HOSPITALS AND MEMORIAL DONATIONS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It would be easy to answer Major Oppenheim's letter from the twelfth chapter of St. John's Gospel, and many would he sorry to see the custom of sending flowers entirely abolished. For instance, I doubt if many would wish to see the flowers placed from time to time at the Cenotaph converted into s. d. for any charity, however deserving.
Still, the custom is undoubtedly overdone. A few flowers do go some way to lighten the gloom—when will the morbid custom of wearing black at a funeral die out ?—but when wreaths come in dozens, more than can possibly be used to cover the coffin, one does feel that a better use could be found for the money spent on them, while the object of showing rOverence for the deceased and sympathy for the bereaved could be equally well achieved by adopting Major Oppen- heim's suggestion.
Miss Hedin's system seems to tie the hands of the donors too much. Anyone may have some charity to which they would Prefer to give, rather than to the particular one named by some special organization.
I suggest that people should adopt the custom of sending a contribution to any charity they may choose, asking the recipient to send an intimation to the address of the chief mourner, saying that an offering in memory of the deceased has been received from so and so. It seems unnecessary to get up an` 'organization for this purpose. If a few people would start the custom, it would soon spread and, let us hope, become general.—! am, Sir, &c., S. W. HARE, -29 Eaton Terrace, S.W .1. Major-General.
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