The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-08 00:00:00

Voetrp.

ON THE• PICTURE OF A CHILD TIIIED OF PLAY

BY N. P. WILLIS.
Tired of play! tired of play !
What has thou dore this live-!ong day ?
The birds are silent, and so is the Lee;
The sun is creeping up steeple and tree;
The doves have flown to the sheltering eaves,
And the nests are dark with drooping leaves;
Twilight gathers, and day is gone—
How has thou spent it—restless one !

Playing ? But what has thou done beside
To tell thy mother at even tide;
What promise of morn is 12ft unbroken?
What kind word to thy pla-mate spoken ?
Whom has thou pitied, and whom forgiven?
How with thy faults has duty striven?
What hast tilAu learn'd by field and hill,
By green-wood path, and by singing rill?

There will come an eve to a longer day,
That will find thee tired—but not with play !
And then thou wilt lean, as thou leanest now,
With droopiug lieu,s and an aching brow,
And wish the shadows would faster creep,
And long to go to thy quiet sleep.
Well were it then if thine aching brow
Were as free from sin and shame as now

Well for thee if thy lip could tell
A tale like this, of a day spent well,
If thine open hand hath relieved distress—
If 11, pity hath sprung to wretchedness—
if tam has ft. given the sore offence,
And humbled thine heart with penitence—
If Nature's voices have spoken to thee
With their holy meanings eloquently—
If every creature hath won thy love,
From the creeping worm to the brooding dove—
If never sad, low spoken word.
-Bath pleaded thy heart unheard—
Then, when the night steals on as now,
It will bring relief to thine aching brow,
And with joy and peace at the thought of rest,
Thou wilt sink to sleep on thy mother's breast.

CONTE 31 PO RA Y PRESS.

PRIZE FIGHTING.
(From the Morning Herald.)
A prize fight, which took place a few days aen, in the
neighbourhood of Newcastle, terminated in the murder
on the spot of one of the combatants. For blood, shed
in such circumstances, surely, the magistrates in the vi-
cinity are morally responsible.
It. is beyond measure disgraceful, that gentlemen, to
whom is intrusted the high office of preserving peace in
their respective neighbourhoods, should tolerate, on any
pretext, the demoralising exhibitions of the prize ring.
Let a labourer, in a state of intoxication, commit a slight
assault—and he is, forthwith, very properly, visited with
reproof and punideuent by the next magistrate. Let
an offence be perpetrated against the vagrant laws—ur
let a person, on the brink, it may be, of starvation, at-
tempt to sustain nature by begging—or, vet again, let a
poor widow be supposed to obstruct the passage of the
streets, by erecting an humble stall for the sale of fruit:
let any of these outrages against the majesty of law be
hazarded, and the alacrity with which both in town and
in country these outrages are avenged is edifying in the
highest degree. But let a couple of ruffians proclaim,
through all the organs of the press, their intention on a
specified day,. of beating each other, it may be, to death,
in order to gratify the " lovers of manly sports"—and
the same guardians of the law, in whose opinion a ca•
seal assault calls for summary punishment, and in whose
eyes the stalls by which -poor applewomen occasionally
support their children are abominations—look calmly,
nay, in some cases, approvingly on! No man will deny
that a prize fight involves a breach of the peace, and is,
the cause, besides, of disorderly meetings, from which
the most formidable breaches of the peace may follow.
Why then are nut the intending combatants immediately
belt to bail, or imprisoned, as the circumstances of tire
case may warrant ? Why, if the existing law does not
afford means, sufficiently summary, for the suppression
of these infamous outrages against the decencies of so-
tiety, why, we ask, du not gentlemen in the commission
Of the peace apply to the legislature fur powers of a suf-
ficiently comprehensive kind ?
• The stale and stupid cant which is occasionally uttered
in defence of prize-fighting assumes that the exhibitions
Of the prize-ring conduce to the growth of " manly ha-
bits" in the labouring population ! Now, certainly, the
most superficial reflection on the subject must induce.
grave. doubts as to the process by which the sight of two.
vagabonds pummelling each other for hire can, by possi-
bility, render the witnesses of such stupid brutality more
" manly" than they were before. On the same princi-
ple, the sight or game-cocks pecking out each other's
eyes must also conduce in a remarkable degree to the
growth of " manliness;"—whilst, again, the sight of a
bull destroying dogs, or enduring torture by their means,
must elevate the lookers-on to the level of absolute he-
roism ! For our own parts, although we can very well
understand how men, by doing and suffering, in their
own persons, in an honourable cause, may acquire, in
time, habits of fortitude, we must confess ourselves
puzzled to comprehend how " manly" feelings are to be
generated in the breasts of men, by calmly regarding the
perpetration of cruelty, whether inflicted on game-cocks.
or on beings wearing the form of humanity.
On the subject of the " manliness" of the prize-ring
we may observe, that when the labouring population of
England was beyond cOmpaeison more truly manly in
their habits than they have -ever :been since the reign of
steam-engines, and ceettor- factories, and gin-palaces corn •
menced, prize-fighting.. was unknown. We can under•
stand how the , ancient pastimes of cricket, and single-
stick, and dancing round a rampojeirnay have conduced
to " manliness"—for all those garne: conduced to health
and tended to the diffusion of kindly feelings—and all
the people present were, or might be actors, as well as
spectators in those spirit-stirring pastimes! But do
prize-fights conduce to the general health ?„ Why, they
are concocted in gin-shops, and in other similar haunts;
where the very sources of health and manliness and mo-
rality are corrupted! Anti as to the ultimate effects ,of
prize-fighting—what are these! Simply, the effects of
~,,,ambling in the most hideous form which gambling can
assume. Prize-fighting generates in the very humblest
classes the habit of gambling in human suffeling—it may
be, in human blood. Prize-fighting inures its patrons to
scenes of cruelty, and hardens the heart against some of
the strongest impulses of humanity. The poor man
risks his day's or his week's wages on the issue of a
prize-fight, soon acquires " philosophy" enough to wish
success to the ruffian whom he " backs," even at the ex-
of life to the opposing ruffian—or on the other
t • •
hand he would see, without compunction, the death on
the spot of his own peculiar favourite, rather titan lose
his money, while the slightest chance of success re-
mained. Nor are the misanthroptcal feelings which
gambling of a less brutal kind excites inactive in the
Prize-fighters are amongst the most faith•
less of the classes in whom least faith is reposed. Loaded
dice are not more treacherous. Suspicion and cunning
are, therefore, generated in the bosoms of the humblest
s yporters of the prize-ring, as certainly as feelings teft
avaAce and cruelty are. The prize-ring is, perhaps;
even more destructive in its influences on the labouring
poor than the gin-shop itself; for the prize-ring can, un-
fortanattly, boast of the seductive patronage of a few
men of rank au,l fortune, whilst the gin-shop must de-
;end, generally speaking, on its own inherent attrac-
tions !

