Evil indeed seems to maintain itself less by the strength of its defenders than by the errors, the divisions of its assailants. Reconciliation then must be our first duty if we are truly desirous of benefitting ourselves and others. We must lay aside our exclusiveness, moderate our pretensions, and be willing to accept of the co-operation of others, to give and receive aid instead of standing aloof in contempt and apathy. I do not indeed advocate that "insane mixture" which Bacon condemns; every progressive movement must be carried on independently, must have its own thinkers and its own workers, but not the less, yea rather the more, must all be united in faith and love. The preacher of whatever sect, the philosopher, from the Paradays and Liebigs of the age down to the humblest student who records the facts of nature, or proclaims those facts to his neighbour-the literary man, whether he be the oracle of his age or the obscurest diffuser of truth-the material worker, from the merchant to the hodman-all will have to learn that their task should be one and the same, that it is so already, did they but know and feel it. Differing in method, in importance, they have all to sustain their part in the great harmony of life, which without them all is a mere discord. And this necessity for union, for reconciliation is felt widely and deeply; there is a conviction that without it we must sink under the evils we were born to conquer. This conviction we see at the root of those glorious efforts now made to free the world from the curse of war; it meets us in the demand for an abolition of sectarian narrow mindedness, and even in the delusions of the age, in the chimerical doctrines of Fourier we may trace it, however hidden under rubbish and degraded by misinterpretations. All the living, the hopeful part of society demands unity. If we can meet this demand, if we can lay aside our jealousies and divisions, the triumph of good cannot be much longer delayed. Singly, we have been unnoticed as drops of water; united, we shall be as an irresistible ocean. J. W. SLATER. SELF-RELIANCE. NO. III. SINCERITY. Those evils which attach most closely to our nature and from which men desire most earnestly to deliver themselves, are often manifested with especial diligence and efficiency when especially opposed. We should have some object in view in the adoption of any principle, some falsehood to expose, or some calamity to avert in the discharge of every duty; but we find that we are resisted by the very thing which our conduct is intended to attack; and which under these circumstances displays unusual power. We are pleased with the beauty and awed by the majesty of some truth, and feel desirous of adopting and acting upon it; when the error in contrast with which it assumes an additional excellence exercises unwonted authority over our minds and restrains our holy ambition. How often is this remark illustrated by the conduct of persons with respect to the subject under review. Self-reliance casts upon them some reflections of its glory in the conduct of its votaries. They are led to admire it, and intuitively despise that hypocrisy which it, from its very nature condemns. They are thus influenced by a wish to be self-reliant, honest and true, and they do great things, speak lofty sentences, declaim against deceit with vast energy, and lift their heads like emperors; whilst their movements are as really artificial as that they intend to condemn. Of this mistake we would seriously warn our readers. We may have a deep and conscientious hatred of every kind of dissimulation; yea, we may even aspire with holy ardour to an eternal deliverance from its power and practise, and yet the course we take to avow this, may be a development of the very evil in its most subtle and fearful shape. Let us ever remember that that which is merely superficial deserves neither confidence nor esteem. It is easy to mistake dashing earnestness for affectionate and sincere solicitude, but pompous profession is frequently nothing but a cloak for hollowness of heart. External splendour may for a time hide any POPULAR EDUCATION. National prosperity is greatly influenced by the limitation or spread of popular education. The selfishness of a former day which beclouded this fact is succeeded by the well-directed efforts of many earnest spirits to promote amongst our industrial population extension of this precious advantages in childhood were few and inferior, boon. Those of our youth whose educational and who are already fully engaged on the arena of active life, suffering from these intellectual privations, have now their Mechanics Institutions, Mutual Improvement Societies and Night Schools, ture may be promoted. First rate talent has been beneath whose genial influence their mental culenlisted in this benevolent enterprize, and much valuable information communicated. In some few instances our hopes have been realized in our humble judgment a much greater amount respecting a systematic course of education. Still of good would be effected if the education of our young men and young women were taken up from the point of its deficiency, and the attempt more extensively made, thoroughly to ground them in Our imthe elementary principles of tuition. and that for want of a sufficiently prepared ground, pression is that too much is generally assumed the seeds of important knowledge have been cast abroad without much effect. inward corruption but can never be security against its discovery. To seem what we are