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the Benevolent Work-Shop, the young girls become more or less acquainted with the young ladies who form the visiting committee, and have a chance of imitating the graceful and modest deportment, and securing the good graces of one or more of that committee, who may in after life be the means of throwing plenty of work in their way. Assuredly the influence of well-bred and benevolent young ladies must have its good effect on the lower class of females, who otherwise have little chance to come in contact with the higher ones. Affections must spring up, which in after life may lead to the happiness or well-being of more than one of the poor.

We believe that similar institutions, could be the means of doing much good, and have no doubt that an appeal to the ladies of NewYork would be responded to with the promptitude with which all benevolent efforts usually are. Founding such establishments for girls will afford them the means of being able of making an honorable living, and they will therefore be virtuous; being virtuous, they will make our young men so; for, by a divine enactment of the sublime laws of GOD, the conduct and manner-of-thought of one sex always reäct on those of the other. Some model work-shops, as above described, for girls only, would, we have no doubt, be the means of a great amount of good; but why could we not carry out the same plan in regard to the boys? Are there not thousands now in our city who very soon will have finished their instruction at the freeschools, and who will be thrown on society without any other means of living than doubtful expediencies? How many parents who would be glad of the opportunity of securing to their sons a bright industrious future, if the means of learning a trade were placed within their reach in the manner proposed! Work in itself is a pleasant as well as a healthy occupation; it becomes only irksome to, and neglected by those who have not the requisite knowledge of it, which brings with itself a taste and relish for work.

We must be allowed to express our firm conviction that on the opening of such model work-shops, many of the present adult portion of the community would be happy to resort to them, and by the sacrifice of the period of their apprenticeship, would gladly acquire a good trade for the remainder of their lives. There are many now

among our young men, between the ages of twenty and thirty, whose training has been badly directed, and who would gladly embrace the opportunity of adapting themselves to a trade, being able by the means of these model work-shops, to avoid going into the regular trade-shops, where they would not meet with the same kind of advantages and company.

We would say, in conclusion, that the misery of the class under consideration comes in our estimation: first, from the fact that female labor is restricted to branches not sufficiently numerous; secondly, that it is not adequately remunerated; thirdly, that it is not sufficiently perfected; lastly, that labor does not hold the honorable place in the social regard to which it is entitled.

In regard to the first two causes, we will say nothing at present; our views of the last two we have endeavored to explain. We conclude

then, by saying: One of the means of avoiding pauperism is to keep vice under control; the best means of keeping a restraint on vice is to give a shelter to the virtue of the poor female portion of humanity, by making work easy; and one of the best means of making work easy and pleasant, is to teach it as it should be done; that is, perfect of its kind; one of the best means of teaching the poor to work well, is to establish model work-shops, on the plan spoken of above, which will secure not only a proper knowledge of work, but something to start with in the world.

In our opinion the adoption of the above suggestion would tend to advance the cause of humanity, and satisfy

FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY.

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The Bunkum Flag-Staff and Independent Echo.

DEVOTED TO THE PRINCIPLES OF '98; THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK; THE FOURTH OF JULY LIFE, LIBERTY, LITERATURE, ADVERTISEMENTS, AND A STANDARD CURRENCY.

VOL. I.

JUNE.

No. 1.

.*

THERE you have, reader, at the head of our little sheet, undisguised and unpremeditated, the principles that we mean to go on ;* for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? This remark, the eloquent rejoinder, we believe, of FISHER AMES, was never more true, or so much as formerly, and is to this day; as we feel morally certain it will continue to be hereafter. Let no man be ashamed to stand where he is and to say that he can stand it; and we trust that the FLAG-STAFF will never blush to avow, in answer to the interrogatory question, if it should be asked, seemingly with a sinister motive, 'Where are you?' to turn triumphantly to the letters blazoned with brass as with a pen of iron at the top of this proof-sheet; as we forget the anecdote where it is said, Them's my sentiments exactly.' But we forgot there to mention that the temperance cause should meet our hearty approbation. General TAYLOR, who in consequence of the battle of Buena Vista, and other fortunate prowess of arms in Florida, and the late war in which TECUMSEH was killed, and in the blood-stained fields of Palo-Alto, riding on a white horse (here it was, where he said 'A LIT

TLE MORE GRAPE, CAPTAIN BRAGG!' which they now want to make out that he never said to Captain BRAGG, when he was drinking the juice of the grape with some ladies at NewOrleans;) the General, who is in consequence now seated on the pinnacle summit of power in the chair of State at the White-House, District of Columbia, was frequently appealed to by those in Bumkum who meant to 'set him up', from which setting-up the old hero did n't choose to be taken down ad libitum (like any libertypole) how he would administer the constitution of the United'n States'n providing he understood it, vice versa, in the same ratio as the politicians of Bumkum. To which he answered freely, without dis. guise, in his shirt-sleeves, as Major BLISS can certify, 'Certainly I will.' Now to be explicit, we shall set forth in this editorial leader, that our friends may know exactly where we are. And where that is we mean to be found. We never will shirk the responsibility in any one instance, be it one or more, while we have an editorial chair to set into, any more than we have a right hand to cut off. Fairness first, and good policy in proper time, but in no instance, so helpus the constitution of the United'n States'n, to be superseded. What *We wish this to be considered of '98 inclu- would you think of a man, sus

6

sive,

pended no where, in thin air, like Mahomet's coffin; and this a notorious fact, known of every itinerant traveller, what would you think of such a man, or body of men, we repeat it, religious or Nova Scotian, who could n't put his finger on his principles as he would on his nose and say, 'My foot is on my native soil and my name is Macgregor!' This we fear is not the case.

Now THEN: Planted thus upon our Flag-Staff, and with a substratum to go on, we confidently appeal, with a fair appreciation that our animus will not be misunderstood, so far as regards this community, (we refer to Bunkum, and candidly confess that we stand in the attitude of opposition. LET THIS POINT BE BORNE IN MIND AS WE MEAN

TO REFER TO IT. WE SAY EMPHATICALLY LET OUR READERS TREASURE UP THIS FACT IN THEIR MEMORIES, AND KNOW WHERE TO TURN BACK TO IT, SOME DISTANCE ON, WHEN WE SHALL REMIND THEM THAT WE

SAID IT. Belligerent tropics are not our forte and never was; neither do we handle them with kid gloves, when they fairly come in the way. But we will say, and (standing upon the outset let us not be misunderstood, as we certainly do n't mean to be gagged, blind-folded, tampered with or driven off the curb-stone) that our ADVERSARY will find, that in flinging himself into the newspaper area, we shall speak with all kindness and discretion, but not to be trifled with. What a brassy impudence there is in his flourish of trumpets, and no wool after all! - a mere fugo, to blind the eyes and shift the responsibility. When we say shift the responsibility, we do not mean it in any indelicate sense, although we know that the word is liable to be so construed, and kindle up a blush on the cheek of innocence. Pardon this digression, and to return to the subjeck matter; we think our adversary has a little missed his foothold in trenching upon the town of Bumkum, and for that reason we mean to play dog to his cat, or to change the parenthesis, to show him up in his own colors (to save ourselves from the vexatious expenses of a suit for libel, mind that we do not say he is a colored man,) but black, blue, white or brown, we mean to show him up, and shall begin with his first editorial.

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The last number, and (not to make a pun) the first number of the 'Bunkumville Chronicle' now lies before us with this motto: GoD GIVE THEM WISDOM THAT HAVE IT, AND THOSE THAT ARE FOOLS LET

THEM USE THEIR TALENTS.' We don't know as we ever laughed more heartily or cracked our editorial sides in our life. Our friend THREADDLES, the tailor over the way, (whom we recommend to our patrons as an excellent careful workman) got a good job out of it, for as we laughed in our sleeve, we tore it. First, let us premise that Bunkumville is a small outsquirt or suburban of the town of Bunkum, and only lately come into notice. That's all it will do; but to proceed. In accordance with the fussy, ambidextrous (not to say ambitious) policy of such small nookeries, it must have an organ. Where there is a puddle there must be a splash. So all the world round, except in Arabia, where it does n't rain for six months in the year, and the atmosphere is extremely oppressive, and the printingpress scarcely known. So out comes the Bunkumville Chronicle.' We sot in our sanctum, and you would have thought you was in

Bunkum itself to hear the news-boys holler it as loud as if it had something in it, with as much fuss for all conscience as when they holler, 'Here's the Sun, Er'ld and Try-bune; got the late news from Europe! Great battle in Mexico! Queen's got a new baby!' etc., etc. So we rose up from our chair, dismissed our devil, with a copy in hand, put on our coat, took up our hat, seized our cane, walked down stairs, put on our hat, put into our mouths one of our best segars, and picking our steps went on our way, calling out at the tip-top of our lungs after the aforementioned news-boy, as our curiosity was not a little excited. We gave the urchin a bran new five-pence which war n't earned by the bread of idleness, pocketed our prize, walked back to our sanctum, took off our coat, hung it up on our left hand, put on our specs, squirted a good streak into our spitting-box, took out our paper, laid it on our table, put our legs up on the cornice of our ceiling to relieve our position, unfolded our newspaper on our knees, and so accoutred, armed, equipped at all points for the encounter, which was to do us all up, sink our undertaking, sow us up in a bag of the Bosphorus, and scare us off our ground without a blow, we unfolded our newspaper, and in the stillness of our sanctum, screwing our courage up to the sticking point, fixed our eye steadily on the leading article. In a very few minutes our readers may rest assured our spirits were revived. We read on, on, on to the end of the first column, calmly shifted our legs to the top of the windowframe, the window being open, and after that, calling to Mr. Thomas, who had the imposing-stick in his hand in the adjacent room, called his attention to it, and in tones as calm and unmolested as we now speak to you, touching our finger to the page, we said to him 'WE SHALL REPLY TO THAT ARTICLE !'

Now let

Such was our first acquaintance with the CHRONICLE. our readers turn back, if they will remember, to the fact that we charged them a while back particularly not to forget. It is here where we are going to make our first charge on this bag of wind of a non-plus. Where's his principles? That's the point! We have looked all through his paper and can't find one iota or scintilla of a platform. It would want the eyes of an Albany Argus to find any; and a man without principles at this advanced stage of civilization is unworthy of the support of a free community where the temperance reform is still progressing. I do n't say that he has bad principles, but that he has no principles. If so, what are they? Not those of '98 assuredly. Those have been kept before the public in CLARK'S KNICKERBOCKER, and by all the patriots of WASHINGTON'S day till this time. Those principles will always be respected, and people will call their little ones WASHINGTON and JEFFERSON and MADISON attached to their surnames, till thrones shall be no more :

A man of no

'CLOUD-Capt towers and gorgeous palaces,
Yea all it doth inherit;

And like the gorgeous fabric of a vision
Leave not a rock behind.'

principles! That's the great fault of the good-humored of our day. It is n't that they 're native bad ones, but they 're

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