the employers and the employed. Would to God our white brethren would treat with the same freedom our black brethren. The domestic arrangements of France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, offer a striking contrast to our own; it frequently happens that the servants of these, and the families may be traced through generations, as all living under the same roof; in fact, the nearest relationship has been cemented between them; and in Spain, it often happens that the resources of an estate are considerably reduced, from the number of aged servants who are pensioned on it. What a noble contrast to our system. How many who have contributed for years to the comfort, and attended to the wants of our wealthy classes are left to linger out a miserable existence in the poor-house, uncared for, forgotten; and the funeral cortège is composed of perhaps the workhouse officials. Rattle the bones, all over the stones; It's only a pauper whom nobody owns. It was to prove how love and joy unite II. We talked of home and all who loved us there; HENRY FRANK LOTT. A SWEDISH MAID SERVANT.* BY FREDRIKA BREMER. We will take this opportunity of giving a more detailed account of Maja. The reader must by no means imagine that she has been formed by the graces. We must confirm this opinion. She had a strong figure, broad back, high shoulders and something so ungraceful in her carriage that Hedvig, the first time she saw her, hesitated whether she should engage her as a domestic servant. But Maja looked at her with a pair of pleasant light brown eyes, which had an especially grave, kind, and heartfelt expression, and said, What sad and melancholy reflections rush on the mind at the bare contemplation of such facts. Another point of grand importance, is the fact, that from this class arise a large proportion of the tradespeople of the west end of London, and can we possibly exaggerate the effects of their previous condition on them in their new sphere-the spirit broken in service is easily moulded on any great occasion to meet the exigencies of the times, as moved by the upper classes. Would men of sound sense and intelligence tacitly submit to the unheard of and intolerant burdens heaped on us, unless they were enslaved. We are enslaved, the peasant to the farmer, the working man to the manufacturer, the farmer, shopkeeper, and manufacturer, to the landed aristocracy and nobility. The influence exercised by this class, is a subject worthy of our most undivided attention. What influence is exercised by them over the minds of the children of the aristocracy as nurses and nurse-maids, and as they grow in years by butlers, footmen, and valets; we may rest assured that the influence is an important one, and that its effects are felt throughout the social fabric. The thoughts here recorded might indeed be amplified to an unlimited extent, did space permit of tracing its effects through the various ramifications of society-enough And Hedvig engaged her immediately. On this Maja has been said to render a conclusion easy. We must laughed a short, spasmodic, queer kind of laugh, emancipate ourselves- -we must throw off the whole of drawing in her head and shooting forth her chest, but our feudal trammels, and in order to call forth the vir- looking all the while most cordially pleased. Hedvig tues of the servant, we must not only inculcate self-re-laughed too, thought it very odd, but took no notice. spect, but remove every barrier that now degrades him. And should these observations come under the eye of servants, let me request them, aye, beseech them, to pay earnest attention to their condition. Let them influence the public mind in their favour, prove themselves worthy of the esteem and respect of all, and their future will be a bright one. The opposition of a dominant, self-interested class, will be silenced by an imperious voice, the popular will, and commingling in the ranks of the people, and pressing forward with them, they will aid in obtaining the emancipation, social and political, of the whole human race. Let" LIBERTY AND FRATERNITY" be their watchwords. THE NIGHT-WALK. Through the grounds of W. Baker, Esq., near Hertford. WHERE wealth with lavish hands had made the spot "Oh, kind miss-do take me!" It was now nearly thirteen years since this time, and From Miss Bremer's forthcoming work. pure, as warm, as full of noble impulses as ever beat in a human breast; and this heart was the mainspring in the clockwork of her being. This heart also gave an actual grace to her soul, and communicated the same to her thoughts and actions. This soul shone brightly from her eyes, the only beautiful feature in her other wise ordinary face, and their faithful, heartfelt glance, which seemed to read within the very soul the wishes of those whom she loved,-that glance-became a light in the family in more