PREFACE. THE demand for a greater variety of reading exercises suitable for the more advanced classes in our public schools and academies, has led to the preparation of the present volume, THE UNION FIFTH READER; and the title of the previously so-called Union Fifth Reader has been changed, and that book will hereafter be styled THE UNION SIXTH, OR RHETORICAL READER. In the preparation of the present volume, a wide range of selections has been made in order to present every variety of style, and the best examples for the exercise of Rhetorical reading, and such as are peculiarly adapted to the expression of every tone and modulation of the human voice, whether grave or gay, humorous or pathetic, simple or declamatory. Of these exercises, both of prose and poetry, a large portion has been selected from speeches and writings of recent date, and which, of course, have never been used in any other reading-book. These lessons breathe forth the sentiments of loyalty, and tend to inspire the spirit of patriotism, aod a deeper devotion to the cause of our republican institutions, and to the welfare of our wbole country. The principles of Elocution, which have been cxplained and illustrated by examples in the fore part of the Union Fourth and Sixth Readers, and which have been tested by actual experiment in the schoolroom by thousands of experienced teachers, have been adopted in the present work. These principles should be thoroughly studied and understood by the pupil in -iii- order to express the various sentiments [beliefs, viewpoints], presented in the Reading Lessons, in the most elegant and appropriate manner. That the pupil may clearly understand the subjects, all the classical terms, and such words and phrases as seem to require it, have been explained. Wherever allusion is made to proper names, such biographical or historical account has been given of them, in brief notes, as a thorough knowledge of the subject seemed to demand; and, wherever there is a liability to mistake, the pronunciation of the words has also been given, and, in some cases, their analysis and definitions. In the preparation of reading-books for the youth of our country, it is of the utmost importance to place before their minds lessons not only of literary accuracy, but also those of a high moral character. In these respects, the present work, it is believed, will be found to contain nothing at least objectionable, even to the most fastidious. Nearly thirty years ago [about 1838], the author published his first series of reading-books. Since that time, he has contributed to this department of literature TWENTY-TWO YOLUMES of lessons for reading and speaking. These books have been more extensively used in the schools of this country than any other; and several of the lower numbers have been translated into the dialects of other nations, and are now in use in the schools of foreign countrios; an evidence of the appreciation in which they are held by educators abroad, and of their adaptedness to the purposes of juvenile instruction. That the UNION FIFTH READER may serve to promote the great cause of education, create a lively interest in the reading class, improve the moral and intellectual powers of the youth of our country, and merit that favor which has been shown to the other numbers [volumes] of the Union Series, has been the aim of the author in its preparation. NEW YORK, July, 1867. -iv- CONTENTS PART FIRST ELOCUTION. PAGE Section I.—Articulation 13 Elementary Sounds of the Letters - Substitutes for the Vowel Eelements - Substitutes for the Consonant Elements. - Errors in Articulation - Combinations of Consonants - Examples to Illustrate Indistinct Articulation - Miscellaneous Examples - Section II. — Accent and Emphasis - Examples of Primary and Secondary Accent - Examples of Intensive Emphasis - Examples of Absolute Emphasis - Examples of Antithetic Emphasis - Section III. — Inflection - Monotone - Rising and Falling Inflections - Rules for the Use of Inflections - The Circumflex - Section IV. — Modulation - Pitch of Voice - Quantity - Rules for Quantityu - Quality - Rules for Quality - Notation in Modulation - Examples for Exercise in Modulation - Section V. — The Rhetorical Pause - -v- PART SECOND LESSONS Lesson Page 1. Achievements and Dignity of Labor—Rev. Newman Hall 47 2. Powers of the Hand—Dr. George Wilson - 3. There's Work Enough To Do—Anon. - 4. Fields for Labor—Mrs. Ellen H. Gates - 5. Where There's A Will, There's A Way—J. G. Saxe - 6. The Offices of Memory—Islay Burns - 7. The Memory of Joy— Greenwood - 8. The House by the Rolling River—Linnna Schenk - 9. The Light at Home - 10. The Soldier Bird—H. H. Brownell - 11. The Battle-Field - 12. Song of the Cannon-Ball—Anon. - 13. The Children of the Battle-Field—James G. Clark - 14. The Brave at Home—Anon. - 15. The Soldier's Reprieve—N. Y. Observer - 16. The Last Ride—Miss Mulock - 17. Passing to the Supernal—Sat. Eve. Post - 18. Sunshine and Showers - 19. Education, Our Own Work—John Todd 94 20. Self-Culture—Channing - 21. The Skater and the Wolves—Whitehead - 22. Purity of Character—Henry Ward Beecker - 23. The Three Sisters, An Allegory - 24. Deserve It—Anon. - 25. The Bridal Wine-Cup - 26. Desolating Effects of Intemperance—W. Irving 114 27. Eulogy on Cold Water—Paul Denton - 28. Profaneness - 29. Voices of God—Lon. Brit. Magazine - 30. Better Than Gold—Anon. - 31. The Angel of the Leaves: An Allegory—Hannah F. Gould - 32. The World of Chance—John Todd - 33. The World of Chance (continued)—John Todd - 34. No God—N. K. Richardson - 35. The Presence of God—Amelia B. Welby - 36. Integrity—D. S. Dickinson - 37. The Visible and The Invisible—Ephraim Peabody - 38. When I Am Old—Caroline A. Briggs - 39. A Retrosepctive Review—Thomas Hood - -vi- Lesson Page 40. Taking A Whale—R. Starbuck - 41. Leviathan, or The Great Whale—From the French of Michelet - 42. The Game of Life—J. G. Saxe 156 43. Keep in Step—Anon. - 44. Encouragements in the Pursuit of Knowledge—E. Everett - 45. The Capacity of An Hour—John Foster - 46. Evening Prayer—Channing - 47. The Time for Prayer—Anon. - 48. One by One—Adelaide A. Procter - 49. Inventive Genius and Labor—Elihu Burrett - 50. The Results of Work—Dr. J. G. Holland - 51. Our Deeds Imperishable—L. H. Grindon - 52. The Uses of Life—Harper's Magazine - 53. Lofty Aspirations—Dem. Review - 54. General Washington's Escape—Anon. - 55. Exciting Adventure With An Indian—Blackwood's Magazine - 56. Choice Extracts:— I. Decay of the American Indians—Charles Sprague - II. Lament of An Indian Chief - III. Effects of Our Deeds - IV. Man's Mortality—S. Wastell - V. Saving for Old Age - VI. Be Firm—Mrs. S. C. Mayo - VII. The Young Voyager—Rev. Albert Barnes - VIII. Voyage of Life—Henry Ware, Jun. - IX. The Beauties of Nature— Moodie - X. Cheer Up - 57. Earnestness—Anon. - 58. Incentives to Culture—R. F. Trowbridge - 59. "And Then?" - 60. What is Life?