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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

before received it to regulate it, and returned it without amendment :

Observe this watch, my friend, and thou wilt
find,

To false intelligence it is inclined;
In paths of error it persisteth still,

As void of truth as thou art void of skill.
Once more thy nicest application try,
With truth the inward man to rectify.
For if the hidden intellects are base,
The outward man is but an empty case.
Last seventh day thou did'st receive of me,
(This bauble to correct from falsity)

A pound's fifth-part, but thou more stripes did
merit,

For still it moveth with a lying spirit.

The editor of the Public Good has, after mature deliberation, concluded to offer a most valuable prize for the best acrostic, (if the term can be applied to the name of a thing as well as to the name of a person,) on T. H. E. P. U. B. L. I. C. G. O. O. D. The acrostic to be sent to the editor, Public Good office, on or before the 10th of July next. The editor, after profound pondering, has also consented to be the adjudicator on the acrostic. He would not undertake such a responsibility were he not deeply satisfied of the abilities of his numerous friends. He now begs to state that the prize which gold cannot purchase, which principalities cannot counterfeit is nothing more or less than his-CORDIAL THANKS!

Communications received from W. H. F. Tracie, Leeds; C. Jicks, jun., Woodhurst ; R. Farrand, Peckham; H. G. Adams, Rochester; Charlotte Young, Highbury; Josiah Child, Bow Lane; Wm. Fox, jun., Watton; Wm. Biss, Bath; G. R. Twinn, Bawburgh; A. W. Lawsome, Poole; A Phonographer, Wockingham: Wm. Dyne, E. Clarke, Walthamstow; Charlotte Tupper, Newport; James E. Welsh, Downham Road; E. B. P. Modbury, A. R. Scoble, G. M. Hereford, Gravesend; L. Devanti, Robert Fisher, Whitehall; E. Copping, James Lane, Chelsea; D. E. Robinson, Pateley Bridge; T. Perry, Bridgewater; John Allan, Glasgow; J. L. Friskney, Richard P. Edwards, Hayle; James Ellis, M. D. Sudbrook Park; A. S. Cook, Aberdeen ; M. S. Ewin, Gedney; M. Beace, C. M. Petitt, E. Fry, Wm. Tibb, Manchester; R. R. Judd, Aylesbury; Fritz and Liolett, W. H. Patching, Whittington Club; W. C. Crundwell, Tonbridge; Walter Weldon, Loughborough; Charles Bertrand, Anne Amelia Searle, Amelia Knight, T. A. Crow, William Drew, Hackney; Demetrius Stretch, London; Robert T. Porter, Glastonbury; Wm, Dickenson, Hulme; Wm. Burrell, Bolton'; Mr. Harris, President of the Wesleyan Local Preachers' Association; A. A. Searle, Birmingham; Miss Rathbone, Liverpool; Eliza Meteyard (Silverpen); Mr. Featherston, St. Mary Cray; John Rogers, Foots Cray; Emma Matthews, Bristol; H. N. Barnett, Baptist College, Bristol; J. W. Fletcher, Bishop Wearmouth, Robert Halstead, Burnley; John Walker, Derby; G. S. Philips, Huddersfield; James Dunkerton, Bristol; Eliza Edmondston. Shetland Isiands; J. S. Roberts, Bishops' Stortford; W. P. Burnet, Lynn; John Emmet, Birkenshaw; L. H. Evans, London.

Poco-with two other good poems, which we
had not room to insert-has sent us the
following:-
Man to himself's a mystery,

Still more is man to man;
To read aright his history,
To understand his destiny,
Your own soul deeply scan.

We should like to have a dozen such gems
every month.

APHORISMS.-In our last we gave some aphorisms of the ancients. In the present we give some collected from the suggestive writings of Zimmerman. In our next we should be happy to give original ones, struck from the manifold mental mints of our almost innumerable literary contributors.

