A TALE FOR MOTHERS.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 435, 15 June 1850, Page 3

A TALE FOR MOTHERS.

la a letter addiessed by Mr-. Chisholm to the eili or of the Morning Ckronich, on the subject of female euai'j;ratioti, we find the following hin^ular narrative:— Hardly too many hr-ta ices, Mr. Editor, can be given of whut I may call comfort for mothers, as to the stlutary and Loly influence which the example of re* memberan.ee of a good mo her has oven upon the bad

how the recollection of one who nursud them in infancy, and instructed them in yiulh, touches upon coida which I believe, are never totally eradicated in the human heart. Time, distance, or ciime. may deaden the beat feelings of one's nature ; but let sonig unexpected occasion recal vivid y to mind the acfS of a good mother, and those feelings which were thus supp >sed to be extinct will be powerfully and often salutarily awakened. A btriking instance of this uutute was re» luted to me in the busti by a woman who had been confined, with icverul hundred others, in the Female Frtctory, near Sydney. This woman was a Roman Ca'holic, and was, when in Engl m:l, under (he caie or Mrs. Fiy — a woman whose name is endeaied to every benevolent mind. In speaking of that lady she said : "We (the Roman Catholics) looked upon her wilh doubt, and this fear on our part made her do less jrood amongst us than she otherwise would .- for , bad as we were, we looked upon it as the last fall to give up our faith. Now, she had a ramaikable way with her — a sort of speaking that you cou d hardly help listening to, whether you would or no ; for sho was not only good, but downright clever. Well, just to avoid listening when she was speaking or reading, I learnt to count twelve backwards and forwards, bo that my mind might be taken up, and 1 actually went on until 1 could thus count (>'oo with ease. It was a pily we Lad such a dread. Well, she had a way of speaking to one of us alone, and I was anxious to shuffle this lectuie ; the fact was, I expected she would put nnuy question*, and as I lesp^cted her character too much altogether to tell he 1 a lie, 1 kept from the sermon, as we in de. rision used to call it. But when she was taking laave of us, ihe just cal ed me on one side, saying she would like to speak a few words to me ; bo, says I to myself, says, I, 'caught at last.' Well, she comes to close tome and looking at me in a very solemn soitofway, she laid her hand upon my shoulders, and she gave" me a pressuie that told that she felt for me, and her thumbs, were set fii m nnd hard on my t-houUeis, and yet her fingers seemed to have a kindness for me. But it was no lecture she gave me : all she said was ' Let not your eyes covet.' No oiher words passed her lips, bin than her voice was slow and awful ; kind as a mother*,, yet just like a judge. Well, when I got to the colony, I went on right enrujh for a time, and one d,iy I was looking into a work-box belonging to my mKtiess, and the gold thimble tempted me. It was on my finger and in my pocket in an instant ; aud just as I was going to shul down the box- lid, as sure as lam telling you, I felt Mrs. Fry's thumbs on my shoulder I)—the1 )— the gentle pleading touch of her fiogera ; I looked about me — threw down the thimbled-— aud trembled with teiror to find I was alone in the room. Careles-, insolent-, and bad enough 1 became often in the Factory. Well do you see, at night we used to amuse each oilier by telling our tnckh~egging one and another on in daring vice aud wickedness- Well, amongst us we hid one ua. common clever girl — a first-rate mimi.-, and she used to causa us grand sport, and was a vast lavourite ; she used to make us roar with laughter. Well, this fun had been going on for weeks ; she liad gone through most of her characters, from the governon to the turnkey, when she starts on a new tack, and commenced taking 1 oft Parson Cowpur and Father Therry. Someway it did not take, so she went back to Newgate, and came Mrs. Fry to the verylife; but it would net do ; we did not seem to enjoy it — there was no fun in it_ for us. So then she began about the ship's leaving, and our mothses crying aud begging of u» to turn over a new leaf, and then, in a mimiciing justmjc spott, she sobbed and bade us good bye. Well, how it happened I know not, but one alter another we began to cry, and " Stay stay, not my mother," said one. '♦ Let Mrs. Fry alone. Father Therry must not be brought here, nor Parson Cowper — stay, Btay." Well, she did btop, and tears was shed the whole of that night. Everything had been tried with me. Good people had sought in vain to convince me of my evil ways ; but that girl's rM/cu'e of my mother I could not stand. Her grief was brought home to me, and not to me alone, but to many. Ido believe that ni<>lu was a great bles3iiu to many. I was so unhappy, that the next day I tried to get out of sight to pray, and when I got to a hiding place I found three girls on their knees ; we com. lotted each other, and then how we spoke of our mothers! Mine was dead— »he left this world believing me past nope, but the picture of her grief m&de me earnest in fcearch of that peace which endurelh foi ever."

Breach or Pkomisb.—Tlie following is the opinion ot Judge Black, recently nffirmed by the Supreme Court of Wcntibylvauiti, per Coulter, Jus'ic>, Dowsy v. M'Mlllan,B. Bnrr, 160. "It a man oflers to marry a woman, or protnisi'i to do it, be is not bound to comply with it, unless she agree to accept him. It takes two to make a marriage contract, as well as any oilier bargain. Where a man has a contract of marriage \vi h a woman, and merely pirs it off, ami s.he becomes impntient, she cannot drag him into court and demand damages, unless she had fomi.illy offered <o p r/orm the contract on her pint, and he dwhoneslly leius-b, and so puts an end to the contract; b.e.mse, pcrchunce, he piefer the muriiige to the suit, and he ou^jht to have the chance of making a choice." i

PftOFitssioNAL Acumen.—Dr. F., on retum'n* home highly primed from a dinner ;>arty r was called out to see a lady said to be dant^eiously ill. "Sol" said the Doctor to his man, "by Jove, I can't go at alt ;ifl do you must lead me." He was taken to a room where the patient lay stretched upon her leJ. The Doctor got fast hold of a bed-post with one hand, and with the other Beized the lady's wrist; but, al,is! all attempts to note the pulsation were vain, and he CiHildonly ntnmble out, •• Dnink by Jove, drunk!" "Ah madam," cried the Abigail us soon ps the physician had staggered out, "what a wond rful tuun! how soon, he discovered what was the matter with you !'"

Mortaiity op England.—The Medical Time? states Unit the annual mortality of England in 1700 was about 1 in 25. About the middle of the last century it increased to lin 20 In 1801 it was 1m35 ; in 1811, 1 id 38; and is now 1 in 45; so that in about 80 yeais, the chances of existence are double in London. In Rome, the annual deaths are now as lin2s ; at Vienna, as lin 22. The inhabitants of London, therefore, has twice as good a chance of living as the burpher of Vienna.

Hungarian Women.—And here I must pay a just tribute to the personal churms of those women who devote their lives and fortunes to the moral and intellectual elevation of their country. When be.mly fires patiiotism we may irjdeed be prepared to witness deeds of heioic valour. And what beauty is that which acts as a talisman on a brave people in arms for their dearest rights ! No fading momlight countenances, bluuihed by privution and sorrow —no waning checks lit up with the paioiysm ot despair—no poll hed marble, with us cold rtpuloive inditFeicnce— no figure ot the drawing-room, tortured into shipe by some heathen milliner —no wi hered ldics of conventional endurance. There is a wild, daring,piercing beauty about tbei>e women, sprung diicctly trom the Caucasian aiouuta;ns, by the side or winch youf soft, blue-eyed, flaxen haired Saxon maid looks like a faint Jithograjm by the side ot Corregio's iticarnatiuiis,—E. J. Grund,