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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 publicliouse 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 now 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 . Jvlr . Owen recommends that there should bo 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 begin 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 ho says is only two points towards twenty , supposing the latter to be the number of perfection , lie has effected great things , more than could have been anticipated .
" It only remains for us now to suggest how far Mr . Owen ' s plans , combined with Mr . Fulln ' s system of spade husbandry , can bo made conducive to the permanent reduction of the poor rate in this town-» hip , 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 enter into the general subject of the advantages of Mr . Owen ' s system as a national measure . There can be little doubt that , iLnn agricultural colony , ( similar to that rciconimeiuleuby Mr . Owen at LeedM , could be formed here , gre . it 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 as that state of society bus seldom been tried in any , and never in a . / laupcr , population , wo beg , lor the present , not , to offer any opinion upon its expediency . Meantime , the distresses of the poor : ue pressing ; some temporary expedient in therefore necessary , and from the experiments of Mr . Falla , an eminent nurseryman at ( iat . esheud , in : i system of spade husbandry , it . appears that labour nmy be found for the unemployed poor in that way , ami that the abundance of the crops will more than
rewunl the extra labour bestowed upon I . lie ground by substituting the spade for the plough . In tin ; ni-iglilmurhood of Newcastle , -where Ijicm ; experiments are made , the average produce of land , by plough husbandly , does not exceed thirty bushels an acre ; but on the small quantity of land which Mr . Kail a has this year cultivated by ( . In ; spade , lie has produced by sowing : —¦ " In the broadcast way [> H % bushels per acre . " Nine inch lines drilled li . >^ ditto . " The avernge ' produce of the spiule over tin ; plough husbandry , on land of the nam « kind and of tUo
same degree of richness , is , therefore , at least thirty bushels an acre ; and the advantages of that system are thus exemplified ;—" Digging per acre £% ® ® " Drilling , 0 6 0 2 6 0 " Deduct two ploughings 0 16 0 £ 1 10 0 " Additional produce ; 30 bushels at 9 s £ 13 10 0 " Extra expense as above * 10 ° " 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 ptsts 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 my 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 . " William Coningiiam .
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Pkeaciikhs . —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 , he would find the occasion and the means for this 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 mid wants of his hearers . Uut where does the clergyman thus live and preach ? Nowhere ; and it is for
that very reason that all the sermons I ever heard or read der . l in generalities ; it is a mere accident if any one of the hearers can retain and apply any particular point . 35 ut whenever a sermon shows some feature of life or experience ; whenever a true clergyman and " soul-curer" gets up and tells what he has seen and heard at the bed of death , or in the cottage of the poor , or , perhaps , in the care-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 but indifference and weariness ! It often happens that the preacher is not aware how he inude the impression , and why , and that he obliterates it by rejections which he , poor man , must needs tack to the living facts be has given us . ] would often have given anything to shut the clergyman ' s mouth at the rii ^ ht . time . And 1 will confess , I have thought it would be a ^ reat blessing for the Church , if all preaching could be prohibited for the next ten years . Since then ; rnu . st be . some teaching , 1 would have the clergymen read { j ; ood old sermons and homilies of the fathers and reformers , and good and short explanations of the Scriptures — but not . it word of their own should they be allowed * to nay . — Hubi / lon and Jerusalem .
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" 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 . Christinas 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 Ca blylk 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 .
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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 MacJit des Kleinen sichtbar in der Bildung der Rinde umeres 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 laust 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 Gouken — Ottomar , Victor and Thora , and Glicder einer Kelte . The authoress ( whose real name is Frau von Zollnkii )
is a lady of noble family , who has married a man ol " no family , " and has 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 IIajin-IIahn , by her languid aim of haughty aristocracy , seems to have roused the Hcorn of Frau von ZjJunkk , who attacks her wiUi great spirit . But that which will win the BympatlncB of the Knglish public for the new wnter is nw good p lain common sense , and the moral tendenc y of her books .
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From Franco we can expect no more literature for some time , and we unit * think ourselves f < jr u * natc that Guizot ' h -two new works reached «* before " society was waved , " as the man sayB w »<> lias earned the execration of the world . These w <> works arc Kludiis Morales and Etudes sur Beaux Arts . The former contains essays <»» ' ^ mortality , on the Mate of Religion in >»»« ( society , on Faith , and a lengthy treatiso on 1 ^ ' ^ lion The second is interesting , as nhowuitf
( ivr / Atr criticizing Art . hruxelle . s sends us the first volume of » ' ^ novel by Kikjicnic Sdk , Fcrnand Dup lessis ; ' ^ also one by 1 > a vi . l RVA i ., L
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1186 « jM ^ eaUtt . [ Saturday
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* Tin' diliiciilty of employing idle and inveterate paupers iirisi-H from the iitipoHHitjility of compelling them to labour , uh in tlu : K "' * - An indolent and luxurious oligarchy dare nut enforce a rul < ' of conduct which they tlicniKclvcK li ; il > il u ; illy violate , viz ., that . " if any would not work neither idinuld he eat . " I'auperiKin , as well a . s a l \ : < nig « ' , in hereditary ; and rofi actory pauper * an ; the most intractable criminal patianta of the uuol « .
Literature.
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judg ea &r >* „ v cf literature . They do not make laws-they i £ te ? £ . £ ollc « cry to enforce them . —Edinburgh £ evieu > 7 mterPr et and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 1186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1913/page/14/
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