than one respect. When Hedvig's mother died, and Hedvig, then so young, was obliged to take upon herself those responsible family cares, her courage in the first place wavered, and she felt her powers inadequate to the task. She said then to Maja, who had been two years in the family, and with whose worth she had become acquainted, “Maja, you must now become my stay and my helper if I am to accomplish all that which is laid upon me. Assist me to take into consideration how everything is to be done in the best manner, so that every one may be comfortable, and so that it will answer. And help my poor memory with your excellent one, and remind me of what ought to be done. Without you, Maja, I could not manage!" of musical notation dismissed, and at the same time no new signs introduced, which would have to be unlearnt ou proceeding to the study of a higher class of music. The author's idea of treating musical notation as the mere signs of a new language, and not a science in itself, appears to us the right principle on which to ground the musical instruction of young children, with whom the object is to develope a faculty of the mind, rather than to teach the decyphering of musical compositions, and in these little books signs are only given as they are required for the expression of musical ideas. The words of the songs seem also to have been selected with much good taste and judgment, and are suited not so much to inculcate moral and religious precepts, which is scarcely within the province of music, as to inspire cheerful piety and kindly feelings. "The Sacred Lyrist" is a collection of Hymns, Anthems, and Chaunts, arranged on the same simple plan, for social and private worship. Among them we recognise many old English favourites, and new adaptations of well-known melodies, whilst the greater number are evidently of American origin, and offer many specimens of simple and graceful harmony. France and England. A Vision of the Future. M. DE LAMARTINE. Fifth edition. London: H. G. Clark and Co. By If any one had offered Maja " gold and green woods” they could not so firmly have attached her to them as by these words. She was one of those sterling souls in This remarkable little work, by the most remarkable whom we may place confidence-even as regards our man of the age, in which the progress of European wants and our weaknesses-without danger. The en- movement has been delineated with that sagacity which couragement which Hedvig gave was also a means of is all but prophecy, is made accessible in this translaawakening in Maja many a slumbering power, both in tion, in a neat little volume, to every man who has a understanding and judgment. From this moment the shilling to spare. There are great truths enunciated reinterests of the family were her own. She became He-garding England, that every one who loves his country dvig's right hand, without allowing any one else to know should read and ponder upon. that she was more than the left; and thus the relationship between mistress and servant became without its being in any way deranged-one of an altogether deep and heart-felt character. From this time it was entirely forgotten in the family, as far as concerned Maja, that there was such a thing in the world as "time for quitting." Servants! What an important part they act in the life and history of families. And who can enumerate the deeds of energy and patience, and all the Christian virtues which are day and night performed by good servants? Volumes might be written about them; yet-to what purpose? There is One who enumerates them, and writes them down in his book-that great book!-and we shall one day know more about them when it is opened; when the quiet life and the unobtrusive deeds which now lie concealed in the shades of household existence, shall be revealed to the day, and when the great master shall call forth to a joyful reward the good and the faithful servant-who was faithful in the little thing. Literary Notices. The Singer's First and Second Books for Common WE rejoice to see from these little books, which have Repeal or Revolution. A Glimpse of the Irish Future in a Letter to Lord John Russell. By Dr. DUNMORE LANG. London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange. This is one of the most clear-sighted and plain-spoken pamphlets that we have read for a long time. It does Dr. Lang infinite credit. He surveys the present relative positions of England and Ireland, not only from the point of history, but of his own experience. He has travelled in America, and lived and laboured in our own colonies. Of our great Australian one he is a member of the Legislative Council, and he bears the same unhesitating testimony as every other rational traveller to the excellent working of the government of the individual states of America, and of the most preposterous and ruinous