CHAP. XIII.

WHAT WE CAN DO BY VISITING AND GIVING RELIEF.

NEED OF A DEFINITE OBJECT IN VISITING THE POOR. OF RELIGIOUS VISITS REGULARITY IN VISITING. CHOICE OF BOOKS FOR READING. OF VISITING THE SICK, AFFLICTED, AND AGED. VISITS TO PARENTS. OF RELIEVING THEIR WANTS: NECESSITY OF THIS. CAUSES OF POVERTY. DANGER OF MAKING

PAUPERS. -WHO DESERVE RELIEF?· INEFFICIENT HELP BOTH

TO AFFORD THIS. THE ONLY EFFECTUAL AID IS ENABLING THEM TO HELP THEMSELVES.-EFFECTS OF BEING OUT OF WORK.

FORESIGHT OF WORKING MEN. FORESIGHT IN OURSELVES: POSSIBLE AND IMPOSSIBLE. PERMANENT HELP MUST BE SELFSUPPORTING, e. g. EMIGRATION. — OF INCURABLE POVERTY. — PHYSICAL RELIEF FIRST.-SORROW AND LOVE.

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'Charge them who are rich in this world that they be ready to give, glad to distribute."

"Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his compassion from him: how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

"Blessed is the man that provideth for the sick and needy; the Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble."

IF such a continued chain of friendly intercourse as we have been speaking of, could bind us and our poorer friends together from their infant school till their marriage day, visiting them would be natural and easy enough; but their constant change of abode renders this for the most part

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impossible, and when we go to the poor man's house we must often go as strangers. And therefore the question arises, why have I come here? You cannot go merely because you are rich and they are poor. In a small village every one knows something of each other, and neighbourhood is a sufficient reason for friendly visits; but not in towns. Sometimes it is because we have undertaken to visit in the district where the family lives, for the purpose of religious instruction and conversation; sometimes on the business of the schools; or to enable them to supply themselves with Bibles, or Prayer-books, or to lay by in a weekly savings club; sometimes because we have heard of their being in trouble, sickness, or want. It is better to say at once why you have come, and to ascertain at once whether your visits will be welcome; for there is often a feeling that "ladies come just to look about them and meddle," as a man once told me, "and don't care a bit to help us, though we were starving. I wish they'd just keep away." If you have gone because you heard of their trouble, it is always well to say who told you of it. But in fact it is not the first visits that are the difficult ones: there is enough to learn that they like to tell of their own condition, and enough to tell them of, of the public services, the schools, libraries, clubs, that are open to them if they choose to make use of them. It is the continued visits, repeated once a fortnight or once a month, that are apt to become so formal and

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useless. It is then that the young visitor sits down, thinking what she shall say, and whether the good woman is wondering what she came for. It is then that persons are tempted to utter little religious sentiments, merely because they must say something, and wish to say something useful. And this is no light evil: we cannot warm another's heart by words however true, to which our own are cold at the time; but nothing is so easy as to communicate our coldness to those we speak with. Nothing is so bad for those to whom we speak as continually to hear the same solemn truths repeated over and over again, as a kind of necessary addition to every conversation, whilst they themselves have no sort of feeling about them.

Anyone who undertakes regular visiting amongst the poor, should make it a solemn rule to herself, never to utter one word of her own on a religious subject, the truth of which she has not realised herself: there is perhaps no work which requires more present faith in the promised aid of the Holy Spirit to teach us what we ought to say, and to make us say what is needed, though we may not yet understand it, than this of visiting for the purpose of religious conversation. What we repeat by rote, is almost sure to be either false, or falsely stated; what we have ourselves found to be real, however imperfectly and partially we know it, is so far as it goes true. And if, as continually happens, they need something more than we have yet learned for ourselves, the plain words of Scripture, especially of the Psalms, will be understood by

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them in that fuller sense which experience in sorrow gives, though we who repeat them cannot enter into it. It is, however, a very difficult matter. Yet I cannot agree with those who say, all that is needed for our visit is to show a kindly interest in the family, and its affairs. This may indeed be-not all that is needed - but all that is in many cases practicable. A patient listener is sometimes the only comforter grief will accept ; and calling out the memories of a happier and purer childhood, may be the only way in which the seared and weary heart can be refreshed and softened. But we may not be content to end here. We ought to go as the servants of Christ, to supply as far as we can what they most need; and certainly that is not merely to know that we feel kindly for them, but to be reminded if they have forgotten, to be persuaded if they never knew, that there is One, in Heaven yet ever present with them, who is not only a friend who loves them, but their owner who has redeemed, and their king who must be obeyed by them. Those who know this will be more refreshed by hearing and speaking of Him for a while in the midst of the toil and tumult of their daily life, than by any sense of our kindness; and they who do not learn to heed His love, are not much profited by the example of ours. To prevent our falling into cold formulas, or into mere gossip, it is a good rule even in district visiting not to pay any visit without some specific object; and generally the visit should be

considered as ended when that object is attained. If it is true, as the poor are apt to say, "the gentlefolk come to see us because they have nothing else to do;" it would be better at least to keep the example of idleness out of their sight; and certainly they need no encouragement to gossiping. And though it is not necessary to have a very important reason for so unimportant an act as calling on a poor neighbour; unless we clearly recognise to ourselves why we are going, what we wish to do there, and how it may be best done, it will be found almost impossible to steer clear of those two evils. The young visitor must not take the pressing invitation continually given in some parts of the country, to come soon again, or the reproach "I thought you'd quite, quite forgot me," or "I was afraid you were offended," at more than they are worth. The system of lending tracts from house to house, is mainly useful as giving the visitor an opportunity of learning when and where her visits or help are needed; and not as a sufficient reason for paying a fortnightly visit at each house.

If however you find a permanent reason for calling on any family, as on an invalid or an aged person to whom a visit is a real pleasure, not merely because a mark of attention; or if there is a person who cannot read, or only with difficulty, and who is glad to be read to, then your visits cannot be too regular; we have no right to vex people by raising expectations and disappointing