SONNETS.

NINEVEH.

Assyria's strong hold, Nineveh,—now laid

Beneath the dust whereon thou once didst stand

The greatest city of the greatest land

That ever won the homage nations paid,—
Where are the regal glories once display'd

In thy gigantic halls? Whose mighty hand
Hath swept them all away-like clouds wind-fann'd
And made thy name the shadow of a shade?
The relics of thy grandeur disentomb'd,
Astonish, and instruct the present age,

That all the sacred prophecies we read
Recorded as the word of Him that doom'd
Thy fall, and spake it by the Seer and Sage,
Are traced, and were fulfilled as He decreed.

BABYLON.

"Is not this great Babylon that I have built ?"
Exclaimed the haughty monarch, who, elated,
Gazed on the "glory of kingdoms" God had fated
To fall, self-ruined by her deeds of guilt.

In sacrifice to idols she had spilt

Blood-human blood,-with gore her dust was sated:

For unrepented crimes her end was dated.
War plunged his fatal weapon to the hilt
Deep in the bosoms of her sons and daughters:
Devouring flames her palaces consumed:

Her streams were turned to pools of stagnant waters,
And desolation clung where verdure bloomed.

The Lord of Hosts declared all this should be.
Now what is Babylon? and where stood she?

VOL. IV.

S

SIRIUS.

THE HELPING HAND.

THE question as to the best means of helping the poor is a problem which those who have given it the most careful and practical attention still find of difficult solution. It is not easy to give help, and not induce a dependent, pauperized spirit; to offer support to the sinking heart, and yet teach it to struggle resolutely against difficulty.

It is well known that much of the misery which the poor suffer arises from their ignorance, their bad habits, their wastefulness and improvidence; from causes, in fact, which are independent of their earning resources, and which are clearly capable of removal.

The inability or the idleness which produces the bad work produces also the bad pay; for good work and steady conduct are sure of good remuneration, and of constant employment. Yet, however necessary it is not to overlook these facts, the cry of suffering will and should still be heard. Care only must be given to temper mercy with discretion, and to hold out no encouragement to idleness.

The following facts, which have come under the writer's personal observation, may be valuable in pointing out what can be done in really assisting the poor; and also what good materials often exist among them, upon which to work for their benefit; and may serve to encourage, and perhaps, in some measure, guide those who have become disheartened and discouraged in their efforts to help and relieve the poor around them :

A lady, having a school in the suburbs of London, required the help of a charwoman to assist in some extra cleaning of her house at the end of each week. An Irishwoman was highly recommended to her by one of her tradesmen, and she was engaged, although with some reluctance on the lady's part, arising from her having resided in Ireland, and from her having been disgusted by the dirt and disorder so universal in all classes of dwellings there. The poor woman, however, worked well-industriously, steadily, and most willingly. Her countenance, quiet, serious, and intelligent, interested the lady, and, after the lapse of some weeks, she learned that she had two children, a boy of about nine years old, and a girl of about seven ; -that she was very poor, and that her husband scarcely earned anything. Her poverty was evident in her clothes, which were of the lowest description, but still they were clean and mended. Time went on; she had begun to work for Mrs. S in the

spring;-as summer and autumn came and went, it became evident that another babe would soon look up to her for support. Mrs. S spoke to her about it; and-we would use her own words-"the woman's heart responded to woman's sympathy; she had never before hinted at her husband's ill conduct; she had merely said he did not earn anything;-but the prospect of her own lessening capabilities for hard work ;the fresh demand upon means which, with all her labour, scarcely rose above the starving point, opened the fountain of her sorrows, and she told me her tale in words so simple, so evidently true, so devoid of the national verbal exaggeration, which had hitherto been always more or less apparent, that my heart was touched most deeply and most painfully. They had known better days; her husband had held some post about the Custom-house, obtained for him by Mr. Smith O'Brien, and had lost it through drunkenness: he had dropped from one stage to another, till at that moment, he was employed by Moses and Co. to stand at the gate of the Euston-square Railway Station, and throw their books into every passing cab. The employment, in itself, was idleness, and the fruits were of the same nature as the seed. His wages were 15s. a-week, and of this sum she never saw a penny. Frequently had she walked from near Maidai Hill, where they lived, to the Minories, that she might persuade him, at the moment of being paid on Friday night, not to waste his wages in drunkenness and profligacy, but to give her a portion of them for her starving children; but in vain. She told me that once she had followed him from the Minories, running at intervals at full speed, for he tried to elude her, until, in a quiet street near Oxford-street, he had turned upon her and given her so violent a blow that, involuntarily, she screamed for help; upon which he had made off';that, what with the blow, and the distance she had run after him, she for some time feared she had injured herself;-but God helps me, ma'am,' she said; what would kill another doesn't seem to hurt me.' During the Christmas holidays I was absent from home; upon my return I went to see her. She was still about, but expecting her confinement daily. I asked her how she had lived while I was away, and she shewed me a packet of pawn tickets, telling me that almost everything was gone. She was at the moment getting up some shirts neatly and well, and yet her room was not larger than 10 feet by 6, and in this stood two turp-up bedsteads, and all her little household arrangements; her little parcel of coals in a tiny closet by the side of the fire-place, her wash-tub, ironing things, &c., &c. The rent of this room was half-a-crown a-week. I gave her a little present help, and talked to her of the future. She said she could wash and iron well, and that she would take