government of our colonies by the powers at home. He gives some most striking instances of the fatal folly of the measures now in operation in Australia, the chief of these the work of Lord John Russell. He unites his voice with that of thousands of others demanding a more extensive system of emigration, labourers and population generally being the great want of Australia, while at home the redundancy of population is producing the most extraordinary misery: and he shews how all this time the measures of the English government are embarrassing the Australian colony and obstructing its progress. The manner in which the home government is bestowing the bulk of the lands on total bar in the way of that sale of those lands by which wandering squatters who never cultivate, and putting a labour is to be plentifully imported from home is most striking. In fact, no one can read this remarkable pamphlet without feeling how criminal is the apathy of the English public in allowing that little tom-tit on a round of beef, Lord John Russell, to sit on the seat of this great country's government, which he is no more qualified to wield than that little bird is to eat up the whole round. It is a culpable burlesque, for which millions are suffering, and by which the ruin of the nation is accelerated. THE WEEKLY RECORD. Old Head, Barony of Mush, April 27th, 1848. Dear Sir, For the last two months I have been passing silently over the most destitute parts of the west of Ireland, to see, as unnoticed as I could, what desolations are made in the country by the famine, and ascertain if possible, what effect it has had on the minds of the surviving sufferers; and what hope, if any there be, remains, for this down-trodden people. The last poor-law as you must know, has paralyzed the energies of the better class, and hardened the hearts of many, who were before indefatigable in their labours, and, in total despair of ever meeting the evil they bar the heart, and say, effort is unavailing, we must all go together into the fearful gulf. The aggravated, the cruel sufferings of this people, never, never had a parallel, this taking away the land, and compelling the poor labourer to pull down with his own hand, the smoky cabin which was his last despairing hope, is the ultimatum not only of misery, but of inhumanity; and when I go about in the mountains of the west, and find the poor outcasts sheltered in groups under some wall, or possibly some slender sticks put up, and sods put over to give a temporary covering, till the father, the mother, or the child might have time to die, I have said it is enough. And all this are the poor people enduring for a pound of meal (yes a pound of meal) which only keeps the famished creatures hold on life for a few weeks longer, to die by the disease which is now, as the spring has opened increasing at a fearful rate. I go from school to school, and see the famished children huddled into a wet, floorless, dark cabin, with now and then a book, waiting in hungry hope for the frightful black bread which the ungodly master of the slave in the United States would not dare throw his negro; and I blush that I must call a fellow creature capable of inflicting such injuries, a man, and my bro ther. I never once thought that the accursed slavery of my own country had one redeeming quality. I never could lift my hand and boldly say,-" Come and look at the blessed results of a republican government," while that plague spot is there, nor never did I think that there was one injustice done to man, but what this blood-stained institution would inflict. But the last eight months have taught me, that poor Ireland has racks and tortures invented, which the slave-holder in his ingenuity, has not as yet found out. He cannot, after his slave has toiled to enrich his stores, turn him out without food and shelter-he cannot tell him, if he do not tear down the house that shelters him, he shall perish with hunger; he cannot turn him off in old age and infirmity, without a support; he cannot by any taxation, compel his neighbour to support his slave when any misfortune may happen to him; while here the poor middleman who must struggle to pay his landlord to the last extremity, must now be compelled by accumulated taxation, not only to support the poor-house, but feed the beggar; till he in a few months, finds himself wanting the same charity, which he has been giving. The evils which are following in the train of all this strange management, can only be understood by eye witnesses, and those who are drinking this bitter cup. Come here, if you please and see the famished arm of the labourer, who is sitting by the road-side, lifting the hammer to break the stones which lie in mountains by the high road, and when he has toiled all day, he gets a pound of meal, and sleeps by a ditch, for he had to pull