XL.-PASSING EVENTS.

PUBLIC AND POLITICAL.

THE Princess Royal has returned to Prussia, and Her Majesty to Osborne, where the Court remains in strict privacy. The ceremony of the confirmation of the Princess Helena took place to-day at Whippingham Church, in the presence of the Queen, Princess Alice, Prince Alfred, Princess Louisa, Prince Arthur, and Prince Leopold. The Bishop of Winchester officiated.

THE extraordinary naval duel and single combat between the Federal and Confederate vessels, the Monitor and the Merrimac, near the mouth of the James River, has been a fruitful topic of discussion among all classes of the Queen's subjects. The apparent impregnability of iron ships, and the worthlessness of wooden ones when opposed to them, created quite a panic; and no little relief has been experienced by the successful experiments made with Sir George Armstrong's new gun at Shoeburyness, which, with a charge of 50lbs., sets iron plates and mail at defiance, and once more assures to us the supremacy of the seas.

MR. GEORGE PEABODY, an American merchant and banker, long resident in this country, has presented the munificent sum of £150,000 to the poor of London, to be applied as the committee of gentlemen chosen by himself shall see fit. This gift carries with it no restrictions, simply a suggestion that some portion might be fitly applied to the erection of lodging-houses for the poor. "The sole qualification for a participation in its benefits is an accustomed condition of life, such as brings an individual within the description of the poor, combined with moral character and good conduct as a member of society." The assistance which this sum is intended to offer is to be granted without regard to the religious feelings or party politics of the applicants; it is, in a word, for "the poor of London."

PRINCE WINDISCHGRÄTZ and Count Nesselrode are among the illustrious dead of the month.

SIGNORA MARIO, or, as she is better known by her maiden name, Jessie Meriton White, has been delivering Lectures on "Italy and Garabaldi " with great success in Edinburgh, Dumfermline, Hawick, and other towns. In the former city she was supported by Professor Blackie and the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, and everywhere the leading men of the place took part in the proceedings. Signora Mario's generous devotion to the cause, and the eloquence with which she pleads for it, are too well known to need comment here, and carried conviction in Scotland as elsewhere.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL.

STRIKE has taken place among some of the working printers of Paris, caused by the introduction of female labor by one of the masters. The latter pays the women, not according to the tariff, but nearly one-half what it was when men were employed. The men demanded that as women were employed they should be paid the same wages for the same work as the men. On the refusal of the master, 120 men struck work and quitted the establishment of the innovator; while at the same time the committee of master printers rejected the revision of the old tariff proposed by the workmen's committee. The conference between the committees was broken off, and the workmen were told that such of them as presented themselves at the office should be taken into custody. A commissary of police and his agents were installed in the workshops, and admission refused, except on condition of at once setting to work. About twenty of the men were arrested, among whom was the president of the Society of Working Printers.

A LETTER from Florence mentions that, at the preparatory rifle-shooting in that city, among the persons distinguished by their skill were two young English ladies, Miss Adela Reader and Miss Bianchina Light. The manner

in which they hit the mark excited general admiration.

ALDERMAN DRUMMOND, who proposed giving £10,000 for the endowment of a school for soldiers' daughters in Dublin, on condition that the Government would give £10,000 more, and the public would subscribe a similar amount, died at Donnybrook on the 13th inst. in the eighty-sixth year of his age. The deceased has bequeathed, not £10,000, but £20,000 for founding the school; but the conditions accompanying the bequest have not yet transpired. The reply of the Government to the proposal of Mr. Drummond had not been given previous to his decease.

FEMALE EMPLOYMENT.-Mr. Morrish, who has one-half of the refreshment department of the International Exhibition, has received upwards of 3000 applications from young women wishing to be engaged as waitresses. It is sad to think of the many refusals which must necessarily be made even in this branch of the Exhibition. The style in which many of the applications are written, and the eulogistic character of the recommendations, are in many instances models of the kind.

