and not in land warrants, which are bought in most cases by speculators as an easier and cheaper mode of acquiring the public lands. So they only facilitate land monopoly. The men who go forth at the call of their country to uphold its standard and vindicate its honor, are deserving, it is true, of a more substantial reward than tears to the dead and thanks to the living; but there are soldiers of peace as well as of war, and though no waving plume beckons them on to glory or to death, their dying scene is often a crimson one. They fall leading the van of civilization along untrodden paths, and are buried in the dust of its advancing columns. No monument marks the scene of deadly strife; no stone their resting place; the winds sighing through the branches of the forest trees alone sing their requiem. Yet they are the meritorious men of the Republic-the men who give it strength in war and glory in peace. The achievments of your pioneer army, from the day they first drove back the Indian tribes from the Atlantic seaboard to the present hour, have been the achievements of science and civilization over the elements, the wilderness, and the savage.

If rewards or bounties are to be granted for true heroism in the progress of the race, none is more deserving than the pioneer who expels the savage and the wild beast, and opens in the wilderness a home for science and a pathway for civiliazation.

ALL VALUE CENTRES IN MIND.

Universal education, the culture of every mind born into the world, is necessary; if this world was made for any purpose besides the glory of God (and to contribute to God's glory is to exalt and dignify mind), unless its creation was an accident or a blunder, it was formed to be the schoolhouse of the race, to minister in its various forms of harmony, beauty, and sublimity, to the necessities of the souls that have been placed in it. It is for this that the mountain shoots up from the plain, and stands in majesty against the distant sky; for this the earth puts on her gorgeous robes of spring and summer; for this the sea is spread out in beauty when the winds

are hushed, or is rouse into terrific sublimity when the tempest is abroad; for this the heavens put on their star-decked mantle, and make the night more glorious than the day; for this planets and suns move with measured and obedient step through an extent of space that appals even the mind to which it ministers; for this all nature, like a grand instrument, with infinite variety of parts and expression, has been uttering her voice; from the time when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Every tint of the rose, every sigh of the breeze, every glimpse of the sunshine, is laid as an offering upon the shrine of mind; and man, feeble and frail though he be, is admitted to a share of the magnificent homage.

We may depend upon it, there is nothing with which we have to do that is of so much consequence as mind. And, if so, it follows that all mind should be educated. This is the great duty of humanity.

OUR SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION SHOULD DISTINCTIVELY INCULCATE A LOVE OF COUNTRY.

The true American patriot is ever a worshipper. The starry symbol of his country's sovereignty is to him radiant with a diviner glory than that which meets his mortal vision. It epitomizes the splendid results of dreary ages of experiments and failures in human government; and, as he gazes upon its starry folds undulating responsive to the whispering winds of the upper air, it sometimes seems to his rapt spirit to recede further and further into the soft blue skies, till the heavens open, and angel hands plant it upon the battlements of Paradise. Its stars seem real; its lines of white symbol the purity of his heroic sires; those of red, their patriot blood shed in defense of the right. To defend that flag, is to him something more than a duty, it is a joy, a coveted privilege, akin to that which nerves the arm and directs the blow in defense of wife or child. To insult it, is worse than infamy; to make war upon it, more than treason.

A perfect civil government is the sublimest earthly symbol of Deity-indeed, such a government is a transcript of the divine will; its spirit and principles identical with those with which he governs the universe. Its vigilance, care and protection, are ubiquitous, its strong hand is ever ready to raise the fallen, restrain the violent, and punish the aggressor. Its patient ear is bent to catch alike the complaint of the rich and strong, or the poor and weak, while unerring justice presides at the trial and settlement of every issue between man and

man.

Now, our government is not perfect, even in theory, and still less so in practice; but it is good, and strong, and glorious enough to inspire a loftier patriotism than animates the people of any other nation. What element is wanting to evoke the passionate love and admiration of an American citizen for his country?

LIBERTY AND THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.

Sir, the liberty of the press is the highest safeguard to all free government. Ours could not exist without it. It is like a great, exulting and abounding river. It is fed by the dews of heaven, which distil their sweetest drops to form it. It. gushes from the rill as it breaks from the deep caverns of the earth. It is augmented by a thousand affluents, that dash from the mountain-top, to separate again into a thousand bounteous and irrigating steams around. On its broad bosom it bears a thousand barks. There genius spreads its purpling sail. There poetry dips its silver oar. There art, invention, discovery, science, morality and religion, may safely and securely float. It wanders through every land. It is a genial, cordial source of thought and inspiration, wherever it touches, whatever it surrounds. Upon its borders there grows every flower of grace, and every fruit of truth. Sir, I am not here to deny that that river sometimes oversteps its bounds. I am not here to deny that that stream sometimes becomes a dangerous torrent, and destroys towns and cities upon its bank.

But I am here to say that, without it, civilization, humanity, government, all that makes society itself, would disappear, and the world would return to its ancient barbarism. Sir, if that were possible, though but for a moment, civilization would roll the wheels of its car backward for two thousand years, and the fine conception of the poet would be realized :

"As one by one, in dread Medea's train,

Star after star fades off the ethereal plain,
Thus at her fell approach and secret might
Art after art goes out, and all is night.
Philosophy, that leaned on heaven before,
Sinks to her second cause, and is no more.
Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,
And, unawares, morality expires."

A CATEGORICAL COURTSHIP.

I sat one night beside a blue-eyed girl—

The fire was out, and so, too, was her mother;
A feeble flame around the lamp did curl,

Making faint shadows, blending in each other;
"Twas nearly twelve o'clock, too, in November,
She had a shawl on, also, I remember.

Well, I had been to see her every night

To

For thirteen days, and had a sneaking notion

рор

the question, thinking all was right,

And once or twice had made an awkward motion
To take her hand, and stammered, coughed and stuttered,
But somehow nothing to the point had uttered.

I thought this chance too good now to be lost;
I hitched my chair up pretty close beside her,
Drew a long breath, and then my legs I crossed,

Bent over, sighed, and for five minutes eyed her;
She looked as if she knew what next was coming,
And with her foot upon the floor was drumming.
I did'nt know how to begin, or where—

I could'nt speak, the words were always choking;
I scarce could move-I seemed tied in my chair-

I hardly breathed-'t was awfully provoking;

The perspiration from each pore was oozing,

My heart and brain and limbs their power seemed losing.

At length I saw a brindle tabby cat

Walk purring up, inviting me to pat her;

An idea came, electric-like, at that—

My doubts, like summer clouds, began to scatter,
I seized on tabby, though a scratch she gave me,
And said, "Come, Puss, ask Mary if she'll have me?”
'Twas done at once-the murder now was out,

The thing was all explained in half a minute;
She blushed, and turning pussy cat about,

Said, "Pussy, tell him, yes!" Her foot was in it! The cat had thus saved me my category,

And here's the catastrophe of my story.

MUTUAL ASSISTANCE.

A man very lame was a little to blame,
To stray far from his humble abode;
Hot, thirsty, bemired, and heartily tired,
He laid himself down in the road.

While thus he reclined, a man who was blind,
Came by and entreated his aid:
"Deprived of my sight, unassisted to-night,
I shall not reach home, I'm afraid."

"Intelligence give of the place where you live,"
Said the cripple, "perhaps I may know it;
In my road it may be, and if you'll carry me,
It will give much pleasure to show it.

"Great strength you have got, which alas! I have not, In my legs so fatigued every nerve is;

For the use of your back, for the eyes which you lack, My pair shall be much at your service."

Said the other poor man,

"What an excellent plan!

Pray get on my shoulders, good brother; I see all mankind, if they are but inclined,

May constantly help one another."