down his hut, or he could not get this boon. "What can be done? Everything has been tried, and everything has failed." You say, Allow me to ask, has this been fairly tried? Has seed been given to crop the ground, and the land been tilled, instead of covering the country with unfinished roads, and broken stones. Well do you know, that the effort you made last spring, was one of great, and effectual good; had this effort been extended throughout the country, Ireland would to day, have been in a state of comparative comfort. Now the spring has opened with flattering prospects, and the waste lands all over Ireland, are inviting the seed, and promising a coming harvest, if her ground can be broken up, and the seed put in, Another most promising and affecting fact is, that through Mayo, as far as I can hear, it is said, that men are now putting potatoes into the ground, who have well nigh starved themselves through the winter, eating sparingly but once a-day, that they might save a little seed, and where there is the least reason to hope, the poor have laid holl of this hope, and are doing what they can. I am now at a placé called Old Head, eight miles from Westport, with a Mrs. Garvy, who has long resided here, and has a holding of four hundred acres, and says, that her tenantry are ever willing to pay rent, and did, till the famine; that they are industrious and honest, but the famine has deprived them of all means to labour or to live. Her lands which were once well cultivated, now lie waste, while she has the taxes pressing her down, without the least income from the land; and now the starving tenants, are looking for help from her, which it is impossible for her to give. Two months ago, she sent me word, that if the Friends would sow any portion of her land, she would give it rent free, and pay the taxes, if they would only employ the poor. I did not write, because I am determined to take no responsibility of character, or conduct, upon me, till I have seen and heard myself, by being upon the spot. I have been in her house for the last ten days; have seen her farm, which is an old one; her husband was the third life upon it and the growing and cultivation look well. She says, if seed can be procured to sow fifty or a hundred acres, she will give the land that has been untilled, give the manure, and all the crops to those who sow them, and pay the taxes, and give ten pounds What can she do more. Hearing this beside for buying seed. offer, I should not do justice to the poor about her, nor to my own feelings, without laying this in some shape before the pubShe adds still, that this offer is made to those who are in lic. the greatest need in the vicinity, without confining it to her own tenantry. She Now, my kind friend, if your philanthropy can devise any method through any society, how this seed can be obtained, (if you were on the spot, I am sure you would do so,) your own good sense must respond, that seeding the land is the only remedy for this great calamity. You are tired of Ireland, and who is not; and the sooner she is off of your hands the better. never will be, she never can be, while she is breaking stones, for a pound of yellow meal, or black bread, and eating this, without a shelter. She must be tried by more rational means than hitherto have been taken, before she is cast off as a thing of naught, and left to patiently dwindle from the earth as she now is doing. Had I known in time, what I know to-day, of the spot where I now am, I should have sent to the U. S. for seed, but it is now too late, what is done, must be done quickly. I look from the window of the lodge where Mrs. Garvy resides, and see her fine land lying in waste, and the poor men and women silently approaching to ask a little work, or bread, and hear them say, "Take me for God's sake, or I die," and I cannot forbear speaking once more for this wretched people. Do you say they are rebelling, and making pikes to kill their Give them something better to do; I fully believe benefactors? had such been sent to Ireland, before the last poor-rate was laid on, that not an anvil would have been employed but for ploughs, and spades, and the poor, would in twelve months be eating bread of their own cultivation, and the country been loyal to the Queen; and be assured, that should those pikes be called into action, not one will ever be seen with a Quaker bleeding upon its point. Well do I know their feelings on this subjeet, yes, even in their last dying breath, do they bless the kind God for what you have done, and if necessary, many would die for your sakes. I truly believe, that if an army of thousands furnished with guns and pikes, should, with the Irish fire, be at the point of an engagement, and a body of Friends should appear, and give but the word "Quaker," it would, like a shock of electricity, be felt, and not