Farewell! we ne'er may meet again, Young dweller in a far-off land; Breathed for thy future bliss a prayer:— Fond thoughts of thee and beauteous Ayr. RHO. FACTS FOR THE MILLION. Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.-BURNS. IN entering upon this subject, I am actuated by no desire to kindle in the breasts of the productive classes, feelings of rancour or discontent, but rather to frame a few comparisons between the relative positions of the rich and poor, with a view of deducing from the context, certain conclusions, which, probably, may be deemed worthy the consideration of those who desire to make provision against the ills which the immortal bard assures us "flesh is heir to." In a former article, (published in the Odd Fellows' Magazine for July, 1844,) I endeavoured to shew that in days of Gothic darkness, our forefathers were regarded with as little favour as "the ox who treadeth out the corn," being esteemed in an exact ratio with their amount of physical endurance; it therefore only remains for me to limit the observations I have to make, in connexion with this article, to the enlightened nineteenth century. As it is my intention to be as brief as possible, I will at once proceed to the charge by propounding the following question:-Do the wealthy, collectively, sympathize with their less fortunate brethren? To arrive at a just conclusion, it is necessary we should take a cursory glance at the exertions, from time to time made by the aristocracy, to improve the condition of the poor, and from the nature and extent of those exertions, endeavour to adduce an answer to the inquiry. The first step of any importance, to which allusion may, with propriety, be made, as bearing on the point at issue, is the establishment of banks for savings. Now, I am not one of those who reject a benefit on the ground of its entailing neither trouble or expense on the donor; nevertheless, in analyzing the merits of the case under consideration, I cannot gloss over the fact, that those banks are self-supporting institutions, and although the advantages derivable from the facilities they offer for the safe investment of surplus cash, are extensively felt and appreciated, it is equally true the wealthy reap a proportionate benefit in the diminution of poor rates, consequent on the provident habits which those institutions give rise to, and foster in, the breastsof the working bees of the social hive. Whatever merit attaches to the first step, is completely cancelled by the passing of the so called poor law amendment act, and the erection, under its provisions, of those painted sepulchres, which, in a barbarous age, would have been aptly designated Inquisitorial Dungeons, but to which a reformed legislature applied the less obnoxious term of "Union Houses." The avowed object of remodelling the poor laws was to render such establishments obnoxious to the idle and dissolute, and to spur dormant energies into life and activity; but reflection and experience prove that the real object was to throw off the burthen of supporting the poor out of funds actually contributed for their relief, but which are made to flow into other sources. It would be no difficult task to enter into an exposition of the cruel operation of this act, or to work out in figures the expense of the machinery by which it is set in motion; it is, however, quite unnecessary for my purpose, I will, therefore, dismiss this painful portion of my inquiry, and place under consideration the third effort of modern philanthrophy, namely, the formation of places of nightly refuge for the destitute, affording relief only to such as our workhouse Cerberuses had refused admission to. What did it effect for those, who, in struggling to maintain a roof over their devoted heads, had parted with almost all their earthly possessions-who lay extended on pallets of foetid straw, with the worm of hunger gnawing at their vitals? What benefit did it confer on the dying mother? Did it re-animate the dead infant in her arms? Did it moisten her lips with generous wine? Did it restore to the delirious father those sons who were consigned to the tainted atmosphere of a prison for the venial offence of obtaining forcible possession of the elements of life? Alas, no! The unobtrusive poor were disregarded. Those who retained so much of their stubborn nature as to desire to conceal their utter destitution from public scrutiny, were not the parties contemplated in that scheme; on the contrary, to qualify them for relief, they must have cast themselves upon the world, to be buffetted about like a wreck on the waters-they must have thrown aside all shame, have put on a brazen exterior, and, in the livery of poverty, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, presented themselves, bankrupt in spirit and body, at the door of the nightly refuge, or additional bastile, (with a reference to Kensington gravel pits,) as their last legal settlement.