fused; that to look behind that, was such a resort to first principles or natural rights, as is involved in revolution, and must be decided as revolution ever is, by the relative strength of the ruling and the revolting forces.

On neither side was there any trickery, any bullying, any flimsy display of rhetorical power. All was grand as the subject for which they contended, solemn as the doom to which they seemed approaching. In the chief magistrate of that time all saw the unflinching executor of the nation's will- a man whose words were the sure prefigurements of his deeds. Their verdict must be carefully weighed, for it would be surely executed. In stern silence each sat to hear, to deliberate, to judge. The sharp logic and fiery vehemence of Hayne called up no angry flash, roused no personal vindictiveness; and the deep tones of Webster found as ready an entrance to southern as to northern hearts, while in those powerful words which seemed the fit weapons of a nation's champion, his mighty mind swept away all that opposed it, save that principle which lay imbedded in the very deepest stratum of the life of his opponents, and which could not be torn away from them till feeling and life were extinct.

MARY HENDERSON EASTMAN: About 1815.

From "The American Aboriginal Port Folio."

179. LAKE ITASKA, THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

THERE it lay-the beautiful lake - swaying its folds of crystal water between the hills that had guarded it from its birth. There it lay, placid as a sleeping child, the tall pines on the surrounding summits standing like so many motionless and watchful sentinels for its protection.

There was the sequestered birthplace of that mighty mass of waters, that, leaving the wilderness of beauty where they lived undisturbed and unknown, wound their way through many a desolate prairie, and fiercely lashed the time-worn bluffs, whose sides were as walls to the great city, where lived and died the toiling multitude. The lake was as some fair and pure maiden in her earthly youth, so beautiful, so full of repose and truth, that it was impossible to look and not to love.

There was but one landing to the lake, our travellers found. It was on a small island, that they called Schoolcraft's Island. On a tall spruce tree they raised the American flag.

1 This lady-a native of Virginia- has written several interesting books, chiefly relating to Indian tradition.

180. A PLEA FOR THE INDIANS.

THE light of the great council-fire-its blaze once illumined the entire country we now call our own—is faintly gleaming out its unsteady and dying rays. Our fathers were guests, and warmed themselves by its hospitable rays; now we are lords, and rule with an iron hand over those who received kindly, and entertained generously, the wanderer who came from afar to worship his God according to his own will. The very hearth where moulder the ashes of this once never-ceasing fire, is becoming desolate, the decaying embers sometimes starting into a brief brilliancy, and then fading into a gloom more sad, more silent, than ever. Soon will be scattered, as by the winds of heaven, the last ashes that remain. Think of it, O legislator! as thou standest in the Capitol, the great council-hall of thy country; plead for them “upon whose pathway death's dark shadow falls."

MARY E. MORAGNE.' 1815-.

181. From "The Huguenot Town."

AN ignorance of the common methods of agriculture practised here, as well as strong prejudices in favor of their former habits of living, prevented them from seizing with avidity on large bodies of land, by individual possession; but the site of a town being selected, a lot of four acres was apportioned to every citizen. In a short time a hundred houses had risen, in a regularly compact body, in the square of which stood a building superior in size and construction to the

rest.

The town was soon busy with the industry of its tradesmen ; silk and flax were manufactured, whilst the cultivators of the soil were taxed with the supply of corn and wine. The hum of cheerful voices arose during the week, mingled with the interdicted songs of praise ; and on the Sabbath the quiet worshippers assembled in their rustic church, listened with fervent response to that faithful pastor, who had been their spiritual leader through perils by sea and land, and who now directed their free, unrestrained devotion to the Lord of the forest. The woods still wave on in melancholy grandeur, with the added glory of near a hundred years; but they who once lived and worshipped beneath them—where are they? Shades of my ancestors, where? No crumbling wreck, no mossy ruin, points the antiquarian research to the place of their sojourn, or to their last resting-places ! The traces of a narrow trench, surrounding a square plat of ground,

1 One of the best female writers of South Carolina, who has of late years laid aside her pen.

now covered with the interlacing arms of hawthorn and wild honeysuckle, arrest the attention as we are proceeding along a strongly beaten track in the deep woods, and we are assured that this is the site of the "old French town" which has given its name to the portion of country around.

R. H. DANA, JR. 1815-. (Manual, p. 504.)

From "Two Years before the Mast."

182. A DEATH AT SEA.

DEATH is at all times solemn, but never so much so as at sea. A man dies on shore; his body remains with his friends, and "the mourners go about the streets;" but when a man falls overboard at sea, and is lost, there is a suddenness in the event, and a difficulty in realizing it, which give to it an air of awful mystery. A man

is shot down by your side in battle, and the mangled body remains an object, and a real evidence; but at sea the man is near you, at your side. You hear his voice; and in an instant he is gone, and nothing but a vacancy shows his loss. It is like losing a limb. There

are no new faces or new scenes to fill up the gap. There is always an empty berth in the forecastle, and one wanting when the small night watch is mustered. There is one less to take the wheel, and one less to lay out with you upon the yard.

ness.

There is more kindness shown by the officers to the crew, and by the crew to one another. There is more quietness and seriousThe oath and the loud laugh are gone. The officers are more watchful, and the crew go more carefully aloft. The lost man is seldom mentioned, or is dismissed with a sailor's rude eulogy, “Well, poor George is gone. His cruise is up soon. He knew his work, and did his duty, and was a good shipmate." Then usually follows some allusion to another world, for sailors are almost all believers; but their notions and opinions are unfixed, and at loose ends.

HORACE BINNEY WALLACE.1 1817-1852.

Art, Scenery, and Philosophy in Europe.

183. ART AN EMANATION OF RELIGIOUS AFFECTION. THE spirit conscious of an emotion of reverence for some unseen subject of its own apprehension desires to substantiate and fix its deity, and to bring the senses into the same adoring attitude; and this

1 A young writer of uncommon promise. His premature death occurred while on a tour in Europe.

can be done only by setting before them a material representation of the divine. This is illustrated in the universal and inveterate tendency of early nations to idolatry.

How and why was it that the sculpture of the Greeks attained a character so exalted that it shines on through our time, with a beam of glory peculiar and inextinguishable? When we enter the chambers of the Vatican, we are presently struck with the mystic influence that rays from those silent forms that stand ranged along the walls. Like the moral prestige that might encircle the vital presence of divine beings, we behold divinities represented in human shapes idealized into a significance altogether irresistible. What constitutes that idealizing modification we know not; but we feel that it imparts to the figures an interest and impressiveness which natural forms possess not. These sculptured images seem directly to address the imagination. They do not suffer the cold and critical survey of the eye, but awaken an instant and vivid mental consideration.

HENRY D. THOREAU. 1817-1862. (Manual, p. 532.)

From "Walden, or Life in the Woods."

184. THE BIRDS OF SPRING.

THE first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever! The faint, silvery warblings, heard over the partially bare and moist fields, from the bluebird, the song-sparrow, and the redwing, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell! What, at such a time, are histories, chronologies, traditions, and all written revelations? The brooks sing carols and glees to the spring. The marshhawk, sailing low over the meadow, is already seeking the first slimy life that awakes. The sinking sound of melting snow is heard in all dells, and the ice dissolves apace in the ponds. The grass flames up on the hill-sides like a spring fire,. as if the earth sent forth an inward heat to greet the returning sun; not yellow, but green, the color of its flame.

is

185. WALDEN POND.

THE greatest depth was exactly one hundred and two feet, to which may be added the five feet which it has risen since, making one hundred and seven. This is a remarkable depth for so small an area; yet not an inch of it can be spared by the imagination. What if all ponds were shallow? Would it not react on the minds of men? I am thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol. While men believe in the infinite, some ponds will be thought to be bottomless.

ELIZABETH F. ELLETT. ISIS-. (Manual, p. 484, 490.)

From "Pioneer Women of the West."

186. ESCAPE OF MARY BLEDSOE FROM THE INDIANS.

It was not consistent with Spencer's chivalrous character to attempt to save himself by leaving his companion to the mercy of the foe. Bidding her retreat as fast as possible, and encouraging her to keep her seat firmly, he protected her by following more slowly in her rear, with his trusty rifle in his hand. When the Indians in pursuit came too near, he would raise his weapon as if to fire; and as he was known to be an excellent marksman, the savages were not willing to encounter him, but hastened to the shelter of trees, while he continued his retreat. In this manner he kept them at bay for some miles, not firing a single shot - for he knew that his threatening had more effect until Mrs. Bledsoe reached a station. Her life and his own, were, on this occasion, saved by his prudence and presence of mind; for both would have been lost had he yielded to the temptation to fire.

187. CHARACTER OF THE PIONEER WOMEN.

BEREAVED of her husband, sons, and brother-in-law, by the murderous savages, Mrs. Bledsoe was obliged to undertake not only the charge of her husband's estate, but the care of the children, and their education and settlement in life. These duties were discharged with unwavering energy and Christian patience. The record of

her worth, and of what she did and suffered, may win little attention from the careless many, who regard not the memory of our "pilgrim mothers; " but the recollection of her gentle virtues has not yet faded from the hearts of her descendants, and those to whom they tell the story of her life will acknowledge her the worthy companion of those noble men to whom belongs the praise of having originated a new colony, and built up a goodly state in the bosom of the forest. Their patriotic labors, their struggles with the surrounding savages, their efforts in the maintenance of the community they had founded, sealed, as they finally were, with their own blood, and the blood of their sons and relatives, - will never be forgotten while the apprehension of what is noble, generous, and good, survives in the hearts of their countrymen.