Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

exercise them for us? I will venture to say that would be better without, and which is often our grandmothers in a week went over every telegraphed at great expense, with effort at movement that any gymnast has invented, and graphic representation and sensational effect. went over them to some productive purpose, too. In connection with the press we will notice Lastly, my paper will not have been in vain, if those ladies who have learned and practiced the another prolific source of unwholesome mental invaluable accomplishment of doing their own food. By far the largest editions of works work will know their own happiness and dignity, now published are those of fiction. It is esti and properly value their great acquisition, even mated that three-fourths, if not nine-tenths of though it may have been forced upon them by the volumes issued by our largest publishing circumstances.-House and Home Papers, by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

houses are of this character. A modern writer says, "There is hardly a great crime committed FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER. but that the manner of it, or the details, or

PHILADELPHIA, TENTH MONTH 26, 1867.

THE PUBLIC MORALS AND THE PRESS.

sometimes the whole conception, has been sug-* gested by some novel or play, or tale read in a newspaper, and that the power of fiction is more and more apparent."

An exchange paper uses this caption to direct He represents it as one of the greatest social attention to the practice of public journals giv-forces of the day, from the influence of which ing elaborate and sensational descriptions of races, pugilistic combats, and other immoral no family can entirely escape. He also justly amusements, until one might suppose that "the American people were the most ' 'sporting' population in the civilized world." The sub. in fact, become uninteresting, no matter how ject presented by the writer is worthy, we

think, the serious consideration of editors who may feel obliged to give the news, whatever this may be. He does not believe that the people are plunged so low that they demand

this kind of mental nutriment from their news

papers, for themselves or families. Although great demoralization may prevail in the mixed population in our great cities and their suburbs, yet the American people are generally practical, laborious and frugal, and appreciate the importance of the cultivation of steady habits, and the virtues of domestic life The press is justly esteemed a " mighty engine" for good or evil; and it certainly is responsible, if, by narrating exciting but demoralizing scenes, these should increase. In this way they are forced upon the notice of thousands of young men at their quiet homes in the interior towns and villages, and we know not how far their tastes may be poisoned by it. Should there not be an earnest remonstrance against this pernicious practice? We do not mean to give a false coloring to the "Public Morals," but if the gross crimes which are perpetrated be noticed at all, let it be in a condemnatory manner. Tens of thousands of dollars, it is said, are now expended annually by the daily papers of our city for news which the public

remarks" that those who dwell in such a world of fiction, that all the prose details of daily life,

pure and elevated the world into which they thus withdraw themselves, by sapping the reasoning powers and rendering the mind impatient of control and discipline, do an evil not easily corrected." In the words of ChanningNo imagination can conceive of the greatness of Genius, intellect, taste and sensibility, must be the gift of a rational and moral existence. brought under the influence of the spirit of known their real glory and immortal power. Truth, or they will never know and never make

The human mind will become more various,

piercing and all-comprehending; more capable and the sportive, the terrible and the beautiful, of understanding and expressing the solemn the profound and the tender, in proportion as it shall be illumined and penetrated by the true knowledge of God.

We have received from John Penington & Son, No. 127 S. 7th St., Philadelphia, a copy of a work entitled the "Penns and Peningtons of the Seventeenth Century," by Maria Webb, author of "The Fells of Swarthmore Hall," which it is our pleasure to notice. From the cursory view which we have taken of its contents, we think it cannot fail to interest those who have been taught to reverence the name of Penn, and who have regarded Isaac Penington and Thomas Ellwood with scarcely

FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER.

less deference. The style of the book will recommend it to the general reader. It contains 430 pages, and is embellished with a number of engravings. In this number will be found an extract giving a sketch of Thomas Ellwood's Life.

MARRIED, on Fifth-day, the 10th inst., at Hopewell Meeting-house, Frederick Co., Va., ALBERT CHANDLEE, of Sandy Spring, Montgomery Co., Md., to SARAH ANN BRANSON, of Frederick Co.. Va.

