232 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JAN. Ig, 1843. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



THE TRUE SPIRIT. 



In the city of London there is a prison, called 

 Newgate, one part of which is used for the 

 confinement of women, who have been guilty of 

 crime. Formerly these prisoners were much 

 neglected — left, without instruction, to grow 

 worse instead of better, and to fight and quarrel 

 amongst themselves. There were none to care 

 for them, or try to reform them. Some forty 

 yeais ago, a benevolent Quaker lady, named 

 Elizabeth Fry, was moved with compassion for 

 these poor wretches of her own se.x, and de- 

 termined to make an effort for their recovery 

 from vice. She was told it would be of no use ; 

 that the convicts were so bad that it would be 

 dangerous for her to go amongst them. But she 

 was not to be deterred by such representations. 

 , She had faith in the power of Christian kind- 

 ness, and insisted on making her benevolent ex- 

 periment. One day " she entered fearlessly the 

 room where a hundred and sixty women and 

 children surrounded her, in the wildest disorder. 

 But her noble air and her pious expression 

 created respect from these abandoned creatures. 

 She olfered them her assistance : she spoke to 

 them words of peace, of hope, of consolation." 

 She told them she came to them, sent by the 

 commands of the Bible : and she read to them 

 parts of that sacred book adapted to their con- 

 dition. With the assistance of friends she 

 founded a school for the children, made cer- 

 tain rules for the government of the prisoners, 

 and had them regularly visited and taught- 

 She won upon the hearts of the miserable 

 women, and by her patient exertions, continued 

 through several years, " she succeeded in 

 changing the prison of Newgate from a recep- 

 tacle of vice, into an asylum of repentance and 

 a school of industry." 



So great has been the success of Mrs. Fry, 

 and so extensive the fame of her good work, 

 that even a crowned monarch, has been ready 

 to acknowledge her merit and show an interest 

 in her Christian enterprise. During the past 

 year, the king of Prussia, visited England, to 

 attend the baptism of the baby Prince of Wales. 

 He inquired, among the first persons he wish- 

 ed to see, for Elizabeth Fry. He made an ar- 

 rangement to visit Newgate with her : and one 

 morning the King and the Quaker lady went in 

 the same carriage to the prison, and entered it 

 arm in arm, together. Mrs. Fry called the pris- 

 oners around her — read a passage from the Bible, 

 and then they all knelt in prayer : the King and 

 his attendants, as well as all the rest. Must it 

 not have been a beautiful scene ; a beautiful 

 triumph of Christian love. The plainly dressed, 

 and kind hearted Quakeress — the royal ruler of 

 a great nation — a hundred or more poor crimi- 

 nals, whom many would think it impossible to 

 make better, all within the gloomy walls of 

 Newgate, bowing before, and acknowledging 

 their dcpendance on the mercy and goodness of 

 their Father in Heaven ! Do you not think the 

 angels would love to look upon that scene with 

 far more delight than they would have looked 

 upon the King of Prussia at home, seated on his 

 splendid throne, wearing his jewelled crown and 

 his rich robes, and surrounded by all the nobles 

 and officers of his court, in their most gorgeous 



dresses and sparkling with their golden orna- 

 ments and costly diamonds ? 



I have already described to you the desola- 

 tion and misery war produces. Let me now 

 show you how a nation may be conquered, not 

 by the sword, but by truth and love. When the 

 Spaniards gained possession of the southern por- 

 tions of this continent, they did it by great armies 

 and by forcing the inhabitants to receive their 

 religion. To this, the usual practice, there was, 

 as we are told in Stevens's Travels in Central 

 America, at least one exception. 



There was a tract of country, which the 

 Spaniards tried three times to conquer ; but they 

 tried in vain, the inhabitants were so warlike. 

 Las Casas, who was a superior in a convent in 

 Guatimala, mourning the bloodshed caused by 

 the attempts to subdue and convert the Indians, 

 wrote and declared from the pulpit that the 

 preaching of the Gospel was the only means 

 God had ordained for making the heathen 

 Christians. He was laughed at and sneeringly 

 advised to put his doctrine into practice. Undis- 

 turbed by the ridicule and mockery, with which 

 he was treated, he accepted the proposal made 

 to him. He took for the place of his experi- 

 ment, the tract of country, I mentioned above, 

 called Tierra de Guerra, or the land of war : 

 and it was agreed that no Spaniard should re- 

 side in that country for five years. This settled, 

 the monks composed some hymns in the 

 Quicle language — the language spoken by the 

 people, whom it was intended to convert with- 

 out the use of the sword. These hymns con- 

 tained the history of the life, and teachings and 

 death and resurrection of Jesus ; and were 

 taught to some Indians who traded with Quicles. 

