PEOPLE’S CHARITIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5408, 27 July 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

PEOPLE’S CHARITIES.

(From the Saturday Revicio.)

There is a page in most' private ledgers to which it is extremely difficult to assign the appropriate items. At tho head of this page is written tho word “ Charities,” and beneath this title are inscribed the various channels through which the owner of the volume has exhibited his “ benevolence, l6ve, active good* ness, alms,” and all the other virtuous qualities which dictionaries ascribe to the word charity; while the £ s. d. columns at the side render a barometrical register of tho extent to which the mercury of his liberality has risen. While frankly admitting tho perplexity which the filling in of this “page of the cash-book often involves, we cannot but express our opinion that the manner in which people generally refer to this duty is unpropitious for its faith-. ful. execution. The phrase, " I should enter that" under the heading of charities,” is often enunciated with a tone and expression worthy of Ananias or Mephiatopheles. Among general expenses many items are--negligently omitted from their proper places ; but there is reason for believing that moneys spent in charity are, as a rule, most faithfully-chronicled' UL'Jcr that title. Both in the spirit and in the letter is tho duty of making these entries carried out, and often in a rather peculiar manner, as every outlay which may.be supposed by the most liberal construction to have been abbuated in some measure by a spirit of charity, however indirectly, is put down, and also every nominal charity which may nevertheless have been performed with purely selfish motives. Tho building of laborers’ cottages may be given as an example of the one, and the erection of pretty churches'at. one's lodge-gates as an example of the other. .Altogether it may bo suspected that many accounts are regarded by their authors toq much in the light of bills of exchange for value received (or rather taken) in the shape of peccadilloes and extravagances; and that in too many cases these documents are not worth the paper they are written on. Nor are wo quite convinced that to people of a certain temperament even, the keeping of a separate account clqvoted to what are termed in} common parlance “ charities ” is an entirely wholesome practice. There are those who consider it an. open question whether it is not hotter to bear in mind that the bulk of om* income ought to be spent in 'such a manner as will moat benefit our fellow-creatures than to allot a small portion of it exclusively to directly benevolent objects. And this may become tho more apparent if we remember that, among those items which may be more strictly classed tvs i( charities,”, many distinctions and subdivisions maybe made. For instance/ some may hy termed voluntary, and others involuntary, tlio former being those which wo freely select as channels for our bounty, the latter such as “wo cannot get out of.” Although it might appear that tho first would bo preferable, this by no moans invariably follows. Then wo may separate those charitable actions which wo' perform out of love to our Creator from tboso which simply proceed from ordinary good nature towards our fellow-creatures, and these, again, from such as emanate from love of ourselves, We must distinguish between charities necessitating a large expenditure but costing no personal sacrifice, and those which entail no outlay of money but involve considerable self-sacrifice. There may even be a subdivision, which may ” seem an apparent contradiction namely, that of charities which are . tmcharltablc, in contradistinction to charities which aro charitable. . Tho second need no explanation ; nor will it ber very difficult to’undorstand tho first if \fe call to mind tho largo subscriptions which are often given merely to outdo and mortify a previous donor, or the money which is occassiunally

given to some object of doubtful orthodoxy for the mischievous satisfaction of shocking a spiritual pastor or a maiden . aunt. Some people like to perform their, charitable duties by wholesale, some by retail ; some to give a few large sums to beneficent objects, and to be troubled no further about thorn, while others prefer personally to dole out every shilling and half-crown. There is tho broad which is cast freely upon the waters, and there is the bread which is intended to float back safely to tho judicious donor : for it is quite possible to make a regular investment in some charity which may be tho special hobby of a great and influential personage, when the capital will probably be speedily repaid, in one form or another, accompanied by a high rate of interest. , . • ,

Nor should it be forgotten, in reviewing well-filled charity accounts, that there is such a thing as buying oneself off from the performance of those personal duties which have a claim, more or less, upon everybody. Large subscriptions are often givep to ease the conscience of some lazy Croesus Who entirely neglects ever to put himself to the slightest personal inconvenience for the comfort of others. To act in such a maun'er is, in the strictest souse of the words, to “purchase an indulgence.” To do good by proxy is at best but a doubtful form of piety. It may be a comfort to know that in the fulfilment of the law of charity people have many opportunities of gratifying their tastes and , predilections. He who prefers the useful may find endless means of benevolence of the most practical tendency—hospitals erhehes, clothing clubs, and such like, while the admirer of the ornamental may re'vel in beautiful churches, rich vestments, and fine .organs. -Thera are indeed few, (esthetic tastes which may not' in some measure be gratified under the ' excuse of charity. But still heavier charges might be brought against certain alms lists. We fear that a stern moralist might lay Ins finger on items in some of them which could With advantage be transferred to a different page, headed, “ sacrifices to idols.” These would tell of large sums devoted (much against the spender’s conscientious scruples) to the support of the pet daughter’s religious vagaries, or of the ecclesiastical eccentricities of dear Lady Dash. w And there is a much less pleasant, though scarcely more justifiable; motive which sometimes- impels one to give away money—namely, to escape the importunities of bores who collect for benevolent or religious societies. Rather than endure their endless beggings we are qften tempted to give them a donation without feeling by any means well assured of the desli-ablchess of the object for which they are so disagreeably solicitous. Thus, next to “sacrifices to idols,” a page might be allotted,to “ blackmail to bores.”