WHATEVER may be said of the increasing luxury and dissipation of Englishmen, their hearts have not yet lost any part of their ancient reputation for the feelings of humanity, and they are still ever ready to provide clothing for the naked, medical assistance for the sick and , and education for the untaught children of the poor.
The great number of hospitals, infirmaries, free-schools, and other charitable establishments, with which almost every part of this country , afford an ample display of British . The institution of Sunday Schools owes its foundation to the humanity of the present times, and will be a credit to it in future ages. The following history of Dorcas and Amarillis may serve as one instance of the happy effects of Sunday Schools.
In a village, far remote from the , and not near to any capital city, lived the parents of Dorcas and Amarillis. The husband was a shepherd and his wife a shepherdess; but their were so little, that even with their labour they could hardly bread for themselves and their children, and a of meat once a week was the highest pitch of their luxury, though even that was of the very coarsest kind.
As soon as Dorcas and Amarillis grew up, the former was sent into the fields to frighten birds from the grain, and the latter was kept at home to knit coarse stockings for the use of the family.
Their whole library consisted only of a and a Prayer-book; but these were so injured by the of time, having passed from hand to hand for many years, that what was not torn away, was rendered nearly . However, that was of little consequence, since neither of them could read, and consequently could have no idea of writing. The church was at some distance from them, which served as an excuse to be absent from thence.
Dorcas had neither hat, shirt, shoes, nor stockings; and all the apparel of poor Amarillis was only a straw hat and a coarse gown and petticoat.—These considerations alone were sufficient to keep them from church, admitting they had any to go there. In course, as Sunday was the only day of rest they had from their labour, both boys and girls passed it in such tricks and as were most suitable to their age and taste.
Thus they lived almost in a state of nature, without knowing any thing of the Being, or of any of the duties we owe to him. They had no idea of prayer, further than, "I thank God we have had a fine season this year, &c." and herein consisted all their devotion. However, amidst all this ignorance and poverty, Dorcas, his sister, and family, were all honest, and never, like others in their village, employed their Sunday in stealing , and other things from their rich neighbours, which they thought it no crime to do: the only they had of the commission of these robberies, was the fear of being discovered, and the punishment that would follow it.
These two children, Dorcas and Amarillis, lived in this state of ignorance till they were ten or eleven years of age. It had been some time a custom with Dorcas and his sister, with a black-lead pencil they had found by chance, to imitate, on the back of a clean white trencher, all the letters they found in the of their Common Prayer-book, though they knew not the sound, nor combination of the different letters of the alphabet, in order to form and connect words.
As they were one winter's evening over the fire, Dorcas said to his sister, "How happy are those young people, who, having parents that can afford to pay for their education, are taught to read, write, and cast accounts! and yet how many of those children prefer the most idle pastimes to the more improvement of their minds? There must be something vastly pretty, in being able to read that Testament and Prayer-book."
"I agree with you, my dear Dorcas," said the blooming Amarillis, "that there must be something , to be able to unriddle the meaning of all those words we see in that book. What a hardship it is, that we should be born to spend our days in ignorance, and know none of the pleasures which learning must bring with it!"
The next morning, the principal person in the village, who owned a great part of it, came to their hovel, and acquainted the old folks that they might the next Sunday send their children to church, where they would be instructed in the principles of the religion, and be likewise taugh............