REMINISCENCES FOR THE DYING HOUR.-Never forget the thought, which is now so clear to thee, that the individuality of man lasts out the greatest suffering and the most entrancing joy alike unscathed, while the body crumbles away in the pains and pleasures of the flesh. Herein are souls like marsh-lights, which shine in the storm and the rain unextinguishable. Canst thou forget, in the dark hour, that there have been mighty men amongst us, and that thou art following after them? Raise thyself like the spirits which stood upon their mountains, having the storm of life only about, and never above them. Call back to thee the kingly race of sages and of poets who have inspirited and enlightened nation after nation. Remember Jesus Christ, in the dark hour-remember him who also passed through life-remember that soft moon of the infinite sun, given to enlighten the night of the world. Let life be hallowed to thee, and death also, for he shared both of them with thee. May his calm and lofty form look down upon thee in the last darkness, and show thee his Father. Original Song. COMPOSED TO AN OLD BORDER MELODY. THERE are storms in the sky when the dark clouds are And the cauld rivers stray between us and our deary. CHRISTIAN REVENGE.-A few years ago I met an elderly man in the Hartford stage, whose conversation | led me to reflect on the baseness and iniquity often concealed behind the apparent glory of war. The thumb of his right hand hung down as if suspended by a thread, and some of the passengers inquired the cause. "A Malay woman cut the muscle with her sabre,” was the reply. "A Malay woman!" they exclaimed; "how came you fighting with a woman?" "I did not know she was a woman, for they all dress alike there," said he; "I was on board the United States ship Potomac when it was sent out to chastise the Malays for murdering the crew of a Salem vessel. We attacked one of their forts, and killed some 200 or more. Many of them were women; and I can tell you the women were as good fighters as the men." After answering several questions concerning the conflict, he was silent for a moment, and then added with a sigh, "Ah! that was a bad business. I do not like to remember it; I wish I never had had anything to do with it. I have been a seaman from my youth, and I know the Malays well. They are a brave-J. P. Richter. and honest people. Deal fairly with them, and they will treat you well, and may be trusted with untold gold. The Americans were to blame in that business. The truth is, Christian nations are generally to blame in the outset in all their difficulties with less civilised people. A Salem ship went to Malacca to trade for pepper. They agreed to give the natives a stated compensation when a certain number of measures full of pepper were delivered. Men, women, and children were busy picking pepper, and bringing it on board. The captain proposed that the sailors should go ashore and help them, and the natives consented with the most confiding good nature. The sailors were instructed to pick till evening, and then leave the baskets full of pepper among the bushes, with the understanding that they were to be brought on board by the natives in the morning. They did so, without exciting any suspicion of treachery. But in the night the baskets were all conveyed on board, and the vessel sailed away, leaving the Malays unpaid for her valuable cargo. This, of course, excited great indignation, and they made loud complaints to the commander of the next American vessel that arrived on their coast. In answer to a demand of redress from the government, they were assured that the case should be represented, and the wrong repaired. But 'Yankee cuteness' in cheating a few savages was not sufficiently uncommon to make any great stir, and the affair was soon forgotten. Some time after, another captain of a Salem ship played a similar trick, and carried off a still larger quantity of stolen pepper. The Malays, exasperated beyond measure, resorted to Lynch law, and murdered an American crew that landed there about the same time. The United States ship Potomac was sent out to punish them for this outrage, and, as I told you, we killed some two hundred men and women. I sometimes think that our retaliation was not more rational or more like Christians than theirs." "Will you please," said I, "to tell me what sort of revenge would be like Christians?" He hesitated, and said it was a hard question to answer. "I never felt pleasantly about that affair," continued he; "I would not have killed her if I had known she was a woman." I asked why he felt more regret about killing a woman than a man. "I hardly know why myself," answered he; "I don't suppose I should, if it were a common thing for women to fight. But we are accustomed to think of them as not defending themselves; and there is something in every human heart that makes a man unwilling to fight those who do not fight in return. It seems mean and dastardly, and a man cannot work himself to do it." "Then, if one nation would not fight, another could not," said I; "what if a nation, instead of an individual, should make such an appeal to the manly feeling, which you say is inherent in the heart?" "I believe other nations would be ashamed to attack her," he replied; "it would take away all the glory and excitement of war, and the hardiest soldier would shrink from it as from a cold-blooded murder." "Such a peace establishment would be at once cheap and beautiful," rejoined I; and so we parted.