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diff --git a/17245-8.txt b/17245-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd77927 --- /dev/null +++ b/17245-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2436 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 428, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 428 + Volume 17, New Series, March 13, 1852 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers + +Release Date: December 6, 2005 [EBook #17245] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL + +CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S +INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c. + + +NO. 428. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1852. PRICE 1½ _d._ + + + + +THE DINNER-BELL. + + +In one of Webster's magnificent speeches, he remarks that so vast are +the possessions of England, that her morning drum-beat, following the +sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one +continuous and unbroken strain of its martial airs. There is another +musical sound, within the British islands themselves, which does not as +yet quite traverse the whole horary circle, but bids fair to do so in +the course of time, and to this we would direct the attention of the +American secretary, as a fitting subject for a new peroration. We allude +to the Dinner-bell. At noon, in the rural districts of England, this +charming sound is heard tinkling melodiously from farm or village +factory; at one, in the more crowded haunts of industry, the strain is +taken up ere it dies; and by the time it reaches Scotland, a full hungry +peal swells forth at two. At three till past four there is a continuous +ring from house to house of the small country gentry; and at five this +becomes more distinct and sonorous in the towns, increasing in +importance till six. From that time till seven and half-past, it waxes +more and more fashionable in the tone, till at eight it stops abruptly: +not like an air brought to a conclusion, but like one broken off +accidentally, to be by and by resumed. + +The dinner hours of the labouring-class are no doubt regulated according +to business, and perhaps receive some modification from national +character. An Englishman, for instance, is said to work best after his +meal, and accordingly his dinner makes its appearance sometimes as early +as noon, but never later than one; while a Scotchman, who is fit for +anything when half-starved, is very properly kept without solid food +till two o'clock. As for the smaller gentry, who scorn to dine at +workmen's hours, and yet do not pretend to the abnegation of the great, +they may follow their own fancy without doing any harm to others; but +the case is different as regards the hours assigned to _dinner-parties_, +for these affect the health and comfort of the whole body of the gentry +together. + +We are no enemy to dinner-parties; on the contrary, we think we have not +enough of them, and we never shall have enough, till some change takes +place in their constitution. We are a small gentleman ourselves, who +dine at the modest hour of four, and what is the use to us of a six or +seven o'clock invitation? We accept it, of course, being socially +disposed, and being, moreover, philosopher enough to see that such +meetings are good for men in society: but so far as the meal itself +goes, it is to us either useless or disagreeable. If we have dined +already, we do not want another dinner; and if we have not dined, our +appetite is lost from sheer want. It is vain to say, Let us all dine +habitually at six--seven--eight o'clock. Few of us will--few of us +can--none of us ought. Nature demands a solid meal at a much earlier +hour; and true refinement suggests that the object of the evening +reunion should not be the satisfaction of the day's hunger. Only half of +this fact is seen by the classes who give the law to fashion, and that +half consists of the grosser and coarser necessity. They have already, +more especially at their country seats, taken to the tiffin of the East, +and at a reasonable hour make a regular dinner of hot meats, and all the +usual accessories, under the name of lunch. So complete is this meal, +that the ladies, led away no doubt by association, meet some hours +afterwards in mysterious conclave, to drink what our ancestors called 'a +dish of tea;' and having thus diluted the juices of their stomachs for +the reception of another supply of heavy food, they descend to dinner! + +The evening dinner is, therefore, a mere show-dinner, or something +worse. But it is still more objectionable on the score of taste than on +the score of health. We find no fault with the elegances of the table, +in plate, crystal, china, and so forth; but an English dinner is not an +elegant meal. The guests are supposed, by a _polite_ fiction, to have +the hunger of the whole day to satisfy, and provision is made +accordingly. Varieties of soup, fish, flesh, fowl, game, rich-made +dishes, load the board spread for a group of well-dressed men and women, +known to have already dined, and who would affect to shudder at so heavy +a meal, if it was termed supper. There is a grossness in this +arrangement which is strangely at variance with the real advancement of +the age in refinement; but it has likewise a paralysing effect both upon +the freedom and delicacy of social intercourse. These show-dinners are +too costly to be numerous. Even a comparatively wealthy man is compelled +to look closely to the number of his entertainments. He scrutinises the +claims of his acquaintance; he keeps a debtor and creditor account of +dinners with them; and if now and then he invites a guest for the sake +of his social qualities, he sets him down in the bill of cost. This does +away with all the finer social feelings which it should be the province +of such meetings to foster and gratify, and adds a tone of moral +vulgarity to the material vulgarity of the repast. + +Is it impossible to bring about a reform in this important matter? +Difficult, not impossible. Dinner-giving is not an integral part of the +monarchy, and it might therefore be touched--if not too rudely--without +a political revolution. The grand obstacle would be the unsettled +claims. A has given B a show-dinner, and it is the duty of B to return +it. Invitation for invitation is the law of the game. How, then, stands +the account? Would it be necessary to institute a dinner-insolvency +court, where all defaulters might take the benefit of the act? We think +not. No creditor in his senses would refuse a handsome composition; and +if it could be shewn--as it might in the present case--that the +composition was in real, though not ostensible value, equivalent to the +debt, hesitation would vanish. Before proceeding to shew this, we shall +present what may be called the common-sense statement of the whole +case:-- + +Mankind in their natural state dine at noon, or at least in the middle +of the working-day. It is the middle meal of the day--the central of +three. In our artificial system of society, it has been postponed to a +late hour of the afternoon, so as either to become the second of two +meals, or, where lunch is taken, the third of three. The change is not +consistent with hygienic principle; for, if lunch be not taken, the +interval between breakfast and dinner is too great, and in that case +hunger tempts to make the meal too heavy for the exhausted powers of the +stomach: if, on the contrary, lunch be taken, dinner becomes an +absurdity, as in that case a meal so elaborate and heavy is not +required, and cannot healthfully be partaken of at so late an hour. +Nevertheless, in a plan of life which devotes the eight or nine hours +after breakfast either to business or to out-door amusements, it is +needless to think of reviving the old meridian dinner for any but ladies +and other stay-at-home people; nor even for them, seeing that they must +be mainly determined in their arrangements by those leading members of +the family who have to spend that part of the day away from home. + +There is a need for some reform which would at once accommodate the +busy, and save the multitude from the disadvantages of heavy +six-and-seven-o'clock dinners. This might be effected by arranging for +only a supper at six or seven o'clock--that is, some lighter meal than +dinner--leaving every one to take such a lunch in the middle of the day +as he could find an opportunity of eating. Let this supper be the meal +of family reunions--the meal of society. Composed of a few light +tasteful dishes, accompanied by other indulgences, according to taste or +inclination, and followed by coffee, it would be a cheerful and not +necessarily unhealthful affair. As a meal to which to invite friends, +being cheaper, it would allow of more society being indulged in than is +compatible with the monstrous presentments of meat and drink which +constitute the modern company dinner. It would be practically a revival +of those nice supper-parties which our grandfathers indulged in after +the hours of business, and of the pleasantness of which we have such +glowing accounts. + +That this is really the common-sense view of the question, can hardly be +doubted. By bringing the cost within reasonable limits, the plan +proposed relieves the entertainment from moral vulgarity; and by +avoiding all suggestion of a meeting for the gratification of mere +physical hunger, it relieves it from material vulgarity. We have laughed +too heartily at the dinner of the ancients in 'Peregrine Pickle,' to +wish to lead back the age to a classic model; and yet on all subjects +connected with taste, there are some things to be learned from that +people whose formative genius is still the wonder of the world. The meal +of society among the Greeks consisted of only two courses, or, to speak +more strictly, of one course and a dessert; and the first or solid +course was in all probability made up of small portions of each kind of +food. The more vulgar Romans added in all cases a third, but +occasionally a fourth, fifth, sixth, even a seventh course; and at the +fall of the empire, barbarian taste uniting with the _blasé_ luxury of +Rome, heaped viand upon viand, and course upon course, till the satire +of a later poet became mere common-place:-- + + 'Is this a dinner, this a genial room? + No; 'tis a temple, and a hecatomb!' + +This extravagance has gradually given way in the course of civilisation. +We have no more meals consisting of a score of courses; no more gilded +pigs, fish, and poultry; no more soups, each of three or four different +colours: but as yet we are only in the midst of the transition, and have +not got back even to the comparative refinement of the Greeks. At the +end of their first course, the more earthly part of the entertainment +was already over. Then the guests washed their hands; then they were +presented with perfumes and garlands of flowers; and then they drank +wine, accompanied with the singing of the pĉan and the sound of flutes. +Such adjuncts, with us, would for the most part be out of place and +time; but some of them might be taken metaphorically, and others +entirely changed--such as the libation to the gods--to suit a new +religious feeling, and a new form of manners. The modern _coena_ might +thus be made to surpass that of the ancients in refinement and elegance; +and it would include, as a matter of course, some of the +amusements--varying from a song to a philosophical discussion--which +gave the charm to their symposia. + +As for the symposium, we shall have nothing to do with that vexed +subject, further than just to hint--for we should be loath to exclude +from the benefit of our proposed reform a certain numerous and +respectable class of the community--that in ancient times it had no +necessary connection with the dinner at all. A little wine-and-water was +drunk during the dessert--never during the first course--and then the +meal was over. The symposium was literally a drinking-party, given, for +the sake of convenience, after the dinner-party; but so far from forming +a part of the latter, the guests were sometimes different. It was, in +fact, in this respect, like the evening company we occasionally find +assembled in the drawing-room on getting up from our show-dinners. + +But such references to the customs of bygone ages are introduced merely +to shew, that among the most accomplished people of history, the social +meal was looked upon as a field for the display of taste, not of that +barbarian magnificence which consists in quantity and cost. The coena of +the moderns should far excel that of the Greeks in elegance, refinement, +and simplicity. We have all history for our teacher; we have a finer +system of morals; we have a purer and holier religion; and a +corresponding influence should be felt in our social manners. When the +object of the feast is no longer the satisfaction of mere physical +hunger, it should be something intended to minister to the appetites of +the mind. When the dinner is no longer the chief thing, some trouble +will doubtless be taken with the assortment of the company. +Simultaneously with the business of eating and drinking, we shall have +anecdote, jest, song, music, smiles, and laughter, to make us forget +the business or troubles of the day; and in the morning, instead of +arranging our debtor and creditor account of invitations, we shall throw +in the evening's gratification to strike the balance, and then make +haste to begin a new score. + + + + +TWO KINDS OF HONESTY. + + +Some few years ago, there resided in Long Acre an eccentric old Jew, +named Jacob Benjamin: he kept a seed shop, in which he likewise carried +on--not a common thing, we believe, in London--the sale of meal, and had +risen from the lowest dregs of poverty, by industry and self-denial, +till he grew to be an affluent tradesman. He was, indeed, a rich man; +for as he had neither wife nor child to spend his money, nor kith nor +kin to borrow it of him, he had a great deal more than he knew what to +do with. Lavish it on himself he could not, for his early habits stuck +to him, and his wants were few. He was always clean and decent in his +dress, but he had no taste for elegance or splendour in any form, nor +had even the pleasures of the table any charms for him; so that, though +he was no miser, his money kept on accumulating, whilst it occurred to +him now and then to wonder what he should do with it hereafter. One +would think he need not have wondered long, when there were so many +people suffering from the want of what he abounded in; but Mr Benjamin, +honest man, had his crotchets like other folks. In the first place, he +had less sympathy with poverty than might have been expected, +considering how poor he had once been himself; but he had a theory, just +in the main, though by no means without its exceptions--that the +indigent have generally themselves to thank for their privations. +Judging from his own experience, he believed that there was bread for +everybody that would take the trouble of earning it; and as he had had +little difficulty in resisting temptation himself, and