New-York daily tribune., 1857-10-17


linen ike sackcloth and scatter ashes upon hs
purple. We are to have three months of sharp and
general temptation into which may be crowded the
experience Of three or Of thirty common place
yesrs. We, who have fosted 90 dulcetly do IN the
stream into great, wetering ocean Of insolvency,
must now paddle up again as best We can; and We
may be sure that there viii be siren or SO upon
the shore hsrpipg 10 US that it s better to steal
than beg: that to owe no man anything is waste
fully imprudent; that failure being in fashion, it is
quite the gentee thing to fail, and that the better
part Of yalor il q surrender at discretion Now We
shall see who will be strong minded enough to put
ws1 into their ears and TO laugh at the wisest
charming. We shall find out of what stuff this
American people is made-the comparative starch
and ductility Of its nature. We shall be able to
estimate the amount Of character and of compact,
earnest genuineness which there is in our United
States society, civic and sylvan The souls Of men
are to be put to the bar and to be tried in and
by these tmes.
Such being the hard ordeal before all, it becomes
US, if we would still be courteous and consderate,
and kindly, to remember those whose temptations
will be the sharpest and whose ruin will be the
saddest. Men in their struggles with fortune are
surest Of help. They are kept aoat BY their social
relations, by the prestige of their past success.
They are sustain ed BY the fragments of the argoesy
upon which they lately hoated. They know where
t, live cheapy, and can go without loss of caste
are to be famine prices and stOppages of work and
of wages the non. employed women have a chefer
claim upon our succor than the non-employed men.
Eypedients do not come to them so readily as to US.
We may walk in fifty avenues in which they would
be Lost in an hour. Our cosrseness and sensuality
perpetuay suggest to them in their sore estate an
easy escape from hunger and hOusslessness. Either
through our fault or by necessity Of nature, they
rather feel than reason and too often mistake emo
ton for Judgment. Despair takes an easy posses
sion Of them and they travel to dissolution with
rapidity which far outstrps our angud and prudent
pace.
No matter how prosperous the times or how
plentiful employment the streams of painted har
lotry sweep up and down our thOroughfares.
These unfortur ates with swagger and smile, still
press toward the early grave of girlhOod. The
death dancers fall away, but the recruits do not fail
Passion, levity-" the perjures of men'-a love Of
silks and eew-gaws-a these keep the ribald aud
rotten ranks full But when that worst of pimps
and least resistibe of procurers, Want, has taken
the field and when the wages of sin are the only
wages earnabe, how will the wrecks of virture be
multiplied The thieves of female innocence know
well their opportunity and improve it with bad
diligence. Those who would fain do something for
its preservation, and who, as they lore mother,
wife or daughter, would all their sisters from
a dishoDOr worse than death, must be upon the
alert with wise advice, with words of encourage
ment, with judcious charity. Aud as every one
should be glad to give, SO needing should be
ashamed to receive In these days false pride ought
to be Of the scarcest
The first great care should be to secure employ
ment for as many women as possible. We have so
contracted their field of wrk, AID so selfshly aud
grsspingly monopolized avocations to which they
were quite equal, that the suspension Of two or
three kids OF industry leaves thousands upon thou
sands of them without honest resources. The rule,
we think especially in these times, should be that
when woman can do what a man is doing, he
should gracefully yield his place to her, or upon de-
murIiDg, be made to do so. Let him take the
roughest share of the worlds work, and dig, fish
ard saw weod, while she spins, measures fabrics
and makes change. Perhaps it is through our
own great blunder that we are better prepared to
rough it than she, but let accept responsibility
which in SUMMER times we have been so ready 10
assume.
There is much less public dependency at present
than might have been reasonably anticipated. If
men do not grin at their misfOrtunes, they still re.
tain decent serenity. In some respects, the panic
has been as good as a play. We have relished the
ever swelling rumors, the strange insolvencles, tho
corner pratte, and the big letters Of the newspa-
pers. Thus far the fever has kept us strong, but
the worst is yet to come. We shall now be called
upon to endure our priyations without the stimulus
Of gossip. Seen of no man, perhaps cheered BY no
msn, We grapple with our fate. When ship is
suddenly laundering the hurry-skurry of the catas-
lrophe may keep many from despair, but he shows
the truest courage who, floating many a long day
and longer night in crazy boat over the wide
waste of waters, still maintains good heart and
hope. Misfortunes such as have befallen tins land
afford priceless opportunities of sefculture, and
should leave the average of good character higher
than they found it. Happy, however humble bis
po.ition, will that man be who can say, when re-
counting these events to mis- children's children:
" It was indeed terrible Winter. Of work and
"wages there was little. The two ends seemed
:. likely never to meet again. The Spring was
:" century ahead. But we struggled on. We kept
L" out of debt. Wekept out Of evil ways. The want