—Mrs Child. eery, And the cauld rivers flow between me and my deary. The dowie glen is deep, and lofty the mountain, The mountains are high, and the moorlands are dreary, The spring will come again wi' the green bud and gowan, And we'll woo night and day, and never yet be weary, HENRY SCOTT RIDDELL. TERMS FOR "THE TORCH." 2 d. 18. 74d. 2s. 6d. 7d. All Subscriptions payable in advance. The back numbers of the Torch can be had at the reduced rate of three halfpence each. Printed by THOMAS MURRAY, of No. 2 Arniston Place, and WILLIAM GIBB, of No. 26 Royal Crescent, at the Printing Office of MURRAY and GIBB, North-East Thistle Street Lane; and Published at No. 58 Princes Street, by WILLIAM AITCHISON SUTHERLAND, of No. 1 Windsor Street, and JAMES KNOX, of No. 7 Henderson Row; all in the City and County of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: SUTHERLAND & KNOX, 58 Princes Street; and sold by HOULSTON & STONEMAN, Paternoster Row, London; W. BLACKWOOD and J. M‘LEOD, Glasgow; L. SMITH, Aberdeen; and may be had by order of every Bookseller in the United Kingdom. Edinburgh, Saturday, April 18, 1846. A Weekly Journal for the Instruction and Entertainment of the People. MILLINERS AND DRESSMAKERS. WOMEN OF ENGLAND,-Many of the sufferings which afflict society in this country are traceable to men entirely, some to men and women conjointly, and others to women exclusively. That the collier does not live more than half the time that nature intended, is the blame of man—that children are starved and uneducated, is the fault of both sexes; but that milliners and dressmakers live the lives of slaves, is your doing and yours alone. They work for you, are employed by you, paid by you, fed by you, and clothed by you; and therefore, whatever guilt attaches itself to the treatment of those persons, must lie at your doors, and at the doors of none else. We have all heard of "man's unkindness to man,” which is great and unpardonable. Let us now listen to" woman's unkindness to woman," and see what are the fruits which it produces. Thousands of delicate young females in this country are obliged to perform an amount of labour under circumstances which an eminent medical authority has declared would kill a horse or an elephant! These are strong words, and they sound somewhat like exaggeration, but nevertheless they are susceptible of rigid proof. During what are called the busy seasons, namely, the two periods immediately preceding the introduction of the spring and autumn fashions, milliners and dressmakers have been known to work eighteen to twenty hours per day for a week running, and during this time, they are huddled in large numbers into small apartments, where, what with glaring gas-light and their own breaths, pure air is unknown-their posture is almost uniform, being varied only by the movement of one arm-their food is scanty-their beds are hard-their occupation is dull and monotonous and it is miserably remunerated at one shilling a day. Now, try the horse or elephant with the same course of labour, and mark the result. Those animals have performed great feats, and anecdotes innumerable are on record regarding their fidelity and hardihood; but in one point their efforts differ materially from those of milliners and dressmakers -the quadrupeds perform their labour in the open air-the bipeds in a hot room or garret; and this most seriously alters the case. Let a horse be taken into a stable crowded with other horses-let him be made to lie down as long as milliners and dressmakers sit, dozens of gas jets being farther introduced at night, food restricted, and the only motion per Miscellaneous, POETRY.-Sleep, mitted to consist of the movement of a fore leg. Let this treatment be persevered in for a period of time equal in extent to the "season" of the millinery establishments in this country, and we predict that, if the horse does not sink under the experiment, he will infallibly be disabled. Women do not immediately die under it-for they have souls, and an immortal spirit will for a time give energy to wasted bones and shrunk sinews. The sword keeps the scabbard from falling in ; but it cannot keep it from decaying. The fear of starvation-aged parents or helpless brothers and sisters at home-the consciousness of loving and being loved by one, who may rescue from thraldom, and give the joys of a humble hearth and happy home-that love of life which buoys up all human beings, and makes the light of the sun pleasant-and, may we not add, in some cases, meek resignation to the decrees of a Providence which is known to slumber not nor sleep, which hears the ravens when they cry, and careth for the lilies of the field, these may all sustain and bear up the sufferers under their hard lot. But the end cometh at last. The bloom which the country girl brought with her disappears, and the yellow, not the white cheek of the sentimental novelist, saddens her face-the light step of health is succeeded by the limping gait of weakness and disease-and the merry laugh is heard no more for ever. Now spring returns; but not to her returns The vernal joy her better years have known. Dim in her breast, life's dying taper burns, And all the joys of life with health are flown. She falls a poor dressmaker girl, and she falls, as all of us will fall, the mere descent of a leaf in the forest of death. Criminal indictments contain what logicians call a major and a minor proposition; the first sets forth that murder is a crime and punishable, and the second goes