influence, says his biographer, "his home once more resumed its former cheerfulness, and the eleven years that remained were among the happiest, if not the most useful of her husband's life." He announced the event to his friends with characteristic gayety. To one he wrote:

"I believe I have now a good companion for the short remains of my mortal life. She is too young and too good; but she will be likely to grow older, and probably, in such company, worse; but, as I shall grow better in her society, we shall approach nearer to each other, and thus the inequality the world complains of in the match will gradually diminish; and I sincerely hope, at some distant day, she will follow me to heaven." "To Mrs. Sarah P. B. Smith, of Illinois, he said: 'I am no longer the desolate, solitary, dull, old stupid uncle you parted with a few weeks ago; but a young, sprightly, married man, just entering on the active scenes of life.' Of all men, I was the last made to be alone. My heart, the best part of me, is still young. It always has, and I am pretty sure always will, love female excellence of every kind." -pp. 386, 387.

Six years afterwards, as if to complete his happiness by surrounding his old age with all the objects of natural affection and desire, a son was born to him to continue his name and family to another generation. He was always fond of children, and had the power of interesting and amusing them to a remarkable degree. Some had been received into his family as objects of charity, and to them he was always a kind and patient guardian, and often a droll and active playfellow. The birth of his own child, therefore, was a source of the greatest enjoyment to him, and its infantine prattle contributed, perhaps, as much as any other cause, to soothe and cheer his five remaining years. The clouds, in which his home and happiness had so lately been involved through the loss of his former family, were now entirely dissipated, and his evening sun shone brightly till it dipped beneath the horizon.

In February, 1842, Judge Smith sold his estate in Exeter, in order that his property might be left in a more compact and manageable condition for his heirs, and went to live with his father-in-law in Dover. Affection for his wife and child dictated this step, but it probably hastened his death. To quit the place which had been his home for nearly forty years, to lose the sight of many familiar objects,

135 and to submit to some alteration of long established habits, seemed likely to throw a shadow over his hitherto unconquerable spirits. He was not saddened by the change, but he became more placid and quiet, and more frequently thought and spoke of his approaching decease.. Affecting signs that the end was at hand were not wanting; his paternal tree was fast shedding its leaves. His brother Samuel died in April of this year; in the August following, his two other brothers, one of whom had attained the age of eightysix, and a favorite niece, were carried to the grave. Judge Smith was ill when the news of these deaths came, and though there was nothing alarming in the symptoms of his complaint, he seemed to be conscious that he was not to recover. Firmly and patiently he awaited the closing scene, though severely tried at intervals by bodily suffering; the few words which escaped him showed that the Christian's faith did not fail in the trying hour. He died on the 21st of September, passing the last hour so quietly, that no one knew when he ceased to breathe. His remains were interred at Exeter, in a space which he had reserved between the graves of Ariana and her mother, and a plain marble headstone bears a modest and truthful inscription to his memory,

ART. V.-1. Thirteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Perkins Institution, and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, to the Corporation. Boston. 1845. 8vo. pp. 84.

2. Quarterly Journal of the American Education Society. February, 1845. Boston: T. R. Marvin. 8vo. pp. 16. 3. Nineteenth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society. Boston. 1844. 8vo. 4. Annual Statement of the Treasurer of Harvard College; made October 5th, 1844. Cambridge: Metcalf & Co. 8vo. pp. 24.

IN September, 1830, at the celebration which took place, under the direction of the city authorities, of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Boston, President Quincy delivered an address which was replete with interest

ing comments on the history and character of the city. In a note to the oration, which was published, he inserted a list of societies and institutions for various purposes of charity, education, and religious and moral instruction, to which the benevolence of Bostonians had been directed within the then last thirty years. The amount of money shown by this catalogue to have been given away in a town which numbered from twenty-five thousand inhabitants, in 1800, to sixty thousand, in 1830, excited some surprise, and was very gratifying to those who from birth, personal relations, or other circumstances, took an interest in the character and reputation of the city.