DIED, on the 22d of Third month, 1867, in Albany, N. Y., FREDERIC S. PEASE, in the 63d year of his age. He was a man of singular and constant uprightness and purity, tender in his affections, unhesitating in his generous sacrifices for all within the circle of his kind attentions, and of remarkable fidelity to conscience. He became a member of Albany Monthly Meeting of Friends in middle life, and from that time until his death was one of its most sincere, humble and valued members. His occasional ministrations were the pure and unaffected utterances of a Christian spirit, and brought comfort and strength to those to whom they were addressed.

at his residence in Willistown, Chester Co., Pa., on the morning of the 13th of Tenth month, 1867, THOMAS Cox, in his 78th year; an active member of Goshen Monthly Meeting. Though for many years a constant sufferer from a painful disease, he retained the powers of his mind until the close. His interest in the affairs of the Church remained unabated, and in a recent conversation he expressed great satisfaction with signs, as, he thought, of a renewed interest felt in his beloved Society. Always a friend to education, he was particularly solicitous for the guarded instruction of Friends' children, saying that "he never regretted contributing of his moderate means for educational and meeting purposes." The bospitalities of his house will long be remembered, and his grandchildren, when grown to mature years, will look back upon grandfather's home as a sunny spot in the memory of their childhood. Thinking upon his long and useful life, we were forcibly reminded of the Scriptural passage, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold at Saratoga, N.Y., on the 9th of 2d mo., 1867, REST, widow of Job Wright, aged 77 years; a member of Saratoga Monthly Meeting.

[ocr errors]

―, at Saratoga, N. Y., on the 4th of First month, 1867, HANNAH M., widow of James Shepherd, aged 79 years and 4 months; sister of the above, and a member of the same Monthly Meeting. A faithful wife and devoted mother; she obeyed the injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Although an invalid for the last ten years of her life, and several times seeming to those around her as passing away, yet when a little strength was again given her, she would forget her own feebleness, and devote herself to the comfort of those around her, especially to that of her invalid daugh

ter. Having done her day's work in the daytime, her close was peaceful and happy.

-, at Saratoga, N.Y., on the 30th of Third mo., 1867, ALICE, daughter of the late James and Hannah M. Shepherd; also a member of Saratoga Monthly Meeting. Seldom has an all-wise Providence permitted such protracted suffering as this dear, departed one experienced, having been an invalid the past twenty-five years. Afflicted with a complication of diseases, her physical sufferings were at

times most acute, confining her to her room,—much
months she was rendered entirely helpless by gene-
of the time to her bed; and at one time for several
ral paralysis. But nearly all this period her mental
powers remained clear, so that she took an interest
in passing events, and retained her social feelings in
That her Heavenly
a remarkable degree, enjoying the society of her

friends as when in health.
Father was with her to sustain and comfort, was evi-
dent from the patience and fortitude with which she
endured all her afflictions; and now that He has
seen meet to take her home, her friends may rejoice
rather than mourn, having the assurance that she
has found that rest which she so long desired.

FRIENDS' PUBLICATION ASSOCIATION.
The Executive Committee will meet on Sixth-day
LYDIA H. HALL, Clerk.
afternoon, Eleventh month 1st, at 3 o'clock.

FRIENDS' SOCIAL LYCEUM.
Lecture by Caleb S. Hallowell, on Third-day even-
ing, Tenth month 29th, at 74 o'clock.

NOTICE CHANGE OF HOUR, ETC. The Secretaries of "Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen" were requested to notify Friends generally that its meetings will take place on the third Fourth-day evenings only of each month, at eight o'clock, and always in Race St. Monthly Meeting Room, without alternating with Green St., as heretofore.

The Education Committee will meet on the same J. M. ELLIS, Secretaries. evenings, at the same place, half an hour earlier. ANNE COOPER,

}

FIRST DAY SCHOOL CONFERENCES. The committee have appointed the following conferences in regard to First-day Schools, and invite the attendance of Friends generally.

At Friends' Meeting-House, Lombard St., Baltimore, on Fourth-day evening, 30th of Tenth month, at 74 o'clock, (being Yearly Meeting week.)

POSTPONEMENT.-The First-day School Conference at Race St. Meeting-House, Philadelphia, is postponed to Seventh-day morning, 9th of Eleventh month, at 10 o'clock.

Communications from absent Friends, and accounts of any First-day schools among Friends, will be acceptable, and may be addressed to Eli M. Lamb, 171 McCulloh St., Baltimore, or to the care of E. Comly, 144 N. Seventh St., Philadelphia.

From "Talks with my Pupils."
MANNERS.

