the dearest; and, by a sophistical
process, the limits of the principle may have been enlarged, so as not
only to include raw materials, but manufactured products, and the labour
which we ourselves employ. But it is forgotten, that a law which
expresses merely what men do, has not the universality or fixity of a
law of matter, but is liable to variation from the action of moral
causes. The law may be partially true, as eliminated from a study of the
present age. It is an age of calculators and economists. In a moral age
it would be false. It is false in the present day, when moral men have
to do directly with their lower and ruder brethren. This is an
individual and personal matter, and each one will find that he has
enough of his own work to do in his own sphere. This widow is an
applicant for parochial relief. Repeated visits, and a succession of
reports, at brief intervals, have enabled the officer to present an
accurate narration of facts, both with reference to her past life and
her present condition. It becomes clear that this widow differs from the
other, in respect that she has greater habitude for labour, and that her
mind is cramped down to the hard matters of the present hour: she goes
to her work in the morning, and she returns home fatigued in the
evening. To-morrow's meal is secured, and the scene of to-morrow's
labour is known. Within the narrow limits of a week is her soul penned
up. It is clear, then, what the duties of the guardians are. If their
wish is to check pauperism, they must attend to that which this widow's
limited capacities prevent her from doing. In her young day, reading and
writing were accomplishments; but the world has jogged on a little since
then, without her knowing it. Reading and writing, as one of the
mechanical arts, have become indispensable to every boy and girl. The
same economic reasons which lead to the inference, that a girl should be
taught to darn her own stockings, or mend her own frock, would also show
that a boy and girl should be taught to read and write. The spread of
education is something very different from the diffusion of knowledge.
So, then, the officer's report would show whether the children are duly
sent to school; their progress might also be tested. At a future period,
it might appear that the girl is strong enough to enter service, and the
boy fit to be apprenticed either to a trade, or to the sea. In either
case, the fitness of the master or mistress is a