I am far from supposing that my case is a peculiar one； no doubt many of my readers would make a similar defence. At doing something―― I will not engage that my neighbors shall pronounce it good ―― I do not hesitate to say that I should be a capital fellow to hire；but what that is， it is for my employer to find out. What good I do， in the common sense of that word， must be aside from my main path， and for the most part wholly unintended. Men say，practically， Begin where you are and such as you are， without aiming mainly to become of more worth， and with kindness aforethought go about doing good. If I were to preach at all in this strain， I should say rather， Set about being good. As if the sun should stop when he had kindled his fires up to the splendor of a moon or a star of the sixth magnitude， and go about like a Robin Goodfellow，peeping in at every cottage window， inspiring lunatics， and tainting meats， and making darkness visible， instead of steadily increasing his genial heat and beneficence till he is of such brightness that no mortal can look him in the face， and then， and in the meanwhile too， going about the world in his own orbit， doing it good， or rather， as a truer philosophy has discovered， the world going about him getting good. When Phaeton， wishing to prove his heavenly birth by his beneficence， had the sun's chariot but one day， and drove out of the beaten track， he burned several blocks of houses in the lower streets of heaven， and scorched the surface of the earth， and dried up every spring， and made the great desert of Sahara， till at length Jupiter hurled him headlong to the earth with a thunderbolt， and the sun， through grief at his death， did not shine for a year.

　　There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. It is human， it is divine， carrion. If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good， I should run for my life， as from that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom， which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated， for fear that I should get some of his good done to me―― some of its virus mingled with my blood. No ―― in this case I would rather suffer evil the natural way. A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving， or warm me if I should be freezing， or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much. Philanthropy is not love for one's fellow-man in the broadest sense. Howard was no doubt an exceedingly kind and worthy man in his way， and has his reward； but， comparatively speaking， what are a hundred Howards to us， if their philanthropy do not help us in our best estate， when we are most worthy to be helped？ I never heard of a philanthropic meeting in which it was sincerely proposed to do any good to me， or the like of me.

　　The Jesuits were quite balked by those Indians who， being burned at the stake， suggested new modes of torture to their tormentors. Being superior to physical suffering， it sometimes chanced that they were superior to any consolation which the missionaries could offer；and the law to do as you would be done by fell with less persuasiveness on the ears of those who， for their part， did not care how they were done by， who loved their enemies after a new fashion， and came very near freely forgiving them all they did.

　　Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need， though it be your example which leaves them far behind. If you give money，spend yourself with it， and do not merely abandon it to them. We make curious mistakes sometimes. Often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. It is partly his taste， and not merely his misfortune. If you give him money， he will perhaps buy more rags with it. I was wont to pity the clumsy Irish laborers who cut ice on the pond， in such mean and ragged clothes， while I shivered in my more tidy and somewhat more fashionable garments， till， one bitter cold day， one who had slipped into the water came to my house to warm him， and I saw him strip off three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to the skin， though they were dirty and ragged enough， it is true， and that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which I offered him， he had so many intra ones. This ducking was the very thing he needed. Then I began to pity myself， and I saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root， and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve. It is the pious slave-breeder devoting the proceeds of every tenth slave to buy a Sunday's liberty for the rest. Some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in their kitchens. Would they not be kinder if they employed themselves there？ You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity； maybe you should spend the nine tenths so， and done with it. Society recovers only a tenth part of the property then. Is this owing to the generosity of him in whose possession it is found，or to the remissness of the officers of justice？

　　我一點都不是說我例外，無疑，讀者之中，許多人要同樣地申辯的。在做什么事的時候，――我并不保證說鄰居們會說它是好事的，――我可以毫不遲疑他說，我可是一個很出色的雇工呢；可是做什么事我才出色呢，這要讓我的雇主來發(fā)現(xiàn)了。我做什么好，凡屬于一般常識的所謂好，一定不在我的主要軌道上，而且大多是我自己都無意去做的。

