The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-06 00:00:00

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.

Sunday-schools, when established by Mr. Robert Raikes
and the Rev. Mr. Stock, in 1781, were evidently for the
purpose of instilling Christian truths and principles into
the minds of the labottring classes, and not for secular
instruction. If their principles had been fully carried
out, no doubt our peasantry would not have been in that
demoralised and demoralising condition in which they now
are. True it is that much has been done of late, and
much is being done in the present day towards amelio-
rating the condition of the poor. But unless the founda-
tion of education be on religious principle, then will it be
far better to give them no education at all. Teach the
rising generation their duty towards God and their duty
towards their neighbour, as first principles, then give them
whatever secular ecliacation you please. Unless this be
done, we shall always find that a want of true education
will be one of the great causes of crime.

The words

"true educatio:

just quoted is the real and

body must

occupied

1. exercis

each be

nourished by proper -food ; then kill each go on in a
healthy and vigorous manner. But if false principles,
bad examples, and bad precepts are allowed to be pre-
sented to the young mind, the prevalence of folly and crime
must be inevitable.

On the demoralising influences of poverty, our
author is likewise convincingly and practically
eloquent. His experience leads him to disapprove
of many provisions of the poor law; not, be it
remembered, merely as a philanthropic theorist,
but as an eye-witness of the evils which almost
inevitably result from the working out of the
system. Most thinking men and women will concur
in the truthfulness of the following remarks on the
ADMINISTRATION OF PAROCHIAL RELIEF.

Poverty and destitution must bring into the dwellings
of the poor, pestilence or disease of some sort, before
they can be found to merit help from the Unions. It is
one great defect in our poor-law system, that the honest
poor man in health is left almost to starve, or be driven
to commit crime in order to obtain food to satisfy nature,
not only for himself but for his poor wife and dependent
children. We are willing to admit that the poor working
man is often improvident when in full employ, and neglects
that, which the ant and the bee are observed to do, viz.,
provide for the necessities of the winter season • but we
ought to look with Christian charity on the weakness and
follies of our poorer and more ignorant fellow-creatures.
The present mode of administering relief to the poor is
very objectionable in many points of view, too frequently
offering, as it were, a bonus to poverty. It is to be
regretted that our Union Poor Houses are little better
than nurseries of vice. We will not enter into any prolix
arguments to prove this assertion ; to a reflecting mind,
and to one who can trace effects from causes, this state-

ment is self-evident. Suffice it to say, that the fact of a
person being in a state to entitle him to parochial relief,
is considered degrading to all the fine feelings of human
nature : for one of the effects of receiving such relief, and
in such a manner, is the loss of self-respect ; which is a
great cause of crime. A certain degree of reasonable
pride and independence of thought and action tend to
elevate the character, for there is an instinctive feeling in
human nature to desire to be thought good and respect-
able—hence the love of dress, and the wish to have good
furniture and a clean household. We knew an instance
of a woman having a large family and a dranken husband,
all living together in two small rooms. She was very
industrious, and a good needle-woman ; by her exertions
she maintained herself and children. When brought to
a state of starvation, she opened her heart and related
her troubles ; she was advised to put her children in the
Union Workhouse. She said, " What, put them in that
den of infamy ! One of my girls was there for a short
time, and fr, what sb- "'hat she related to

sue saw, and
me, I would rather see them dead, than
school of vice and wickedness.

The object of the author of this very unpre-
tending volume is to lay bare the immoral and
irreligious maladies which in their more aggra-
vated forms afflict society. The purpose of his
exposition is salutary. That he is not the only
labourer in the field is true, and that truth is at
once a source of grief and of rejoicing—of grief,
that the malady is so extensive and inveterate as
to require, while it defies, so many goodly efforts
for its cure—of rejoicing, that, thankless as the
task is, there is still so numerous a body of good
and enlightened men to grapple with and combat
its loathsomeness.

The Christian _Life : a Manual of Sacred Verse
By Robert Montgomery, M.A. Sixth Edition

London : Riving-lons

This very handsome little volLunes is, indeed,
what its title professes it should be—a manual of
sacred verse. The writings of this rev. gentleman
have been long extensively known to the religious
public ; and the fact that this volume has reached
its sixth edition speaks more loudly in its favour,
and of the author's popularity, than the most
laboured panegyric we could bestow. The volume
is dedicated by permission to Her Majesty, and
contains a collection of Mr. Montgomery's smaller
pieces, with which most of our readers must be
familiar. That he is a more zealous Churchman
than an obsequious courtier, will be obvious from
the lines with which he ends his collection. They
are from a poem entitled

GOD SAVE TILE CU

God save the Church and save the Queen !
Mitre and Throne have ever I
To weal and woe alike related
By Truth revered, and Treasc
" God save the Church !" be -.
Both while we live. and when we die
For, rail her foemen as they will,
The Church is England's glory still !

The above quotation we think will be readily
admitted as no very tame conclusion to a volume
dedicated by permission to Her Majesty.

The Human Hair Popularl, and Physiologically

Considered.

By Alex. Rowlind

Under this title we have a book full of interest
and amusement. This work of Mr. Rowland is an
important addition to onevery limited ethnological
literature. It also treats the physiology of
portion of the human cuticle in a superior manner,
the microscopical plates and descriptions being in
the most masterly style. An abundance of interest-
ing anecdotes relative to the hair are scattered
through the book. The work contains the only
rational rules for managing the hair we ever recol-
lect to have seen in print.

The Band of Rape Alnzanack.
Among the several sheet almanacks which have
reached us, we give preference of commendation to
this one, chiefly because it is made an instrument
in the attempt to promote the moral improvement
of the humbler classes. For aiding in such a com-
mendable effort, it is in all respects well adapted,
and is, moreover, so tastefully got up that it will
form an appropriate adornment to the cottage-
parlour.