Has this been done without labour?  No.  What has caused it but the earnest desire to know the events of daily life in as short a time as possible.  I do not care to vouch for what I now say, but I should think that about 20,000 copies are thrown off of the “Daily Telegraph” in an hour, and these can be bought for one penny each.  This penny’s worth has cost a great amount of thought to bring about.  Besides the various manufactures which are required for this result, the daily paper also brings to its aid the agriculturist as regards the paper; for though this was at first only made of rags, we now produce it from straw, and I have made it from thistles, whilst it has also been made from wood and other things.  The rags, of course, were derived from agriculture in as far as flax required to be grown, but now the farmer gets his grain from the crop, and the straw left is made into paper—­the chief agent in distributing through the world the thoughts of the learned in science, arts, literature, and politics.  With what eagerness do we look for our paper in the morning, and with what pleasure do we pay our penny for it!  A penny’s worth with respect to this material does not stop here.  Look at our beautiful and not costly decorations; see what a charming room we can show, produced by a wall-paper at a cost of one penny a yard.  Some of these coloured decorations produce an eye-deception that quite, as the Scotch would say, “jumbles the judgment and confounds the understanding.”

We have not done with luxuries, and I will now bring one before you that, like many others, if used aright, there is no harm in, and which I look upon as a means of keeping up social good-fellowship among all.  I mean smoking.  Now the use of tobacco in itself is harmless, but used in excess is not only dangerous, but acts as a poison.  I like a pipe, but I find at the same time it is needful to have a light.  The ingenuity of man has supplied my want and wish, and I can now get a light from an article which, to look at, seems only something black tipped with red.  The labour required to produce this small box of lights, as it is called, is wonderful—­the chemist, the wood merchant, the mechanician (and I am sorry to say, also the surgeon, from the deleterious effects of the phosphorus on the human frame), have all to bring their work to bear on the production of this most useful article.  Yet, after all, it is sold and bought for one penny a box.  Messrs. Bryant & May profess to save your houses from fire for this sum by using their matches, and I think they are right.  Fire and heat are among our best friends, but are also dangerous enemies; and I am sure a penny spent on Bryant & May’s matches is well spent.  I do not wish to disparage other makers—­far from it; but a match that will only ignite on the box is an article all householders should procure, not only for their own protection, but also for that of their neighbours.