Book excerpt: Excerpt from Thirty-Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Home Missionary Society of the City of Philadelphia, December 15, 1873 The operations of an organization, such as The Home Missionary Society of the City of Philadelphia, present little that is calculated to strike by its impressiveness, or to surprise by its' novelty. The history of human suffering, however various may be its details, is in its general aspect a very monotonous one. Be neath the manifestations of wealth and happiness Which float on the surface of society, there is, at all times, the same dark under stream of crime and destitution and woe, heeded only by the few Whose benevolence prompts them to explore its depths and to labor for its diminution. And as the want and calamity Which prevail around us are 'thus disregarded by the superficial observer, so equally silent and unnoticed are the efforts put forth for their removal. Like hidden-waters, these efforts betray their presence only by the verdure and joy Which spring up along their secret course. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.