Knickerbocker | Page 5

in theological controversies, there would really seem to be some danger. Oh! it is a very easy thing to sit in one's study and demolish an opponent, who after all is generally no opponent at all, but only a man of straw, dressed up for the occasion with a few purposely-tattered shreds of the adversary's cast-off garments.
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NOTE BY THE 'FRIEND.'--The foregoing is a correct sketch of our conversations, especially as the reporter has, like his congressional brother, corrected most of the bad grammar, and left out some of the vulgarisms and colloquialisms, and given me the better side of the argument in the last conversation; it is very correct. But it seems to me that the question put at the commencement is as far from being solved as ever. It is as difficult to be answered as the question, What is Christianity? to which every sect will return a different reply, and each prove all the others wrong.
Portsmouth, (N. H.) J. K. Jr.

LINES SENT WITH A BOUQUET.
BY PARK BENJAMIN.
I.
I've read in legends old of men Who hung up fruits and flowers Before the altar-shrines of those They called Superior Powers: It was, I think, a blessed thought That things so pure and sweet Should be esteemed an offering For gods and angels meet.
II.
I imitate that charming rite In this our sober day, And, when I worship, strew sweet flowers Along my angel's way: And, if my heart's fond prayer be heard, The offering I renew; For flowers like books have leaves that speak, And thoughts of every hue.
III.
They are Love's paper, pictured o'er With gentle hopes and fears; Their blushes are the smiles of Love, And their soft dew his tears! Ah! more than poet's pen can write Or poet's tongue reveal Is hidden by their folded buds And by their rosy seal.
IV.
Mute letters! yet how eloquent! Expressive silence dwells In every blossom Heaven creates, Like sound in ocean shells. Press to my flowers thy lips, beloved, And then thy heart will see Inscribed upon their leaves the words I dare not breathe to thee!

THE ALMS HOUSE.
BY A NEW CONTRIBUTOR.
It is not my purpose in the following narrative to point out all the evils arising from the modern practice of relieving the wants of the poor and destitute which prevails in this country and in England, where the arm of the law compels that pittance which should be the voluntary donation of benevolence; one consequence of which system is, that the poor claim support as a debt due from society at large, and feel no gratitude toward any of the individuals paying the tax. The payer of the tax, on the other hand, feeling that he can claim no merit for surrendering that which is wrung from him by force, and expecting no thanks for the act, and knowing that in many cases it operates as a bounty on idleness, hates the ungrateful burthen thus imposed upon him, and strives to reduce it to the least possible amount. In this way the ties which should bind together the poor and the rich are sundered. The benevolence of the patron and the gratitude of the dependent, which formerly existed, is changed to dislike and suspicion on the one part, and envy and ingratitude on the other.
Doubtless one design of Providence in suffering want and misery to exist in the world, is that the benevolent virtues should be kept in exercise. He who was benevolence itself, seemed thus to think, when he said: 'The poor ye have always with you.' But man in his selfishness virtually says: 'The poor we will not have with us; we will put them out of our sight.' For in many towns in New-England, and probably in other States, it is customary to contract with some individual for their support; or, in other words, to sell them by auction, to him who will support them by the year, for the least sum per head. To illustrate some of the results of this system, the following incidents are related from memory, having been witnessed by me in my native place (an interior town in New-England) at an age when the feelings are most susceptible. And so deep was the impression then made on my mind, that I am enabled to vouch for the accuracy of the details.
A meeting for the purpose of disposing of the poor of the town for the ensuing year was held at the house of the person who had kept them the previous year, (and where these unfortunates still were) as well because it was supposed he would again bid for them, as that those who wished to become competitors might ascertain their number and condition. It was in the afternoon of a day in November, one of those dark