are exceptions which speak in loud terms of commendation to those engaged in them. Among these is the case of Mr. John Wood, jun., a stuff-manufacturer, of Bradford, Yorkshire, who employs nearly six hundred girls in his manufactory. He is mindful of the well-being of those children who are under his charge. They have a portion of time allotted for recreation. In the working-rooms, which are kept perfectly neat and clean, there are seats placed at regular intervals, so that, when not at work, the I children can rest themselves. He has established a school on the premises; and by keeping more operatives than are actually necessary for his business, the children are enabled to attend the school in successive bands. They are there taught to read and write. He has them also taught to sew and to knit, that when they settle in life, they may understand household duties. The children are required to appear in clean clothes twice a-week. A medical man visits the manufactory once in each week to inspect the health of the children, and to attend to the sick. Engaged in such a scheme of benevolence, could it be otherwise than said of him :-" The little workpeople seemed quite delighted to see their employer; their faces brightened up, and their eyes sparkled as he came near and spoke to them; indeed, he appeared to be more like a father among them, and an affectionate one, too, than like a master. In fact, all seemed glad to see him, as if it were felt and fully recognized that his was the grateful task to watch over and promote the general good, and that only one common interest existed between them. Happy is it for society when the employer and the employed have such a connexion of mutual goodwill between them; and most happy are those who can combine with their own gainful pursuits the gratification which always accompanies warm-hearted and enlightened benevolence." Not these instances only, but all others which are applicable to the subject, prove the fact, that the world hates cruel actions, and loves generous deeds. Nor is it less true, that the exhibition of such highsouled and kind conduct is the surest mode of overcoming enmity and repressing revengeful passions. There could not be a better illustration of this truth than the common but expressive fable of the Wind and Sun. They were disputing, so runs the fable, one day, which possessed the most power. Unable to decide the question, they agreed to test it by seeing which could the most quickly divest a certain traveller of his cloak. The wind made the first trial. He called up his clouds, and sent his cool airs abroad. The traveller, feeling chilly, brought his cloak more closely around him. The wind then drenched the traveller with rain, pelted him with hail, covered him with snow, and pinched him with cold; but, though almost perishing, the traveller yielded not his cloak, Penny Magazine, vol. ii. pp. 445, 446. but wrapped it more firmly about his body. So the wind gave up in despair. Then came the sun. He scattered the clouds by his glorious beams, and warmed the benumbed limbs of the traveller with his cheering influence. Gently and gradually he increased his rays, until the grasp of the traveller upon his cloak was loosed. The sun still added to his power, and advanced his brilliancy, until the cloak was thrown off, and the traveller sat down upon it, panting with heat. So retaliation may try all its forces to disarm human passion of revenge, but it will fail. But let the sun of love fall upon it, and it will be melted into contrition and sorrow. In closing this department of the subject, let it be observed, that one of the most ennobling characteristic of the law of kindness is its universality. It is not circumscribed in its application, it is not confined to a few people, nor is its exercise favourable to a part, and injurious to the rest. Like the dews of heaven, the roaming atmosphere, or the glowing light of the sun, it is fitted for all people, and will as readily warm the frozen heart of the Laplander, in his eternal ice, with love Divine, as it will cool the raging passions of the fevered son of the tropics. Parents amid their children, schoolmasters surrounded by their scholars, the governor, ruler, king, and emperor with their subjects, the overseer with his slaves, the head workman with his labourers, all will find it a power which will procure them more obedience than any force they can use, obedience more lasting 66 and sincere, from the fact that it springs from affection instead of fear. I know that passion may intervene, and render it difficult to practise the law of kindness; that temper flies, and the impulse of revenge says, destroy;" but over these we must throw a bridle, and learn to "overcome evil with good." There is not a nobler sight in the moral world than that of an individual subduing his passions, repressing the desire to revenge, and acting on the principle, "Love your enemies." The case of Stephen, though surrounded by his enraged murderers, who hurled the stones of death at him, yet, in his magnanimity of purpose, praying that the sin of murder might not be laid to their charge, is infinitely more ennobling than Alexander amid his wealth, or Napoleon in all the pride of military conquest. Is always mild, propitious, and humble; And builds her grandeur on the public good." It is not often remembered that society, as composed of individuals, is frequently actuated by revenge, and that much of the evil which exists in it may be clearly traced to its neglect of the law of kindness. A commmunity, or a nation, becomes unkind when it gives no heed to the education of the poor; when it raises such walls of distinction as to discourage and shut out the humble in life from notice, however worthy and virtuous; when it makes a god of riches and fashion, to frown upon even the industrious, and to set them aside like worthless weeds, because they |