It appeared afterwards, that the neglect of this gentleman's directions did not arise from any ill opinion they had of him, or of his skill, but that the mother of the child had got a notion that some witch had looked upon the child with an EVIL eye, and that, therefore, it must die, and that no medicine could be of any sort of use. Thus the life of the child was sacrificed to this foolish and dreadful superstition.

In the present state of information to be found in the country, we are surprised to find that there are people so ignorant as to believe in "witches," and "evil eyes," or any such ridiculous follies. Indeed they are more than ridiculous, for they are full of danger, and the cause of death, as we have seen in the instance of this child. They are grievously wicked too, for they lead to a neglect of those means of assistance which a merciful Providence has placed within our reach; and they lead us to act as if we thought that the management of the affairs of the world could be taken out of the hands of God, and put in the power of witches, gypsies, and pretended conjurors. The child who was thus lost belonged to Irish parents, who had settled in the neighbourhood of London. They were very ignorant people. But, even in some parts of England, there are people who continue in this state of deplorable ignorance. Education, however, is fast spreading in England, and we hope it is in Ireland too, and we may therefore expect to see these foolish and dangerous superstitions, gradually dying away.

V.

FORCE OF HABIT.

WHEN We consider how very much we are the creatures of habit, how important appears the advice of Solomon, "Train up a child in the way he should

go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Every day's experience illustrates the truth of this remark. Habits firmly fixed in the child, seldom (and never of themselves alone) leave the man. The boy who has learned to consider the Sabbath as a day to be spent only in greater idleness than any other in the week, that boy, if he attains to manhood, will, it is much to be feared, consider it as a day of self-indulgence in idleness, and sin, and wickedness. The man who has once learned to spend his evenings in an alehouse, will have some difficulty in conquering the habit of drinking. But the longer it is indulged in, the more difficult it will be to get the better of it; for all habits become gradually stronger, therefore it is much easier to conquer a bad habit in a child, than in an older person, and much easier to allow ourselves or those under our influence to acquire a bad habit, than to conquer it when acquired. To prevent the formation of bad habits is one great use of self-examination, for who would knowingly continue in the indulgence of a sin which he was conscious he would have more and more difficulty in leaving off? Let parents and teachers. then labour with their utmost diligence, aided by prayer for God's assistance, to form in the minds of children the habits of virtue, of truth and honesty, of daily and regular prayer to God; let them form in their minds just ideas of Him, and of their duty to Him, to their neighbour, and to themselves; and let not vice be suffered to become habitual to their minds; so we may hope that they will live the life, and "die the death of the righteous, and that their last end may be like his."

T. E.

HUMANE SOCIETY.

A CORRESPONDENT has been kind enough to send us the card of instructions given by the Humane Society for restoring apparently dead persons to life. We have already given these in two different parts of our Magazine*; still, as this is the time of the year when many accidents happen from bathing or from water excursions, and, although we cannot, as our Correspondent recommends, insert these rules in every Number, we are glad to remind our readers of the importance of understanding the right treatment of persons apparently drowned, since many lives are lost by not knowing the proper means to pursue. Much time is often lost in listening to the different opinions of by-standers, when every moment is of the utmost consequence. Then it is common to suppose that the body should be held up by the feet, for the purpose, as they say, of getting the water out. This is altogether wrong. The object is to restore breathing, by setting the lungs to work.

The society gives us these directions. 1. Lose no time. 2. Avoid all rough usage. 3. Never hold the body up by the feet. 4. Nor roll the body in casks. 5. Nor rub the body with salt or spirits. 6. Nor inject tobacco smoke, or infusion of tobacco. Send quickly for medical assistance; till this arrives do not delay the following means:

Convey the body, carefully, with the head and shoulders supported in a raised position, to the nearest house.

Strip the body and rub it dry, then wrap it in hot blankets, and place it in a warm bed in a warm chamber.

Wipe and cleanse the mouth and nostrils.

* Vol. 1, p. 31. Vol. 5, p. 379.

On getting into Debt.

253

In order to restore the natural warmth of the body, move a heated covered warming-pan over the back and spine.

Put bladders, or bottles of hot water, or heated bricks, to the pit of the stomach, the arm-pits, between the thighs, and the soles of the feet. Foment the body with hot flannels; but, if possible, immerse the body in a warm bath, as hot as the hand can bear it without pain, as this is the best method of restoring warmth.

Rub the body briskly with the hand, whilst using the other means recommended.

The Society has an apparatus for blowing air into the lungs. Where this cannot be had, the pipe of a common bellows should be used. It is to be introduced into one nostril,-the other and the mouth being closed. Blow the bellows gently, till the breast be a little raised; the mouth and nostrils should then be set free, and a moderate pressure be made with the hand upon the chest; this should be done several times, for the purpose of restoring the power of breathing. Continue this trial for three or four hours.

Apply sal voatile, or hartshorn to the nostrils.

If signs of life appear, a tea spoon full of warm water should be given. If the power of swallowing be returned, small quantities of warm wine, or weak brandy and water warm. The patient should be kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged.

ON GETTING INTO DEBT.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR,

YOUR "Visitor" often contains very good advice on the subject of "Alehouse going," but I do not re

member (for some time at least) that you have referred to a practice but too often followed by the frequenters of alehouses, and indeed by many others; I mean the practice of incurring debts: a practice which I consider most dangerous, and most destructive to comfort. I have almost always found, that those who bore in other respects bad characters, have debts of the largest amount, and longest standing, and also that they frequently profess themselves unable to pay for a loaf of bread, while they are spending money at the alehouse, or in other bad and unnecessary ways: and some, indeed, whose minds have become habituated to this bad practice, go to one shop as long as they are trusted, and then to another. These appear to me to be quite as unprincipled as the downright thief. For the man who takes a person's goods as long as he will give him credit, and then leaves him to act in the same disgraceful way by another, does obtain them under false pretences: for of course he promises payment, or else he would not be trusted. These people, therefore, decidedly break the eighth commandment. Many of those whom I would hope to persuade of the evil of this practice, are those who really do make great exertions, but, finding they can get credit, put off payment, first, as they say, perhaps till next week; but as this practice, like all others, strengthens by indulgence, they will soon, without shame, promise to pay when they get their harvest money, or at some still more distant time. But how short-sighted is this! It is loading the future with expences that do not belong to it. How can a man who does this, know that he or his family may not then be laid up with sickness, and not only unable to work at all, but in want of many things which are now unnecessary to them? And, if this does not happen, still the produce of a good harvest, or other advantages, should, if possible, be laid by in the Saving Bank, against future illness or want, and not