BY ELIZABETH SEDGWICK.

So much upon this subject must be indirectly suggested by what I say on nearly every other upon which I write to you, that I hesitate whether to make it a distinct theme. On the whole, however, I believe it is better to do so.

I do not think that people in general are aware of the importance of pleasing, agreeable

manners.

The difference between two households, in the one of which they are found and in the other not, is as that between two gardens, in one of which the flowers have no odor, while in the other, fragrance is everywhere diffused; or, as between a gloomy, silent cavern, and a bower of evergreen made joyous by singing

birds. They are therefore a means of happi- | form the habit of expressing ourselves more by ness. As a means of influence, too, they should action than by profession. receive direct culture, which, in this view indeed, becomes of moral obligation.

If our Christian gentleman receives ill treatment or insult from others, he shows himself the true Christian gentleman still-not bringing himself to their level by quarrelling or railing, according to the old barbarous system of “eye for eye," and "tooth for tooth." He cannot, under any circumstances, be a heathen.

This motive of self-respect for abstaining, under provocation, from the indulgence of high temper and angry words, I have found useful, when a higher one failed, to enforce upon young people; and upon the ignorant, and therefore narrow-minded, such as constitute a large majority of servants and laboring people, and not a very small proportion of the so-called cultivated classes.

No doubt, in all countries, certain customs arise from what convenience and refinement re quire, and are essentially right and proper on that account; but this is true only of a portion of them, as the different observances of different countries prove-and with all these diversities. there will probably be found some general agreement on what is most truly essential-as is true in systems of religion. The core, the root, the living principle, the essence of good manners, such as are not dependent on any code, as of every thing else good, must be found in the heart; and their most comprehensive definition is, in a nation of Christians, Christian Manners, in a few instances, are the direct courtesy. The best are the natural, genuine product of nature, perfect in kind, and needing expression of a heart filled to overflowing with no improvement. Generally, however, like love and good-will towards the whole human every other high attainment, they need direct race, with a desire to avoid giving pain, and to cultivation, and a child cannot be too carefully add in every way to the stock of human happi- trained in this respect. The silent music of ness. A person possessed with this desire will sweet and gentle manners requires, first of all, manifest it in the tone of his voice, in the gra- the cultivation of reverence-a beautitul senticious beaming of his eye, in the friendly grasp ment, essential to the uplifting of man above a of his hand. He can never omit the thousand low, grovelling condition. Full of significance little attentions to the comfort and pleasure of are the analogies of nature, by which almost others that he may have an opportunity to be- every subject connected with the soul, or with stow. He will be in no danger of encroaching life, is illustrated.. I think it is Cicero who said upon them in any way unreasonably, of making that, whereas all other animals have their heads any undue claims on them, of infringing any of prone, so that their eyes look upon the ground, their rights, of seeking his own advantage to man is made erect, so that he can see the heav their loss or inconvenience. He will be always ens. We behold high above us the magnificent considerate, always kind-always delicate and firmament, and our thoughts are carried farther unobtrusive. It is this kind of courtesy that still-to Him who created it. How miserable may be always sincere. It being once asked and hopeless our condition would be, if we had in a party where the "uncle" was, some one nothing higher than ourselves to look up to. replied, "Ascertain who is the dullest and most We should end by crawling in the dust and uninteresting woman in the room, and you will mire of earth. Let your child, then, look up to find him at her side." In devoting himself to those who are above him in years and in knowthose whom he was sure others would neglect, ledge, and give them the respect due on that he was guilty of no insincerity. A motive of account. Especially let this respect be evinced true kindness brought him to them. And if towards his benefactors, his parents, and those such a motive were always a governing principle who are intrusted with his education. Let him in the intercourse of society, the vexed question, rise up in the presence of the aged, and pay rehow truth is always to be reconciled with cour- spect to the hoary head. Those parents greattesy, would be forever settled. One might hon-ly wrong their children, who allow them to be estly profess a willingness and pleasure in doing guilty of any want of respect toward themselves, that which otherwise would be tedious and in word or action. The least offence of this disagreeable, and make use of expressions which would otherwise be untrue. We may be glad to see visitors for their sakes, whom we should not much desire on our own account. At the same time, lest we may fall into the habit, naturally and easily adopted, of using strong expressions, such as convey more feeling than exists at all, or certainly more than is habitaal, whatever the enthusiasm of the moment may be, it is well to guard against them, even in our honest intercourse with our fellow-men; and

i

kind should be treated in the most serious manner, and as one not easily to be overlooked. Rob your child's soul of reverence, and you rob it of a jewel-essential to its full lustre and richness. There is no need, in order to insure it, to keep him at a distance from you. Only be careful, that the nearer he approaches you, the more he discovers in you that is worthy of reverence. Those who most truly serve God, and most nearly resemble him, live nearest to him.

