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150 THE MEETINGS AT LIVERPOOL.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
-*Io»- - The National Association For Th...
ing is a dangerous thing , " we can see no harm in adding , that there is another thing soinewhat more dangerous—great ignorance ; not
to mention that the one cures itself , -while the other perpetuates itselfayand spreads and propagates too ; for it is almost as true
in point , , of fact that they who have learned a little have their . half-satisfied curiosity excited to obtain more full gratification ,
as it is false in point of fact that sobriety results from excess of drinking . We object , therefore , to this hackneyed maxim , not
because it is hackneyed , but because it is unfounded ; as illogical when delivered in plain prose as inapposite when clothed in
humorous verse , the falsehood of the position in the one case being equal to that of the metaphor in the other . " Better half a loaf
than no bread , " is the old English saying . _" All wrong , " say the objectors " a little food is a dangerous thing ; rather starve than
, not have your fill . " " Better be purblind than stone blind , " is the French saying . "No , " cry the objectors , "if you can't see quite
clearly , what use is there in seeing at all ? " "In the country of the blind" says the proverb" the one-eyed man is king . " Our
objectors belong , ing to the peop , le there would dethrone the monarch by putting out his eye . But they had better couch their blind
brethren to restore their sight , and then his reign would cease at once without any act of violence , any coup d ' etat . Here is a well
of precious water , and we have got a little of it in a tankard . " 'What signifies" say the objectors , " such a paltry supply ? It
., would not wet the lips of half-a-dozen of the hundreds who are athirst . " True , but it enables us to wet the sucker of the pump ,
instead of following their advice to leave it dry ; and having the -handlewe use it to empty the well and satisfy all . A person gains
, some information , it may be only a little . Say the objectors , " he is superficial . " Would he be more profound if he knew nothing ?
The twilight is unsafe for his steps . Would he be more secure from slipping in the dark ? Bnt he may be self-sufficient , may
think he knows much , and look down upon others as knowing little . Is this very likely to happen if the knowledge he has acquired is
within reach of all and by the greater number possessed ? The distinction is the ground of the supposed influence upon his
demeanour towards others ; when that difference no longer exists , the risk of his manners being spoiled is at an end . The most trifling
instruction which can be given is sure to teach the vast majority of < those who receive it the lesson of their own deficiency , and to inspire
the wish for further knowledge . " One definite result of cheap periodicals is thus related :- — "When
Mr . Hill proposed the Penny Magazine _^ the firsfc of the kind now so happily established in the confidence of the people , ( 1 Knight
brought him a list of no less than nine weekly papers devoted to the circulation of the most abominable matter , —morally , scandalous and
obscene ; religiously , not simply infidel , but scoffing and ribald ;
politically , preaching anarchy , —hardly oven confined to the crazy
150 The Meetings At Liverpool.
150 THE MEETINGS AT LIVERPOOL .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1858, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111858/page/6/
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