a better lodging if she could be sure of some work; but that a lodging of two rooms, with the use of a yard for drying the linen, would cost her seven or eight shillings a week. I considered what I could do, and told her that I would give her a portion of the weekly washing of my house, if she would make her plans, and shew me how she could arrange them. Still the immediate difficulty was great, for some time must necessarily elapse before she could get to work. After a week of lingering suffering, she was greeted, not by one little claimant upon her daily struggle for bread, but by two. Twin girls were born to her, and I shall never forget her look of anguish at the feeble cries of the poor weeny little things, nor her exclamations of 'What shall I do?' How are they to live?' One of the babies was very small and weakly, and I thought could not have struggled through many hours, for she had no nurse; and though a neighbour occasionally came in, and her little boy and girl by turns held the little sisters and fed them with gruel, and tried to help their mother to the full extent of their power, yet it was such utter destitution that it seemed as if life must sink under it. But it was otherwise ordained. Both the mother and babies held their ground, and, in a comparatively short time, she was able to resume her work, and to battle vigorously with the difficulties by which she was surrounded. Being myself dependent on my own exertions, the results of which were precarious, I had to exercise much caution in giving her the help she needed. But I found that my poor friend was both clear-sighted and just. She placed before me sensible and accurate calculations as to the plans she suggested; there were no exaggerations, no over-ready promises; I saw that she had thoroughly considered my risk as well as her own, and I therefore ventured to make a beginning by advancing her £2 or £3 to buy the tubs and irons and baskets, indispensable for a laundress, even on a small scale. A better lodging was taken. I wrote her cards, and hunted up employment for her she did the same and with some success. After going on steadily and well for sometime her work was increased by her obtaining the washing of a French hotel in Leicestersquare-the payment was very poor-but she held to it, for, as she said, 'It was a good lot of things,' and, by working hard, she could earn something out of the quantity. She then explained to me that she had to pay so much a dozen for having the linen mangled; that it amounted to seven or eight shillings a-week; that if she could buy a mangle, she should save this money, and could consequently pay for it by weekly instalments of at least that sum; but that no tradesman would let her have one upon such conditions. I felt that she looked to me as her friend-but I began to fear that the risk was too

great. The mangle would cost six guineas, and this was a large sum to be refunded by a few shillings weekly; but I reflected that the step to her was most important; that she had always shewn herself honest and accurate; that I had already been led to give her the whole washing of my household, because the other laundress whom I had employed constantly failed in bringing home everything accurately; and that with my poor Irishwoman I had never missed the slightest article, however old or insignificant. As I gathered courage, I lent her the six guineas; and not only did she work to pay me regularly, always accounting for any slight diminution of the sum she weekly gave me back, but the acquirement of this piece of property-for such it was to her-led to still more important results. She found that with the mangle she had work which her husband could do; and she therefore induced him to give up his idle loitering task of distributing Messrs. Moses' puffs and advertisements, and employ himself for her at home. Removed from temptation-his daily life made more comfortable, and his children round him to interest him and awaken those affections which are some of the best safeguards against evil-the twins having become as pretty a little pair as any parent would wish to see-he did abide quietly at home, turning the mangle, fetching water, drawing the truck by which the linen baskets were conveyed backwards and forwards, and making himself useful in many ways. I had spoken seriously to him, and endeavoured to make him understand the importance of his setting a good example to his children, as also the happiness to himself of leading a better life. And improvement did come; a little outbreak occurred now and then-"a spree," as his wife called it; but looking upon their position, when compared to the state they were in when I first knew them, the progress in improvement was very great. I am now speaking of a period extending over full four years. For the last nine or ten months they have held a good sized cottage with a nice garden, on the road between Kilburn-gate and the Kensalgreen Cemetery. During last winter a pig was bought; two have since been added. She still works like a slave, making, as she calls it, nine days in the week by working single-handed through every alternate night of the week. And this she is doing to accomplish what she has calculated will be the crowning-stone to their struggle against poverty, viz., the purchase of a pony and cart. The hire of a truck costs them two shi!lings a week, and the labour of dragging a heavy load of household linen to the hotel in Leicester-square, and of bringing another back-nearly twelve miles to and fro-a task which they have had to perform twice in the day from the pressure of work consequent on the Great Exhibition-is so severe that she