human heart, can be expected to disappear; and till they have disappeared, it is in vain to expect that any laws will be framed-much less be carried out-by which the condition of the human race can be very materially improved, or want and misery be banished from this world. But admitting that many of the evils under which the poorer classes of society suffer are removable, and I am far from denying that to a certain extent they are capable of diminution, and that we are fully justified in endeavouring, by all proper means, to effect their removal, yet let us, at least, take care that we do not try remedies which would only make the disease worse. Poverty seems to be considered by all, and (not unnaturally) by the poor themselves, as the worst of all possible ills; and it is not perhaps to be wondered at that they should often think that if they were but rich they should be free from all trouble. Some, indeed, even talk as if they thought that the possession of money by others was a wrong done to themselves, and that if all property were divided, all might be rich alike. True, if all property were divided all would be rich, or rather, poor, alike; but only for one hour; for that one hour would be so very differently employed by the strong and the weak, by the wise and the foolish, by the active and the idle, by the temperate and the gluttonous, that the next hour would find their relative position quite changed: and this difference would go on increasing day by day, and year by year, till the world would be once more divided, as at present, into rich and poor; unless, indeed, this natural tendency is to be checked, from time to time, by successive acts of violence and bloodshed. I know, however, that there are some who think that if all the land in the kingdom were equally divided amongst us, we should all be very comfortable, and well off. Well, then, I will try to show you that if some were not rich, all would be very badly off. Now suppose all the land had been divided equally amongst us fifty years ago, and that by each man's cultivating it for himself we had been able to grow food enough for everybody-(but this I very much doubt-for many reasons which we have not time now to talk about,) but suppose the land had grown enough then to feed us all-yet, as the island we live in is no bigger now than it was then, how should we manage now, when there are more than twice as many mouths to feed as there were then? And even if it grew enough now, how should we manage next year, when there will probably be three or four hundred thousand more mouths to feed?-or ten years hence, when there will be three or four millions more to feedfor this is the actual rate at which our numbers are increasing every year-while our land remains the same. "But how then," you will ask, "do we actually manage to feed them all now?" Why-not always quite so well as we could wish :-but I will tell you how we manage to do it at all-it is simply by means of capital-that is, by means of the money which rich people have saved up -and without which we should be miserably off indeed: and I will now try to show you how this is done. It is by means of money that people are able to till and manure the ground so that it shall produce a great deal more than it did before-enough to feed all the fresh mouths that want feeding; or, if we cannot grow enough ourselves, then to buy corn from other countries to feed them with. But how would people who have got this money be persuaded to lay it out in tilling the land, unless they could sell the corn when they had grown it? And how can they sell the corn unless the people who are to be fed have got money to buy it with? And how are the great body of the people (who have nothing but their labour to live by) to get money to buy it with unless they have got employment? And as the land cannot employ three or four hundred thousand more people every year, how are all to get employment as our numbers increase? I will tell you how:-it is by means of capital for it is by means of those large sums of money which "the rich" have got together (some by their own industry and cleverness and frugality-some by that of their fathers or relations who are dead and gone); it is with this money-which we call capitalthat people build large manufactories-powerful steam engines well-contrived and useful machines-(which eat very little in proportion to the work they do)-by the help of all which the manufacturer of woollen goods, and cotton goods, and hardware, and earthenware, and many other things besides, is able to make and sell his goods and wares at such a low price, that foreignerspeople living in other countries-many of them living in the most distant parts of the world-find it worth while to come to England for many of the things that they are in want of, and that we make; and then, with the money which foreigners pay to our merchants and manufacturers for these things, our manufacturers pay the wages of the workmen who made them. Some of you indeed, I believe, think it would be better if there were no machinery, and that, then, there would be more employment for workmen. This is perhaps partly true, because what now, by the help of machinery, is done by one man, would then want two men to do it. But where are the wages to come from? Because if it took two men to do what one can now do, things would be a great deal dearer; and if they were a great deal dearer, foreigners would not come from other countries to buy them and if they would not buy them the manufacturer would not get any of the money of these foreigners-as he does now-and out of which he pays part of the wages of his workmen. And so we see that it is capital which enables the farmer to grow so much food in our own country-and it is capital which enables labourers of all sorts to buy the food when it is grown, by furnishing them with much more employment and wages than there would be for them otherwise. And though it is true that no people behave quite as well as they ought to do-but that the rich are sometimes grasping, and hard dealing, and fond of spending too much on themselves, while the poor are sometimes idle, and thoughtless, and intemperate,-yet, upon the whole, it is evident that the rich and the poor are a great help to each other: and that while, on the 2 It is true that foreigners do not pay for all that they buy in money: they pay for part of it in other goods which they manufacture and we want. But then the merchant or manufacturer can turn these goods into money, when he could not do so with more of the goods which we make-so that in the end it is the same thing as if these foreigners paid all in money; while the labourers of both nations are benefited. one hand, the rich man's money would be of little use to him without the poor man's labour to assist him, yet, on the other hand, in a country like this (in which the number of the people is already so great in proportion to the size of the country-and is increasing year by year, while the country itself grows no bigger) the poor man's power of labouring would be of little use to him without the rich man's money-that is, capital to furnish employment and wages for him. SATURDAY EVENING. Ere yet that hallow'd morn appear, As surely as each day, each hour, Have my affections soar'd above? Have I his constant influence felt ? Richly" my heart within, That outward faults have been subdued. Lord, if my only answer now Still let a holier life begin- If I to-morrow see! Then let thy word its power exert, And make my wants thy care! OATMEAL. SIR, WHEN I was a lad and went to our town school fifty years ago, I remember that before we left our home we had a capital good breakfast made chiefly of oatmeal, and a good hot and nourishing meal it made. My father's maid used to make it for us; but if she happened not to be within reach, I knew very well how to make it myself. We had some oatmeal mixed with water, about a quarter of the pot full, and we stirred this up and boiled it, and it was a good thick sort of mess; and we could then make it thinner by putting more water in; but still it would be a good nourishing breakfast, a kind of gruel; but we commonly got some milk to add to it; and then it was a good milk porridge. I remember liking this thickened stuff a great deal better than boiled milk alone. Oatmeal is a capital thing, and very nourishing. I often wonder that it is not more used in England: the Scotch people know its value well. It is good when boiled and made a thick mess with water; but a little salt or pepper, or a slice of bacon, or a little broth, or lard, or dripping, or any savoury herbs may be added. This seems to be something like what people are now recommending. A large mess for a family is recommended in a newspaper which I have seen. A three gallon iron pot; ten quarts of water, into which, whilst boiling, one quart or three pints of oatmeal is added by little at a time, and kept stirring. When this is pretty thick, it makes what is now called "stirabout," and will feed a good number of hungry children; and this is a good sort of a meal, more solid than the breakfast of my young days; but it may be more or less thick according to fancy. AN OLD REAder. DOMESTIC ECONOMY. VEGETABLE SOUP. TAKE a cabbage, or some cabbage-sprouts, or spinach, two or three turnips and carrots cut small, and a little bruised celery-seed, if you cannot get it in the root; boil them in about three pints or two quarts of |