To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, THINKING you may not have seen the following lines, I take the liberty of sending them to you; and I hope they will give as much pleasure to others, as they have done to your humble servant, I. Dear is the Sabbath morn to me, II. And dear to me the winged hour, To feel, within, Thy mystic pow'r, III. And dear the sacred minstrelsy, That holy, heavenly, harmony, IV. And dear to me the loud amen, V. In secret I have often pray'd, And still the silent tear would fall; But on thy sacred altar laid, The fire descends, and dries them all. VI. Go, man of pleasure strike thy lyre, M. B. PENNY SAVINGS' BANK, WITH A WORKING FUND. (Copied from a London Newspaper.) THREE Banks of this kind have been established, one in London, one at Epsom, and one at Ipswich. The plan was originally devised by a lady of the name of Robinson, for the instruction and improvement of poor girls in needle work, and it was first carried into effect in the year 1818; since which period it has gone on with increasing success. The fund is formed by, first, weekly deposits of children at 1d. or 2d. each.-2dly, by subscriptions of 5s. per annum for boys and infants.-3dly, by donations of Benefactors-4thly, money paid by ladies for plain work. And 5thly, by interest on deposits placed in a Savings Bank. The expenditure is incurred, first, for dowlas, calico, check, &c.-2dly, small rewards given to the girls who work best.-3dly hire of a room to meet in once a week, and expences incident thereto. And 4thly, books and paper for keeping the accounts. A committee of ladies attend, in turns, to cut out the work, deliver it, weekly, to the girls to be made up, receive it from them when done, and determine upon those whom it is proper to reward. The parents, or friends, of the girls, specify, beforehand, the articles of clothing in which they wish the amount of their deposits, and earnings, to be returned; which articles are charged at the cost price of the cloth, without any charge for making it; that expence being paid out of the donations for work. The London Establishment is carried on at No. 39, Charles Street, Hatton Garden, DREADFUL OCCURRENCE AT STOCKPORT. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, YOUR valuable publication, the Cottager's Monthly Visitor, has been constantly disseminated through the different towns and villages in this populous district; and the result has been, in many instances, greater decency and steadiness of conduct in the youthful members of those families, who have regularly perused its interesting narratives. As it is your design to impress the mind with a love of what is right, to check the beginning of sin, and to prevent its bitter consequences, a brief account of a cruel murder committed at Woodley, a Hamlet in the large and populous parish of Stockport, with some comments upon the particular circumstances which led to it, may, perhaps, find a place in your useful Magazine. The narrative may, perhaps, warn young females against contracting any intimacy with determined profligates, who neither fear God nor regard man, but live in proud defiance of every law, both human and divine, till, having ruined many others, they themselves fall, at length, victims to the injured laws of their country. This last description of persons is too frequently to be met with in populous manufacturing districts, because the ease with which money is acquired, and the temptations which it affords, too often leads to an habitual course of profligacy and wickedness. One of the great causes of the misery which we see around us is the dreadful crime of tempting young women from the paths of duty. For, whilst the happiness is great of seeing these young creatures blest with virtuous protectors for life, of beholding them in the enjoyment of domestic blessings, and bringing up their children in the nurture NO. 30. VOL. III. N and admonition of the Lord, so, no sight can be more grievous than to behold them living in the midst of wickedness and debauchery, or, as in the case before us, falling a sacrifice to the murderous violence of the companion of their guilt. Samuel Fallows was born at Bramhall, about two miles from Stockport, and succeeded his father, a respectable farmer, as tenant under Mr. Davenport. Here, this young man might have possessed every happiness, which godliness, with contentment, can bestow; his rent was moderate, and he possessed every outward comfort suitable to his station in life. But the best ingredient was wanting; his unruly wills and affections, hurried him on into an unlawful .connection: he attached himself, some years ago, to a young woman named Elizabeth Shawcross, whom he first basely betrayed, and, afterwards, as basely deserted. In this helpless state her friends took her to their own home, and have since brought up the hapless offspring, the fruit of their anlawful intercourse; who, through life, will have to lament the untimely end of both its parents. About six months since, Elizabeth Shawcross went again into service, at Woodley; and, from her diligence and fidelity, regained, in some degree, the character she had lost, and was much esteemed by the persons with whom she lived. But, unhappily, the intimacy was renewed between her and Fallows, much against the wishes of her friends; but their fears were allayed by his giv ing a verbal promise of marriage: and a letter written by Elizabeth Shawcross to her sister, fully shewed that she expected, in a short time, to be united to him. During the time, however, that this depraved libertine was paying his addresses to Elizabeth Shawcross, he, by the most cruel perfidy, had seduced from the path of duty, a female who lived in service at Bramhall Hall, the residence of his landlord. In order to pacify the friends of this fresh victim, he even appeared before the minister of his parish, and declared solemnly that it was his intention to marry her; but, when the banns had been thrice published, he refused to fulfil his promise; and, thus, another female bas to lament, through life, his deceitful and treacherous practices. Thus circumstanced, it became painful for him, no doubt, to hear the expostulations of these much abused females; and he came to the horrid resolution of murdering the poor creature that lived at Woodley. On the evening of the 21st of March, he left his own bouse at half past six; and, on the following morning, the body of Elizabeth Shawcross was discovered in a barn belonging to her master, (whither she had repaired, in the night, to meet her pretended lover) dreadfully mangled: her throat was cut by a razor, which was found some yards from the corpse, and the skull had visibly received some dreadful blows from a stick, or some other blunt instrument. This horrid event raised the compassion and indignation of the whole neighbourhood, and suspicion immediately fell upon Samuel Fallows. He was instantly apprehended, and underwent his trialat the Chester Assizes; and, though no mortal eye beheld the commission of this horrid act, yet, by a train of circumstantial evidence, and the many prevaricating excuses he made for his absence from home on the evening of the murder, he was convicted of the offence. On the 14th of April he suffered the dreadful sentence of the law, and was launched from this transitory scene of existence, into the presence of THAT JUDGE, to whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hid. a The above history conveys an awful lesson of the dreadful crimes which those men may be led into, whose hearts are unmoved by the power of religion; and it conveys, too, an awful lesson to females never to give encouragement to men, on whose religious |