—Charles D. Drake - 61. Pleasures of Knowledge—Sydney Smith - 62. Man and the Industrial Arts—Dr. George Wilson - 63. The Beautiful—E. H. Burrington - 64. The Bright Flowers—Anon. - 65. The Summer Rain—Helen Mitchell - 66. A Noble Revenge—Thomas De Quincy - 67. Story of the Seige of Calais—Henry Brooke - 68. The True Legion of Honor—Anon. - 69. Conscience—James Linen - 70. Moral and Religious Culture—Sat. Eve. Post - 71. Desire and Means of Happiness—Horace Mann - -vii- Lessons Page 72. The Invention of Printing: A Dialogue—Osborne - 73. The Three Voices—Anon. - 74. Action of Climate Upon Man—Prof. Arnold Guyot - 75. The Wonders of Civilization—Arnott - 76. The Love of Truth - 77. Aspirations of Youth—George William Curtis - 78. The Grave of the Year—G. A. Gamage - 79. Another Year - 80. The Telescope and the Microscope—Chalmers - 81. Immensity of the Universe—O. M. Mitchel - 82. The First Predicter of An Eclipse—O. M. Mitchel - 83. The Song of Light—W. P. Palmer - 84. Chant and Chorus of the Planets—Anna Blackwell - 85. Insignificance of the Earth—Chalmers - 86. Honor to the Projector of the Atlantic Cable—A. A. Low - 87. Recovery of the Lost Atlantic Cable—Cyrus W. Field - 88. How Cyrus Laid the Cable—J. G. Saxe - 89. The Atlantic Telegraph—Rev. George Lansing Taylor - 90. The Electric Telegraph—Anon. - 91. Beatitudes—Bible - 92. The Pride of Ignorance—S. W. Taylor 304 93. Science and Art—D. Brewster - 94. Advance—D. F. M. M'Carthy - 95. The Polar Star— - 96. Mountains—E. M. Morse - 97. The Alps—Willis Gaylord Clark - 98. Desire to be Remembered - 99. The Desire of Reputation—Rev. Albert Barnes - 100. Vanity of Earthly Fame—Henry Kirke White - 101. "This, Too, Must Pass Away"— Mrs. E. C. Howarth - 102. God, The True Object of Confidence—Greenwod - 103. Inspiration of Living Genius—Mrs. E. Oakes Smith - 104. Genius and Originality—Rev. Dr. G. W. Eaton - 105. Hurrying On - 106. The People's Advent—Gerald Massey - 107. Discovery of Manhattan—Mary L. Booth - 108. Choice Extracts:— I. Personal Religion—Webster - II. The Beam of Devotion—George P. Morris - III. Progress - IV. Love Due to the Creator—G. Griffin - V. Influence of Gold—Addison - -viii- Lesson Page 108. Choice Extracts (continued):— VI. Ingratitude—Shakespeare - VII. The Bugle—Wayland - VIII. The Moments—J. L. Eggleston - IX. The War-Horse—Book of Job - X. Seclusion—Beattie - XI. The Power of Little Things—Smiles - XII. Influence—Mrs. S. T. Bolton - 109. The Sea—From the French of Michelet - 110. A Wild Night At Sea—Charles Dickens - 111. The Sailor's Early Home—Rev. S. D. Phelps - 112. The Fireman—R. T. Conrad - 113. Benefits of Agriculture—D. S. Dickinson - 114. The Work of Eloquence—Orville Dewey - 115. The Voice and The Pen—D. F. M'Carthy - 116. The Burial of Moses—Anon. - 117. Mount Tabor—J. T. Headley - 118. Mount Tabor (continued)—J. T. Headley - 119. Nathan Hale—Francis M. Finch - 120. Loss Of The Union Irreparable—Webster - 121. Stars in My Country's Sky—Mrs. L. H. Sigourney - 122. God Bless Our Stars—B. F. Taylor - 123. Washington's Journey To His Inauguration—W. Irving - 124. Lincoln's Journey To His Inauguration—L. H. Whitney - 125. Day-Star of Liberty—M. A. Moses - 126. "On to Freedom"—A. J. H. Duganne - 127. Address to The Returned Soldiers—Rev. J. M. Manning - 128. The Honored Dead—Henry Ward Beecher - 129. The Soldier's Dirge—Col. O'Hara - 130. The Widowed Sword—Anon. - 131. "Good-by, Old Arm, Good-by!"—George Cooper - 132. The Teacher The Hope of America—Samuel Eells - 133. True Glory of A Nation—Bishop Whipple - 134. The Battle of Life—Anne C. Lynch - 135. The Historian's Reflections—Blake - 136. True Reformers—Horace Greeley - 137. Unjust National Acquisitions—Thomas Corwin 422 138. Vanity of Earthly Treasures—Anon. - 139. Choice Extracts:— I. The Widow's Two Mites—Webster - II. The Honey-Bee - III. Virtue—Colton - -ix- Lesson Page 139. CHOICE EXTRACTS (continued):- IV. Happiness-Pope - V. Advance of Science - VI. The Struggle of Life-Beattie - VII. Antiquity-Colton - VIII. Beauty-Shakespeare - IX. Cunning and Discretion-Addison - X. Procrastination-Persius - 140. All Nature Speaks of A Spirit-World-Anon. - 141. "How Manifold Are Thy Works!"-Miss A. Arnold - 142. Times and Seasons-L. H. Grindon - 143. Earth, Air, and Sea-Maury - 144. The Cloud-Shelley - 145. Eulogy of Daniel Webster-Lewis Gaylord Clark - 146. Scenery of Palestine-Rev. J. P. Newman - 147. Birth-Day Reflections-George D. Prentice - 148. Paul at Athens-John Angell James - 149. Paul at Athens (continued)- John Angell James - 150. Truth and Freedom-William D. Gallagher - 151. Not Dead, But Sleeping-H. A. Gere - 152. The Sphinx and The Great Pyramid-Rev. S. I. Prime - 153. Antiquity of Egypt-Mrs. E. Oaken Smith - 154. Choice Extracts:- I. Bugle Song-Tennyson 474 II. The Age of Progress-Charles Sumner 475 III. Clear the Way 475 IV. Our Sages and Heroes-Charles Sprague - V. The American Union-Webster - VI. Expulsion from Paradise-Milton - VII. Washington's Monument-R. C. Winthrop - VIII. The Lord Our Provider-Wordsworth - IX. Moral and Republican Principles--Edward Everett - -x- Alphabetical List of Authors Page Addison 348, 433 Arnold, Miss A. 436 Arnott 264   Barnes, Albert 204, 321 Beattie 351, 432 Beecher, Henry Ward 104, 403 Bible 301 Blackwell, Anna 283 Blake 417 Bolton, Miss S. T. 453 Booth, Mary L. 341 Brewster, D. 308 Briggs, Caroline A. 143 Brooke, Henry 239 Brownell, H. H. 69 Burns, Islay 58 Burrington, E. H. 232 Burritt, Elihu 172   Chalmers 273, 285 Channing 97, 167 Chapin, E. H. 227 Clark, James G. 78 Clark, Louis Gaylord 446 Clark, Willis Gaylord 318 Colton 430, 432 Conrad, R. T. 361 Cooper, George 408 Corwin, Thomas 422 Curtis, George William 267   Denton, Paul 115 De Quincey, Thomas 236 Dewey, Orville 366 Dickens, Charles 357 Dickenson, D. S. 135, 363 Drake, Charles D. 217 Duganne, A. J. H. 398   Eaton, Rev. Dr. G. W. 336 Eells, Samuel 410 Eggleston, J. L. 350 Everett, Edward 160, 479   Field, Cyrus W. 291 Finch, Francis 379 Foster, John 165   