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

THE Trustees of the British Museum have made arrangements for opening that institution freely to all visitors as late as 8 o'clock in the evening during the next summer, so as to enable the numerous thousands who will visit the great International Exhibition to view also the permanent treasures in Great Russell-street. The libraries will be thrown open for inspection as well as the splendid new reading-room; the latter, however, not until after 5 o'clock, when it will be closed to its usual visitors, the "readers." This will of course cause some inconvenience, but the arrangement seems indispensable to enable our foreign visitors to view at their leisure this unique temple of iron and glass architecture, planned by the genius of the present principal librarian. MISS ANNE SHEEPSHANKS, sister to the late astronomer, has been elected a Fellow of the Astronomical Society.

THE last of the sons of Audubon, the great naturalist, has just died in the United States. The widow of Audubon still lives; she is nearly ninety years of age.

THE LATE REV. J. WHITE.-The Hants Independent records the death of the Rev. James White, of Bonchurch. For the last two years he has been ailing, but not so severely as to give his friends uneasiness. On Wednesday night, however, after a few hours of suffering, he died. He was author of Eighteen Christian Centuries," "Landmarks of the History of England and of Greece." His historical plays, "The King of the Commons," "The Earl of Gowrie," &c., were brought out by Mr. Macready.

66

THE ROYAL ACADEMY has resolved to advance the allowances to the widows of academicians and associates from £75 per annum to £100 in the first class, and from £45 to £75 per annum in the second.

MADAME LIND-GOLDSCHMIDT.-It will gratify the public to learn that this distinguished vocalist proposes to give three oratorios, on the 14th and 28th of May, and the 4th of June, at Exeter Hall. In each case the object is a charitable one-the Needlewomen's Institution, the Brompton Consumption Hospital, and the Royal Society of Musicians (male and female), being the channels into which the proceeds of the three concerts are destined to flow. "The Messiah," 99 66 Creation," and "Elijah," are the oratorios selected. This characteristic benevolence on the part of Madame Goldschmidt will doubtless be responded to as it deserves, and give her the pleasure of bestowing munificent donations upon a circle of charities unfortunately standing in but too much need of pecuniary assistance.

ROBERT A. FISHER, M.D., of New-Haven, has been elected President of Chemistry for the college. He will spend two years in Europe, in order to make such observations as will fit him more thoroughly for his new position. President Jewett is also soon to leave for Europe, to study the various systems of female education, to enable him to perfect a system for this institution.-New York Tribune, 8th March.

POVERTY is, at all times, sad to contemplate; and the ravages that it makes, both morally as well as physically, on those who fall beneath its influence, deeply to be deplored. It is sad to see the bright spirits of youth checked, and beauty dimmed, by the pressure of need; to behold men and women in the prime of life, with latent energies and capabilities, crushed by the want that gnaws within, or to witness old age and infirmity debarred from the necessary comforts that should cheer its decline.

It is sad to go among the sons and daughters of toil and recognize minds, that under more favorable circumstances might have expanded to the reception of knowledge, shut out from such acquirements by the hard struggle for existence.

Thousands of human beings are, however, yearly born to this state of poverty-individuals who would never awaken to an appreciation of the more refining influences of life, did not both. duty and inclination call Christians forth to labor among them for their improvement and welfare.

Every condition of life, however, has its comparison; and whilst the state of the parochial poor excites our commiseration and activity-the more so from the fact that their ignorance increases their social disorganization, there is a higher class of distressed humanity continually found among them, whose position it is still sadder to contemplate, and who claim a still larger share of our sympathy. I refer to those who, early nursed in luxury and wealth, have from adverse circumstances, over which, in many cases, they have had no control, fallen into want and wretchedness.

Independent of the positive privations such persons endure, an additional pang is mingled in their sufferings, more poignant than that inflicted by hunger or cold, viz., the craving of the mind for the entourage of accustomed refinements, against which Poverty so rudely shuts the door. Alas! the associations of vulgarity, from which the educated mind shrinks with horror, are almost unavoidable evils in connexion with extreme poverty. Want, in its exterior arrangements, has no separate organization for decayed

VOL. IX.

R

respectability, and many a poor lady who has sought employment at "Needlewomen's Hall"-for so the Home is sometimes termedhas told me with tearful eyes, that what most tended to crush her spirit in her altered fortunes was, not the meat-less meal, or the fireless grate, nor the absence of rich attire, but the coarse atmosphere into which her circumstances had driven her.

