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    FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

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    INDIAN ROMANCE,*

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    dual processes to a more generalised purpose . Like the promoters of that movement , their early advocates were content to regard their success as valuable only so far as it conduced to something higher , viewing their own mission as a means to an end ; Like the pioneers of an army , they but' opened the way that others might enter in and gain the actual victory . What has been done is partly recorded in these little volumns . They also state what remains to be done , and propose , to some extent , the manner in which , it may be accomplished . . „ ,, , . The expressed desire is that society may advance in all that is truly valuable to man ,, as an intelligent and moral being . Inis is the ultimate purpose of such missionary labours , lhe ± . arJy Closing movement claims to be called the Pioneer of Progress . The Saturday Half-holiday is the immediate result sought , together with the early payment of wages as its natural adjunct .

    " But there are some reasons for looking upon this latest development of the Early Closing principle as being a kind of short road to the success of the entire movement . Saturday night is the especial season of late shopping . If the late-hour system can be beaten on the Saturday night , it cannot be expected , to afford a very vigorous resistance on the other evenings of the working week . Saturday night is the very citadel of late trading , and , when that yields , the remainder must follow . Thus the Saturday Half-holiday—w'hich may be considered as including what is called the Saturday Early Closing Movement—really aims at the root of that great evil which we designate the Late Hour system .

    The prize-essayist in question hits the point at once when he speaks of the kind of slavery which most prevails in an advanced state of society . This , he says , has in . a direct and tangible form crept into this land through , the avenue of trade and commerce . Over-work , at the bidding of a labour-proprietor , is the evil of the day . Too many act as if the only end of life were to _ get money . Mind and body require attention which has been denied . Nature and man should be more familiar friends than they have been . The case is thus powerfully stated : — " The struggle for existence , or at least for a competency , has become ,

    to a large class of the community , the main battle of life . For any higher thoughts Or aims they " have neither leisure nor inclination . They cannot redeem the time , because they have no time to redeem ; they cannot live like , sentient , thoughtful , immortal beings , because , from their daily bread-getting there is scarcely a pause in which they may look before and after . Obviously these men are not themselves in a position to gain the freedom they require . The movement must come from without . It must be conduoted by those whoso own position is freer and happier , and it must be encouraged and accelerated by the employers wno are the immediate participators in the fruit of this toil . "

    The period of " the all-work system , " under the harrows of which , we have most of us suffered , is now happily past , and the character of young men has greatly improved in consequence . This fact we have confirmed to us by the testimony of the best masters . Since the adoption of the Saturday Half-holiday , workmen , says Messrs . Guest and Chrimes , of Rotherham , " are more orderly , sober , and attentive to their work ; " Hosts of others witness to the same result . The concession has not been abused . It has been , and will bo , the interest of employers to grant it . ' Not many yeai * s ago , sleep and work seemed the sole occupations- of a large majority of the working classes j eating and drinking their only recreation . With stealthy steps the hours of labour were rapidly

    augmenting—were almost indefinitely prolonged . Little children wero suffered to exhaust their young life in toil , the continuous auonotony of whioli was enough to destroy the energies of full grown men and women 3 and if haply a voice was now and then raised against the oppression , its warning and admonitory tones were too faint to be heard admidst the din of machinery and the noisy strife of trade . But at length the true words oftruo men have spundod on the nation ' s heart like tlio blows of the smith upon his anvil . Sparks of pity have shob forth , rays of light have at least enabled us to see how great the darkness was , and there is no longer silent acquiescence in an unnecessary evil , but a firm resolution to use all legitimate means to lesson , its weight , or to destroy it altogether . "

    Lunaoy is one of the fearful results of overwork , and tho orowdiiig of groat oitios . Even the progress of social roforma brings its evil . Soientifio discovery has moro than one issue We may move and live faster than our forefathers , without being really better off ' . " Rapidity of locomotion hns no affinity to wisdom , and though wp may be able to put ' a girdlo round the earth in forty minutes , ' wo may be very unhappy and vory foolish , too , when wo have done it . Indeed , much of which wo aro proud in this strange ago will not boar a close inspection . Our great oitios , for instance , how wo laud them as tho marts of industry , and Uio sources of the moat widely extended comaiereo that tho world has over aeon 1 Great towns may be groat blessings ; the quostionie ono that claims wide discussion—but ussuroclly

    they bring mighty evila m tboir train . TUo atmosphoro becomes ovorloaded , and wo want spnao to breathe ; tho markets aro glutted , nnd we want room to sell 5 labour onnnot find a free outlet , for it is crushed by competition , while intense mental aobiyity and prolonged bodily exertion destroy tho healthful growth bobh of body and mind . Wo live fast indeed , but wo do not live well , Natu . ro is at strife with us , for wo trample on her laws ) G-od is at strife with us , for wo top often forgot His j and bo wo hurry on , madly , bljmdly , wilfully , too busy evor to bo calm , to eager and restless to be happy . Is not this picture a truo ono ? or , rather , is it not' Iho slightest ) poeeiblo Bkotoh , with ovory additional touuh would render more faithful , and which , if it were filled up with pre-RaphroHto minuteness , would stand ti'up of the larger portion of our City populations P If this bo bo -- » and O , how many gloomy feftturos might bo added to tho pioturo I—

