u doest alms; two hunger, one for
bread, the other for righteousness. Between these two famishing persons
thou, the doer of the good work, art set. The one craves what he may
eat, the other craves what he may imitate. Thou feedest the one, give
thyself as a pattern to the other, so hast thou given to both. The one
thou hast caused to thank thee for satisfying his hunger, the other thou
hast made to imitate thee by setting him a worthy example.'

"It is this hunger for simple justice that is the great thing. And there
are people who are giving their whole lives to satisfy it. What we need
is to realize what it all means, and to get that joyous thrill over it
that came to you when you found for the first time that life consisted
not in getting, but in giving. It's a wonderful giving, this giving of
one's self, and people do appreciate it. When you have ministered to a
person's self-respect, when you have contributed to his self-reliance,
when you have inspired him to self-help, you have given him something.
And you are conscious of it, and so is he, though you both find it hard
to express in the old terms. All the old Christmas cheer is in these
reciprocities of friendship that have lost every touch of condescension.
We need some genial imagination to picture to us all the happiness that
is being diffused by people who have come to look upon themselves not as
God's almoners, but as sharers with others in the Common Good. I wish we
had a new Dickens to write it up."

"If you are waiting for that, you will wait a long time," said Scrooge.

"Perhaps so, but the people are here all the same, and they are getting
on with their work."

* * * * *

The Riverside Press

Cambridge. Massachusetts

U . S . A

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