manifestation of Divine love as should Our Bazaar. The first month of 1854 has slipped away. As we hope that the bazaar of 1855 will be a so loved the world that he gave His only worthy successor to the pleasant and brilbegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in liant demonstrations of previous years, we Him should not perish, but should have invite our friends to commence such preeverlasting life." Behold, then, "God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." parations as they may deem it desirable to make. We are very anxious that these Behold, wonder, and adore! And when this Divine, all-gracious purpose shall be preparations should conduce, not merely to fully accomplished, men will indeed "learn but to the active practical interests of the the monetary success of the undertaking, the art of war no more." Let love once Circle meetings. We hope that when work again become the ruling principle within, has been regularly taken in hand, the as it must be under the gentle, benign, members will all feel that there is an addipurifying influence of the Gospel, and it is tional object and interest in attending the impossible that war should exist any longer. Make the tree good, and the fruit must be meetings, and will also find many neighbours and friends willing to unite the good also. This is the principle on which labour of their needles for the good of the God works, and it is sufficient for the comcause. It has been suggested to us to replete extirpation of all human ills. Some commend to each Olive Leaf Circle to put may say, perhaps, this principle works but in hand some piece of work in which all slowly. Patience! beloved friends, paunite. may tience! Go on steadily, sowing the seeds of Divine love and truth, and the harvest of real utility, affording at the same time will surely come. "Though it tarry, wait scope for the exercise of taste and skill in for it." Have faith in God. Have faith design, sell far better and at more remunerative prices than a multitude of small in His providential arrangements. Have articles of mere ornament or fancy. The faith in those Divine principles which are even now permeating mankind. The leaven arrangement and progress of such a piece of work becomes an object of interest with the is hid, but it shall, nevertheless, leaven the whole lump. Already the mass is moving, members, showing, too, the value of co-opesoon it shall rise suffused with the spirit of Manchester Bazaar a very clegant hearthWe may mention, that at the universal love; and then will be realised to the full, those happy conditions contained rug, worked in wool, by twelve members in the angelic song, "Peace on earth, modestly marked at 2 guineas, (very much of the Ipswich Circle, and which had been good-will to men." below its value,) sold readily for £4. Many other cases occurred, in which objects of substantial use sold extremely well.—E.F. Free-Labour Movement. The decided progress of the Free-Labour Movement during the past month has been most cheering and encouraging. The increased demand for free-labour goods is met by a still increasing supply; good patterns in prints have now been received, and there is no doubt, as the subject is more frequently presented to the minds of Christians, it will meet, as it should do, with their more hearty and cordial support. The Olive Leaf Circles, organised as they have been for the dissemination of peace, love, and human brotherhood, are many of them entering earnestly into the spirit of this anti-slavery effort, as perfectly consistent with the works of love in which they are engaged. The new year has opened brightly for us in this department of our operations, and as we go on, persevering in faith, we may hope to see, as time rolls on, ever-increasing proofs that He whom we desire to serve, accepts and acknowledges our feeble aim to glorify His name, and advance the happiness and well-being of those whom He has made of one blood to dwell upon the face of the BESSIE INGLIS. earth. Free-Labour Depôt, 22, Broad-st. Buildings, Jan. 31, 1854. ration. It has been found that articles OFFICE OF THE LEAGUE OF BROTHERHOOD-35, BROAD-ST. BUILDINGS, LONDON. J. UNWIN, GRESHAM STEAM PRESS, BUCKLERSBURY. BOND OF BROTHERHOOD. CONDUCTED BY ELIHU BURRITT. "God hath made of one blood all nations of men." Acts xvii. 26.——“Nation shall not lift up sword DARK, dense and dreary rises from the East, and from the far North, the dread harbinger of war. Europe, untaught by the experience of centuries, has again to learn, by bitter and cruel suffering, the folly and delusion of ARMED NEGOTIATION. When the friends of Peace from Brussels, from Paris, from Frankfort, from London, sent forth their urgent appeal to the Peoples and Governments to abandon this dangerous and irritating attitude of mutual suspicion and defiance, they were answered with the old and fallacious dogma, that "the best way to preserve peace is to be prepared for war." "TO PRESERVE PEACE."