Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

1834.]

BROTHER'S PICTURE.

67

a priory, part of which is still standing. It has three handsome churches. The river Stour is navigable to this town. The market is held on Saturday. This town is said to have been one of the first seats of the Flemings, who were brought over by Edward the Third, to teach the English the art of manufacturing their own wool. The great trade which once distinguished this place has flowed into other channels, so that its business in manufacturing goods, is small in comparison with its former state. Sudbury is fifty-four miles from London. We should advise such of our readers as have a map, to turn to it when they hear of any place, the exact situation of which they are unacquainted with; they will, by this means, soon get together a good deal of satisfactory knowledge. On looking at the county of Suffolk, in the map of England, they will find Sudbury lying towards the south of the county. They should then look for the other principal places in the same county, such as Ipswich, Bury, Lowestoft, Aldborough, &c. &c.

SIR,

BROTHER'S PICTURE. (Sent by a Welsh Clergyman.)

V.

On the wall of my study, and immediately opposite to me as I sit at my table, is a full length drawing of a little boy, whom I lost when he was but three years and a half old. He was esteemed a very fine and a very intelligent child; and my little girls, (one of whom is now about the same age that he was when he died) often look at "brother's picture," and ask some questions about him-he died long before they were born.

He was a very robust boy, but died by a complaint upon the lungs occasioned by the hooping-cough. A few hours before his death occurred one of those flashes of intelligence, which sometimes happen at that time, in a very extraordinary manner.

My little boy was very restless during the few hours before his death; his complaint caused restlessness; but he had been so accustomed to submit to discipline, that he was easily persuaded to abstain from impatience. I am not aware that he knew either the meaning or the

effects of death, as they would affect himself; I am not aware that the term had been used in his hearing, in reference to himself; but whatever might have been the case, he could never have learned to connect the sensations which he then felt with a circumstance of such a nature. Stretching out his arms and head to his mother, he said to her, "One last kiss, and then I die!" but recovering himself, he added, "No, mamma, I am not dead yet." He lived a few hours after this, seeming to be fully aware that he was passing from this world to a better. Whatever reflections your readers may make upon this circumstance, they cannot fail to be reflections conveying consolation and encouragement; reflections calculated to raise the heavy eye, to cheer the drooping heart, and to make that hope "both firm and steadfast," which points to our resurrection, and to a reunion with those whom we have loved, and whom we have lost.

As I wrote these last words I looked upon the picture, and recollected, that if I turned it, I should find something much to my present purpose. My poor wife and myself had often read with pleasure those beautiful lines. by Southey, which are found in his "Curse of Kehama;" these my wife copied out, and placed at the back of his picture. As these lines are not likely to be seen in the work itself by many of your readers, and as they may afford some comfort to a sorrowing mother "who has lost her babe in infancy," I shall transcribe them.

6.6

They sin who tell us love can die.

With life all other passions fly,

All others are but vanity;

Earthly, these passions of the earth,

They perish where they had their birth;
But love is indestructible.

It's holy flame for ever burneth,

From heaven it came, to heaven returneth;

It soweth here with toil and care,

But the reaping place is there.
O! when a mother meets on high,

The babe she lost in infancy,
Has she not then, for all her tears,
The day of woe, the watchful night,
For all her sorrows, all her fears,
An over-payment of delight?"

These lines are indeed beautiful; they are full of faith,

1834.]

66

BROTHER'S PICTURE.

69

of hope, of charity, and afford a "strong consolation" to those who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them." But what says the word of God? "it speaketh better things" than the word of man; it speaks not of hope only, but of certainty; it promises not merely gladness, but glory. "Our light affliction," says the apostle St. Paul, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Let us consider the terms which the apostle uses, for they are very powerful, for they are very significant. He speaks of affliction and glory; and lightness and weight; of a moment and of eternity; and he uses in addition, the words far, more, and exceeding. The apostle opposes things present to things future; a moment to eternity; lightness to weight." This is the remark that excellent man, St. Chrysostom, who lived about the fourth century. He was bishop of Constantinople, and like many of his successors, the bishops of the Christian Church, he spent his time in preaching to the people committed to his charge, and in composing works for their benefit. His works are published in eight volumes folio, and contain some admirable sermons, epistles, and remarks upon the pastoral office, &c. &c. He, like many of his successors, was persecuted; he was deposed for doing his duty, and banished; but his value was quickly seen, his loss sadly felt, and he was recalled.

