on the House
of Commons accordingly. Whether the classes with capital will move in
the matter, is doubtful; for they are not the parties to be chiefly
benefited. The best way is not to trust to them on the subject; but
for the working-classes to take the thing into their own hands, and
spare no exertion to procure an act of parliament of the kind we speak
of. We feel assured, that such an act would do more to inspire hope
among artisans, and to put them in the way of fortune, than any other
law that could be mentioned.

RECENT FIRE-PANICS.

The panic created by a cry of fire in theatres, churches, and other
public buildings, may be said to cause a considerably greater number
of deaths than the flames themselves. Few persons, indeed, are burnt
to death, means of escape from conflagration being usually found;
whereas, the number suffocated and bruised to death by mere panic, is
lamentably large. The following is the account of a most disastrous
fire-panic, which we gather from a paper in an American Journal of
Education.

In the city of New York there is a school, known as the 'Ninth Ward
School-house,' Greenwich Avenue. The house is built of brick, and
consists of several floors, access to which is obtained by a spiral
staircase. The bottom of the staircase is paved with stone, and ten
feet square in extent. Standing in the centre of this landing-place,
we look up a circular well, as it may be called, round which the stair
winds with its balustrade. The school is attended by boys and girls,
in different departments, under their respective teachers. It was in
this extensive establishment, numbering at the time 1233 boys and 600
girls, that the panic occurred, and it broke out in a singular and
unexpected way.

One day last December, Miss Harrison, a teacher in the female
department, who had been for some days indisposed, was suddenly, and
while performing her duties in the school, seized with a paralysis of
the tongue. The spectacle of their teacher in this distressing
condition, naturally suggested to the children that she was faint, and
required water. At all events, the word _water_ was uttered. It was
repeated. It became a cry; and the cry excited the idea of fire. A
notion sprang up that the school was on fire. That was enough. The
floor was in an uproar; and the noise so created in one department was
communicated to the others. The whole school was seized with panic!
Now commenced a rush towards the va