on to state that A B has committed murder, and that therefore he ought and should be punished. Few counsels ever meddle with the major proposition, but the minor is almost always objected to; and it may be that some ladies who run their eyes over this paper may treat the sufferings of milliners and dressmakers in this very way. "It is quite true," they may say, " that these unfortunate persons are wretched and miserable, but how can I help them. I inflict no hardship on them, and I have no means of alleviating such as others lay upon them." In reply to this, we have simply to state, that if we had not thought that there was a possi bility of lessening the misery of this class of unfor- | fancied conquest made by gauze, the victims of her tunates, we should never have put pen to paper on thoughtlessness would be plying their weary fingers the subject for we can conceive nothing more un- to keep some other imperious belle from being discalled for or pernicious than gratuitously to dilate on appointed. horrors which cannot be remedied, or to expatiate on them one single sentence farther than is necessary to excite public attention to the necessary remedial measures. Eugene Sué and his brother romancers overstep this limit, and dwell on horrors which they know can lead to no good practical end-a course which cannot be too severely reprobated. But, in this case, we hold that every lady, and the higher in rank the better, can do somewhat towards the lessening of the heavy burdens which press on milliners and dressmakers. And here is one way by which it can be done. ARTICLES OF DRESS SHOULD NOT BE ORDERED ON SHORT NOTICE. This is a golden rule, and the non-observance of it entails much misery on the female operative. Many ladies are so thoughtless as to delay giving their orders till the eleventh hour, and then insist on their being executed without the least loss of time, under pain that, if their dresses are not ready by a given hour, their custom and patronage will be forfeited. Now, in nine cases out of ten, there is no necessity for such haste. A ball, a marriage, a concert, a dinner party, a spring or winter day, or a death, are all panic times with those whose interests we are now pleading-days when runs are made not for the gold that perisheth, but for the energies and efforts of helpless wasted girls. Who has not been appalled by the trick-slider of a magic lantern when the face of a figure is suddenly removed, and the grinning skull of a skeleton glares upon you in hideous deformity-and who that is dazzled with the tinsel and show of a ball-room, would not shudder, could the lath and plaster walls fall down by some pantomimic stroke, and reveal the women "in unwomanly rags," and "in poverty, hunger, and dirt," by whom these gorgeous trappings were fashioned? It were a sight not only for sentimentalists falling into hysterics, but for the sober-minded to weep. The stroke of death often comes suddenly, but when it comes slowly, and gives long warning of its approach, we cannot think of the paraphernalia of the grave beforehand inky cloaks" therefore must always, or at least often, be commissioned in haste; but this is the only instance in which the actual want of time can be pleaded. The ball is fixed on long before the marriage is fixed on long before, or, if it be not, ceremony should be curtailed in proportion to the brevity of the warning-the dinner party is long announced, and so generally are spring and winter. But supposing that such were not the case, what woman, deserving the name, will have her dignity compromised by appearing at a ball, church, or drawing-room, with a gown or shawl which were not "sent home" precisely half an hour before she wore it in public? And yet we lately heard of a silly person, who, having received an invitation to a dinner party, learned, on the forenoon of the day of the festival, that a certain individual was to be there, and immediately changed all her ideas as to costume. The gown she had first thought of would not now answer-she purchased a new piece of finery, and told her dressmaker, that, if not ready by six o'clock that evening, it would be the last thing she should ever get from her. In vain the tradeswoman pleaded the multiplicity of pre-engagements, and entreated mercy-the pleas were one and all unheard-the gown was made within the prescribed time-and while the vain butterfly would be dreaming of a But not only on special occasions are ladies unreasonably in haste for their garments -not only will summer's heat or winter's cold, or, what is the same thing, the appearance on the pavement of articles of dress representing the two seasons, drive them post haste to the dressmakerbut much do we fear that almost every article of female costume are by some people commissioned in breathless bustle. The female rage for dress is a strong passion, and, kept under proper restraint and duly regulated, it is one that adds to female loveliness. Awkwardness in dress will spoil a fine form, and even counteract the influence of mental accomplishments. No woman can be inattentive to her dress-for simplicity itself must to a certain extent be the result of studied effort. But, then, the sweetest flowers do not burst at once-they first bud, then blossom, and, at last, expand into the full flower-and, to be true to nature, ladies, if they do not wish to covet the distinction of being female fops, should not too closely follow the monthly fashions. The woman who possesses the ornament of a meek