    we had better be altogether silent about bur progress and civilization . But though silent not supine : there is work for each of us to do . " The evil is one of the results of what is regarded as respectability . . . . Well-to-do people -judge unjustly of the workman . They wonder at his ways , so far as they differ from their own , and declare , , in line , that he is irreclaimable . Having , says Mr . Dennis , impressed this belief distinctly on their minds , they are convinced that tlieir responsibility , as far as he is concerned , is altogether at an end . But the middle classes are , at length , though slowly , learning their true interests . They , however , require more intelligence still ; and Mr . Hole rightly argues for

    more and better education . He regrets that influential and religious denominations have held aloof on grounds as mistaken as conscientious from co-operation in ulterior measures . As the case now stands , " three children out of four leave school , with only a smattering of education . " Moreover , " the children of the working classes rarely preserve that skill in reading and writing-which makes the practice of those arts easy or agreeable pursuits for their own sake ; and manual labour , to which they are called so much too early , does not stimulate the exercise of the intellectual faculties . "

    Alas 3 and is it even , so still ? Have we no further progressed than this ? Is this the whole of the illumination received ? Well may the writer exclaim , " Light ! more light ! '' There are practical suggestions which it is hoped will be well considered for the remedy of these defects . Many of these are contained in Mr . Hole ' s work , and merit the most earnest attention . One motive he presses with great force . Free trade arid free government demand the largest possible development of education . " We are entrusting the fate of the greatest empire the , world ever saw to the hands of the people . To the people , then , must be given , the moderation , the sense of justice , the knowledge of sound political and economical principles , which will make them use that trust rightly . If free institutions are not to prove a curse rather than a blessing , we must have an intelligent people . In a word , the problem may be very briefly stated to be—education or anarchy ?"

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    T \ 0 UBTLESS most of our readers are more or less familiar with I J the novels of Feririimore Cooper , so celebrated for their description of prairie scenery , and their delineation of the habits , peculiarities , and sanguinary temperaments of the native Indians , together with their hatred of the whites , and the dangers to which the latter were occasionally exposed from their singular and illicit mode of warfare These novels , so deservedly world-famous , and which are remarkable for the author ' s brilliancy of imagery , and extraordinary powers of invention , are written with such a zest and gusto , and are , moreover , wrought up to such an intense pitch of excitement , the ' story and situations being developed in the most masterly manner , that they hecome perfectly irresistable to the reader , and have seldom—in fact , never been equalled by any succeeding writers . Any modern novelist following in the steps of this inimitable master must necessarily draw upon himself comparisons which , the chances are ten to one , will prove in his disfavour , and will besides find innumerable obstacles created in his path from tho . populnr prejudice in favour of an older and more established iavounto . It is not our intention , however , in expatiating upon the merits of the work before us , from the peri of Percy B . St . John , a name already favourably known to literature , to mako use of any such compar isons , considering the same to be not only premature and uncalled for , but altogether unfair to an author struggling into public notice . Mary Booh , or My Adventures m Texas , is written with much skill and power , nnd exhibits considerable information on the part of tho author relative to lifo and character in that far-ofl region . There arc some vory spirited descriptions of Texan scenery , ami two or three lively personages introduced into the narrative , which c-ive it a zest and heartiness peculiarly its own . Tho fault ot the book is , however , that tho story is not nufficiently sustained Irom tho commencement to tho end , being interlarded with too much extraneous matter , tho heroine , Mury Rock , whoso name give * tho title to tho work , playing a very unimportant part in tho action 01 tho drama . Noyortholoss wo do not think it poBfciblo for any ono to take up the present volume without deriving thorelrom a largo shave of amusement . For ourselves , we can fairly proiniso sucii readers as shall fool inclined to accept our recommendation , ana possess themselves ¦ of this decidedly clover production , that tuoj Hhall bo therewith edified by a number of interesting anecdotes upo » Indian characteristic }) and extravagances , and rocuiyo mucn valuable instruction upon a variety of ( subject * with winch I hoy woio previously unacquainted . _

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    SPECIAL . 1-Ianovisit , OcTouun : K > , 18 < IO . THE Austrian Bi ^ lom , escorted by twonfcy-fivq Imperial autograph loiters to tho oxooutivo grandees , Ihih boon publiahoc in duo form ; and doubtless a arcut number of persons will run m a . Y with the idea that n il-ep Constitution ' , or a froo dlsorotion m up management of their political uffliirH , has boon grantod to tho / uferent notions which compose tho Austrian ompiro . lho oritioisms of tho proas will miquoMtfonubly , in duo timo , wot thou » vight upon this point . Tho official orgiinn of tho Government write ns it the Emperor wore become n thoroughly constitutional monarch , ami

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    • Mary Rock , or My * , Ad * 0 nturcain Texas . Hy VoroyJi . fit . Jolm , niithor of tnc Aratii ) ( Jvutoo . tye . Xoncton 1 Cliftrlos If . Clnrlio .

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    912 . 1 he Saturday Analyst cmd Leader . [ Nov . 3 , 1869 1 ¦¦ .- _ ' ¦ ¦—— : ¦ : : TT— : — : ' — — 1 ¦___ .

    Foreign Correspondence.

    FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE . i

    Indian Romance,*

    INDIAN ROMANCE , *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 3, 1860, page 912, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2372/page/8/