lay down my plumage, and remain all my life upon the ground, ōnly once to know such blessèd enjoyment." 4. The breeze sighed among the boughs of the Mimōså, and a voice came trembling out of the rustling leaves: "If the Antelope mourns her destiny,1 what should the Mimosa do? The Antelope is the swiftèst among the animals. It rises in the morning: the ground flies under its feet-in the evening it is å hundred miles away. 5. "The Mimosa is feeding its old age on the same soil which quickened its seed-cell into activity. The seasons roll by me, and leave me in the old place. The winds sway among my branches, as if they longed to bear me away with them; but they påss on, and leave me behind. The wild birds come and go. The flocks move by me in the evening on their way to the pleasant waters. I can never move. My cradle must be my grave." 6. Then from below, at the root of the tree, came à voice which neither bird, nor Antelope, nor tree had ever heard, as å Rock Crystal from its prison in the limestone, followed on the words of the Mimosa. 7. "Are ye all unhappy ?" it said. "If ye are, then what am I? Ye all have life. You! O Mimosa! you, whose fair flowers year by year come again to you, ever young, and fresh, and beautiful-you who can drink the rain with your leaves, who can wanton with the summer breeze, and open your breast to give a home to the wild birds-look at me, and be åshamed. I only am truly wretched." 8. "Alas!" said the Mimōså, 66 we have life, which you have not, it is true. We have also what you have not, its shadowdeath. My beautiful children, which year by year, I bring out into being, expand in their loveliness only to die. Where they are gone I too shall soon follow, while you will flash in the light of the låst sun which rises upon the earth.' FROUDE.2 1 Děs'ti ny, that to which any person or thing is appointed, intended, or doomed. 2 James Anthony Froude, an English historian and journalist, son of the (thu) late Archdeacon Froude, was born at Dartington Rectory, Totness, Devonshire, in 1818. He is å bold and original thinker, and a finished writer. SECTION XVIII. I. 65. DESTINY OF AMERICA. THE `HE MUSE,1 disgusted at an age and clime In distant lands now waits à better time Producing subjects worthy fame : 2. In happy climes, where, from the geniäl sun 3. In happy climes, the seat of innocence, Where Nature guides, and Virtue rules; 4. Thêre shall be sung another gōlden äge, The good and great inspiring epic3 rage, 5. Not such as Europe breeds in her decay: 6. Westward the course of empire takes it way; A fifth shall close the drāmå1 with the day: 1 Muse, one of the nine fabled goddesses of the ancients, originally of song, and afterward of all kinds of poetry, and of the arts and sciences. " Pěd'ant ry, å boastful display of knowledge of any kind. Ep'ic, containing narrative or recital; relating to an epic or heroic poem, in which the deeds of some great hero are narrated. BERKELEY. 5 4 Drā'ma (or drä'må), å stōry which is acted, not related; a number of connected events ending in some in'teresting or striking result. 5 George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, was born at Thomastown, County of Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1684, and died at Oxford, England, in 1753. He was the author of several works. He visited America in 1728. II. 66. OUR COUNTRY'S HONOR OUR OWN. I PROFESS to feel å strong attachment to the (thu) liberty of the United States-to the constitution and free institutions of the United States-to the honor, and I may say the glōry, of this great government and great country. 2. I feel ěvèry injury inflicted upon this country, almost as å personal injury. I blush for every fault which I think I see committed in its public councils, as if they were faults or mistakes of my own. 3. I know that, at this moment, thêre is no object upon earth so attracting the gaze of the intelligent and civilized nations of the earth as this great Republic. All men look at us, all men exămine our course, all good men are anxious for a favorable result to this great experiment of Republican liberty. 4. We are on å hill, and can not be hid. We can not withdraw ourselves either from the commendation or the reproaches of the civilized world. They see us as that star of empire which hälf a century ago was predicted1 as making its way westward. 5. I wish they may see it as à mild, plăcid, though brilliant orb, making its way athwart the whole heavens, to the enlightening and cheering of mankind; and not a meteor2 of fire and blood, terrifying the nations. III. WEBSTER.3 Follow with unflinching tread 2. Craft and subtle treachery, 3. Honesty with steady eye, Love that gently winnèth hearts- 4. Prudent in the council train, 6. Thither turn the steady eye, 7. Let thy noble motto be, 8. Läugh at danger far or near; Spûrn at basenèss, spûrn at fear; 10. Happy if celestial favor Smile upon the high endeavor; Happy if it be thy call In the holy cause to fall. A. H. EVERETT.1 ALL IV. 58. OUR NATIONAL BANNER. LL HAIL to our glorious ensign! courage to the heart, and strength to the land, to which, in all time, it shall be intrusted! May it ever wave in honor, in unsullied glōry, and patriotic hope, on the dome of the capitol, on the country's stronghold, on the entented plain, on the wave-rocked topmåst. 2. Wherever, on the earth's surface, the eye of the American shall behold it, may he have reason to bless it! On whatsoever spot it is planted, there may freedom have a foothold, humanity a brave champion, and religion an altar. 3. Though stained with blood in å righteous cause, may it never, in any cause, be stained with shame. Alike, when its gorgeous folds shall wanton in lazy holiday triumphs on the summer breeze, and its tattered fragments be dimly seen through the clouds of war, may it be the joy and the pride of the American heart. 4. First raised in the cause of right and liberty, in that cause ålōne may it forever spread out its streaming blazonry to the battle and the storm. Having been bōrne victoriously across the continent, and on every sea, may virtue, and freedom, and peace forever follow where it leads the way. EVERETT.? 1 Alexander H, Everett, an American diplomatist, and accomplished man of letters, was born in Boston, March 19, 1792. He wrote much and well. For five years he waş editor and proprietor of the "North American Review." He was U. S. Minister to the Netherlands, to Spain, and Commissioner to China, where he died in Canton, 2 Edward Everett, an American statesman, Ŏrator, and man of letters, brother of the preceding, was born in Dorchester, Mass., April 11, 1794. As å scholar, rhetorician, and Ŏrator, he had but few equals. He died in Boston, Mass., Jan. 15, 1865. |