Gallager, William D. 464 Gamage, G. A. 269 Gere, H. A. 465 Gibson, Westby 313 Gould, Hannah F. 122 Greeley, Horace 420 Greenwood 62, 329 Griffin 348 Guindon, L. H. 178, 437 Guydon, Prof. Arnold 262   Hall, Rev. Newman 47 Headley, J. T. 372, 377 Holland, Dr. J. G. 175 Hood, Thomas 145 -xi- Page Howarth, Mrs. E. C. 328   Irving, W. 114, 388   James, John Angell 459   Linen, James 246 Low, A. A. 288 Lynch, Anne C. 414   Magazine, Blackwood's 199 Magazine, Harper's 180 Magazine, London British 118 Mann, Horace 254 Manning, Rev. J. M. 401 Massey, Gerald 339 Maury 440 Mayo, Mrs. S. C. 203 M'Carthy, D. F. 311, 368 Michelet, French of 153, 353 Milton 477 Mitchel, O. M. 275, 277 Mitchell, Helen 235 Moodie 205 Morris, George P. 347 Morse, E. M. 315 Moses, M. A. 296 Mulock, Miss 86   Newman, Rev. J. P. 452   Observer, N. Y. 81 O'Hara, Col. 405 Osborne 258   Palmer, William Pitt 281 Peabody, Ephraim 138 Persius 434 Phelps, Rev. S. D. 359 Pope 430 Post, Saturday Evening 90, 249 Prentice, George D. 456 Prime, Rev. S. I. 467 Procter, Adelaide A. 171   Review, Democratic 183 Richardson, N. K. 131   Saxe, J. G. 56, 156, 295 Schenk, Linna 66 Shakspeare 349, 433 Shelley 443 Sigourney, Mrs. L. H. 384 Smiles 352 Smith, Mrs. E. Oakes 333, 471 Smith, Sydney 220 Sprague, Charles 200, 476 Starbuck, R. 147 Sumner, Charles 475   Taylor, B. F. 386 Taylor, Rev. Geo. Lansing 297 Taylor, S. W. 304 Tennyson 474 Todd, John 94, 125, 128 Trowbridge, R. F. 213   Ware, Henry, Jun. 205 Wastell, S. 201 Wayland 349 Webster 345, 381, 428, 477 Welby, Amelia B. 133 Whipple, Bishop 412 White, Henry Kirke 326 Whitehead 100 Whitney, L. H. 394 Wilson, Dr. George 50, 225 Winthrop, R. C. 478 Wordsworth 479 -xii- SANDERS' UNION READER. NUMBER FIVE. PART FIRST. ELOCUTION. ELOCUTION is the art of delivering written or extemporaneous composition with force, propriety, and ease. It deals, tberefore, with words, not only as individuals, but as members of a sentence, and parts of a connected discourse: including every thing necessary to the just expression of the sense. Accordingly, it demands, in a special manner, attention to the following particulars; viz., ARTICULATION, ACCENT, EMPHASIS, INFLECTION, MODULATION and PAUSES. SECTION I. ARTICULATION. ARTICULATION is the art of uttering distinctly and justly the letters and syllables constituting a word. It deals, therefore, with the elements of words, just as elocution deals with the elements of sentences: the one securing the true enunciation of each letter, or combination of letters, the other giving to each word, or combination of words, such a delivery as best expresses the meaning of the author. It is the basis of all good reading and should be carefully practiced by the learner. -13- (pp 14-19) V. Avoid blending the termination of one word with the beginning of another, or suppressing the final letter or letters of one word, when the next word commences with a similar sound. EXAMPLES. His small eyes instead of His small lies. She keeps pies " She keeps spies. His hour is up " His sour is sup. Dry the widow's tears " Dry the widow steers. Your eyes and ears " Your rise sand dears. He had two small eggs " He had two small legs. Bring some ice cream " Bring some mice scream. Let all men praise Him " Let tall men pray sim. He was killed in war " He was skilled in war. Water, air, and earth " Water rare rand dearth. Come and see me once more " Come mand see me one smore. NOTE.—By an indistinct Articulation the sense of a passage is often liable to be perverted. EXAMPLES. 1. Will he attempt to conceal his acts? Will he attempt to conceal his sacks? 2. The man had oars to row her over. The man had doors to row her rover. 3. Can there be an aim more lofty? Can there be a name more lofty? 4. The judges ought to arrest the culprits. The judges sought to arrest the culprits. 5. His ire burned when she told him her age. His sire burned when she told him her rage. 6. He was awed at the works of labor and art. He was sawed at the works of labor an dart. 7. He was trained in the religion of his fathera. He was strained in the religion of his fathers. -19- (pp 20-45) No definite rule can be given with reference to the length of the rhetorical, or grammatical pause. The correct taste of the reader or speaker must determine it. For the voice should sometimes he suspended much longer at the same pause in one situation than in another; as in the two following EXAMPLES. LONG PAUSE. Pause a momnt. I heard a footstep. Listen now. I heard it again; but it is going from us. It sounds fainter,—still fainter. It is gone. SHORT PAUSE. John, be quick. Get some water. Throw the powder overboard. “It can not be reached.” Jump into the boat, then. Shove off. There goes the powder. Thank Heaven. We are safe. REMARKS TO TEACHERS. It is of the utmost importance, in order to secure an easy and elegant style in reading, to refer the pupil often to the more important principles involved in a just elocution. To this end, it will be found very advantageous, occasionally to review the rules and directions given in the preceding pages, and thus early accustom him to apply them in the subsequent reading lessons. For a wider range of examples and illustrations, it is only necessary to refer to the numerous and various exercises which form the body of this book. They have been selected, in many cases, with a special view to this object [goal]. -46- PART SECOND. LESSON I. 1 VI' A DUCT, (VIA, a way; DUCT, lead;) a structure, usually of masonry, for carrying a railway across a valley or river; a bridge. ACHIEVEMENTS AND DIGNITY 0F LABOR. REV. NEWMAN HALL. THE DIGNITY OF LABOR! Consider its achievements! Dismayed by no difficulty, shrinking from no exertion, exhausted by no struggle, ever eager for renewed efforts in its persevering promotion of human happiness, “clamorous Labor knocks with its hundred hands at the golden gate of the morning,” obtaining each day, through succeeding centuries, fresh benefactions for the world! 2. Labor clears the forest, and drains the morass, and makes the wilderness rejoice and blossom as the rose. Labor drives the plow, scatters the seed, reaps the harvest, grinds the corn, and converts it into bread, the staff of life. Labor, tending the pastures, as well as cultivating the soil, provides with daily sustenance the one thousand millions of the family of man. 3. Labor gathers the gossamer web of the caterpillar, the cotton from the field, and the fleece from the flock, and weaves them into raiment, soft, and warm, and beautiful,—the purple robe of the prince, and the gray gown -47- (pp 48-93) LESSON XIX. 1 BA' CON, FRANCIS, usually known as Lord Bacon, was born in London, England, Jan. 22, 1560, and died 1626. He was famous as a scholar, a wit, a lawyer, a judge, a statesman, a politician, but chiefly as a philosopher. 