CHARIOT 



1271 



CHARITY 



the English cavalry brigade under Lord Car- 

 digan, numbering about 600 men, was com- 

 manded to charge the Russian guns at the end 

 of a long valley. Though they knew "someone 

 had blundered," they rode to the attack at the 

 word of command, while, in the language of 

 the poet 



Cannon to right of them 

 Cannon to left of them 

 Cannon in front of them 

 Volley'd and thunder'd. 



Storm'd at with shot and shell, 

 Boldly they rode and well, 

 Into the jaws of Death, 

 Into the mouth of Hell 

 Rode the six hundred. 



Only a remnant of the brave company re- 

 turned from the ride into the "jaws of Death." 

 A French officer who witnessed the charge said, 

 "It is magnificent, but it is not war." Yet 

 that splendid example of devotion to duty has 

 been an inspiration to the world through all 

 the years that have passed, and whoever reads 

 the story of the "Charge of the Light Brigade" 

 feels as Tennyson did when he wrote the 

 closing words of the poem: 



When can their glory fade? 

 O the wild charge they made ! 



All the world wonder'd. 

 Honor the charge they made ! 

 Honor the Light Brigad.e, 



Noble six hundred. 



CHAR'IOT, the original of all modern 

 wheeled vehicles. The name comes from the 

 Latin carrus, from which also car and carriage 

 are derived. The chariot of ancient times had 

 two wheels surmounted by a boxlike body in 

 which the driver stood, and was probably first 

 used in war. Two or four horses were used and 

 in many cases the axles of the wheels were 

 armed with scythelike blades with which to mow 

 down the ranks of the enemy. The ancient 

 Britons used chariots both in war and for state 

 occasions, and the conquering Romans took 

 back home with them many of these vehicles 

 and used them in their triumphal processions. 

 Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans vied 

 with each other in the magnificence of their 

 chariots, which were built for display and not 

 for speed. 



The reins of the harness were sufficiently 

 long to be tied round the waist of the driver, 

 leaving his hands free for the use of weapons. 

 The wheels had four, sometimes eight, spokes, 

 and were cumbersome and heavy. Many noted 

 groups of statuary exist which depict a chariot 

 drawn by two horses urged on at full speed 



by a warrior whose spear and quiver of arrows 

 are ready to his hand. In olden days chariot 

 races were common; what is regarded as the 

 finest description of such an event is found in 

 Lew Wallace's historical novel Ben Hur. 



Arms on armour clashing bray'd 

 Horrible discord, and the madding wheels 

 Of brazen chariots ray'd ; dire was the noise 

 Of conflict. MILTON : Paradise Lost. 



CHARITY, char'iti. In the word chanty 

 are summed up the acts of mercy that man 

 performs for the relief of his fellow creatures 

 who are suffering from poverty, sickness or 

 other ills. Charity is a practical working out 

 of the doctrine of the Brotherhood of Man; 

 it is an expression of man's love for humanity, 

 and offers a common meeting-ground for all 

 those who find it "more blessed to give than 

 to receive," regardless of their faith or creed. 

 In the words of Pope (from the Essay on 

 Man) 



For modes of faith let graceless zealots 

 His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. 

 In faith and hope the world will disagree, 

 But all mankind's concern is charity. 



Individual charity, the kind that Christ told 

 about in his parable of the Good Samaritan, 

 where a wayfarer saw another in trouble and 

 "had compassion on him," has always existed 

 and always will exist as long as there is suffer- 

 ing in the world. In modern times,- however, 

 charity has come to be especially identified 

 with organization, and with groups of indi- 

 viduals who are working together for perma- 

 nent and not temporary results. 



Regulated Charity. Relief work of an or- 

 ganized character had its beginning in the 

 early Christian Church, and the churches are 