-Mark! that was the assumed end and issue, the bare suggestion of which was to silence those troublesome "Peacemongers, who pointed with saddened hearts and warning finger to the past experience of these treacherous securities for Peace. "We are as anxious to preserve peace as you can be," said the objectors, "but the only way to lead a quiet life, is to maintain such an attitude towards your neighbours that they will be afraid to attack you." Upon this principle of maintaining a good neighbourly understanding, every Court and Cabinet has acted. Hoodwinked by this fatal casuistry, Europe has consented to the hideous presence of those vampire armaments, which have sucked the resources of her industry, strangled her liberties, loaded her with debts never to be liquidated, and blighted her social character with their demoralizing influence. The evils and suffering connected with this system have been too gigantic to be denied. Taxes, loans, conscription, exile, a press catalepsed, capitals baptized in the blood of their own citizens,these have been so palpably its fruits, that they have wrung a reluctant confession even from the most strenuous abettors of the mischief; but this admission being made, the only equivalent for this frightful cost which the ingenuity of special pleaders could suggest has been that, after all, "the best way to preserve peace was to be well prepared for war." Now, supposing the result to have been secured, it might surely be suggested, London: Published by W. & F. G. CASH (Successors to C. Gilpin), 5, Bishopsgate Without, as a fair question for examination, in an enlightened and progressive age like this, whether by such a process we were really obtaining it in the best, the wisest, the most economical, the most humane, and the most Christian way. We have not, however, the poor consolation of debating the question from this position. The solitary advantage of success is denied to those who plead for this "best way of preserving peace." The cost has been paid, the privation endured, the forced service given, the debt piled; but the glorious result anticipated-the peace to be secured and enjoyed-that which would indeed be worth mighty sacrifices and a munificent price has cluded our grasp. stand, like children clutching at the shining bubble, whose rainbow beauty sparkles in the sunbeam-it bursts as we touch it, and there is nothing left in our hand. We Last year, we were told that the Camp at Chobham was the true Peace Congress; that the Fleet at Spithead might be a costly, but that it was the surest guarantee for peace. We were asked, tauntingly, "What are the doves about?"and every effort of human ingenuity and sophistry was employed, to reconcile the people to the maintenance of armed negotiation, and to discredit those who had sought earnestly and faithfully to expose the danger and delusion of the system, and to suggest a course more worthy of the high character and Christian profession of the great States of Europe. Turn to Spithead now, and what do we see? The armed Peace Congress, transferred from their tents at Chobham to the decks of a transport squadron, to be hurried, as fast as steam and wind can bear them, to the Bosphorus, there to be flung into the very thick of a fight which threatens to deluge Europe once more with blood. The Fleet, too, the Peace bulwark of England, points its threatening prow northward, and goes to thunder in the ears of the Czar its message-tones of conciliation and good-will. If this be indeed the "best way" which the advocates of the war system have for preserving the peace, they must surely own that they find their own theory as Utopian and impracticable as any which has been propounded by the advocates of Arbitration, Disarmament, or even of Christian Non-Resistance. Sadly and seriously we ask, will the people learn no lesson from this fresh outlet of the fierce tide of war, but that of blind passion, and more obstinate adherence to the delusion which leads them through such mazes of suffering, degradation, and ruin? Shall the serpent which stings have equal power to fascinate as to destroy? Shall we never be warned, but only wounded by its presence; or, having the fatal virus of its poison circulating amongst us, shall we continue to reject with scorn and contempt the proffered healing of the Great Physician?-He, whose cure can alone reach and eradicate the insidious disease-the very Prince of Peace himself. The Omniscient, who has traced to their true source all the "wars and fightings" of mankind, and has pronounced their treacherous and deceptive character, has encouraged us to attempt their eradication, by the blessing so emphatically promised to those who rightly enter upon the arduous work. It is, however, all-important to determine the spirit and principles which shall warrant us as "peacemakers" in preferring our claim to the glorious title of "the children of God." If the best credentials we can present are those dripping with the blood of neighbours slain in our efforts to coerce them into the paths of peace, can we expect that they will be endorsed by Him who has said, "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you."