2 NEW' TON, SIR ISAAC, the greatest of English philosophers [scientists], was born in Lincolnshire, Dec. 25, 1642, and died March 20, 1727. His three great discoveries, of fluxions, the nature of light and colors, and the law of gravitation, were conceived before he was twenty-five years of age. On witnessing the fall of an apple, he was led into a train of reflection, which resulted in his theory of gravitation. He was a profound mathematician, and a sincere Christian. Certain prophecies in the Bible led him to infer that men would, one day, be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. How marvelously has his belief been verified! EDUCATION, OUR OWN WORK. JOHN TODD. THE human mind is the brightest display of the power and skill of the Infinite Mind with which we are acquainted. It is created and placed in this world to be educated for a higher state of existence. Here its faculties begin to unfold, and those mighty energies, which are to bear it forward to unending ages, begin to discover themselves. The object of training such a mind should be, to enable the soul to fulfill her duties well here, and to stand on high vantage-ground, when she leaves this cradle of her being, for an eternal existence beyond the grave. 2. Most students need encouragement to sustain, instruction to aid, and direction to guide them. Few, probably, ever accomplish any thing like as much as they expected or ought; and perhaps one reason is, that they waste a vast amount of time in acquiring that experience which they need. Doubtless, multitudes are now in the process of education, who will never reach any tolerable -94- standard of excellence. Probably some never could, but, in most cases, they might. The exceptions are few. In most cases young men do feel a desire, more or less strong, of fitting themselves for respectability and usefulness. 3. You may converse with any man, however distinguished for attainments, or habits of application, or power of using what he knows, and he will sigh over the remembrance of the past, and tell you that there have been many fragments of time which he has wasted, and many opportunities which he has lost forever. If he had only seized upon the fleeting advantages, and gathered up the fragments of time, he might have pushed his researches out into new fields, and, like the immortal Bacon,1 have amassed vast stores of knowledge. The mighty minds which have gone before us have left treasures for our inheritance; and the choicest gold is to be had for the digging. 4. The object of hard study is not to draw out genius, but to take minds such as are formed of common mold, and fit them for active and decisive usefulness. Nothing is so much coveted by a young man as the reputation of being a genius; and many seem to feel that the want of patience for laborious application and deep research is such a mark of genius as can not be mistaken: while a real genius, like Sir Isaac Newton,2 with great modesty says, that the great and only difference between his mind and the minds of others consisted solely in his having more patience. 5. You may have a good mind, a sound judgment, a vivid imagination, or a wide reach of thought and views; but you can never become distinguished without severe application. Hence, all that you ever have must be the result of labor,—hard, untiring labor. You have friends -95- (pp 96-113) LESSON XXVI. 1 EN THU' SI ASM, (from two Greek words, EN, in, or within; and THEOS, a god;) signifies, literally, the state or condition of having a god within us; that is, being under the inspiration, of a god: hence, strong mental excitement; ardent feeling. DESOLATING EFFECTS OF INTEMPERANCE. W. IRVING. THE depopulating pestilence that walketh at noon-day, the carnage of cruel and devastating war, can scarcely exhibit their victims in a more terrible array, than exterminating drunkenness. I have seen a promising family spring from a parent trunk, and stretch abroad its populous limbs, like a flowering tree covered with green and healthy foliage. I have seen the unnatural decay beginning upon the yet tender leaf, and gnawing like a worm in an unopened bud, while they dropped off, one by one, and the scathed and ruined shaft stood desolate and alone, until the winds and rains of many a sorrow laid that, too, in the dust. 2. On one of those holy days when the patriarch, rich in virtue as in years, gathered about him the great and the little ones of the flock—his sons with their sons, and his daughters with their daughters—I, too, sat at the festive board. I, too, pledged them in the social wine-cup, and rejoiced with them round the hospitable hearth, and expatiated with delight upon the eventful future; while the good old man, warmed in the genial glow of youthful enthusiasm,1   wiped the tear of joy from his glistening eye. He was happy! 3. I met with them again when the rolling year brought the festive season round. But they were not all there. The kind old man sighed as his suffused eye dwelt upon -114- the then unoccupied seat. But joy yet came to his relief, and he was happy. A parent's love knows no diminution,—time, distance, poverty, shame, but give intensity and strength to that passion, before which all others dissolve and melt away. 4. Another elapsed. The board [food] was spread; but the guests came not. The old man cried,—Where are my children?" And Echo answered,—"Where?" His heart broke; for they were not. Could not Heaven have spared his gray hairs this affliction? Alas! the demon of Drunkenness had been there! They had fallen victims to his spell. And one short month sufficed to cast the vail of oblivion over the old man's sorrow, and the young men's shame.