The apostle, I say, opposes things present to things future; in St. Chrysostom's words, "a moment to eternity, lightness to weight," but he uses in addition these three expressive words; far, more, and exceeding. Far, which signifies extent in every way; more, which is the comparative degree of much and many; exceeding, a term which conveys something far more than hath entered into the heart of man. These terms are very powerful, but they are but tame representatives of the terms used by the Apostle in the language in which he wrote. the terms he used, doubtless, do but coldly represent the glorious things of the city of God, the tabernacle of the Most Highest," for God is in the midst of her, in his presence there is the fulness of joy, at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Lord! let us seek so

66

And

to live, under the influence of Divine grace, that, when we awake up, awaking up after thy likeness, we may be satisfied with it.

(To be Continued.)

FACTS WORTHY OF NOTICE IN CONNEXION WITH TEMPERANCE.

It is a fact, that nine-tenths of the inmates of our poorhouses were brought here directly or indirectly by the use of ardent spirits.

It is a fact, that three-fourths of all the convicts in our state prisons were hard drinkers previous to the commission of the crimes for which they are now imprisoned.

It is a fact, that the greatest sufferers from disease, and those whose maladies are the most difficult to cure, are those who are addicted to ardent spirits.

It is a fact, that of all who commit suicide in this country, ninety-nine one-hundredths are the immediate or the remote victims of ardent spirits.

It is a fact, that in all families where the children are dirty, half-naked, and ill-fed; the rooms filthy, and in disorder; the husbands cross, discontented, and peevish; and the wives slatterns, ill-tempered, and quarrelsome, one, if not both the parents, are drinkers of ardent spirits.

It is a fact, that those who least frequently attend the worship of God in the sanctuary; most of those who, by their oaths, blasphemies, and horrible execrations, shock the ears of modest people, are spirit drinkers.

It is a fact, that those who are most easily led to ridicule and profane sacred things, and to join in every kind of dissipation and profligacy, are spirit drinkers.

It is a fact, that of all who have died of the cholera in Europe and America, seven-tenths at least were spirit drinkers, and one-half decidedly intemperate.

It is a fact, that the cholera cost the city of New York last summer 100,000 dollars, exclusive of private benefactions, which amounted to at least 50,000 dollars moremore than one-half of this expenditure was occasioned by spirit drinkers.

It is a fact, if these facts do not convince any one of

1834.] EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS.

71

the unlawfulness and the impropriety of the traffic in ardent spirits, he would hardly be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

Those who commit murders are frequently under the influence of strong liquors; the horrible Burking atrocities could be clearly so traced.

Sent by a Correspondent.

EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c. GIN PALACES.-It has been said, that "those who sell vice are sure to get customers."-This appears to be true, from the number of fine ginshops which we see in London, and other great towns. Those, however, who buy it, will be sure to be poor,-witness the rags of those who have long been visitors at the gin-shops. A London evening paper gives the following statement, abridged from "England and America:"-At a shop on Holborn-hill, gin is served by young women smartly dressed; and the establishment is as fine as a French coffee-house. There is another great gin-shop, not much inferior to it, a little further west, and 20 or 30 not far off. In half an hour you may visit a hundred. What a contrast between the finery of the shops and the beggarly appearance of the customers! Amongst these are few really old people, but plenty of young people who appear old--livid cheeks, deep wrinkles, bloodshot eyes, brown teeth, or white gums without teeth, skin and bone, shaking hands, sore legs, creeping palsy, a hacking cough, rags, filth, and stench! As to gin-shops, London is getting on rapidly, both in number and finery; every week, almost every day, producing a new one, fitted up with spring doors, plateglass, carved mahogany or rose-wood, and polished brass; all more "elegant" as they say in America, than the gin-shops which sprung up the week before.

THE SYCAMORE.-This is the largest tree of the American forest; and the trunk of one of unexampled magnitude is now on exhibition in New York. It grew on the banks of the Mohawk, Oneida county, and was cut down about two years since. Thirty-one yoke of oxen were required to remove the trunk alone. The area of its base is so ample that its possessor occupied it as a booth or tavern for some time in the vicinity of Utica, where it was purchased for the purpose of transporting it to Europe for exhibition. The original bark still coats its exterior, and the interior has been scooped out and furnished as a saloon with furniture, so that it will accommodate upwards of forty persons.-Salisbury Herald.

BONE MANURE.-A writer of a letter, dated near Nantwich, Cheshire, says, " In the Agricultural Report made by the Society at Doncaster, it is stated that bone manure is not suitable for clay soils. On this observation beg leave to remark, for the information of the members of that society, that I occupy a farm in the township of Pickmore, the soil of which is a clay loam, scarcely twelve inches deep, the sub-soil, or stratum, a grey sand, mixed with coarse clay, which farmers call rammel, on a bed of good clay marl. Two years ago I covered the field with bone manure; previous to which the grass was so sour, as not to be worth ten shillings a statute It is now full of most excellent herbage, consisting of white clover and trefoil. In one of my fields, with a clay soil, which I laid down with

acre.

« AnteriorContinuar »