--" Whosoever shall smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also?" 66 We may delude ourselves, and prefer the folly of an old sophism to the wisdom of Divine truth; but they who assume to promote peace ca earth and good-will among men" by measures which do not seek first "the glory of God in the highest," will assuredly forfeit the character which they have falsely arrogated. This dark cloud of barbarous war, bursting upon us at the present moment, is a gloomy but instructive sequel to the stubbornly-maintained course of armed negotiation, defended as so much safer and more sensible than the system of friendly arbitration, so frequently and urgently advocated by those who have been derided as the Peace party. May He who stilled the raging tempest, even yet stay the angry passions which gather and surge around us; and may the time come when men, not less brave and patriotic, but more humbly wise, shall pursue, not their own, but His way, to permanent and universal peace! "Peace! and no longer from its brazen portals E. F. The Little Boy with Faggots; OR, TRUE BENEVOLENCE. As I was walking home last night through one of the thoroughfares of the great city, I met many little boys with bundles of faggots, some in their arms and some tied with a hempen cord and slung upon their shoulders; and having an inveterate habit, I will not say whether it is good or bad, of speaking to all little boys and girls that I meet in the street, that look as if a kind word would be kindly received, I stopped to talk with these. To one, who seemed about twelve years of age, I said, "What a nice parcel of wood you have, where do you pick it up?" "Oh, out here where they are building," said he, and I knew instantly, by the tones of his voice, the mild, pleasant expression of his eye, and his respectful manner, that he either had a comfortable home and kind parents, or had experienced some sorrow which had softened him and exerted a purifying influence upon his boyish spirit. and as the poor need neither bars nor bolts to guard their treasures, when I reached the door, I entered without ringing or knocking, or waiting for an usher. I went on up stairs, but I must stop to say that the stairs were very clean and white, and looked as if they had been lately scoured, and at the next door I gently tapped, and Robert, my little acquaintance of the night before, appeared before me as its opener. What a sight for those who dwell where luxury or even plenty reigns! In one little room were the father and mother and their six children, and yet they had room for another who was "neither kith nor kin." The Saviour said, "He that giveth a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in my name, he shall in no wise lose his reward." They had given more than the cup of cold water-food and shelter, ah yes, and more than this-they had given him a little corner in their home; and though it was what any of my readers would call a very dark and almost loathsome corner, it was very bright to him, because it was lightened all about with the halo of that sweet word "welcome." His clothes were very thin and tattered, and soiled too; his shoes were too large, and his cap not large enough-it evidently fitted him when he was many years younger; but Oh, into how many glistening halls might his face, if it had belonged to one who was he have gone, where the hangings were of well dressed, would have been called hand-gold and silver and tapestry, and where they some. With him were two others, smaller, had "room enough and to spare," and and laden with a similar burden, but easily heard the hollow ringing of that cold word distinguished as belonging to a different nation. Their round, chubby faces and dumpy figures told that they were Dutch, but their countenances also indicated they had the true Dutch good humour and warm heart. When I asked their names the little boy said, pointing to the largest one, "He lives with us, but he is not ours; he has no father, no mother, and no home, and so he sleeps with us." I looked again upon that youthful face, and the lip was quivering and the tears were gathering in his full dark eye, and I knew his heart was throbbing quick and loud, and his little breast heaving with emotions which none but the homeless and friendless can know. For a moment I could scarce speak myself, and knowing that I must not stop to learn his history in that public, noisy street, I asked the number of their residence, and, telling them I would call soon to see their mother, I bade them good night. Very early this morning I threaded my way through the narrow alley where I knew I must expect to find my little friends; "depart." He might have asked of those, whose food is the richest and costliest which the market affords, and whose drink is the sparkling juice of the vine, and they would have answered, "We know you not." I inquired how much the father earned by his daily labour, and he said, now he had a good place where he was paid four dollars a week. "And how much rent for this room and a little bed-room adjoining?” Five dollars a month. Thus there is left not quite the wages of three weeks to feed and clothe nine, and yet they take an alien, of whose birth and parentage they know scarcely anything, and bid him sit at their table, and warm himself by their fire, and sleep