STICKFAST.-Yes, there is a stamped edition of each number of the PUBLIC GOOD issued. Any one can be supplied with any of the back numbers by sending to the Editor, PUBLIC GOOD Office.

AUTOGRAPHS.-We hope to be able to give a page of autographs of distinguished women in our next impression, including those of Eliza Cook, Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hall, Harriett Martineau, Silverpen, Mrs. C. L. Balfour, Mrs. Cowden Clarke, Agnes Strickland, Jenny Lind, Miss Cushman, &c.

QUESITER.-There are upwards of 500 clergymen who have unequivocally stated their disapprobation of the gallows. Quæsiter might get further information from the Rev. Mr. Christmas, Zion Chapel, London,

We are glad to find that another new means likely to be put in operation, that of associating for the social improvement of the people is Savings Banks with Mechanics Institutions. It was suggested by Charles W. Sikes, of Huddersfield, who has shown its practicability, and its advantages, in an elaborate letter to Edward Baines, of Leeds. We are glad to see the letter printed in a separate form, though we should like to have seen the name of a London Publisher attached to it.

The Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee are now fighting the government with its own weapons. We are glad to hear that members of the Brighton Temperance Society are paying subscriptions into a central fund to pay the expences of the passage to London to see the Exhibition of Industry in 1851. We would advise the members of other Temperance Societies to go and do likewise.

Papers and Articles received: "Individual Regeneration," by Wm. Burrill. "The Stumbling Block," by F. R. Young. "Don't Meddle with Politics." by Ebenezer Clarke. "Intemperance the Curse of the Nation," by H. P. The concluding chapters of "The Poet in Search of a Publisher," by H. J. Daniel. "Reminiscences of a Sick Nurse," by Edina. "A Visit to the Cathedral Church at Wells." "Popular Songs," by Henry N. Barnett. Metamorphoses,," by Fanny Osborne. Few Words on Education," by the same. Dream," L. H. Evans. "De Vere," a Tale of real life. "Public Libraries in relation to the age," &c. &c.

"The

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Q. Q:-The spirited etchings, "Man from the Cradle to the Grave," were engraved by Mr. T. Gilks. They may be had for 1s.

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WOMAN'S MISSION.

WHAT is woman's mission? is a question easier asked than answered. And perhaps it would be well, at the commencement of the enquiry, to ask what do we mean by "woman?" and what do we mean by "mission?" A woman is a human being, and a human being is the highest order of existence of which we have any cognizance or knowledge. We see different orders of life and different manifestations of being scattered up and down the universe. There is the lifeless, dull, inorganic matter, which, to all appearances, has not the slightest consciousness of its own existence. It possesses no inherent energy or power over its own nature, position, or purpose. Arising one step higher, we arrive at vegetation, or matter organized, but not possessing sentient life. The wide chasm between inorganic and organic vegetable substances, such as the rose, the laburnam or the oak, is bridged over by a variety of forms and modifications of matter possessing more or less of the inorganic or organic characters. In arising one stage higher, we arrive at animated beings-or beings possessing animal or sentient life-beings capable of feeling pain or enjoying pleasure. The distance between these different orders is filled up by many gradations of existencies, which partake more or less of the characteristics of vegetable and animal life. Arising from the animal kingdom, we soon arrive at the highest condition of life, of which we know anything. Of all the varied orders, modifications, and manifestations of matter and life, man is the highest. He not only possesses a body, but a mind: and how much is involved in that one thing,mind! He is capable of thinking, feeling, doubting, fearing, aspiring, despairing, believing, imagining, sinning, sorrowing, hoping, loving. These are his distinguishing characteristics. The lower animals have sensibilities as acute, and some of them, acuter than man: but in the nobler attributes of the soul he stands alone. And when we say man, we, of course, mean woman also. Man does not possess a single essential characteristic which woman cannot boast of. Look at their physical construction, at the conformation of their heads, at the organization of their brains; or penetrate into their inner being, and survey their mental, affectional, or emotional capabilities, and they will be found the same. Man does not possess a single mental faculty or moral sentiment which is not possessed, in a corresponding degree, by woman. Is man beautifully and wonderfully made? and so is woman. When speaking of nature, Burns says,

"Her 'prentice hand she tried on man,
And then she made the lasses, O!"

