—Eight —

A Beginning in Hester

The Raymounts did not live in a highly fashionable part of London, but in a very serviceable house in Addison Square in the dingy, smoky, convenient, healthy district of Bloomsbury. One of the advantages of this location to a family with soul in it, that strange essence which will go out after its kind, was that on two sides it was closely pressed by poor neighbours. Artisans, small tradespeople, outdoor servants, poor actors and actresses lived in the narrow streets thickly branching away in certain directions. Hence, most happily for her, Hester had grown up with none of that uncomfortable feeling so many have when brought into contact with the poor. It was in a measure because since childhood she had been used to the sight of such that her sympathies were so soon and so thoroughly waked on the side of suffering humanity.

Those who would do good to the poor must attempt it in the way in which they could best do good to people of their own standing. They must make their acquaintance first. They must know something of the kind of the person they would help, to learn if help be possible from their hands. Only man can help man. Money without man can do little or nothing. As our Lord redeemed the world by being a man, the true Son of the true Father, so the only way for a man to help men is to be a true man to his neighbour. But to seek acquaintance with the poor with ulterior design is a perilous thing, likely to result in disappointment. We must follow the leadings of providence, and make acquaintance with the so-called lower classes by the natural working of the social laws that bring men together. What is the divine intent in the many needs of humanity, and the consequent dependence of the rich on the poor, even greater than that of the poor on the rich, but to bring men together that in far-off ways at first they may be compelled to know each other? The man who treats his fellow as a mere means for the supply of his own desires, and not as a human being with whom his heart is to have interaction, is an obstructing clot in the human circulation.

Does anyone ask for rules of procedure in getting close to those about him? There are none to be had. Such must be discovered by each for himself. The only way to learn the rules of anything practical is to begin to do the thing. We have enough knowledge in us—call it insight, instinct, inspiration, or natural law—to begin anything required of us. The only way to deal with the profoundest mystery that is yet not too profound to draw us is to begin to do some duty revealed by the light from its golden fringe. If it reveals nothing to be done, there is nothing there for us.

Let the act of buying from the market, passing on the street, or meeting in the midst of some transaction, be recognized as a relation with, a meeting of that human soul. Let its outcome be in truth and friendliness. Allow nature her course, and next time let the relation go further.