Author: Ma. School for Feeble-Minded Youth

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-03-18

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9780364189542

Excerpt from Eleventh Annual Report of the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth, 1859 It is not easy to give this wise direction at the out set, but in time it may be done. The matter, how ever, requires great care and study. Indeed, a little thought shows us that the higher impulses have as much need of trained wisdom for their guidance as the lower ones have. If men follow blindly the com passionate instinct, their obedience will perhaps work for their own moral good, but not necessarily for the good of others. Going blindly, they are liable to go wrong, and to harm both the cause they have at heart and the class they would relieve. Many evils and abuses follow this blind action. Alms, in order to bear good fruit, must not be sown broadcast, and left upon the ground without culture, else, instead of fair fruit, we have the 'tree covered with thorns. The contrast between public charities administered Wisely and faithfully, and those not so administered, is very striking. Now it is a very common error to find arguments against public charities in the gross abuses to which they are liable, and to Oppose the establishment of certain institutions for the relief of suffering, upon the ground that they have been tried elsewhere and failed to do much good. But often a careful examination of the circumstances under which public charity is administered will lead to a final conclusion exactly opposed to the first ap parent one, and will show that the compassionate im pulse missed its object merely because, being itself blind, it did not take wisdom for a guide. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.