* The artificial state of society in which our aristocracy exists, precludes the probability of their forming a just estimate of the amount of misery endured by those whose lot has been cast in a plebeian mould. Undoubtedly there are amongst the great and wealthy, those who delight in privately succouring the afflicted, and whose benevolence diffuses a halo of bliss around them; but, alas! how few in number, compared with those, who, actuated by a desire of appearing in the eyes of the world in the character of good Samaritans, relax the grasping hand of avarice upon the express condition of their names appearing emblazoned on the respective donation boards of our public charitable institutions. Those who have studied the character of Howard, of whom Edmund Burke remarks,- 'He was a man who outstretched his Saviour arms from pole to pole, and felt akin to all the human race," will at once distinguish the vast difference between the puny efforts of our gold-letter philanthropists, and the exertions of the man who sacrificed his life in the cause of universal humanity. If any doubt exist in the minds of my readers that the working classes (the source from whence flows a continuous stream of luxury into the mansions of little-minded great men,) have not the sympathy of those who reap the fruits of labour, their scepticism will probably be shaken upon reference to the fact that one-tenth of our population is under the painful necessity of accepting parochial relief; and in the month of August, 1843, no less than 16,764 lunatic paupers, were chargeable to the various parishes in England and Wales, the majority of whom, it may fairly be presumed, would have continued in possession of those mental faculties with which the supreme Disposer of events endowed them, had not the iron grasp of poverty been allowed to crush their energies. There is one circumstance, which, at the first blush, appears to oppose this conclusion, namely, that the sum of £9,000,000, is annually expended in intoxicating liquors; the pleasures of drinking, however, are not confined to the artisan, and there is this distinction to be drawn between the intoxicating cup of the poor, and that of the rich man -the former, rendered desperate by a multiplicity of adverse circumstances, seeks oblivion in ardent spirits, and it may be presumed that madness, the offspring of acute mental anguish, follows in the track of poverty, and urges its victim to inebriety— but the latter drains the goblet from the love he bears its contents. There is another class of consumers who have fallen under the censure of temperance advocates in unmeasured terms, who indulge in alcoholic beverages, not under the maddening influence of despair, or to stimulate unworthy passions, but merely with a view of sweetening the hours of cessation from labour; and although it is to be regretted that "the evening's amusement" will not always "bear the morning's reflection," the vice of intoxication may truly be said to be rapidly declining, for I find that in 1831, 31,853 persons were taken before the magistrates for drunkenness, out of a population of 1,515,585, and only 10,890, in 1843, out of an increased population of 2,068,107. Without multiplying arguments in favour of the position I have assumed, I will resume the subject by observing that there does not exist, to any extent, nor ever will, in the breasts of those who roll through the highways in splendid equipages, and who *During the last two or three winters the gravel pits of Kensington were resorted to by hundreds of unfortunate wretches, as a nightly shelter from the inclemency of the weather, and the fact of human beings being so neglected by those whose duty it was to provide for their wants, is a matter of notoriety. apply to their especial use and enjoyment, without rendering an adequate return, all the choice productions of nature and art, the divine spark of sympathy, which, in a moment of enthusaism we may have pictured to our imagination; and with those who concur in this opinion, it will not require any great stretch of logic to demonstrate the simple truth, that we must seek friends in our fellow-labourers in the vineyard. This we may do with every hope of success, and all who depend on labour for existence, must be fully sensible of the advantage of possessing a friend in the hour of adversity. Friendship delights in equal fellowship, Engage both sides alike, and keep the balance even.-RowE. As a friend, desirous of throwing my mite of usefulness into the social scale, I would earnestly urge upon those who have not yet provided a shield against the casualties of sickness and death, to reflect on their position, to ponder well on the responsibility attached to the relative positions of husband and parent. Thousands, now branded with all the ignominy which the unfeeling attach to the term "pauper," were once men of great ability in their various occupations, yet talent and strength could not maintain a successful resistance to the insidious attack of disease; both were prostrated, and as the result of a suspension of toil, in those cases where no provision had been made to meet the exigency we may instance broken homes and broken hearts, evils which might have been avoided, if, in the days of their prosperity, they had wisely made provision, by entering an order similar to that of the "Independent Odd Fellows." The man with a wife and children depending on his labour for support, neglecting the