Charity Fairs

Charity has been deliiied as this state Df things: That so soon as A is iu trouble B begins to oonsider what C ought to do for hun. All charitable fairs, for instance, are based on this principie. You go and buy soruething which yon probably do not want in order that the profit made on it may go to some good sause. In case you had really wanted what you bought you would have perliaps bought it somewhere else, and the regular trade thus suffers from the loss of your custom. In case of very large fairs, like the "sanitary f airs" in wartime, the ordinary local trade unquestionably sxiffers, perhaps for a whole year, and the community is thus impoverished to a degree in one way so that it may be helped in other ways. For a great national object this can easily be endured, although, to be sure, we never have known just what the regular dealers thought about it. But when we consider that the same thirig is done to some extent in behalf of every local or sectarian enterprise, it is evident that the principie of the affair is not quite satisfactory. Suppose, for instance, that we were all to agree for a single year to have all our shoes and hats inade by amateurs "for sweet charity 's sake," and to have a single clnirch or hospital take the value of them all. Then sweet charity would make au apparent gain no doubt, but all the ordinary hatmakers and shoenakers would starve. Or, if they did not starve, they would be supported by heir kindred, who perhaps are not far above the starvation point themselves, or they would be supported by sweet harity, and the last condition of things vould be worse than the first. It is not eally the fact that the evils of society an be greatly helped by dressing up young girls prettily and having them iake money and give rather inaccurate hange at a bazaar table. One day, perïaps, when the laws of trade are better understood, we shall look at charity ïairs as we already look at lotteries, vhich were once regarded as one of the lighest forms of sweet charity, but which are now prohibited by law. -