in America they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever appeared, and which will hereafter become distinct by the power of the different climates they inhabit. The American ought therefore to s love his country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born. Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor; his labor is founded on the basis of nature, self-interest. Can it want a stronger allurement?

IO

15

Women and children, who before in vain demanded a morsel of bread, now gladly help their men folk to clear those fields whence exuberant crops are to arise to feed and to clothe them all, without any part being claimed either by a despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord.

Religion demands but little of the American: a small voluntary salary to the minister, and gratitude to God. Can he refuse these?

The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas and form 20 new opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labor, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence. This is an American.

-Letters of an American Farmer.

1. What is Crèvecœur's definition of an American? How would you define an American to-day?

2. Explain lines 15-18, on page 336. What does the last clause of the sentence mean?

3. What reasons does the author give for a great love of country on the part of Americans? Do these reasons still hold good?

4. Explain: Alma Mater, posterity, allurement, voluntary, servile, penury, subsistence.

THE RISING OF '76

BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ

Read this selection entirely through before stopping to inquire the meaning of puzzling passages. Then re-read it for the references not previously clear to you. A final reading should enable you to get the fullness of the author's meaning. On your first reading you should be able to determine generally when the events took place, where, and what happened.

UT of the North the wild news came,

OUT

Far flashing on its wings of flame,

Swift as the boreal light that flies

At midnight through the startled skies.
And there was tumult in the air,

The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat
And through the wide land everywhere

The answering tread of hurrying feet;
While the first oath of Freedom's gun
Came on the blast of Lexington;
And Concord, roused, no longer tame,
Forgot her old baptismal name,
Made bare her patriot arm of power,
And swelled the discord of the hour.

Within its shade of elm and oak

The church of Berkeley Manor stood;
There Sunday found the rural folk,
And some esteemed of gentle blood.
In vain their feet with loitering tread

5

10

15

Passed mid the graves where rank is naught;
All could not read the lesson taught

In that republic of the dead.

How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk,

The vale with peace and sunshine full,
Where all the happy people walk,

Decked in their homespun flax and wool!
Where youth's gay hats with blossoms bloom,
And every maid, with simple art,

Wears on her breast, like her own heart,
A bud whose depths are all perfume;

While every garment's gentle stir
Is breathing rose and lavender.

The pastor came: his snowy locks

Hallowed his brow of thought and care;
And calmly, as shepherds lead their flocks,
He led into the house of prayer.

The pastor rose; the prayer was strong;
The psalm was warrior David's song;

The text, a few short words of might,

"The Lord of hosts shall arm the right!"

He spoke of wrongs too long endured,
Of sacred rights to be secured;
Then from his patriot tongue of flame
The startling words for Freedom came.
The stirring sentences he spake

Compelled the heart to glow or quake,

When Berkeley cried, "Cease, traitor! Cease!
God's temple is the house of peace!"
The other shouted, "Nay, not so,
When God is with our righteous cause;
His holiest places then are ours,
His temples are our forts and towers
That frown upon the tyrant foe;
In this, the dawn of Freedom's day,
There is a time to fight and pray!"

And now before the open door

The warrior priest had ordered soThe enlisting trumpet's sudden roar Rang through the chapel, o'er and o'er, Its long reverberating blow,

So loud and clear, it seemed the ear
Of dusty death must wake and hear;
And there the startling drum and fife
Fired the living with fiercer life.

5 While overhead, with wild increase,
Forgetting its ancient toll of peace,
The great bell swung as ne'er before.
It seemed as it would never cease;
And every word its ardor flung

15

From off its jubilant iron tongue

Was, "War! War! War!"

"Who dares?"- this was the patriot's cry,
As striding from the desk he came, —
"Come out with me, in Freedom's name,

For her to live, for her to die?"

A hundred hands flung up reply,

A hundred voices answered, "I.”

1. Explain the following references in the first stanza: "the North"; "wild news"; "boreal light"; "first oath of Freedom's gun"; "Concord . . forgot her old baptismal name."

2. Where does this story begin? What is the purpose of the first stanza? Where is the scene laid? What is the date of the action? Who was Berkeley? What occurs?

3. What other dramatic Revolutionary War episodes do you know? Name three other Revolutionary War poems.

4. Thomas Buchanan Read (1822-1872) was a Pennsylvanian by birth. His interests in art and literature took him abroad, and he spent several years in Italy. A number of his poems and paintings are highly esteemed.