104 



KIDD'S OWN JOUKNAL. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Phrenology for the Million will be continued next 

 week. 



Communications Received. — " Grey Badger." We 

 wrote you a long letter on the 1 2th of June, and for- 

 warded it to your "box," Post-office, Manchester. It 

 has just been returned to us, as "refused," although 

 the postage was paid. How is this? — S. D W. — 

 E. X.— R. W.— Zig-zag— F. G. — Bombyx Atlas.— 

 Alpha. 



To Correspondents. — As we always print one number 

 of the Journal in advance, such of our Correspondents 

 as may not receive replies to their questions in the cur- 

 rent number, must bear in mind that they are not for- 

 gotten. We pay marked attention to all favors. 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



Saturday, August 14, 1852. 



Although by no means surprised, we 

 are yet not a little gratified to receive so 

 many Communications in favor of the spirit 

 of our general remarks at page 72. 



We are right glad to find, that the posi- 

 tion we seek to establish respecting the 

 World and its inmates, is recognised to be a 

 just, a correct one. Too long has it been 

 "the fashion 11 to decry the World ; hence 

 has every one leaned on the popular side. 

 But when we come to reason about it, we 

 find the World as good as ever it was, and 

 ourselves the sole cause of our own unhap- 

 piness, discontent, and misery. Thus is 

 God justified in His works, and we are con- 

 demned in ours. 



Let not our good friends be afraid. So 

 long as we can hold our pen, so long will we 

 unceasingly advocate this doctrine ; and we 

 do hope that by encouraging a more general 

 love for each other and each other's welfare, 

 we shall, in our day and generation, be pro- 

 nounced to have been " useful. 11 



Based as society is at the present time, self- 

 ishness regulates nearly all their movements. 

 Education enforces this. Use sanctions it. 

 Meum and tuum seldom come together for 

 any good purpose, — unless ostentatiously in 

 the newspapers. We live for ourselves 

 only. " Sympathy " indeed still lingers in 

 the English dictionaries ; but its meaning is 

 little known ; and humanity (with too many) 

 is all but obsolete. Thus, good Samaritans 

 and Brothers Cheeryble, when occasionally 

 heard of, are subjects for remark. They are 

 quite the exceptions, not the rule in society. 



All this is owing to the purely artificial 

 lives we lead; for, to keep up appearances, 

 we must offend against Nature, — we do so 

 every hour we live. How can we know any 

 repose, while we study rather " what people 

 will say 11 than what regards our own com- 

 fort ? Do we not sacrifice ourselves to 

 them, — almost body and soul? Aye, live 

 for them and for their fancies ; so that we 

 cannot do what we would f 



In certain circles, the better feelings of 

 the heart if felt, must not be shown. The 



heart indeed is in every case subject to the 

 caprice of its owner, and beats in an atmo- 

 sphere abhorrent to itself. No person who 

 mingles with society can gainsay one word 

 of our allegations. We all know them to be 

 too true. The question then is, — ought 

 there not to be an effort made to reform 

 these unnatural things ? It is the first 

 step to real happiness. 



For ourselves, our drift will ever be,— to 

 try and lessen the immense distance by 

 which many excellent hearts are kept so 

 cruelly apart. We shall do this, not so 

 much by word of mouth as by the genial 

 tone of our general remarks. We already 

 have convincing proofs that our labor of 

 love has not been in vain; and we augur 

 from this, an extended usefulness. We in- 

 variably write as we feel. This invests our 

 pen with double powers. 



We are told, that our Journal is the 

 only periodical that dares to enter on such 

 subjects. Fearing lest they should give 

 offence, our contemporaries one and all 

 remain neutral, — choosing rather to follow 

 than lead. In this matter we are truly in- 

 dependent, and prefer leading to following. 



We are surrounded by a host of kind 

 friends, — made such, purely by our ex- 

 pressed sentiments. Thus encouraged, 

 we shall press boldly forward. If our bro- 

 therhood are afraid to speak the truth, be it 

 so. Then shall we stand a better chance of 

 immortality. It was said of Abdiel, — 



" Among the faithless, faithful only he." 



We seek just such an imperishable fame. 



Erratum. — At page 73, by a misprint, we 

 were made to say that the children of some 

 ladies of fashion were seen " rambling " on the 

 grass in Kew Gardens! It should have been 

 "ambling," — a sensible difference, in such a 

 case! — Ed K. J. 



The remarks we made in a former 

 number about the delights of Summer, and 

 the universal inclination felt to migrate and 

 travel about at this inviting season, are 

 now becoming delightfully apparent day by 

 day. All the world are on the move. 



It requires some little philosophy to leave 

 our snug suburban retreat, morning after 

 morning ; and to consign ourselves into a 

 lumbering vehicle en route for a smoky city — 

 there to be seated on an elevated stool* to 



* Lightly seated for a few short hours on this 

 said stool, how often do we think of our smoke- 

 dried fellow-citizens who are glued to theirs ! 

 Tennyson gives them a seasonable "hint" to 

 get imglued as soon as possible. " Oh!" says he, 



" Who would cast and balance at a desk, 

 Perch'd like a crow upon a three-legg'd stool 

 Till all his juice is dried— and all his joints 

 Are full of chalk?" 



