t friends! that never think of
meddling with the material while it continues sound; that stress and
strain it with new rates and assessments, till even it has given way and
declared itself rotten; whereupon you greedily snatch at it, and say,
'Now let us try to do some good upon it!'"

The charity which merely consists in giving, is an idle
indulgence--often an idle vice. The mere giving of money will never do
the work of philanthropy. As a recent writer has said, "The crimes of
the virtuous, the blasphemies of the pious, and the follies of the wise,
would scarcely fill a larger volume than the cruelties of the humane. In
this world a large part of the occupation of the wise has been to
neutralize the efforts of the good."

"Public charities," said the late Lord Lytton, "are too often merely a
bonus to public indolence and vice. What a dark lesson of the fallacy of
human wisdom does this knowledge strike into the heart! What a waste of
the materials of kindly sympathies! What a perversion individual
mistakes can cause, even in the virtues of a nation! Charity is a
feeling dear to the pride of the human heart--it is an aristocratic
emotion! Mahomet testified his deep knowledge of his kind when he
allowed the vice hardest to control,--sexual licentiousness; and
encouraged the virtue easiest to practise,--charity."[1]

[Footnote 1: LORD LYTTON--_England and the English_, p. 124.]

There are clergymen in London who say that charity acts against the
extension of religion amongst the people. The Rev. Mr. Stone says, "He
is an unwelcome visitor to the poor who brings the Bible in one hand,
without a loaf, a blanket, or a shilling in the other. And no wonder. By
the prevailing system of charitable relief they have been _nursed_ in
this carnal spirit; they have been justified in those selfish
expectations. Instead of being allowed to learn the great and salutary
lesson of providence, that there is a necessary connection between their
conduct and their condition, they have, by this artificial system, been
taught that indigence is _of itself_ sufficient to constitute a claim to
relief. They have been thus encouraged in improvidence, immorality,
fraud, and hypocrisy."

The truest philanthropists are those who endeavour to prevent misery,
dependence, and destitution; and especially those who diligently help
the poor to help themselves. This is the great advantage of the
"Parochial Mission-Women Association."[1] They bring thems