w. Why, we have less
trouble with the police in our village than any for miles around. We're
paying our way, too."

"You've done thundering well, Franklin," Macheson declared. "I remember
what a rough time you had at first. Uphill work, wasn't it?"

"That's what makes it such a relief to have pulled through," Franklin
declared, re-lighting his pipe. "I shouldn't like to say how much I had
to draw from Macheson before we turned the corner. Glad to say we've
paid a bit back now, though. Tell us about your idea, Holroyd. They tell
me it's working well in some of the large cities."

"It's simple enough," Holroyd answered, smiling. "It was just the
application of common sense to the laws of charity. Nearly every one's
charitable by instinct--only sometimes it's so difficult for a busy man
to know exactly when and how to give. I started in one of the big
cities, looking up prosperous middle-class families. I'd try to induce
them, instead of just writing cheques for institutions and making things
for bazaars, to take a personal interest in a family of about the same
size as their own who were in a bad way. When they promised, all I had
to do was to find the poor family and bring them together, and it was
astonishing how much the one could do for the other without undue
effort. There were the clothes, of course, and old housekeeping things,
odd bits of furniture, food from the kitchen, a job for one of the boys
in the garden, a day's work for one of the girls in the house. I tell
you I have lists of hundreds of poor families, who feel now that they
have some one to fall back upon, and the richer half of the combination
take a tremendous interest in their foster-family, as some of them call
it. Sometimes there is trouble, but the world is governed by majorities,
and in the majority of cases the thing has turned out excellently."

"There's the essence of charity in the idea--the personal note,"
Macheson remarked. "How's the Canadian farm going, Finlayson?"

"We're paying our way," Finlayson answered, "and you should see our
boys. They come out thin and white--all skin and bones. You wouldn't
recognize one of them in six months! They're good workers, too. We've
nine hundred altogether in the North-West, and we want more. I'm hoping
to take a hundred back with me."

"It's a grand country," Macheson said. "I'm glad it's part of the
Empire, Finlayson, or I should grudge you those boys. We can't spare too
many. Hinton, your work