not, therefore, is only to expose ourselves to a severer disgrace than that from which, by seeming, we hope to be delivered. Self-reliance is no honour unless it be actual and soulborn; whilst the mere assumption of it is always dangerous, because the true state of things which it is designed to conceal may at any moment reveal itself. As a dress it never "sits well" for a long time; as a natural covering it is evermore happy, safe, and beautiful. Its shape cannot be altered in conformity to new fashions, nor its sternness modified to please peculiar tastes. There may be fops in self-reliance as in other things, but their glaring vestments will speedily lose their false lustre, and the meanness of the pretence will appear. Sincerity is the most vital and most essential element in the formation of a self-reliant character. It is not enough that we admire the principle of its development. It is not enough that we imitate those who by their bold, and uncompromising conduct excite our esteem. We must 66 ceive the truth in the love of it," doing those things it enjoins, displaying the temper it inspires and steadfastly opposing the things which it condemns.itated. So that we must be self-reliant in spirit and in truth if we would lay any claim to the character. Bluster, dogmatism, and pride may be manifested by a "pretender," but the real man is self-reliant without these, though he may sometimes appear haughty in the preservation of his self-respect. If we are not sincere in this matter we adopt that which will trouble us always, sting us often, and which will be ultimately the bitterest cause of our disgrace. A YOUNG THINKER. re There is no species of knowledge which a man possesses, that may not at some period of his life become useful and beneficial to him. He may have acquired it in his youth-it may have lain dormant and never been called into exercise, but like gold hidden in the earth's bosom, it only awaits a convenient opportunity, when it will be brought forth by its possessor, placed out to advantage and amply repay all his care and assi duity in acquiring it. The defect, however, we more especially deplore their own mental culture. is the indifference of the working classes to We are aware of striking exceptions to this remark. But the masses are far too indifferent to this matter. Our present object is to excite in the readers of the in knowledge, and we venture to suggest some "Organ" an habitual attention to their progress counsels by which that progress may be facil It is a glorious object. Mind is a precious treasure. Bring personal attractions into contrast Without this, even wealth fails to secure permawith it, and how insignificant do they appear. ment respect. Power may be acquired and maintained through the array of military and brute forces, but how despicable is all such power apart from the sway of mind. Man walks symmetry of his form, or the majesty of his geneabroad the lord of creation, not because of the ral appearance, but as possessed of intelligence. This is his superiority, over other creations of God. The heavens above and the earth beneath know not the hand that formed them. The stars shine forth but cannot speak his praise. The verdant meadows with every form of vegetable life are enriched with his goodness but are incapable of appreciating his bounty. The beasts of the forest partake of the food he has provided for them with the varied tribes of earth and sea and air, but cannot render to him acts of homage. It is for man to reason to investigate the cause of his creation to learn the requirements of the author of his being-to be rightly affected with the favours he receives to observe the adaptation of all things around him to promote his happiness whilst in the path of rectitude-to be susceptible of varied mental emotions-to control the turbulence of his passions-to profit | satisfaction. Ignorance and vice go hand in by the experience of the past-to live influenced by the laws which will affect his well-being through eternity. Of all this you are capable. God gave you mind for these great purposes. And shall you neglect it? Remember neglect is abuse. Continued neglect may lead to its absolute destruction. hand. The uncultured mind is blunted in its perception of those great social evils with which our world is vitiated. Do not mistake me. Educaton is not a panacea for all crime. It is not the sufficient cure of any sin. The power of sin over the spirit can only be annihilated by the grace of God. But education is an instrumental corrective of the evil. Let me explain. It is well known that there is an intimate sympathy between the mental and moral attributes of our nature equal in power to the sympathy existent between our mental and physical constitution. Such has been the wise arrangement of God in our creation, and conscience which seems to preside as empress over the varied powers of the mind renders that connexion more constant and impressive. It is thus that more certain sway is obtained over the moral feelings of others, and the power of self-government materially augmented. With the educated mind motives are capable of being appreciated-are as the result of habit weighed; and conscience when aroused backs the decisions of an enlightened judgment with irresistible force. We are aware of the limitation to this remark. Many of the most intellectual are very far from purity. Their love of sin has been so strong as to break down this barrier. But even then the intellectual attainment has proved some resistance, and