ter. The cases of actual destitution are
so few that they can all be met in this way unless the sufferers are too
proud to let their wants be known; and even then there is sure to be
some real friend who goes to see them naturally without any thought of
being a friendly visitor, and thus comes to the rescue.

Charity in the country is the natural flower of a loving heart. If a
woman has a beautiful home in the country, it stands for a refining
influence for the whole village, for she usually opens it to those of
her neighbors who can appreciate it, since in the country there are not
too many people, and those of like tastes meet without regard to
differences of fortune.

A woman in the country who has even a collection of photographs of
beautiful pictures can easily make them a real blessing to many who have
no other avenue open to art. And so with books. One owns a copy of
Plato, another of Dante, another of Goethe, and these books circulate
freely among all who care to read them. They are better than a public
library where the books must be hurried back at a given date. They are
sometimes even better than large private libraries where the number of
books is distracting.

I know a young lady who is the only highly educated musician in a little
country village. She sings in the choir and makes the church service a
new thing. She good-naturedly steps in and trains the children in their
choruses for festival occasions. She has invited half a dozen young
fellows to form a glee club and sing one evening a week in her parlor.
They all have musical talent, and they are capable of appreciating her
attractive manners, but they had not before thought of any better way of
spending their evenings than in screaming about the streets. If a poor
girl has a good voice, this young lady finds time to teach her to sing.
I do not think it ever entered her mind that she was doing charitable
work. The work was directly in her pathway. She could do it, and having
a large, loving heart, she has done it. But there is no one in the
village who has done so much to raise the tone of life there.

So the improvement of a country town goes on exactly in proportion to
the loving-kindness of the people and their willingness to share
whatever material and mental treasures they may have. Perhaps the same
is true in the city; but the number of treasures to be shared, as well
as the number of people to share them, is so bewildering that it is next
to