2 LESSON XXIII. NEW ENGLAND.- PERCIVAL. [The reader may tell the kind of verse to which this piece belongs, and the number of feet in the different lines. See p. 212.] 1. Hail to the land whereon we tread, The sepulcher of mighty dead, Who sleep in glory's brightest bed, 2. Our fathers crossed the ocean's wave They left behind the coward slave With hearts unbent, and spirits brave, Such toils, as meaner souls had quelled; To soar. 3. Hail to the morn, when first they stood And, fearless, stemmed the invading flood, In desperate fight! Oh! 't was a proud, exulting day, For e'en our fallen fortunes lay In light. 4. There is no other land like thee, No dearer shore; Thou art the shelter of the free; Thou hast been, and shalt ever be, Ere I forget to think upon My land, shall mother curse the son 5. Thou art the firm, unshaken rock, And, rising from thy hardy stock, All, who the wreath of freedom twine, 6. We love thy rude and rocky shore, Let foreign navies hasten o'er, And peal their cannon's loudest roar, They still shall find our lives are given 7. Thou mountain land! thou land of rock! I'm proud to call thee free; Thy sons are of the Pilgrim stock, And nerved like those who stood the shock At old Thermopyla! Hugh Peters. LESSON XXIV. THE INDIAN. EVERETT. [Let the reader determine the character of the language in this piece, and tell how it should be read. See Rule 12, p. 194.] 1. Think of the country for which the Indians fought! Who can blame them? As Philip * looked down from his seat on Mount Hope, that glorious eminence; as he looked down and beheld the lovely scene which spread beneath at a summer sunset, the distant hill-tops blazing with gold, the slanting beams streaming along the waters, the broad plains, the island groups, the majestic forest, could he be blamed, if his heart burned within him, as he beheld it all passing, by no tardy process, from beneath his control, into the hands of the stranger? 2. No wonder, if in company with a friendly settler, contemplating the progress already made by the white man, and marking the gigantic strides with which he was advancing into the wilderness, he should fold his arms and say, "White man, there is eternal war between me and thee! I quit not the land of my fathers, but with my life! In those woods where I bent my youthful bow, I will still hunt the deer; over yonder waters, I will still glide unrestrained in my bark canoe; by those dashing waterfalls, I will still lay up my winter's store of food; on these fertile meadows, I will still plant my corn. 3. "Stranger, the land is mine! I understand not these paper rights. I gave not my consent, when, as thou sayest, these broad regions were purchased, for a few baubles, of my fathers. They could sell what was theirs; they could sell How could my fathers sell that which the Great Spirit sent me into the world to live upon? They knew no more. Philip, a celebrated Indian chief in the war of 1675, whose seat and headquarters were at Mount Hope, in Rhode Island not what they did. The stranger came — a timid suppliant, few and feeble and asked to lie down on the red man's bear-skin, and warm himself at the red man's fire, and have a little piece of land, to raise corn for his women and children; and now he is become strong, and mighty, and bold, and spreads out his parchment over the whole, and says, 'It is mine.' The Great 4. "Stranger, there is not room for us both. Spirit has not made us to live together. There is poison in the white man's cup: the white man's dog barks at the red man's heels. If I should leave the land of my fathers, whither shall I fly? Shall I go to the south, and dwell among the graves of the Pequots ? Shall I wander to the the fierce Mohawk, the man-eater, is my foe. Shall I fly to the east, the great water is before me. No, stranger; here I have lived, and here will I die; and if here thou abidest, there is eternal war between me and thee. Thou hast taught me thy arts of destruction; for that alone, I thank thee. And now, take heed to thy steps, red man is thy foe! west, the 5. "When thou goest forth by day, my bullet shall whistle by thee; when thou liest down at night, my knife is at thy throat. The noonday sun shall not discover thy enemy, and the darkness of midnight shall not protect thy rest. Thou shalt plant in terror, and I will reap in blood; thou shalt sow the earth with corn, and I will strew it with ashes; thou shalt go forth with the sickle, and I will follow after with the scalping-knife; thou shalt build, and I will burn, till the white man or the Indian shall cease from the land. Go thy way for this time in safety; but remember, stranger, there is eternal war between me and thee!" Pe'quots and Mo'hawks, the names of two Indian tribes. LESSON XXV. DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. WEBSTER. [See Rule 3, p. 169.] 1. Fellow-Citizens: - Let us not retire from this occasion, without a deep and solemn conviction of the duties which have devolved upon us. This lovely land, this glorious liberty, these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our fathers, are ours; ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit. Generations past, and generations to come, hold us responsible for this sacred trust. 2. Our fathers, from behind, admonish us with their anxious, paternal voices; posterity calls out to us from the bosom of the future; the world turns hither its solicitous eyes; all, all conjure us to act wisely and faithfully, in the relation which we sustain. We can never, indeed, pay the debt which is upon us; but, by virtue, by morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good principle and every good habit, we may hope to enjoy the blessing through our day, and leave it unimpaired to our children. 3. Let us feel deeply, how much of what we are, and what we possess, we owe to this liberty, and to these institutions of government. Nature has, indeed, given us a soil, which yields bounteously to the hands of industry; the mighty and fruitful ocean is before us, and the skies, over our heads, shed health and vigor. But what are lands, and seas, and skies, to civilized man, without society, without knowledge, without morals, without religious culture; and how can these be enjoyed in all their extent, and all their excellence, but under the protection of wise institutions, and a free government? 4. Fellow-citizens, there is not one of us here present, who does not at this moment, and at every moment, experi ence in his own condition, and in the condition of those most |