was not +philosopher enough to allow for the varieties of human character, he had +small compassion for those who injured their prospects by yielding to +it. Then he had found, on more than one occasion, that even to the +apparently well-doing, assistance was not always serviceable. Endeavour +was relaxed, and gratuities, once received, were looked for again. +Doubtless, part of this evil result was to be sought in Mr Benjamin's +own defective mode of proceeding; but I repeat, he was no philosopher, +and in matters of this sort he did not see much farther than his nose, +which was, however, a very long one. + +To public charities he sometimes subscribed liberally; but his hand was +frequently withheld by a doubt regarding the judicious expenditure of +the funds, and this doubt was especially fortified after chancing to see +one day, as he was passing the Crown and Anchor Tavern, a concourse of +gentlemen turn out, with very flushed faces, who had been dining +together for the benefit of some savages in the Southern Pacific Ocean, +accused of devouring human flesh--a practice so abhorrent to Mr +Benjamin, that he had subscribed for their conversion. But failing to +perceive the connection betwixt the dinner and that desirable +consummation, his name appeared henceforth less frequently in printed +lists, and he felt more uncertain than before as to what branch of +unknown posterity he should bequeath his fortune. + +In the meantime, he kept on the even tenor of his way, standing behind +his counter, and serving his customers, assisted by a young woman called +Leah Leet, who acted as his shopwoman, and in whom, on the whole, he +felt more interest than in anybody else in the world, insomuch that it +even sometimes glanced across his mind, whether he should not make her +the heiress of all his wealth. He never, however, gave her the least +reason to expect such a thing, being himself incapable of conceiving, +that if he entertained the notion, he ought to prepare her by education +for the good-fortune that awaited her. But he neither perceived this +necessity, nor, if he had, would he have liked to lose the services of a +person he had been so long accustomed to. + +At length, one day a new idea struck him. He had been reading the story +of his namesake, Benjamin, in the Old Testament, and the question +occurred to him, how many amongst his purchasers of the poorer +class--and all who came to his shop personally were of that class--would +bring back a piece of money they might find amongst their meal, and he +thought he should like to try a few of them that were his regular +customers. The experiment would amuse his mind, and the money he might +lose by it he did not care for. So he began with shillings, slipping one +in amongst the flour before he handed it to the purchaser. But the +shillings never came back--perhaps people did not think so small a sum +worth returning; so he went on to half-crowns and crowns, and now and +then, in very particular cases, he even ventured a guinea; but it was +always with the same luck, and the longer he tried, the more he +distrusted there being any honesty in the world, and the more disposed +he felt to leave all his money to Leah Leet, who had lived with him so +long, and to his belief, had never wronged him of a penny. + + * * * * * + +'What's this you have put into the gruel, Mary?' said a pale, +sickly-looking man one evening, taking something out of his mouth, which +he held towards the feeble gleams emitted by a farthing rush-light +standing on the mantel-piece. + +'What is it, father?' inquired a young girl, approaching him. 'Isn't the +gruel good?' + +'It's good enough,' replied the man; 'but here's something in it: it's a +shilling, I believe.' + +'It's a guinea, I declare!' exclaimed the girl, as she took the coin +from him and examined it nearer the light. + +'A guinea!' repeated the man; 'well, that's the first bit of luck I've +had these seven years or more. It never could have come when we wanted +it worse. Shew it us here, Mary.' + +'But it's not ours, father,' said Mary. 'I paid away the last shilling +we had for the meal, and here's the change.' + +'God has sent it us, girl! He saw our distress, and he sent it us in His +mercy!' said the man, grasping the piece of gold with his thin, bony +fingers. + +'It must be Mr Benjamin's,' returned she. 'He must have dropped it into +the meal-tub that stands by the counter.' + +'How do you know that?' inquired the man with an impatient tone and a +half-angry glance. 'How can you tell how it came into the gruel? Perhaps +it was lying at the bottom of the basin, or at the bottom of the +sauce-pan. Most likely it was.' + +'O no, father,' said Mary: 'it is long since we had a guinea.' + +'A guinea that we knew of; but I've had plenty in my time, and how do +you know this is not one we had overlooked?' + +'We've wanted a guinea too much to overlook one,' answered she. 'But +never mind, father; eat your gruel, and don't think of it: your cheeks +are getting quite red with talking so, and you won't be able to sleep +when you go to bed.' + +'I don't expect to sleep,' said the man peevishly; 'I never do sleep.' + +'I think you will, after that nice gruel!' said Mary, throwing her arms +round his neck, and tenderly kissing his cheek. + +'And a guinea in it to give it a relish too!' returned the father, with +a faint smile and an expression of archness, betokening an inner nature +very different from the exterior which sorrow and poverty had incrusted +on it. + +His daughter then proposed that he should go to bed; and having assisted +him to undress, and arranged her little household matters, she retired +behind a tattered, drab-coloured curtain which shaded her own mattress, +and laid herself down to rest. + +The apartment in which this little scene occurred, was on the attic +storey of a mean house, situated in one of the narrow courts or alleys +betwixt the Strand and Drury Lane. The furniture it contained was of the +poorest description; the cracked window-panes were coated with dust; and +the scanty fire in the grate, although the evening was cold enough to +make a large one desirable--all combined to testify to the poverty of +the inhabitants. It was a sorry retreat for declining years and +sickness, and a sad and cheerless home for the fresh cheek and glad +hopes of youth; and all the worse, that neither father nor daughter was +'to the manner born;' for poor John Glegg had, as he said, had plenty of +guineas in his time; at least, what should have been plenty, had they +been wisely husbanded. But John, to describe the thing as he saw it +himself, had always 'had luck against him.' It did not signify what he +undertook, his undertakings invariably turned out ill. + +He was born in Scotland, and had passed a great portion of his life +there; but, unfortunately for him, he had no Scotch blood in his veins, +or he might have been blessed with some small modicum of the caution for +which that nation is said to be distinguished. His father had been a +cooper, and when quite a young man, John had succeeded to a +well-established business in Aberdeen. His principal commerce consisted +in furnishing the retail-dealers with casks, wherein to pack their dried +fish; but partly from good-nature, and partly from indolence, he allowed +them to run such long accounts, that they were apt to overlook the debt +altogether in their calculations, and to take refuge in bankruptcy when +the demand was pressed and the supply of goods withheld--his negligence +thus proving, in its results, as injurious to them as to himself. Five +hundred pounds embarked in a scheme projected by a too sanguine friend, +for establishing a local newspaper, which 'died ere it was born;' and a +fire, occurring at a time that John had omitted to renew his insurance, +had seriously damaged his resources, when some matter of business having +taken him to the Isle of Man, he was agreeably surprised to find that +his branch of trade, which had of late years been alarmingly declining +in Aberdeen, was there in the most flourishing condition. Delighted with +the prospect this state of affairs opened, and eager to quit the spot +where misfortune had so unrelentingly pursued him, John, having first +secured a house at Ramsay, returned to fetch his wife, children, and +merchandise, to this new home. Having freighted a small vessel for their +conveyance, he expected to be deposited at his own door; but he had +unhappily forgotten to ascertain the character of the captain, who, +under pretence that, if he entered the harbour, he should probably be +wind-bound for several weeks, persuaded them to go ashore in a small +boat, promising to lie to till they had landed their goods; but the boat +had no sooner returned to the ship, than, spreading his sails to the +wind, he was soon out of sight, leaving John and his family on the +beach, with--to recur to his own phraseology--'nothing but what they +stood up in.' + +Having with some difficulty found shelter for the night, they proceeded +on the following morning in a boat to Ramsay; but here it was found +that, owing to some informality, the people who had possession of the +house refused to give it up, and the wanderers were obliged to take +refuge in an inn. The next thing was to pursue, and recover the lost +goods; but some weeks elapsed before an opportunity of doing so could be +found; and at length, when John did reach Liverpool, the captain had +left it, carrying away with him a considerable share of the property. +With the remainder, John, after many expenses and delays, returned to +the island, and resumed his business. But he soon discovered to his +cost, that the calculations he had made were quite fallacious, owing to +his having neglected to inquire whether the late prosperous season had +been a normal or an exceptional one. Unfortunately, it was the latter; +and several very unfavourable ones that succeeded, reduced the family to +great distress, and finally to utter ruin. + +Relinquishing his shop and his goods to his creditors, John Glegg, +heart-sick and weary, sought a refuge in London--a proceeding to which +he was urged by no prudential motives, but rather by the desire to fly +as far as possible from the scenes of his vexations and disappointments, +and because he had heard that the metropolis was a place in which a man +might conceal his poverty, and suffer and starve at his ease, untroubled +by impertinent curiosity or officious benevolence; and, above all, +believing it to be the spot where he was least likely to fall in with +any of his former acquaintance. + +But here a new calamity awaited him, worse than all the rest. A fever +broke out in the closely-populated neighbourhood in which they had fixed +their abode, and first two of his three children took it, and died; and +then himself and his wife--rendered meet subjects for infection by +anxiety of mind and poor living--were attacked with the disease. He +recovered; at least he survived, though with an enfeebled constitution, +but he lost his wife, a wise and patient woman, who had been his +comforter and sustainer through all his misfortunes--misfortunes which, +after vainly endeavouring to avert, she supported with heroic and +uncomplaining fortitude; but dying, she left him a precious legacy in +Mary, who, with a fine nature, and the benefit of her mother's precept +and example, had been to him ever since a treasure of filial duty and +tenderness. + +A faint light dawned through the dirty window on the morning succeeding +the little event with which we opened our story, when Mary rose softly +from her humble couch, and stepping lightly to where her father's +clothes lay on a chair, at the foot of his bed, she put her hand into +his waistcoat-pocket, and, extracting therefrom the guinea which had +been found in the gruel the preceding evening, she transferred it to her +own. She then dressed herself, and having ascertained that her father +still slept, she quietly left the room. The hour was yet so early, and +the streets so deserted, that Mary almost trembled to find herself in +them alone; but she was anxious to do what she considered her duty +without the pain of contention. John Glegg was naturally an honest and +well-intentioned man, but the weakness that had blasted his life adhered +to him still. They were doubtless in terrible need of the guinea, and +since it was not by any means certain that the real owner would be +found, he saw no great harm in appropriating it; but Mary wasted no +casuistry on the matter. That the money was not legitimately theirs, and +that they had no right to retain it, was all she saw; and so seeing, she +acted unhesitatingly on her convictions. + +She had bought the meal at Mr Benjamin's, because her father complained +of the quality of that she procured in the smaller shops, and on this +occasion he had served her himself. From the earliness of the hour, +however, though the shop was open, he was not in it when she arrived on +her errand of restitution; but addressing Leah Leet, who was dusting the +counter, she mentioned the circumstance, and tendered the guinea; which +the other took and dropped into the till, without acknowledgment or +remark. Now Mary had not restored the money with any view to praise or +reward: the thought of either had not occurred to her; but she was, +nevertheless, pained by the dry, cold, thankless manner with which the +restitution was accepted, and she felt that a little civility would not +have been out of place on such an occasion. + +She was thinking of this on her way back, when she observed Mr Benjamin +on the opposite side of the street. The fact was, that he did not sleep +at the shop, but in one of the suburbs of the metropolis, and he was now +proceeding from his residence to Long Acre. When he caught her eye, he +was standing still on the pavement, and looking, as it appeared, at her, +so she dropped him a courtesy, and walked forwards; while the old man +said to himself: "That's the girl that got the guinea in her meal +yesterday. I wonder if she has been to return it!" + +It was Mary's pure, innocent, but dejected countenance, that had induced +him to make her the subject of one of his most costly experiments. He +thought if there was such a thing as honesty in the world, that it would +find a fit refuge in that young bosom; and the early hour, and the +direction in which she was coming, led him to hope that he might sing +_Eureka_ at last. When he entered the shop, Leah stood behind the +counter, as usual, looking very staid and demure; but all she said +was,'Good-morning;' and when he inquired if anybody had been there, she +quietly answered: 'No; nobody.' + +Mr Benjamin was confirmed in his axiom; but he consoled himself with the +idea, that as the girl was doubtless very poor, the guinea might be of +some use to her. In the meantime, Mary was boiling the gruel for her +father's breakfast, the only food she could afford him, till she got a +few shillings that were owing to her for needle-work. + +'Well, father, dear, how are you this morning?' + +'I scarce know, Mary. I've been dreaming; and it was so like reality, +that I can hardly believe yet it was a dream;' and his eyes wandered +over the room, as if looking for something. + +'What is it, father? Do you want your breakfast? It will be ready in +five minutes.' + +'I've been dreaming of a roast fowl and a glass of Scotch ale. Mary, I +thought you came in with the fowl, and a bottle in your hand, and said: +"See, father, this is what I've bought with the guinea we found in the +meal!"' + +'But I couldn't do that, father, you know. It wouldn't have been honest +to spend other people's money.' + +'Nonsense!' answered John. 'Whose money is it, I should like to know? +What belongs to no one, we may as well claim as anybody else.' + +'But it must belong to somebody; and, as I knew it was not ours, I've +carried it back to Mr Benjamin.' + +'You have?' said Glegg, sitting up in bed. + +'Yes, I have, father. Don't be angry. I'm sure you won't when you think +better of it.' + +But John _was_ very angry indeed. He was dreadfully disappointed at +losing the delicacies that his sick appetite hungered for, and which, he +fancied, would do more to restore him than all the _doctors' stuff_ in +London; and, so far, he was perhaps right. He bitterly reproached Mary +for want of sympathy with his sufferings, and was peevish and cross all +day. At night, however, his better nature regained the ascendant; and +when he saw the poor girl wipe the tears from her eyes, as her nimble +needle flew through the seams of a shirt she was making for a cheap +warehouse in the Strand, his heart relented, and, holding out his hand, +he drew her fondly towards him. + +'You're right, Mary,' he said, 'and I'm wrong; but I'm not myself with +this long illness, and I often think if I had good food I should get +well, and be able to do something for myself. It falls hard upon you, my +girl; and often when I see you slaving to support my useless life, I +wish I was dead and out of the way; and then you could do very well for +yourself, and I think that pretty face of yours would get you a husband +perhaps.' And Mary flung her arms about his neck, and told him how +willing she was to work for him, and how forlorn she should be without +him, and desired she might never hear any more of such wicked wishes. +Still, she had an ardent desire to give him the fowl and the ale he had +longed for, for his next Sunday's dinner; but, alas! she could not +compass it. But on that very Sunday, the one that succeeded these little +events, Leah Leet appeared with a smart new bonnet and gown, at a +tea-party given by Mr Benjamin to three or four of his intimate friends. +He was in the habit of giving such small inexpensive entertainments, and +he made it a point to invite Leah; partly because she made the tea for +him, and partly because he wished to keep her out of other society, lest +she should get married and leave him--a thing he much deprecated on all +accounts. She was accustomed to his business, he was accustomed to her, +and, above all, she was so honest! + +But there are various kinds of honesty. Mary Glegg's was of the pure +sort; it was such as nature and her mother had instilled into her: it +was the honesty of high principle. But Leah was honest, because she had +been taught that honesty is the best policy; and as she had her living +to earn, it was extremely necessary that she should be guided by the +axiom, or she might come to poverty and want bread, like others she saw, +who lost good situations from failing in this particular. + +Now, after all, this is but a sandy foundation for honesty; because a +person who is not actuated by a higher motive, will naturally have no +objection to a little peculation in a safe way--that is, when they think +there is no possible chance of being found out. In short, such honesty +is but a counterfeit, and, like all counterfeits, it will not stand the +wear and tear of the genuine article. Such, however, was Leah's, who had +been bred up by worldly-wise teachers, who neither taught nor knew any +better. Entirely ignorant of Mr Benjamin's eccentric method of seeking, +what two thousand years ago Diogenes thought it worth while to look for +with a lantern, she considered that the guinea brought back by Mary was +a waif, which might be appropriated without the smallest danger of being +called to account for it. It had probably, she thought, been dropped +into the meal-tub by some careless customer, who would not know how he +had lost it; and, even if it were her master's, he must also be quite +ignorant of the accident that had placed it where it was found. The girl +was a stranger in the shop; she had never been there till the day +before, and might never be there again; and, if she were, it was not +likely she would speak to Mr Benjamin. So there could be no risk, as far +as she could see; and the money came just apropos to purchase some new +attire that the change of season rendered desirable. + +Many of us now alive can remember the beginning of what is called the +sanitary movement, previous to which era, as nothing was said about the +wretched dwellings of the poor, nobody thought of them, nor were the ill +consequences of their dirty, crowded rooms, and bad ventilation at all +appreciated. At length the idea struck somebody, who wrote a pamphlet +about it, which the public did not read; but as the author sent it to +the newspaper editors, they borrowed the hint, and took up the subject, +the importance of which, by slow degrees, penetrated the London mind. +Now, amongst the sources of wealth possessed by Mr Benjamin were a great +many houses, which, by having money at his command, he had bought cheap +from those who could not afford to wait; and many of these were situated +in squalid neighbourhoods, and were inhabited by miserably poor people; +but as these people did not fall under his eye, he had never thought of +them--he had only thought of their rents, which he received with more +or less regularity through the hands of his agent. The sums due, +however, were often deficient, for sometimes the tenants were unable to +pay them, because they were so sick they could not work; and sometimes +they died, leaving nothing behind them to seize for their debts. Mr +Benjamin had looked upon this evil as irremediable; but when he heard of +the sanitary movement, it occurred to him, that if he did something +towards rendering his property more eligible and wholesome, he might let +his rooms to a better class of tenants, and that greater certainty of +payment, together with a little higher rent, would remunerate him for +the expense of the cleaning and repairs. The idea being agreeable both +to his love of gain and his benevolence, he summoned his builder, and +proposed that he should accompany him over these tenements, in order +that they might agree as to what should be done, and calculate the +outlay; and the house inhabited by Glegg and his daughter happening to +be one of them, the old gentleman, in the natural course of events, +found himself paying an unexpected visit to the unconscious subject of +his last experiment; for the last it was, and so it was likely to +remain, though three months had elapsed since he made it; but its ill +success had discouraged him. There was something about Mary that so +evidently distinguished her from his usual customers; she looked so +innocent, so modest, and withal so pretty, that he thought if he failed +with her, he was not likely to succeed with anybody else. + +'Who lives in the attics?' he inquired of Mr Harker, the builder, as +they were ascending the stairs. + +'There's a widow and her daughter and son-in-law, with three children, +in the back-room,' answered Mr Harker. 'I believe the women go out +charring, and the man's a bricklayer. In the front, there's a man called +Glegg and his daughter. I fancy they're people that have been better off +at some time of their lives. He has been a tradesman--a cooper, he tells +me; but things went badly with him; and since he came here, his wife +died of the fever, and he's been so weakly ever since he had it, that he +can earn nothing. His daughter lives by her needle.' + +Mary was out; she had gone to take home some work, in hopes of getting +immediate payment for it. A couple of shillings would purchase them coal +and food, and they were much in need of both. John was sitting by the +scanty fire, with his daughter's shawl over his shoulders, looking wan, +wasted, and desponding. + +'Mr Benjamin, the landlord, Mr Glegg,' said Harker. + +John knew they owed a little rent, and was afraid they had come to +demand it. 'I'm sorry my daughter's out, gentlemen,' he said. 'Will you +be pleased to take a chair.' + +'Mr Benjamin is going round his property,' said Harker. 'He is proposing +to make a few repairs, and do a little painting and whitewashing, to +make the rooms more airy and comfortable.' + +'That will be a good thing, sir,' answered Glegg--'a very good thing; +for I believe it is the closeness of the place that makes us country +folks ill when we come to London. I'm sure I've never had a day's health +since I've lived here.' + +'You've been very unlucky, indeed, Mr Glegg,' said Harker. 'But you +know, if we lay out money, we shall look for a return. We must raise +your rent.' + +'Ah, sir, I suppose so,' answered John with a sigh; 'and how we're to +pay it, I don't know. If I could only get well, I shouldn't mind; for +I'd rather break stones on the road, or sweep a crossing, than see my +poor girl slaving from morning to night for such a pittance.' + +'If we were to throw down this partition, and open another window here,' +said Harker to Mr Benjamin, 'it would make a comfortable apartment of +it. There would be room, then, for a bed in the recess.' + +Mr Benjamin, however, was at that moment engaged in the contemplation of +an ill-painted portrait of a girl, that was attached by a pin over the +chimney-piece. It was without a frame, for the respectable gilt one that +had formerly encircled it, had been taken off, and sold to buy bread. +Nothing could be coarser than the execution of the thing, but as is not +unfrequently the case with such productions, the likeness was striking; +and Mr Benjamin, being now in the habit of seeing Mary, who bought all +the meal they used at his shop, recognised it at once. + +'That's your daughter, is it?' he said. + +'Yes, sir; she's often at your place for meal; and if it wasn't too +great a liberty, I would ask you, sir, if you thought you could help her +to some sort of employment that's better than sewing; for it's a hard +life, sir, in this close place for a young creature that was brought up +in the free country air: not that Mary minds work, but the worst is, +there's so little to be got by the needle, and it's such close +confinement.' + +Mr Benjamin's mind, during this address of poor Glegg's, was running on +his guinea. He felt a distrust of her honesty--or rather of the honesty +of both father and daughter; and yet being far from a hard-hearted +person, their evident distress and the man's sickness disposed him to +make allowance for them. 'They couldn't know that the money belonged to +me,' thought he; adding aloud: 'Have you no friends here in London?' + +'No, sir, none. I was unfortunate in business in the country, and came +here hoping for better luck; but sickness overtook us, and we've never +been able to do any good. But, Mary, my daughter, doesn't want for +education, sir; and a more honest girl never lived!' + +'Honest, is she?' said Mr Benjamin, looking Glegg in the face. + +'I'll answer for her, sir,' answered John, who thought the old gentleman +was going to assist her to a situation. 'You'll excuse me mentioning it, +sir; but perhaps it isn't everybody, distressed as we were, that would +have carried back that money she found in the meal: but Mary _would_ do +it, even when I said that perhaps it wasn't yours, and that nobody might +know whose it was; which was very wrong of me, no doubt; but one's mind +gets weakened by illness and want, and I couldn't help thinking of the +food it would buy us; but Mary wouldn't hear of it. I'm sure you might +trust Mary with untold gold, sir; and it would be a real charity to help +her to a situation, if you knew of such a thing.' + +Little deemed Leah that morning, as she handed Mary her quart of meal +and the change for her hard-earned shilling, that she had spoiled her +own fortunes, and that she would, ere night, be called upon to abdicate +her stool behind the counter in favour of that humble customer; and yet +so it was. Mr Benjamin could not forgive her dereliction from honesty; +and the more he had trusted her, the greater was the shock to his +confidence. Moreover, his short-sighted views of human nature, and his +incapacity for comprehending its infinite shades and varieties, caused +him to extend his ill opinion farther than the delinquent merited. In +spite of her protestations, he could not believe that this was her first +misdemeanour; but concluded that, like many other people in the world, +she had only been reputed honest because she had not been found out. +Leah soon found herself in the very dilemma she had deprecated, and the +apprehension of which had kept her so long practically honest--without a +situation, and with a damaged character. + +As Mary understood book-keeping, the duties of her new office were soon +learned, and the only evil attending it was, that she could not take +care of her father. But determined not to lose her, Mr Benjamin found +means to reconcile the difficulty by giving them a room behind the shop, +where they lived very comfortably, till Glegg, recovering some portion +of health, was able to work a little at his trade. + +In process of time, however, as infirmity began to disable Mr Benjamin +for the daily walk from his residence to his shop, he left the whole +management of the business to the father and daughter, receiving every +shilling of the profits, except the moderate salaries he gave them, +which were sufficient to furnish them with all the necessaries of life, +though nothing beyond. But when the old gentleman died, and his will was +opened, it was found that he had left everything he possessed to Mary +Glegg; except one guinea, which, without alleging any reason, he +bequeathed to Leah Leet. + + + + +DECIMAL SYSTEM OF COINAGE. + + +The pounds, shillings, and pence which served for the simple reckonings +of our fathers, have entailed upon us a highly complicated system of +accounts since we have become a great commercial people. Steam-engines, +locomotives, and electric telegraphs have multiplied our transactions a +hundredfold, but no adequate labour-saving machinery has been introduced +into the counting-house, where the value of these transactions has to be +recorded and adjusted. The simple and scientific method of computation +by what is called the decimal system, is used at this moment, we are +told, by more than half the human race. Not only has it been by law +established in most of the countries of Europe, but throughout the great +empires of China and Russia; it is penetrating the Ottoman Empire; it +has obtained a footing in Persia and Egypt; and it is universal in the +United