The National Register.
London, England, 1816-11-18 00:00:00

:MBER 18, 1816.

MONDAY, NI

- ,
*not
instance in which a poor fa4lly is driven by distress to
take refuge in a workhouse, an encumbrance has been
entailed on the funds of the inuish never to be redeem-
ed, even in part, except by a change of system ; by es-
couraging that industry and prudence which no act of
parliament can compel, stud by assisting them with in-
creased means and advantages of life, calculated to en-
able them to support themselves and their families in
their own cottages, withnueptuuchial relief.'
" What reason would rata tb to conclude, and what
benevolence would induce us to , Is in theseinstens
ces abundantly proved hy• experience. Nen are easily
led to their duty. ' A child,' says the Eastern proverb,
' may lead the elephant by a single hair.' Try the ef-
fect of good will and hope upon dee men who has wrspt
himself in the covering of a wraekless and stubborn des-
pair, and you will see verified the old apologue of the
sun, and the wind, and the traveller. His heart will
open like a flower that clops st night, and expands its
pads to the morning sun. The better parts of his na.
ture will be put forth like the tendrils of the sea-ane-
mune, when it feels the first wave of the returning tide
upon its rock. A beautiful instance of the effect of
kindness upon a most hopeless subject is related by Mr.
' Weyland in the volume which is now before us ; it
would be doing rinjustioe to the able and benevolent
author were we to give it In any other language than
his own.
" " I have seen a poor defortned cripple in a work-
, house attain his 20th year with not a spark of moral
culture, with ears through apish the accents of kind-
ness and encouragement were never directed to his
heart ; the object of complete tseoect, if not of acorn
and contempt, to all by whom he was surrounded.—
, His mind not highly endowed by nature, completely
blunted by hard usage, eppeoached to ittioey, aid his
countenance exhibile4 a mixture of sullenness, envy; and
despair. I have seen this miserable object taken by she
hand of a benevolent individutebis rage exchanged for
decent cloathing, strange wit& etkin&ess and encou-
ragement addressed to him astonished ear, a spelling-
book placed in his-lank, his stops directed to a sunday-
school, and flattering approbation bestowed upon his
earnest but quite abortive efforts to learn to read., Al-
though little actual knowledge was imparted, a more
complete moral revolution was never observable in man.
The eye, before dejected, was righted up with joy and
hope ; the countenance distorted with envy and furrowed
with the deep lines of despair, relaxed into a cheerful
smile; an interest for his own improvement was excited
in his mind, and kept alive by she consciousness that his
benefactor card for him. The smile of pleasure, with
which that benefactor was con,stmoly wed, imparted u
joy only to be equalled by his humble thankfulness for
having been the instrument of such a change in the heart
of a fellow-creature. But if them were bis feelings as a
philanthropist and a Christian, 1 thlnk that he might
also fairly indulge some sense of gratification as a politi-
cian. The dirty and vicious habits, to which this poor
creature was formerly a prey, werd far from incapacitat-
ing him from becoming the sther of a family as wretch-
ed and denuded as himself. He would have been satis-
fied to lie down with his partner in the hovel of a work-
house, and to pullulate without emitroul. But feelings
I of decency and self -rasped have now induced better
habits. His mind it diverted towards objects more re-
mote from the brutal part of his nature, and it is probi-
ble that he will, at least, • become a beanbag if not an
useful member of society.' 'T.
" The Society have colltietesi rive valuable examples
of what may be effected b, willing industry, when there
is hope to encourage it.. A tenant of Mr. Way's, in Suf-
fidk, died, leaving a widose with fourteen children, the
eldest, of whom was i girl under fourteen years of age :
he h.el rented fourteen acres of pasture land on which
he kept two cows ; these cows, with the little furniture
and cloathing, were all the arty he left. The parish
of which he had been an in t cons within the dis-
trict of an incorporated house. industry, where the
rule was to receive proper ohjeeta within the walla, but
not to allow any thing for the =lst poo, except in pe.
culiar cases. The di:vetoes ei thwerstablishorent offered
to relieve the widow by oiling hoe •SCV42II youngest
children into the house. it' ihay oe...difficult to say what
system of affording relief toe peer is best, but this
rit.
may be affietnol without lire, that whatever sys-
tem tends to weaken the do affections by separat-
ing child from parent, is radically laid. When this was
propmed to the widow, she repel in grant agitation
that she would rather die in working to maintain her
children, than part with ally of them ; or she would go