Small houses or low-rented apartments and provisions are not to be met with in the best neighborhoods of London, and to be forced into cheap lodging-houses and garrets, driven to pawnbrokers' shops, and low costermongers' stalls for the necessaries of life, to be exposed to the contagion of dirt and foul air, to have the eyes continually offended by coarse sights, and the ears by revolting sounds-this is what tends, more than anything else, to engender a heaviness of spirit that nothing but faith in the power of an Almighty Father can remove.

One or two, among many cases of a similar nature which have enlisted my sympathy, I now purpose to detail.

One morning, soon after the formation of our Society, a woman, who bore upon her countenance unmistakeable traces of the Lady, notwithstanding the rusty black of her attire, applied for permission to come and work in the rooms. Requesting her to be seated, I remarked that she looked very delicate, and added, "I hoped she was not entirely dependent on her needle for support." She colored, as if I had touched a sore point, but after a moment's hesitation, replied, "Not entirely, Ma'am, my son-in-law pays my rent; but my health is very bad, and for days together I can do nothing." "Are you strong enough," I then asked, "to come here to work?" "I live near, Ma'am," she said; "but I think it would do me good to come-I am so lonely at home, that I make myself worse by thinking of my troubles; perhaps I might be cheered up here I am not naturally low-spirited."

Without then entering farther into her history I gave her a ticket of admission, and dismissed her. The next day Mrs. D took her place in the workroom, where she very shortly became a great favorite with the matron and others. There were few visitors who came to the place that failed to notice the old lady, and to say a kind word to her. A seat had been assigned to her at the top of the room near the window, and she generally attended about four days out of the six; but on account of her state of health the matron had orders to be very lenient with her as regarded hours. Sometimes she would only come for half a day, and then be obliged to leave, being seized with attacks of pain which compelled her to lie flat on her back on the floor. Her earnings were very small certainly, not exceeding four shillings a week; but she always expressed herself grateful when paid, and acknowledged the Hand that had led her to the house, as she said. "The regular employment and society it gave her had made her feel better and happier than she had done for many a year." I frequently heard her singing over her

work, and her countenance was always so bright and cheerful that we had nominated her "our sunbeam."

Although she seemed to have a kind word for all her companions, there was a certain dignity of manner which caused some of them to say, "Mrs. D- held herself better than they." Mrs. D would frequently come into my room on some errand, and then linger to have a little chat, proving by her conversation a superiority of mind over many of those by whom she was surrounded. She became at last a privileged person in the household, and was sent for out of the workroom from time to time to fill little offices of trust. Generally speaking, there was great courtesy shown her by the other workers; but, sad to say, green-eyed jealousy at last crept in among them (on account of the few favors shown her).

It appeared that our old friend was in the habit of eating her dinner alone, and remaining to wash her hands when the rest had left the kitchen, and I believe she was even further accused of bringing her own towel. Such exclusiveness gave rise to some unfeeling remarks among one or two of the lowest class of her associates, and they nicknamed her, "my lady." This she at first bore in silence, but once or twice I observed that the brightness had gone from her face, and asked her the cause. She told me that "So and so" (mentioning their names) "had been teasing her; but she did not know in what she had offended them, and thought perhaps she'd better keep at home."

I smiled at her fears, and said, "We couldn't get on without her, and I would speak to her tormentors," which I did, but this reproval only made matters worse; and later, several times when Mrs. D- came to work, she found her seat occupied, and could not regain it without appealing to the matron.

One day, when thus supplanted in her favorite post, a regular storm occurred on the question, and the old lady's hitherto meek submission under the taunts against her gentility gave way, and, roused to anger, she returned the jeers of her unkind companions by informing them "That she was in truth a lady born and bred, and had never been accustomed to such low associates as they were; but that in future she would rather beg her bread than put up with their low and vulgar remarks." Retorts followed, and by the time I entered the room my old friend was in such a state of excitement that no reason would calm her. The thrusts that had lately daily irritated her were now all repeated by her as wrongs requiring redress, and sobbing violently, she demanded that the offenders should be dismissed from the establishment.

I was much grieved that this state of affairs had not been put a stop to before such a climax had been reached; now there was evidently so much anger on both sides, and so many harsh remarks, that it was difficult to render justice without being accused of partiality. I, however, supported Mrs. D's cause, as far as I