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decide all public measures by their presumed influence on their aggrandizement,-judge me by the venal rule which they prescribe for themselves. I have given to the winds those false accusations, as I consign that which now impeaches my motives.

4. I have no desire for office, not even the highest. The most exalted is but a prison, in which the incarcerated incumbent daily receives his cold, heartless visitants, marks his weary hours, and is cut off from the practical enjoyment of all the blessings of genuine freedom. I am no candidate for any office in the gift of the people of these States, united or separated: I never wish, never expect to be. Pass this bill, tranquilize the country, restore confidence and affection in the Union, and I am willing to go home to Ashland and renounce public service forever.

5. I should there find, in its groves, under its shades, on its lawns, midst my flocks and herds, in the bosom of my family, sincerity, and truth, and attachment, and fidelity, and gratitude, which I have not always found in the walks of public life. Yes, I have ambition; but it is the ambition of being the humble instrument, in the hands of Providence, to reconcile a divided people; once more to revive concord and harmony in a distracted land, the pleasing ambition of contemplating the glorious spectacle of a free, united, prosperous, and fraternal people!

LESSON XCI.

THE DEMON SHIP.

BY THOMAS MOORE.

1. "Twas off the Wash, the sun went down', the sea look'd black and grim',

For stormy clouds', with murky fleece', were mustering at the brim';

Titanic shades! enormous gloom'! as if the solid night
Of Erebus rose suddenly to seize upon the light!

It was a time for mariners to bear a wary eye,

With such a dark conspiracy between the sea and sky!

Down went my helm; close reef'd the tack held freely in my hand,

With ballast snug I put about, and scudded for the land.

2. Loud hiss'd the sea beneath her lea': my little boat flew fast', But faster still the rushing storm came borne upon the blast'.

Oh, what a roaring hurricane beset the straining sail'!
What furious sleet', with level drift', and fierce assaults of hail'!
What darksome caverns yawn'd before'! what jagged steeps
behind'!

Like battle-steeds, with foamy manes', wild tossing in the wind'.

3. Each after each sank down astern', exhausted in the chase',
But where it sank another rose', and gallop'd in its place;
As black as night', they turn'd to white', and cast against the
cloud

A snowy sheet', as if each surge upturn'd a sailor's shroud'.
Still flew my boat: alas! alas! her course was nearly run!
Behold yon fatal billow rise,-ten billows heap'd in one!

4. With fearful speed the dreary mass came rolling, rolling fast, As if the scooping sea contain'd one only wave at last!

Still on it came, with horrid roar, a swift-pursuing grave:

It seem'd as though some cloud had turn'd its hugeness to a wave!

Its briny sleet began to beat beforehand in my face;

I felt the rearward keel begin to climb its swelling base'!

I saw its Alpine hoary head impending over mine!

Another pulse', and down it rush'd', an avalanche of brine'!

5. Brief pause had I on God to cry', or think of wife and home';

The waters closed, and, when I shriek'd, I shriek'd below the foam!

Beyond that rush I have no hint of any after-deed,

For I was tossing on the waste, as senseless as a weed.

6. "Where am I? In the breathing world', or in the world of death?"

With sharp and sudden pang I drew another birth of breath';
My eyes drank in a doubtful light', my ears a doubtful sound':
And was that ship a real ship whose tackle seem'd around?
A moon, as if the earthly moon, was shining up aloft:
But were those beams the very beams that I had seen so oft?

7. A face, that mock'd the human face, before me watch'd alone; But were those eyes the eyes of man that look'd against my own? Oh, never may the moon again disclose me such a sight

As met my gaze', when first I look'd, on that accursed night'! 8. I've seen a thousand horrid shapes', begot of fierce extremes Of fever'; and most frightful things have haunted in my dreams:

Hyenas', cats, blood-loving bats', and apes with hateful stare'; Pernicious snakes', and shaggy bulls', the lion', and she-bear'; Strong enemies', with Judas looks of treachery and spite'; Detested features', hardly dimm'd and banish'd by the light'!

9. (p) Pale sheeted ghosts, with gory locks, upstarting from their tombs';

All fantasies and images', that flit in midnight glooms';

Hags', goblins', demons', iemures', have made me all aghast,(pf) But nothing like that grimly one who stood beside the

mast!

