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(240) "
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XXXIII.—SELF REFORM, OR INDIVIDUAL EFFOR...
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_ ~-* - eje~ happ Time iness was or when...
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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.
(240) "
( 240 ) _"
Xxxiii.—Self Reform, Or Individual Effor...
XXXIII . —SELF REFORM , OR _INDIVIDUAL EFFORT . ' _* . —
_ ~-* - Eje~ Happ Time Iness Was Or When...
_ _~ - _* - _eje ~ happ Time iness was or when virtue we and questioned wlien there tlie power were not of knowledge wanting advocates to confer
of non-instructionwho , hinted that the easiest and safest way to , a le -was to leave the masses in the bliss of ignorance .
govern In _oiir peop day , however , we no longer maintain that ignorance is advantageous to any rational being , or that the acquirements of
the few are sufficient to guide , govern , and control the many . Another and a wiser irit has come over us ; our anxiety is now
to enlighten and instruct sp all classes and ranks . Oppression is regarded as a crime , war is no longer deified , and an ideal of
freedom , justice , and truth , is placed before us . The irit of investigationwith piercing eyewalks abroad in
sp , , search of ills to remedy . It penetrates everywhere— -palace and cottagethe cell of the criminalthe depths of the mine , the interior
, , of the gas-lit factory , are all laid open to its scrutiny . Philanthropy assumes colossal dimensions , and we seem in
earnest in our efforts to amend the social condition of the masses of our denselled citiesin earnest in our endeavors to separate
the false from y peop the truein earnest , to attain that greatness which alone exalts a nation , , its own internal worth , and not its vast
possessions . Great as our philanthropic exertions are , yet they are not
commensurate with our increasing needs . It is not necessary for us to prove the contagious nature of evil ; all know this truth who in any way
aid to repress vice or encourage virtue . We have our moral as well as our hysical idemicsand the moral disease is the more deadly
of the two p . Strong ep and powerful , is the sympathy which links man to man , each leading each for good or for evil , and this fact should
be a never failing incentive to every human being to exercise vigilance and see that he puts no obstacle either in his own or his
neighbour ' s path , for rugged and difficult is the ascent towards pureness of lifein comparison with the easy slope , slippery and
smooththat leads , us to animalism and moral death . Much , is now being done for the improvement of the material
condition and the preservation of the physical health of our working population , and so far so good . But without a corresponding effort from
the individuals themselves , outward pressure will do little for them . We may rear up healthier dwellings , and surround them with
agreedesir able e obj to ects procure , yet those , unless comforts the occupants and pleasures of those for themselves houses , have throug the h-
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1858, page 240, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121858/page/24/
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