States of America, whence it has made its way into several other +transatlantic states. Among ourselves, the thing is approved and admired +in the abstract, but we dread the trouble it would give us to fall into +a method to which we are unaccustomed; and we apprehend, on very +insufficient grounds, that much confusion would arise during the +transition. Moreover, it is to be feared that out of a spirit of +prejudice or contradiction, many would not, even under the penalties of +law, adopt the change. At this moment, as is well known, certain classes +of people persist in selling corn and other articles by old local +measures, although at the risk of prosecution. Thus, in Scotland, we +still hear of firlots, bolls, and mutchkins, notwithstanding that these +antiquated measures were abolished upwards of twenty years ago. In +short, it would appear that the change of popular denominations in +weights, measures, and moneys, is one of the things which the law, in +ordinary circumstances, has great difficulty in reaching. + +This difficulty, however, ought not to be deemed insuperable. The boon +given to society by the decimal system is worth struggling for. On this +account, it appears highly desirable that the people at large should be +made thoroughly acquainted with its principles, and be able to weigh the +advantages against the difficulties of such a change. Some years ago, +the subject was pretty fully discussed in several literary and +commercial periodicals; and recently, Mr Taylor's little work[1] has +presented it in a more permanent form. Our own pages appear particularly +suitable for giving wide circulation to a familiar and popular +exposition of the subject. + +The ancients used certain letters to represent numbers, and we still +employ the Roman numeral characters as the most elegant way of +expressing a date in typography or sculpture; but every one must see +what a tedious business the calculation of large sums would be according +to this cumbrous system of notation: nor is it easy to say whereabouts +our commercial status, to say nothing of science, would have been +to-day, had it never been superseded. The Romans themselves, in +computing large numbers, always had recourse to the abacus--a +counting-frame with balls on parallel wires, somewhat similar to that +now used in infant-schools. + +It was a great step gained, and a most important preparation for +clearing away the darkness of the middle ages by the light of science, +when between the eighth and thirteenth centuries the use of the +characters 1, 2, 3, &c. was generally established in Europe, having been +received from Eastern nations, long accustomed to scientific +computations. The great advantage of these numbers is, that they proceed +on the decimal system--that is, they denote different values according +to their relative places, each character signifying ten times more +accordingly as it occupies a place higher. Thus 8, in the first place to +the right, is simply 8; but in the next to the left, it is 80; in the +third, 800; and in the fourth, 8000. Yet we do not require to grasp +these large numbers in our thought, but deal with each figure as a +simple unit, and subject it to every arithmetical process without even +adverting to its real value. To some, it may seem superfluous to explain +a matter so familiar; but we have met with many who know pretty well how +to use our system of notation mechanically, yet do not know, or rather +have not thought of the beautifully simple principle on which it +proceeds--that of decimal ascension. + +Now, we want to see the same principle applied to the gradations of our +money, weights, and measures. Instead of our complicated denominations +of money--namely, pounds, each containing twenty shillings, these each +divisible into twelve pence, and these again into four farthings--we +want a scale in which _ten_ of each denomination would amount to _one_ +of that immediately above it, as in our notation. And instead of our +complicated system of weights and measures, we want one similarly +graduated system--each measure and weight rising ten times above the +former. All calculations of prices would then be made by simple +multiplication. What a gala-day for school-boys when the pence and +shilling table would be abolished by act of parliament, and there would +no longer be the table of avoirdupois-weight to learn, nor troy-weight, +nor apothecaries', nor long-measure, nor square-measure, nor +cloth-measure, nor liquid-measure, nor dry-measure, but one decimal +scale of weights and measures would suffice for every commodity, and +there would only be their names to get by heart in order! Every one sees +that there would be an astonishing simplification in this system of +reckoning by tens--that the study of arithmetic would be immensely +facilitated, and the business of the counting-house divested of puzzling +calculations. Let us see whereabouts we are in the way towards its +attainment. + +About ten years ago, a parliamentary commission on the subject of +weights and measures, advised the adoption of a decimal scale, but +recommended as a preliminary step, the decimation of the Coinage. +Regarding it as important, however, that great deference should be paid +to existing circumstances, and that the present relative notions of +value, so deeply rooted in the public mind, should be disturbed as +little as possible, they pointed out the facilities existing in our +present coinage for a re-arrangement on the decimal plan. They said that +the pound might be preserved precisely on the present footing, and thus +would be maintained in name the price of everything above twenty +shillings in value. They remarked that the farthing, which is the 960th +part of L.1, might be set down as the 1000th, which would be a variation +of 4 per cent. only--somewhat less than that to which copper is liable +from fluctuation of price. We have thus the units at the one end of the +scale, and the thousands at the other; it remains only to interpose the +tens and hundreds between them, by introducing a florin as the tenth of +a pound, and a cent--equal to 2-1/2d. nearly--as the tenth of the +florin. Adopting these views, the following would be the new and simple +scale of money-reckoning:--ten millets, 1 cent; ten cents, 1 florin; ten +florins, L.1. + +Nothing was done, however, in following up these recommendations, till +the subject was brought before the House of Commons by Dr John Bowring, +in 1847. The consequence of his appeal was, that a coin denominated a +florin, and representing the tenth of a pound, was struck, and put in +circulation. It was, however, considered 'an unfortunate specimen of +Royal Mint art,' and the issue was discontinued, though a few specimens +still linger unforbidden among us. The matter is thus at a stand-still, +and may probably not be agitated again till the people generally are +more impressed with its importance, and disposed to urge it on the +legislature. + +The first thing wanted is obviously an abundant issue of acceptable +florins. No matter though the coin be recognised by the ignorant as a +two-shilling piece, rather than as the tenth of a pound; it is a decimal +coin with which they may become familiar without disturbing their old +ideas and modes of reckoning. The single step that would then remain to +be taken is the decisive one--the introduction of the coin equivalent to +one-tenth of a florin, accompanied by the withdrawal of the +representatives of duodecimal division, and a legislative enactment that +all accounts kept in public offices, or rendered in private +transactions, should be in the decimal denominations. + +The only difficulty which has appalled the advocates of the decimal +system, is with respect to the cent-piece. It is said to be too small +for a silver coin, too large for a copper, and mixed metals find no +favour at the Mint. But if it is to be a denomination in accounts, it +must have a representative coin, and a silver cent could be very little +smaller than our present 3d.-piece. 'The great mass of the people,' says +Mr Norton (a correspondent of the _Athenĉum_ on this subject), 'will not +adopt an abstraction; you must give them something which they can see, +handle, and call by name, if you wish them to take notice of it in their +reckonings.' Mr Taylor, and some other writers, have proposed to evade +this difficulty by passing over the cents altogether, and counting only +by pounds, florins, and millets. The French, say they, have in theory a +decimally graduated scale, yet they always reckon by francs, and cents, +which are 100ths of francs; the intervening decime being ignored in +practice. So, likewise, the Americans have the dollar, the dime (its +tenth part), the cent (its hundredth), and the mill (its thousandth). +'It is now nearly thirty years,' says Mr John Quincy Adams, in his +report to Congress in 1821, 'since our new moneys of account have been +established. The dollar and the cent have become familiarised to the +tongue, but the dime and the mill are so utterly unknown, that now, when +the recent coinage of dimes is alluded to, it is always necessary to +inform the reader that they are ten-cent pieces. Ask a tradesman in any +of our cities what is a dime or a mill, and the chances are four in five +that he will not understand your question.' This, however, we cannot +help considering one of the greatest inconveniences of transatlantic and +continental reckonings. We are accustomed to talk of amounts in as small +numbers as possible; and one of the great advantages we see in decimal +gradations is, that we should never have a number above 9, except in +pounds. There is something not only troublesome but indefinite, in the +idea of ten and twenty in comparison with one and two; and a French +account in francs bewilders us when it amounts to thousands and +millions. Probably the half and quarter francs of France, and the half +and quarter dollars of America, have been the means of exploding the +decimals next below them; and on this ground we differ from those who +plead for the continuance of our present shillings and sixpences, as +half and quarter florins. The shilling is a coin so inseparably +connected with 12 and 20, that no decimal system will obtain while it +exists. It is useless to say, that it would be retained only as a +circulation coin, and not as a denomination in accounts; for so long as +we have it at all, we will certainly reckon from it and by it. For +purposes of common barter, there ought to be a two-cent piece, a +four-cent, and perhaps a seven-cent; and thus we shall be compelled to +_think decimally_. 'If it is worth while to alter at all,' says Mr +Taylor, 'ought we not to go the whole required length, and aim without +timidity at the possession of a scale complete at once within itself, +and so escape an indefinite prolongation of the purgatory of transition? +In a change like the one under consideration, the work of pulling down +an old system is far more difficult than that of building up another, +and every prop must be removed before it will fall.' + +With respect to the copper coins, there seems to be no hurry about +disturbing them. It appears that the Dutch stiver and the French sou +have maintained their place in spite of legislation. So, probably, would +the English penny, and properly enough as a 4-millet piece. We fear our +poor people would feel it to be an attempt to mystify them, were the +government to withdraw this familiar coin and substitute a 5-millet +piece, as some have recommended, for the sake of establishing a binary +division of the cent. It would, doubtless, be considered desirable, as +an ulterior measure, to have a more exact copper coinage, marked as one +millet, two millets, and four millets; but when we have, without +scruple, passed as the twelfth part of a shilling the Irish penny, which +is really only the thirteenth part, we may, in the meantime, use our +present copper money, which will differ only a twenty-fifth from the new +value attached to it--a discrepancy of no consequence, except to the +holders of large quantities, from whom the Mint would be bound to +receive it back at the value it bore when issued. These coppers, +however, ought not to be used beyond the value of the cent, for then +would arise the confusion of dealing with the 100 millets in the florin, +or what would popularly be termed an odd half-penny in every shilling. +For the same reason, the adjustment of prices, in order to be equitable, +should be calculated downwards from the pound and florin, not upwards +from the penny. Thus, if a labourer's wages have been 1s. 3d. a day, his +employer must not say that 15 pence are 60 farthings--that is, 6 cents; +but 1s. 3d. is five-eighths of a florin, which amount to about 6 cents 2 +millets. + +Such is the plan which has been officially laid down for a decimal +coinage, and such the steps needful to carry it out. The only scheme we +have seen which materially differs from it is that of Mr H. Norton. He +selects for the highest denomination the half-sovereign, and proposes to +call it a ducat. The shilling, as now in use, would then be the second +denomination; the third, he proposes, should be a cent, equal to about +1-1/5th of a penny, and which, he says, would be fairly represented by +our large unmilled pennies, if newly christened; the fourth denomination +to be a 'rap,' the tenth of the cent, and somewhat less than half a +farthing. The great advantage adduced in favour of this scale is, that +it would be much more likely than the other to secure general adoption. +The removal of the pound, he says, affects chiefly the higher and +educated classes; it leaves the shilling, which is the staple and +standard for the masses, and also the penny, with slight alteration, +accompanied by the utter removal of the old one. It is also said, that a +half-farthing piece would be a great boon to the poor, especially in +Ireland. The circumstances alleged in recommendation of this scale, are +just what appear to us to be its defects. The continuance of the poor +man's penny would not appear a boon if he found there were to be only +ten of them for a shilling; especially as many small articles, which +were a penny before, would probably be a penny still, the dealers not +finding it convenient to adjust the fraction. We well remember the +dissatisfaction of the poorer classes in Ireland at the equalisation of +the currency in 1825. Hitherto, the native silver coins had been 5d. and +10d. pieces, a British shilling had been a thirteen-penny, and a +half-crown, 2s. 8-1/2d. This half-crown was the usual breakfast-money of +gentlemen's servants--that is, their weekly allowance for purchasing +everything except dinner. When the servant now went to the huckster's, +and got, as heretofore, 6d. worth of bread, 9d. worth of tea, 4d. worth +of sugar, and 5d. worth of butter, there was only 6d. of change to buy +another loaf in the middle of the week, instead of 8-1/2d., which was +wont to afford, we will not say what, over and above. It is for a +similar reason that we say, if there remain anything which can be either +identified or confounded with a penny, it should be lowered rather than +raised in value. Small prices are not easily adjusted, and the +temptation in the other case lies on the side of the dealer not to alter +them. It is more certain, for instance, that a baker will take care to +divide 2s. worth of bread into twenty-five penny-loaves, when a penny +comes to be the twenty-fifth of a florin, than that he will divide 1s. +worth into ten only, if a penny become the tenth of a shilling. And it +would be less hardship for the poor housekeeper to find her penny-loaf +1-25th smaller, if she could discern the reduction, than to get only ten +for her shilling, even if they were a fifth larger. Besides, we should +feel it to be a poverty-stricken thought, that our internal commerce +should be reduced to barter in half-farthings' worths, and that our +merchants and bankers should have no denomination above the value of +10s. for the enormous sums which figure in their books. + +The subject of names is worth a remark or two. The commissioners +recommended 'florins,' as affording facilities to foreigners for +understanding our monetary system; and in this respect it has +advantages. 