in other lands, than with those of our own, both are so important that they claim from us the same attention, and aid. That the careless, and uninformed, may learn and be enlightened, let them read the following extract from one of the Rev. John Street's reports. [Dec., 1844.] "DEAR BRETHREN:-Once more in the providence of God, I am permitted to make my quarterly report to you, and I cannot refrain from the expression of my gratitude to HIM who has given me health and strength to enable me to fulfil his holy mission, and visit the haunts of the suffering poor, the houses of mourning, and administer the word, accompanied with the bounty of an enlightened and a Christian people. When I reflect upon scenes through which I have passed, and while my heart bleeds at the picture misery draws, there is associated with the retrospection, the pleasing fact, that many a tear has been wiped away, and many a sorrowing heart made glad. It is not my intention to paint those scenes to you, nor convey you along the paths of wretchedness I have so frequently trod, on which no flowers bloom, and where the sunlight sheds its rays more cold and cheerless. It is a wild, lonely, drear and sombre road, the widow and the orphan are seated by the wayside, and their cries come up like the deep notes of wo from sorrowing hearts. I will not picture the pale and melancholy faces of those whose cries for bread are not always heard, or if heard, answered. I will not give you a full description of the poverty and misery that abound in and about our city; for such pictures are too frequent in all populous towns. To do so would fill a volume, and probably obtain for me the character of an alarmist, one who imagines more evils than those actually existing. There does not exist in our community that sympathy for poor suffering human nature which as a Christian people should characterize us. We hear of a tale of wo, but never ask our own hearts, can it be alleviated? Is the object still suffering? No! we pass it by, and pursue our course through life, regarding self alone, and thinking only of the means to extend our own worldly comforts, and if a spark of charity lights up the chambers of the heart, it glimmers but for a moment and dies in its own feeble light. But we have met, during the existence of our society, many generous, noble, and warm-hearted individuals, who have enabled us to extend our labours, to seek out objects for our charity, and shed over the pathway of the wretched the light of hope, which to the suffering on earth is the glorious sun of a bright, and everlasting future. To the philosopher, the study of human nature is a painful one, the lessons he draws from that vast store house of knowledge, are the lessons of truth, equity and justice, and in the deep recesses of his own mind he stores up those germs of earth which as they open and expand, beautify, enlighten and glorify the world. But to the philanthropist, it is different; his sole desire is to relieve his fellow creatures, and pour into their lacerated bosoms the oil of joy and peace. He learns but the one fact; that a portion of mankind are in a state of suffering, and if he makes a record of them on the tablets of his memory, that warehouse of the mind,' it is for the purpose of enlisting others in their behalf. Thus the philosopher instructs, while the philanthropist acts. Both are, however, humble instruments to enlighten, and improve the condition of man, exalt the character of Deity, and shed over the earth a brighter and more holy light-the light of true Christian charity!" 6 Let us therefore reflect for a moment, when in the midst of our own comfort and happiness, that a large portion of our fellow creatures are destitute of them. To impart a little of that plenty we enjoy to those who are in want becomes us as men; becomes us as Christians. LEAF EIGHTEENTH. THREE PICTURES. HAVING already alluded to the extreme low price of labor as established by some of those Societies termed benevolent, it is only necessary to state that the purpose for which such charity was established has entirely failed. Under my own knowledge, as well as from the note books of our Home Missionaries, many instances have come to light which shew a degree of suffering arising from them, that it seems as if it would have been better to have trusted altogether to chance, rather than to a system, the establishing of which has not only caused oppression, but is in itself oppressive. Labor, at least the labor of the healthy man, the artizan, and the mechanic, is well paid for, we admit, but those who have neither of these, dependent on chance or charity for subsistence, feel all the misery and sorrow attendant ever on the uncertainty of chance, and the difficulty of procuring work; hence, the failure of which, is poverty and misery; and starvation is only prevented by an application to the missionary. Morality being the ground-work of all human actions, the cultivation of which, so essential to our future prosperity and happiness, should be strictly attended to. Society is cemented into lasting security when morality breathes upon it. Confidence springs from a well organized system of rule, and the poor man can sleep soundly if he is satisfied that he forms a part and portion of the great human family. And yet, how often is it that the heart becomes depraved, mind weakened, health falters, and the whole system of man sinks beneath the idea that he is an outcast from his kind, simply because he has neither money, work, nor friends. The missionary endeavors to teach him different, and by proper reasoning restores the tone of his mind; and by the aid of religion so strengthens his heart, as to look upward with hope, the hope that teaches a knowledge of the Lord, and "Humbly then with trembling pinions soar, Wait the great teacher death, and God adore." The present situation of the suffering laborer arises from many causes, which it is not the nature of this work to trace; and as allusions are only made for the purpose of explaining some of the mysteries of these sketches, it is hoped that the truly good will join the missionary in the great work of remedying evils, and carrying out in a Christian spirit the true meaning of the virtue CHARITY. We add a few pictures sketched by the missionary. PICTURE No. 1. "I visited a poor woman living in a garret of a house situated in a court running from Front Street. She is very sick; her disease, a cancer. This poor woman has five children, one a babe of fifteen months old. She is destitute of every thing, having neither wood, food, nor clothing. She has been endeavoring to work at shoe binding, her -fingers all festered by excess of labor, in her afflicted state, and she scarcely earns six cents per day. The case, as regards her restoration to health, is a hopeless one, and when I visited her, hope itself was dying. She felt grateful for my visit. To me it was a sorrowful one. As I gazed upon the poor suffering creature, with her ragged children around her, I mentally exclaimed What will become of them ?' Poor souls! Their fate is a hard one, and the future to them looks drear and blank." REMARKS.-This picture is a plain one,-it is simply sketched. The mother is dying. With her little remaining strength she strives to earn enough to feed her children. Six cents per day! How many six pennies are squandered away by the thoughtless, a few, a very few of which would, in this case, cheer the pathway leading down to the grave of this woman, and make it bright, if not cheerful. Another view, her children, alas! as she gazes upon them, and watches the changes in their little faces, what must be her thoughts, her feelings, her inward struggles when she knows, for know she must, that at her death they will be scattered, and become inmates of the poor-house. O, life! life! what a fitful dream thou art! "How many drink the cup Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread PICTURE No. 2. "I visited a widow woman in Third Street above Poplar Lane, who has been sick for a long time. Her domicil presented a most wretched appearance,-no fuel, and, of course, deprived of many of the common necessaries of life. A *Thomson. |