The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-04-09 00:00:00

surely might. be more reformatory efforts founded
than have yet been attempted, if even contem-
plated. Ten millions sterling :of national wealth
actually lost, and worst than lost, to the country,
though oritno.!:.. Suppose that one-half of that
amount was for,.' say, a year or two,' appropriated
to. some really effectual means of dealing with
crime?' Were it tOnmuch to hope, that it might
be in ;that time, if not exterminated, yet so
reduced as to have the effort not only an actual
gain, in--6 pecuniary point of view, but, in other
and higher respects, a real blessing to society ?
Besides, might not much more be done than has
'yet been • attempted . in. enforcing- the moral
and legal responsibility of the ' parents of our
juvenile criminals, and thereby both lessening
the amount of crime, and lowering the cost. of its
results? At present, it appears, the parents of
children who were committed to various reforma-
tories throughout the kingdom contribute about
£2,000 a-year towards their support,—a sum
quite sufficient to pay the salary. and expenses of
her Majesty's Inspector of Reformatory Schools.
But thiS is only a specimen of what might be
done, were the determination but generally
adopted and acted upon, by the Magistrates at
our several Quarter Session's, of making parents;
wherever it• is practicable, contribute to the sup-
port of their criminal children. At the Quarter
Sessions for the West Riding of Yorkshire, last
week, we see this was done, the Magistrates
having unanimously adopted the following resolu-

ion :

" That in the opinion of this Court it is generally
expedient that when magistrates order any child to be
detained in a Reformatory School they should at the
same time issue their summons under section 8 of the
20th and 21st of Victoria, cap. 55; calling upon the
parent or step-parent to appear and shale- cause why an
order should not be made upon him. to contribute
according to his ability towards the support of such
child in such school."

This example of the West Riding magistrates
is eminently deserving of general imitation
throughout the kingdom. It is not merely -that,
by such means, the expense of the efforts to
reform juvenile criminals will be lessened, but,
what is of infinitely greater importance, the
parents themselves will be taught their parental
responsibilities as respects the character and con-
duct of their children, and thereby be constrained
to look more carefully than they now ever do to
their moral and religious training.

For, after all, it is not a question of eco-
nomy but of moral principle ; and the principle
is one which is not applicable to Reformatories
for juvenile criminals merely, but to our youth
generally in their education, that they may not
fall into crime. The instruction of the young
must not only be directed to the cultivation of
the understanding, but must embrace the incul-
cation of morality, and of a morality which
includes, indeed which is based upon, religion.

" The same law of conscience," observes an
eminent writer on national morals, " which
enforces our duty to man, enforces our duty to
God. They cannot be separated. Moreover, it
rests upon religion, and not on religion only, but
on revealed religion, and on its positive institu-
tions. The Ten Commandments, to have any
efficacy, must be taught as positive, not as moral

laws ; as owing their sanction and. obligation,
not to the reason or inclination of the criminal on
whom they are imposed, but to the external
authority, of the Law-giver. All moral laws are
so taught, and must be so taught, to children ;
and when those children grow up, and inquire
for another authority beyond that of their parents,
if it be not found in the voice of God, and in that
voice independent of human fancies and interpre-
tations, it will be powerless." * Here, then, is
the great principle on which not only our Juve-
nile Reformatories, but our schooling and training
of youth generally must be conducted, if it is to
constitute a training-up "in the way they should
go," so that " when they are old they may not
depart from it,"—and in which is a nation's only
security against the fatal inroads of vice and
immorality.

* Sewell.

WOMAN TIIE REFORMER.