'Cent' and 'millet' are easily enunciated, and they convey +to the educated classes, whether at home or abroad, the relative value +of the coins. We cannot say, however, but we would prefer a more +familiar nomenclature than florins, cents, and millets. Mr Norton's +suggestion, that the names should not only be capable of easy and rapid +utterance, but that they should be of the same Teutonic origin as our +shilling and penny, is worthy of serious consideration. Dr Bowring, who +advocated a strictly decimal scale, suggested the names, 'queens' and +'victorias' for the two middle denominations, leaving pounds and +farthings as they were. Now, if it be deemed proper to change the name +of the unfortunate florin when it makes its reappearance, 'queen' would +be a very pretty substitute; but 'victoria' would soon be mangled down +to its first syllable. If this style of nomenclature be preferred, +'prince' would be a more suitable name for the little cent-piece. Mr De +Morgan is for 'pounds, royals, groats, and farthings.' + +But 'royal' is not capable of rapid enunciation, and 'groat' is +decidedly objectionable for designating ten farthings, as it is still +sacred to fourpence in the English mind. Whatever the names, the full +enunciation of them at first would appear stiff and solemn; but +abbreviated modes of expression would soon be established. 'Four-two' +would be understood as L.4, 2 (florins), while 'four and two' would +convey four florins, two cents. When three denominations were used, it +would be 'four-three-two,' there being little danger of a +misunderstanding as to whether the 'four' were pounds or florins. So, in +writing, it would only be necessary to write after any sum the name of +the lowest denomination, as 48, 3, 7c., which would be known as L.48, 3 +florins, 7 cents; or, to add ciphers for all lower denominations, as +48300, which, whether pointed or not, would convey L.48, 3, 0, 0. + +In a future paper, we will resume the subject of decimals, viewing it +with reference to weights and measures; when its advantages will more +fully appear, by the facility it affords for the calculation of prices. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The Decimal System; as applied to the Coinage and Weights and +Measures of Great Britain. Groombridge and Sons: 1851. + + + + +WHY THE SCOTCH DO NOT SHUT THE DOOR. + + +Nations have curious and almost unaccountable peculiarities. One +interlards conversation with shrugs, and another with expectoration; and +a third, by way of indicating satisfaction, rubs its hands. The Scotch +have a peculiarity of their own. When they quit a room, they do not shut +the door, but merely draw it gently after them, so as to leave it +unlatched. Some individuals may not be strictly attached to this +practice; but on the whole the Scotch may, for the sake of distinction, +be said to be an anti-door-shutting nation. Now, why such should be the +case, becomes an interesting philosophical problem. + +Much consideration have we spent in pondering on this national oddity, +and are free to admit that the conclusions arrived at are not so +satisfactory as could be wished. Nevertheless, in default of any better +explanation of the phenomenon, what we have to say may possibly carry a +degree of weight. + +The reason why the Scotch do not shut the door is, as we imagine, highly +characteristic. It is not that they are ignorant of the important fact, +that doors are made for shutting. They are fully aware that latches are +not mere ornamental attributes of doors--things stuck on not to be used. +And it cannot be imputed to them, that they leave doors open for the +sake of ventilation. In short, if strangers were to guess for a hundred +years, they would fail to hit upon the real, true, and particular reason +why the Scotch do not shut the door. One would naturally think, that as +the act of shutting the door is the prerogative of the person who quits +an apartment, it would not by so mindful a people be neglected. And +neither it is. There is no neglect in the matter. The Scotch take a +profound view of the subject. They institute a rigorous comparison +between shutting and not shutting. True, they are not taught to do so, +any more than Frenchmen are taught to make gestures. It is in them. They +are born with a natural proneness to consider, as if it were a question +of algebraic quantities, whether the satisfaction they might impart by +shutting the door would not be more than counterbalanced by the +dissatisfaction that might accrue from distinctly and unmistakably +shutting it. Still, it seems strange how any displeasure could be +incurred by the performance of what all the rest of mankind believe to +be a mark of good-breeding. Strange, indeed! But it surely will be +observed, that much depends on making a principle of a thing. And with +respect to good-breeding, what if it can be placed in a double point of +sight? It may be the etiquette in some countries to shut the door; but +that proves nothing. In Europe, men uncover their heads on entering the +presence of the great; in the East, they uncover the feet. Fashions are +local. When the Scotch do not shut the door, they act conscientiously, +according to ancient national usage. We may be certain that they have +deliberately, arithmetically, and cautiously, weighed the question of +shutting in its various and delicate bearings; and arrived at the clear +conviction that, all things considered, it would be better not to shut! + +Of course, the Scotch having, by innate logic, attained to a principle, +they adhere to it as a thing which neither argument nor raillery can +upset. They have very properly resolved not to be reasoned, nor laughed, +nor cudgelled out of their opinion. The door ought not to be shut! That +is a truth as effectually demonstrated as any truth in mathematics; and +such being the case, they will die rather than yield the point. Let it +be understood, therefore, that in these observations we aim not in the +slightest degree at proselytising our northern friends. They are a +nation of anti-door-shutters, and that, on principle, they will remain +to the end of the chapter. + +It may, at the same time, be mentioned, that this acute people have no +special objection to seeing a door shut, provided anybody else does it. +Their principles apply only to shutting by their own hand. What might be +very wrong in them, while quitting an apartment, would be proper enough +for him who remains. He may rise and shut the door, if he feels +inclined. It is his affair. Strictly speaking, he should appreciate the +delicacy of feeling which has gracefully left the performance of this +simple act to his own discretion. Yes, it is in this fine instance of +steady principle that we see a discrimination of politeness exquisitely +ingenious and beautiful. The English have the reputation of being a +blunt, downright people; and their practice of shutting the door after +them makes it certain they are so. When they draw to the door, turn the +handle, and hear the latch click, they as good as say: 'There, the door +is shut; the thing is done. I leave no doubt on the subject; I care not +what you think of me; I have done my duty.' This is England all +over--great, uncalculating, independent-minded England! The Scotch +almost pity this daring recklessness of character. They are astonished +at its boldness. It is action resting on no proper grounds. How +differently they proceed! Treating it as belonging to the science of +numbers, the following becomes the method of stating the question:-- + +Given that there is a door which may or may not be shut on quitting an +apartment, let it be shewn by the rules of arithmetic whether it would +be preferable to shut the said door or leave it open. Write down, first, +the arguments for not shutting, according to their supposed value; then +do the same for the arguments _per contra_; lastly, sum up both, and +strike the balance. Thus-- + + FOR NOT SHUTTING. + + Because the door is apt to slam, + which would be exceedingly + unpleasant, and might suggest the idea + that you went out in a passion--valued as . . . 4 + + If it did not slam, it might still make + a creaking noise--valued as . . . . . . . . . . 2 + + Supposing it to make no noise at all, + the impression is conveyed that you are + going away never to return, whereas you + have no such intention, . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + + Chances of your causing a noise to disturb + the company on opening the door when you + return, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 + + Probable loss of character by conveying + the notion, that you are peremptory and + abrupt in manners, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 + + Giving the parties remaining the option + of shutting, or not, as suits their fancy, . . 2 + + That by leaving the door open, you do not + commit yourself to a determinate act, . . . . . 2 + -- + 16 + + FOR SHUTTING. + + That a cold wind may not blow into the room; + but this not probable, for it will be easy + for those remaining in the apartment to rise + and shut the door themselves, . . . . . . . . . 1 + + That by a faint possibility you may give + offence by leaving the door open, . . . . . . . 1 + + That you may prevent persons outside overhearing + what is said; this of small account, for people + should not speak about things they do not wish + to be repeated, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + -- + 3 + +Deducting 3 from 16, 13 remain. Result--balance of 13-19ths in favour of +not shutting the door. Nothing, therefore, could be more clearly +demonstrated than that the Scotch are strongly justified in leaving the +door open when they quit an apartment. Doubts, indeed, may be +entertained as to the values arbitrarily put on the respective items in +the account: but to venture into this remote part of the inquiry would +be to plunge us into the depths of metaphysics. Even supposing we were +to make the matter as clear as the sun at noonday, there would still be +sceptics. On shewing the above arithmetical calculation, for example, to +an English lady, who has for a number of years studied Scotch character +and manners, she, with a degree of bluntness that was exceedingly +startling, gave it as her unqualified opinion, that the whole thing was +a piece of nonsense; and that the only reason, as far as she could +observe, why the Scotch do not shut the door, is that they have never +been taught that it is consistent with good-manners to do so. The +audacity of some people is really wonderful! + + + + +EDFOU AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. + + +There is something extremely pleasant in the general regularity with +which the picture of Egypt unfolds itself on either hand like a double +panorama as you descend the Nile. When moving in the opposite direction, +against the perpetual current, you are sometimes compelled to creep +slowly on, tugged by a tight-strained rope at the rate of seven or eight +miles a day; whilst anon a wind rises unexpectedly, and carries you with +bewildering speed through forty or fifty miles of scenery. But the masts +being taken down, and the sails folded for the rest of the voyage, and +the oars put out, you begin to calculate with tolerable certainty on the +rate of progress; for though violent contrary winds do frequently blow +during part of a day, it is almost always possible to make up for lost +time in the hours that neighbour on sunset before and after. +Well-seasoned Nile-travellers confirm our experience; and as we had +rowed and floated within a calculated time from Assouan to Ombos, and +from Ombos to Silsilis, so did we proceed to Edfou, and to the stations +beyond, with few exceptions of obstinately adverse weather. + +True, some portions of the view are missed during the hours of +night-travelling; but these have most probably been seen during the +ascent. Besides, though the scenery of the Nile is certainly not +monotonous enough to weary the eye, yet there is a general sameness in +its details, a want of those bold, original features which in other +countries stamp the character of particular localities. Two parallel +lines of mountains ever within sight of each other, now advancing +towards the river through a sea of verdure in promontories, always +nearly with the same level outline, now receding in semicircular sweeps; +a narrow flat plain, loaded with crops and palm-groves, and intersected +by canals and dikes, sometimes equally divided by a tortuous stream of +vast breadth, but sometimes thrown, as it were, all to one side, east or +west; occasionally a long line of precipices descending sheer into the +very water; once only a regular defile with rocks on either hand; +islands in the river, sandbanks, broad, winding reaches--such, in a few +words, is a description of Egypt. It is the variety of colour produced +by that mighty painter, the sun, that gives all the beauty to the +landscape; and of this it is almost impossible to convey an idea. The +chaste loveliness of the dawn, the majestic splendour of noon, and the +marvellous glories of the sunset-hour--the thousand hues that glow and +tremble, and melt and mingle around through all the scenes of this great +drama of light--words have not yet been invented to describe. + +And then the night! Who can sit down and recall and count over the +impressions which fly like a troop of fairies over the thrilling senses +at that mystic hour, when the skirts of retiring day have ceased to +flutter above the western hills, and the moon casts down her pale, +melancholy glances on the silent scene, and the stars--our guardian +angels, according to some--seem to stoop nearer and nearer to the earth +as slumber deepens, as if to press golden kisses upon the eyelids of +those whom they watch and love! In all countries these hours are +beautiful; but in Egypt--let those who doubt come and witness all that +we beheld, and which is indescribable, on the