the poor
in their homes besides the one way usually implied by the word
"assistance." To one who knows the real needs of the poor, the relief
of suffering by gifts of food and fuel seems only a small part of the
work of charity; but the fact remains that the majority of mankind are
still little moved by any needs that are not closely associated with
hunger and cold. Their imaginations are sluggish, and the whole
problem of poverty appears to them simpler than it really is. It seems
to them no more than a sum in arithmetic,--"one beggar, one loaf; ten
thousand beggars, ten thousand loaves"; and the charitable loaf is
supposed to have moral and {141} healing qualities that are denied to
other loaves. The truth is that charitable cash and commodities have
no moral qualities in themselves; not even the good intentions of the
giver can endow them with peculiar virtues. Like all other
commodities, however, they may become agents of either good or evil.
The way in which we handle commodities tests us at every turn; tests
our sincerity, our honor, our sense of spiritual things. Material
relief tests us too. If we give it believing that, in itself, it can
carry any blessing to the poor, we are taking a grossly material view
of human life. If, on the other hand, our knowledge of the mischief
done by reckless giving makes us morbidly sceptical of all material
assistance, we are losing a valuable tool; for relief at the right
time, and given in the right way, may be made an incentive to renewed
exertion, and a help to a higher standard of living.

When the visitor's ingenuity in developing resources within the family
renders material relief from outside unnecessary, the family is
fortunate; but often relief from outside is a necessity, and the
question then arises, How {142} shall it be given? Everything depends
upon the "how."

First of all--and this is a lesson that visitors are slow to learn--it
is very unwise, especially in the first months of acquaintance, for
friendly visitors to give money or commodities to the families they
visit, though they may find it necessary to see that relief is sent
from some other source. "If one of our visitors finds her family in
dire distress, and there is no time to go to the office and have aid
secured in some other way, she of course, like any one else, furnishes
it at once from her own pocket. But except in these rare emergencies,
our visitors do not themselves give relief to th