The circumstances out of which the following Essay, with its accompanying Sketch of the Author’s Life, originated, are as remarkable as they are deeply interesting and hopeful. Jealous for the honour of God’s Sabbath, which men of the world were periling—jealous for the privileges to man conferred by the Sabbath—jealous for the labouring man, whose feelings respecting the Sabbath were often misrepresented to his disadvantage, a layman resolved to afford an opportunity for the working classes to speak their own mind freely on the matter, and to bear their testimony to the blessings and privileges of the day, and thereby to the glory of God, the author and giver of it. With these views, he put forth a proposal, about the end of the year 1847, offering three prizes—of £25, £15, and £10, respectively—for the three best Essays on the subject, written by labouring men. Although this is the first instance upon record of persons of that class being invited to become competitors in literature, and for literary honours; and although comparatively a very brief time was allowed for preparing and sending in the Essays, yet three months—the first three of the year 1848—sufficed to produce the astonishing number of more than nine hundred and fifty compositions, manifesting by the single fact, without reference to the merits of these productions, the wide-spread interest and deeply-rooted principles with which the holy day of God is reverenced, loved, and honoured, by the labouring people.
Amongst the Essays received was one from a female, accompanied by a letter, which will be found at the conclusion of this Introduction, and which the reader will peruse with interest, as indicating the habitual tone of Divine and filial piety which pervades the mind of the writer. The Essay itself was found to be correspondent in tone and spirit with the letter. It is, indeed, a composition of no ordinary kind, whether we regard the source from whence it came, the instructive matter it contains, or the manner in which the materials are worked up in the composition, and the diction in which they are expressed. The Adjudicators, although, in faithfulness to the other competitors, constrained to lay it aside, as the work of a female, yet felt at the same time that it was a production which ought not to be withheld from the world, and that it was a duty as much to humanity as to the talented writer herself, not to suffer it to return to privacy and forgetfulness. It was, therefore, proposed to her to allow of its publication, independently of the forthcoming Prize Essays when adjudged, and she was requested, at the same time, to write a sketch of her life to prefix to the Essay when published. In both of these proposals she willingly acquiesced; and the reader has before him two equally remarkable and interesting compositions, the Essay and the Sketch.[1]
[1] It may be proper to state, that in preparing the Essay and Sketch for publication, no liberty has been taken with the author’s composition, farther than to render the language correct. For the satisfaction of any persons who may wish to see the manuscript, it can be inspected at the publishers.—Ed.
To an ordinary mind the preparation of the latter would have been even more difficult than the former. Here was the opportunity for and danger of egotism. But here also was the opportunity for the exhibition and proof of real talent, and of genuine piety. To sink self, and to elevate principles, should be the sole object of autobiography. To effect this in a sketch is even more difficult than in a tale of life. It requires the hand of a master to give off with the pencil those few but telling touches that convert surface into substance, and place on the blank void forms of life, and grace, and comeliness. And no less talent does it demand to portray in words those truthful and instructive scenes which the homes of the godly present, amid which our authoress lived and was nourished, and of which it may justly be said that she is herself one of their noblest ornaments.
Our authoress has learned by experience, and has ably developed in her sketch, some of the most useful and valuable lessons of life. One of these is beautifully and powerfully given in the following words: “How often are opportunities of doing small acts of kindness and usefulness let slip, while we are sighing over our narrow sphere and our limited means of serving God or benefiting man!” Would it not be a melancholy and unwholesome sentimentality that should sit down and lament over itself as having no space capacious enough for its designs, and no arena worthy of its visions, instead of contenting itself with the many common opportunities of doing good which every-day life supplies? It may sound, indeed, well to sigh over oneself in such circumstances,
and, by appropriating the idea to our own condition, hug ourselves with the fancy that we would, if we might, make ourselves widely useful in our generation; but far nobler, surely, and far more worthy of our imitation, is the devout and holy thought expressed in the following stanza:
How admirably are brought out, in every part of this Sketch, some of those lessons most profitable for the wife and the mother to practise! What a valuable one, for example, is this! My mother “used to say that it was disagreeable and improper to be bustling about while father was within; and when he was gone out, the work must be done up.” Oh that wives and mothers understood and practised this wisely and well! What different scenes would the cottager’s home present if they did! How many a man would be saved from the alehouse fireside, where comfort and convenience are studied to seduce him into sin, if wives and mothers would but so order their households that when the father returns his coming shall be welcomed by cleanliness and peace, and his home shall be made to him the most blessed and grateful place that he can find!
What a beautiful family picture is this whole Sketch! No wonder that our authoress is capable of being such a daughter, when she has had such a mother to instruct her. Think, reader, of the child repeating her lessons beside the wash-tub, and gleaning the rudiments of learning in so simple a school, and from such a preceptor; and then turn to the pages of this Sketch and Essay, and as you read, and admire, and wonder, as you must, adore humbly as you ought, and exclaim, What hath God wrought! It is His work. It is the edifying effect and power of His grace. To Him be all the glory and the praise!
“Sir,—I have thought it unnecessary to inquire whether a female might be permitted to enter among the competitors for the prizes offered in your advertisement. The subject of the Essay is of equal interest to woman as to man; and this being the case, I have looked upon your restriction as merely confining this effort to the working classes. Whether I judge rightly or not, matters but little; the effort I have made to gather a few thoughts together upon this subject will at least be of use to myself; and should you consider these sheets as containing any thoughts of value, they are at your disposal. They cannot be expected to be free from errors, both in diction and orthography, as this is the first effort of the kind I have ever made; and I may say I am one of those who never enjoyed the advantage of attending school in early days, except for two years, or rather for one; for it was but for two years that one of my sisters and myself attended a sewing-school alternately; one of us remaining at home one week, to assist mother with household labour, or in attending to the younger children, and going to school next week, while the other remained at home. Since that time I have been constantly occupied in household labour, either in my father’s house, or as a servant in other families; and thus I may truly say, that all the education I have enjoyed, was received at the fireside of hard-working parents. While memory lasts I shall never forget the indefatigable exertions of our beloved mother to impart intelligence to our minds, and implant moral principle in her children. How we used to enjoy our Sabbaths! When our father bent his knees, with his children around, on the morning of the Lord’s day, how fervently he used to thank the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for its blessed hours! That father is gone from among his children; but his voice yet falls upon my ear, and his form yet rises before my eye, as upon the first day of the week he used to read to us the sacred page, and lead our devotions.”