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catastrophe at New Hartley; thus proving that the floodgates of benevolence have been opened, and that the rich and poor do sympathise alike in a practical form with the widowed and fatherless who weep in those lonely cottages. The flow of human feeling is fast and genuine. The commotions on the surface and rising from beneath speedily become levelled by the onward rush of life; and well it is that so it is! Each age and year should bear its own burthens. The social heart of a given period would break were it doomed to bear the pressure of calamities that have occurred in the past as well as the present. In like manner if the burden of such a calamity as the one referred to were to fall upon one individual or one district, as the Mayor of Yarmouth would have it be, it would be an unbearable responsibility on the one hand, and on the other the sufferers would continue to suffer, and the helpless remain unhelped “Many can help the one, but the one cannot help the many”, is a world-wide maxim; and it is a merciful design that we are so formed to mutually assist each other, and thus, as it were, to rapidly recover from the shock of great evils, while we obliviate in some degree the sorrows of the past. But we cannot allow the future to come in with the rush of strange events without bearing our testimony to the noble manner in which the public have responded to the cry of the bereaved and sorrowing poor at Hartley. It is quite refreshing to notice the kind and generous impulse springing from the hearts of different classes in reference to this calamity. The means requisite for the support and comfort of the surviving sufferers are provided; and had it been necessary, much more would have been forthcoming. We take it as good omen when the whole mass of people are so soon stirred to deeds of benevolence. The “Good Samaritan” lives in the nation, and beneath many a rough exterior there resides a tender heart. The prevalence of such humanity links our countrymen, together in bonds of holy brotherhood, and exhibits, in a very strong light, the gentle influence of the Christian religion, even when its doctrine is not fully understood. In this we see a ground of hope for the future; for the nearer we approach in our sympathies for each other in the character of a great family, the more secure will our national peace and prosperity become. We cannot conclude without expressing a hope that some steps may be taken to form a national fund to meet such calamities in future, for we know too well that they are frequently occurring, and although every catastrophe does not leave such a fearful death-toll behind it yet they form a terrible total. Something may surely be done now that this disaster is fresh in the public memory, and we trust those who are competent to the task will prove equal to the carrying out the suggestion. Doubtless, if such a fund could be properly managed, it would be warmly supported; and we further suggest, as a beginning that if any surplus remains of the Hartley relief fund, it be appropriated as a neuclus(sic) of a fund devoted to this purpose.