Public Spirit

There is no point at which personal meaiiness betrays itself so Itrongly and surcly as it does wlien brought into relation to schemcs of public iraprovement. bet a sub8cri)tion papel íroing through a coniuiunily. to rutee money for some public object, and it will usually sift out the idean ïnen as certainly as a screen will gilt the (lust from a bushei of coal. We have a grettt uiany men who are not stiwgy with their families, who are by no means parsiïnonious, yet who have insuperable objeetions to giving away unythlng that does not naluister directly to their personal comfort or gratilication. A ehurch is wantrJ, or a public library, ora park, or something else for the common benefit, and .the want and the efl'ort to meet it furuish a very reliable test of the charaeter of those appealed to. We have rich men in every community so notoriously stingy, and so uiilViciidly to all ecUeines of public iuipiovenient, that they are not even approaclied for i contributiou. On the other hand, we havu men in every community who have what we cali " publio spirit. Xothiug that can minister to the general good ever receives a cold welcouie from thern, or a niggudly response to its spread. Vcry few men are so stolidly selfisli that they cannot see that membership in a fíiniily involves certain duties toward the famlly - support, protection, mutual assistanoe. The liead Of the family, no matter how selflsh and stlngy he may be, reengnizes the fact that he owes to that family shelter, sustenance, clothing, education, etc. Very few, too, fail to see that, as citizens, they owe ccitaia duties to the town they live iu, to the state, to the nation. They pay their axf, :"1(' expect to pay tliera. It cannot be said that they always do this Willlogiy or honestly, but they know that they must pay something for the laws that protect thein, for the roads that give them passage across the country, and for the support of the Government. As heads of families and ritizens of the state, they apprehend the fact that they owe dutiea whoc f ulüllmeut costó money. What is necessary beyond this is that they should see that membership in a social community involves duties just as really and distinctly as family ties or citizenship. No man can belong to a social community - as nll men do who are not tiermits - without having imposed uppn liiui a great uiuny duties. Ho owes it to that community to mako it, so far as lic eau, intelligent, comfortable, respectable. There is no wise scheine of improvement to which he does not owe his support and eucourageuient ; aad lic cannot tuin liis back upmi iny such scheme without a failure in the offices of Rood iieighborhood, or without convicting himself of a mean selfishnese that is disgraceful to him, and to ihi lainilv and towu to whlch he beloni{8.