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MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.
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FRENCH SittToiuOAL "WORKS. sooni that ^hingf
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poor unfortunate girls " ' who are found thronging the streets of London by . nig-ht ; and also iri distributing suitable tracts to the . male sex , their copartners in sin . " He ' t » eems to have commenced .-. his . errand of mercy in a spirit of perfect simplicity . - After a time 'tie founded " The London Female Dormitory and Industrial Institution , " 9 , Abbey-road , St John ' s-wood : and " the Female Temporary Home , " ' 218 . Marylebone-road . The temporary home is not exclusively for fallen females , but affords shelter and support to young- women ' who may be for a short time without employment . . " Many of'the young women met ^ dthW Lieutenant Blackm ore on his midnight cruises are assisted in vjarious ways , without being admitted into either of the homes . At-length , in 1859 , his exertions obtained an especial notice in the Times , and " the Moonlight Mission" has since become an institution .
The book before us details the earliest steps taken by the lieutenant . His first connexion was with the Ragged Schools : when he -was led to consider whether , so much having been done for the ragged boys of the metropolis , something might not be done for the lost young women . At first he worked with a committee of gentlemen , but these , with other occupations on their hands , could not keep pace with the Man of One Idea . He , therefore , requested to be intrusted with the entire responsibility of the work , and the Committee " resigned to Lieutenant Blackmore the future direction of the Institution , together with all property arid effects belonging thereto . " He took this step with the conviction that "it is not bands of men , nor confederate nations , nor proud alliances , that have done great things for the world ; it is solitary individuals ^ wielding simply but in earnest the force of their own individual minds , bringing to bear-upon every one " around them the power of that special gift with which God has endowed them . "
Doubtless the Lieutenant has received his one gift with his one idta . He compares himself with Luther , Calvin , Knox . Like them , certainly , he goes direct to bis purpose . He does not meddle with statistical data ; he does not inquire whether , as fast as he reduces-the competition in the market of vice , tie '' ranks are not immediately filled up with new recruits ,. but proceeds to rescue the sheep that have already wandered . The diligent and industrious may complain that the recovered dormitorians are placed in situations -which they have not earned , and which they who have earned them aspire after in vain ; he loses all such considerations in the joy he feels over the repentant sister . That " the Social Evil" can be conquered by such means is , indeed , a vain supposition ; but many individuals may indubitably be benefited . The root of the evil must be attacked at the deepest earthings—in the artificial state of the marriage law , and- of social manners . So long as young men of £ 300 a-year prefer club-life , and think that on
such resources they are not entitled to , and cannot , honourably , take a wife , there must always be a surplus female population jwithout honest means of subsistence . So long as such young men , of respectable family , gay , well-dressed , and seeking pleasure exclusively , set the fatal example , the aspiring artisan or shopman will likewise adopt the same Malthusian principle , and seek his own good at the expense of poor womankind . The responsibilities of sexual union will be evaded by the more reflective on principle , as well as disregarded without any by the thoughtless and merely sensual . The motives for sin increase in number and complexity , and gain even respectability from association with certain other questions of public ~ importance , and on which political economists have -written learned and ponderous treatises . We must go to the source of the evils complained , of , and find the remedy endeavoured after in improved institutions and a better and more practical code of morals , as well as better examples set by those who lead in the structure of social manners .
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OLAPHAM LECTURES . * THE subject of Mechanics' Institutes has not yet lost its interest . They ' have not , it is granted , ^ ieldod all the results that were expected ; but their principle is still as sound as evor . They have , at any rate , survived the prejudices that opposed thorn at the outset , and made considerable progress . They would have made more , had not some prejudice and more ignorance yet existed , which time has yet to conquer or remove . Reactions liavo been attempted , in several places have partially succeeded . Mr . H . Wluteheod , in Ms admirable Lectures , tolls us as much . He mentions a gentleman who assured him tliat he was formerly a great supporter of education , and that he had scon reason to change his mind , being convinced that we have now too much of it . A friend answered the objector , reminding
him that his servants came from such schools as he had just maligned . " It is there , " said tho monitor , " that bhoy are taught to read and write . " Servants , sir ! " implied the other with masterly prosenco of mind , " my experience- of servants is that the most ignorant arc the boat . " Out on such half-faced fellowship But , doubtless , there are many who would place limits on popular education for obvious reasons . Bui those reasons wo know to bo bad , and such limitations to bo injurious to the etuwo , and perhaps langorous to tho class that would nnpoKO then ) . All , however , have iot talcen up with , such narrow notions . There ore still numbers vho " ussent to tho maxim of King aUfrod , that ovory Briton ought ; o know how to read nnd write . "
.. . Mr WliitoHoacl ' oilers many oxccllcmt suggestions lor tho pronotion of m-OHTOss in educational institutes . Oneia tho establiflhnont of Lending Libraries . An Act of Parliament , indeed , hna
been passed in their favour , enabling rate-payers in any parish _ to levvavearlvrateof not more than a penny in . txio pound foi the SabHSnt and carrying on of a Free Library imd lie * dmg Room , provided the con ^ nt of two-thirds oi the . rate-papers pxe , ent at the nieetin- can be Stained . Mr . Whiteheacl thinkb it > tiange that in manv of the large London parishes-in the erty of London in Islington / in St . George ' s , Hanover-square , in Marylebone m St . Pancras , in Paddington , in Clerkenwell , and more recently in Camberwell , public meetings for this purpose have proved compete failures . St . Mar-arefs and St . John ' s , Westminster are favouiable exceptions to this rule . They have founded a small librarj wh ch has met with . gratifying success . " Westminster , ' us our lecturer wittily remarks , "is , in this respect , to the other London parishes ,
what Piedmont is to the despotisms of Europe . . . One necessary principle in the conduct of lending ; libraries is that the readers should be supplied with the books that they would hke to read —( works of fiction , for instance ) , and not with books that refuse to circulate . The readers , themselves , will come at last to more serious books : — fictitious works induce the habit- Mr . \ v nitehead found this the way in Clapham . " We are not us yet , say s he , ' strong in science : The time is at hand however , when we shall be . We have abstained from professing to teach , and in om selection of books for the ' library have been content experimental !} to feel our way . Already our readers are beginning to educate us to the appreciation of science ; " , . , T ... , This experimental way of conducting Mechanics Institutes us much to be commended;—the arbitrary one lias failed entirely . The working-man is best aware of his own wants . He nas nrst-to live , then to legislate ;—food first for his support , and next tor tne gratification of a more refined taste . This is natural progress , and none other can be availably substituted for it . ¦¦ .