Tire frequency, of late, of murders by fighting, de-
mands, undoubtedly, that the guardians of the law should
not be permitt-d, by their gross apathy, to violate the
sacred trust reposed in them. If, again, as may, per-
!rips, be the fact, the kiwi rsow in existeice on the sub-
ject of this class of otTences he not sufficiently stringeut,
the magistrates ought, undoubtedly, to be forthwith in.
vested with powers sufficiently comprehensive to meet
the emergencies which these cases create! Prize-fights
are announced by advertisement ; for, without the aid
of advertisements, there would be found few betters and
no spectators. These advertisements contain the avowal
of an intention to violate the law, by the intending yin-
.r..rs themselves ! Why, therefore, should not every
nee-Ist:ate be invested with the power of sending the
ruffians. to the tread-mill, on the strength of the evi-
denc,-., which they have themselves supplied ? Unless
course of this kind shall be adtpted, it is vain t
that the reviving nuisance of the prize-ring wil
, er be effectually abated

THE TURK AND HIS PIPE —The fondness of a Turk fur his
:ipe is quite a passion ; morning, noon, and night he scarcely
lita it; he sleeps often with it in his mouth and on awakening
occupies his first thoughts. During the fast of the Ithamailun,
wheu for the live-long day he is forbidden by the precepts of
his religion to eat, drink, or use any manner of enjoyment,
t ,ndreds may be seen just before sunset with their pipes filled,
:41(1 a hurulog coal by their side, anxiously watching the dis-
i..vearauce of the sun ; and that 'nstant every coal drops on
tne tobacco, anil a heavy protracted draw through the tube pro-
claims the lon.r-expected and exquisite enjoyment; nor will the
:rk break his fast till he has smoked his pipe ont.--.4./.liron's
DAMUSCIU and Ptilmyra.
3UUNING or a STEAM-BOAT IN THE BALT ru.—Letters have
been received by the. Handingg mail, announcing the loss by
tire of the steam-boat Nicholas the First, Captain Stahl, which
plied between St. Petersburgh and Lubec. The boat was on
her voyage from St. Petersburgh, with 133 passengers and a crew
of men, and was discovered to be on fire on the 30th ult. when
within a few miles of Travemunde (the port of Lubec.) She
was run ashore as speedily as possible, but was burned down to
the water's edge; and we regret to say that three of the passen-
gers and two of the crew are missing. The mail bags, contain-
ing, it is supposed, many letters from this town, with consider.
able orders for Natal, are believed to have been destroyed.
There was on hoard a cask of gold, (about /2.6.000,) which it is
. hoped may be sated from the wreck. It is not known how the
fire originated.
Sirocktatri ACCIDENT AT A COLLIERY.—About seven o'clock
on Monday morning, a dreadful explosion of fire damp took
place in a cannel pit of Messrs. Lees, lees, and Co., at Bull
Foot Lane End, knot Lanes. near Oldham. There were two
rwiners and two waggoners (boys) in that part of the mine.
The two boys, Thomas Anderton and John Wolfenden, were
i!ebuTl (teed; toe two men, Benjamin Dean and George Wol-
arnterewh;u7r burned in a shocking tnanner, and died shortly
It is not known in what manner the explusion
originated.