And WILL, a brother twin;
And, arm in arm, in love and truth,
They'll either die or win.

Shoulder to shoulder, ever ready,
All firm and fearless still,
The brothers labor, true and steady,—
I CAN, and brave I WILL.

I CAN climbs to the mountain top,
And ploughs the billowy main ;1
He lifts the hammer in the shop,
And drives the saw and plane.

Then say "I can!" Yes, let it ring; There is a volume 2 there:

There's meaning in the eagle's wing: Then soar, and do, and DARE.

Oh, banish from you every "Can't,"
And show yourself a man;

And nothing will your purpose daunt,
Led by the brave I CAN.

1 main, ocean or main sea.

2 volume, power.

* 10 *

CASABIANCA.1

A TRUE STORY.

THE boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead:
Yet beautiful and bright he stood
As born to rule the storm!
A creature of heroic blood,

A proud, though childlike form!

The flames rolled on - he would not go
Without his father's word:
That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.
He called aloud: "Say, father, say
If yet my task is done!"

He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.

"Speak, father!" once again he cried,
"If I may yet be gone!"

2

And but the booming 3 shots replied,

And fast the flames rolled on.

1 Casabianca was son to a French Admiral commanding the flag-ship L'Orient at the battle of the Nile, 1798.

2 but, only.

3 booming, deep sounding.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,

And looked from that lone post of death
In still yet brave despair;

And shouted but once more aloud,

"My father! must I stay?"

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,

The wreathing fires made way. They wrapt the ship in splendor wild,

They caught the flag on high,

And streamed above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder-sound-
The boy-oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around

With fragments strewed the sea, —
With mast, and helm, and pennon 1 fair,
That well had borne their part;

But the noblest thing which perished there Was that young faithful heart!

MRS. FELICIA HEMANS.

* 11-*

ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY.

THE boy who does a stroke, and stops,
Will ne'er a great man be:

'Tis the aggregate 2 of single drops
That makes the sea the sea.

1

pennon,

small flag.

2 aggregate, whole amount, mass.

The mountain was not at its birth
A mountain, so to speak:

The little atoms of sand and earth
Have made its peak a peak.

Not all at once the morning streams,1
The gold above the gray:
"Tis thousand little yellow gleams
That makes the day the day.

Not from the snow-drift, May awakes,
In purples, reds, and greens;
Spring's whole bright retinue 2 it takes
To make her queen of queens.

Upon the orchard, rain must fall,
And soak from branch to root,
And blossoms bloom and fade withal,
Before the fruit is fruit.

The farmer needs must sow and till,
And wait the wheaten bread;
Then cradle, thrash, and go to mill,
Before the bread is bread.

Swift heels may get the early shout,
But, spite of all the din,

It is the patient holding out

That makes the winner win.

1 streams, emits streams of light. 2 retinue, train of followers.

Make this your motto, then, at start,
'Twill help to smooth the way,

And steady up both hand and heart, —
"Rome wasn't built in a day!"

ALICE CARY.

* 12 *

LITTLE BY LITTLE.

ONE step, and then another,
And the longest walk is ended;
One stitch, and then another,

And the largest rent is mended;
One brick upon another,

And the highest wall is made;
One flake upon another,

And the deepest snow is laid.

So the little coral-workers,1

By their slow but constant motion,
Have built those pretty islands
In the distant dark-blue ocean;
And the noblest undertakings
Man's wisdom hath conceived,2
By oft repeated efforts

Have been patiently achieved.3

1 coral, a hard limy substance of various colors. It is really the skeletons of a kind of animal resembling plants or flowers. In some warm latitudes of the ocean they have formed coral-reefs or coral islands.

2 conceived, planned.

3 achieved, done.