—THEY ARE ALL DEAD! -115- in process (pp 115-155) took so perilous a task as that of whale-fishing, must have been, eccentric enthusiasts; and that an undertaking so hazardous could never have originated with the prudent men of the North, but must have been initiated hy the Basques,5   those daring hunters and fishers, who were so well accustomed to their own capricious sea, where they fished the tunny.6   Here they first saw the huge whales at play, and pursued them, frenzied by the hope of such enormous prey; onward, and still onward, no matter whither,—even to the confines of the [north] pole. 10. Here, doubtless, the poor whale fancied it must be safe from its relentless pursuers. But our Basque madcaps followed it even into those frozen regions. Tightening his red belt around his waist, he stealthily and silently approaches the unconscious, sleeping monster, and fearlessly plunges the harpoon into its very vitals. Poor whale! He falls a victun to the selfishness and rapacity of man! Such achievements afford a striking proof of the wonderful powers of the human mind, in holding dominion, not only over the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field, but also over the MIGHTY MONSTERS OF THE DEEP. LESSON XLII. 1 GAL I LE' O, GALILEI, a distinguished astronomer, was born at Pisa, in Italy, July 15, 1564; and died Jan. 8, 1642. In 1592, he was appointed professor of mathematics in the University of Padua. Here he became a convert to the Copernican System of the universe; and, by means of a leaden tuhe and two spectacle glasses, he obtained a crude telescope of only threefold magnifying power. Subsequently he made two others, one magnifying eight, and the other thirty times. With these he discovered the mountains and cavities in the Moon, the four satellites of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn. But prejudice and ignorance were combined against him. He was charged with heresy, imprisoned, -156- and compelled to recant his opinions; but he stamped his foot, and exclaimed,—"The earth moves, for all that!" 1 KEP' LER, JOHN, a celebrated mathematician and astronomer, was born at Weil, in Wirtemberg, Dec. 21, 1571; and died Nov. 5, 1631. During his life he published thirty-three separate works, among which his "New Astronomy" and the "Harmonies of the World," are the most remarkable. The latter work contains his celebrated law, that the squares of the periodic times of the planets are as the cubes of their distances [T2 = D3]; but, from a blunder in his calculations, he rejected it. Having discovered his error, he recognized with transport the absolute truth of a principle, which, for seventeen years, had been the object of his incessant pursuit. He was almost frantic with joy, and exclaimed,—"The die is cast! The book is written to be read, either now or by posterity, I care not which! It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer!" THE GAME OF LIFE. J. G. SAXE. 1. THERE'S a game much in fashion,—I think it's called Eucher, (Though I never have played it for pleasure or lucre,) In which, when the cards are in certain conditions, The players appear to have changed their positions, And one of them cries, in a confident tone,— "think I may venture to go it alone!" 2. While watching the game, 'tis a whim of the bard's A moral to draw from the skirmish of cards, And to fancy he sees in the trivial strife Some excellent hints for the battle of Life; Where, whether the prize be a rihbon or throne, The winner is he who can "go it alone!" "When great Galileo1 proclaimed that the world In a regular orbit was ceaselessly whirled, -157- (pp 158-303) LESSON XCII 1 KEPLER, see note, page 157. 2 BRAHE, TYCHO, a distinguished astronomer, was born Dec. 14, 1546; and died Oct. 24, 1601. The celebrated Observatory of Oranienberg, or the city of the heavens, was founded in 1576, and supplied with instruments. Within its walls, Tycho Brahe carried on those observations with which his name is inseparably connected. 3 NEW' TON, see note, page 94. 4 POPE, ALEXANDER, a celebrated English poet, was born in London, 1688; and died 1744. He was deformed, and small in stature. The principal of his poetical writings are entitled "Essay on Criticism," "Essay on Man," "Moral Essays." He also translated the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. 5 ARC TU' RUS, a fixed star of the first magnitude in the constellation Boötes. 4 NEPT' UNE, a large planet beyond Uranus, discovered by Galle of Berlin, Sept. 23, 1846. Its mean distance from the sun is 2,850,000,000 miles, and its period of revolution is about 164 years. THE PRIDE OF IGNORANCE. S. W. TAYLOR. TELL me not of the pride of scientific men! We have, it is true, some few cases of the pride of learning, but a multitude of the pride of ignorance. The grossly ignorant man, imagining himself placed at the very center of the earth's fancied plane, and exactly beneath the highest point in heaven's arch, with arms akimbo, struts forth, as the principal occupant of the material universe. This is manifest to common observation. Something like this is also seen among the different classes in the same school, and in communities, among individuals of different grades of civilization. Ed. Note: Arrogance among the ill-educated, who fancy themselves more knowledgeable than they are, continues. Indeed, the situation is worse now, as education has grossly deteriorated from the high 19th century level, while scamming students into thinking standards are higher. Examples: the tobacco subject, on which the ignorant regularly disregard the advisories of the educated. Schools do not teach respect for medical research. legal education, a substantial deterioration, from 16 years down to a mere three, such that now even basic common law on, e.g., the right to pure air is generally unknown. 2. An accurate knowledge of men and things, naturally represses pride and promotes humility. The diligent student of Nature, as he gains a deeper and deeper knowledge -304- of the great book of God's wisdom, goodness, and power, necessarily sees all finite glory dwindling and fading; he must see himself, too, depreciating in comparison with the extent and grandeur of the objects which successively occupy his vast and illuminated field of view. It is evident, that the more we learn of what other men have accomplished in pursuits and circumstances like our own, and the more clearly we discover how much we depend on others for what we possess and accomplish, the more effectually will our humility be cultivated. 3. The philosopher is in circumstances peculiarly favorable to make him feel and acknowledge his heavy indebtedness to his predecessors and contemporaries. He can not fail of being convinced, that, were any generation of men entirely destitute of transmitted knowledge, they could hardly, within the ordinary limits of human life, find time to clothe themselves, and erect permanent dwellings. They must commence life as savages, and, at death, have nothing better than blankets and wigwams to bequeath to their savage successors. 