　　人們很實際他說，從你所站著的地方開始，就照原來的樣子，不要主要以成為更有價值的人作為目標，而要以好心腸去做好事情。要是我也用這種調子說話，我就干脆這樣說：去吧，去做好人。仿佛太陽在以它的火焰照耀了月亮或一顆六等星以后，會停下來，跑來跑去像好人羅賓似的，在每所村屋的窗外偷看，叫人發(fā)瘋，叫肉變質，使黑暗的地方可以看得見東西，而不是繼續(xù)不已地增強他的柔和的熱和恩惠，直到它變得這般光輝燦爛，沒有幾人能夠凝視它，而同時它繞著世界，行走在它自己的軌道上，做好事，或者說，像一個真正的哲學家已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了的，地球會繞著它運轉而得到了它的好處。當法厄同要證明他的出身是神，恩惠世人，駕駛日輪，只不過一天，就越出軌道時，他在天堂下面的街上燒掉了幾排房子，還把地球表面燒焦了，把每年的春天部烘干了，而且創(chuàng)造了一個撒哈拉大沙漠，最后朱庇特一個霹靂把他打到地上，太陽為悲悼他的喪命，有一年沒有發(fā)光。

　　沒有比善良走了味更壞的氣味了。這像人的腐尸或神的腐尸臭味一樣。如果我確實知道有人要到我家里來，存心要給我做好事，我就要逃命了，好像我要逃出非洲沙漠中的所謂西蒙風的狂風，它的沙粒塞滿了你的嘴巴、耳朵、鼻子和眼睛，直到把你悶死為止，因為我就怕他做的好事做到了我身上，――他的毒素混入我的血液中。不行，――要是如此，我倒寧可忍受人家在我身上干的壞事，那倒來得自然些。如果我饑餓，而他喂飽了我，如果我寒冷，而他暖和了我，如果我掉在溝中，而他拉起了我，這個人不算好人。我可以找一條紐芬蘭的狗給你看，這些它都做得到。慈善并不是那種愛同胞的廣義的愛。霍華德固然從他本人那方面來說無疑是很卓越的，很了不起的，且已善有善報了；可是，比較他說來，如果霍華德們的慈善事業(yè)，慈善不到我們已經(jīng)擁有最好的產(chǎn)業(yè)的人身上，那末，在我們最值得接受幫助的時候，一百個霍華德對于我們又有什么用處？

　　我從沒有聽到過任何一個慈善大會曾誠誠懇懇提議過要向我，或向我這樣的一些人，來行善做好事。

　　那些那穌會會士也給印第安人難倒了，印第安人在被綁住活活燒死的時候提出新奇的方式來虐待他們的施刑者。他們是超越了肉體的痛苦的，有時就不免證明他們更超越了傳教士所能獻奉的靈魂的慰藉；你應該奉行的規(guī)則是殺害他們時少嚕蘇一點，少在這些人的耳朵上絮聒，他們根本就不關心他們如何被害，他們用一種新奇的方式來愛他們的仇敵，幾乎已經(jīng)寬赦了他們所犯的一切罪行。

　　你一定要給窮人以他們最需要的幫助，雖然他們落在你的后面本是你的造孽。如果你施舍了錢給他們，你應該自己陪同他們花掉這筆錢，不要扔給他們就算了。我們有時候犯很奇怪的錯誤。往往是那個窮人，邋遢、襤樓又粗野，但并沒有凍餒之憂，他并不怎么不幸，他往往還樂此不疲呢。你要是給了他錢，他也許就去買更多襤褸的衣服。我常常憐憫那些窮相十足的愛爾蘭工人，在湖上挖冰，穿得這樣襤褸，這樣貧賤，而我穿的是干凈的似乎是比較合時的衣服）卻還冷得發(fā)抖呢，直到有一個嚴寒的冷天，一個掉進了冰里的人來到我的屋中取暖，我看他脫下了三條褲子和兩雙襪子才見到皮膚，雖然褲子襪子破敝不堪，這是真的，可是他拒絕了我將要獻呈于他的額外衣服，因為他有著這許多的里面衣服。活該他落水的了。于是我開始可憐我自己，要是給我一件法蘭絨襯衫，那就比給他一座舊衣鋪子慈善得多。一千人在砍著罪惡的樹枝，只有一個人砍伐了罪惡的根，說不定那個把時間和金錢在窮人身上花得最多的人，正是在用他那種生活方式引起最多的貧困與不幸，現(xiàn)在他卻在徒然努力于挽救之道。正是道貌岸然的蓄奴主，拿出奴隸生產(chǎn)的利息的十分之一來，給其余的奴隸星期日的自由。有人為表示對窮人賜恩而叫他到廚房去工作。為什么他們自己不下廚房工作，這不是更慈悲了嗎？你吹牛說，你的收入的十分之一捐給慈善事業(yè)了，也許你應該捐出十分之九，就此結束。那未，社會收回的只是十分之一的財富。這是由于占有者的慷慨呢，還是由于持正義者的疏忽呢？

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