On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (7)
-
1186 ®tie iLeaHet. [Sktu*Y>A%
-
Pkioaciikks.-—If a sermon be good enough...
-
tihntnti.-
-
Critics are not the legislators, but the...
-
" Gossip Report " is a liar ! When last ...
-
German Literature is barren enough just ...
-
From I'rance we can expect no more liter...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Social R E F O R M. "Notks ()!' A Social...
of that place form a more religious community than any manufacturing establishment in the "United Kingdom . This arises out of the circumstances by which they are surrounded , and is wholly independent of any sentiment on religious subjects entertained by Mr . Owen . Many of the work people , instead of spending their evenings in the publichouse derive their amusement from witnessing the performances of their children in the school-rooms .
No cursing or swearing is to be heard in this wellregulated colony , where almost everything wanted by the manufactory or its inhabitants is made . There are no quarrelsome men or brawling women . These effects arise partly out of the moral culture of the place , partly from the absence of public-houses , and partly from the seclusion of the inhabitants from the rest of the world , if that can be called seclusion where 2500 persons are congregated within the narrow compass of a quarter of a square mile .
" High wages are not the cause of the comfort which prevails . Amongst us the earnings would be thought low . The wages per week of those under eighteen , are , for the males that work by the day , 4 s . 3 d . ; for the females , 3 s . 5 d . ; and for those that work by the piece , 5 s . 4 d . for the former , and 4 s . 7 d . for the latter . The average weekly wages of those above eighteen years of age , are , for men , 9 s . lid . ; for women , 6 s . by the day ; and 14 s . lOd . for the
former and 8 s . for the latter by the piece . In addition , there are about 240 women , chiefly heads of families , employed partially in picking cotton , whose earnings amount to an average of 2 s . 8 d . per week . Every person in this establishment contributes one sixtieth part of his wages to a common fund , which is appropriated to his relief in time of sickness ; besides which , there is a savings' bank for the work people , whose deposits , as taken last Christmas , amounted £ 3193 . 14 s . lOd .
" Although there are in the institution 1380 females , there have been only twenty-eight illegitimate births during the last nine years and a half , and the fathers of those children have been chiefly nonresident interlopers . " Having given a view of the situation of the inhabitants of New Lanark , as arising out of the system which prevails there , we next proceed to contrast that system with the state of society which Mr . Owen recommends , and some of the characteristics of which he is gradually introducing . We have said that the present institution is a manufacturing one . Mr . Owen recommends that the new villages should be principally agricultural . He has at present only 240 acres of land for a population of 2500 persons ; while he
recommends , that there should be 1000 acre * for 1200 individuals . At present every family has its own earnings , and appropriates them as they think proper . Air . Owen recommends that there should be a community of interests , and that they should have all things in common . At present , none of the children are set to work until they attain the age of ten ; but on the new plan they would begia to work in the open air , one hour in the day , at six years of age , and increase one hour every year up to twelve . As far as he has advanced , which lie says is only two points towards twenty , supposing the latter to bo the number of perfection , ' lie lias effected great things , more than could have been anticipated .