under their poor roof, as kindly and heartily as their own! "How came you to know him at all?" asked I. "Oh," said the mother, "my little boy found him in the street, and he was crying bitterly because his mother was dead, and he had no home, and he brought him in and said, 'O mother, let him sleep with us; he will be good and help us pick up sticks, will you, mother?"" So she said, "I could not refuse him-and he is a good boy, and does all he can to help us along.' ." I then drew from him a little of his story, and found his birth-place was a western city; and when his parents died, knowing that he had a brother here, he came, without a doubt that he should be kindly received, and found his brother worse than a stranger. He would not permit him to share his home, nor do aught towards providing him with one elsewhere. So he went forth to beg, and strange it was that he did not learn to steal. Many a night he slept in the street, in open carts, or wherever he could hide away; and many days and nights he had not so much as a potato or a bit of bread to appease his hunger. He asked for work, but no one wished for the services of so small a boy, one whom they did not know, and therefore could not trust. When weary with wandering, he would lie down in despair, bathing the cold stones with his tears, and fall asleep, wishing he might never awake; and in the morning, cold and damp, and scarcely at all rested by his slumber, would arise to drag his aching limbs through another day, and sleep another night on the same cold, lonely pillow, beneath the same blue canopy. At length, among his street-acquaintances was a little boy who learned to love and pity him, and offered to share with him his little corner, the portion of coarse food they could obtain, and a mother's care. It was a rude, unseemly place, but perhaps as clean and comfortable as the mother of seven children could make it by nine o'clock in the morning; and one very pretty sight met my eye on opening the door-a baby in a tub of water, splashing, and spattering, and crowing, as happy as the baby of any lady in the land. And when it was taken out, it was dressed as clean as baby need be, and what mother was ever so poor that she could not in some way obtain a ruffle for the baby's frock! Oh yes, and it had a yellow frock too, and, with little white ruffles in the sleeve, and the dimpled shoulder peeping out above it, was a baby to be kissed, and seemed fully to understand its importance as it was handed from mamma to papa, and then to the "ladies" for this purpose. I offered the mother a book, and what was my surprise to learn that she could not read; but she said her husband could, and the little boys-and one ran quickly and brought a Bible which had been given him at the Sunday school. This was the second instance I had found that morning where the mother could not read, though the father could. So she did not learn self-denial and disinterested benevolence from the word of God, but her countenance and conversation indicated a heart in which the Spirit of truth and love had taken up its abode; and I could but hope that He who had begun the good work would perfect it, and that she was laying up her treasure in heaven. There was a little girl of eight or nine years, "And what does she do," I asked, to add her mite to the common treasury?" "Oh, I do not send her out," spoke the mother, very sorrowfully, "I do not send her into the street; I must work very hard and suffer very long before I send my little girl into the street; she might be taken up, and I never know what became of her." The child was bright and pretty, and I understood the terrible fear of a mother's heart. They all seemed to love one another, but the most beautiful sight of all was the orphan boy, standing in their midst, his bosom swelling with the gratitude his lips could not speak, whilst each one said some kind word for him, and with a delicacy which the most cultivated could not more than equal, tried to make him feel that be was a blessing and not a burden in their little household. "Of those to whom much is given, much will be required." If the rich and prosperous are to be judged by this law, how will they answer in the great day for the treasures which God has enabled them to accumulate? How will they look upon the thousands of orphan children, whom they might have rescued from poverty, degradation and crime, and saved their souls from the penalty of guilt? Here is a family, whose toil is the most menial drudgery, without education, refinement, or intelligence, whose substantial meals are not so much as the crumbs which fall from your table, and yet they divided with him who had none-they have done what they could ;" and who is not ready to blush with shame, when he remembers his blessings and privileges, and his abundant means, and thinks of what he has "left undone," in this great work! How much need have we to pray that God will not reward us according to our deeds! May some heart be moved by this simple story in the annals of the poor, to feel for the orphan's woes, and listen to the orphan's cries-and wipe away, at least, one poor orphan's tears, M. M. |