Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IVVarious
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IV
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The bread eaten to the last crumb; and some drinking of water and
washing in water having taken place, with very little stir or noise
indeed; preparations were made for passing the night. Some, took off
their rags of smock frocks; some, their rags of coats or jackets, and
spread them out within their narrow bounds for beds; designing to lie
upon them, and use their rugs as a covering. Some, sat up, pondering, on
the edges of their troughs; others, who were very tired, rested their
unkempt heads upon their hands and their elbows on their knees, and
dozed. When there were no more who desired to drink or wash, and all
were in their places, the night officer, standing below the meat-safe,
read a short evening service, including perhaps as inappropriate a
prayer as could possibly be read (as though the Lord's Prayer stood in
need of it by way of Rider), and a portion of a chapter from the New
Testament. Then, they all sang the Evening Hymn, and then they all lay
down to sleep.
It was an awful thing, looking round upon those one hundred and
sixty-seven representatives of many thousands, to reflect that a
Government, unable, with the least regard to truth, to plead ignorance
of the existence of such a place, should proceed as if the sleepers
never were to wake again. I do not hesitate to say--why should I, for I
know it to be true!--that an annual sum of money, contemptible in amount
as compared with any charges upon any list, freely granted in behalf of
these Schools, and shackled with no preposterous Red Tape conditions,
would relieve the prisons, diminish county rates, clear loads of shame
and guilt out of the streets, recruit the army and navy, waft to new
countries fleets full of useful labor, for which their inhabitants would
be thankful and beholden to us. It is no depreciation of the devoted
people whom I found presiding here, to add, that with such assistance as
a trained knowledge of the business of instruction, and a sound system
adjusted to the peculiar difficulties and conditions of this sphere of
action, their usefulness could be increased fifty-fold in a few months.
My Lords and Gentlemen, can you, at the present time, consider this at
last, and agree to do some little easy thing! Dearly beloved brethren
elsewhere, do you know that between Gorham controversies, and Pusey
controversies, and Newman controversies, and twenty other edifying
controversies, a certain large class of minds in the community is
gradually being driven out of all religion? Would it be well, do you
think, to come out of the controversies for a little while, and be
simply Apostolic thus low down?
LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS NOSE.
The following passage from a letter is amusing, as well as instructive:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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