4. Had not Kepler1 inherited the avails of Tycho Brahe's2 labors in descriptive astronomy, it is certain he could never have been distinguished in physical astronomy, as the legislator of the skies. Without a legacy from his ancestors, even Newton3 must have been comparatively poor; and the scientific wealth amassed and transmitted by Newton and others, has been the making of their heirs, now the illustrious philosophers [scientists] of Europe and America. 5. But if you chance to meet with a stubborn case of pride in a philosopher, do not hastily dismiss the case as incurable. He can be cured of any extraordinary degree of pride, if he has a breath of the spirit of true philosophy. But do nothing, I beseech you, to lessen his amount of sci- -305- ence; rather follow the good old specific [advice] of Pope:4   Give him to drink more deeply. Direct his attention to the treasures of science already amassed. 6. Show him the schools, the laboratories, and observatories of Europe and the United States of America; show him their libraries, whose shelves are bending beneath pondorous tomes, the faithful records of literary and philosophical research; show him the rich gifts of science to agriculture, commerce, and the whole sisterhood of the arts of peace; show him not only what has been accomplished, but show him every enlightened part of the earth, at this moment busy as a bee-hive in all the departments of philosophy [knowledge]. 7. Then conduct him into those extensive fields of sober enterprise which sound philosophy has projected, and you give him the position which Newton held when under the conviction that all which philosophy has done, in comparison with what it is destined to accomplish in ages to come, amounts to nothing more than the examination of a few pebbles and pearls thrown upon the shore of a broad ocean, from the undiminished treasures of its immense bed. 8. If our patient is not yet recovered, immerse him in the great deep of space. Show him something of the extent of Jehovah's works. Bid him look at himself, and then at the earth, whose extended radius spreads the earth's surface into an apparent plain. Next, equip him with the quick wings of light, putting him upon a rate of traveling equivalent to twenty-four diameters of the earth in a single second [speed of light, 186,000 mps]. Within eight minutes he finds himself alighting upon the sun, compared with which, instead of the earth as a standard of bulk, he has the mortification to perceive that his body has shrunk from the dimensions of three cubic feet to the one two-hundredth part of a cubic inch,—physically, a contemptible insect! -306- 9. Here let him stop long enough to ask the question, which millions of years will not answer,—"What wonders, what treasures, are contained in that deep ocean of light?" Thence let him, with undiminished velocity, speed his way to Sirius,*   whose matchless orb, at the end, perhaps, of a three-years' flight, he beholds under his feet, exerting upon a splendid retinue of planets, in the powers of light, heat, and gravitation, the energy of fourteen suns, such as the one in whose light we are rejoicing. 10. If still there is any thing of our philosopher's pride or of himself remaining, let him range himself within the sublime circumference of the galaxy; let him, with the most powerful telescope in use, spy out some faint nebula most delicately fringing the absurdly imagined borders of infinity, and not unlike the subtle vapor which the keen-eyed little girl can possibly discern issuing from the throat of the singing-sparrow. But send him not thither with only the speed of light; for, with that, thousands of years might not suffice for the journey. Give him, rather, the mysterious power of the imagination, by which he can assume, with equal facility, and in equal time, stations indefinitely near, and infinitely remote. 11. From the station first assumed, he sees that nebula resolved into brilliant points; from the next, he sees each of those points bright as Arcturus 5   or Capella; and, from the next station, he beholds it a glorious sun! What had boen deemed the center and circumference of the material universe, have reciprocated their positions; and, from one of those foreign suns, he looks back after the locality of his native earth; when, lo! the vast orbit of Neptune 6 has closed in upon the focus occupied by our sun; the sun himself has dwindled to a point,—that point has vanished, ____________________________________ * Sirius, the large, bright star called the Dog-star. -307- and taken with it all earth-born philosophers, with their works, the scene of their labors, and the entire sphere of their observation. How, naturally, must our philosopher now adopt the language of the sublime prophet with reference to the infinite Creator!—"All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity."1 LESSON XCIII. 1 AR CHI ME' DËS, the most celebrated of the ancient geometers, was born at Syracuse about 291 years B.C.; and died 212 B.C. He was related to Hiero, King of Syracuse, who deemed it a great honor to have so distinguished a philosopher [scientist] as his relative. He devoted his time to the cultivation of mathematical and physical sciences. He invented the screw [water pump] for raising water, which bears his name; and we owe to him the process of detecting the adulteration of the precious metal in King Hiero's crown. Such was his joy at this discovery, it is said he rushed through the streets of Syracuse in a state of nudity, exclaiming,—"Eureka, Eureka!"—"I have found, I have found!" 2 EM PY RE' AN, the highest heaven, where the pure element of fire was supposed by the ancients to subsist. 