STANZAS. 85 



improvement in the general condition of the whole family. The 

 children were early and practically taught the beneficial effects of 

 industry, and the man appeared to be more contented with his lot, 

 and had less inducement to keep loose company." This observation 

 is in strict keeping with our own experience,, and we could at the 

 present moment point out numbers of families,, especially amongst the 

 silk-weavers,, that have been preserved from want and from moral 

 and social degradation by the happy circumstance that they were, to 

 use their own expression, " garden proud." It is gratifying to know 

 that in these instances the parties have preserved their private worth 

 and respectability amidst the sufferings which have pressed so 

 heavily on some parts ofthis class of operatives : and we believe we 

 can say with perfect safety, that not one amongst them has been 

 found in the ranks of " turn outs" and rioters. It is to extend this 

 state of things it is to make men as far as possible independent of 

 the occasional and brief vicissitudes in the labour market it is to 

 make them permanently industrious, and to keep them from the 

 worst of evils idleness that the Labourers' Friend Society has 

 been established ; and it is with these ends in view that its operations 

 are conducted. 



We must here close our brief and general remarks. It is, how- 

 ever, our intention to resume the subject in our succeeding numbers, 

 and to examine in detail the merits and demerits of the allotment 

 system, and to compare its workings immediate and remote with the 

 plan of home-colonization. The subject is one of the greatest im- 

 portance and deserves the most attentive consideration. 



STANZAS. 



I. 



LADY, but once I saw thy face, 

 And then I gazed in silent sadness ; 



The joy to meet thee soon gave place 



To thoughts of blighted peace and gladness : 



A form like thine I'd seen elsewhere, . 



When my young heart was free from care. 



II. 



But once I hear thy voice and yet 



Of visions of the past it telleth ; 

 Those well-known sounds can I forget 



That mutely in the still grave dwelleth ? 

 The music of thy lips hath stole, 

 Like angels' whispers, to my soul. 



III. 



Emblem of her I loved so dear ! 



Ah, why so soon hast thou departed ? 

 I claim from thee a kindred tear, 



And pity for the broken-hearted : 

 Let me but see thee once again, 

 Then welcome sorrow, bliss, or pain ! 