the after ease with which sin has been indulged has been in no small degree associated with the giving Men of intel-up of the mind as well as the body to destruction. Certain it is, that when remorse has ensued the previously disciplined mind adds a sting to the accusations of conscience unfelt by the illiterate. If this be true-if education raises up a bulwark around the spirit against the encroachments of vice, it leaves the mind free to those sources of enjoyment more compatible with its nature. It secures elevated pleasure in the augmented power of reflection, and the varied subjects which have engaged its attention. All intellectual growth is a source of enjoyment. It draws man nearer to the vast and bright intelligences of other worlds. It opens his mind to the contemplation of the Great God, alike the fountain of all good and bliss. From these sources then derive your stimulus to mental culture, remembering that your success will be proportionate to the effort you yourselves put forth. But this is not your only excitement to mental culture. Self-interest should impel you to it. Education will smoothen your path through life, and add to the number as well as increase the purity of your enjoyments. Although not disposed to elevate our own age so much in importance above others which have preceded it, we look at its progressive character, especially in education, as suggestive of solemn warning against mental indolence. Depend upon it, the restless activity with which you must contend will fully tax all your resources. You will struggle on through life at great disadvantage unless you make some vigorous attempt to gain the practical knowledge with which your immediate juniors are becoming so amply endowed. They will shortly join your ranks, and your seniority will not avail against their intellectual progress. In this age of competition the best qualified are sure to be the first employed, and unless you can by a determined effort repair your past defects, you must to a great extent be the drudges of your age, whilst the more educated will be called to posts of honour and emolument you are unable to occupy. ligence are sought after in every department of mechanical labour, and commercial enterprize. They have the first, if not the only chance of success. So with our female youth. Those of your number must take the lead, who have intelligence in addition to other excellencies to recommend them. Masters of factories, heads of commercial houses, the guardians of our railway interests, prefer the youth whose intelligence makes him of some value to society, apart from the mechanism and ordinary routine of his own trade or calling, and whose studious habits have raised him above the low and vicious pursuits so frequently associated with ignorance. It is right it should be so. Mind must have pre-eminence. Education cannot but ensure power. The day for appreciation of mere physical capability is passing away. More mind is required in every department of enterprize. Bodily strength is of less value because of mental ingenuity. Machinery calls for the wakeful mind whilst it supersedes to a great extent the "sweat of labour." He who has the most mental activity, the greatest fertility of contrivance, the quickest perception of difficulties and remedies, has the advantage over his fellows. Drones must inevitably be left behind. indolently ignorant ensure their own ruin. Hard must be the struggle for the uncultivated mind, and harder still where the primary elements of education have been neglected. The Again-consider education as the medium of worthy enjoyment. The acquisition of knowledge is enjoyment. But it also supplies an impetus to virtue, the great essential to real has been cultivated. In the pursuit of this object keep steadily in view your present mental taste and position. Be willing to know the truth about yourselves. Sit down with the serious determination to analyze, so far as you are capable of doing, the special bent of your mind, and in what degree it The effort may result in your humiliation. It is possible that this view will bring out defects of which you were not conscious. Still do not shrink from the task. Had you not better know your mental poverty and feebleness, and seek its enrichment and strength, than be blind to a fact of which others are conscious, and which is so detrimental to your interests? Besides this self-knowledge is necessary to your intellectual advance. Why are so many the self-complacent bores of our social circles, and the almost unbearable intruders in our public assemblies ? Just because they imagine themselves to be what they are not. Sound is taken for sense. Loquacity is supposed to be the variable indication of wisdom. The inevitable result is that they remain really ignorant, having no inducement to learn the things they suppose themselves already to know. We earnestly guard you against this folly. It is a great evil. It is a prevalent evil. It is an evil opposed to all mental progress. Avoid it. Determine to be honest in the matter. Test yourselves. Do it severely. How much do you really know? On what subject your knowledge most extended? Is it accurate superficial? Take history as an example. How many books of history have you read ? What do you remember of them? Could you classify the leading events? Or analyze the great characters of each age, so as to form a definite judgment of their excellence or defects; or notify the political changes of each period, giving the reasons by which they have been