3 PHA' E TON, the son of Phœbus and Clymene, or of Cephalus and Aurora, that is, the son of light, or of the sun. He is fabled to have begged of Phœbus that he would permit him to guide the chariot of the sun; in doing which he manifested want of skill; and, being struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, he was hurled headlong into the River Po. SCIENCE AND ART. D. BREWSTER. IN the study of natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history, a wide field of knowledge will be spread out before you, in which every fact you observe, and every truth you learn, will surprise and delight you. Creations of boundless extent, displaying unlimited power, matchless ____________________________________ * Isaiah, 40th chapter, 17th verse. -308- (pp 309-421) 5. Say not that I thus condemn, and would annihilate, ambition. The love of approbation, of esteem, of true glory, is a noble incentive, and should be cherished to the end. True fame demands no sacrifices of others; it requires us to be reckless of the outward well-being of but one. It exacts no hecatomb of victims for each triumphal pile; for the more who covet and seek it, the easier and more abundant is the success of each and all. With souls of the celestial temper, each human life might be a triumph which angels would lean from the skies, delighted to witness and admire. LESSON CXXXVII. 1 FRED' ER ICK II., King of Prussia, commonly called Frederick the Great, was born Jan. 24, 1712, and began to reign 1740. He found himself in possession of a full treasury and a powerful army, which he soon employed in attacking Austria, and conquering from her the province of Silesia. The great struggle of the Seven-Years' War was begun in 1756. Prussia was now attacked by Austria, Russia, France, Saxony, and Sweden; and her destruction and dismemberment seemed inevitable. England was her only ally. Prussia went through the struggle, and came out triumphant. For this glorious result, she was indebted to the moral courage, indomitable energy, and military genius, of her king. In 1772, Frederick disgraced himself, and permanently injured the cause of Freedom throughout the world, by participating in the first dismemberment of Poland. Frederick died Aug. 17, 1786. 2 MON TE ZU' MA, Emperor of Mexico at the time of the Spanish invasion. UNJUST NATIONAL ACQUISITIONS. [by Senator] THOMAS CORWIN [(1794-1865) of Ohio, on the Mexican War, in the Senate, 11 February 1847. MR. PRESIDENT.—The uneasy desire to augment our territory [for slavery] has depraved the moral sense, and blighted the otherwise keen sagacity, of our people. Sad, very sad, are the lessons which Time [lust] has written for us. -422- Through and in them all, I see nothing but the inflexible execution of that old [Bible] law, which ordains, as eternal, the cardinal rule, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods, nor any thing which is his." [Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21]. Since I have lately heard so much about the dismemberment of Mexico [U.S. stealing half of it], I have looked back to see how, in the course of events which some call "Providence," it has fared with other nations who engaged in this work of dismemberment. Ed. Note: See 1870 example on "Providence" role. 2. I see that, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, three powerful nations—Russia, Austria, and Prussia—united in the dismemberment of Poland. They said, too, as you [slavery expanders] say,—"It is our destiny." They "wanted room." Doubtless each of these thought, with his share of Poland, his power was too strong ever to fear invasion, or even insult. One had [coveted and stolen] his California, another his New Mexico, and the third his Vera Cruz.* 3. Did they remain untouched, and incapable of [receiving subsequent] harm? Alas! no; far, very far, from it. Retributive justice must fulfill its destiny too. Ed. Note: Rev. George Cheever, D.D., God Against Slavery (Cincinnati: American Reform Tract and Book Society, 1857), p 77, elaborated. A very few years pass off, and we hear of a new man, a Corsican lieutenant, the self-named, "armed soldier of Democracy," Napoleon [1804-1814]. He ravages Austria, covers her land with blood, drives the Northern Cæsar from his capital, and sleeps in his palace. Austria may now remember how her power trampled upon Poland. Did she not pay dear, very dear, for her California? 4. But has Prussia no atonement to make? You see this same Napoleon, the blind instrument of Providence, at work there. The thunders of his cannon at Jena†   proclaim the work of retribution for Poland's wrongs; and the successors of the Great Frederick,1   the drill-sergeant of Europe, are seen flying across the sandy plains that sur- ____________________________________ * Pronounced Vä' rä kroos. † Gen' a. -423- round their capital, right glad if they may escape captivity or death. 5. But how fares it with the Autocrat of Russia? Is he [Tsar Alexander I] secure [by making a deal with Napoleon] in his [Alexander's] share of the spoils of Poland? No, suddenly we see six hundred thousand armed [French Army] men marching to [attack] Moscow. Does his Vera Cruz [theft of East Poland] protect him now? Far from it. Blood, slaughter, devastation, spread abroad over the [Russian] land; and, finally, the conflagration [burning] of the old commercial metropolis [Moscow] of Russia closes the retribution: she must pay for her share [participation aiding and abetting] in the dismemberment of her impotent neighbor [Poland]. Ed. Note: Stalin aided Hitler against Poland in 1939, in World War II, to protect Russia; but as suspected, was attacked anyway, in 1941. Hitler followed this prior bad precedent. 6. A mind more prone to look for the judgments of Heaven in the doings of men than mine, can not fail, in all unjust acquisitions of territory, to see the Providence of God. When Moscow burned, it seemed as if the earth was lighted up, that the nations might behold the scene. As that mighty sea of fire gathered and heaved and rolled upward, and yet higher, till its flames licked the stars, and fired the whole heavens, it did seem as though the God of nations was writing, in characters of flame, on the front of His throne, that doom that shall fall upon the strong nation which tramples in scorn upon the weak. 7. And what fortune awaits him, the appointed executor [Napoleon I] of this work, when it was all done? He, too, conceived the notion that his destiny pointed onward to universal dominion. France was too small: Europe, he thought, should bow down before him. But as soon as this idea takes possession of his soul, he, too, becomes powerless. Right there, while he witnessed the humiliation, and doubtless meditated the subjugation, of Russia, He who holds the winds in His fist, gathered the snows of the [Russian] North [Winter], and blew them upon his [Napoleon's] six hundred thousand men. They fled,—they froze,—they perished. -424- 8. And now the mighty Napoleon, who had