How strange, in this age of investigation and social
progress, the power of woman to promote or retard im-
provement should be so seldom adverted to. Her
mission upon earth is one of unselfish, unwearied, un-
changing love. She exists, from the cradle to the grave,
more for others than herself, her ardent devotion achiev-
ing results which are impracticable to man. With her
the last thing that is lost is hope. "L' alarm chc si
peals ela speranza." Her good works flash not like
the bright and vivid lightning, but they pervade our
homes like perpetual sunshine. It is in domestic life
that her virtues bloom the fairest ; it is her privilege to
make that home of which she is mistress happy, to fling
around it a thousand charms; and in her varied rela-
tionships of daughter, sister, wife, and mother, to exer-
cise her gentle and benificent ministry ; and, as our
homes are the centres from whence radiate the good and
evil of the world—for it is the cradle that rules it—women
in that empire of theirs should hold and teach right
principles. Great is the influence which a mother
possesses over the hearts and minds of her children.
From their earliest infancy it is her high vocation to
train them for usefulness and happiness. Mothers
recognise and fulfil your mild though mighty mission,
and all that philanthropists contend and labour for will
be effected.

Woman's cause is man's ; they rise and sink together,
Dwarfed or Godhi.e, bond or free.
Every day gives indication of woman's increasing powei
in the world ; and it is impossible to determine the
influence which it is destined ultimately to exert.
Every intelligent and truehearted woman should em-
ploy, therefore, her magical influence for the develop-
ment of kindly feelings and truthful ideas. Women
must diligently labour to fulfil the duties which society
requires from them ; and. in their own peculiar province
—home, where, by their virtues and good works, they
hold gentle but powerful dominion, mite qui wide, let
it cost what it may—they must not shrink from the
deep responsibility which rest upon them. The
well-being of the world is linked with the edu-
cation of childhood. The touch which gives the
tender twig its first bend, is the conformation
of the mighty tree, and as the decisive moment in
education is the starting point, it is evident that most of
this power is committed into the hands of women. Like
the benutiful dew, their influence is-more felt than seen,
and although we seldom blazon forth their name or their
actions, yet they are 'doing a mighty and a glorious work
they are the true reformers of our country. The time
is past,_we hope for ever, when women require to ho
flattered like children to perform their duty to society. •
The age is exigent, and demands earnestness of thought,
word, and action. This is not the period for indolence.
Distrust of foreign powers, revolutions both of empires
and-of minds indicate an important crisis in the world's
history. Great struggles are going on, and much of
coming consequences will depend upon the position and
the partwhich woman takes in the contest for truth, virtue,
and liberty. A part of her mission, therefore, is to use her
potent influence over the mind of man forhis highest goed.
The early closing movement (never shop after six
o'clock, Saturdays at five o'clock), says Mrs. Balfour,
in practical carrying out, depends entirely upon women.
"Who are the frequenters of shops ? At least twenty
women for one man are the purchasers at all retail shops.
A determination by 'Women not to make a purchase after
a certain hour would soon dee* the question of early
closing. The shopkeeper does not desire to burn his
gas, and keep open his shop, for mere amusement. Let
wonien 'resolve to decide the matter for him, and shops
will continue to close at an early hour ; and the hours
of toil, in other pursuits than those of retail trade,
would lessen from the influence of example and the
alteration of the general custom." Are the linen-
drapers' pale--faced assistants to sink into an early
grave, because thoughtless customers choose to pur-
chase tbeir health with the late-bought commodities ?
Aie our miserable needlewomen to starve or sin that
hey may increase the ill-gotten gains of others ? Shall
the poor drag on their existence in unfit and unwhole-
some dwellings? Shall dstitute children roam for-
saken and uncared-for through our streets ? If nobt,
then, woman unallured by fashion and undete.rreid
leys
ridicule, must boldly act out those great ine
pShe
which enlightened Christianity has taught .
minvtleetntpiorne,veanbdy
that she believes in the universal brotherhood
bhyorhetrengdeenreraodaysocanacdy,
sym-
pathy,ebveyrreadpyrompotf
man,g. awnedakheasst
ahndearmtorsetspErtoineseirvie;gtomtheme
bealerl,s aTndheclmaiminds
of it
and principles 'of women in general are not sufficiently
appealed to in actively promoting the public good. "The
world will never be regenerated till woman understands
that she must be the regenerator" for the native tender-
' ness of her character is such as to incline her to the
sweet office of peace-maker, and make her one of the
greatest reformers of the age.