The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-10 00:00:00

UNCLE BENJAMIN'S SERMON.

Not many hours ago I heard Uncle Benjamin dis-
cussing this matter to his son, who was complaining
of pressure.
" Rely upon it, Sammy," said the old man, as he
leaned on his staff, with his grey locks flowing in the
breeze of a May morning, " murmuring pays no bills.
I have been an observer many times these 50 years,
and I never saw a man helped out of a hole by curs-
ing his horses. Be as quiet as you can, for nothing
will grow under a moving harrow, and discontent
harrows the mind. Matters are bad, I acknowledge,
but no ulcer is any better for being fingered. The
more you groan the poorer you grow. Repining at
losses is only putting pepper into a sore eye. Crops
will fail in all soils, and we may be thankful that we
have not a famine. Besides, I always took notice that
whenever I felt the rod pretty smartly, it was as much
as to say, here is something which you have got to
learn.' Sammy, don't forget that your schooling is
not over yet, though yen have a wife and two chil-
dren."
"Aye," cried Sammy, you may say that, and a
mother-in-law and two apprentices into the bargain,
and I should like to know what a poor man can learn
here, when the greatest scholars and lawyers are at
loggerheads, and can't for their lives tell what has
become of the hard money."
Softly, Sammy, I am older than you ; I have not
got these grey hairs and this crooked back without
some burdens. I could tell you stories of the days of
when my grandfather used to
bills to pay for a yearling or a
w
thhe women used thorns for pins,
andteapotsit away in the garret. You
Tfao n
tt charity,hyionui w
h a v
when continentalswttis
ffeha atlto
ofisadun knowl,kt a
their
nembdi
roo money, ehyw,
a t
when
you can learn. You may learn
—First : That you have saved
anden things
sp :
spent too much. I never taught you to
but I have seen you give your dollar for
You might have laid one-half aside
Thesebt oe o
a li
miser,ttslee v
half for a rainy day. Second :
hand n-
goonee
too much upon credit. I al-
ways told you that credit was a shadow ; there
is
m a
aislubbotdaynce behind, which casts the shadow ; but a
may cast a greater shadow, and no wise
man will follow the shadow any farther than he can
see the substance. You may have learnt that you
small
have followed a shadow, and been decoyed into a
bog. Thirdly : That you have gone in too much
haste to become rich. Slow and easy wins the race.
Fourthly : That no course of life can be depended
upon as always prosperous. lam afraid the younger
race of working men in America have a notion
that nobody would go to ruin this side of the
water. Providence has greatly blessed us, and
we
en e have
you have not been thankful enough to God for his
fits
becomepast
ti presumptuous. Fifthly : That
times.
Sixthly : That you may be
thankful our lot is not worse. We might have
famine or pestilence, or war, or tyranny, or all to-
gether. And, lastly, to end my sermon, you may
learn to offer with more understanding the prayer of
our infancy, Give us this day our daily bread.
The old man ceased, and Sammy put on his apron
and told Dick to blow away at the forge bellows.—
American Paper.

John C. Ring, Esq., delegate from the branch of
the Australian Anti. Convict League in Victoria has arrived
in town. The subscriptions in Victoria alone to resist the
continuance of convict transportation to Australia amount
to upwards of 6,000 guineas.
One night last week a large flock of quails alighted
in the streets of Geneva, apparently in a state of stupor from
fatigue and the bad wdather. The few persons who hap-
pened to be out of doors at that late hour, caught a great
number of them, and even in the morning several still re-
mained. Flocks ofthese birds are frequently seen on the coast
of the Mediterranean, but very seldom in other countries.
MUNIFICENT
CHARITABLE BEQUEST.—Mr. James
Mentor, late of hose-street, Soho, coffee-roaster, recently
deceased, has by his will,
after leaving various legacies to his
relatives and friends, bequeathed the residue of his property,
which will amount to between 2,000/. and 3,0001., to the
Grocers' and Tea Dealers' Benevolent Protection Society, to
be applied for the objects of the said society, and in accord-
ance with the rules thereof. Mr. Mentor was an annual sub-
scriber to this society for many years, but took no part in its
affairs, though he often expressed his approval of the objects
of the society and of the careful management of its funds.
The Grocers' and Tea Dealers' is strictly a benevolent insti-
tution, having for its object the granting of permanent an-
nuities to distressed honest members of the trade and their
widows in old age and infirmities, and of temporary assist-
ance, at the discretion of the committee, to their orphan
children. The society also embraces in its rules East and
West Indian merchants, brokers, sugar-refiners, and im-
porters of and dealers in colonial and foreign produce, whose
principal business is connected with the trade of a grocer or
tea-dealer.
•

,It was yesterday announced to the customers of
the Berks Union Banking Company at Newbury that from
that date the business of the concern, including its branches,
would be transferred to the London and County Joint-Stock
Bank. The branches were five—namely, at Reading, Abing-
don, Wallingford, Windsor, and Wantage, and, under the
new arrangement, these, as well as the head-office, will be
carried on as usual, with the exception that the branches at
Abingdon and Wantage will merge in similar establishments
already possessed by the London and County Bank at those
was
places. 36 JAL, The capital of the 'Jerks Union Company
and the number of shareholders was 63. It was
I formed in 1841.