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And every word its ardor flung
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!”

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From "The Wagoner of the Alleghanies."

DEFINITIONS. — Bō're al, northern. Yeo'man, a freeholder, a man freeborn. Dint, stroke. Măn'or, a tract of land occupied by tenants. Thēme, a subject on which a person speaks or writes. Guişe, external appearance in manner or dress. Sōar, a towering flight.

NOTES.

Forgot her..

name.

The reference is to the meaning

of the word "concord," — harmony, union.

The pastor.

This was John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, who was at that time a minister at Woodstock, in Virginia. He was a leading spirit among those opposed to Great Britain, and in 1775 he was elected colonel of a Virginia regiment. The above poem describes his farewell sermon. At its close he threw off his ministerial gown, and appeared in full regimental dress. Almost every man in the congregation enlisted under him at the church door.

A DANGER TO OUR REPUBLIC.

.

· Recall to your

BY HENRY CLAY.

recollection the free nations which have

gone before us. Where are they now?

Gone glimmering through the mist of things that were,

A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour.

And how lost they their liberties? If we could transport ourselves to the ages when Greece and Rome flour

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ished in their greatest prosperity, and mingling in the throng should ask a Grecian if he did not fear that some daring military chieftain covered with glory - some Philip or Alexander—would one day overthrow the liberties of his country, the confident and indignant Grecian would exclaim: "No! no! we have nothing to fear from our heroes; our liberties will be eternal." If a Roman citizen had been asked if he did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might establish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, he would have instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece fell; and Cæsar passed the Rubicon. We are fighting a great moral battle, for the benefit not only of our country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in fixed attention upon us. One, and the largest, portion of it is gazing with contempt, with jealousy, and with envy; the other portion, with hope, with confidence, and with affection. Everywhere, the black cloud of Legitimacy is suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which breaks out from the political hemisphere of the West, to enlighten, and animate, and gladden the human heart.

Observe that, by the downfall of liberty here, all mankind are enshrouded in a pall of universal darkness. To us belongs the high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to posterity, the fair character, the liberty of our country. Do we expect to execute this high trust by trampling down the law, justice, the Constitution, and the rights of the people? by exhibiting examples of inhumanity, and cruelty, and ambition?

Let us beware, then, how we give our fatal sanction to military insubordination. Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Cæsar, England her Cromwell, France her

Bonaparte, and we must avoid the mistakes which these nations made, if we would escape the rock on which they met their doom.

NOTES.

Legitimacy, the doctrine of the divine right of kings to rule by inheritance. The conqueror of Gaul, Julius Cæsar.

EXERCISE. Who was Philip? Alexander? Cæsar? Cromwell? Bonaparte? Where and what was the Rubicon? When Cæsar crossed the Rubicon it was in violation of orders from the Roman government and therefore equivalent to a declaration of war against it.

RECESSIONAL.

BY RUDYARD KIPLING.

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,

A humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not thee in awe,-
Such boasting as the Gentiles use,

Or lesser breeds without the Law,
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,

And guarding, calls not thee to guard, —
For frantic boast and foolish word,

Thy mercy on thy people, Lord!

DEFINITIONS.

Amen.

- From the London Times, 1897.

Re ces'sion al, a hymn sung in a procession returning from the choir to the robing room. Dune, a low hill of drifting sand. Tube, here used for gun. Shärd, sword.

THE TWO ROADS..

BY JEAN PAUL RICHter.

It was New Year's night; and Von Arden, having fallen into an unquiet slumber, dreamed that he was an aged man standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes toward the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating, like white lilies, on the surface of a clear, calm lake. Then he cast them on the earth, where few more helpless beings than himself now moved toward their certain goal the tomb.

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Already, as it seemed to him, he had passed sixty of the stages which led to it, and he had brought from his

journey nothing but errors and remorse. His health was destroyed, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age devoid of comfort.

The days of his youth rose up in a vision before him, and he recalled the solemn moment when his father had placed him at the entrance of two roads, one leading into a peaceful, sunny land, covered with a fertile harvest, and resounding with soft, sweet songs; the other leading the wanderer into a deep, dark cave, whence there was no issue, where poison flowed instead of water, and where serpents hissed and crawled.

He looked toward the sky, and cried out in his agony : "Oh, days of my youth, return! Oh, my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, that I may choose the better way!" But the days of his youth and his father had both passed away.

He saw wandering lights floating away over dark marshes and then disappear: these were the days of his wasted life. He saw a star fall from heaven and vanish in darkness: this was an emblem of himself; and the sharp arrows of unavailing remorse struck home to his heart. Then he remembered his early companions, who entered on life with him, but who, having trod the paths of virtue and of labor, were now honored and happy on this New Year's night.

The clock in the high church tower struck, and, the sound falling on his ear, recalled his parents' early love for him, their erring son; the lessons they had taught him; the prayers they had offered up on his behalf. Overwhelmed with shame and grief, he dared no longer look toward that heaven where his father dwelt; his darkened eyes dropped tears, and with one despairing

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