Hospital Sunday in London seemed to be at first a
gigantic failure, but with fuller accounts it has become tolerably certain that it will be a disappointing but yet passable success, —that is, that it will contribute a very substantial sum to the funds of the London Hospitals, —probably £25,000 at least, —and by drawing to the question a kind of attention which it takes an affair of magnitude to win, very likely to add to, instead of diminishing, the generosity of the public towards the
individual institutions. It is a mistake to suppose, at least in such a community as London, that there is a specific fund available for charitable purposes, and that every draft upon it diminishes what is left for other purposes. On the contrary, the Charity fund, like the Wages fund, is a very variable quantity indeed, which waxes and wanes according to the interest the objects presented excite. And in London an object must be rather big to excite anything like wide-spread interest at all. The minimum visibile for London Charities is easily reached. It is far easier to attract the cheques for a great purpose, than to beg the halfpence for a small one.
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