evening that we left the +neighbourhood of Silsilis on our way to Edfou--on that calm, placid +river, over which brooded a silence interrupted only by the alternate +songs of the crews of the two boats as they leisurely pulled with the +current. + +It was late in the afternoon of next day when we reached the +landing-place; but we immediately set out to see the ruin, if ruin it +can be called, for it is almost in perfect preservation. After +traversing a broad extent of ground covered with rank grass and prickly +plants, we came to the customary palm-grove, and then entered what +romancers would probably call the 'good city' of Edfou. It is a +considerable collection of huts, principally constructed of mud, +clustering amidst mounds of rubbish at the base of the temple. The lofty +propylĉa, above a hundred feet high, I believe, were of course seen from +afar off, both during our walk and in ascending and descending the +river. As is the case in nearly all other Egyptian buildings, the effect +at a distance is anything but picturesque. From want of objects of +comparison, the impression of great size is not produced; and nothing +can be meaner in outline than two towers like truncated pyramids, +pierced with small, square windows at irregular intervals. On a nearer +approach, however, the surface-ornament begins to appear; and the +central doorway, overhung by a rich and painted cornice, presents itself +in its really grand proportions, but crushed, as it were, by the vast +size of the twin towers, which now seem magnified into mountains. At +Edfou the effect of this surprise is partly injured by the +circumstances: first, the accumulation of huts through which you +approach; and second, that of mounds of dirt which have risen nearly to +the height of the doorway. However, when you come to the summit of these +mounds, almost on a level with the lintel, and look down between the +enormous jambs into a kind of valley formed by the great court, with its +wonderful portico and belt of columns, it is difficult to conceive a +more imposing scene. + +The walls on all sides were covered with gigantic figures, quite +wonderful to behold in their serene ugliness; but awakening no more +human sympathy than the singular figures we saw on the Chinese-patterned +plate stuck over the doorway in Nubia. The exaggeration that is usually +indulged in with reference to Egyptian art is such, that if we were to +attempt to describe these sculptured ornaments according to our own +impressions, we should run the risk of being accused of caricature. We +do not mean on this temple only, but on all the temples of Egypt. Now +and then a face of beautiful expression, though still with heavy +features, is met with; but in general both countenance and figure are +flat, out of proportion, and stiff in drawing, whilst the highest effort +of colouring consists of one uniform layer, without tints or gradation. +Perhaps amidst the many thousand subjects found in tombs and temples +between Philoe and Cairo, one or two may be treated with nearly as much +skill as was exhibited by the Italian painters before the time of +Cimabue--except that scarcely an attempt even is made at grouping or +composition. Nor must it be supposed that the Egyptian school was in +course of development. They seem to have arrived at the highest +excellence of which their intellect was capable. Their outlines, though +in general excessively mean, are very firmly drawn; and they represent +details with a laborious ingenuity worthy of the Chinese. Some +enthusiastic antiquarians describe with great animation the scenes of +public and domestic life which occur in such profusion; and, book in +hand, we have admired and wondered at--not the genius of the artists, +but that of their historians. How, in fact, do the Egyptians really +proceed? They want to represent a hunt, for example: so they sketch a +man with his legs extended like compasses, armed with a huge bow, from +which he is in the act of discharging a monstrous arrow. Then close by +they draw, without any attempt at perspective, a square enclosure, in +which they set down higgledy-piggledy a variety of animals, some of them +sufficiently like nature to allow their species to be guessed at. In one +corner, perhaps, is a sprig of something intended for a tree, and +intimating that all this is supposed to take place in a wood. This +hieroglyphical or algebraical method of 'taking off' the occurrences of +human life is applied with almost unvarying uniformity. Such was high +art among the Egyptians; whom it is now the fashion to cry up at the +expense of those impertinent Grecians, who presumed to arrive at +excellence, almost at perfection, in so many departments. + +However, the vast size of the figures on the front of the propylĉa of +Edfou does certainly, in spite of their awkwardness, produce an imposing +effect, especially at the time we first beheld them, when the gray +twilight had descended upon the earth, and night was already thickening +beneath the heavy portico. We walked, or rather slid, down into the +great court. It was surrounded with massive columns loaded with +ornament, and looked grave in the extreme, in spite of the heaps of +rubbish that encumbered it, and enabled us to ascend to the summit of +the colonnade at one corner. The architecture of the Egyptians was +certainly sublime. Their style anticipated and surpassed the Gothic in +majesty, though certainly not in beauty. Their massive walls, Cyclopean +columns, dim porticos, gloomy chambers, produce even now all the +terrific impressions they could have desired. Perhaps the crumbling +ruins which encumber the roof, the wretched remains of Christian +buildings once erected on this temple as on a rock for security, rather +heighten than diminish its effect. We walked round a vast wall still in +perfect preservation, which encircles the windowless parallelogram +formed by the temple, and reaches about half its height, leaving a +narrow court like a moat all round; and we felt that these religious +edifices had been fortresses likewise, and that temporal as well as +spiritual terrors had of yore surrounded them. When shall we be able to +wring forth the secret of that ancient time? When will its history cease +to be a myth, its kings become real personages, its civilisation +something better than a romance? As yet, nothing has been discovered +except a string of disjointed facts, which scholars arrange each after +his own fashion, and which no more resemble any other known series of +human actions than the accidental combination of the kaleidoscope does +this living and breathing world. We want a key, and a key has not been +found. So men go stumbling on through the inextricable labyrinth, and +exhaust more ingenuity in vain speculations than would suffice to bring +a variety of modern sciences to perfection. + +It was perfectly safe to indulge in these thoughts, because even if any +mighty antiquary had been at hand, he would have been obliged to confess +that although some truth may have been brought to light, it is +impossible to put one's finger upon it. For almost all men who have +studied Egyptian antiquities differ entirely in their conclusions--all +arrange dynasties in a different manner, and find more mistakes than +discoveries in their predecessors. Well, thought we, let us leave them +to their researches: if they do not find the pot of gold, they may +cultivate the ground. For our part, we will hasten on to where yon pale +gleam of yellow light is pouring between the propylĉa and the body of +the temple over the court-yard upon an enormous mountain of rubbish. It +was the moon that had risen--not to enlighten the scene, but to render +it more dim and mysterious, more full of strange shadows and illusions. +On such occasions it is difficult even for the least imaginative to +check a thought of what that pale, thoughtful-looking orb, which has +watched the changing aspects of this scene for so many thousand years, +could tell if it had a tongue! We gazed inquiringly at it; but as it +rose higher and higher, and poured down more light on all objects +around, it seemed to smile at our inquisitiveness, and to bid us turn +less eager glances towards the dust and rubbish of old times, where +perchance we may find a precious stone, perchance a bit of broken +glass--but bend our eyes more steadfastly to the future, the centuries +unborn, the inevitable, though not yet created infinite. + +Edfou is situated at a little distance inland on the western bank of the +Nile. As usual, the land in the neighbourhood of the river is high in +comparison with that which is beyond--that is to say, there is a +continual descending slope to the edge of the desert, where at this time +of year there is, as it were, a succession of large ponds, +water-channels, and marshes. It is impossible to reach the desert except +by a long, elevated, tortuous dike, which begins near the town and +terminates near the foot of a spur of the Libyan chain, some three or +four miles distant. By the aid of the telescope we could distinguish in +the niches of the rock a variety of dark spots resembling the entrances +of grottos; and, hearing that others had made the same observation, +though without undertaking the fatigue of a visit, we determined to set +out next morning, and combine a little sporting with antiquity-hunting. + +Though the sun was not very high, it was sufficiently warm when we +started, and we had good reason for anticipating a broiling ride. At +this point there is not an atom of shade, not the semblance of a tree +between the river and the stony desert. All the palm-groves cluster +round the town of Edfou and the villages north and south. We were soon +upon the dusty dike, which, as we proceeded, seemed to lift us higher +and higher above the level plain, half bright-green, half sheeted with +water, that lay in death-like repose, and reflected the sun's rays like +a burnished mirror. It soon appeared that our anticipations of good +sport were not to be disappointed: on all sides, as far as the eye could +reach, as well as near at hand in the pools at the base of the _gisr_ or +dike, appeared innumerable birds, principally aquatic. Large flocks of +paddy-birds, often called the white ibis, speckled the green of the +fields; enormous pelicans stood hanging their enormous beaks, as if in +drowsy contemplation, over distant pools; storks and herons, single, or +arranged, as it were, in military array, accompanied them; and +prodigious masses of white birds glittered in the sun on the verge of +the marshy plain. Then the water was alive with cormorants, geese, +ducks, divers, teal, coot, that swam about in amazing numbers, or, +startled at the slightest noise, flew generally at a cautious distance +overhead. Birds of prey were of course likewise numerous--hawks, kites, +vultures; and whole flights of large, black crows went by now and then, +cawing vociferously. We could see also prodigious numbers of the +_ghatta_ or red-legged partridge flying northward or settling on the +edge of the desert. It seemed as though a grand parliament of the +feathered creation were about to be held. + +When we reached the desert we found a small Coptic convent standing +amidst the ruins of a much larger one near the head of the _gisr_. We +visited it in the course of the morning, and were civilly received and +conducted over the establishment. However, there was nothing particular +to see. The grottos we found to be of no interest whatever, being only a +few feet deep, and containing neither sculptures nor inscriptions. At +the base of the rocks were some oblong mouths of wells, but they were +nearly filled with sand, so that, in an antiquarian point of view, we +had reason to be disappointed. We passed some time on the plain, covered +with _halfeh_, a kind of coarse grass, to the north of the convent; +succeeded in getting some partridges to add to our water-fowl; and +returned in the afternoon with a donkey-load of game to the boat. + +On the opposite side of the river there is some good ground for +hare-shooting. We had been there before with success, and determined on +a second visit. The scenery presented a curious contrast to that on the +west bank--no dikes, no ponds, no marshy fields. The country extends +from the bank in a high level plain, principally overgrown with +halfeh-grass, to the desert. Formerly there was scarcely any +cultivation; all was abandoned to unprofitable thickets, that grew wild +down to the river's margin. Now a good deal of _dhourra_ is grown; and +in January we saw the bright green blades of wheat coming up amongst the +stubble. The castor-oil plant has been introduced, but as yet the +unprofitable silk-tree and the wild bushes are far more common. + +The change that has taken place is attributed to the fact, that a +Frenchman, in the service of the pacha, has discovered coal-mines in the +vicinity; and this is farther confirmed by the name bestowed on the +mountains--Gebel et Fahm (Mountains of Coal.) But none of the valuable +mineral has as yet made its appearance, and sceptics pretend that none +ever will. We saw four or five large black heaps at a distance, and +thought they might be the produce of the neighbourhood; but on drawing +nigh they turned out to be charcoal manufactured in the desert, and +brought down for sale by the Bedouins. There is a village of Ababde +beneath the desert hills on the extreme verge of the plain; and the new +cultivation seems entirely due to its inhabitants. + +It was late in the evening when we this time came to the hare-ground; +but we expected to take advantage of puss, as we had done once before, +by moonlight. As we beat about among the bushes, myriads of drowsy +sparrows, that had settled to rest on the boughs, rushed up with a +tremendous noise, but sank down again almost instantaneously, to be once +more disturbed. We started a few hares, but they glided away like +shadows in the twilight, and we got no shots. Next morning we again +tried our fortune; but it would appear as if the wary things had held a +council of war, and decamped with bag and baggage. We found the sparrows +lively and twittering, as though their night's rest had not been +disturbed; hundreds of doves cooed securely on the boughs; and half a +dozen mighty storks flew off from the midst of a dew-bespangled copse. +But though we turned out the crews of two boats in default of dogs, not +a hare shewed its ears; and we gave up the search disappointed. It is +remarked by old travellers on the Nile, that these animals constantly +shift their quarters; not, indeed, in the course of a night, as we +perhaps gratuitously supposed, but from season to season. + + + + +AN ENGLISH WORKMAN'S ACCOUNT OF A 'STRIKE' IN NEW YORK. + + +It was my second summer in New York: a residence of two years in that +busy and enterprising city had enabled me to form juster views +concerning the social policy of its inhabitants than those which had +presented themselves to me on first landing; two years, if properly made +use of, will serve to correct many fallacies, and to throw light on +places and people. There is nothing