Does man possess fine senses? so does woman. Is man capable of thinking and great mental effort? and so is woman. Can he "exhaust worlds of thought, "and then imagine new?" so can she. Can he sorrow and sympathise? so can she. Can he be heroic, be patient under suffering, and calmly smile at trial and danger? so can she. In fact, in all the most beautiful aspects, and in all the most difficult emergencies of life, man and woman are essentially similar in their capabilities of enjoyment and endurance. So in their higher elements of being and character they are on an equality.

If woman possesses these powers and qualifications, she also possesses responsibilities corresponding to the strength of her capabilities. Responsibility involves rights and duties. Woman, therefore, has duties to perform and rights to be maintained and vindicated. These duties and those rights can be enjoyed and exercised only by their possessor. Woman, in fact, is a human being, possessing a distinct individuality, which no other human being can take from her. "She is a distinct and an independent moral and mental force in the universe, —she is a centre, around which every thing else revolves, and for which institutions, society, churches, and religions exist. Man and woman are of the same importance and worth as individuals; they only vary in their positions, missions, relationships, and influences." So wrote the writer of the article, "They who

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Rock the Cradle rule the World," in the first number of "The Public Good," and so write we now: and we are disposed to insist on this doctrine, as it has been disputed by the actions of nations, by the language of history, and even by the predominating opinions and practices of the present. Woman has been looked upon merely as a "help meet for man," and in millions of instances as something even inferior to this. She is a help meet for man, and something more: woman does not merely exist for the comfort of man any more than man exists for the comfort of woman. We degrade woman when we say that her purpose in the world is merely to minister to the wants and to contribute to the gratification of man; for such is the interpretation generally given to the passage "help meet for man."

If woman possesses a separate individuality, and inherits certain distinctive attributes of being and character, which it is her chief glory to possess, then it it her mission primarily to unfold her nature, and to refine, polish, and adorn it with all the graces and virtues which become her as a moral and intellectual creature. The mission of woman in this primary particular is similar to that of man. It is her privilege and duty to develope her whole being, to rise as high as she possibly can in intellectual and moral stature, to make her life answer its highest, noblest, and truest purpose. To do this she must exercise those powers with which she is endowed, to stand up freely and independently in the world, to think and judge for herself, to be the master of her own actions, and, as far as it is given to the lot of a mortal, to be the arbiter of her own destiny. For what purpose has she an eye but to see with, or a mind but to think and judge with, and affections but to feel and sympathise with? Why were the powers of veneration, wonder, hope, and conscientiousness planted in the foundations of her nature, but to be exercised and unfolded in short, why is she made a human being, but to live the highest life her nature is capable of realizing? We blush when we feel ourselves called upon to ask these questions, and to make these assertions in the nineteenth century. It is humiliating to think that so many ages should have passed away, and so many millions of human beings should have lived and died, without the simple truth of the essential equality of woman's nature having dawned on the mind of humanity. What have men and women been doing all these past centuries, so as not to have arrived at such an almost self-evident truism, and embodied it in their actions?

As it is the principal part of woman's mission to cultivate, expand, exalt, and beautify her being, to nurture her physical, intellectual, and spiritual capacities, and to develope and dignify her individual, essential existence, so is it a part of her mission to live for others as well as herself. She is a citizen amongst citizens, and, consequently, has a citizen's duties to perform. All that concerns human society interests her: she, like every other human being, has rights to be respected by society; and has duties to perform. It is her duty to do the greatest amount of good she can, and to do it in the best possible way. She should do her utmost to contribute to the prosperity of the commonwealth, to advance its interests, and to consolidate its strength. It is her duty to promote human happiness by the best means at her command; and it is her privilege to do her part in the great theatre of human action in a way peculiar to herself, and by means which none but she can use.

