Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/95

Monday morning which will make him better or worse, no dependence can be put on him."

On a more ambitious scale than the Amaranth, Messrs. Edward Manning and R. Aitken, in 1860, began in St. John the publication of a monthly magazine, devoted to education and general literature. The printers were Messrs. Barnes & Co., and the title of the venture was The Guardian. The editors were young men and full of hope, and their object was to supply a long felt want, for the magazines which our people read in those days, were all imported, the "more valuable" ones coming from Britain, and while a few American serials were "excellent," a great many of them were "very trashy." The scope of the Guardian was outlined in its prospectus, and was not unlike, in aim and aspiration, the monthly in which these words appear. New Brunswick, the editors thought, could afford topics enough for the employment of the most prolific pen, and while politics were eschewed, all else relating to the province, would find a place. For the imagination, the editors pointed out, there were the primeval forest, the remnant of the red men, land and sea, hill and dale. The soil, trade, navigation, the resources of the great waters, and historic achievement were only awaiting the pen of the annalist and student to lay bare their truths. Nor in the prospectus, were the Loyalists forgotten. Indeed, the Guardian was to be largely provincial in tone and in character, and a lengthy programme was prepared.. Papers relating to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were also freely admitted.

The magazine lived exactly nine months. It was withdrawn in September, after a hard but patriotic struggle, to the regret of its promoters and the few