8 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



first Agave Americana that flowered in Great 

 Britain stood ; it blossomed in the year 1774. 



C. F. T. Y. 



JStocJcleigh Pomeroy, 

 Crediton, Devon. 



(To be concluded in our next.) 

 MECHANICS' INSTITUTIONS, &c. 



I tell the trxtth, but without bitterness. 

 Deem not my zeal factious, nor mistimed ; 

 For never can true courage dwell with them, 

 Who, playing tricks with conscience, dare not look 

 At their own failings. We have been too long 

 Dupes of a deep delusion. 



Coleridge. 



Make Temperance thy companion ; so shall Health 

 s't on thy brow, and Happiness reign in thy heart. — 



DoDSLEY. 



We are making strenuous exertions 

 to obtain entrance for Our Journal into 

 Mechanics' Institutions and Public Reading 

 Rooms in all parts of the country. There 

 is something about our Periodical, we are 

 told, that is likely to excite more than 

 common attention among a class of men 

 whose interests we have much at heart. 

 Any aid in this matter will be as thankfully 

 acknowledged as it is earnestly asked for. 



Mechanics, like many others, must have 

 their hearts touched, and their better feelings 

 worked upon, ere they can make any 

 progress in mental pursuits. The grand 

 point is, hoio to reach the heart. 



Knowledge that does not lead to some 

 excitement, observes a contemporary, or 

 point to some struggle between weakness 

 and power, is so very unpopular, that 

 Mechanics 1 Institutions are evidently not 

 keeping pace with the growing prosperity 

 of the country ; nor are they regarded by 

 the people at large as profitable schools for 

 mental cultivation. The Mayor of Chester, 

 at the late meeting at the Lord Mayor of 

 London's conversazione, complained of the 

 general decline of mechanics' institutions 

 throughout the country ; and the Rev. F. 

 0. Morris, Vicar of Nafferton, Yorkshire, 

 expresses himself to the following effect, in 

 a pamphlet just published on National Adult 

 Education ; — 



For many years I have been a warm supporter 

 of these institutions. At Doncaster, in the years 

 1836-37, a lyceum was projected and established. 

 I gave it my hearty support, as the curate of one 

 of the churches in the town, and its records will 

 abundantly show how largely I contributed to its 

 museum ; but its friends— and it had many 

 sincere ones— had, ere long, the mortification of 

 perceiving it degraded into a mere news-room, 

 and made a baneful vehicle for the dissemination 

 of common party opinions. This ended, as might 

 be foreseen in a clashing of parties, and all was 

 confusion and discord. To throw oil on the 

 troubled waters, and as a means of resuscitation, I 

 was strongly urged and invited to give a lecture, 



with a view to a reconciliation between the op- 

 posing factions. This I did to one of the most 

 crowded audiences that ever filled the large room 

 at the Mansion House. The good effect, how- 

 ever, was but very brief and temporary. Soon the 

 evil spirit again showed itself, party feeling 

 became rife, things went on worse than before ; 

 and the end was that the whole museum, and all 

 the other furniture of the place, were sold, and all 

 was for the time brought to an end. 



Too soon, however, these (lectures) also 

 ceased to be frequented, the library of the Drif- 

 field Institution, to which our union gave us 

 access, was almost, if not altogether, neglected to 

 be made use of; and lectures duly advertised 

 have been obliged to be postponed or given up. 

 The too numerous public-houses — the bane of 

 the country — presented a greater attraction than 

 the charms of learning or science ; and the 

 " thievish corners of the streets " a more agree- 

 able recreation than mental culture, even when con- 

 veyed in the easiest and most winning way. 



This is a true and a faithful picture of 

 what is taking place all over the country, 

 and ever will take place with all such insti- 

 tutions ; for science is rather a trade, or pro- 

 fession, than a subject of popular interest 

 adapted for public education. Scientific 

 lectures and scientific books are, therefore, 

 suitable only for the select few, who are 

 either professional interested in them, or 

 so superior to the average mass of the people 

 as not only to feel the desire, but the power 

 also to master the difficulties of a high edu- 

 cation. The bulk of mankind, even the rich 

 and respectable included, can do little more 

 with the art of reading than peruse news- 

 paper paragraphs, police reports, novels, 

 romances, and other story-books. Compa- 

 ratively few have either desire or capacity 

 to read and understand the leading articles of 

 a newspaper ; and amongst all the schoolbred 

 ladies and gentlemen (not to speak of men 

 and women, whom the country contains), 

 how lew have even mental activity or edu- 

 cation sufficient to take an interest in the 

 history of their own country, or of any other 

 country in the world ! There are numbers 

 of both sexes who have been reading almost 

 daily— for ten, twenty, or fifty years, and yet 

 are as ignorant of all that is usually denomi- 

 nated knowledge, as if they had never been 

 at school at all ! 



With the schoolbred ladies and gentlemen 

 we have nothing to do. The atmosphere 

 they move in is antagonistic to anything we 

 could say for their benefit ; but we really do 

 feel interested for the class known as 4 ' Me- 

 chanics." Not radically bad, yet are many 

 of them ruined by coming into contact with 

 evil companions ; and their minds not being 

 well cultivated, they are led away, — easy 

 victims to intemperance, partisanship, ex- 

 treme opinions, and licentiousness. Hence 

 is the public-house preferred to the Insti- 

 tution. 