From what has already been advanced, it will be seen that woman as a citizen is not only interested in all human institutions, but that it is her duty to seek their prosperity. She, of course, should wish and strive for the best governors and governments: and it is also her duty to exercise her prerogative and her power on the most efficient way. Whether she would be turning her powers to the best account, by taking her place in the direct administration of political matters, is a thing to be discussed. All the writer contends for is her right to do so, as an individual and a citizen. It does not follow that she should employ her power in this or that way, because she has a right, or because she is entitled to

choose for herself. It is for her to ask herself, and see in what way she could be most useful, and how, by the employment of her time and the exercise of her talents, she can most advance the interests of human society. The writer is of opinion, and it is only an opinion, that woman is not employing her time and talent to the best advantage to herself or her country, by taking a part in the administration of the duties devolving on human governments.

Having advanced so far into the enquiry of woman's mission, as far as her personal nature, rights, and duties are concerned, we now proceed to make a few observations on that part of her mission peculiarly appertaining to her sex. By nature, she is physically weaker than man. Through all the gradations of animated existence we believe it is the rule that the male is physically stronger than the female. Man in all nations and ages is larger in stature, rougher and bolder in form, and more masculine in his proportions than woman. But physical diversity does not imply mental and moral inferiority. Woman is more gracefully moulded, less muscular, and more beautiful and winning than man. All the distinctive physical capabilities and qualifications both in man and woman depend materially on the habits of life of the one and the other. Were man's duties less enterprising, and were his life spent more at home and less in the field or the workshop, he would be less muscular and manly. And did woman, on the whole, spend less of her time at home, and exert herself more in the great stirring tumultuous scenes of life and action, doubtless, she would be less graceful, elastic, and lovely than she is.

The very short space allowed to treat this important question, necessitates the writer to glance only hastily at some points in the enquiry which deserve a more lengthy consideration; or else we should be induced to investigate the relative intellectual power of man and woman. We think it may be admitted that man is intellectually stronger than woman. This admission does not interfere with our preceding conclusions, as intellectual ability is not the highest ability a human being possesses and enjoys. Doubtlessly history attests the fact that man has done more directly to advance the sciences, and to shake the world by the power of thought, than woman. Almost all the mighty minds and geniuses who have, either by the pen or the sword, in the senate-house, the studio, the field, or the laboratory, changed the face of human society, and turned the currents of human history, have been men. But then it may be said that woman has not had the educational advantages that man has; that she has always been kept down, and consequently it could not be expected that she could perform such immortal deeds. But how many of our world-shaking men have had to brave difficulties, and trample down opposition, before they carved their way, foot by foot, to power and renown? Did woman by nature possess a similar amount of native mental force as man, it is quite likely that more of her sex would have blazed out as stars of the first magnitude. But admitting that man's brain is by nature heavier than that of woman's, which we think cannot well be disputed, and admitting also that he inherits a larger amount of intellectual power, it does not follow that he is a superior being, or that he is justified in treating her as an inferior one. One man may be endowed with stronger mental powers than another man, but the latter is not less a man on that account, as he may possess stronger virtues than the former. And though history and experience induce us to think that man is stronger in head influence, the same teachers induce us to think that he is weaker in heart influence than woman. If he is her superior in faculties of mind, she is evidently superior in powers of feeling, and sympathy, and love. And so the balance of creation is maintained. What he lacks she supplies. We will not now stop to enquire which are the superior attributes of human character-the capabilities of thinking, analysing, judging, and determining; or the capabilities of loving, hoping, enduring, and confiding: but по one can doubt that woman is equal, if not on the whole superior, to man in these latter qualifications. If he can be heroic on the battle-field, she can be

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