suggested? Test your attainments in the same manner in poetry, astronomy, botany, mechanics, mental science, theology, and so on with the varied branches of literature open to your research. Remember where you are in mental culture. Go lower still. Glance at the too much de spised elements of education, your writing, arithmetic, grammar, spelling. What is the fact? Have you to hesitate in making the little calculations ofevery day life? Are you able to pen a letter with the writing clear, and good-with the words carefully spelt-with the language perfectly grammatical? This is not a matter of small importance. The youth who puts i for I, who can only get half a dozen lines in a page of letter-paper and who makes all sorts of blots and blunders in a letter, ought to know his defect and try to remedy it, It is important also to bend your mental energies in the direction which will yield you most profit. Begin at the right place. Go on step by step. Ascend from the lesser to the greater. Let not your mind rest so much on what you may be, as what you are, on what you will be able to do in future years, as what you are equal to now. Your brightest visions of intellectual advancement may be realized. We hope they will. We should rejoice in your elevation to those positions in society which demand varied, deep and accurate knowledge. But look to your feet. Be careful of your present progress. However elevated your ultimate position, the antecedent steps must be trodden. This is your immediate concern. Some are too high-minded for this regular progress. They must even teach before they have well begun to learn, and not in a common way either. Authorship is their ambition. They write their compositions appear in print They are delighted-whilst an abused public is insulted by their folly. Had the same amount of time and labour been expended in removing defects and acquiring useful information, a real and immediate good would have been secured to themselves, combined with brighter prospects of ultimate intellectual benefit to others. Avoid this failing. Be practical. Aim at useful knowledge. Seek solid acquirements in those branches of education most useful for the sphere you occupy. We must guard you against sluggish movement and the limitation of your efforts within any de| finite boundary. Do not shrink from fatigue, your earlier attempts at more careful reading and close thinking may prove irksome. At first the mind soon fags, and is liable to discouragement by remembering so little of what is read. But persevere. Difliculties will vanish as you proceed, and the more rapidly in proportion as you are determined and earnest in the matter. In every case diligence and energy alone will secure success. Once get your mind thoroughly awake and hard at work, and we promise you rich enjoyment to which you have hitherto been strangers. And then lay down as a principle for your guidance that you are to go on learning all your days. We are all solemnly bound to the highest culture of our minds. However fast you acquire knowledge, extended research will be still before you. Never say "it is enough-I have reached the summit of my intellectual ambitionI have gained all the knowledge I desire-I have read as many books as will do me any good-I am quite content to leave further progress to more thirsty spirits." Oh surely not. If knowledge be essentially a good thing, you can nei ther be too earnest in its pursuit, nor too comprehensive in your grasp. So long as there remain principles to be understood, and facts to be acquired capable of adding dignity to your mental being, still consider your work undone. Each addition to your store of information will be to you an element of power, consolation and wealth. It will brighten the evening of your life and secure you a defence against the tedium of old age. In this pursuit of knowledge we earnestly recommend the avoidance of fictitious reading. It dissipates and weakens the mind. It gives loose ideas of human life. Indeed nothing can be more dangerous to our youth than the cultivation of this habit. If you wish to be sound thinkers, and to derive practical benefit from your reading, get hold of principles developed in fact, not mutilated in fiction. Its pretensions to commend virtue and discountenance vice are at the best vague and uncertain. It is sought by the bad to nourish their passions, and by the virtuous more for fascination than profit. The ill effects of novel-reading are fearful. Many young men of promise have thus become lost to society, whilst young women have been borne to the grave through disappointed hopes excited by the heroine of romance. Novel-reading equals the theatre as a pestilence and both have trained up their multitudes for destruction. And we are far from sure of the advantage done to society by the introduction of religious fiction. It has been intended for good. In some instances its aim may have been accomplished. But is the taste it excites good? Are the feelings called forth substantial? May not much more benefit be derived from reading the lives of those noble specimens of our species, who being dead yet speak to us through their biographers. There is not the slightest necessity for this fictitions reading. Books of truth abound in almost every shade of interest and excellence, and far more thrilling and lasting enjoyment is derivable from such productions than from the creations of fancy brought out to support some favourite dogma, or as in other cases merely to captivate the reader till the tale is