and quiet mind can afford to be behind her neighbours for a day or two in donning the most stylish skirt or polka that ever appeared in the World of Fashion; and those who make the best || wives are those who, on special occasions, do not hesitate to appear in an old gown-for, singular although it may appear, that much libelled article cannot hide a lady. After all the noise made about Hood's Song of the Shirt, it should not seem too much for us to entreat ladies to comply with the simple request, that they should allow time for their dresses being made. That song was written by poor Hood on his deathbed, and whenever it appeared in Punch, it was copied into all the newspapers in the kingdom; it was set to music, and sung by ladies titled and untitled; but what good effects has it produced? It proclaimed the existence of a social evil, with trumpettongue, but the clear notes gradually fell in the distance, and at last the echoes died away; and so will it ever be with sentimentalists-they will whine and shed tears, but they do nothing in the shape of action, and they leave the evil precisely as they found it. Let no lady who reads this give herself over to simpering and sentiment; but let her do and act by following the simple hint which has just been thrown out. It is obvious, however, that this will not do all. Supposing time were to be allowed for the execution of all the orders in the kingdom, the giant evil still remains behind, and consists in this, that there is a superabundance of female labour in Britain. The unprovided females rush in millions to one or other of the following professions-service in families or factories, dressmakers, and governesses. Where all run, all cannot win the race; and water does not more surely run down the sides of a mountain, than over-supply of any thing, whether labour or commodity, always produces lowness of price. If females were to invade the professions of the other sex, a temporary advantage might be secured; but if followed by seasons of depression, what would it avail us that we had starving men as well as starving women? The problem is one of difficult solution, and we cannot now speculate on it; but enough has been said to show that, if we cannot cure the disease, we may smooth the pillow. THE TORCH. THERE is no better sign of the present age than the Such things should not be. It is not just either But the elementary education in Scotland is far less deficient than that a step immediately beyond. There is no part of the country, except perhaps some of the remoter highland glens, where the means of acquiring the elements of reading, writing, and we arithmetic may not be obtained. And many people Assuming, then, that an education higher than The persons for whom they were designed would also show the nature of the instruction to be communicated. The higher elements of classical learning should not be neglected; but branches of a more There is, perhaps, no more practical, a more generally useful, character should also be introduced. remarkable feature in the character of the British population, than the variety of the employments on which they depend for support. We are not a mere nation of agriculturists or manufacturers, or of merchants, but of all these and more, commingled together in various proportions in different parts of the country. The prosperity of the people depends on the skill and success with which all these occupations are pursued, and this skill and success must depend on the intelligence and ingenuity of the persons engaged in them. The commercial and manufacturing supremacy of Britain does not depend only on the extent of her fields of coal and iron, or on the excellency of her harbours. It is not these things alone that has spread her ships over every sea; her hardwares and cottons over every land. It is the intelligence and moral character of her people, developed and educated by her free institutions. It is this that makes the work of an English mechanic worth twice that of a Frenchman or German, and of five times more value than that of a Russian serf. Yet let us not pride ourselves on this. In the New | England states, the higher education of their people enable them not only to compete, but to excel our countrymen; and we have seen it stated, on good authority, that in the manufactories at Lowell, English workmen cannot find employment, on account of their inferiority to the natives. Now, such things should not be; and our educational institutions should be adapted not only to maintain, but to elevate, the position of our people in all branches of industry. They should give to the mass of the people that instruction, in matters of science connected with their employments, which men intended for the learned professions find, or ought to find, in the universities. much for themselves as a despotic king for his subjects? It is perhaps too much to look for any assistance from the government, though the annual sum would be less by far than the cost of a regiment of soldiers. Were there twenty institutions, with four teachers in each, for Latin and Greek, for Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, for Natural History and Chemistry, for English Literature and History, each with a salary of L.150, the whole sum would only be L.12,000 per annum; surely no great amount to elevate the whole educational character of the country. Were the people truly in earnest on the subject, it might soon be procured. But the means of procuring the whole, or