 One of the principal chiefs having heard them 

 repeated by these Indians, was interested, and 

 asked to have the story they related explained. 

 The Indians replied, this could only be done by 

 those from whom they received them. The 

 chief, therefore, sent one of his brothers with 

 rich presents to intreat tlie mor:ks that they would 

 come and be his teachers. A single friar went 

 first ; and the chief having been made to under- 

 stand the Gospel, burned his idols and preached 

 Christianity to his own subjects. Las Casas and 

 another friend, followed, and, like the Apostles 

 of old, without scrip or stafl", effected what Span- 

 ish arms could not, bringing a portion of the 

 Land of war to the Christian faith. 



Sometimes the gentle spirit of a Christian wo- 

 man has done more good than the bravest soldier 

 could ever accomplish. I met, not long since, 

 with a touching story to prove this. About the 

 year 970, Micklaus, a warlike and tyrannical 

 king of Poland, sought in marriage a young 

 princess, the daughter of the neighboring Duke 

 of Bohemia. The noble lady refused to listen 

 to his suit, unless he would be baptized and be- 

 come a Christian. To gain her for a wife, the 

 haughty monarch consented to this condition, 

 and they were married. But of course he was 

 at first only a Christian in name, not in his heart. 

 Yet day by day the unwearied goodness and 

 kindness of his queen, obtained more and more 

 power over him, and by degrees softened his 

 rude nature. She was patient and long-sufler- 

 ing, and at last had her reward. The king on 

 one of his marauding expeditions, ravaged the 

 lands of an unotfendmg tribe of herdsmen, de- 



stroyed their huts, drove off their cattle and scat- 

 tered their defenceless families. On his return 

 home, when no one else would have dared to 

 utt(!r a word of censure against this wicked deed, 

 his wife met him with kind, yet plain reproaches 

 and entreaties, and so in part, reached his con- 

 science. He was ashamed of his cruel exploit, 

 of his gross injustice. The flocks were restored 

 or paid for, the ruined cottages were rebuilt, and 

 the scattered people were permitted to return to 

 their old homes. Having done all this, the proud 

 spoiler was satisfied, and said boastingly to his 

 queen, " Cease now your accusations. I have 

 made good every thing to the poor wretches I 

 have wronged ; and I trust you will now be con- 

 tent." So the proud man spake. But the 

 Christian woman knew better than this — knew 

 that her husband as yet but very imperfectly un- 

 derstood the disposition Jesus required of him, 

 and how far he was from being a true penitent. 

 "Ah!" she replied, " think you so.? But who 

 will repay them for the tears they have shed V 

 These simple words of truth went to the heart of 

 the monarch — taught him how mistaken was hi.<» 

 opinion of his own virtue, humbled him, and 

 made him indeed sorry for his wickedness. 

 From that moment, it is said, he was a changed 

 man ; and made it his ambition not to conquer 

 with the sword, but to build churches and estab- 

 lish schools, and bestow on all his people the 

 blessings of knowledge and religion. The words 

 which the true spirit prompted a feeble woman 

 to speak, gave to Poland the divine light of the 

 gospel. 



[Rev. T. B. Fox's Sermon to Children. 



>k 



GREEN'S PATENT STRA'W CUTTER. 



JOSEPH BRECK & CO. at IheNcw England A^riciil- 

 tural Warehouse aud Seed Store Nos. 61 and,i2 Nortli Mar- 

 Icel Street, liave tor sale, Green's Patent Straw, Hay anil 

 Stalk Cutter, operating on a mechanical principle not hefoie 

 applied to aay implement for tliis purpose. The most prom- 

 inent efl'ecls of this application, and some of the consequent 

 peculiarities of the machine are : 



1 . So great a reduction of the quantum of power requisite 

 to use it, that the strength of a half grown loy is suffieieiK 

 to work it efficiently. 



2. With even this moderate power, it easilycutstwo hush- 

 els a minute, which is full twice as last as has been claimed 

 by any other machiue even when worked by horse or sleam 

 power. 



3. The knires, owing to the peculiar manner in which tli !y 

 cut, require sharpening less often than those of any oilier 

 straw cutler. 



4. The machine is simple inits construction, mode and put 

 together very strongly. It is therefore not so liable as the 

 complicated machines m general use to get out of order. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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