t in a word edgewise. And he seems
to like it, though it is clear that if they keep on at this rate they
will soon get ahead of their teacher.

"And the Spirit of Democracy will take you to a children's court, where
the judge does not seem like a judge at all, but like a big brother who
shows the boys what they ought to do and sees that they do it. He will
take you to a little republic, where boys and girls who have defied laws
that they did not understand are making laws of their own and enforcing
them in a way that makes the ordinary citizen feel ashamed of himself.
They do it all so naturally that you wonder that nobody had thought of
the plan before. He will take you to pleasant houses in unpleasant parts
of the city, and there you will meet pleasant young people who are
having a very good time with their neighbors and who are getting to be
rather proud of their neighborhood. After you have had a cup of tea,
they may talk over with you the neighborhood problems. If you have any
sensible suggestion to make, these young people will listen to you; but
if you begin to talk condescendingly about the Poor, they will change
the subject. They are not philanthropists--they are only neighbors.

"I hope he may take you, Scrooge--this Spirit of Democracy--to some of
the charity organizations I know about. I realize that you are
prejudiced against that sort of thing, it seems so cold and calculating,
compared with your impulsive way of doing good. And you will probably
quote the lines about

Organized charity scrimped and iced
In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ.

"Never mind about the statistics; they only mean that these people are
doing business on a larger scale than did the good people who could
carry all the details in their heads. What I want you to notice is the
way in which the scientific interest does away with that patronizing
pity that was the hardest thing to bear in the old-time charities. These
modern experts go about mending broken fortunes in very much the same
way in which surgeons mend broken bones. The patient doesn't feel under
any oppressive weight of obligation, he has given them such a good
opportunity to show their skill. And the doctors have caught the spirit,
too. Instead of looking wise and waiting for people to come to them in
the last extremity, they have enlisted in Social Service. You should
see them going about opening windows, and forcing people to poke their
heads ou