In the short term of fifteen years which have elapsed since 1830, the population has nearly doubled its amount at that time; and it has become a question of deep interest to many, how far, and in what particular ways, the character of Boston has been or is to be affected by such a sudden development of its resources, and such an immense accession to its physical and commercial strength. As a community must, like an individual, be either growing worse or growing better, it behooves us to look carefully into facts from time to time, and ascertain their bearing upon character; and while we should not be deterred from this scrutiny by the fear or the shame of finding ourselves losing ground, so neither should we shrink from it because it may seem like boastfulness to proclaim our own good deeds. It is necessary for us to know our faults, in order that we may learn to correct them; and it is, for the same reason, necessary for us to know how far we have avoided the errors to which we are exposed. True humility consists in entertaining a just estimate of ourselves, in not "thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think," in not over-estimating ourselves or our acts, and in not claiming a degree of merit which cannot belong to such imperfect attainments as the best of human virtues necessarily are. It is in no spirit of boastfulness, then, that the following attempt has been made to enumerate the principal objects of Boston liberality; but with the hope of drawing from the facts collected some useful practical inferences, not inconsistent with a becoming modesty. Nor would we be supposed to imply, that we consider the mere giving of money as a sufficient proof of the existence of the true spirit of charity; but we are desirous that the facts

should be known, and that every one should pass his own judgment upon them.

It is an important preliminary inquiry, how the city, in its corporate capacity, has performed the duties of instruction and charity; and although other places may have done as much, or more, in some departments, than Boston has, yet it is satisfactory to observe that the appropriations go on increasing with the growth and means of the city. The sums spent upon the schools by order of the city government have grown from an average of $ 68,343.36 per annum in the first five years of the city, to an average of $153,690.55 in the last five years; while the sums devoted to the support or assist. ance of the poor in the former term of five years averaged $31,083.58, and in the latter $47,080.69. In both depart ments, more is effected with the same amount of money now than formerly, so that the mere comparison of the sums will scarcely give an adequate idea of the degree of improvement.

The average of the last five years in the expenditure for the schools, including salaries, repairs, erection of new houses, supplies and contingencies, makes a ratio of .2574 to the average tax assessed during the same years, or a little more than one quarter of the whole sum levied ; while the average expenditure for both objects, namely, the schools and the support of the poor, including the expense of the hospital for insane and idiots, for the same term, forms an average of .3336, or one third of the whole tax. The ratio of the expenditure for both objects, during the whole term of the city charter, to the taxes assessed is .3898, or 51⁄2 per cent. more than one third of the taxes. The ratio of the last five years would have been much higher, but for the very remarkable diminution in the cost of the House of Industry, and in the sums distributed in the different wards by the Overseers of the Poor, during the last two years. The expense of the House of Industry fell from over $30,000 per annum to $14,779.60 in the financial year ending April 30, 1843, and to $14,082.90 in the year ending April 30, 1844; while the Overseers of the Poor, instead of spending twelve or thirteen thousand dollars per annum, distributed but $8,320.63 in the former year, and $7,337.46 in the latter. It will immediately occur to all who are familiar with the causes and the consequences of pauperism, that the great and memorable reform in the use of intoxicating liquors has

produced this among other beneficent results. More than $20,000 a year, or one half of the whole charge, have been saved in the appropriations for the support of paupers alone,

by saving men from a self-destroying vice. It must not be forgotten, that the prosperity of the city, and the abundance of employment, for two or three years past, have contributed to this result. But that they have not produced it unaided is proved by the circumstance, that former periods of prosperity have shown no such striking diminution of the expense of pauperism to the city.

It may, perhaps, be thought inappropriate to introduce the amount derived from taxes among the charities of the city; and it would be so, were nothing more done than barely to comply with the requisitions of the law. The manner in which these labors and duties are performed, however, is to be regarded as an essential part of the performance of them; and if there be any deficiency still existing, let it be pointed out and remedied as speedily as may be. It is believed, however, that the public charities are rather more free than is usual from well grounded charges of insufficiency, and that they are quite as abundant as the danger of imposition and abuse will allow. In all those branches where there is no fear of such abuse, the provision is as liberal as the nature of the case requires; as, for instance, in the arrangements made for the care and even cure of the insane, or idiotic, who have a settlement in the city. A hospital, constructed in the most thorough manner, and on the best principles, is provided for them, and a resident physician is required to give them his daily attention. In the end, this mode of proceeding will perhaps be found more economical than the old way of perpetuating misery, in the cells and cages of the insane-ward of the House of Industry; but it is manifest that the provision for these unhappy persons must have arisen from other motives than a mere desire to save money. The difficulty which is to be met in so many other walks of charity is not here to be encountered; namely, to guard against offering an inducement to take advantage of the provision unnecessarily. No one becomes insane voluntarily, and there is little danger of delusion or deception. Too much, therefore, can hardly be done for the comfort, or the recovery, of those who may stand in need of the charity.