is simply the expression of an undisciplined
and extremely weak mind; for, if any person
will stoop to reason with her on her aversion
to Mondays, he may ask her whether the
death of the poodle, or the catching of her
cold, are the two greatest calamities of her
life; and, if so, whether it is her opinion
that Monday is set apart, in the scheme of
Nature, so far as it concerns her, in a black
character. Whether for her insignificant
self there is a special day accursed! Mrs.
Carmine is such a strong-minded woman,
that we approach her with no small degree
of trepidation. Wednesday is her dies ater,
because, in the first place, on a Wednesday
she imprudently exposed herself, and is
suffering from the consequences; and, in the
second place, on a Wednesday her Maria took
the scarlet fever. So she has marked
Wednesday down in her calendar with a black
character; yet her contempt for stars and
ghosts is prodigious. Now there is a
consideration to be extended to the friends of
ghosts, which Day-fatalists cannot claim.
Whether or not deceased friends take a more
airy and flimsy form, and adopt the invariable
costume of a sheet to visit the objects of their
earthly affections, is a question which the
shrewdest thinkers and the profoundest
logicians have debated very keenly, but without
ever arriving at any satisfactory conclusion.

The strongest argument against the positive
existence of ghosts, is, that they appear only
to people of a certain temperament, and under
certain exciting circumstances. The obtuse,
matter-of-fact man, never sees a ghost; and
we may take it as a natural law, that none
of these airy visitants ever appeared to an
attorney. But the attorney, Mr. Fee Simple,
we are assured, holds Saturday to be an
unlucky day. It was on a Saturday that his
extortionate bill in poor Mr. G.'s case, was
cut down by the taxing master; and it
was on a Saturday that a certain heavy bill
was duly honoured, upon which he had hoped
to reap a large sum in the shape of costs.
Therefore Mr. Fee Simple believes that the
destinies have put a black mark against
Saturday, so far as he is concerned.

The Jew who thought that the thunderstorm
was the consequence of his having
eaten a slice of bacon, did not present a more
ludicrous picture, than Mr. Fee Simple
presents with his condemned Saturday.

We have an esteem for ghost-inspectors,
which it is utterly impossible to extend to
Day-fatalists. Mrs. Piptoss, too, may be
pitied; but Mog, turning her money when
the moon makes her re-appearance, is an
object of ridicule. We shall neither be
astonished, nor express condolence, if the present,
which Miss Caroline anticipates from the
knot in her lace, be not forthcoming; and as
for Miss Amelia, who has extinguished the
candle, and to the best of her belief lost her
husband for a twelvemonth, we can only
wish for her, that when she is married, her
lord and master will shake her faith in the
prophetic power of snuffers. But of all the
superstitions that have survived to the present
time, and are to be found in force among
people of education and a thoughtful habit,
Day-fatalism is the most general, as it is the
most unfounded and preposterous. It is a
superstition, however, in which many great and
powerful thinkers have shared, and by which,
they have been guided; it owes much of its
present influence to this fact; but reason,
Christianity, and all we have comprehended
of the great scheme of which we form part,
alike tend to demonstrate its absurdity, and
utter want of all foundation.

A LETTER ABOUT SMALL
BEGINNINGS.

SIR,—Fortunate mistakes are by no means
uncommon. In your number seventeen you
fall into an error in reference to the
Westminster Ragged Dormitory; in the correction
of which I have the good fortune to be able
to give you some interesting information.
You stated that the particular institution
there alluded to was founded by Mr. Walker,
the city missionary—that was the error. The
credit is due, and should have been given
to Mr. C. Nash, who was formerly a
schoolmaster, employed by Mr. Walker to teach a
ragged school which that gentleman had
established before "Ragged Schools" had
received their appropriate designation and wide
popularity.

The tact, management, and energy displayed
by Mr. Nash in forming and establishing
the St. Ann Street dormitory deserve every
praise; but the ground was in some measure
prepared for him by his former principal.
The manner in which this was done shows
"the power of small beginnings," even in a
stronger light than was exhibited in your
article with that title.*
* At page 407.

In the year 1840 it became my duty to
enquire into the condition of what are but too
literally the outcasts of society; and for that
purpose obtained introductions to several city
missionaries—adequate description of the
scenes of harrowing want, disease, and crime
into which those gentlemen introduced me, it
would be impossible to pen. They alone
seemed able to penetrate the dark moral
atmosphere. They were always welcomed even by
the poorest and the worst.

As one specimen of the efforts made by the
Westminster missionaries, I was introduced
to a dilapidated shed in New Pye Street.
Here I found several young children of both
sexes, in rags, and some nearly naked. The
scene was most grotesque; the clotted hair,
the mud-covered hands and faces, and the
haggard countenances, at once told a tale
which would have pierced the coldest heart.
They were being taught reading and needlework.