August 4

“The only true secret of assisting the poor is to make them agents in bettering their own condition.”

GEORGE ELIOT [pen-name of Mary Ann Evans]

“It is essential to remember that each man has his own view of his life, and must be free to fulfil it; that in many ways he is a far better judge of it than we, as he has lived through and felt what we have only seen. Our work is rather to bring him to the point of considering, and to the spirit of judging rightly, than to consider or judge for him.

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“I am convinced that one of the evils of much that is done for the poor, springs from the want of delicacy felt and courtesy shown to them, and that we cannot beneficially help them in any spirit different to that in which we help those who are better off.”

OCTAVIA HILL

August 3

“Visit whom, when, and where you will, but let your visits be those of women to women. Consider to whom you go, to poor souls whose life, compared with yours, is a long malaise of body, soul, and spirit, and do as you would be done by; instead of reproving and fault-finding, encourage. . . .
“Do not interrupt and vex her with remedies which she does not understand, for troubles which you do not understand. But speak comfortably to her, and say, ‘I cannot feel with you, but I do feel for you.’ . . . I am convinced that the only way to help these poor women, humanly and really, is to begin by confessing that you do not know how to help them. . . . You must regulate your conduct to them and in their houses, even to the most minute particulars, by the very same rules that apply to persons of your own class. . . . Approach, then, these poor women as sisters. . . . learn lovingly and patiently, aye, and reverently . . . to understand their troubles, and by that time they will have learnt to understand your remedies.”

C. KINGSLEY, from Practical Lectures to Ladies

“We should treat the poor with the same delicacy of thoughtful respect as if they belonged to a higher class.”

Bishop WALSHAM HOW