E-text prepared by Al Haines
Transcriber's note:
Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page breaks occurred in the original book. For its Index, a page number has been placed only at the start of that section.
Footnotes have been renumbered sequentially and moved to the end of their respective chapters.
A Handbook for Charity Workers
by
General Secretary of the Charity Organization
Society of Baltimore
New York
The MacMillan Company
London: MacMillan & Co., Ltd.
1907
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1899,by The MacMillan Company.
Set up and electrotyped January, 1899.
Reprinted November, 1899; February, 1903;
February, 1906; November, 1907.
{v}
This little volume is intended as a handbook for those who arebeginning to do charitable work in the homes of the poor, whether asindividuals or as representatives of some church, or of some religioussociety, such as the King's Daughters, the Epworth League, or theChristian Endeavor Society. The term "friendly visitor" does notapply to one who aimlessly visits the poor for a little while, withoutmaking any effort to improve their condition permanently or to be areal friend to them. Friendly visiting, as distinguished from districtvisiting, originated with the charity organization societies, some ofwhich are indefatigable in training volunteers to do effective work inthe homes of the poor. Though I should be glad to find that my bookwas of some service to these societies, it was not prepared for theiruse alone, and no {vi} mention is made, therefore, of the organizationof visitors into district conferences. For inexperienced workers, whoneed leadership in their charity, there can be no better training thanthe meetings of a well-organized conference under a capable chairman,and even the most experienced, by keeping in close touch with such aconference, can do more effective work.
The suggestions herein contained are not to be taken as all applicableto the work of any one visitor. Friendly visitors that tried to adoptthem all would have to abandon their other interests, and their otherinterests make them more useful friends to the poor. Like the words ina dictionary, some suggestions will be of service to a few workers, andothers will be found applicable to the work of many.
In addition to the standard authorities mentioned under GeneralReferences, a list for supplementary reading will be found at the endof each chapter. These lists are in no sense a bibliography of thesubject. A handbook such as this is chiefly useful in suggestingfurther inquiry, and, for beginners, I have thought best to include anumber of references out of the {vii} beaten track to stories andmagazine articles that seemed illustrative of the matter in hand.
It will be seen that I have borrowed much in direct quotation in thefollowing pages from those who have preceded me in writing about thepoor, but my debt does not end here. Whatever I may be said to knowabout charitable work—my whole point of view and inspiration infact—can be traced to certain d