ESSAYS-1 [11]
it most prudent not to meddle with them, avoiding, by that means, a great deal of opposition to the execution of my plan.
CHAPTER. III.
Preparations made for giving employment to the poor. Difficulties attending that undertaking. The measures adopted completely successful. The poor reclaimed to habits of useful industry. Description of the house of industry at Munich.
But before I proceed to give a more particular account of the funds of this institution, and of the application of them, it will be necessary to mention the preparations which where made for furnishing employment to the poor, and the means which were used for reclaiming them from their vicious habits, and rendering them industrious and useful subjects. And this was certainly the most difficult, as well as the most curious and interesting part of the undertaking. To trust raw materials in the hands of common beggars, certainly required great caution and management; --but to produce so total and radical a change in the morals, manners, and customs of this debauched and abandoned race, as was necessary to render them orderly and useful members of society, will naturally be considered as an arduous, if not impossible, enterprize. In this I succeeded; --for the proof of this fact I appeal to the flourishing state of the different manufactories in which these poor people are now employed,--to their orderly and peaceable demeanour--to their cheerfulness--to their industry,-- to the desire to excel, which manifests itself among them upon all occasions,--and to the very air of their countenances. Strangers, who go to see this institution, (and there are very few who pass through Munich who do not take that trouble,) cannot sufficiently express their surprise at the air of happiness and contentment which reigns throughout every part of this extensive establishment, and can hardly be persuaded, that among those they see so cheerfully engaged in that interesting scene of industry, by far the greater part were, five years ago, the most miserable and most worthless of beings,--common beggars in the streets.
An account of the means employed in bringing about this change cannot fail to be interesting to every benevolent mind; and this is what has encouraged me to lay these details before the public.
By far the greater number of the poor people to be taken care of were not only common beggars, but had been up from their very infancy in that profession; and were so attached to their indolent and dissolute way of living, as to prefer it to all other situations. They were not only unacquainted with all kinds of work, but had the most insuperable aversion to honest labour; and had been so long familiarized with every crime, that they had become perfectly callous to all sense of shame and remorse.
With persons of this description, it is easy to be conceived that precepts;--admonitions;--and punishments, would be of little or no avail. But where precepts fail, HABITS may sometimes be successful.
To make vicious and abandoned people happy, it has generally been supposed necessary, FIRST to make them virtuous. But why not reverse this order? Why not make them first HAPPY, and then virtuous? If happiness and virtue be INSEPARABLE the end will be as certainly obtained by the one method as by the other; and it is most undoubtedly much easier to contribute to the happiness and comfort of persons in a state of poverty and misery, than, by admonitions and punishments, to reform their morals.
Deeply struck with the importance of this truth, all my measures were taken accordingly. Every thing was done that could be devised to make the poor people I had to deal with comfortable and happy in their new situation; and my hopes, that a habit of enjoying the real comforts and conveniences which were provided for them, would in time, soften their hearts;--open their eyes;--and render them grateful and docile, were not disappointed.
The pleasure I have had in the success of this experiment is much easier to be conceived than described. Would God that my
CHAPTER. III.
Preparations made for giving employment to the poor. Difficulties attending that undertaking. The measures adopted completely successful. The poor reclaimed to habits of useful industry. Description of the house of industry at Munich.
But before I proceed to give a more particular account of the funds of this institution, and of the application of them, it will be necessary to mention the preparations which where made for furnishing employment to the poor, and the means which were used for reclaiming them from their vicious habits, and rendering them industrious and useful subjects. And this was certainly the most difficult, as well as the most curious and interesting part of the undertaking. To trust raw materials in the hands of common beggars, certainly required great caution and management; --but to produce so total and radical a change in the morals, manners, and customs of this debauched and abandoned race, as was necessary to render them orderly and useful members of society, will naturally be considered as an arduous, if not impossible, enterprize. In this I succeeded; --for the proof of this fact I appeal to the flourishing state of the different manufactories in which these poor people are now employed,--to their orderly and peaceable demeanour--to their cheerfulness--to their industry,-- to the desire to excel, which manifests itself among them upon all occasions,--and to the very air of their countenances. Strangers, who go to see this institution, (and there are very few who pass through Munich who do not take that trouble,) cannot sufficiently express their surprise at the air of happiness and contentment which reigns throughout every part of this extensive establishment, and can hardly be persuaded, that among those they see so cheerfully engaged in that interesting scene of industry, by far the greater part were, five years ago, the most miserable and most worthless of beings,--common beggars in the streets.
An account of the means employed in bringing about this change cannot fail to be interesting to every benevolent mind; and this is what has encouraged me to lay these details before the public.
By far the greater number of the poor people to be taken care of were not only common beggars, but had been up from their very infancy in that profession; and were so attached to their indolent and dissolute way of living, as to prefer it to all other situations. They were not only unacquainted with all kinds of work, but had the most insuperable aversion to honest labour; and had been so long familiarized with every crime, that they had become perfectly callous to all sense of shame and remorse.
With persons of this description, it is easy to be conceived that precepts;--admonitions;--and punishments, would be of little or no avail. But where precepts fail, HABITS may sometimes be successful.
To make vicious and abandoned people happy, it has generally been supposed necessary, FIRST to make them virtuous. But why not reverse this order? Why not make them first HAPPY, and then virtuous? If happiness and virtue be INSEPARABLE the end will be as certainly obtained by the one method as by the other; and it is most undoubtedly much easier to contribute to the happiness and comfort of persons in a state of poverty and misery, than, by admonitions and punishments, to reform their morals.
Deeply struck with the importance of this truth, all my measures were taken accordingly. Every thing was done that could be devised to make the poor people I had to deal with comfortable and happy in their new situation; and my hopes, that a habit of enjoying the real comforts and conveniences which were provided for them, would in time, soften their hearts;--open their eyes;--and render them grateful and docile, were not disappointed.
The pleasure I have had in the success of this experiment is much easier to be conceived than described. Would God that my