one with a broad-brimmed hat, would be injured. So much for peace, so much for Christian kindness. Now my patient friend, do not turn a deaf ear to my petition, at least, do not be angry at my importunity. Before I shall send this letter, it will be read to Dr. Calanen, the curate of Louisburgh, who has been eight months in that village, two miles from Old Head, and whose labours well testify, that he is no slothful servant. He has, as his neighbours testify, done more upon the land in employing the poor, paying, feeding, and clothing them, than any other man or men in the same time; he is starved himself "instant in season, and out of season" and the little children of the parish are a living testimony of the labours of himself and his companion, in feeding and clothing the poor famished creatures of want. But he cannot do all a curate, you well know, does all the labour, and reaps little reward. The parish priest does what he can, and unites well with the Dr. in the movements for the poor, but is apparently fast declining and going down to the dust. If I have mis-stated anything it will be corrected, and you will not be deceived, I hope, in anything I have written. Your friend, ETHERIZATION. A. NICHOLSON. Our readers are perhaps not aware that the question to whom belongs the merit of the discovery of the property of the vapour of ether to produce insensibility to pain has been, and still continues to be, contested in the United States with the utmost earnestness. Pamphlet after pamphlet, and statements of the most laboured description, have been put forth by the advocates of rival claimants. Various of these have been sent to us, one entitled "Some account of the Letheon; or, Who is the Discoverer?" By Edward Warren. A third edition of 90 pages. Again "Littell's Living Age," a Boston periodical, No. 201, for March, consists almost wholly of a statement on the same subject, 42 pages. Both these works take the field on behalf of Dr. William T. G. Morton, against Dr. Charles T. Jackson, both of This latter tract states, that the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, gentlemen of the highest consideration, and none of them physicians, or engaged on similar pursuits with either of the claimants, have made a thorough investigation of the subject, and have decided in favour of Dr. Morton. The evidence on which they rest their decision is contained in this number of "Littell's Living Age." On the other hand, in "The Christian World," we find a statement by Mr. W. F. Channing, the only son of the late Dr. Channing, as stoutly maintaining the claim of Dr. Jackson, who, it may be mentioned, is the brother-in-law of Mr. Emerson, the poet and philosopher, now in England. Boston. Into so hotly disputed a question it is not necessary for us to enter amid so much conflicting statement, and on this side of the water, where the means of testing the truth of various points are so much the more difficult of attainment. Happily the question is of the less importance, since the superior powers of chloroform have superseded the use of ether. The question cannot be regarded as one of vital practical importance, but merely one regarding the ascertainment of an historic fact in the progress of science, and the award of the honour to its proper claimant. Towards the accomplishment of this end, as the evidence on the side of Dr. Morton is so elaborate and almost voluminous, it is worth while to hear what a man of such high moral stand ing as Mr. Channing has to advance, and he gives the facts in favour of Dr. Jackson, in a very clear and succinct manner. "In the beginning of 1842 Dr. Jackson, on the occasion of inhaling ether, observed the two principal facts on which the discovery rests,-the fact of a peculiar insensibility to pain, and that of the safety of inhalation. He connected these facts at once with their practical application, the production of insensibility during surgical operations, and communicated this result to Dr. S. A. Bemis in the summer of the same year, as well as to others, then and subsequently. In February, 1846, Dr. Jackson again urged upon Mr. Joseph Peabody the inhalation of ether for the purpose of having teeth extracted under its influence, and preparations were actually made for the redistillation of the agent; but the caution of Mr. Peabody's friends prevented the desired consummation. In September, 1846, Dr. Morton called upon Dr. Jackson for the purpose of getting a gas bag to impose upon a refractory patient, when Dr. Jackson explained to him the action of ether and earnestly persuaded him to employ it. By Dr. Morton's account, on the same evening he produced insensibility on himself by breathing the ether, and the next morning the tooth was extracted which constitutes his claim to the discovery. When he announced the success of the operation, Dr. Jackson