like seeing with your own eyes, if +you want really to know what the two latter are--whether they come up to +your standard of comparison or otherwise. In several respects, chiefly +material, I liked America better than England; the abundance and +cheapness of provisions, for instance, and the ease with which fruits +and other luxuries--to say nothing of books and newspapers--were +procurable by the working-classes, presented, at that time at least, a +striking contrast to the state of things in the 'old country.' I liked, +too, at first, the sort of free-and-easy intercourse of the working-men +with those, conventionally speaking, above them. Jack considered himself +as good as his master, though not without occasional mortifications at +not finding the sentiment reciprocated. The feeling, however, imparted a +show of independence, rather captivating to one who was not a little +imbued with 'old-country' radicalism. On the other hand, I had been +astonished, not to say disconcerted, at finding--which I did more and +more every day--how much mechanics are looked down upon in the United +States. You have only to wear jacket and apron, and write yourself +artisan, to be excluded from 'good' society as rigidly as if born under +the caste-laws of India. Where there appears to be an equal chance for +all to rise, those who have risen draw the line of demarcation with much +greater severity than strangers are willing to believe. + +Another point on which my notions were corrected was, that it was not so +_very_ easy to find work in New York as is commonly reported; and that, +though wages were 20 per cent. higher than I had been accustomed to, the +high price of clothing, lodging, &c. made it, notwithstanding, necessary +for a man to be exceedingly careful of his expenditure, if he wished +really to save money. There was no royal road to wealth on that side the +Atlantic any more than on this. + +Yet, among the facts which I liked, there was a set-off for this: it was +the absence of those stupid trade-regulations which in England, and on +the continent of Europe, hamper so annoyingly the movement of commerce, +and complicate so vexatiously the relations between employers and +employed. Few of these relics of feudal-age policy exist in the United +States: a master takes as many apprentices as he pleases, perfectly +regardless of anything his journeymen may think or say to the contrary. +He believes, and not without reason, that while he pays them fair wages +for their labour, they have no right to interfere with his mode of +conducting his business. It was a relief to get clear of the +traditionary customs and usages of European workshops, and to feel that +the way was clearer for rising out of the ranks. But there was one +exception, in a large foundry and engine-factory into which I sometimes +went to see an acquaintance: there the 'old-country' customs, as to +drinking when new hands were taken on, prescribing coercive limitations, +and so forth, were in full vigour. My shopmates were greatly amused one +day by my account of what I had seen and heard in the factory and our +foreman exclaimed in language that would have done credit to Sam Slick: +'Well! if them machinists aint the pigheadedest fellers I ever heerd +tell of!--they must be Johnny Bulls!' + +Such were some of my experiences of American life, and I was working on +in my usual plodding way, when I found that there was still something to +be learned. The journeymen cabinet-makers throughout the city took it +into their heads that too great a share of the profits of trade went +into the masters' pockets, and they determined, by demanding higher +wages, to secure if possible an increased proportion for themselves. The +masters being informed of the fact, maintained the contrary, and +thereupon issue was joined. An 'old-price book' and a 'new-price book' +came immediately to be talked about, with a fervour scarcely exceeded by +that of the O.P. hostilities, well remembered by old playgoers in +London; and among the men, a few ambitious spirits assumed the direction +of affairs, and drew around them many willing helpers. Preliminary +meetings were held to organise an opposition to the masters, and to take +measures for the proper setting-forth and enforcement of the claims of +the men, and the grounds on which the advance of wages was demanded. +Deputations were appointed to wait on the employers, or 'bosses,' and +shew reason why they should 'give in;' but the bosses would not give in, +and declared themselves to be the best-judges of their own business; +that wages were as high as sale-prices would allow, and that a rise was +out of the question. On hearing this, the men threatened a strike, to +take place by a certain day, if their demands were not complied with. + +From ten to twelve hands were employed in the shop where I worked--a +rather heterogeneous assemblage. The foreman and one or two others were +Americans, and the rest were Germans, French, and Irish--I being the +only Englishman. Notwithstanding the diversity of nation, there was but +little in sentiment, for with the exception of the apprentice, who was +not a free agent, and myself, they all determined to 'turn out,' and +many a taunt had I to bear for refusing to join them. Our boss was a man +well to do in the world. Having of course heard of the threatened +strike, he said: 'Well, you can do just as you like. There's no boss in +the city pays better prices than I do, and they wont go up a cent the +higher for all your striking.' + +For my part, I was quite taken by surprise by the strike; it was the +last thing I should have expected to see in America. But there it was, +sure enough; and now that the boss had so unequivocally declared his +sentiments, the shop became the more demonstrative in the expression of +theirs. They were not going to be slaves for anybody; it was a free +country; they had a right to higher wages, and higher wages they would +have. The Britisher wasn't half a man; he was a sneak, who ought to have +stayed in his own tyrannical country; and much more to the same effect. +Consequently, on the day fixed, they just shewed themselves at the shop +for a few minutes after breakfast, and then went off in a body to a +great 'mass meeting,' called for the first day of the strike; and all +the while emigrants from Europe were pouring into the city at the rate +of ten or twelve hundred every week. + +A first measure was to ascertain the numbers who had struck, how many +were recusants, and in what shops they were working, with a view to +devise means for procuring a total cessation of work in all the shops of +the city. Advertisements of the proceedings speedily appeared in the +daily papers, chiefly in those which, being sold at a cent apiece, +circulated most largely among the working population. The masters were +warned, that holding out on their part would be of little avail; and as +for the 'misguided men' who persisted in working, they were invited to +join the ranks of the insurgents, with promises of work at twelve +dollars a week, or the option of being stigmatised as unworthy members +of society. Compared with the 'turn-outs,' the number of those who +persisted in their labour was very small. As for myself, it seemed at +first uncommonly dull to hear only the noise of my own tools, or of the +apprentice's, echoing through the workshop. But the weather was fine; my +'job,' a 'secretary bookcase,' was one that I liked; and I kept on +without a single misgiving as to the propriety of my determination. + +After a few days spent in debates and discussions, and adjustment of +differences between the old and new list of prices, deputations were +sent round to all shops where the men had not joined the strike, and, +among others, they visited me. For some reason--perhaps to avoid vexing +the boss--they would not come up stairs, and requested me to meet them +at the basement door. On going down, I saw some five or six +well-dressed, intelligent-looking men--not a rare sight among the +mechanics of New York--and then, they standing under the 'stoop,' and I +leaning against a pile of maple-joists, one of them opened the business +with a little dissertation on political and social economy, and the +inherent right of men to band themselves together for the common good; +after which, he inquired my reasons for continuing to work in opposition +to the _will of the majority_. Those who have lived in America, and +those only, will be able fully to comprehend the significance of these +four words in italics. My answer was, that 'I had come to America to +better myself, and could not afford to lose time.' + +'But you need not lose time. There's a steam-boat fitting up down below +at the dock; we can get you work on board of her at twelve dollars a +week.' + +'I don't know anything of steam-boat work; and if I did, it would not +suit me to give up a steady place for one that must necessarily be +uncertain.' + +'You mean to say, then, that you will keep on working where you are?' + +'I do.' + +'You must be a fool to work for eight or nine dollars a week, when, by +standing out, you could get twelve.' + +'Not so sure of that; it is but a few who can make two dollars a day, +and I am not one of them. Nine dollars is about a fair rate for what I +can do.' + +'That's no reason why you shouldn't try to better yourself by standing +out. The bosses must give in, if all hands will only strike; and if it +weren't for you European slaves and convicts, we'd soon carry our +point.' + +The term convict is a taunt frequently applied to Englishmen by +working-people in the United States, and its introduction into the +argument did not at all surprise me. + +'I have little inclination,' I answered, 'to throw myself out of work +just to enable you, and a dozen or two more, to get your twelve dollars +a week. My first duty is, to take care of myself and my family. Our boss +is a good fellow in the main, and I don't want to leave him; and, +besides, there's another reason why I won't strike.' + +'And what's that?' + +'Because it won't succeed. You might as well try to stop the stream of +the Hudson, as to keep up wages, while fifty or a hundred cabinet-makers +are coming in every week from Germany, ready to work for twelve dollars +a month.' + +'That shews how much you know about it. In our great and free country, +there's work for all Europe; so it's no use saying wages can't be kept +up.' + +'Whether or not,' I retorted, 'that's my opinion, and I shall stick to +it till I find a better.' + +On this, the opposite party delivered himself of a lengthy harangue, in +which arguments were quoted from Adam Smith, De Tocqueville, and others, +with considerable fluency; all intended, apparently, to convict me of +flagrant error, and prognosticate 'consequences.' I had not at that time +read the works of these writers, and had only very youthful experience +to oppose to such a weight of authority; and being, besides, one of +those unfortunate individuals who cannot think of the right thing to say +until twenty-four hours after the occasion has passed, I remained +silent. My opponents mistook silence for assent, and left me, expressing +a hope that they should see me at their committee-room next day. + +The passage, at the entrance of which this scene had taken place, was +separated from a turner's shop adjoining by a thin wooden partition, and +the turner, who was a New Yorker, stopped his lathe to listen to our +parley. When he heard me turn to go up stairs, he shouted: 'Hillo! +Johnny Bull, they were rather too many for you. You must get up a little +sooner in the mornin', if you want to circumvent Yankees! Look out for +squalls, old fellow!' + +'Words is only wind,' I replied, quoting one-half of a 'down-east' +adage, as I ran up the stairs; he, however, before I got out of hearing, +added the second half: 'but blows hurts.' + +Three or four days passed away; trade was remarkably brisk, and a few of +the bosses gave in--a fact announced with great exultation by the +turn-outs, who now felt confident of victory, and urged their demands +more strenuously than ever. But compliance was no part of the bosses' +intentions, for no sooner were the arrears of unfinished work cleared +off, than the hands found themselves again at liberty. This proceeding +naturally irritated the struggle somewhat; and subscriptions for the +support of those who, habituated to live from hand to mouth, had saved +nothing, were called for with renewed importunity. The strike was +beginning to feel the pressure of the laws of nature. + +Now and then, one of my shopmates would drop in, and intimate that it +would be dangerous for me to persist in having my own way; but I felt no +whit inclined to yield, for, although I had seen the houses of +intermarried blacks and whites devastated, and a bonfire made in the +street with their furniture, I had but little apprehension of personal +violence, and the boss protested that he would 'see me righted,' should +any mischief befall. So it went on for a few days longer, when a second +deputation waited upon me, and, less ceremonious than the first, they +rushed noisily, and without notice, up the stairs, and crowded into my +bench-room. There were about twenty of them; their spokesman looked +clean and respectable, but the others were a dirty, out-at-elbows, +tobacco-chewing crew, only to be described by that expressive American +epithet, 'loafers;' and they eyed me with very sinister looks, while the +leader began an appeal to my _ésprit de corps_. It is scarcely necessary +to repeat the argument that followed. Having nothing new to offer, I +merely said, that I considered myself at full liberty to work for +whatever amount of wages to me seemed satisfactory; that I would no more +submit to any interference with that liberty, than to any tyranny over +my conscience; and that all I claimed at their hands, was to be let +alone. Cries of 'Hustle him out!' frequently interrupted me; and perhaps +a proof that 'blows hurts' might have followed, but just as I finished, +my boss came in, and commanded the party to leave his premises, with an +assurance that he would not suffer me to be molested. The leader, who +seemed as much ashamed of his followers as Falstaff was of his ragged +regiment, immediately beat a retreat, and his troop with him; one or +two, as they went out, declaring that they would 'hammer' me whenever +they caught me in the street. I, however, went and came as usual, and +for some reason--perhaps the boss's declaration in my favour--met with +no annoyance. + +What was the upshot? As emigrant cabinet-makers arrived, they were at +once engaged, and set to work; and at the end of six weeks, the strike +came to an end. The turn-outs not only failed in carrying their point, +but found themselves in a worse position than when they began, for +numbers of them were no longer 'wanted,' and had to migrate to the +country, or accept a lower rate of wages than before, besides the loss +of the best part of the busy season. In our own shop, one American and +two of the Germans were altogether dismissed, greatly to their +mortification; and in this unexpected reverse, they began to perceive +how they had been duped. I, on the other hand, having finished the first +bookcase, was well advanced in a second; and had, besides, the +satisfaction of knowing that the overplus of my six weeks' earnings was +safely added to the 'nest-egg,' and of hearing my shopmates applaud my +resolution, and wish that they had done likewise. Many were the +conversations touching masters and men that grew out of the event, and, +if permitted, I may perhaps take an opportunity of making our +conclusions public. + +One day, some two years after the strike, while walking down Washington +Street, I met the leader of the second deputation aforementioned. 