The Rev . Mr . H . Whitehead has a keen perception of the spirit of the times , and its influence on the operative mind , lbe active are readily spurred on by the thinking :, and soon outrun them , rushing into action" before the process of thinking is complete . Air , Driver , too , complains of this tendency , in the matter or " strikes and " Documents , " where both masters and men act without sumcient reflection , and counter to the laws which -a . rci- ; P P Qsed J ^ their welfare . Mr . Driver-considers that a good deal yet remains to be done-before the Working Classes caji fully realize the ughtb and responsibilities , of their proper position . I hey are , _ ne ¦ uoa * , by no means satisfied , either with themselves or with their jclatiyj position to other classes . One cannot help seeing , ho remarks , oitoi
it , r . j . £ it . _ .. . 4 <¦„ nnnfhar + > TM * tt IS a SOI t OI that , from one end of the country to another , there is * . s ^ upheaving , a reaching out after something , which those who ari most deeply the subjects of it are perhaps the least competent to understand and interpret . The working class has advanced ^ to a more elevated position . But so , likewise , has every other , though perhaps in a different way . " The upper classes of the P ^ time , compared -with what they were fifty years ago , ha \ e piogressed as much ihtellectuaUy and morally as the working cU ^ es have within the same time physically and socially . O * e has been cultivating and improving its position ; the other has been occupied
in striving for a position which it has at length won . ( \ vu :+ o The abuses of system are well exposed by the Key . 1 . C . wmiehead . The world keeps travelling on , and institutions , to be sale , must travel with it . What has done once will . not alwaysid again . " At some time or other you have had a delightful meeting with some friends . By universal consent it was a day ot ~ e ^ enjoyment . In an evil hour you and your friends have agicea to repeat the day and its pleasures . You assembled the same friends . You provided the same means of entertainment , xou went to the same spot . You intended to have the same aehght . But the mocking spirit of enjoyment had fled , determined to convince you that ho was not bound by your arrangements , and tnat Spirit is not the slave of Form . " The systematic character ot tne education of modern times is unfavourable to the production oi great original thinkers . The evils of mere Routine arc patent ,
but are here traced to their source with a master ' s skill . In the little book before us ( for it is a small one ) , there is a greater number of excellent remarks than we find in many a wige and elaborate treatise . Lecture-writing , like essay -writing , is a great blessing . The writer , in either case , writes littlo or mucii , according to his knowledge : and where he has not full information , contents himself with a guess or n . suggestion . And these rocurat «^ l /^ r , ™ infofirolo lwtf mrormnvA film lin . two Or thl' 00 M tt SI 1 O 1 V no long intervalsbut evermore turn two or tnreo m a »« w *
, up , paragraph . In this way , a multitude of things aro _ said , , wluch , rt they had had to be formally discussed , might have perished in s » tncc , There is in Mr . H . Whitohead ' s lectures much that stands out custinguishablo from the rest , and marks Mm as a man ot subtle anu philosophical mind . He takes his ground always on principle , ana works such principle through , whether it is for or against the woi Kman or his employer , for or against tho Literary Institute or obsolete prejudices , or lor or against tho immediate argument which ho wouw himself support . He would have the truth , and only that , P ; ; Such a teacher , speaking with authority , must bo of great advanta g e to tho struggling- institutes in his parish , wImwo oniwo ho wouitt pwrnioto , and must also conduce greatly to tho elevation oi all chw » t » within tho circle i () fliis influence ,. ,
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• t . ii ,, *»» ehieilu an HuUecta rnUUinO to / Jterai'i / nnd Sqitmifia ami Mechaniot cun lS « nt of Qawcott , Uuok-t , ami \{\ WUvur . »« awo « h nuU Uprrliioii .
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^ la rtf ^ as ^^ rs ^ l ^^ a -s ^ Jlotj c ' ulnlNiMomguts , imv Cliurlo * Jiny ** . a vmI * ,, avo . Turin , » lcl | ot .
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A T first sight it would certainly w « - — A . interesting than tho Moawros do J ^ otus A / 7 . * Ii wo deli av in tho gossip of Saint Simon , if wo find so much ploaflure m ^ tnu
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7 ^ 8 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ S ept . 1 , 1860
Mechanics' Institutes.
MECHANICS' INSTITUTES .
French Sitttoiuoal "Works. Sooni That ^Hingf
Booni tn it noining FRENCH 1-UtiTOKICAL "WORKS . * . ¦ , 11 j . !__ ..-....... 4- li ii ^ * t at ltm ^ i
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 1, 1860, page 768, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2363/page/8/
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