writer respecting general postmen, that "all the short men get long coats, and all the long men short coats." Secondly. There will be an additional guarantee for the characters of applicants for situations. We sincerely hope a high standard will be kept in this particular. We would be the last to refuse our help to a poor boy to get an honest living, even on the chance of his turning out well; but the public expect more from us, and the scholars themselves expect more. We ought by this time to be able to show hundreds of scholars, who in moral training are equal, in strength of character and quickness of intelligence superior, to the general average of the children of the respectable poor in London. And surely it will be no slight encouragement to our scholars, that while no vice or depravity forms a bar to admission into the Ragged Schoolroom, yet they who behave best will fare best, and the attainment of really good and respectable situations must always depend on their own steady and persevering good conduct. [THE following is from a forthcoming volume of poems by Miss M. P. Aird of Kilmarnock, a poetess of considerable talent] : TORN and stricken lambs of childhood, Have ye left the dim old alleys, Where the grim old houses frown, Where the amber light is glancing Are the violets still sleeping The lark is high, high is singing, Where the gnarled boughs lie broken, 'Mid the long, deep, feath'ry grass; For old tree-roots, mossed and rotten, Fair anemones ye pass. Yes, ye pass them all unheeding, For the wood-brake and the thorn, While your tiny feet are bleeding, With the briar and thistle torn. Not for beauteous flowers ye ramble, Through the long, bright summer hours; For the withered reed or bramble Ye must pass the lovely flowers! Wave on wave of woe's dark river, Breaking o'er ye in its strife; Tears of sorrow wrestling ever With an April-smile of life. Early martyrs to life's sorrow! Rough and weary is your way, Where the hunger of to-morrow Clouds the sun-shine of to-day. Like the sunbeam through the wild-wood, Is the happy dance of childhood, Like the stars from darkness peeping, Life for you unfolds no Mayflower, Blanched and blighted ere its noon. O! compassionate the lowly, These pale children of the poor; Now, to save them were a glory M. P. A The Children's Gallery. PRAYING AND DOING. "BLESS the poor children who hav'n't got any beds to-night," prayed a little boy just before he lay down in his nice warm cot, on a cold windy night. As he rose from his knees, his mother said, "You have just asked God to bless the poor children-what will you do to bless them? The boy thought a moment. “Why, if I had a hundred cakes, enough for all the family, I'd give them some." But you have no cakes; what are you willing to do?" "Why, when I get money enough to buy all my things that I want, and have some over, I'll give them some.' "But you hav'n't half enough money to buy all you want, and perhaps never will have; what will you do to bless the poor now?" "I'll give them some bread." "You have no bread; the bread is mine." "Then I could earn money and buy a loaf myself." "Take things as they are now; you know what you have that is your own; what are you willing to give to help the poor ?" The boy thought again. "I'll give them half my money. I have seven halfpennies, and I'll give them four. Wouldn't that be right?" "Four halfpennies wouldn't go far towards making a child, so poor that it had no bed, as comfortable and well provided for as you are. Four halfpennies towards food, and clothes, and books for such an one, and three halfpennies just for pencils or candy for yourself, don't seem fair." Then, mother, I'll give all my money, and I wish I had more to give," said the little fellow, as he took his good-night kiss. Are there not older ones who ask God to bless a suffering world, yet seldom, if ever, think of lending a hand to the work themselves-whom prayers cost less than labour or alms? The professing Christian prays, "Bless the heralds of truth, and grant them success in their holy efforts. May the knowledge of the gospel of life spread through the whole earth." A good prayer; but prayer must be con nected with doing. "Faith without works is dead, being alone." What will you do, my praying friend, to bless the heralds of truth yourself? How much money will you give towards that support which is necessary to their success? How many gospels of life will you pay for, and send abroad into the regions of death? "O, if I was rich, I'd do a great deal." You are not rich: yet what will you do to bring an answer to your prayer? "Well, if I had money enough to support my family, and meet my own wants, and had something to spare, I'd give liberally." Ah, brother, wants grow faster than means, unless a self-denying conscience draws strict limits; what will you do now with the means you have? 'Well, I'll vote to give a large sum from the church-fund to the Bible and Tract societies." That is not at your individual disposal; it is not that concerning which you are now to decide. "Well, I'll see what I can do-I'll think about it." "There is no time for slow, hesitating thought. Men are dying. You are called to act now." "Well, I'll give up half my superfluities; I'll give half my extras, half the cost of my needless pleasures." The children of God are glad of even such a gift to help them in their great work; but what a trifle to send out into a world where six hundred millions have never heard of the way of life and salvation-where such multitudes are hungering and fainting for the bread of heaven, and weary and hopeless, sink down by the way and perish. Ah, there must be many a larger, better gift, before your prayer will be answered, before the light and truth which gladden your heart can scatter the darkness of heathenism. Could you not give up all your superfluities to furnish the necessaries of the soul to your fellow-men? Must you have self-indulgences and dearly-pur chased enjoyments, and eternal life besides, while your brethren are dying for lack of knowledge? And yet, do you call yourself a disciple of Him who gave the new commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?" Papers, Original and Selected. ASPIRATIONS AND DUTIES, IN RELATION TO SOME OF THE LONDON ROOKERIES. THE last month of another year will have begun its rapid course when the present number of our Magazine is placed in the reader's hand. Surely it should remind us all, not only that the special work to which we have given ourselves is, indeed, a great one, but that whatever is to be accomplished we must do it "with all our might," because "the night cometh in which no man can work.' And yet we think that we but give utterance to the secret feeling which oftentimes obtrudes itself on many hearts, when we say that the labourer in the field of benevolence is very prone either to over-estimate the progress which has already been made on the one hand, or to look forward to the future with despondency and doubt on the other. In either case the result is necessarily mischievous. If we are able to look around a particular district, where, through Ragged Schools and kindred influences, many juvenile outcasts have been rescued from ruin, both temporal and eternal, we are apt to forget that these are but the first-fruits of a vast field which remains to be reaped, but into which, alas! few are willing to enter and to fill their bosoms with the sheaves. And if, again, arguing from the practical failures of experiments which have been made, or what is more common with a listless and unbelieving publicif we say there are social evils among the masses which have always existed, and these are too inveterate and wide-spread to be assaulted with any hope of success-what is the effect of such a conclusion but to chill all generous aspirations, and to paralyse all zealous exertion? The mainspring of every successful enterprise in the world's history has always been an indomitable energy sustained by strong faith and quenchless hope. And we have it as one of the most cheering signs of the times, that "public spirit" and "patriotism," in the highest and noblest sense of these words, and sustained by such faith and hope, are now putting forth their energies in the very best direction. We deprecate, therefore, that satisfaction with present results which refuses to look at the awful evils which are still without a remedy, and we still more earnestly protest against the faint-hearted and craven spirit which regards all efforts to do good as fanatical and vain. That the one class may thoroughly realize that which we "have not yet attained "-the goal -that the other may learn that the goal is attainable, and also that the most hopeful and diligent of our fellow-labourers may "abound yet more and more" in the "work of faith," "labour of love," and "patience of hope," we desire briefly to remind our friends, first, of some facts which show that cheering aspirations may confidently be cherished of what Lord Ingestre calls "MELIORA," or, Better Times to come;* and secondly, to give some alarming proofs that there is need for tenfold. exertion. "Meliora." Edited by Viscount Ingestre; being the Contributions of Many Men touching the Present State and Prospects of Society. First and second series, edited by Viscount Ingestre. Parker & Son. NO. LX.-VOL. V. 2 A |