OR, PROVERBS ABOUT WORK.

It must be a miserable thought this, that the opportunity is gone by, and that, as the Chinese say, The gods themselves cannot help the man who loses opportunities. No; as you make your bed, so you must lie;' we might have made it soft, and snug, and warm; we know we might, and we might have been very comfortable in this cold room. If we have not bought blankets, but gin, if we have made our bed bare and hard, we must shiver and starve, I suppose. In the majority of instances this terrible pressure of extreme poverty is the result of our own idleness, improvidence, extravagance, and folly. Last year, and for several years past, every bird had the chance of feathering its own nest,' and feathering it well. I say every bird, or, at all events, every bird except a goose. All metaphor apart, there are thousands of men who might easily have prepared themselves for bad times, and who, baving seen bad times before, ought to have known and remembered that good times are not to be trusted-that the longest and the brightest day comes to an end, and is followed by the darkness and inactivity of night. I say it deliberately, that multitudes of those poor fellows who are half-starved and who hang about the town with their hands in their pockets, not knowing where to get a hand's turn of work to do-many of them might this day have had a right good dinner, warm clothing, a cheerful fire, a comfortable home, and a contented, buoyant, and hopeful mind. This might have been their portion now if they had used those good times well. But if we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to have done, what wonder that there is no health, no happiness, no power, no comfort in us or around ́us? It is a miserable thing to reflect upon. There is a strong and striking proof now-perhaps, rather, I should say, many ragged, shivering, starving proof-of the truth of that proverb, 'The devil's meal is all bran.' Men thought that last year when they went to the public house to read Bell's Life, when they went on pleasure excursions, and left their work to go to Chester or Aintree races, or to have a quiet game of bowls at some village tavern, or when they met at the singing saloon and smoked their pipes and drank their beer at the counter they thought, as they took their money from their pocket and threw it down to the waiter, they thought that then they had paid for their enjoyments. A great mistake, my friend. You are paying for those enjoyments now.

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To say

GOOD TIMES AND BAD TIMES;

that they cost you 2s. 6d. here and 5s. there; that in one place you lost 10s. at cards, and in another won a wager upon the anticipated winner of the Derby, but spent it as soon as won, adding something to it; to say that one week your amusements cost you a sovereign, and that in another you paid 25s. for them-this is not the true way of reckoning at all. You poor, half-starved man, who might have been so much better off, I tell you your amusements and your follies are being paid for now. You are paying for them with the hunger that makes you faint, with the wretched apparel which gives the north wind a chance of perishing you to the bone, with emptiness of your fire grate, with bareness of your table-with these you are now paying for those transitory and not elevating pleasures. Perhaps, further, you have been to the pawnshop with your watch, with your Sunday coat; perhaps your wife has been there with a gown, and a shawl, and a bed. Perhaps the 'hunger which breaks through stone walls' has compelled you to open your chest of tools, and one by one you have pledged them. I see no foot rule by your side! No, that's gone. I look in at the pawnbrokers, and I see compasses, callipers, dividers, straight edges, smoothing planes, jack planes, and moulding planes, gimblets, augers, and bracebits, saws and chisels, tops and dies. There also are the shoemaker's last in one corner, and the tailor's goose in the other. Whence all

these? Some working men have been here, and these, the contents of the pawnshop, which very generally comprise the implements used by almost all sorts of handicraftsmen, these are what you have paid for the pleasures of good times.

Now, surely experiences such as these should teach a man to be provident and thrifty; yet I am very much afraid they do not; for the men who are now suffering to so great an extent in consequence of their own folly are not suffering for the first time--not they, indeed. They have seen hard times before now, and if experience have any power to teach them, they ought to have learned many a valuable lesson. But in the case of many we find that it won't do to trust to the proverb, 'experience makes fools wise.'. This is not the first time of suffering with many, and I fear it will not be the last. This time of depression will pass away. There will be good times again, and with good times will come extravagance, recklessness, and folly as before, to be followed by another period of poverty and misery like the present. I speak not thus in a spirit of harsh

OR, PROVERBS ABOUT WORK.

ness or severity; my desire is to make such a use of facts as to convert them into a source of instruction, and by the wretchedness of bad times to lead men to a proper and rational use of good times. And I would fain indulge the hope that you have prepared for this storm, for, as Solomon saith, the prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.' He that is forewarned is forearmed,' or if he is not, he ought to be. I will hope that the lessons which many are now reading, to their sorrow, may have good practical results, so that in the next reverse of prosperity all working men may turn to with a right good will, and do their best to prepare themselves against future reverses-reverses which are as certain as the ebbing of the tide, as the waning of the moon, as the departure of the summer glory, followed by the sterility of winter.