" It only remains lor us now to Htiggcst how far Mr , Owen ' plans , combined with Mr . Falla ' s system of Hpade husbandry , can be made conducive to the permanent reduction of the poor rate in this township , and to the improvement of the condition of the necessitous poor . " Our inquiry having been undertaken solely for parochial purposes , in making this report we do not cuter into the general nubjeet of the advantages of Mr . Owen ' s Kyutem as a national measure . There can be little doubt that , if an agricultural colony , similar to that recommended by Mr . Owen at Leeds , could be formed here , great public benefit would
accrue from its establishment . This observation must be taken with some limitations : —The community of interests involves questions of great , difficulty ; and an that . state of society has seldom been tried in any , ami never in apatipcr , population , wo beg , for the present , not to ofler any opinion upon its expediency . Meantime , the distresses of tin ; poor are pressing ; Koine temporary expedient in therefore necessary , and from the expeiimeiUH of Mr . Falla , an eminent nurseryman at ( jiatoshend , in
a system of upatle husbandry , it appears that labour may be found for the unemployed poor in that way , anil that ( he abundance of the crops will more than reward the cxt . ru labour bestowed upon l , !» c ground by substituting the ; . spado lor tin ; plough . ' lit the neighbourhood of . Newcastle , where these experiments are made , the average product : of hind , by plough husbandry , does not exceed thirty IiuhIicIs an acre ; hut on the small quantity <>( " land which Mr . Falla lias this year cultivated by the spade , ho bus produced by sowing : —
" In tin ; broadcast , way f » H ^ bushcln per acre . " Nine inch lines drilled dh . \ ditto . " Tin ; average produce of the spudt : over the plough husbandry , on land of the mime kind and ol' the
same degree of richness , is , therefore , at least thirty bushels an acre ; and the advantages of that system are thus exemplified ;—" Digging per acre £ 2 0 0 " Drilling 0 6 0 2 6 0 " Deduct two ploughings 0 16 0 £ 1 10 0 " Additional produce ; 30 bushed at 9 s £ 13 10 0 " Extra expense as above 1 10 0 " Balance £ 12 0 0 "If these calculations be correct , and they are founded upon experiments made for three successive years by a practical agriculturist , it follows that there is a balance of twelve pounds per acre in favour of spade husbandry , after affording to the workman two pounds' worth of human labour on each acre of land . " With these results before them , the deputation do not hesitate to recommend that a sufficient quantity of land should be taken in the neighbourhood of Leeds , to employ a portion at least of their unemployed paupers . * The deputation would earnestly press upon the committee the placing of the orphan children at present in the Workhouse , under a system of moral culture somewhat resembling that which prevails at New Lanark . The difficulty of obtaining for them masters has become almost insurmountable , and too many of them , for want of proper training , when they go out into the world , are pests instead of blessings to society . To effect an object so salutary , it is desirable that they should be placed at a distance from the contaminating influence of the society of the adult paupers—that their minds should be trained to virtuous inclinations—that their health should be watched over ; and that they should have a good , plain , useful education , suitable to their station in life , and calculated to render them , an acquisition to any family in which they may be placed . " I would entreat ray readers , especially if they be parents , to ponder well over this startling array of facts , and to remember , that the reign of brute force is now rapidly drawing to a close , to be succeeded by the even handed rule of justice ( might transformed into right ) , based upon scientific truth . The dark and starless night of superstition and ignorance is already far gone , and soon will be dispelled by the light of Reason and of Science , which now illuminates the social horizon as with flashing electric currents , that weave in the mysterious loom of infinite nature"A chain of " power , Which girds the earth as with a band . " Wll . I . lAM CONINCIIAM .
Social R E F O R M. "Notks ()!' A Social...
1 he tlifliciilty of employing idle mid inveterate paupers uriscH from tlie iinptmsibility of compelling them to labour , an in the gaoln . An indolent nn . il luxurious oligarchy dare not . enforce a rule of conduct , which they themselves habituall y violate , viz ., Unit " if any woultl not work neither should lit ; an / -. " I'auperiMiit , us well an a reeiafj ; e , in hereditary ; uiid refraotory paupers are the moat intractable criminal patiehta oi ' tUo ruoIh .
1186 ®Tie Ileahet. [Sktu*Y>A%
1186 ® tie iLeaHet . [ Sktu * Y > A %
Pkioaciikks.-—If A Sermon Be Good Enough...
Pkioaciikks .- —If a sermon be good enough for anything , it ought to apply the Word of God to the conditions and vicissitudes of life ; it ought to connect and pervade life , and to introduce and vivify eternity in time . If , indeed , the preacher , as a real " soulcurer , " were to live all the week with and among his congregation , lie would find the occasion and the means for thin sort of preaching . In such a case , his experience of the week would suggest to him every Sunday some special and individual point to enlarge upon and inculcate , according to the capacities and wants of his hearers . But where docs the clergyman thus live and preach ? Nowhere : and it is for
that very reaaon that all the sermons 1 ever heard or read deal in generalities ; it is a men ; accident if any one of the hearers can retain and apply any particular point . JJut whenever a sermon shows some feature of life or experience ; whenever a true ; clergyman and " Houl-curer" gets up and tells what he has seen and heard at the bod of death , or in the cottage of the poor , or , perhaps , in the cure-tilled house of the rich man- —oh ! how silent is the church at such times ! How still and attentive are the parishioners , who just before showed nought hut indifference and weariness ! It often happens that the preacher is not
aware how he made the impression , and why , and that he obliterates it by reflections which he , poor man , must needs tack to the living facts he bus given us . 1 would often have given anything to shut the clergyman ' s mouth at the right time . And 1 will conless , I have thought it would bt > a grt : at hlo-sing for this Church , if all preaching could he prohibited for the next ten years . Since there inuist be some teaching , I would have the clergymen read gootl old HcrmoiiH and homilien of the ; fathers and reformers , and gootl and short explanations of the Scriptures— - hut . not , a word of their own should they be allowed to say . — Itubylon and Jerusalem .