Next to reverence, cultivate thoughtfulness

or consideration for others. Many in whom good manners are not a spontaneous growth, would acquire them by this means alone, who, from a want of it, are perfectly unconscious how many opportunities they lose, daily, hourly, almost momently, of making themselves acceptable and agreeable to those with whom they as sociate and in how many ways they give offence, and render themselves disagreeable. To be well mannered, one must be unselfish-so that, on this account, as well as because they are a means of influence, the cultivation of good manners is a moral duty. It is a very charming mode, applicable even to a very young child, of beginning the life-long process essential to our proper growth, development, and progress, viz., living out of ourselves, and for others. This consideration must be enforced by kindness. The law of love must be inculcated" line upon line" and "precept upon precept"-until it becomes written on the heart, and dwells ever upon the lips.

THE MANAGEMENT OF IRON AND STEEL.

come publicly known are few in comparison with those which spring up in the minds of ingenious mechanics and perish with the hour that gave them birth, through the want of a better knowledge of the properties of materials."

It is worthy of remark that iron is almost the only metal whose combinations with oxygen are not of a noxious nature to the human system. Iron strengthens the muscular system. Iron is used in three states-cast iron, wrought iron and steel. Extracted from the bowels of the earth, the first process is, or used to be, to roast it, in order to expel the water, sulphur, arsenic, &c., but now, by the hot blast, this is mostly dispensed with, and the iron ore is put into the furnace with fuel and with lime, melted and cast into pigs at once. In this there is a great difference, owing both to the fuel, the metal and the management. There are three qualities of pig iron; No. 1 is most highly carbonized, No. 2 less, and 3 least.

Wrought iron is decarbonized. It is remelted, puddled, squeezed, hammered, rolled, and thus decarbonized; it is known as bar or wrought The house of Appleton, of New York, have iron. But of this there are all sorts of different just published two little works, each of which qualities. Steel. as is well known, is a compound contains its own moral, and one of them a great of iron and carbon, and is formed either by heatmoral lesson for every citizen of Pennsylvania. ing wrought iron in contact with carbon, or One of these books is the authentic account of sometimes now by depriving cast iron of all its the discovery of gold in California, by Edward E. Dunbar. The other is on the Management of Steel, a subject on the right understanding of which depends much of the future wealth of our State. Nowhere else, perhaps, in the civilized portions of the globe are such vast quantities of iron, limestone, coal and wood brought together so handily for cheap working. A pound of iron may be worth a few cents, but an ounce of steel, wrought into main springs for watches, becomes worth about two thousand dollars in gold, and when wrought into the hair springs, it is worth eight thousand dollars per ounce. What is the value of gold, worth $20 or $25 per ounce, compared with this?

We have the foundation of all this wealth within ourselves. We need only the skilled labor to develop it, and there is here, in Mr. Ede's little book on the Management of Steel, much that we need to know. It is a practical work by a practical man, without technicalities, yet putting clearly and compactly together just those facts in regard to iron and steel that every mechanic should know. Young mechanics will find it an inestimable treasure to understand all about hardening steel, and if all young apprentices would make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the management of the materials on which they work, and the tools which they use, especially in making iron and steel, not only would they soon become skilled workmen, but the advancement of the sciences would be greatly hastened. "The inventions which be

impurities except a small portion of its carbon. This last is M. Bessemer's process. He can produce a steel of any degree of hardness direct from cast iron, without the intermediate puddling. By a blast of cold air upon the molten cast iron he ignites the carbon contained in it, and decarbonizes it to any extent he desires, consuming the whole, and then adding the required quantity by an after process. From one to two per cent. of carbon is added to the pure iron in converting it into steel.