10. His cheek was black'; his brow was black'; his eyes and hair as dark';

His hand was black', and where it touch'd it left a sable mark'; His throat was black'; his vest the same'; and, when I look'd

beneath',

His breast was black'; all, all was black, except his grinning teeth.

His sooty crew were like in hue, as black as Afric slaves!

Oh, horror! e'en the ship was black that plow'd the inky waves!

11. "Alas!" I cried, "for love of truth and blessed mercy's sake,

Where am I? in what dreadful ship? upon what dreadful lake?
What shape is that, so very grim, and black as any coal?
It is Mahound, the Evil One, and he has gain'd my soul!
Oh, mother dear! my tender nurse! dear meadows that beguiled
My happy days when I was yet a little sinless child,
My mother dear-my native fields-I never more shall see:
I'm sailing in the Devil's ship, upon the Devil's sea!"

12. Loud laugh'd that sable mariner, and loudly in return.
His sooty crew sent forth a laugh that rang from stem to stern;
A dozen pair of grimly cheeks were crumpled on the nonce,
As many sets of grinning teeth came shining out at once.
A dozen gloomy shapes at once enjoy'd the merry fit,
With shriek and yell, and oaths as well, like demons of the pit

13. They crow'd their fill, and then the chief made answer for the whole:

"Our skins," said he, “are black, ye see, because we carry coal: You'll find your mother, sure enough, and all your native fields, For this here ship has pick'd you up, the Mary Ann, of

Shields!""

our own'.

LESSON XCII.

NATIONAL GLORY.

BY HENRY CLAY.

1. WE are asked, What have we gained by the war? I have shown that we have lost nothing in rights', territory', or honor'; nothing for which we ought to have contended', according to the principles of the gentlemen on the other side', or according to Have we gained nothing by the war? Let any man look at the degraded condition of this country before the war,the scorn of the universe, the contempt of ourselves, and tell me if we have gained nothing by the war. What is our present situation? Respectability and character abroad', security and confidence at home'.

2. If we have not obtained', in the opinion of some', the full measure of retribution', our character and constitution are placed on a solid basis, never to be shaken'. The glory acquired by our gallant tars, by our Jacksons and our Browns on the land,—is that nothing? True, we had our vicissitudes'; there are humiliating events which the patriot cannot review without deep regret'; but the great account', when it comes to be balanced', will be found vastly in our favor`.

3. Is there a man who would obliterate from the proud pages of our history the brilliant achievements of Jackson, Brown, and Scott, and the host of heroes on land and sea, whom I cannot enumerate? Is there a man who could not desire a participation in the national glory acquired by the war? Yes', national glory, which', however the expression may be condemned by some', must be cherished by every genuine patriot'.

4. What do I mean by national glory? Glory such as Hull', Jackson', and Perry' have acquired'. And are gentlemen insensible to their deeds,-to the value of them in animating the country in the hour of peril hereafter? Did the battle of Thermopyla preserve Greece but once? Whilst the Mississippi continues to bear the tributaries of the Iron Mountain and the Alleghanies to her Delta and to the Gulf of Mexico, the eighth of January shall be remembered; and the glory of that day shall stimulate future patriots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen in driving the presumptuous invader from our country's soil.

5. Gentlemen may boast of their insensiblity to feelings inspired by the contemplation of such events. But, I would ask, does the recollection of Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown

afford them no pleasure? Every act of noble sacrifice to the country, every instance of patriotic devotion to her cause, has its beneficial influence. A nation's character is the sum of its splendid deeds; they constitute one common patrimony, the nation's inheritance. They awe foreign powers; they arouse and animate our own people. I love true glory. It is this sentiment which ought to be cherished; and, in spite of cavils, and sneers, and attempts to put it down, it will rise triumphant, and finally conduct this nation to that height to which God and nature have destined it.

LESSON XCIII.

A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS

BY CLEMENT C. MOORE.

CLEMENT C. MOORE was born in New York, July 15, 1779. After graduating from Columbia College, he devoted himself with great success to the study of Hebrew, and in 1809 published a Hebrew and English Lexicon. In 1821 he accepted a professorship in the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church.

1. 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring,—not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care',
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there'.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds',
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads';
And mamma in her kerchief", and I in my cap',
Had settled our brains for a long winter's nap';
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter',
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

2. Away to the window I flew like a flash',

Tore open the shutters', and threw up the sash'.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below:
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

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