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    No. 413, February 20,1858,] THE LEADER. ...

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    iPf f tvritf ttftf 3LIW 111*11* *? '

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    ?-— Critics are not the legislators, but...

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    111 W The last number of the North Ameri...

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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.

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    No. 413, February 20,1858,] The Leader. ...

    No . 413 , February 20 , 1858 , ] THE LEADER . 185

    Ipf F Tvritf Ttftf 3liw 111*11* *? '

    Citmiitut-

    ?-— Critics Are Not The Legislators, But...

    ? - — Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and P « £ f ef f literature . They , do not makelaws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —EdinburghBevtew .

    111 W The Last Number Of The North Ameri...

    111 W The last number of the North American Review has an article on ' Reformatories at Home and Abroad / which is interesting as giving a brief outline and criticism of what has been accomplished in this direction in the United States . It is natural to suppose that a new country like America , offering ample scope for the activity of all classes , and keeping the various elements of society

    in full play , would have little of that vicious social sediment which calls for the purifying action of reformatories in Europeaii countries . This , however , is not the case . The necessity for such institutions is felt quite as strongly in America as in England , and during the last twenty years nearly as many reformatories have been established in the different states of the Union . From the review before Us it would seem , however , that these institutions are more numerous than successful . And this comparative inefficiency is traced by the writer of the paper to the characteristic vices of the American national character—the passion for display which leads public men to care more for vast and showy undertakings than for solid results , and "the want of deeper insight which elevates mechanical over moral means in the work of social reformation . The following passage signalizes these defects : —• If we examine the institutions of Hamburg and Mettray , with a view to discover the principle which lies at the root of their usefulness and success , which enables the superintendents so easily to preserve order by day and by night , which throws around these simple roofs and walls , and over these little patches of grass or flowers , an air of contentment and of happiness , which removes from the minds of the overseers all fear of desertion , and from those of the pupils all desire of escape , we shall find it in that wise regulation so early adopted by Mr . Wichern , which we have before mentioned as the family system . Essentially the same at both these great institutions , it overbalances in each all the minor deficiencies and errors , and at once brings them into harmony within themselves and with * each otlier . It is this principle which Americans , in looking across the water for aid in forming similar establishments at home , should most thoroughly impress upon themselves . This is the lesson we have'to learn—that

    it is not by creating an imposing institution , locating it in an edifice of palatial size and massive front , and inaugurating its operation by speech and procession and display , that the true inspiration can be gained which shall lend to the charity all its usefulness and efficiency . Four or five hundred vagrant boys , taken from the foulness of their early life in the streets , gathered promiscuously together under one great roof , and subjected daily to some sort of mechanical discipline and instruction , are not therefore necessarily reformed , oir in any likelihood of being reformed . All this is done in almshouses , for a different end . All this is done in gaols , for an end still more remote . For reform , more is needed . But such in our land is the passion for immediate effect , such the impatience of anything like humility in our institutions , that , until the establishment of the Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster , the gregarious system above alluded to enjoyed a full monopoly of the great institutions of charity , whether reform schools , almshouses , or hospitals . If a reform school was to be built

    for five hnndred boys , the commissioners never asked what was the system on which the institution was to be conducted . That the building was to be palatial was determined at the outset , and the daily duties of the inmates were to be gregariously performed . Thus has arisen a cloud of establishments among us , of which , perhaps , the State School at Westborough may be taken- as a favourable example . Much dissatisfaction is expressed in regard to the practical working of the Westborough school ; and this not from any doubt as to the watchfulness of its . government in general , or the efficiency of its officers individually , but from a reasonable doubt whether , under any government , a multitude of boys could , be indiscriminately brought together beneath one roof , and as one family , eating in crowds , sleeping in crowds , working in crowds , with no more than the general superintendence that is possible under such

    circumstances , and manifest as the result of such aggregation the genuine reform , in character , manners , and tendencies , which it is the aim of the institution to promote and advance . The contrast between this system and the ' family system , ' as practised at Hamburg and Mettray , is too striking . The necessary superiority of the latter as a means of reform is too obvious to need any elaborate demonstration . Nothing more than the most cursory examination is necessary to convince any one of it , and we are glad that the trustees who were appointed to give to the Lancaster school its organization were led sp promptly to the adoption of this beneficent system of families and homes . We have no doubt that , as it is the first American institution in which a similar organization has had trial , so its success will be such as to leave no question in any mind as to the wisdom which has led to its establishment among us .

