The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-25 00:00:00

KEEPING CHRISTMAS.

AT this auspicious season of the year, devoted by
time-honoured custom and the common consent of all
Christendom to the festive celebration of the birth of
the Saviour of mankind; when the operations of com-
merce, in which Liverpool is so largely interested, are
for the time suspended, and men are closing their
accounts for the past year, in order to prepare for the
commencement of another ; when the mind is recalled
to a sense of other duties than those which immedi-
ately belong to the affairs of every-day life, and many
feel disposed to give out of their superfluity some
portion to relieve the distresses of their less fortunate
brethren, it may not be out of place to remind them
of those institutions which, for the blessings they
diffuse, commend themselves so peculiarly to the
support of the benevolent. There are many by whom
alms-giving is considered not only a duty but a privi-
lege, and as the practical application of the chiefest of
Christian virtues. Unfortunately, however, experience
has proved that the most charitably-disposed are too
often the dupes of imposition; and it has been gene- 1
rally admitted by those who have paid most attention
to the subject, that the increase of rnendicity and
vagrancy has been owing in a great measure, if not
wholly, to the indiscriminate bestowal of alms with-
out any knowledge of the truth of the tale of pity.
Th.; really distressed are most generally the least
importunate for aid ; while the practised impostor
becomes skilled in the detail of imaginary woes, with
this further mischief, that the discovery of the cheat
too often tends to steel "the heart against the appeals
of the deserving poor, 'as the only safeguard against
further imposition. The innocent in such cases -safer
for the guilty, •and of this abundant evidence is
afforded in the annals of our police-courts, and the oft
repeated paragraphs in newspapers, cautioning the
public against Impostors.
The only .effectual remedy for thisabirse,and which
offers the opportunity to relieve the greatest amount
of human suffering with the least outlay of available
resources, is by means of such eStablishments as the
Hospitals ,and Dispensaries, 'which 'may be classed.
amongst the noblest institutions of 'which Liverpool;
hasjuitly reason to be proud. It/841ot very easy for;
those 'whom Providence has .placed beyond the reach
of want to judge correctly of the bitter privations'
expeiienced by the many who ,at this inclementi
-season have neither a sufficiency. of food, clothing, -or
ihel:; but when to these wants, which in themselves are
ihard to bear, are added the Sell greater sufferings
,caused by disease or accident, their claims upon-human
sympathy are greatly :enhanced. It is not surplising.
ttlEat, amidst the dirt .and `tnwholeseme air \which
surround the dwellings or-the poor, the tendency to
disease should be great where the means of alleviating'
its pangs are so little, and the more so at the present'
time, when the high priecs of the necessaries Of life
have compelled those Of limited means to-submit to:
many additional :hardships. It is under such circum-',
stances that the Hospitals and Dispensaries are more
than ever needed, and`i-that these restitutions should ,
be placed in that-State-of efficiency which will permit
their advaritagesAd.bebestowed on the;greateSt post.
sible number ,of applicants for aid.

It has happen4d;however, that high pricesovhich
have augmented the number of •objects requiring
assistance, have also operated to -diminish the means
of assistance, by:increasing the expenditure, without
'receiving a‘corresponding amouat of`lr-treaseel support
from the tpublic. :A. special appeal has been made for
additional .suppott in order that the- sphere of useful-
ness many -not be•contracted; and we take advantage
of this :appropiriate time for the poilormance of I),4rks
of charlitsand'vmarcy, to remind .our readers icif'the
claims vhich'rthese institutions _!possess upolarateir
aciiive•tinpathyzand benevolence.