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  THE
  RURAL MAGAZINE,
  AND
  LITERARY EVENING FIRE-SIDE.

  VOL. I. PHILADELPHIA, _Twelfth Month, 1820_. _No. 12._




FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

THE DESULTORY REMARKER.

No. XI.

    Man is a being, holding large discourse,
    Looking before and after.


In my last number I availed myself of the occasion, to dwell with
some emphasis, on the necessity and advantage of retrospection.
The past is rife with lessons of experience, fitted to serve as
waymarks and beacons, for the government of human conduct in the
subsequent course. Obvious as this may appear, it is nevertheless
lamentably true, as the venerable JOHN ADAMS has somewhere observed,
that our attention is too frequently monopolized in the pursuit
of present enjoyment, and that each succeeding generation is not
satisfied, until it "_has made experience for itself_." It is,
however, gratifying to believe, that many are not so unmindful of
their real interests, and so destitute of true wisdom; but are on
proper occasions employed, in "looking before and after." To these
no apology will be necessary, for recommending a preparation for
those duties, which appertain to the severe and dreary season, upon
which we are now entering. A season, above all others calculated,
to illustrate the generous and benevolent principles of our
nature; and which calls most loudly and authoritatively for their
exercise. When indigence is gifted with peculiar eloquence, which
the powers of a BURKE or an AMES, could scarcely _heighten_. We are
fortunately so constituted, that the sight of distress is amply
sufficient to awaken our sympathy, without requiring by a conclusive
moral deduction, the establishment of the fact, that it is our duty
to sympathize with the objects of it. Ere long a wide field will
present itself for mitigating the sufferings and relieving the wants
of

  THE POOR.

The most efficacious _preventive_, of the evils attendant on
poverty, is the general and extensive application of mental and
moral discipline to the rising generation. This is the only radical
remedy for the disease; a truth, which should never be lost sight
of, by forecasting statesmen and enlightened philanthropists. But
the urgency and immediate pressure of want, requires prompt relief,
not to be derived from this source. The array of indigence will
be unusually great during the approaching winter, for even honest
industry is frequently disappointed in its search after employment.
Among the objects of public beneficence there will generally be
found a considerable number of this description, whose condition is
the result of misfortune alone; while the calamities of others, are
the consequences of vice and improvidence. But it should always be
remembered, that wretchedness and misery from whatever cause they
may proceed, are entitled to commiseration; and that genuine charity
imitates though at infinite distance, the example of our beneficent
Creator, who "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

The most salutary mode of extending relief, is unquestionably
that of employment. Idleness is uniformly prejudicial to sound
morals, and intrinsically mischievous in its character. When
alms are distributed it is moreover, far preferable to furnish
the necessaries of life, rather than money, which is too often
misapplied. As this is to many, the season of plenty and good cheer,
particularly in the country, the situation of the necessitous is
from this circumstance, entitled to primary consideration. I well
remember, when a boy and residing in a neighbouring county, being
despatched to some of the poor in the vicinity, with a part of the
superabundance of the season; and their grateful and affectionate
benedictions on the head of their revered benefactor, will never be
forgotten. I may perhaps be indulged in adding, that I rejoice in
believing, that he is now in