The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-19


which begins away from home, the world has had
many examples in this philanthropic age We
hear daily ofpersonS who ego about doing good"
but who fail to exhibit amid the dull routine of do
nestle cares and duties 1.-THE of that sef-sacrifc-
ing benevoence which they profess to feel for the
dependents of their neighbors. We are furnished
with an instance in point by an extract from
book lately published in London, entitled 'First
impressions of the New World on Two Travellers
from the Old, in the Autumn of 1858. -
One of these travellers, on reaching a Southern
city, sees in the passage of her hotel a small
negro servant girl, who belongs to q certain
Miss D. Straightway her sympathies expand to-
wards the sable ''drawer of water" W HON she
christens ''dear ToPsY" whom she catechises at
considerable length. She obtains the information
that Miss D. is very kind to her servants, and that
dear ToPsY" 'dresses her, does her room, and
fixes her up altogether" Satisfied apparently
that the girls condition was one of physical hap
piness and comfort, gentle philanthropist pro-
ceeded to take account of her mental defcien-
cies. She was rewarded amply for her trouble as
the result showed that this child of fourteen could
not read and would not say her prayers Here
was case of benighted wickedness unparalleled
in the world-an example of the working of the
peculiar institution an incident to be set
down and enlarged upon in the forthcoming book.
But let us give an extract from the charming con-
versations between 'fthem twain " which will show
the extreme wretchedness of ''dear ToPsY's'' con-
dition, and the extraordinary interest it awakened
IN our traveller, whose account is as follows:
lean you read NO Miss D. has often tried to teach
me, but never could learn. Spect am too large to
learn now We lecured her about this and gave her Sir
Edward Parry's favorite advice. to try again.
them ALL every Sunday; but probably not in very in
structVe manner. She said her name was Almira I
gave her Miss Marshs Light for the Line which han
pened to be the only book had by me which was at all
ana tod her to get it read to her and that was
sorry had nothing else to give her; but shall try this
morning to get her alphabet in order to ENCOURAGE
her to make another attempt to learn read AT parting
last night, spoke as solemnly as could to he-, and
told ter we should probably meet again in this
world, but that should be to meet hereafter at
the judgment seat of God entreaed her to remem
Der the advice had given her.
ave should like very much to buy Aimira and bring
her home to make nursery maid her. and teach her
all she ought to know and spect after all she is not too
large to learn, poor young slave!n
Now if this tender-hearted lady had proposed
'to buy ALMIRA," with the sole object of COM
pleting her education, we might have thought her
purpose highly laudable but when her house
wifery-prudence contemplated making "a nursery
'maid of her." as part of her system we wonder
it did not occur to her, that perhaps Miss DIS
method was not so very outrageous after ALL 1t
is true, the latter had been unsuccessful in teach
ing the alphabet; but it is questionable, whether
"dear Tory" would have found any additional
pleasure in life, from a course of reading which
dimly opened with 'Light for the Line"
AT all events, this English view of the f'poor
"young slave" does not strike us as being par
tcularly promsingo or unselish But to discuss this
was not our intention. We wished only to illus
trate that prevailing tendency of some good people
to be sensitively alive, when abroad TO the ident-
cal evils which have always surrounded them at
home, without, perhaps, moving their enthusiasm
or pity. How many young boys and girls may
we suppose traveller to have met in England
who could not read, and whom she nevertheless
passed by with unruffled selfcomplacency? For
how many little shoe-blacks and pot-boys around
the taverns of her own country must we presume
her to have purchased ''alphabetsY Does She
in her native highwaysand by-weys, 'lecture" all
who are 'too large to learn, and giving the per-
haps, comfortable assurance to infants that she
will never see them again 'in this world" adjure
them solenlnly to mind their letters? Not that we
would sneer at such things do we ask these ques-
tons. On the contrary, we would commend such
acts most heartily. But until we shall learn that
this lady is devoting her life and abors to the re-
generation of that enormous class which, in Great
Britain, is existing in abject ignorance, we cannot
out regard her sorrowing over the illlterate
ALMRA, as misplaced and sentimental.