Page:The reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor (IA b21971961 0001).pdf/24

x hopeless inndegence be the most inveterate-was it not our duty—were we not bound by every tie, moral and religious—to have assisted and encouraged them in the use of a better system of diet—to have increased the internal comfort of their habitations—and to have converted listless indolence, which is without energy when it is without hope, into cheerful, active, and prosperous industry?

Upon our proposed subjects of inquiry, it would be hardly fair to expect: much in the very infancy of an establishment.—Something, however, has been already done.Friendly societies are the objects of the first paper; which presents an interesting detail respecting one at Castle-Eden, upon a scale capable of general adoption; it contains an important illustration of the true principle of action with regard to the poor; and proves how much they may, in a short time, learn to do for