A fine example of evangelical charityAn act of charity carried out by Mr. Ginet, a road worker of Saint-Julien-sous-Montmelas, is recounted by the Echo de Fourvière:
“On January 1st, at nightfall, there was a beggar by profession crouching at the Place de Saint-Julien, covered with infected wounds, dressed in bad rags full of vermin, and so wicked that everyone feared her; she only responded to the good done to her by punches and insults. Suddenly weakened, she would have succumbed at the pavement had it not been for the charity of our road worker, who got over his disgust, took her in his arms and carried her to his house.
This poor man has only a very tiny accommodation for himself, for his sick wife and his three small children; he has no other resource than his modest salary. He put the old beggar on a bunch of straw given to him by a neighbor, and looks after her all night, trying to keep her warm.
At dawn, weakening more and more the woman said to: "I have money on me, I am giving it to you for your care. She adds these words: "Mr. priest ..." and she then expired. The road worker, without worrying about the money, runs to find the priest; But it was too late. He then hastens to warn the relatives that live in a neighboring parish in a comfortable condition. They arrive, and their first word is, "my sister had money on her, where is it?". The road worker replies: "She told me, but I didn't worry about it." They sought, and in fact found more than 400 francs in one of her pockets.
Completing his work, the charitable worker, with the help of a neighbor, buried the poor dead woman. Some people thought that he should place the coffin in a nearby closed shed overnight. “No,” he said; “this woman is not a dog, but a Christian.” And he kept her in his house all night, with the lamp on.
To the people who expressed their surprise to him and urged him to ask for a reward, he said: “Oh! it was not interest that made me act. They will give me what they want, but I will not ask for anything. I can, in the position in which I am, find myself in the same situation, and I would be very happy if people had pity on me."
What does it have to do with Spiritism?, a skeptical would ask; - It is because evangelical charity, as recommended by Christ, being a law of Spiritism, every truly charitable act is a Spiritist act, and the action of this man is the application of the law of charity in its purest and more sublime, for he has done good, not only without hope of return, without thinking of his personal responsibilities, but almost with the certainty of being paid for with ingratitude, contenting himself with saying that, in such a case, he would have liked the same thing to have been done to him. - Is this man a Spiritist? - We do not know, but it is not likely; in any case, if he is not by the letter, he is in his heart - If he is not a Spiritist, then it was not Spiritism that led him to this action! - Certainly. - So why does Spiritism see a merit in this? - Spiritism does not claim the action of this man for its own benefit, but it prides itself on professing the principles that led him to doing it, without ever having claimed to have the privilege of inspiring good feelings. It honors good wherever it is found; and even when its adversaries practice it, it offers them as an example to its followers.
It is unfortunate that newspapers are less eager to reproduce good deeds, in general, than crimes and scandals; if there is a fact that testifies to human perversity, we can rest assured that it will be repeated all along, as bait to the curiosity of readers. The example is contagious; why not put the example of good rather than that of evil before the eyes of the masses? There is here a great question of public morality that we will deal with later with all the developments that it entails.
