網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

And the soft moon rose up slowly, and calmly she looked down
On the red sand of the battle-field, with bloody corpses strown:
Yea, calmly on that dreadful scene her pale light seemed to shine,
As it shone on distant Bingen-fair Bingen on the Rhine!

XCVII.-NEW ENGLAND AND THE UNION.

S. S. PRENTISS.

1. GLORIOUS New England! thou art still true to thy ancient fame, and worthy of thy ancestral honors. On thy pleasant valleys rest, like sweet dews of morning, the gentle recollections of our early life; around thy hills and mountains cling, like gathering mists, the mighty memories of the Revolution; and far away in the horizon of thy past gleam, like thy own bright northern lights, the awful virtues of our pilgrim sires! But while we devote this day to the remembrance of our native land, we forget not that in which our happy lot is cast.

2. We exult in the reflection, that though we count by thousands the miles which separate us from our birthplace, still our country is the same. We are no exiles meeting upon the banks of a foreign river, to swell its waters with our homesick tears. Here floats the same banner which rustled above our boyish heads, except that its mighty folds are wider, and its glittering stars increased in number.

3. The sons of New England are found in every State of the broad republic! In the East, the South, and the unbounded West, their blood mingles freely with every kindred current. We have but changed our chamber in the paternal mansion; in all its rooms we are at home, and all who inhabit it are our brothers. To us the Union has but one domestic hearth; its household gods are all the same. Upon us, then, peculiarly devolves the duty of feeding the fires upon that kindly hearth; of guarding with pious care those sacred household gods.

4. We cannot do with less than the whole Union; to us it admits of no division. In the veins of our children

flows northern and southern blood: how shall it be separated?—who shall put asunder the best affections of the heart, the noblest instincts of our nature? We love the land of our adoption; so do we that of our birth. Let us ever be true to both; and always exert ourselves in maintaining the unity of our country, the integrity of the republic. Accursed, then, be the hand put forth to loosen the golden cord of union! thrice accursed the traitorous lips which shall propose its severance!

[blocks in formation]

1.

7. Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time:
8. Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

9. Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate:
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

XCIX.-AFFECTATION IN THE PULPIT.

IN man or woman,-but far most in man,
And most of all in man that ministers
And serves the altar,-in my soul I loathe
All affectation. 'T is my perfect scorn:
Object of my implacable disgust.

WILLIAM COWPER.

What!-will a man play tricks,-will he indulge
A silly, fond conceit of his fair form,

And just proportion, fashionable mien,
And pretty face,-in presence of his God?
Or will he seek to dazzle me with tropes,
As with the diamond on his lily hand,
And play his brilliant parts before my eyes,
When I am hungry for the bread of life?
He mocks his Maker, prostitutes and shames
His noble office, and, instead of truth,
Displaying his own beauty, starves his flock!
Therefore, avaunt all attitude, and stare,
And start theatric, practised at the glass!
I seek divine simplicity in him

Who handles things divine; and all besides,

Though learned with labor, and though much admired

By curious eyes and judgments ill-informed,

To me is odious as the nasal twang
Heard at conventicle, where worthy men,
Misled by custom strain celestial themes

Through the pressed nostril, spectacle-bestrid.

2.

I venerate the man whose heart is warm,

Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life,
Coïncident, exhibit lucid proof

That he is honest in the sacred cause.

To such I render more than mere respect,

Whose actions say that they respect themselves.
But loose in morals, and in manners vain,
In conversation frivolous, in dress
Extreme, at once rapacious and profuse:
Frequent in park with lady at his side,
Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes;
But rare at home, and never at his books,
Or with his pen, save when he scrawls a card:
Constant at routs, familiar with a round
Of ladyships-a stranger to the poor:
Ambitious of preferment for its gold;
And well prepared, by ignorance and sloth,
By infidelity and love of world,

To make God's work a sinecure-a slave
To his own pleasures and his patron's pride ;-
From such apostles, O, ye mitred heads,
Preserve the Church! and lay not careless hands
On skulls that cannot teach, and will not learn!

C.-LEAP FOR LIFE.

1. OLD Ironsides at anchor lay

In the harbor of Mahon :

A dead calm rested on the bay,
And the winds to sleep had gone:
When little Jack, the captain's son,

With gallant hardihood,

GEO. P. MORRIS.

Climbed shroud and spar, and then upon
The main truck rose and stood.

2. A shudder ran through every vein,
All hands were turned on high:
There stood the boy with dizzy brain,
Between the sea and sky.

No hold had he above, below,

Alone he stood in air:

At that far height none dared to go :

No aid could reach him there.

3. We gazed, but not a man could speak,
With horror all aghast:

In groups, with pallid brow and cheek,
We watched the quivering mast.
The atmosphere grew thick and hot,
And of a lurid hue,

As riveted unto the spot

Stood officers and crew.

4. The father came on deck,-he gasped,
"Oh God! thy will be done!"
Then suddenly a rifle grasped,
And aimed it at his son ;-
"Jump! far out, boy, into the wave,
Jump, or I fire!" he said:

"This chance alone your life can save,
Jump! jump!" The boy obeyed.

5. He sunk, he rose, he lived, he moved,
He for the ship struck out-

On board we hailed the lad beloved,
With many a manly shout:
His father drew, with silent joy,
Those wet arms round his neck,
And folded to his heart the boy,
Then fainted on the deck.

CI.-" CLEON AND I."

CHARLES MACKAY

1. CLEON hath a million acres,-ne'er a one have I:
Cleon dwelleth in a palace,—in a cottage, I:
Cleon hath a dozen fortunes,-not a penny, I;
But the poorer of the twain is Cleon, and not I.

2. Cleon, true, possesseth acres,-but the landscape, I:
Half the charms to me it yieldeth money cannot buy:
Cleon harbors sloth and dulness,-freshening vigor, I:
He in velvet, I in fustian,-richer man am I.

3. Cleon is a slave to grandeur,-free as thought am I:
Cleon fees a score of doctors,-need of none have I.
Wealth-surrounded, care-environed, Cleon fears to die:
Death may come,-he'll find me ready,-happier man am I.

« 上一頁繼續 »