resolved on universal dominion, he, too, is summoned to answer for the violation of that ancient law, "Thou shalt not covet any thing which is thy neighbor's." [Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21]. "How are the mighty fallen!" [2 Samuel 1:19, 25, 27]. He, beneath whose proud footstep Europe trembled, is now an exile at Elba, and now, finally, a prisoner on the rock of St. Helena; and there, on a barren island, in an unfrequented sea, in the crater of an extinguished volcano,—there is the death-bed of the mighty conqueror. All his annexations have come to that! His last hour has now come; and he, the man of destiny, he who had rocked the world as with the throes of an earth-quake, is now powerless, still,—even as the beggar, so he died. 9. On the wings of a tempest that raged with unwonted fury, up to the throne of the only Power that controlled him while he lived, went the fiery soul of that wonderful warrior, another witness to the existence of that eternal decree, that they who do not rule in righteousness shall perish from the earth. He has found "room" at last. And France—she, too, has found "room." Her "eagles" now no longer scream along the banks of the [rivers] Danube, the Po, and the Borys'thenës. They have returned home, to their old aerie, between the Alps, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. 10. So shall it be with yours. You may carry them to the loftiest peaks of the Cordilleras; they may wave, with insolent triumph, in the halls of the Montezumas,2—the armed men of Mexico may quail before them: but the weakest hand in Mexico, uplifted in prayer to the God of justice, may call down against you a Power, in the presence of which the iron hearts of your warriors shall be turned into ashes. Ed. Note: In context, abolitionists were also denouncing the U.S. War of Aggression against Mexico, e.g., Charles Sumner, The True Grandeur of Nations (1845), pp 8-9, and 16. Rev. Parker Pillsbury, Forlorn Hope (1847), pp 81 and 381 Future president Abraham Lincoln, Speech in Congress (12 Jan 1848) Rev. William Goodell, Slavery and Anti-Slavery (1852), pp 272-305. The result of the U.S. aggression against Mexico, was to take 50% of its territory. The U.S. “took half” of Mexico.—Prof. Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States (New York: Harper and Row, 1980, reprinted, HarperPerennial, 1990), p 166. (Lincoln had said the same percentage.) For more on the U.S.'s war of aggression, see Prof. Zinn's entire chapter 8, pp 147-166. General Ulysses S. Grant had said similarly, Personal Memoirs (New York: C.L. Webster & Co, 1885-1886), Vol. I, Chap. II, pp 53-56, et seq. -425- (pp 426-473) LESSON CLIV. CHOICE EXTRACTS I. BUGLE SONG TENNYSON 1. THE splendor falls on castle walls, And snowy summits old in story; The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying; Blow, bugle; answer, echoes,—dying, dying, dying! 2. O hark! O hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, The horns of Elf-land faintly blowing! Blow! let us hear the purple glens replying: Blow, bugle; answer, echoes,—dying, dying, dying! 3. O love! they die in yon rich sky; They faint on hill, or field, or river! Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow forever and forever. Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying; And answer, echoes, answer,—dying, dying, dying! -474- I THE AGE OF PROGRESS. CHARLES SUMMER. 1. THE age of chivalry has gone. An age of humanity has come. The horse, whose importance, more than human, gave the name to that early period of gallantry and war, now yields his foremost place to man. In serving him, in promoting his elevation, in contributing to his welfare, in doing him good, there are fields of bloodless triumph, nobler far than any in which the bravest knight ever conquered. Here are spaces of labor, wide as the world, lofty as heaven. 2. Let me say, then, in the benison once bestowed upon the youthful knight,—Scholars, jurists, artists, philanthropists, heroes of a Christian age, companions of a celestial knighthood, "Go forth. Be brave, loyal, and successful!" And may it be our office to light a fresh beacon-fire sacred to truth! Let the flame spread from hill to hill, from island to island, from continent to continent, till the long lineage of fires shall illumine all the nations of the earth, animating them to the holy contests of KNOWLEDGE, JUSTICE, BEAUTY, LOVE. Ed. Note: Senator Charles Sumner wrote against war and slavery. The anti-slavery book was used under President Abraham Lincoln as recruiting literature for young men, to courage enlistments in the Civil War. Their pre-1861 education was such that they could undestand it, be motivated by such a book. Was your own education so good? III. CLEAR THE WAY. 1. THERE'S a fount about to stream, There's a light about to beam, There's a warmth about to glow, There's a flower about to blow, There's a midnight blackness changing Into gray; Men of thought, and men of action, CLEAR THE WAY! -475- (pp 476-479) here a village, and there a city, until every dwelling is a sepulcher; famine may brood over it with a long and weary visitation, until the sky itself is brazen, and the beautiful greenness gives place to a parched desert, a wide waste of unproductive desolation: but these are only physical evils. The wild flower will bloom in peace on the field of battle and above the crushed skeleton. The destroying angel of the pestilence will retire when his errand is done, and the nation will again breathe freely; and the barrenness of famine will cease at last,—the cloud will be prodigal of its hoarded rain, and the wilderness will blossom. 2. But for moral desolation there is no reviving spring. Let the moral and republican principles of our country be abandoned; let impudence, and corruption, and intrigue triumph over honesty and intellect,—and our liberties and strength will depart forever. Of these there can be no resuscitation. The "abomination of desolation" will be fixed and perpetual; and, as the mighty fabric of our glory totters into ruins, the nations of the earth will mock us in our overthrow, like the powers of darkness, when the throned one of Babylon became even as themselves, and the "glory of the Chaldees' excellency had gone down forever." THE END -480- Ed. Note: For examples of 19th century 5th level educational material on tobacco and health, click here. Full reprints are at books.google.com and at archive.org.