opportunity which now presents itself for securing them against the blast of adversity, may truly be said to incur an awful responsibility. The axiom, "in the midst of life, we are in death," fully illustrates my position, and opens a vast field for speculation. If we would trace a few of the evils resulting from a disregard of the morrow, we need only refer to the lamentable instances of felony, self-immolation, lunacy, and destitution, which supply the new paper press with ample food for morbid appetites. Let us take the case of a man with a large family. We will suppose him a clever mechanic, in the full enjoyment of robust health, and to use an old aphorism, you might safely "take a lease of his life;" he rejoiceth in his strength, loves his family, and pursues his daily avocation with a light heart, and devoid of apprehension. It may be, that in an instant his sinewy strength is forced to yield supremacy to the giant power of steam: his buoyant spirits have lulled his ordinary caution into repose, and he is accidentally crushed and mutilated by machinery which he, probably, had set in motion; - or he may, from natural causes, be prostrated on a bed of sickness, and terminate a long and painful illness in the arms of death. domestic tragedy is in full operation. His widow, with that truly English feeling of independence and devotion, which may have withheld her from seeking parochial relief, parts with her furniture to provide the rights of christian burial for the betrothed of her early days-she follows his remains to its kindred earth-she sees the grave close over all her hopes-she returns to her humble dwelling, once an earthly paradise, now a living sepulchre-her children solicit for bread-her landlord, ere long, grows clamorous for rent her friends suggest the propriety of applying for admittance into the "house," which recommendation maternal love prompts her to disregard, as she cannot submit to a parting from the living images of him whose loss she mourns-the cup of human misery overflows, her mental anguish is more than she can sustain, and heaven, in mercy, receives her fleeting soul-she leaves the scene of all her misery, to inherit that imperishable kingdom, which no man, in his own heart, can deny the existence of, however strongly he may affect, in the eyes of the world, to spurn the idea of futurity. The children, where may they be found in a few years after their parent's decease? Some of them, probably, toiling in chains in the penal settlements, others on the high way of destruction, the residue jostled out of existence by an unfeeling world, with "the daisies growing o'er their graves." Now the Having, as I conceive, clearly shewn, that although there are amongst the higher classes, men who have hearts to feel for, and inclinations to relieve, the misfortunes of the afflicted, the poor do not, in fact, possess the sympathy of the aristocracy, in a collective sense; and having pointed out to such of my readers who have not joined a society of a beneficial tendency, the necessity of so doing, I will conclude this article by venturing to give expression to my calm and deliberate opinion, that it is a subject worthy of self-gratulation to every Odd Fellow, to feel that he has made all the provision in his power in the event of sickness, or premature death. The circumstance of having performed this act of duty, imparts to the mind that ray of moral brightness which illumines the hours of labour-it is to the working man in his mortal pilgrimage, a pellucid stream in the desert- -no effort of adversity can rob him of the calm satisfaction resulting from an innate conviction, that "come weal, come woe," he has done the duty incumbent on him in his important position of husband and father. Orphans' Home Lodge, South London District. H. L. BURTON, N. G. THE COMPLAINT. WHY art thou not here? Oh! I have sought in vain thy beauteous form, In all its pride, and yet thou camest not Then did I think of thee, and breathe thy name, But none did hear it, save zephyr, on whose wings And left no echo here, save in my heart. And, lo! the night comes on, so calm and still, The moon her soft sweet light sheds o'er the earth, And twinkling stars begem the azure sky, And here, alone, I keep sad watch for thee, To listen to each sound the light breeze wakes And ever and anon the nightingale Sweet notes of love carols to heaven, And wakes fresh thoughts of thee, that make me seem Dwelling on thee. Why, why art thou not here? J. H. JEWELL, P. G. Lord Portman Lodge, North London District. SUMMER. BROWNED with the sun's fierce rays young Summer seems! And wheresoe'er her gleesome glances rove, Sadness and sorrow waken from their dreams. And looks half languishing upon the lea; Whilst listening to fair Summer's strains of glee! And earth shows all her beauties to the sky; Well pleased to view the charms which Summer brings to birth." North Shields. S. SHERIF. MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES. A MAP of England and Wales has just been published, with a view of shewing at a glance the various Districts belonging to the Independent Order, and also the distances from town to town. It is the production of Mr. Richard Hopton, N. G., of