vulgar great. The object of his regard was the whole country. No part of it was enough to fill his enlarged patriotism. His love of glory, so far as that may be supposed to have influenced him at all, spurned every thing short of general approbation. It would have been nothing to him, that his partisans or his favorites outnumbered, or outvoted, or outmanaged, or outclamored those of other leaders. He had no favorites; he rejected all partisanship; and, acting honestly for the universal good, he deserved, what he had so richly enjoyed, the universal love. 13. The maxims upon which Washington conducted our foreign relations were few and simple. The first was an entire and indis'putable impartiality towards foreign states. He adhered to this rule of public conduct against věry strong inducements to depart from it, and when the popularity of the moment seemed to favor such a departure. In the next place, he maintained true dignity and unsullied honor in all communications with foreign states. It was among the high duties devolved upon him, to introduce our new government into the circle of civilized states and powerful nations. Not arrogant or assuming, with no unbecoming or supercilious bearing, he yet exacted for it from all others entire and punctilious respect. He demanded, and he obtained at once, a standing of perfect equality for his country in the society of nations; nor was there a prince or pōtentate of his day, whose personal character carried with it, into the intercourse of other states, a greater degree of respect and veneration. 14. His own singleness of purpose, his disinterested patriotism, were evinced by the selection of his first cabinet, and by the manner in which he filled the seats of justice, and other places of high trust. He sought for men fit for office; not for offices which might suit men. Above personal considerations, above local considerations, above party considerations, he felt that he could only discharge the sacred trust which the country had placed in his hands, by a diligent inqui'ry after reäl merit, and a conscientious preference of virtue and talent. The whole country was the field of his selection. He explored that whole field, looking only for whatever it contained most worthy and distinguished. He was, indeed, most successful, and he deserved success for the purity of his motives, the liberality of his sentiments, and his enlarged and manly policy. 15. Washington's administration established the national credit, made provision for the public debt, and for that patriotic army whose interests and welfare were always so dear to him; and, by laws wisely framed, and of admirable effect, raised the commerce and navigation of the country, almost at once, from depression and ruin to a state of prosperity. Nor were his eyes open to these interests ǎlōne. He viewed with equal concern its agriculture and manufactures, and, so far as they came within the regular exercise of the powers of this government, they experienced regard and favor. 16. It should not be omitted, even in this slight reference to the general measures and general principles of the first president, that he saw and felt the full value and importance of the judicial department of the government. An upright and able administration of the laws, he held to be alike indispensable to private happiness and public liberty. The temple of justice, in his opinion, was a sacred place, and he would profane and pollute it who should call any to minister in it not spotless in character, not incorruptible in integrity, not competent by talent and learning, not a fit object of unhesitating trust. 17. Finally, gentlemen, there was in the breast of Washington one sentiment so deeply felt, so constantly uppermost, that no proper occasion escaped without its utterance. He regarded the union of these States less as one of blessing, than as the great treasure-house which contained them all. Here, in his judgment, was the great magazine of all our means of prosperity; here, as he thought, and as ěvèry true. Aměrican still thinks, are deposited all our animating prospects, all our solid hopes for future greatness. He has taught us to maintain this union, not by seeking to enlarge the powers of the government on the one hand, nor by surrendering them on the other; but by an administration of them at once firm and moderate, pursuing objects truly national, and carried on in a spirit of justice and equity. 18. Full of gratifying anticipations and hopes, let us look forward to the end of the century which is now commenced. A hundred years hence, other disciples of Washington will cele brate his birth with no less of sincere admiration than we now commemorate it. When they shall meet, as we now meet, to do themselves and him that honor, so surely as they shall see the blue summits of his native mountains rise in the horiʼzon, so surely as they shall behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose banks he rests, still flowing on toward the sea, so surely may they see, as we now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol; and then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land mōre free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country! Adapted from DANIEL WEBSTER. DANIEL WEBSTER, one of the greatest, if not the greatest of American orators, jurists, and statesmen, was born in the town of Salisbury, New Hampshire, January 18, 1782. At the age of fifteen he entered Dartmouth College, where he graduated in due course, exhibiting remarkable faculties of mind. When in his nineteenth year, he delivered a Fourth of July oration, at the request of the citizens of Hanover, which, energetic, and well stored with historical matter, proved him, at that early age, something more than a Founder of empty words. Upon graduating, in 1801, he assumed the charge of an academy for a year; then commenced the study of law in his native village, which he completed in Boston, in 1805. He first practiced his profession near his early home; but, not long after, feeling the necessity of a wider sphere of action, he removed to Portsmouth, where he soon gained a prominent position. In 1812 he was elected to a seat in the National Congress, where he displayed remarkable powers both as a debater and an orator. In 1817 he removed to Boston, and resumed the practice of his profession with the highest distinction. In 1822 he was elected to a seat in Congress from the city of Boston; and in 1827 was chosen senator of the United States from Massachusetts. From that period he was seldom out of public life, having been twice Secretary of State, in which office he died. In 1839 he visited England and France, and was received with the greatest distinction in both countries. His works, arranged by his friend, Edward Everett, were published in six volumes, at Boston, in 1851. They bear the impress of a comprehensive intellect and exalted patriotism. He died at Marshfield, surrounded by his friends, October 24, 1852. The last words he uttered were, "I still live." Funeral honors were paid to his memory, in the chief cities of the Union, by processions and orations. A marble block, placed in front of his tomb, bears the inscription: "LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MY UNBELIEF.' SECTION XVIII. I. 81. HAUNTED HOUSES. LL houses wherein men have lived and died 2. We meet them at the doorway, on the stair, A sense of something moving to and fro. 3. There are mōre guests at table than the hōsts Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, 4. The stranger at my fireside can not see 5. We have no title-deeds to house or lands; 6. The spirit-world around this world of sense 7. Our little lives are kept in equipoise 8. These perturbations,' this perpetual jar Of earthly wants and aspirations high, 9. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud 1 Mort' main, possession of lands or tenements in dead hands, or hands that can not alienate-a term originally applied to conveyances of lands made to ecclesiastical bodies. 2 Per tur ba' tion, the act or the state of being agitated, disturbed, disquicted, or confused. 10. So from the world of spirits there descends SON II. H. W. LONGFELLOW, 82. THE HAUNTED HOUSE. PART FIRST. OME dreams we have are nothing else but dreams, Yět others of our most romantic schemes Are something more than fictions. It might be only on enchanted ground! It might be merely by a thought's expansion; But in the spirit, or the flesh, I found An old deserted mansion. 2. A residence for woman, child, and man, A dwelling-place—and yet no habitation; Unhinged the iron gates half open hung, 3. No dog was at the threshold, great or small; Not one domestic feature. No human figure stirred, to go or come, No face looked fōrth from shut or open casement; No chimney smoked-there was no sign of home From parapet to basement. 4. With shattered panes the grassy court was starred; The time-worn coping-stone had tumbled after; And through the ragged roof the sky shōne, barred With naked beam and rafter. O'er all there hung a shadow and a fear; |