An Experiment in Altruism

“When Tantalus,” said Janet, “was standing in the water that he could not reach, and was dying of thirst, a Philosopher came by. ‘Don’t you understand,’ said the Philosopher, ‘t...

I had come to a strange city, to do a peculiar work. At last—and I was thirty-nine years old—I was free to render humanity the service I had always wanted to give.

The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work. I had heard much about him. He had left a home of great beauty to go to that sin-stricken cor...

The Man of the World (I shall introduce my friends in the order in which I met them; it is not artistic, but neither is life)—the Man of the World was fourteen years old.

Something at last became real to me: that was the misery of the poor. It seemed sadder than anything else in the world, except the misery of their benefactors. I could hardly te...

I had for several days been conscious of the presence of a new-comer in the house. He was a young Southerner, with fine dark eyes, and extraordinary alertness of body.

“But what do you do it for? You can’t help. You only harrow up your own feelings.” It was Janet who spoke, perverse, unhappy, winsome Janet, sitting in a tall, old-fashioned cha...

Whether she went driving in royal state under her white carriage robes, or watched from the nursery window the people passing below, or stood in her little night-dress on her br...

My fellow-philanthropists talked much of the “Settlement Idea.” Its adherents maintained that the world had not yet seen any self-sacrifice so beautiful as this attempt to share...

After a first visit to the settlement of young women in the West End I found myself going there very often. The gracious friendliness with which I was met attracted me strongly,...

The only serene face among us was that of the Butterfly Hunter. The eyes of the Altruist were clouded by the wrath of denunciation; the Lad’s were full of unfulfilled desire; an...

The Lad did not tell me how deeply he was interested in Janet. He simply talked about her a large part of the time when he was with me. At first it had been the book that filled...

“Both,” was the answer. “If the Ebsteins had any common sense, they would not be in this plight; and if the charities had any, the family would have been helped long ago. The ra...

We were a committee—the Doctor, Janet, the Altruist, and I—to consider what could be done for the women and girls in Brand Street. The Altruist wished us to undertake some work...

I told the Man of the World the story of a business failure in the East End. The sufferers were two very tiny Italian boys, joint proprietors of a fruit-stand. An unexpected sea...

Our second committee-meeting left us spent and weary. In making our programme we began to question the wisdom of presenting to working-women the scepticism and doubt and denial...

He had converted a Brand Street dance-hall into an auditorium, and the popular lectures he gave there drew many followers to his feet. He spoke with equal power on social, on re...

I collected for Mrs. Ebstein a wardrobe of tiny garments. Some of them were Jean’s outgrown clothing. Some of them I made myself, sitting alone in my study in the early winter e...

My colleagues did not share my discouragement in regard to the East End. There was much to hope for, they maintained, from the spread of information concerning it, from the awak...

Through all my study of human misery, the thought of my little romance flashed like swift sunshine. Some of the sadness faded out of Janet’s face, and every day, I thought, the...

Long discussions of spiritual questions were new to me. I had come from a world where one took God and one’s duty for granted, and endeavoured to act. Here we wavered so long ov...

“—just to stir up stagnation, you know, and rouse interest by telling people how things really are; for it’s ignorance that’s the matter, sheer ignorance, and I’m convinced that...

The repast was not formal. Neither were the speeches afterward. We hastened over the material part of the feast, and our host dismissed the waiters abruptly when the coffee had...

That was one of the days when everybody was unhappy, everybody except the Altruist. But it was against the Altruist’s principles to let the world know his changes in mood, and h...

Of all our protégés among the “People,” none interested us more than the Tailoress. The discovery of interesting characters among the poor was one of the rewards that we hoped f...

Our passion for comprehending invaded even our friendships. A friend was no longer simply a friend, but a riddle to be read, a proposition to be understood and expounded. Everyb...

While we wrestled with our problems, baby Jean wrestled with a great many that were all her own. The difference between her and the rest of us was that she said nothing.

Our literary club, whether successful or not, was interesting. It embraced hardworking women who were comparatively well read in modern English literature, and girls who could h...

We found the Anarchist at his own fireside, playing with a kitten. Two children stood at his knee, and he was telling them stories, while the kitten made dashes at his long gray...

A lectureship had been offered to the Lad by a great Canadian university. The opportunity was unusual for a man so young, and we were all jubilant. A very human interest in his...

“At parting—Andres—said to Don Quixote, ‘For the love of God, Signor Knight-errant, if ever you meet me again, though you see me beaten to pieces, do not come with your help, bu...

“In the first place,” she continued, with a thoughtful air, “through all this machinery of leagues and clubs and organizations we are beginning to lose our sense of individual r...

Janet worked out a new theory of life. For a time she had ceased to form opinions, and I had rejoiced in seeing her ideas driven like dead leaves before the first healthy emotio...

I hesitate to tell the story of Polly. She is not fit to enter the presence of these friends of mine. Moreover, I do not know her, for I never saw her after her disgrace. I reme...

In the gleam of flickering electric lights, my old feeling of the unreality of all I saw came back to me. We were in a broad thoroughfare, where night after night is played the...

There came a day that was different from all other days. Its light, I think, will go shining down through all the days of my life, to the very end.

The sound of much talking had grown fainter in my ears. Between our long discussions I had found time to stretch out my hands, and to help, in definite ways, a few of my fellow-...

The Lad’s book was out. After a season of anxious waiting we knew of its success. The best reviews spoke highly of its creative thought, and praised the mental keenness and the...

“I cannot understand it,” she said, with a little gasp that was half a sob. “The very air seems warm with the breath of the people who love me. The Lad has made the whole world...

I, who had been walking with the Altruist on heights where the hidden meanings of the world lay clear to view, fell into a horror of great darkness. One utterly inexplicable eve...

“How the angels in heaven must smile at that man’s assurance,” she exclaimed. “I wish, I wish he could tell the difference between his voice and the voice of God!”

“For the agony of the world’s struggle is the very life of God. Were He mere spectator, perhaps He too would call life cruel. But in the unity of our lives with His, our joy is...

The Anarchist is perfecting the process that shall bring his millennium to be, and the young Socialists in Barnet House are working out the details of their new economic order....