29 MARCH 1890, Page 17

DEMORALISING CHARITY.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—An instructive instance of the difficulties connected with charitable work recently came under my notice. The firm with which I am connected had occasion to fill a vacancy in their office. Two candidates were sent by a seaside indus- trial home ; neither cared to wear livery (the office was a humble one), and neither evinced the slightest desire to leave their comfortable home and kind patron at a pleasant seaside watering-place, for honest and independent labour. Had not charity, resulting as it did in this case in a total loss of moral fibre, been a curse rather than a blessing to the recipients ?-