Remembering the Poor Beyond Christmas
Giving Christmas dinners to the poor is good so far as it goes, but that is not nearly enough. There is great danger that we may think we have done our duty to the poor when we have simply made them happy by remembering them on Christmas, or at Thanksgiving, or at some other time when it is fashionable for us to be charitably disposed. A good Christmas dinner may make a poor family happy for a few moments, but when it is over, it may also serve to make their misery all the harder, because of the thought of what they might enjoy if they only had means at their command. And now that Christmas is over, and the hard, cold winter is still here, shall we not continue to “remember the poor”? It is not always best to be giving something to the poor in order to remember them, but they should be helped into self-respecting ways of helping themselves to get along, so that they may not only care for themselves but that they also may be a blessing to others.