The Romance of Charity. By John de Liefde. (Strahan.)—This is
a condensation of the author's Six Months Among the Charities of Europe, and presents the more generally attractive features of those establish- ments. We have read it with great interest, and we shall be glad if all the world will follow our example. Not only is it pleasant to hear of the good that has been done in other countries by men and women beginning charitable works with small funds and little help from with- out, and gradually laying the foundation of European institutions, but the lesson for us in England is one that we need to ponder. Hamburg is not the only city where vice and want abound, where children are brought up in the streets, and where discharged convicts find themselves debarred from the honest work which is their only chance of rescue. Why should not works for reformation and instruction be carried out on a larger scale than in the Rauhe Hans and at Dinglingen ? It is not necessary to follow the exact precedent set by those institutions. There are points which might be varied, and others which might be passed over. All we want is the success of those charities, and whether that success is attained by the same or by different means is not much to the purpose. But it is by observing how they succeeded that we may hope to emulate them, and it is better to imitate them than to neglect their example.
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