But it is when we come to the hardening and tempering of steel that room for the greatest skill, auxiety and judgment are found. If the proper steel has not been chosen, and afterwards properly heated through all the stages, or if correct principles are not adhered to, all may prove futile. Of course, it is well known that the way to harden steel is by heating and then suddenly cooling it. But why it does this in the case of steel and not of iron is not so easily explained. It is done, perhaps, by the crystal. lization of the carbon-certainly by a new arrangement of the particles. But then an unequal contraction of the parts in cooling brings the danger of breakage, cracks and flaws. Hardening with and without mercury or saline liquids, the use of prussiate of potash, animal charcoal, and the toughening of steel in oil, are all subjects that require to be practically understood by our mechanics, as well as theoretically by our tool manufacturers and workers in iron. The great thing is for our young men to begin

to work and think together-no one doubting that many new practical improvements are to be and will be made-and yet being careful not to fancy that all deviations from old and longestablished ways of working in iron and steel are necessarily improvements.-Public Ledger.

CHANGE.

What matter how the night behaved?
What matter how the north wind raved?
Blow high, blow low, not all its snow
Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow.
O Time and Change! with hair as gray
As was my sire's that winter day.

How strange it seems, with so much gone
Of life and love, to still live on!
Ah, brother! only I and thou
Are left of all that circle now-
The dear home faces whereupon
That fitful firelight paled and shone.
Henceforward, listen as we will,
The voices of that hearth are still;
Look where we may, the wide earth o'er,
Those lighted faces smile no more.
We tread the paths their feet have worn,
We sit beneath their orchard trees,
We hear, like them, the hum of bees
And rustle of the bladed corn;
We turn the pages that they read,

Their written words we linger o'er,
But in the sun they cast no shade,
No voice is heard, no sign is made,

No step is on the conscious floor!
Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust,
(Since He who knows our need is just,)
That somehow, somewhere, meet we must.
Alas for him who never sees

The stars shine through his cypress trees!
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
Nor looks to see the breaking day
Across the mournful marbles play!
Who hath not learned, in hours of faith,
The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That Life is ever lord of Death,
And Love can never lose its own.

From Whittier's "Snow-Bound."

[blocks in formation]

And lo! the Sun of Righteousness
Into our waiting souls will stream,
To brighten, beautify, and bless,
And whiten to our purest dream.

From The Press."

THE HAGUE, HOLLAND, Aug. 11, 1867. A country as flat and fruitful as the richest American prairie is that known as Holland or the Netherlands, and no spot of earth is stranger or more instructive. After the lovely lakes and frozen mountains of Switzerland, and the ancient architecture of the grape covered shores of the Rhine, there was something startling in the contrast presented by a vast table land, not inaptly styled, because absolutely recovered from," the bottom of the sea." I have now traversed a large part of this curious domain, and find it an object of manifold and increasing interest. You pass for hundreds of miles over a territory without a fence, and yet the fields are carefully divided by narrow canals, which, while draining them of their superfluous moisture, at the same time protect them as successfully as a strong barrier of stone. These wonderful expanses are singularly fertile; and he who prefers to peruse the present and to forecast the future of a people by the works of their own labor, will be deeply impressed by these and the other greater proofs of human energy which abound in Holland. For Holland is a monument of patient industry and unflagging perseverance; and it is difficult to decide, as we read its history, whether it is most deserving of praise for its resistance to the tyranny of the elements or to the cruelty of man. people have not only conquered an empire from the sea, and for centuries successfully combatted the ever-nerving efforts of Old Ocean to recover the treasures she has lost, but they have made the very winds their slaves. Others employ the multiplied modern agencies of steam, but the Hollanders, for five hundred years, have adopted the windmill to grind their corn, to saw their timber, to crush the rape-seed for oil, to beat hemp, and to drain the soil by exhausting the water from the land and pouring it into the great canals and rivers. As a great writer observes: "It might be supposed that the absence of those elevations which afford shelter to other countries, would leave Holland at the mercy of every blast that blows. So far is this from being the case, that not a breath of air is allowed to pass without paying toll by turning a windmill." And I cannot describe to you the appearance of hundreds of these odd machines, moving their huge shadows all over the lardscape at the same time. They are so much cheaper than steam for all purposes, that notwithstanding the mighty progress of that revolutionary discovery, they are still in universal use in this country. I have counted fifty in view at one time. They are much larger

Its

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »