1.

THE CONSTITUTION.

W. C. BRYANT.

GREAT were the hearts, and strong the minds
Of those who framed, in high debate,
The immortal league* of love, that binds
Our fair broad Empire, State with State.
2. And deep the gladness of the hour,

When, as the auspicious task was done,
In solemn trust, the sword of power,
Was given to glory's unspoiled son.t
the suns

3. That noble race is gone;

Of sixty years have risen and set;
But the bright links, those chosen ones
So strongly forged, are brighter yet.

4. Wide, as our own free race increase-
Wide shall extend the elastic chain,
And bind in everlasting peace,
State after State,—a mighty train.

LESSON XXIX.

LIBERTY AND UNION, ONE AND INSEPARABLE.

WEBSTER.

1. I CAN not persuade myself to relinquish this subject, without expressing my deep conviction, that, since it respects nothing less than "THE UNION OF THE STATES," it is of most vital and essential importance to the public happiness. I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preservation of our federal union. It is to that union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and dignity abroad. is to that union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country.

*The CONSTITUTION of the United States.

trate.

WASHINGTON, who was first intrusted with the office of Chief Magis

2. That union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign influences, these great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life.

3. Every year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings; and, although our territory has stretched out wider and wider, and our population spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been to us a copious fountain of national, social, and personal happiness.

4. I have not allowed myself to look beyond the union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty, when the bonds that unite us together, shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in the affairs of this government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the union should be best preserved, but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it shall be broken up and destroyed.

5. While the union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the vail. God grant that, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise,—that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind.

6. When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious union,— on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent,—on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased

or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as, "What is all this worth?” nor those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first, and Union afterward;" (<) but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,-LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE!

LESSON XXX.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.-The following thrilling incident, though an ancient theme, happily illustrates the power of true friendship. DIONYSIUS was a cruel tyrant of Sicily. Among other acts, he caused an immense cave, 250 feet in length, to be constructed in a rock, in the form of the human ear, by which all the sounds from without were directed to a common center which communicated to an adjoining apartment, where he spent the greater part of his time to hear whatever might be said by those whom his suspicions had cruelly confined in rooms above. Lest the artists, employed in making it, should reveal the design of its construction, he caused them to be put to death.

DAMON AND PYTHIAS; OR, TRUE FRIENDSHIP.

WM. PETER.

1. (___)“HERE, guards!" pale with fear, Dionysius cries, 'Here, guards, yon intruder arrest!

66

'Tis Damon, but ha! speak, what means this disguise? And the dagger which gleams in thy vest?"

(0) ""Twas to free," says the youth, "this dear land from its

chains !"

[pains."

"Free the land! wretched fool, thou shalt die for thy

2. "I am ready to die,-I ask not to live,—

Yet three days of respite, perhaps, thou may'st give;

For, to-morrow my sister will wed,

And 'twould damp all her joy, were her brother not there;
Then let me, I pray, to her nuptials repair,

While a friend remains here in my stead."

3. With a sneer on his brow, and a cùrse in his breast:
"Thou shalt have," cries the tyrant, "shalt have thy re-
To thy sister repair, and her nuptials attend, [quest;
Enjoy thy three days; but mark well what I say,-
Return on the third; if, beyond that fixed day,
There be but one hour's, but one moment's delay,
That delay shall be death to thy friend!"

4. Then to Pythias he went; and he told him his case;
That true friend answered not; but, with instant embrace,
Consenting, rushed forth to be bound in his room;
And now, as if winged with new life from above,
To his sister he flew, did his errand of love,
And, ere a third morning had brightened the grove,
Was returning with joy to his doom.

And, when the poor pilgrim arrived at the shore,

Swoll'n to torrents, the rills

Rushed in foam from the hills,

And crash went the bridge in the whirlpool's wild roar.

6. Wildly gazing, despairing, half frenzied he stood; Dark, dark were the skies, and dark was the flood, And still darker his lorn heart's emotion;

And he shouted for aid, but no aid was at hand,

No boat ventured forth from the surf-ridden strand,

And the waves sprang, like floods, o'er the lessening land, And the stream was becoming an ocean.

7. Now with knees low to earth, and with hands to the skies;
"Still the storm, God of might, God of mercy!" he cries;
"O, hush with Thy breath this loud sea!

The hours hurry by,-the sun glows on high;
And should he go down, and I reach not yon town,
My friend he must perish for me!"

8. Yet the wrath of the torrent still went on increasing,
And waves upon waves still dissolved without ceasing,
And hour after hour hurried on;

9.

Then, by anguish impelled, hope and fear alike o'er,
He, reckless, rushed into the water's deep roar;

Rose, sunk, struggled on,-till, at length, the wished shore,

Thanks to Heaven's outstretched hand,-it is won!

But new perils await him; scarce 'scaped from the flood,
And intent on redeeming each moment's delay,

As onward he sped, lo! from out a dark wood,
A band of fierce robbers encompassed his way.
"What would ye?" he cried,

naught;"

66

save my life, I have

"Nay, that is the king's."-Then swift having caught
A club from the nearest, and swinging it round

With might more than man's, he laid three on the ground,
While the rest hurried off in dismay.

10.

But the noon's scorching flame

11.

Soon shoots through his frame,

[sigh,

And he turns, faint and way-worn, to Heaven with a "From the flood and the foe,

Thou'st redeemed me, and oh!

Thus, by thirst overcome, must I effortless lie,

And leave him, the beloved of my bosom,-to die?"

Scarce uttered the word,

When, startled, he heard

Purling sounds, sweet as silver's, fall fresh on his ear;
And lo! a small rill

Trickled down from the hill!

He heard, and he saw, and, with joy drawing near,

Laved his limbs, slaked his thirst, and renewed his career.

12. And now the sun's beams through the deep boughs are

glowing,

[ing,

And rock, tree, and mountain, their shadows are throw

Huge and grim, o'er the meadow's bright bloom;

And two travelers are seen coming forth on their way,
And just as they pass, he hears one of them say :—
""Tis the hour that was fixed for his doom!"