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And so they lived, in happiness and pleasure,

And grew in power and pride,

And did great deeds, and laid up stores of treasure,
And never any died.

LXXXVI. THE NATURE OF ELOQUENCE.

WHEN public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It can not be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain.

Words and phrases may be marshaled in every way, but they can not compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after it, but can not reach it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native

force.

The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments. and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country hang on the decision of the hour. Then, words have lost their power; rhetoric is vain; and all elaborate oratory, contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities.

Then, patriotism is eloquent; then, self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose of firm resolve, the dauntless

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spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his object, this is eloquence.

- Webster.

LXXXVII.-SHORT SELECTIONS.

A SOLDIER.

FROM early youth war has my mistress been,
And though a rugged one, I'll constant prove,
And not forsake her now. There may be joys,
Which, to the strange o'erwhelming of the soul,
Visit the lover's breast beyond all others!
E'en now, how dearly do I feel there may!
But what of them? They are not made for me;
The hasty flashes of contending steel

Must serve instead of glances from my love,
And for soft-breathing sighs the cannon's roar.
-Joanna Baillie.

SORROW.

AMAZ'D he stands, nor voice nor body stirs ;
Words had no passage, tears no issue found;
For sorrow shut up words, wrath kept in tears;
Confus'd effects each other do confound;

Oppress'd with grief, his passions had no bound;
Striving to tell his woes, words would not come,
For light cares speak when mighty griefs are dumb.
-Daniel.

SUCCESS.

IT is success that colors all in life;

Success makes fools admir'd, makes villains honest;
All the proud virtue of this vaunting world
Fawns on success and power, howe'er acquired.

THE WISDOM AND GOODNESS OF GOD.

FOR wonderful indeed are all his works,
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance always with delight;

K. N. E.-23.

-Thomson.

But what created mind can comprehend
Their number, or the wisdom infinite

That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?
These are thy glorious works, parent of good,—

Almighty, thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sit'st above these heavens, -
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought and pow'r divine.

-Milton.

PROCRASTINATION.

SHUN delays, they breed remorse;

Take thy time while time is lent thee;
Creeping snails have weakest force;
Fly their fault lest thou repent thee;
Good is best when soonest wrought,
Ling'ring labors come to naught;
Hoist up sail while gale doth last,
Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure;
Seek not time, when time is past,
Sober speed is wisdom's leisure;
After-wits are dearly bought,

Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought.

--Robert Southwell

SENATORIAL AND ORATORICAL.

LXXXVIII.-ELOQUENCE.

WHAT Country ever offered a nobler theater for the display of eloquence than our own? From the primary assemblies of the people, where power is conferred, and may be retained, to the national legislature, where its highest attributes are deposited and exercised, all feel and acknowledge its influence.

The master spirits of our fatherland, they who guided the councils of England in her career of prosperity and glory, whose eloquence was the admiration of their contemporaries, as it will be of posterity, were deeply imbued with classical learning. They drank at the fountain, and not at the stream, and they led captive the public opinion of the empire, and asserted their dominion in the senate and the cabinet.

Nor have we been wanting in contribution to the general stock of eloquence. In our legislative assemblies, at the bar, and in the pulpit, many examples are before us. Not less cheering in the rewards they offer than in the renown which follows them. If our lamps are lighted at the altar of ancient and modern learning, we may hope that a sacred fire will be kept burning to shed its influence upon our institutions and the duration of the Republic.

Habits of mental and moral discipline are the first great objects in any system of education, public or private. The

value of education depends far less upon varied and extensive acquirements than upon the cultivation of the powers of thought, and the general regulation of the faculties of the understanding. That it is not the amount of knowledge, but the capacity to apply it, which promises success and usefulness in life, is a truth that can not be too often inculcated by instructors and recollected by pupils.

If youth are taught how to think, they will soon learn what to think. Exercise is not more necessary to a healthful state of the body than is the employment of the various faculties of the mind to mental efficiency. The practical sciences are as barren of useful products as the speculative where facts only are the objects of knowledge, unless the understanding is habituated to a continued process of examination and reflection.

No precocity of intellect, no promise of genius, no extent of knowledge, can be weighed in the scale with those acquisitions; but he who has been the object of such sedulous attention, and the subject of such a course of instruction, may enter upon the great duties of life with every prospect of an honorable and useful career. His armor is girded on for battle. However difficult the conjuncture in which he may be called upon to act, he is prepared for whatever may betide him.

-Lewis Cass.

LXXXIX. IGNORANCE IN OUR COUNTRY A CRIME.

IN all the dungeons of the old world, where the strong champions of freedom are now pining in captivity beneath. the remorseless power of the tyrant, the morning sun does not send a glimmering ray into their cells, nor does night draw a thicker vail of darkness between them and the world, but the lone prisoner lifts his iron-laden arms to heaven in prayer that we, the depositaries of freedom and

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