A fine example of evangelical charity.

— An act of charity performed by Mr. Ginet, roadman of Saint Julien-sous-Montmelas, is recounted by the Écho de Fourvière:

On January 1, at nightfall, there was crouched in the square of Saint Julien a professional beggar woman, covered with infected sores, dressed in old rags full of vermin and, notwithstanding this, all feared her; she responded to the good done to her only with blows and insults. Seized by a sudden weakening, she would have succumbed on the pavement, had it not been for the charity of our roadman who, mastering his repugnance, took her in his arms and carried her to his house.

This poor man has only a very cramped lodging, for himself, his sick wife, and three small children; he has no other resource but his meager wages. He laid the old beggar woman upon a little straw given by the neighbor and tended her all night, seeking to warm her.

At the break of the sun, this woman, growing weaker and weaker, said to him: “I have money with me; I give it to you for your care.” And she added these words: “The priest…” and expired. Without concerning himself with the money, the roadman ran to fetch the priest; but it was too late. He then hastened to notify the relatives, who live in a neighboring parish and who are in comfortable circumstances. They arrive and the first word is this: “My sister had money with her; where is it? And the roadman answers: She told me so, but I did not trouble myself about it.” They search and find, indeed, more than 400 francs in one of her pockets.

Finishing his work, the charitable laborer, aided by a neighbor woman, shrouds the poor dead woman. Some persons were of the opinion that on the following night he should place the coffin in a neighboring shed, which was closed. “No,” he said; “this woman is not a dog, but a Christian.” And he kept vigil over her all night in his house, with the lamp lit.

To the persons who expressed admiration to him and advised him to ask for a reward, he answered: “Oh! it was not interest that led me to act. Let them give me what they will, but I shall ask for nothing. In the position in which I am, I may find myself in the same case, and I would be very happy if they had pity on me.”

— What relation does this fact have with Spiritism? an unbeliever would ask. — It is that, evangelical charity, just as Christ recommended it, 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 what it has of most pure and most sublime, because he did good, not only without hope of recompense, without thinking of his personal burdens, but almost with the certainty of being repaid with ingratitude, contenting himself with saying that, in a similar case, he would wish that they had done the same for him. — Is this man a Spiritist? — We do not know, but it is not probable. In any case, if he was not so by the letter, he was so by the spirit. — If he was not a Spiritist, then it was not Spiritism that led him to this action? — Assuredly not. — Then why does Spiritism want the merit of this action? — Spiritism does not claim for its own profit the action of this man, but it prides itself on professing the principles that led him to practice it, without ever having had the pretension of possessing the privilege of inspiring good sentiments. It honors good wherever it is found; and when its own adversaries practice it, it offers them as an example to its adherents. It is regrettable that the newspapers are less eager to reproduce good actions, in general, than crimes and scandals. If there is a fact that bears witness to human perversity, one can be certain that it will be repeated line by line, as an incentive to the curiosity of readers. Example is contagious; why not set before the eyes of the masses rather the example of good, instead of that of evil? There is in this a great question of public morality, which we shall treat later, with all the developments it comprises.