Tihntnti.-
tihntnti .-
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges anfl «« v of literature . They do not make Iaw 8-4 hey 2 t 5 £ ? ret °£ S cry to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . ^ Pret and
" Gossip Report " Is A Liar ! When Last ...
" Gossip Report " is a liar ! When last week , on her authority , we told you that Dickens had become the possessor of all his copyrights , we threw a doubt on the reliability of the assertion it was a proper precaution , since the assertion is * to say the least of it , premature . Apropos of Dickens ,, we are not to have his new serial till March . Christmas parties will want one standing topic of conversation in consequence .
In the way of literary appreciation nothing ought to astonish us ; we ought to be hardened against surprise , and prepared for any amount of ignorance of what is stirring in the world . Yet so difficult is it to realize the condition of another's mind that we confess to an elevated eyebrow on hearing that a lady , well informed , and moving in " society , " deplored that Archdeacon Hare should have written a life of John Sterling , because
had he not done so , Sterling would never have been heard of . On being told that in every case Carlyle would have written the life , she replied , " Oh , that would have been of no consequence , no one reads Carlyle , whereas Hare .... " ! Carlyle , whom no one reads , has , however , managed to make his book be so extensively bought , that a large edition was exhausted in a month , and we are now awaiting a second .
German Literature Is Barren Enough Just ...
German Literature is barren enough just now ; but there is one good sign amid the barrennesstheology and metaphysics are at a discount . Such activity as there is , is rather of a scientific kind . Humboldt has completed , or nearly so , the fourth volume of Kosmos , and Harting has published an admirable little work , Die Macht des Kleinen sichtbar in der Bildung der Rinde nnseres Erdballs .
The great success of the day is Heine ' s Romanzero , of which eight thousand copies were sold before it was prohibited . Gay , sarcastic , and poetic , from what we have seen of it we should say that it resembles all his previous works in spirit , though less finished in form . His Faust turns out to be a Ballet , written for Mr . Lumley , with Mephistopheles metamorphosed into a Danseuse ! In the letter which concludes the work there is much interesting matter on the Faust Saga , and its mode of treatment .
Three novels lie on our table by a new German authoress , Carolina von Goiiren— Ottomar , Victor and Thorn , and Glieder einer Kelte . The authoress ( whose real name is Fran von Zo ' llneii ) is a lady of noble family , who has married a m of " no family , " and lias not died of the misalliance . She is well known in the best circles of Dresden , and has lately taken to fill her leisure with writing
novels , which she does with considerable skill . Her compatriot Uahn-Haiin , by her languid airs of haughty aristocracy , seems to have roused the scorn of Fran von Zollnkk , who attacks her with great spirit . Hut that which will win the sympathies of the Unglish public for the new writer is her good plain common sense , and the moral tendency of her books .
From I'Rance We Can Expect No More Liter...
From I ' rance we can expect no more literature for Home time , and we must think ourselves fortunate that Guizot ' h two new works reached us before " Hociety was saved , " an the man wiyH who Iuih earned the execration of the world- 1 heHe two workK are Htndes Morales and JUlutles sur los Beaux Arts . Tho former contains essays on Immortality , on the Mate of !*»» »» m , odt ! ri 1 society , on F . uth , and a lengthy treatise on Muca-Hoii The second is interesting , as showing us
Gimkot criticizing- Art . Jlruxellex muitlH us thu first volu . no of ft new novel hy Kvuk ** Sok , t ' arnand Duple **** ; * imI ulst , „«« hy Pa u * . i <« val , La Capitatnv A . m «» - them more hereafter .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13121851/page/14/
-