Leamington, in the Edmondscote District, and reflects great credit upon him. Much care has been exercised in the getting up of the Map, and we can with confidence recommend it to all the members of the Order, as being well deserving of their patronage. The position of the different Districts in the Unity may at once be ascertained, and it will serve as an excellent guide to such Lodges as may be desirous of forming themselves into Districts. We have no doubt that it will materially assist the G. M. and Board of Directors in coming to a conclusion as to which Districts are to be considered Agricultural or Manufacturing Districts. We hope Mr. Hopton will meet with sufficient support to recompense him for the labour and risk incurred by him in this undertaking. THE ODD FELLOWS' CHRONICLE. The A. M. C. having sanctioned the "London Journal," and "Isle of Man Chronicle," there will now be no necessity for a portion of the Magazine being set apart for the reports of Anniversaries, and other matters of a temporary interest. Such accounts will, therefore, not be inserted in this publication for the future, unless circumstances of a peculiar character may render it desirable that they should appear. Presentations. April 21, 1845, a beautiful emblem of the Order, in a highly-finished veneered frame, to P. G. Thornton, of the Nelson Lodge, Manchester District, by the Cricketer's Lodge, Manchester. The presentation was made by brother Birks, who, in a kind and pleasing address, assured P. G. Thornton of the grateful regard with which his services rendered to the Lodge by sitting as G. M., would be remembered by its members. P. G. Thornton, who has been an active member of the Order for twenty-five years, thanked the members for the marked approval of his exertions to contribute to the welfare of the Lodge, and would always be ready when they anticipated he could be of any service to them.-April 22nd, 1845, a valuable silver watch, to P. G. George Wardle: Same day, a gold guard and emblem, in a beautiful frame, to P. G. Ralph Thompson; both by the Wellington Lodge, Manchester.-May 7, 1845, a handsome silver lever watch and gold guard, to P. G. Samuel Powdrell, by the Countess of Wilton Lodge, Manchester District.-June 7, 1844, a silver patent skeleton lever watch and guard, to P. G. Richard Swindells, by the Heart of Oak Lodge, Manchester District.-January 1, 1844, a splendid silver medal, by the Wirksworth District, to P. P. G. M. Thomas Bunting, of the Victoria Lodge, Matlock, Wirksworth District.-August 30, 1844, a handsome silver claret jug, value twenty guineas, to P. G. Charles Thomas Woosman, Esq., by the Victoria Lodge, Newtown District: August 30, 1844, a splendid silk flag, value eight pounds, to the Newtown District, by Mrs. Woosman, who is also a large benefactor to the Widow and Orphans' Fund.-April 28, 1845, a handsome silver medal, to P. G. William Holyoake, by the Rock of Hope Lodge, Oadby. -December, 1844, a beautiful silver snuff box, to P. P. G. M. Ride, by the Good Samaritan Lodge, Derby District.- December 18, a handsome patent lever watch and gold guard chain, to P. P. G. M. Stansby, of the George the Fourth Lodge, Derby District.-September 28, 1844, a handsome silver watch, to Prov. C. S. William Hawley, by the Grassington District.-July 13, 1844, a valuable patent lever watch, to P. G. William Green, by the Trafalgar Lodge, Manchester District. A silver medal, to P. G. W. Naylor, value five guineas, by the Southampton Hope Lodge: A silver medal to P. G. Thomas Kelly, by the Noah's Ark Lodge, Birhapstoke: A splendid silver' medal, to P. G. J. Hayes, by the Southampton Hope Lodge: A silver medal, to P. G. G. W. Bagnet, by the Prosperity Lodge; all in the Southampton District.-April 17, 1843, a handsome silver medal, to P. G. Burridge, by the Cedar Tree Lodge, North London District.-April 10, 1844, a silver snuff box, to P.P. G. M. James Butterfield, by the Gateshead District.-September 7, 1844, a patent lever watch and silver guard chain, to P. G. James Ashworth, by the Queen Caroline Lodge, Manchester District: March 8, 1845, a dozen of silver spoons, and china breakfast and tea service, to P. G. Robert Tatton, by the same Lodge.-February 7, 1845, a purse of gold to P. P. C. S. John Morris, of the Favourable Design Lodge, by the Lord Hartley Lodge, Hay District -May 25, 1844, a splendid silver medal, to P. G. James Webb, by the Philanthropic Lodge: June 29, 1844, a handsome silver snuff box, to P G. James Greaves, by the Well Wisher Lodge: July 27, 1844, a splendid silver medal, to P. G. John Davenport, by the Lily of the Valley Lodge; all in the Blackburn District. -March 24, 1845, a handsome silver medal, to P G. Richard Kirby: also, a handsome silver medal, to P. G. James Baxendale; both by the Travellers' Home Lodge, Preston.-September 16, 1844, a splendid patent lever watch, to P. P. G.M. and C.S. William Newball, by the Gainsborough District. -March, 1845, a handsome silver snuff box, to P. G. Kent, by the Wortham Lodge, North London District.-June 24, 1844, a handsome scarf and apron, to P. G. William Dawes, of the Deritend Lodge, Birmingham District.-May 12, 1845, a handsome silver medal, to P. G. Thomas Kenworthy, |