From the Port Folio. HORACE. THERE is hardly an author of Greece or Rome, whose opinions are more generally correct, than those of Horace-none, of the poets at least, who furnishes more sound and just maxims for the regulation of human life. But notwithstanding this. general soundness of opinion, there are errors, and some of them of considerable magnitude, to be found in his writings. Among those errors, I have always regarded the opinion intended to be conveyed in the following lines: Fortes creantur fortibus. Et bonis Which Francis renders thus: “The brave and good are copies of their kind. In steers laborious, and in generous steeds We trace their sires. Nor can the bird of Jove, Horace here intimates that illustrious sons may as surely be expected from illustrious sires, as that the "fierce, intrepid" eagle shall not produce the "unwarlike dove," or that the “generous steed" shall perpetuate an equally "generous race." At the first glance the philosophy of this appears somewhat plausible. But it will not stand the test of even a moderate degree of examination. To its unsoundness the aching hearts of many parents, who contemplate the degeneracy of their children, bear ample testimony. Let us look through the world, and we shall immediately see numberless instances, in full proof, that neither the virtues of the parental head or heart are entailed upon the children. There is hardly a street in our cities that does not evince this truth, and furnish instances which the reader will recollect, and which it would be invidious to enumerate. History is full of similar cases. The cruel, the dastardly, the narrow-minded Philip II., was son of the daring, the courageous, the aspiring Charles V., the arbiter of the fate of Europe. The mild, the unaspiring, the estimable Richard Cromwell had not a single trait of the character of his hypocritical, enthusiastic, and ambitious father, Oliver. And not to swell the subject too far, who would ever recognise any affinity between the awkward, the unpolished, the mediocre Stanhope, and the dissembling, refined, and enlightened Chesterfield? Philadelphia, January, 1810. Essays on the Public Charities of Philadelphia, intended to vindicate the Benevolent Societies of this City from the Charge of encouraging Idleness, and to place in strong Relief, before an enlightened Public, the Sufferings and Oppression under which the greater part of the Females labour, who depend on their industry for a support for themselves and Children. "Street beggars are not proper objects of your bounty. Garrets, cellars, and such like places, exhibit spectacles far more affecting: there the wretched inhabitants are found, either exerting the last efforts of nature to support themselves amidst the frowns of adversity, or languishing under the painful influence of some disease-and destitute of every means; and, to complete their distress, often strangers in the place, and on that account cut off from the last refuge of the afflicted-the hope of being relieved; and unhappily many of them without the comforts of that religion, which, penetrating the gloom of human wretchedness, opens a bright prospect into another and a better world!"-Feltus. "Among the chief objects of the benevolent, is the relief of the fatherless and the widow-of her who has lost her dearest friend, and of those who are deprived of their best earthly guardian. If suffering ever has claims on our sympathy, it is when presented under such circumstances. There are those who, from principle, as they say, refuse assistance to the man who can obtain the means of supplying all his wants by his daily labour. But can they withhold relief from her who comes in her desolation and weakness-woman, who, by the law of her being, is excluded from paths in which coarser man may make a livelihood; and, by the custom of society, is OBLIGED TO ACCEPT LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT THE MOST STUPID OF THE OTHER SEX CAN EARN, as a compensation for her unremitted toil? The widow! Shall I attempt to depict her grief? He who was her friend, her adviser, her solace, her reliance, is taken from her; he with whom she shared her hopes and fears, her anxieties and joys, the intimate and inmate of her bosom, in whose life her own seemed to be involved, has been removed; his body is in the dark grave; his soul in the unseen, unknown world. FATHERLESS, HELPLESS CHildren are dEPENDENT ON HER. They must be fed, and she has not a morsel to put in their hungry mouths, nor a garment in which to wrap their shivering limbs. * * * "I mock you not with a tale of imaginary distress. I tell you of suffering which I have known to exist in this city. It is not fiction which describes a mother wasted to the bone by watching and fatigue, over the sick bed of her husband; and left, after his death, heart-broken and penny less, with little children crying to her for bread, she knows not how to get, but from charity or by theft."-GANNET. U PREFACE. This pamphlet is now presented to the public for a fifth time, and in an improved state.* The opinions of some of the most estimable members of society, of the highest order of intellect, and of the purest hearts, induce me to believe, that in pleading the cause of a valuable and industrious class of females-in placing their wrongs and sufferings before a humane and enlightened community, if I have not succeeded to the extent of my wishes, I have not been wholly unsuccessful; that I have fully satisfied those who have hearts to feel for human misery, and who have duly weighed the subject, of the utter fallacy of the heartless, withering slang, which charges the wretchedness and sufferings of the poor to their improvidence, worthlessness, and dissipation; that the shamefully reduced rate of female wages in general, is the parent of a large portion of that wretchedness and those sufferings; and that it places those females who depend on their needles, and live in their own apartments, in a situation almost too trying for human nature, with five choices-to beg-to depend on the overseers of the poor, a species of begging-to steal-to starve-or to sell themselves to pollution —to misery and disease here, and perhaps to misery