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THE TOMAHAWK: A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATI...
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No. 86.] LONDON, DECEMBER 26, 1868. [Pri...
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TJZE ABUSE OF CHAMITY.
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We certainly ought to be a very happy na...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Tomahawk: A Saturday Journal Of Sati...
THE TOMAHAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . & YxU 1 s b £ Jitter afgjjetfc * it " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . " \ : ; : - _ . ,
No. 86.] London, December 26, 1868. [Pri...
No . 86 . ] LONDON , DECEMBER 26 , 1868 . [ Price Twopence .
Tjze Abuse Of Chamity.
TJZE ABUSE OF CHAMITY .
We Certainly Ought To Be A Very Happy Na...
We certainly ought to be a very happy nation , if to give to others entitles man to be happy ; for there really seems no end to the purse of generosity on which so many advocates of misery draw at this season . We never yet saw a return of the sums subscribed through the columns of the papers , and other channelsto various charities at Christmas . The return couldat the best , * be but a very conjectural one ; at least , it would g , a very imperfect idea of the amount of money which is given away at this festive season . Still more difficult would it be to estimate the amount of good done by such donations ; and most difficult of all to compile a list of those whose charity had not done , on the whole , more harm than good to those who received it . We are afraid the list would be a very small one . Half the money that is given in England every year in the form of alms would serve , if properly applied , to free us from poor-rates . There is no more terrible extravagance than this ; it makes one despair to see how much is given injudiciously , and how much more is spent iniquitously . How many of our public or private charities really benefit the recipients of their bounty ? How many degrade and demoralize those whom they profess to elevate and to save ? We would rather incur the charge of
misrepresentation and exaggeration , which we know will be made against us , than attempt to answer that question . Only let us try and say a few words which may help some whom this fearful and stupendous problem , how really to aid in diminishing the poverty and misery around us , perplexes and distresses . Apathy is the ordinary state of people ' minds on this subject . To put your hand in your pocket and give a beggar a shilling requires little exertion and less thought ; but to enquire into that beggar ' s history , to sift his statements , and then to try and see how you can help him to make himself independent , requires much exertion and more thought . To roof over four brick walls , divide the building into cells , and nil these cells with the houseless , doling out to them bread and water , and gruel , and a blanket or two , is a very simple system for the relief of distress . The vagrant wants a lodging , he wants food , he wants drink , he wants something to keep him warm ; supply him with these wants and what more need you do ? He gets such relief here to-night , and will get it somewhere else to-morrow night , and so on . Vary the story ; take the penniless man into the workhouse instead of into the casual ward , lodge him , feed him , clothe him ; if he has the luck to get employment let him get it , but
don t help him to do so , don ' t try and fit him for any work—and if he chooses to give u p his work when he has got it , why take him back again , and proceed as before . This is the national system of relief , and are the individuals of this nation to be expected to pursue a wiser one 1 Give , give , give ; supply the present need , and never look to the future , is the motto of most benevolent persons , if not of most benevolent institutions . Let us say nothing of the greedy absorption of the funds of charities by paid officials ; of the perquisites and vails , and salaries ; the necessary expenses , such as mere little dinners for the governors , new rooms with new furniture for the master or matron , or head-nurse ; with the other countless modes of eating up the guineas of the benevolent subscribers ; let us say that such things are mere myths and wicked inventions of captious cynics , how much of the money professedly spent for the professed purposes of the charity , is spent with any probability of fulfilling such purpose ? There are , thank God , some charitable institutions in this country which endeavour seriously to encounter this great difficulty of securing the permanent , and not only the temporary , benefit of the recipients of their bounty . It is , in a great measure , the fault of our infamous Poor-law that the bewildered hearts and minds of benevolent men too often recognise only the existence of misery without seeking for the cause . is invaluable iinstant reliet forbid
Money n giving ; . Heaven that we should check the promptings of the generous heart ! But we must not stop at this stage ; a little patience , a little labour , a little thought , and we may prevent the recurrence of the distress , that money alone can relieve , by other means . It is impossible that any individual can find employment for every destitute creature who appeals to his charity , for there is scarcely any public institution to help him in such a task ; but we all can do much by a little exercise of judgment and true unselfishness , in abstaining from , gratifying the impulse of our nature to give at once , and so cry quits with our consciences . It requires time and labour , which we cannot spare so well as money , to make our charity of any real use ; but better take one case of distress and relieve it wisely , than ten and relieve them foolishly . Make this your great object in all cases—to raise the receiver of your bounty from dependence , however slowly , however painfully , rather than keep him in comfortable bondage . Let every shilling that you give help him to whom you give to earn sixpence , and you will have done good . But if you give twenty shillings with no other result but that when they are spent you must give twenty ^ shillings more , you are but subsidizing the misery that you seek to destroy .
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Dec. 26, 1868, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_26121868/page/1/
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