GREAT MONUMENTS OF WOMAN'S PHILANTHROPY.
Woman and philanthropy have always been inseparably connected, for charity has been regarded in all ages as one of the noblest virtues of the gentle sex.
There is scarcely any country which does not cherish the memory of some women for great works of charity. Germany, for instance, has the lovely story of Elizabeth, the wife of Ludwig IV., landgrave of Thuringia, who reigned during the first half of the 13th Century. Feeling an aversion to worldly pleasures, and making the early Christians her example, Elizabeth devoted herself to works of benevolence. In these she was so liberal, that her husband became uneasy, fearing she might impoverish his estate by her alms-giving. He accordingly bade her to give less to the poor. But secretly she spent just as much. One day, while she was carrying a heavy load of bread in her basket, she was stopped by her husband, who inquired what she was hiding. "Roses, my Lord, roses!" she said, hoping that he would not investigate. But when he insisted on seeing them, she was forced to open her basket and, oh wonder! all the loaves of bread had turned into the most beautiful roses.—
America remembers Dorothea Dix as one of the most distinguished women it ever has produced. Compelled by declining health to go to Europe from 1834 to 1837, she had ample opportunity to study in Liverpool and other cities of England the terrible conditions of the poor, especially of the inmates of poor-houses and insane-asylums. As at that time similar institutions in America were just as bad, she gave after her return to the United States all her time, strength and influence to ameliorate suffering, and to persuade the public to furnish suitable asylums, also to improve the moral discipline of prisons and penitentiaries. For this purpose she visited every State east of the Rocky Mountains, seeking out intelligent and benevolent people, and trying to kindle in their hearts the same enthusiasm that filled her own.
Fearless in lifting her voice against abuses, she was so persistent in reiterating her protests and in pleading needed reforms, that attention had to be given her. The founding of many state hospitals and insane-asylums in the United States as well as in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland is due to her indefatigable work.
A similar case is that of Margaret Fuller, the famous author. Warmly espousing the cause of reform in many directions and making herself the champion of truth and human rights at any cost, she visited prisons and charitable
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