SECTION XVIII.

I.

65. DESTINY OF AMERICA.

THE Muse,' disgusted at an age and clime

Barren of every glorious theme,

In distant lands now waits a better time
Producing subjects worthy fame:

2. In happy climes, whêre, from the geniäl sun
And virgin earth, such scenes ensue,
The force of Art by Nature seems outdone,
And fancied beauties by the true:

3. In happy climes, the seat of innocence,
Where Nature guides, and Virtue rules;
Where men shall not impose for truth and sense
The pedantry of courts and schools:

4. Thêre shall be sung another golden age,
The rise of empire and of arts;

3

The good and great inspiring epic 3 rage,
The wisèst heads and noblest hearts.

5. Not such as Europe breeds in her decay:
Such as she bred when fresh and young;
When heavenly flame did animate her clay-
By future poets shall be sung.

6. Westward the course of empire takes its way:
The four first acts already påst,

A fifth shall close the dramå1 with the day:

Time's noblest offspring is the låst.

BERKELEY.5

1 Muse, one of the nine fabled 4 Drā'ma (or drä må), a stōry goddesses of the ancients, originally of song, and afterward of all kinds of poetry, and of the arts and sciences.

2 Pěd'ant ry, a boastful display of knowledge of any kind.

3 Ep'ic, containing narrative or recital; relating to an epic or heroic poem, in which the deeds of some great hero are narrated.

which is acted, not related; a number of connected events ending in some interesting or striking result.

II.

66. OUR COUNTRY'S HONOR OUR OWN.

I

PROFESS to feel a strong attachment to the liberty of the United States-to the constitution and free institutions of the United States-to the honor, and I may say the glory, of this great government and great country.

2. I feel ěvèry injury inflicted upon this country, almost as a 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 a 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 a mild, plăcid, though brilliant orb, making its way athwart the whōle heavens, to the enlightening and cheering of mankind; and not a meteor 2 of fire and blood, terrifying the nations.

WEBSTER.3

Follow with unflinching tread
Where the noble fäthers led.

2. Craft and subtle treachery,
Gallant youth! are not for thee;-
Follow thou in word and deeds
Where the God within thee leads.

8. Honesty with steady eye,
Truth and pure simplicity,

Love that gently winnèth hearts-
These shall be thy only arts.

4. Prudent in the council train,
Däuntless on the battle plain,
Ready at thy country's need
For her glorious cause to bleed.

5. Where the dews of night distil
Upon Vernon's holy hill;
Where above it, gleaming far,
Freedom lights her guiding star-

6. Thither turn the steady eye,
Flashing with a pûrpose high;
Thither with devotion meet
Often turn the pilgrim feet.

7. Let thy noble motto be,
God-the Country-Liberty!
Planted on Religion's rock,
Thou shalt stand in every shock.

8. Läugh at danger far or near;
Spûrn at basenèss, spurn at fear;
Still, with persevering might,
Speak the truth, and do the right.

9. So shall peace, a charming guest,
Dovelike in thy bosom rest;
So shall honor's steady blaze
Beam upon thy closing days:

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.'

IV.

58. OUR NATIONAL BANNER.

LL hail to our glorious ensign! courage to the heart, and strength to the hand, to which, in all time, it shall be intrusted! May it ever wave in honor, in unsullied glory, and patriotic hope, on the dome of the capitol, on the country's stronghold, on the entented plain, on the wave-rocked topmast.

2. Wherever, on the earth's sûrface, 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 a righteous cause, may it never, in any cause, be stained with shame. Alike, when its gorgeous folds shall wantón 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 ǎlōne 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.2

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 was 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,
May 29, 1847.

? Edward Everett, an American statesman, Ŏrator, and man of letters, brother of the preceding, was born in Dorchester, Mass., April 11, 1794. As a scholar, rhetorician, and orator, he had but few equals. He died in Boston, Mass., Jan. 15, 1865.

B

SECTION XIX.

I

69. THE EMIGRANT'S SONG.

ID adieu to the homestead, adieu to the vale;

Though the memory recalls them, give grief to the gale: Thêre the hearths are unlighted, the embers are black,

Where the feet of the onward shall never tûrn back.

For as well might the stream that comes down from the mount,
Glancing up, heave the sigh to return to its fount;
Yět the lordly Ohio feels joy in his breast

As he follows the sun onward into the West.

2. Oh! to roam, like the rivers, through empires of woods,
Where the king of the eagles in majesty broods;

Or to ride the wild horse ō'er the boundlèss domain,
And to drag the wild buffalo down to the plain;
There to chase the fleet stag, and to track the huge beâr,
And to face the lithe 1 panther at bay in his lair,
Are a joy which alone cheers the pioneer's breast;
For the only true hunting-ground lies in the West!
3. Leave the tears to the maiden, the fears to the child,
While the future stands beckoning afar in the wild;
For there Freedom, more fair, walks the primeval2 land,
Where the wild deer all court the caress of her hand.
There the deep forèsts fall, and the old shadows fly,
And the palace and temple leap into the sky.
Oh, the East holds no place where the onward can rest,
And alone there is room in the land of the West!

H

II.

70. LIFE IN THE WEST.

READ.3

O brothers-come hither and list to my story-
Měrry and brief will the narrative be:

1 Lithe, pliant; limber.

? Pri mē ́val, primitive; belŏnging to the earliest times; original.

3 Thomas Buchanan Read, an American painter and poet, was born

in Chester Co., Pa., March 12, 1822. A new edition of his poetical works in a collected form appeared in 1860. His verse is musical and his descrip. tions beautiful. He died May, 1872.