'I +guess I have seen you before,' he said, laying a hand upon my shoulder. +'Didn't you work at C----'s? Ah! you were the toughest customer we had; +but if we had all done as you did, it would have been better for us.' + + + + +THE DOCTOR VERSUS THE MEDICINE. + + +We have not taken any part in the controversy now raging between the +Allopathists and Homoeopathists; but we think it our duty to point out a +signal benefit which appears to have resulted from it. Allopathy means +simply 'another suffering,' and Homoeopathy 'the same suffering;' from +which the ingenious may conclude, that our regular doctors pretend to +cure diseases by inducing other diseases, and the new school by inducing +symptoms identical with those of the existing disease. But there is +another difference between the schools. The one gives the medicine +boldly by the grain, the other cautiously by the millionth part of a +grain. Both sometimes fail; both sometimes cure. Which is right? + +We cannot pretend to answer the question; but in practice we hold with +the regular doctors. We do this because we are used to it. We may be +said to have been born with their silver spoon in our mouths; and we +should be terrified if the ghost of a grain went in instead. We have +done our duty from our youth up by pills, boluses, and draughts: we can +lay our hand, with a clear conscience, on our stomach, and avouch that +fact. We have ever held our doctor in too much reverence to disobey him; +and we revere him more and more every day, since we find him grappling +closer and closer with the Homoeopathists, and meeting them manfully on +their own ground. 'We will not,' says he, 'give in to the absurdity of +attempting to counteract a disease by a medicine that produces the same +disease; but something good may be learned from your infinitesimal +system. To that system you owe the fact that you are now at large: if +you had given doses like ours of such medicines, you would have been in +the hands of the turnkey or the mad-doctor long ago. Your cures have +been effected by your giving so little as not to interrupt nature in any +appreciable manner. But we will improve upon your placebos. If an +infinitesimal dose is good, no dose at all is better--and, except in +special cases, _that_ shall henceforward be our system!' + +Our readers may think this a jest; but it is actually the point at +which, on the part of the Allopathists, the controversy has arrived. A +very intelligent and intelligible paper by Dr C. Radclyffe Hall, of +Torquay, has appeared in the _Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal_, +in which the subject is treated in a pleasant and profitable way. He is +aware of the difficulty there will be in introducing the new system--of +the surprised stare with which the patient will regard the doctor 'doing +nothing;' and as confidence is an important part of the cure, the rule +cannot be made absolute. 'But as often as it can be adopted it should. +By degrees, the doctrine will work its way, that medical attendants are +required to survey, superintend, and direct disease, to watch lest harm +accrue unnoticed, to employ active remedies when required, or not to +interfere at all, as seems to their own judgment best. Every case of +successful treatment without medicines will assist to indoctrinate the +public with this view. By learning how much nature can do without +medicines, people will be able to perceive more correctly how much +medicines, when they are necessary, can assist nature.' + +The following is given as an example of a case of non-interference. 'A +child, above the age of infancy, is chilly, looks dull around its eyes, +has headache, pain in the back, quick pulse, and no appetite. It is not +known that the digestive organs have been overtaxed. The case may +prove--anything. A local inflammation not yet made manifest by local +pain; the commencement of continued, or remittent, or exanthematous +fever; in a word, there is scarcely any ailment of children of which +this may not be the commencement. _If_, on careful examination, no local +disease can be made out, we have no correct indication for special +treatment. Give nature fair play. Put the child into a warm bed in a +warm room, keep it quiet, stop the supplies of food, but not of water, +and wait. When reaction takes place, if there be anything serious, it +shews itself, and we then know what to attend to. Very frequently, the +case is one of mere ephemeral febrile disorder, from exposure to cold; +and in two or three days, the child is perfectly well again, without +having taken either medicines or globules. But have we done nothing? +When the heart was striving to restore the balance of the circulation, +by adopting the recumbent posture, we gave it less work to do. The +equable warmth of bed was soothing to the nervous system, and solicited +the afflux of blood to the surface. By abstinence, we avoided +ministering to congestion of the viscera, and introducing food which, as +it could not be properly digested, would decompose and irritate the +stomach and bowels.' Here the do-nothing doctor actually assisted +nature; he took care that she should not be thwarted in her operations, +and he stood by watching the case, like an attorney at the examination +of a prisoner, who does nothing, but whose presence is essential to his +client. If the usual counteracting remedies had been administered, a +disease would have been induced, for which a process of convalescence +would have had to be gone through. If the globules had been given +simultaneously with the hygienic treatment described, Homoeopathy +instead of nature would have had the credit of the cure. + +'In all chronic blood-diseases,' says Dr Hall, 'medicines are useful, +but hygienic treatment'--the word is explained by the treatment of the +above case--'must rank the first. In all acute blood-diseases, when mild +and occurring in a previously healthy constitution, as they must run +through a special course, and last for a certain time, cases will +frequently do very well without any medicines. More frequently, a little +medicine occasionally to meet a temporary requirement is serviceable; +but in every case of this kind, however severe, the difficult point of +medical judgment is, rather, when to do nothing, than what to do. +Hygienic treatment is invariably necessary. Acting on the principle of +the accoucheur, that nature is to be carefully watched, but that so long +as she proceeds well, she is to be let alone, we shall meet with few +cases of illness in which we cannot find opportunities to judiciously +dispense with medicines.' Another difficulty in adopting this system +may be found in the doctor's fear, that if he dispenses with medicines, +the patient may dispense with him; but we are of Dr Hall's opinion, that +this is quite illusory. The only difference it will make will be, that +patients will learn to trust more to the judgment of their medical +attendant, and less to the efficacy of his medicines. + +Hydropathy proceeds on the hygienic treatment, although doubtless in a +somewhat rough manner. Air, exercise, rubbing, cold water, simple +food--such are its substitutes both for medicines and globules; and we +think the regular doctors might with great advantage take a leaf out of +its book, as well as out of the book of homoeopathy. With this reform, +we would suggest--although with some timidity, for doctors are sensitive +on the point--that a re-examination, on broad scientific principles, +even of common diseases, would do some good. Doctors are too fond of +systems of treatment, which are not made to fit the patient, but which +the patient is expected to fit. Diseases run their course, and so do +remedies; but it might be well to inquire what relation there is between +the course of the one, and that of the other. The unvarying treatment of +a disease looks odd to a thinking bystander. The same medicines are +administered in case after case; the dose follows the symptom with the +certainty of fate. The patient dies--the patient recovers. What then? +The doctor has done his best--everything has been according to rule! + +The following are the rules laid down for practitioners on the new +system:-- + +'1. Never prescribe medicines when hygiene will do as well and can be +enforced. + +'2. Never permit the patient, or those around him, to expect more from +medicines than medicines can perform. + +'3. Never prescribe medicines, except avowedly as mere palliatives, when +the period is gone by for them to be of ultimate service. + +'4. Never conceal the _general_ intention of the treatment; that is, +whether it be adopted with a view to cure, or only to mitigate the +disease, or merely to alleviate a symptom or symptoms. + +'5. Never prescribe medicines more powerful than are necessary; or +continue a powerful medicine longer, or repeat it oftener, than the +disease actually requires. + +'6. Never attribute to the medicine-giving part of the management of a +successful case more than its due share of credit.' + +We have called this a new system, but a new system is nothing without a +name; and we therefore beg leave to suggest one, made up, like the +others, of a Greek compound. First, we have Allopathy, another +suffering; then Homoeopathy, the same suffering; then Hydropathy, +water-suffering; and now let us have Anapathy, no suffering at all. + + + + +APPLICATION OF THE SIRENE TO COUNT THE RATE AT WHICH THE WINGS OF +INSECTS MOVE. + + +The buzzing and humming noises produced by winged insects are not, as +might be supposed, vocal sounds. They result from sonorous undulations +imparted to the air by the flapping of their wings. This may be rendered +evident by observing, that the noise always ceases when the insect +alights on any object. The sirene has been ingeniously applied for the +purpose of ascertaining the rate at which the wings of such creatures +flap. The instrument being brought into unison with the sound produced +by the insect, indicates, as in the case of any other musical sound, the +rate of vibration. In this way it has been ascertained that the wings of +a gnat flap at the rate of 15,000 times per second. The pitch of the +note produced by this insect in the act of flying is, therefore, more +than two octaves above the highest note of a seven-octave +pianoforte.--_Lardner's Handbook_. + + + + +A WELCOME SACRIFICE. + +BY THE REV. JAMES GILBORNE LYONS, LL.D. + + + Vain is the blood of rare and spotless herds, + Pastured in meads where blue Clitumnus shines; + Vain are sweet gums from lands that Indus girds, + Or diamonds sought in deep Brazilian mines; + Vain are Iberian fruits, and perfumed flowers, + Rich as a Grecian sunset's purest dyes, + If deemed, when worship claims thy holiest hours, + For HIM IN HEAVEN fit gift or sacrifice. + + The flocks that roam on thrice ten thousand hills, + Each living thing that moves on shore and sea, + The gems and gold which gleam in caves and rills, + Saba's low shrub, and Lebanon's proud tree, + The fragrant tribes that spring on cliff and field, + That flush the stream, or fringe the smooth lake's brim, + Breathe, burn, and bloom, at His high will revealed, + And own with joy their Light and Lord in Him. + + Our gains are His, and, laid before the Cross, + These must of our oblations form a part, + But oh! the choicest ores and gems are dross, + If brought without that pearl of price--THE HEART. + The poorest serf who fears a tyrant's nod, + Whose inmost soul hard bondage racks and wrings-- + That toil-worn slave may send unseen to God + An offering far beyond the wealth of kings. + + Come thou with breast from pride and passion freed, + Hands which no stain of guilt has ever soiled, + Feet swift and strong for every gentle deed, + Faith, hope, and truth, by sordid crowds unspoiled; + Come with a spirit full of generous love + For all beyond, and all below the skies:-- + Make ready thou, for Him who reigns above, + The Christian's gift--A LIVING SACRIFICE. + + + + +'MY TRAVELLING COMPANION.' + + +An individual, signing himself 'A Protestant Dissenter,' has written to +us, to remonstrate against one of the heroines of the tale in No. 424, +with the above title, having been consigned by the author to the +seclusion of a convent. As the same correspondent protests against the +'Visit to an English Monastery' in No. 413, as something calculated to +introduce the wedge of Popery among our readers--the said article having +given much offence to our Catholic readers, and terrified all our +Protestant readers, but one, into thanking God for their own +faith--perhaps it may be thought unnecessary for us to notice such a +communication. But this is only one of the reproaches we receive almost +daily, from all sides of the religious question. Our correspondents are +not satisfied with the well-known fact, that while retaining our own +opinions, we wilfully interfere with the opinions of no other man. Each +secretly thinks we ought to side with _him_, and would have us sacrifice +to this duty the usefulness of a journal which circulates freely among +all denominations of religion, and inculcates the practical part of +Christianity wherever it goes. We are tired of such correspondence--and +there is the truth. Let it be understood once for all, that ours is no +more a religious than it is a political mission. The supposed party +tendency of expressions that occur here and there in our papers is the +result of mere chance; it may be detected as often on one side as on +another; and in no publication but our own does it rouse the acrimony of +partisans. We give information connected with monasteries, churches, and +conventicles, with equal impartiality; and if this is found otherwise +than useful or amusing, it is the fault of those who convert facts into +sentiments. + + * * * * * + +Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh. +Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West Nile +Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street, +Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to +MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all +applications respecting their insertion must be made. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 428, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 17245-8.txt or 17245-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/2/4/17245/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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