    It is rather curious to find an American writer thus urging the introduction of the family system into public institutions at the very time that it seems fast going out in private life . When individual homes are abandoned for the plan of common life in barrack-like hotels , we can scarcel y wonder that the family system should be on the decline in America . We have omitted to notice ! the first paper in The Journal of Psychological Medicine , entitled ' Body v . Mind , ' which is , however , well worth reading . The writer discusses at large the much-mooted question touching mental and musculur education , mental and muscular activity , and the relation which

    ought to exist between them . The main object of the article , however , is to solve on physiological grounds the problem recently debated in the Times and other journals—Whether severe mental labour has necessarily an unfavourable influence on the health and charaotor , ruining the former , and rendering the latter ' feeble , sickly , and unmanly " P' The reply is in the negative , the writer JkQifeg ^ HakWWJ ? . ^ arc not in themselves so generally serious as it is now the fashion to consider them ; and that the greater part of the evils which follow head-work are due to seoondary causes , against some of which , at least , it is easy to guard . " The following passage gives a specimen , of these secondary causes : — Another source of evil Is the neglect of the corporeal requirements for a great number of hours consecutively . It is almost certain that the oamo amount of work which

    often proves injurious by its continuity , might be achieved with ease , if it were divided by short intervals of rest and refreshment . We appeal to the experience of all students , if during their earlier efforts nature did not give broad hints of requiring repose and restoratives;—the stomach asserts its right to food at proper intervals , but it is put off— "Go thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season . . . . ;" then when the exhausted powers refuse any longer to work without fueL the meal is bat a business to be accomplished as speedily as possible ; the food is swallowed tinmasticated , and the stomach , loaded perhaps , with a mass of indigestible material , is further impeded in its operations by the immediate resumption of . a cramped , constrained , and compressed attitude . Indigestion with its thousand sons is the natural

    result . Then the headache , and its hint is evaded by a wet towel , and perhaps an irritating stimulant , as a cup of strong tea or coffee ; under the influence of which , temporary power , or a semblance of it , is regained . The ' weary eye , the aching limb , the general febrile condition—all these are disregarded ; day by day the same process is repeated ; until the wonder is , not that the brain gives way at length , but that it has held out so long—longer , we venture to say , as an ordinary rule , than any other organ would have done under an equivalent amount of ill-treatment . Yet in all this , the fact of mental labour simply is not more to be blamed than is commerce for the great number of deaths brought about by the all-absorbing desire of gain , the auri sacra fames which operates in precisely the same secondary manner upon the health and character .

    The fact that many of the severest intellectual labourers in all departments , such , for instance as Newton and FnAnrKXiN , Halley and Hekschel , Kant and Reid , Hobbes and Voltaire , Goethe and Bentham , Michael Angelo and Chekubinij all attained not only the appointed span of threescore years and ten , but all died upwards of eighty years old , is in itself sufficient to disprove the common notion that severe intellectual labour is necessarily injurious . The Psychological Journal has also a spirited article on ' The Indian Rebellion , in its Moral and Psychological Aspects . ' Amidst the active exertions that are just now being made by the various churches to extend not only their own borders , but the action of Christianity

    generally , we look almost in vain for any signs showing a profounder comprehension of its essential spirit or a broader grasp of its deeper truths . Without such moral basis , however , any apparent ' revival / as it is called , of religion must be short-lived and superficial . The fuller recognition of an obscured Christian truth is therefore really far more important than the opening of Westminster Abbey . We are glad to meet signs of such recognition in a young religious journal , entitled Church of England Monthly Review , which , in its recent numbers , takes far higher ground in the discussion of moral and social questions than is usual with such journals . The last number contains a happy illustration of this in a short , but striking paper , on ' The Life and Genius of

