376 ENGLISH SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 



the only temple for married life ; the philosopher, because he wastes 

 his life in the pursuit of chimeras ; the man of science, because he 

 chooses to wear out his existence in the pursuit of ill-rewarded and 

 uncertain discoveries; and the man of business avoids the sex, be- 

 cause, in the outset of his career, he thinks, forsooth, that a wife 

 would be too expensive. 



The man however, who fulfils the duties of a husband, presents 

 the most beautiful example of happiness that humanity can exhibit. 

 In the affections that bind him to his wife and to his home 



" There is a power, 

 There is a soft divinity, that draws 

 Transport even from distress :" 



and woman, when a wife, developes a world of mysterious happiness, 

 that rises up in her heart like spring flowers, making life one long 

 delight, when it is properly cherished and treated with that tender- 

 ness which her devoted love demands. 



ENGLISH SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 



MECHANIC INSTITUTION LECTURES, INCENDIARY 



FIRES, &c. EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 

 From the MSS. Letters of a Distinguished Foreigner. * 



I LEFT the metropolis weary of the incessant variety of its same- 

 ness, and of being lionized ; and travelled to a midland town, in the 

 centre of a large agricultural district. It was neat and clean ; and as 

 I arrived on the Sabbath, its quietude and apparent tranquillity 

 came soothingly upon my exhausted spirits, contrasting very forcibly 

 with the scene of noise and bustle I had witnessed a few hours pre- 

 viously. After breakfasting, and as the bells began to summon the 

 inhabitants to their hebdomadal devotions, I sallied out, and was in- 

 finitely pleased to witness the long lines of clean and decently dressed 

 children, proceeding in double files from various Sunday schools to 

 the different churches and chapels. These I visited seriatim, and 

 found that the little folks formed no inconsiderable portion of many 

 of the congregations a circumstance I explained to myself, by sup- 

 posing, that in this country, so singular in the character of its people, 

 parents sent their children to places of public worship as their 

 substitutes, and thus got to heaven by proxy. As part only of the 

 attendants on these Sunday schools had left them for the service of 

 the day, 1 entered one of the largest for the purpose of observing 

 what was the mode of tuition, and the extent and sort of knowledge 

 afforded within its walls. 



* Onr opinions must not be supposed to be altogether identical with those of the 

 talented and intelligent writer of these Letters. ED. MONTHLY. 



