A TRUE CHRISTMAS CHARITY.
[To THE EDITOR Or VIZ "SPECTATOR." I
believe I shall be doing a service to many of your readers by bringing to their notice the claims of the old, the sad, and the suffering, to share in their Christmas joys. The Tower Hamlets Pension Committee helps to support about ninety of the very best of our aged East London poor,—men .and women who would be as much out of place in a workhouse .as any who read these lines. Their wants are so simple as to be supplied by an income of a few shillings a week ; their desires are bounded by the one hope of "dying at home." Many of them have more than their share of the sufferings of old age. One old woman, lying day after day in the little room kept clean
and tidy by her husband's loving hands, and bright with the flowers which thrive as if they knew the comfort they gave; thanks God every night that "another day of suffering is over.' An old man, living on 5s. a week, discusses George Eliot and Macaulay with the lady who carries him his pension. Can we condemn such as these to the workhouse ? And will not con- tributing to the comfort of their few remaining days help to brighten the Christmastide of those whose memories will not let them joy with the self-centred joy of childhood ? Our committee is much in need of funds. They bear their own expenses of management, and all contributions go direct to the relief of the old people. Donations or subscriptions will be thankfully received by the bon. treasurer, A. G. Crowder, Esq., 65 Portland Place, W.; or by Miss P. D. Townsend, 28 Commercial Street, E.—I am, Sir, &c., Royal Mini, E., December 21st, 1885. C. W. FREMANTLE.
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