    Charlotte Bronte / Here is an extract : — Tie chief objection which has been urged against Jane Eyre , is that she should have loved such a man as Rochester , knowing what his past life had been . We are ready to confess that till thepublication of Miss Bronte ' s life , it did appear somewhat strange that she should have selected such , a character as Rochester , and have . made him deliberately recount his sins to the girl whom he wished to marry . The explanation , it seems to us , is to be found in the painful history of Miss Bronte ' s brother . Bramwell Bronte was gifted with the same indomitable will as is portrayed in Rochester , and fell into deep degradation and sin , which was the cause of liis early death . As he resided in his father ' s house after his fall , Charlotte Bronte had to endure the knowledge of his degradation , and had , in her inmost heart , to grapple long and sternly with the question— " Has sin the power of slaying affection ? " Is it impossible , is it degrading , for us to love those whom we know to have sinned deeply , and to be reaping the just , merciful reward of past misdeeds ? This is really the point

    at issue between those who condemn Miss Bronte for representing such a character as Rochester , and making her heroine love him notwithstanding the life he had led , and those , on the other hand , who , like ourselves , consider that she has not only been true to nature , but has in her novel asserted a much higher , deeper righteousness , than seems to be dreamt of by her opponents . Did Miss Bronte—does any sister , worthy of the name , ever love her brother less , because she knew he had fallen into sin ? Rather , whilst grief mingles with such love , must not a shade of pitying tenderness add . a depth and solemnity to it ? Is it not bo with the mother who weeps over her prodigal son ? Does she love him less because he has strayed from the paths of uprightness ? And are not these human instances but faint reflexions of the Divine love ? Is not this the very essence of the Gospel of Christ , that the love of God is mightier than the sin of man , that sin cannot change it , that ain can only be utterly burnt up and consumed by it ? If , then , human lovo ia the reflex and image of the Divine , if the sin of a brother or son cannot efface the love of a sister or mother , —why—in

    the deepest of all human relationships , which shadows forth ' the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church '—may not the love of a pure woman cling to and redeem a man who has lost the innocence of childhood ? To say otherwise , seems to us to bo asserting that sin is more powerful than lovej in other words , to bo denying the revelation which has been made to us in the Cross of Christ . It is not that the guilt is in the smallest degree made light of . Its blackness is only fully seen in contrast with the clear , pure light of love . If it were not so , no human being could truly love another , for all have sinned ; and whatever outward form sin may take , the inward root is the same . Any weak and wavering affection which might exist between two human beings , must necessarily be based upon ignorance , and would be as fleeting as it would bo fictitious . Let us apply these remarks to the love of Jane Eyre for Rochester . She felt the strength and fascination of his character ; she owned its darkest shadesbutat

    him as her master . He tells her his past life , revealing , , the same time expressing his own sense of degradation and wearinesrij his longing after a better and higher life . He appeals to her to aid him—to help him to reach a purer nnd more elevated atmosphere . Would she have acted as a true-hearted woman if sh « had then forsaken him ? Shall we net rather say , that by remaining faithful to him , she practically declared her belief in the forgiveness of sins , nnd caught a far-off glimpse of that joy which ia among the angola of God over ono sinner that ropenteth , more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance ? On . thejKpryJijghe 8 kgrQund 8 ,. tUorc ^ thoroughly Christian morality is assorted \ and consider this tlio reason why the advocates and upholders of Pharisaical conventionality are offended at it . Wo regard it as an honour to the Church of England- —as no small tribute to the depth ana soundness of her teaching—that ouch a book should have boon written by the daughter of one of her clergymen . A religious journal is the last plaqo ia which wo should expect to 0 nd aucli a noble vindication of the deeper truth contained in Jane Myro .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 20, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20021858/page/17/