While heaven's arched brow was azure bright, The crescent moon above thy flood, Who then that saw thee, giant king! Had dreamt that once thy waters ran, 1 "Tis past! Thy billowy pride no more And meek and trembling as a child, At His command art thou, the wonderful, the wild! STORY OF A COTTON GOWN. Anon. SOMETIMES a very humble article, like a very humble individual, has a long, eventful, and interesting tale to tell. A cotton gown is a very humble article, and very easily procured let us hear what it has to say. Printed cotton, tolerably good, in respect both of cloth and of colours, may now be bought, by retail, for four pence per yard. Allow for the lining, and thread to make it up, and, as eight yards are enough for an ordinary working gown, it may be on the back of the wearer for less than four shillings. Her grandmother, or at all events, her great-grandmother, could not have procured one under forty shillings; and though that may have been stronger than the modern one, it would not have been so handsome. Yes, but those were the "good old times;" and so it could be more easily afforded. The "good old times" are always tending to make us dissatisfied with the present, if we refer them to our own young years; for we had then no cares, and enjoyment was fresh, but we have cares now, and our taste for enjoyment is blunted. As to the times "before we were born," all we can know of them is from hearsay; and hearsay and personal feeling make but a bad comparison. A young woman of “our bad times," gets ten pounds a year in service; she of the "good old times" got but forty shillings. The old one, therefore, could get but one cotton gown in the year, while she of the present times can get fifty; or she may get four, which will serve her well, and have eleven-twelfths of her wages for other purposes. Has cotton been discovered at home, then? Not at all: cotton in the old times came from Turkey, or if from a greater distance, it was brought in the form in which the carriage of an equal value costs least; namely, as cloth ready for the wearer. A great part of the cotton now used for common purposes comes from the East Indies, say twenty thousand miles by sea, and it comes unmanufactured, and with some of the refuse in it. Then, have the materials of ships and the wages of mariners become less costly than they were formerly? No, they have greatly increased; and so is every thing connected with the carriage. Do our working people earn less wages, or get cheaper food, or less clothing, than the people of India? No. The average of wages in India is not above one-twelfth of that in England, and the accommodations and comforts of the people are nearly in the same proportion. As little have the whole expenses of the matter become lighter; for, in order to put in motion all the plans and machines, and movements and combinations, which must be at work, before a single gown can be made, as much cost and as much skill are now required as were necessary a few hundred years ago to carry on the whole commerce of the world. The oak for timber and planking to the ship, if it is equally good and durable, takes as long time, and as much space to grow as formerly; or, if forced to grow faster, it lasts a shorter time, and so there is nothing gained that way. But land has become greatly more 3 valuable, and that increases the price of the home timber. Then there must be fir timber from the Baltic, mahogany and rosewood from tropical America, hemp from Russia, and other articles from almost every part of the world, before the ship can be fit for going to fetch the cotton: there must be carriers to bring the cotton to the port, and agents, and warehousemen, and labourers to ship it; and they must all live by their callings. It must also be - received and stored at the home port, and carried to those places where it is wanted. Every raw material which is used in any part of the process, costs more than it did formerly, and every man employed in it gets higher wages. Thus, admitting that there is a pound of cotton in the gown, the obtaining of that pound, if obtained singly, would cost thousands. The saving is made in the quantity imported and manu-` factured. Nearly two hundred and fifty millions of pounds are brought into this country in the course of the year; and in that immense quantity the proportion of human labour on a single pound is very small. When the great mass moves, the little masses go lightly; though there were an excellent road all the way, it would take a very strong man four years to walk round the globe; but the earth carries him round every day without his feeling the motion. In like manner, the winds and the water carry a ship, at the rate of perhaps a hundred miles in a day; and the people on board having nothing to do, as far as regards the progress of the ship, but to keep the hand on the rudder, and the eye on the compass, sometimes pull a rope, and occasionally measure how high the sun is, or how far the moon is from a star. This is the principle which runs through all parts of the process. Man is no longer employed in doing for himself all the little that he needs. He makes every thing work and work in great masses; and so the share of each individual is a mere trifle compared with the The wind is made to work not only on the waters, but on land. It turns the mill, it feeds the fire, it blows the bellows. It also draws up water from the sea, from stagnant pools, and from low and damp places, and pours it down on the mountain tops. Thence it comes rolling mass. down and turns machinery, it glides along and carries boats and barges on it, stands level, and the horse draws a heavy load along its surface. The very moon assists man in getting the cotton gown at a low price; for as the rolling globe shifts the position of the moon's attraction on the waters, these run now this way, now that, and waft their burdens to and fro, but still under the control of man. But man is not only assisted in his works by the powers of nature; he, as it were, puts tools into their hands, regulates their strength, and causes them to work properly. Among the traditions which have been handed down from the days of the foolish belief of witchcraft, there is one of an old woman who made all the beams and timbers of the house spin yarn like distaffs. This was a mere dream of folly, but knowledge has made the truth more effective without any other aid than that of principles, which can be readily understood by all who will study them. There are not only in the districts where the cotton is manufactured, falling streams and large kettles of boiling water, spinning with thousands of distaffs, and spinning faster and better by far than human hands can spin, but all over the country similar means are employed in doing the heaviest part of the labour required in the production of the most familiar article connected with the comforts and conveniences of life.-Saturday Magazine. THE CHILDREN'S CHOICE. JOHN. I MEAN to be a soldier, With uniform quite new; I wish they'd let me have a drum, I would go amid the battle With my broadsword in my hand, And the music all so grand. MOTHER. My son my son! what, if that sword Should strike a noble heart, And bid some loving father From his little ones depart! 1 What comfort would your waving plumes And brilliant dress bestow, When you thought upon the widow's tears And her orphan's cry of woe! WILLIAM. I mean to be a president, And I'll find out what the tariff is, MOTHER. My son! my son! the cares of state That ever pierce the good man's heart, And rob him of his rest. The great and gay to him appear As trifling as the dust, For he knows how little they are worthHow faithless is their trust. LOUISA. I mean to be a cottage girl, And sit behind a rill, And morn and eve my pitcher there With purest water fill; And I'll train a lovely woodbine Around my cottage door, And welcome to my winter hearth MOTHER. Louisa, dear, a humble mind And you shall never hear a word |