received it without surprise, and again with difficulty persuaded him to bring it to the notice of the surgeons of the hospital. It was only after the discovery had passed through all its stages that it was thus brought before the trustees of that institution as a fit subject for their adjudication. "In answer to this narrative of undeniable facts, evidence is brought forward that Dr. Morton had previously experimented with ether and knew its effects to a greater or less extent, before applying to Dr. Jackson,-evidence, it is sufficient to say here, discredited, as far as it has any bearing upon the question at issue, by other evidence equally positive. It is sufficient to ask, why should the first operation have been the immediate consequence of the unsolicited communication of Dr. Jackson, if Dr. Morton had previously possessed, in good faith, a knowledge of the properties of ether which render it efficient and safe for inhalation, and had entertained the idea of its application, steps constituting the discovery, without which there was no discovery, and which left nothing more to be done? But to pass from this disagreeable part of the subject-it is stated in the report of the trustees of the Hospital, that Dr. Jackson had disconsists the fallacy of their whole reasoning. covered nothing that was not already known, and in this position As a physician and scientific man, Dr. Jackson had recognized the peculiar state of insensibility to pain, and satisfied himself of the safety of the inhalation when pure ether was used; and he had further made the application of these facts to surgical operations. These facts and this application as regards ether were wholly unknown. Ether had been observed to relieve pain in certain circumstances, but not to extinguish sensibility, and its inhalation was universally considered dangerous. Sir Humphrey Davy had indeed early suggested the use of nitrous oxide in certain surgical operations, but with express limitations, growing out of the unfitness of that agent for the purpose, an unfitness which has since been demonstrated by the experiments of Dr. Wells. The observations of Dr. Jackson, and his deductions from them were complete and final, sufficient for the end. They did not remain as simple ideas, but were communicated freely. and urged upon others. "Dr. Jackson was the recipient of the idea, the essential principle of the discovery; and after the thought and the impulse which he furnished, the hand was needed. This was the office which at length devolved upon Dr. Morton,-a necessary, and an honourable one in the beginning, but never to be confounded with the industry which made the accomplished man of science, and the powers of intuition which fitted him to receive a truth, in this instance, comprising a dispensation of mercy." We have deemed it our duty to give this summary view of the case, and leave the decision of the question to those who have more time to devote to the enquiry, and to that most patient, penetrating, and impartial of judges-posterity. OPENING OF NEATH MECHANIC'S INSTITUTION. This event took place on the 16th of April, on which occasion an admirable address was read by Mr. W. Jevons, a gentleman of 90 years of age, of the Liverpool Society, who has been the is compelled to quit the scene of his useful labours, by one of great promoter of the institution, but who, we regret to learn, the visitations of misfortune which abound at the present crisis. He had neglected to see the dissolution of a partnership in which he had been, duly gazetted. The firm has gone, and in sured his ruin." AMERICAN FREEDOM. "NO NIGGERS.-A Sabbath school teacher in Louisville, Ky., was exhorting a poor, rious, old, feeble slave to be very humblereminding her that she should be like the Lord Jesus, who had neither house nor home. 'Yes,' she added with emphasis; blessed be God-he had no house-no home-and no niggers!'"* North Star (American) CONTENTS. Free Exhibition. The Sepulchre-A Little Village and Great America-Facts from the Fields. The Meldrum Family. By WILLIAM HOWITT. (Continued.)-A Peace Offering-Poets of the People. Samuel Bamford. By Dr. SMILES-The Songs of Zion. By WILLIAM KENNEDY-Servants and Servitude. By JAMES BEAL-Two Sonnets. By H. F. Lori-A Swedish Maid Servant. By FREDRIKA BREMER-LITERARY NOTICES: The Singer's First and Second Books for Common Schools. cred Lyrist. France and England. A Vision of the Future. By M. DE LAMARTINE. Repeal or Revolution. A Glimpse of the Irish Future in a Letter to Lord John Russell. By Dr. DuxMORE LANG-RECORD: Letter from Ireland. By ASENATH NICHOLSON. Etherization, etc., etc. The Sa PRINTED for the proprietor by WILLIAM LOVETT, of 16, South Row, New Road, in the Parish of St. Pancras, County of Middlesex, and published by him at 291, Strand, in the Parish of St. Clement Danes. PRICE 1d. STAMPED, 24d |