The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-07 00:00:00

THE SUFFERING FAMILY.

Among the numerous charities of London there
is one just now which is more particularly appeal.
ing to public sympathy—one for which that sweet
Songstress, no less remarkable for her Benevolence
than for her Genius—Jenny Lind—has recently
contributed her all-powerful aid—the Royal Hos-
pital for Incurables. In a kindred spirit the popular
authoress of "Hope Evermore" (a name peculiarly
significant for her of present success !), Mrs. Gordon
Smythies, has just published a charming little
poem written in aid of this most invaluable hospital.
The poem is pathetically entitled, " Incurable." It
contains a graceful little tale of the rival loves of
the fascinating Brillante and the fair and charitable
Eva. From the introduction we quote the follow-
ing heart-appealing lines, which can hardly fail to
meet with a fitting response from our readers :
Incurable! Oh, ponder on that word,
You, who in rosy health and radiant life
Bask in the sun, like summer flowers stirred
By gentle zephyrs I—Ponder on that strife
Between th' immortal soul and mortal frame,
That in the humble home of Want and Woe
Rent the poor heart, when calm-eyed Science came,
And whispered that dread word of doom I And, oh I
Think then, how paled the cheek of wedded truth I
What gushing grief, by manly pride supprest I
How stricken down, th' all hoping heart of Youth,
What sobs convulsed fond woman's faithful breast,
While " The Doomed" murmured, " Lord, thy will be done 1
But, must I be a burthen to the end?
Oh, Father I for the sake of thy dear Son,
Provide the shelter, and raise up the friend I "

The prayer was heard—and never earnest prayer,
Swift winged by Faith, was known to miss the throne
Of Grace and Mercy I Nor, arriving there,
Has failed to bring the heavenly blessing down;
And good men's hearts were stirred, and the great need
Of " The Incurable" engrossed the mind
Of Science's darling son--lamented Reed I
The modern Howard I lover of his kind I
But still thy spirit, generous Reed, survives ;
" The Suffering Family," released from care,
Dwell in the peaceful home that grows and thrives,
Longing to shelter all The Cureless there.
Father, and Friend, of this great charity,
"Too soon for Friendship, not too soon for Fame,"
Thou wert called home I What tears were shed for thee I
When to thyself the cureless sickness came,
And the long labour of thy love was o'er,
And Sorrow's Friend was borne, where Sorrow is no more

Much has been done—but much remains to do;
Nine-tenths, alas I of those who seek our home,
The " Cureless," Hopeless I with their weight of woe
(Shunning, with decent pride, the union's gloom),
Implore, in vain, the shelter of the walls
Of our most Christian Hospital, whose halls
One day, wo humbly hope, shall yet contain
All the poor victims of a cureless pain,
As Mrs. Smythies very justly remarks in her pre-
face, the charity for which she pleads has especial
claims on public sympathy. " Great bodily pain is
hard to hear, even when 'Hope, the charmer, lin-
gers still behind,' and when ' troops of friends' sur-
round the sufferer, and all that wealth and skill can
do to soothe and solace is done. But what must be
the anguish, the misery, the despair of those who
are dismissed (through a dire necessity) from hos-
pitals devoted to the cure of disease, and who,
hcuseless, penniless, friendless, find themselves dis-
missed as Incurable,' and know not whither to
turn, or to which shelter to crawl, to await the per-
haps tardy but inevitable doom." As tending to
alleviate such affliction, we most heartily wish the
Royal Hospital every success, and we have great
pleasure in commending Mrs. Smythies' very
graceful little poem, both for its individual claims
upon our attention, and for the philanthropic sen-
timents which animate it.

PARISH RATES AND GIN PALACES.—Hogarth
painted side by side, and as connected by human
communications, the pawn-shop, the gin-shop, and the
workhouse, and George Cruikshank may do the same to-
day, and with equal truth to nature--that is to say, human
nature. There is no place in the world where labour so
abounds as in London; no place in the world where men,
no matter of what class, if willing to be sober and useful,
have so many chances of success in life, yet the poon•rates
1 range from a few pence to many shillings in the p ound,
as we pass from parish to parish, and we
have
always a population of paupers in our workhou.sesi
sufficient to form a strong colony, provided their phyr:
and moral stamina were in proportion to their nninbsicce
and
God forbid we should make a wholesale charg
profligacy against the whole mass of unfortunates With
which hospital and workhouse experiences k
who
If1:y ifloiarrt.:niesceosnsatrhyeegirpozn,dcs, hofowtheevesrt,aittbeha,apt thinealfsoolkfosrwt
leaful appetite—
unnecessary results of indulgence.in
somisoceohsaarpe inro the
that
°fide:for p P pri-
that wo claimi for
t tteirio:shuicalofa ui
it
wheour
si
power to regu a e
below George
rll'7.e
Rochester-bridge,
Jenkins,
.:
a t ed
CAPTUREtot salehe
ta
Fo f
Ai n t ossiircuawßt is.onsgEnd:r innrlkess . —.l
naCtE.::
si_\
~-PaiviE• :D.: sal.tvi A 1
Early yesterday
being ngth, and its
ells' in
Limehouse• reach' .
morning,
istancaes
fisherman, Of Rochester, was d
unusually large .
sturgeon
which, after some difficulty e landed. The fish, which is
he succeeded in capturing
he
is
cr!, -.. .
The sturgeon
~, the largest ever caught in an English
river,as
found to measure exactly seven feet, in 1, . V. 7 _
welg
1" fish, belongs by ancient charter what
i 8
termed a
~ roya
• ht is 1701hs. T
tothe NT
Rochester, and on receiving it his bi --aYor of
warded it as a present to the Prince worship
at OIICG for-
warded
of the water bailiff, th© fish b of Wales, in the cus•
Dlarlborough-house yesterday afternoon,eing delivered alive at
large sturgeon captured in the river This is the second
short time, the last royal fish Medway within a very
fisherman who tffected this being caught by the same
capture.