hereafter. Scepticism itself can scarcely entertain a shadow of doubt on the subject, when it is considered that neither skill, talent, nor industry, can enable those poor creatures to earn more than a dollar, a dollar and a quarter, or perhaps one out of ten or twenty, a dollar and a half per week, even if fully employed; that a considerable portion of their time they are unemployed; that they generally pay half a dollar per week for their lodgings; that they purchase wood by the small bundle, at the rate, probably, of twelve or fifteen dollars a cord, and all other articles they consume at most exorbitant prices. These are harrowing truths, which cannot be too often repeated, until a remedy, or at least some palliation, is applied. I have, moreover, I hope, established the fallacy of the idea, * The three first editions of this pamphlet were printed and distributed gratuitously by the author. The fourth edition of 1000 copies, was published partly at his expense, but chiefly at that of some ladies and gentlemen, who have honoured the little work with their approbation, and are desirous of promoting the objects to which it is devoted. that benevolent and assistance societies foster idleness and improvidence, by inducing a reliance on their aid, instead of industry and application. This is, I repeat, in the most earnest manner, a pernicious error, and productive of masses of misery to the poor, by searing the hearts of the opulent, of whom many do not require any such plea to induce them to withhold from the poor that degree of aid and comfort which their boundless means would enable them to afford, and to which humanity may fairly lay claim. From the view I have given of the wages of various kinds of female labour, it is obvious that the aid of those societies, judiciously extended, cannot fail to be frequently imperiously necessary, and eminently beneficial, and in numerous instances to rescue individuals of delicate and praiseworthy feelings, from becoming dependent on the overseers of the poor, and thus a public burden. It has been confidently, but most erroneously asserted, that the expenditure, in this city, for the support of the poor, as well by individuals and charitable societies, as by the guardians, is $600,000 a year. This has excited a spirit of hostility against those societies, among many of our citizens, and a murmuring at what they regard as an enormous abuse. Few greater errors have ever had currency. The poor tax, under its worst management, and nothing could well be worse than it has been prior to the new arrangement, has generally averaged about $125,000 per annum, no small portion of which arose from the wretchedness created by the miserable wages paid for female labour. The total receipts of the thirty-three societies, enumerated in a subsequent page, were, in the year 1828, only $59,000, of which at least $20,000 consisted of large bequests and donations, which were invested as capital stock, and of course were unexpended. Thus the actual expenditure was reduced to less than 40,000 dollars, for all those societies; for the support of infant schools, and education generally; for the support of orphan houses; for the widows' asylum, the asylum for the deaf and dumb, and for the Magdalens; for the house of refuge; for the abolition of slavery; for colonization; and for purchasing food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, and clothes for the naked, exclusive of the government and county contributions to the house of refuge, and the institution for the deaf and dumb. I am persuaded that the disbursements of all the other societies, of every description, benevolent, moral, and religious, would not amount to half as much more. To prove the advantages resulting from benevolent societies, and thus to induce the wealthy, who have hearts to feel for human misery, to afford them liberal aid, and enable them to widely extend the sphere of their humane operations, I will state the effects of the benignant interference of some of the ladies of one of those societies. The family of M'Giffie, whose case is subsequently stated, were actually suffering for want of the common necessaries of life, when their case became known to those excellent women. The father was emaciated—the mother lying in a state of insensibility-one child was dead-and the other dying! At this crisis, the humane interference took place of the ladies in question, by. whom necessaries were supplied in abundance-a bed was given to replace the straw, on which the woman lay-a stove was hired for the use of the family, fuel provided, &c. In consequence of the administration of proper nutriment, the physical powers of the parents were renovated; and the sympathy and compassion expressed for their sufferings, raised their spirits, and enabled them to look forward to the future with hope and confidence. When the man recovered, money was raised to pay for a loom. He diligently sought for, and fortunately found employment. I visited their room lately, and found them cheerful, happy, industrious, and likely to continue useful members of society. But for the succour so opportunely afforded, they would have languished-perhaps died. What balm and consolation must their god-like interference, and its delightful result afford to those ladies! Whenever it recurs to recollection, but more particularly at the hour of death, when this world with all its fugitive enjoyments will fade from before their eyes, what a contrast to the dying reflections of the victim of sordid avarice, who hoards up his treasures to the last hour of his existence; or to those of the voluptuary, who spends his fortune in sensual gratifications! How freely would these persons then part with boundless wealth to purchase such delightful reminiscences! It may be said-it is frequently said-that among the poor there are depraved and worthless characters, whose intemperance and vices have been the causes of their sufferings, and who therefore are unworthy of sympathy or relief. The first part of the position is true, but the inference is unwarranted, and unworthy of human nature. At all events, the accusation is unjust, as regards the mass of the poor; but suppose it were |