CHRISTMAS CHARITY
" THE time draws near the birth of Christ." It is the season of happy family reunions at home, for those who have homes to welcome them. And it is the season, in every Christian country, when the Christian message of good will to all men impresses itself most deeply on every thoughtful mind. The humblest of us likes to make some little gift at Christmas to his children. Those who have enough and to spare find it a pleasure as well as a duty to contribute in some measure to the many deserving charities which help to brighten the lives of the poor, the sick and the fatherless and to the other great societies which are doing good work for the country and the world all the year round. Even to name them all would be impossible here. But it may help our kindly readers if we indicate a few typical institutions which need assistance and can make good use of every shilling that is sent to them. First of all, there is that wonderful organization, the Church Army (55 Bryanston Street, W.), which has branches everywhere in England for combating distress and unem- ployment and which is, as its name implies, closely linked with the Church of England. Its efficiency is only equalled by its enthusiasm ; the good that it does is incalculable. Side by side with it there is the Salvation. Army (101 Queen
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Victoa Street, E.C.), which, besides its religious activities; still carries on with unabated zeal the work that its founder began_ a generation ago for the " Submerged Tenth." ' The hard worked clergy in the poorer London parishes, oppressed by the mass of destitution that confronts them in their daily rounds, try at Christmas to enlist the sympathy of the wealthier sections for their parishioners.- r We may instance the appeal of the Rev. W.-Istoel'Lambert, the Vicar of St. Gabriel's, Poplar, on behalf of the poor children' is his waterside parish, to give them a merry Christmas. The clergy themselves are often as poor as their people. It is fitting to note, then, that the Poor Clergy Relief Cor- poration (38 Tavistock Place, W.C.), now entering on, its seventieth year, endeavours to give immediate 'help to ;A-
paid clergymen who fall sick or to their widows and orphans. Then there is an admirable little nursing home for the clergy and their families, known as the Hostel of St. Luke (14 Fitzroy Square). Queen Mary opened the new buildings two years ago.
The sick and suffering are always with us, but the case of the many for whom medical skill can do little or nothing is. peculiarly pitiful. The inmates of the British Home and Hospital for Incurables at Streatham have everything done for them, so far as the funds will permit, but the waiting list is sadly long. The late Queen Alexandra was for many years the Patroness of this admirable charity; in memory of her the Christmas donations should abound. Then, again, there are the blind, who are far more numerous than most of us suppose. The National Institute for the Blind (Great Portland Street, W.), to which the late Sir Arthur Pearson devoted many strenuous years after he bad lost his sight, is enabling many civilians as well as ex-Service men to earn a living, and it could do more still if funds permitted. Yet another useful charity, which supplements the work of the medical profession, is the Royal Surgical Aid Society (Salisbury Square, E.C. 4), whose Patron is the King. It supplies poor people with surgical appliances, on an average, in twenty thousand cases a year. London's " silent community," sadly large and mostly poor, fords help and encouragement from the Royal Association in Aid of the Deaf and Dumb (413 Oxford Street). It does very good work for the young deaf-mutes after they leave school and have, sorely handicapped, to face the world. To particularize among our great hospitals may seem invidious when all are efficient and all need help. But it may be observed that St. Mary's Hospital, close to Paddington, where many women medical students are trained, is faced with great financial difficulties.
Destitute 'children are fortunate if there is room for them in the Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa Training Ship (164 Shaftesbury 'Avenue, W.C.), a very old and much respected institution which cares for hundreds of boys and girls in its schools and maintains two fine ships off Greenhithe foi older lads who want to go to sea. The Waifs and Strays Society (Old Town Hall, Kennington Road) maintains over a hundred homes for neglected children whom it trains to be good citizens. The London Female Guardian Society (191 High Street, Stoke Newington) has for over a century chine fine work for young girls rescued from evil courses. The ' Royal National Lifeboat Institution (22 Charing Cross Road, W.C.) has passed its centenary and needs no commendation. It is indispensable to all who go down to the sea in ships. But it depends on voluntary gifts and could do still better work if it had a larger income. Com- plementary to it is the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society (Carlton House, Regent Street), which takes care of those who have suffered shipwreck and also alleviates distress among our fisherfolk. Moreover, the ROyal Alfred Merchant Seamen's Institution (58 Fenchurch Street, E.G.). founded in 1867, provides homes or pensions for aged or disabled seamen and their dependants. Its Snug anchorage " at Belvedere is admirably managed.
Then there are the missions, whose quiet and persistent efforts are, we believe, gradually transforming the world. One unobtrusive but most valuable agency is the London Police Court Mission (27 Gordon Square), inspired in its origin by the writings of Dickens and sympathetic as he was to the men and women who have gone astray. Then there is the Church Pastoral Aid Society (Falcon Court, Fleet Street), which makes grants to the incumbents of large parishes for the support of Church workers and also assists can- didates for ordination. The " London over the Border " Church Fund (88 Romford Road, Stratford, E.) is con- cerned with the unknown East End, densely populated and scantily provided as yet with churches or with clergy —a home mission in every sense of the word. The British and Foreign Bible Society (146 Queen Victoria Street), as its name implies, distributes the Scriptures both in this country and oversea, in some six hundred languages.
The London Missionary Society (48 Broadway, West- minster) is now a hundred and thirty years old. Never was it more active in Africa, India, China and elsewhere, and never was its earnest work more needed than now, when Moslem missionaries are converting the heathen and anti- Christian and anti-European propaganda is rampant.
Among the missions that concentrate on special fields we may note the South American Missionary Society (20 John Street, Bedford Row, W.C.), which works among the native Indians and also supports clergy ministering to British residents. Its unobtrusiveness and useful activity through eigbtf years is too little known here. Then there is the London Association in aid of Moravian Missions (7 New CoUrt, Lincoln's Inn), whose task has been for over a century to preach Christianity in remote and unpromising regions like Greenland, Labrador; tropical Africa and even Tibet. In Jerusalem these indefatigable Moravians now conduct a hospital for lepers.- In India and the Far East we have the Mission for Lepers (33 Henrietta Street, Covent
Garden), which maintains some fifty leper asylums as well as twenty homes for the children of lepers and cares for their spiritual welfare, too. If some progress has been made in the treatment of the terrible disease, it is due in no small degree to these missions.
The Bible Lands Missions' Aid Society (358 Strand, W.C.) helps not merely Christian missions but also hospitals and schools in the Near East, irrespective of denomination. Through its experienced agents it can be sure that money entrusted to it is well spent. We need hardly say that the society has been overwhelmed with demands for help froni the many sufferers before, during and since the War. The Society of the Friends of Armenia (47 Victoria Street, S.W.) concentrates on the remnant of that ancient and sorely tried people. It helps the refugees from Turkish tyranny and maintains schools for the many orphan children. Finally, let us praise once again the Charity Organization Society (Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road), whose zeal and experience are directed to the wise spending of the money of the charitable. The Society prevents fraud and waste ; it also draws attention to really deserving cases. Long may it prosper.
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