222 OSWALDKIRK. 



arranged under separate and distinct heads ; accor- 

 ding to the distribution of 1823. 



'o 



of paper ? There are various instances on record, where 

 from the want of such public documents, as a table of 

 benefactions always under the eye of every individual 

 in the parish, chanties have been either totally lost and 

 forgotten, or have been perverted from the original in- 

 tent and meaning of the donor. But as a table of be- 

 nefactions must from its very nature, contain only a con- 

 cise summary, without entering into minute particulars ; 

 it is further and earnestly recommended to ministers 

 of parishes to provide a register to be kept with the 

 other parish registers, in which should be entered, a 

 particular and circumstantial account of the date a- 



mount object and mode of investment and security 



of each seperate bequest; to which should be added 

 from time to time, such alterations as may have taken 

 place, or any additional charities which may have been 

 left. If in this record, the minister would be at the 

 trouble of noting down, in the form of concise annals, 

 any principal, or very remarkable occurrence that may 

 Jiave taken place in the parish, it would form an inval- 

 uable record for the consultation of " ages yet unborn. " 

 With regard to the distribution of charities, the fol- 

 lowing mode which has already been adopted with con- 

 siderable success may be suggested. That the distribu- 

 tion should take place about Christmas or Newyear's 

 day, when the poor experience the greatest privations, 

 either from want of employment the inclemency of the 

 season or the various little payments they are then 

 called upon to make, and when such seasonable relief 

 would prove peculiarly acceptable. Previous to the 

 distribution, the minister and churchwarden should draw 

 out a list of the most necessitous of the parishioners, 

 arranging them under three classes. I. Aged and infirm 

 poor. II. Poor with large families. III. Poor with less 

 numerous families :--and let them affix to each name such 

 mm as the necessity of each individual case may demand, 

 or the money to be distributed will admit. After the 

 arrangement of the list, the minister and his church- 

 warden, should visit each cottage in person, one distri- 

 buting, and the other taking the list, and affixing a mark 

 to each name as they proceed* 