But you will say, perhaps, You make no allowance for a poor man; what you say is true enough of mechanics and skilled labourers who happen to belong to trades that can command good wages; but there are many of us who, even in the best of times, have little or nothing to spare. Suppose we got a guinea a week last summer-why, what is that to keep a wife and family with ? It is only just enough; we could not lay by a sixpence. All very well to say we ought to have made hay while the sun shone,' but then our lot was cast in such a barren spot that there was no hay to make; it was very scant herbage at the best. Have you no compassion for us? You perhaps get more in a day than we do in a week, and you can afford, perhaps, to talk in this manner; but if you had to job at the docks and the warehouses you would not be one bit better off to-day than we are. Well, I dare say that is true enough; 1 know we do not make such allowances as we ought, and that some gentlemen are mighty wise in determining how far 3s. a day ought to be made to go, and how far they would make it go. No, I dont want to be harsh; I desire to speak, as I certainly feel, in a spirit of kindness; and I believe that, while many of those now in poverty are just exemplifications of the proverb, 'wilful waste makes woful want,' there are many others struggling hard who have struggled nobly all along, that are not to be accused of wastefulness and extravagance, who are poor but cannot help being poor, and I earnestly hope that ere long they may find things better.

Have I a word of encouragement for poor fellows out of em

GOOD TIMES AND BAD TIMES;

ployment, out of pocket, out of bread, and in deep distress? I do think that trouble, even of this sort, is not without its advantages. Bad as adversity may be, uninterrupted prosperity perhaps is worse, making a man proud, hard hearted, forgetful of God, and miserable. There is in trouble that which, with God's blessing, may make a man in all respects more manly; which will practise him in the exercise and discipline of fortitude, patience, submission, faith, and hope. A seaman must encounter many a storm before he becomes an able navigator. A soldier must fight in many a battle and endure many hardships before he is a veteran in the service. And if we are to be men worth calling men, we must be made perfect through suffering of some sort. This life is a warfare—not a parade, not a review, not a sham fight, but a real earnest battle against want, against temptation, against sin, against misery; and it is this fighting against the troubles of bad times and the temptations of good times that makes us men worthy of the name. Sufferings of this nature bring out a man's energy; for, as the proverb says, 'a man in distress or despair will do as much as ten.' The blacksmith's arm is strong because it's always hammering, and the frequent effort to subdue and conquer difficulties, to bear calamity, to rise superior to trouble-this is what gives a strong will, a strong heart, a strong good sense, and fits us for all the stern realities of life. Now, do not say that this is a mere vapid sentimentalism and an illustration of the sarcastic proverb, 'it is good going on foot while you hold a horse by the bridle, — that is to say, you who are not in extreme want can very easily praise the virtues of poverty and the excellence of trouble. No, to some extent I speak my own experience. To have been most in want has been a blessing to me, and thousands more who have raised themselves above want will make the same confession. It is true that 'sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.'

There is a well known proverb which has often cheered me when things were dull and louring. I remember well, on one occasion, a friend said to me in my despondency, 'It's a long lane that has no turning.' Simple as the saying is, it was like cold water to a thirsty soul. Yes, it is a long lane that has no turning,' and the turning may be nearer than you think. Bear up a little longer, and march bravely along this narrow and rugged and miry lane of trouble, bating no jot of heart or hope;

OR, PROVERBS ABOUT WORK.

you will come to the turning, you will yet come out upon the great wide thoroughfare of prosperity. But dont stay there in the lane; for, as another proverb says, 'he that remains in the valley, will never get over the hill; or as another teaches us, 'we must not lie down and cry God help us.' No, for again a proverb say, 'God helps them that help themselves.' Stand and cry, God help me! Go forward and cry, God help me! and then you may expect God's help! Be hopeful and cheerful, and though no sign of improvement yet appear, still remember, it's a long, long lane that has no turning.

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The Jews had once, and I suppose have still, a very beautiful proverb on this subject, and none have needed encouraging proverbs more than the Jews, who, for many centuries, were hunted and persecuted by all the world, and especially by those who called themselves Christians. You know that when their fathers were in Egypt, some thousands of years ago, they were very harshly and unjustly treated by the Pharaohs, and made to work very hard in the brickfields. But just when their strength was taxed to the very uttermost, God sent that great and glorious man Moses to deliver them! So afterwards there arose this proverb, The task of bricks is doubled, and then comes Moses.' This proverb, indeed, reminds us of another and a better-Man's extremity is God's opportunity.' To convince us of our dependence upon Him-a fact which in prosperity we are so prone to forget-God may permit us to suffer until every ordinary source of relief has been exhausted; then is His opportunity, and in His own way, and often a very marvellous way, He opens a door of escape. Finally, let me quote one proverb more, Cheer up, God is where he was!' Among all the political and commercial changes which so embarrass and perplex us, it is a strong consolation to know that the Father of Light, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning, rules over all supreme. If, indeed, we were dependent upon human statemanship for our prosperity, I should be ready to despair; for I see neither the ability nor the honesty which profound and successful statesmanship demands; I see intrigues, ambitions, party spirit, selfishness, contests for power, scrambles for office, on all sides; but a trustworthy, able, farseeing, and unselfish patriotism nowhere. I am happy to be able to confide in quite another Power from those which are wrangling and disputing within four walls at Westminster. Certainly, if there were no God, mere human management, ór