ABSTRACT
I Humanitarian work is of little account unless it is practical; but in order to make it so, it must be based on the knowledge of the social history and psychological characteristics of a people. Notions about poverty are not absolute, nor is its standard the same, throughout the world. Mercy is twice blessed, blessing him that takes and him that gives, only when the giver and the recipient are on terms of mutual understanding. “A gift without the giver is vain.” Yet we shall not peep too deeply into the motives that actuate the work of charity. We shall abide by its fruit. A word of wisdom that falls by accident from the lips of a fool does not make him wise, nor does a miser’s generous act, done from a mean motive, make him less of a miser.