done. Our recollections of "Lamartine's Travels in the East" will illustrate our position. Here is poetry in prose. Here are pictures of real life drawn by a master's hand from personal observation. Here are bright though's to enchant the soul vested in all the sobriety of truth. While then truth so beautiful and good is accessible never descend to fiction either under the garb of morality or religion. Permit me to close these suggestions with an earnest entreaty to the culture of the soul. "Philosophy (says the judicious Abercrombie) fails of its noblest object if it does not lead us to God; and whatever may be its pretensions, that is unworthy the name of science, which professes to trace the sequences of nature, and yet fails to discover as if marked by a sunbeam the mighty hand which arranged them all; which fails to bow in humble adoration before the power and wisdom, the harmony and beauty which pervade all the works of Him who is eternal." The highest knowledge is acquaintance with God-the sublimest wisdom is to learn of Him, who being meek and lowly in heart, died to secure eternal life for a perishing world. Cockermouth. P. H. DAVISON. SIMON SNYCLE. "Heaven from above, and conscience from within, Cries in his startled ear."-CowPER. In the morning, as if nature had determined not to be robbed of her measure of rest, Simon overslept himself and did not appear in the "laboratory" till his master had filed away nearly two hours. The lateness of his appearance afforded his master a favourable opportunity, of which he availed himself, of referring to the doings and misdoings of the preceding night. He talked Simon a lecture breathing a kind spirit and characterized by the earnest desire it manifested for his welfare: he expostulated with him on the folly of the course he was pursuing-spoke of the ruination to which it tended, and of the depths of degradation and misery into which it would certainly and speedily sink him, while on the other hand he told him that if he would forsake his companions and seek his own interests by the even tenor of his conduct he knew of no young man who had more cheering prospects of a life of respectibility and happiness. But Simon's heart was hardened and he appeared now altogether another character. His former cheerfulness and intelligence were supplanted by the gloom of his present moroseness. The sullenness with which his brow was clad and the impertinence of his remarks only went to show that he had steeped his conscience and fortified his mind against the convictions of reason and truth. Mr. Smith sighed over the infection which like the dreadful blast of some eastern scourge had seized hold of Simon. To find a cure for the disease baffled all his skill, but for a time he cherished the fond hope that ere long Simon's eyes would behold his own folly. But ah! in vain he hoped. Time, that prover of all things only shewed more alarming symptoms of the growing evil. Night after night had some member of the family to sacrifice a portion of their rest on Simon's account. Talk to him about the matter and you only secured insult for your pains. He acquired boldness in crime and his evil habits strengthened upon him till they became to him a second nature. "Something must be done or the youth's ruin will assuredly be accomplished," thought Mr. S., "and done at once. Delays are always dangerous and the longer an evil is allowed to remain the more difficult will be the task of its eradication." While he thus mused within himself several modes of attempting Simon's reclamation passed before his mind, and he ultimately resolved to visit Mr. and Mrs. Snycle, lay the matter open, and consult with them as to the best remedy. He went, and his revelations came like the sudden shock of a thunderbolt to Timothy and his wife, for they had anticipated better things of their first-born. This was indeed a check to the stream of their happiness which had so long and peacefully glided on. Their fears were at once aroused and their minds filled with the most dismal forebodings of his future career. The consultation ended with a determination on the part of Mr. Suycle to seize the first opportunity that presented itself of talking to Simon elapsed before the desired opportunity offered on the painful subject. Some time however itself; for suspecting that his master had visited his parents, Simon purposely absented himself for a longer period than usual from the habitation of his father. But at length he wanted an article from home which he could no longer do without, so he determined to brave the storm which he expected had been brewing, arranging in his own mind that if the subject of his conduct was broached he would say that he was in a hurry as some young men were awaiting his return. It was one evening that he turned his face towards his father's house and has he walked alone his little inward monitor reproached him with having deviated from the path of rectitude. His thoughts flew back to the time when about five years ago, at the close of his first day's labour, he hastened along this very path with a heart as light as a feather and a countenance beaming with delight at the anticipated welcomes of his friends. How altered were his circumstances! Now he crept sluggishly along, with a heavy heart, and barely possessing sufficient courage to meet the eye of his father. what had caused this change of feeling? His faithful conscience which had not become thoroughly seared, answered the question by pointing to himself as the sole cause of And |