There remains to be noticed another sphere of
usefulness in which Mr Darling did noble service in the last four
years of his life. He was chosen by his fellow-citizens as a member
of the Parochial Board of the City of Edinburgh, his practical
benevolence, well known by this time over the city, having, no
doubt, commended him to their choice. It is a great public
institution, embracing in its care the city poor, and including in
its management indoor relief especially in the administration of the
poorhouse at Craiglockhart, and outdoor supervision and relief to
multitudes scattered over the parish and living beyond the
boundaries of the hospital. He was no mere ornamental Director,
known principally by having his name in the almanac, or noisy
debater and stickler about trifles at board meetings. His conscience
and his heart alike would not allow him to appear in either of these
characters; but from the beginning his presence and beneficent
influence were felt in every department of the institution.
There were two features which specially
characterised and commended his personal administration. One of
these was his taking up cases of individuals in which he had
not only to deal with poverty, but with intemperance or some other
form of vice which had in part produced the poverty, and
perseveringly plying every practicable means to produce a
reformation. Temperance pledge tickets were always borne about his
person as surely as his purse, and wherever the offender yielded to
his persuasion and took the pledge, he hailed it as a hopeful step
that might lead, by God's help, to a more thorough change. And he
continued to hope, and advise, and even entreat the object of his
anxiety, in cases where many would have given up the battle in
despair. He was a strong believer in the ultimate triumph of
goodness, and the instances in which he succeeded, after long
waiting and working, were sufficient to justify his confidence. When
he beheld signs of begun reformation, he was not slow out of his own
resources to add to the help supplied by the City charity; and when
he became convinced that the good change had come to bear the marks
of stability, he used almost incredible efforts to obtain employment
for the object of his many cares and prayers.
A second marked feature in his dealings with the
poor, was the heart and sympathy which, of set purpose, he
always endeavoured to associate with the distribution of the
statutory doles. Every one knows how apt relief is to be given in
those great public institutions with a chill of indifference, and,
as it were, with an iron hand. In James Darling's ministrations to
the poor, kind words and looks were associated with the
benefactions, and one of the bitterest ingredients was taken out of
the cup of poverty when the man was treated, not as a pauper, but as
a brother.
