Box, and had to be picked up by a Policeman.
She went Home in a Cab, and told her Husband that the Liquor League had
tried to Assassinate her, because she was Reforming so many Drunkards.
That settled it with her--she said she wouldn't try to be Benevolent
any more--so she joined an Ibsen Club.
The Scrappy Kid grew up to be a Corrupt Alderman, and gave his Mother
plenty of Good Clothes, which she was always afraid to wear.
MORAL: _In uplifting, get underneath._
_THE_ FABLE _OF THE_ UNINTENTIONAL HEROES _OF_ CENTREVILLE
In Centreville there lived two husky Young Fellows named Bill and
Schuyler--commonly abbreviated to Schuy. They did not find any
nourishing Excitement in a Grain Elevator, so they Enlisted to Free
Cuba.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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