FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101  
102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   >>   >|  
e girls are brought together and kept out of mischief and encouraged in self-respect by ladies who understand what they want and how they look at things, the grown lads are taken from the streets, and, with the younger boys, are taught arts and crafts, and are trained in manly exercises just as if they were boys of Eton and Harrow. The Church services, which used to be everything, are now only a part of the parish work. The clergy are at once servants of the altar, preachers, teachers, almoners, leaders in all kinds of societies and clubs, and providers of amusements and recreation. The people look on, hold out their hands, receive, at first indifferently--but presently, one by one, awaken to a new sense. As they receive they cannot choose but to discover that these ladies have given up their luxurious homes and the life of ease in order to work among them. They also discover that these young gentlemen who 'run' the dubs, teach the boys gymnastics, boxing, drawing, carving, and the rest, give up for this all their evenings--the flower of the day in the flower of life. What for? What do they get for it? Not in this parish only, but in every parish the same kind of thing goes on and spreads daily. This--observe--is the last step _but one_ of charity. For the progress of charity is as follows: First, there is the pitiful dole to the beggar; then the bequest to monk and monastery; then the founding of the almshouse and the parish charity; then the Easter and the Christmas offerings; then the gift to the almoner; then the cheque to a society; next--latest and best--personal service among the poor. This is both flower and fruit of charity. One thing only remains. And before long this thing also shall come to pass as well. Those who live in the dens and witness these things done daily must be stocks and stones if they were not moved by them. They are not stocks and stones; they are actually, though slowly, moved by them; the old hatred of the Church--you may find it expressed in the working man's papers of fifty years ago--is dying out rapidly in our great towns; the brawling is better, even the drinking is diminishing. And there is another--perhaps an unexpected--result. Not only are the poor turning to the Church which befriends them, the Church which they used to deride, but the clergy are turning to the poor; there are many for whom the condition of the people is above all other earthly considerations. If that great conf
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101  
102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
parish
 

Church

 

charity

 
flower
 

stones

 

people

 

clergy

 

stocks

 

receive

 

turning


things

 
ladies
 

discover

 
remains
 
monastery
 

founding

 

almshouse

 

bequest

 

beggar

 

pitiful


Easter

 

Christmas

 

latest

 

personal

 

service

 
society
 

offerings

 

almoner

 

cheque

 

diminishing


drinking

 

rapidly

 
brawling
 

unexpected

 

result

 

earthly

 

considerations

 

condition

 

befriends

 

deride


witness
 
slowly
 

papers

 

working

 

expressed

 
hatred
 

drawing

 
Harrow
 
services
 

crafts