at least a large part of the sum, without injury or burden to any one, seems now offered to us. It is now almost universally allowed that there are more hospitals for the support of children in Edinburgh than are at all needed, Of this kind of study, mathematics and natural even were it certain that these institutions are really philosophy probably hold the first place. Not only productive of beneficial results. But this is by no do they train the mind to accurate and connected means the case: and the general feeling of the pubthought; but they teach the mechanic the nature lic rather demands the abolition of the old, than the and use of his tools, the principles of the art he pur- foundation of new hospitals. Now, it is well known sues; the manufacturer learns from them the struc- that a very large sum of money was lately left by ture of his machinery, and the mode in which it Sir William Fettes for charitable purposes-" for operates to produce the designed end; the sailor the maintenance, education, and outfit of young knows from them how to navigate his ship; and people," as it is stated in the almanacs, which sum even to the farmer they are not without benefit. has never yet been appropriated to any special object. To the last, chemistry and natural history may seem It seems no very wide departure from the will of the more directly useful, and the advantages of the for- testator, no grievous encroachment on his benevolent mer branch of study, at least, to all classes is now purposes, to alter the destination of this from an very generally recognised. English literature and object which the good sense of the community concomposition is no less suited to form a branch of siders injurious to one of which it highly approves. general instruction; and if it brings fewer imme- The memory of the founder would be equally prediate results in money or money's worth, its ten- served, and a greater blessing conferred on his dency to elevate, the minds of the people, to country. Even were the authority of Parliament withdraw them from low, base, and degrading required for the change, this would, there can be no pursuits and enjoyments, to give them desires doubt, readily be granted, were the public to move above the ale-house, and pleasures of a higher in the matter. But the public must help themselves kind than cock-fighting or horse-racing; these here; they must let their mind and will be known, may surely compensate for the want of more pal- or nothing will be done for them. The money will pable results. be spent in some other way; probably in building a palace for charity children, which the growing intelligence of the people will before many years compel its guardians to shut up. But some may say, "It is all well enough theorising, and speculating on the advantages of these things. We are well enough aware of that. But how is all this, or even a portion of it, to be attained? Now, it would be a sufficient answer to say, that the difficulty of attaining any desirable object does not render it the less desirable or the less beneficial. Even though we may now see no means of obtaining all this, other persons, by having their attention drawn to the subject, may see some means. Besides other nations have accomplished this, and why should we despair. In Prussia, with a population of about fifteen millions, and with twenty-three thousand elementary schools, there were, in 1837, nearly eight hundred upper schools, and one hundred and thirteen gymnasia, the latter in some branches giving an education equal or superior to that of our universities. And these gymnasia were frequented by a large number of scholars who never carried their education further. In the whole state, of twentytwo scholars in the gymnasia, only one proceeded to the universities, showing how many persons were disposed to take advantage of this higher education, who had no view to any learned profession. And we entertain no doubt that the same desire for a better education exists in our own country, were there equal opportunities of gratifying it. And why, we may ask, should not these exist in Scotland, in Britain, as well as in Prussia? Surely the people of a free country can do as The way and manner in which these schools are to be supported is, however, of minor importance. Let the country be but once convinced of their utility, and we are assured that twelve or twenty thousand pounds per annum would be no obstacle to their erection. Scotland has too long prided herself on the high scale of her people in education and morality, now to fall behind in the glorious career. We are convinced, that when once she sees that her laurels are in danger, the effort to retain them will not be wanting, and that such schools are needed there can be no doubt. The mechanic's institutions rising up in every part of the land, show how strongly one class of the community feel the want. But these institutions can effect little, compared to what might be done by regular teachers residing constantly in a place. A few popular lectures, on chemistry or mechanics, given occasionally in a season, rather destroy curiosity than excite it: rather show than supply the want. It is only by appointing efficient teachers of these various branches of science in various parts of the country, whose fixed salary would enable them to offer instruction at a rate accessible to all, that the wants of the community can be supplied, and the national character of Scotsmen as an educated people maintained. |