Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

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 un bounded 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 whe 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.

5. Accursed, then, be the hand put forth to loosen the golden cord of Union! thrice accursed, the traitorous lips which shall propose its severance! But no! the Union cannot be dissolved. Its fortunes are too brilliant to be marred; its destinies too powerful to be resisted. Here will be their greatest triumph, their most mighty development.

6. And, when a century hence, the Crescent city shall have filled her golden horns, - when within her broadarmed port shall be gathered the products of the industry of a hundred millions of freemen, when galleries of art and halls of learning shall have made classic this mart of trade, then may the sons of pilgrims, still wandering from the bleak hills of the north, stand upon the banks of the

Great river and exclaim with mingled pride and wonder, — "Lo, this is our country; when did the world ever behold so rich and magnificent a city, so great and glorious a Republic!"

LESSON CV.

SELECT PARAGRAPHS.

[Let the pupil determine the kinds of emotion exemplified in the following extracts, and refer to the rule or rules for reading each.]

1. SHYLOCK'S ADDRESS TO ANTONIO. ·

[ocr errors]

SHAKSPEARE.

1. Signior Antonio,† many a time, and oft,
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys, and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe:
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gabardine,

And all for use of that which is mine own.

2. Well then, it now appears, you need my help:
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say,
"Shylock, we would have moneys;" you say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold; moneys is your suit.

3. What shall I say to you?

Should I not say, "Hath a dog money? is it possible,

*Shylock, here represents a Jew.

↑ An'to-nio, here represented as a merchant of Venice.

↑ Ri-al'to, a magnificent bridge over the grand canal in Venice.

A cur can lend three thousand ducats?" or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With 'bated breath, and whispering humbleness,
Say this:

"Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurned me such a day; another time
You called me - dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys?"

2. RODERICK DHU AND FITZ-JAMES.†Scorr. ↑

1. In dread, in danger, and alone,

Famished and chilled, through ways unknown,
Tangled and steep, he journeyed on;
Till, as a rock's huge point he turned,
A watch-fire close before him burned.

sprang,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

2. Beside its embers red and clear,
Basked, in his plaid, a mountaineer;
And up he
with sword in hand, -
"Thy name and purpose! Saxon, stand!
"A stranger." "What dost thou require?"
"Rest and a guide, and food, and fire:
My life's beset, my path is lost,
The gale has chilled my limbs with frost."

"No."

3. "Art thou a friend to Roderick?"
"Thou darest not call thyself a foe?"
"I dare to him and all the band
He brings to aid his murderous hand."
"If by the blaze I mark aright,

Thou bearest the belt and spur of knight."

*Rod'er-ick Dhu, the name of a Scottish highland-chief.

↑ Fitz-James', king of Scotland.

↑ Sir Walter Scott, a celebrated poet, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1741.

"Then, by these tokens, mayst thou know
Each proud oppressor's mortal foe."
"Enough, enough; sit down and share
A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare."

LESSON CVI.

THE THREE BLACK CROWS.-BYROM.

[See Personation, p. 202, and Rhetorical Dialogue, p. 205.]

1 Two honest tradesmen, meeting in the Strand,
One took the other briskly by the hand:
"Hark ye," said he, "'t is an odd story this,
About the crows!"-"I don't know what it is,"
Replied his friend.

2.

ཉ་

"No! I'm surprised at that; Where I came from, it is the common chat. But shall hear, an odd affair indeed!

you

[ocr errors]

And that it happened, they are all agreed.
Not to detain you from a thing so strange, -
A gentleman that lives not far from 'Change,
This week, in short, (as all the alley knows,)

Took physic, and has thrown up three black crows!"

66

Impossible!" "Nay, but it's really true;

I had it from good hands, and so may you."

"From whose, I pray?" So, having named the man,

Straight to inquire, his curious comrade ran.

66

Sir, did you tell?"-relating the affair:

"Yes, sir, I did; and, if it's worth your care,

Byʻrom, (John,) an English poet,born in Kersal near Manchester, and died at the latter place in 1783, aged seventy-two.

Ask Mr. Such-a-one; he told it me;

But, by-the-by, 't was two black crows, not three."
Resolved to trace so wondrous an event,

Whip to the third, the virtuoso went.

4. "Sir," and so forth,- 66

Why, yes, the thing is fact, Though in regard to number, not exact;

It was not two black crows, 't was only one;
The truth of that you may depend upon :
The gentleman himself told me the case."

5. "Where may I find him?".

66

Why, in such a place.”

Away he goes, and having found him out,— "Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt."

Then to his last informant he referred,

And begged to know if true, what he had heard. "Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?"—"Not I!"

6. "Bless me! how people propagate a lie!

Black crows have been thrown up, three, two, and one,
And here I find, at last, all comes to none!

Did you say nothing of a crow at all?"

"Crow? crow?—perhaps I might, now I recall

The matter over." "And pray, sir, what was 't?"
Why, I was horrid sick, and, at the last,

66

I did throw up, (and told my neighbor so,)

Something that was as black, sir, as a crow."

LESSON CVII.

AMERICA AND WASHINGTON. PHILLIPS.

1. I appeal to History. Tell me, thou reverend chronicler of the grave, can all the illusions of ambition realized,

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »