Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

LESSON XXVIII.

EULOGY ON MASSACHUSETTS.

WEBSTER.

1. THE eulogium pronounced on the character of the state of South Carolina, by the honorable gentleman, for her revolu tionary and other merits, meets my hearty concurrence. I shall not acknowledge that the honorable member goes before me in regard for whatever of distinguished talent, or distinguished character, South Carolina has produced.

2. I claim part of the honor, I partake in the pride, of her great names. I claim them for countrymen, one and all, the Laurenses, the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions, Americans all, whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by state lines, than their talents and patriotism were capable of being circumscribed within the same narrow limits.

3. In their day and generation, they served and honored the country, and the whole country; and their renown is of the treasures of the whole country. Him whose honored name the gentleman himself bears does he esteem me less capable of gratitude for his patriotism, or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes had first opened upon the light of Massachusetts, instead of South Carolina ?

4. Sir, does he suppose it in his power to exhibit a Carolina name so bright, as to produce envy in my bosom? No, sir, increased gratification and delight, rather. I thank God, that, if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit, which would drag angels down.

5. When I shall be found, sir, in my place here in the senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at public merit, because it happens to spring up beyond the little limits of my own state or neighborhood; when I refuse, for any such cause, or for any cause,

the homage due to American talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere devotion to liberty and the country; or, if I see an uncommon endowment of Heaven, if I see extraordinary capacity and virtue, in any son of the south, and if, moved by local prejudice or gangrened by state jealousy, I get up here to abate the tithe of a hair from his just character and just fame, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!

6. Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections; let me indulge in refreshing remembrance of the past; let me remind you that, in early times, no states cherished greater harmony, both of principle and feeling, than Massachusetts and South Carolina. Would to God that harmony might again return! Shoulder to shoulder they went through the revolution, hand in hand they stood round the administration of Washington, and felt his own great arm lean on them for support. Unkind feeling, if it exists, alienation, and distrust are the growth, unnatural to such soils, of false principles since sown. They are weeds, the seeds of which that same great arm never scattered.

7. Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history; the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for independence, now lie mingled with the soil ofevery state from New England to Georgia; and there they

will lie forever.

8. And, sir, where American liberty raised its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it, if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it, if folly and madness, if uneasiness under salutary and necessary restraint, shall succeed in separating it from that Union, by which alone

its existence is made sure, it will stand, in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked; it will stretch forth its arm, with whatever of vigor it may still retain over the friends who gather round it; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the very spot of its origin!

LESSON XXIX.

THE VULTURE AND THE CAPTIVE INFANT.

ANON.

1. I've been among the mighty Alps, and wandered through their vales,

And heard the honest mountaineers relate their dismal tales,
As round the cotter's blazing hearth, when their daily work was

o'er,

They spake of those who disappeared, and ne'er were heard of

more.

2. And there, I, from a shepherd, heard a narrative of fear,

A tale to rend a mortal heart, which mothers might not hear:
The tears were standing in his eyes, his voice was tremulous,
But wiping all those tears away, he told his story thus:

3. "It is among these barren cliffs the ravenous vulture dwells,
Who never fattens on the prey which from afar he smells,
But, patient, watching hour on hour, upon a lofty rock,
He singles out some truant lamb, a victim from the flock.
4. "One cloudless Sabbath summer morn, the sun was rising high,
When, from my children on the green, I heard a fearful cry,
As if some awful deed were done, a shriek of grief and pain,
A cry, I humbly trust in God, I ne'er may hear again.

5. “I hurried out to learn the cause, but, overwhelmed with fright,
The children never ceased to shriek, and, from my frenzied sight,
I missed the youngest of my babes, the darling of my care,
But something caught my searching eyes, slow sailing though
the air.

6. "Oh! what an awful spectacle to meet a father's eye,-
His infant made a vulture's prey, with terror to descry;
And know, with agonizing heart, and with a maniac rave,
That earthly power could not avail, that innocent to save!
7. "My infant stretched his little hands imploringly to me,

And struggled with the ravenous bird, all vainly to get free!
At intervals I heard his cries, as loud he shrieked and screamed!
Until, upon the azure sky, a lessening spot he seemed.

8. "The vulture flapped his sail-like wings, though heavily he flew, A mote upon the sun's bright face, he seemed unto my view; But once I thought I saw him stoop, as if he would alight,— 'Twas only a delusive thought, for all had vanished quite.

9. "All search was vain, and years had passed,—that child was ne'er forgot,

When once a daring hunter climbed unto a lofty spot,

From thence upon a rugged crag the chamois never reached, He saw an infant's fleshless bones-the elements had bleached! 0. "I clambered up that rugged cliff,-I could not stay away,I knew they were my infant's bones, thus hastening to decay ; A tattered garment yet remained, though torn to many a shred; The crimson cap he wore that morn, was still upon his head." 11. That dreary spot is pointed out to travelers passing by, Who often stand, and musing, gaze, nor go without a sigh; And as I journeyed the next morn along my sunny way, The precipice was shown to me, whereon the infant lay.

LESSON XXX.

MARCO BOZZARIS.

HALLECK,

His last words were "To die for liberty is a pleasure and not a pain."

1. Ar midnight, in his guarded tent,

The Turk was dreaming of the hour,

When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent,
Should tremble at his power.

In dreams through camp and court he bore
The trophies of a conqueror;

In dreams his song of triumph heard;
Then wore his monarch's signet ring,
Then pressed that monarch's throne — a king;
As wild his thoughts and gay of wing,

As Eden's garden bird.

2. An hour passed on

- the Turk awoke;

That bright dream was his last :

He woke! to hear his sentry's shriek,

"To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek
He woke! to die midst flame and smoke,
And shout, and groan, and sabre stroke,
And death-shots falling thick and fast
As lightnings from the mountain cloud;
And heard with voice as trumpet loud,
Bozzaris cheer his band:-
:-

"Strike! till the last armed foe expires,
Strike! for your altars and your fires,
Strike! for the green graves of your sires
God - and your native land!"

3. They fought like brave men, long and well, They piled that ground with Moslem slain; They conquered — but Bozzaris fell,

Bleeding at every vein.

His few surviving comrades saw

His smile when rang their proud hurrah,

And the red field was won.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »