679. A CURE FOR HARD TIMES. We are too fond of showing out in our families; and, in this way, our expenses far exceed our incomes. Our daughters-must be dressed off in their silks and crapes, instead of their insey-woolsey. Our young folks--are too proud to be seen in a coarse dress, and their extravagance is bringing ruin on our families. When you can induce your sons to prefer young women, for their real worth, rather than for their show; when you can get them to choose a wife, who can make a good loaf of bread, and a good pound of butter, in preference to a girl, who does nothing but dance about in her silks, and her laces; then, gentiemen, you may expect to see a change for the better. We must get back to the good old simplicity of former times, if we expect to see more prosperous days. The time was, even since memory, when a simple note was good for any amount of money, but now bonds and mortgages are thought almost no security; and this owing to the want of confidence. And what has caused this want of confidence? Why, it is occasioned by the extravagant manner of living; by your families going in debt beyond your ability to pay. Examine this matter, gentlemen, and you will find this to be the real cause. Teach your sons to be too proud to ride a hackney, which their father cannot pay for. Let them be above being seen sporting in a gig, or a carriage, which their father is in debt for. Let them have this sort of independent pride, and I venture to say, that you will soon perceive a reformation. But, until the change commences in this way in our families; until we begin the work ourselves, it is in vain to expect better times. Now, gentlemen, if you think as I do on this subject, there is a way of showing that you do think so, and but one way; when you return to your homes, have independence enough to put these principles in practice; and I am sure you will not be disappointed. 680. THE FIRE-SIDE. Dear Chloe, while the busy crowd, Be call'd our choice, we'll step aside, Where love our hours employs; Tho' fools-spurn Hymen's gentle pow'rs, We, who improve his golden hours, By sweet experience know, That marriage, rightly understood, Gives to the tender, and the good, A paradise below. Our babes, shall richest comfort bring; And train them for the skies. And recompense our cares. No borrow'd joys! they're all our own, And bless our humbler lot. Our portion is not large, indeed! For nature's calls are few: And make that little do. We'll therefore relish, with content, Nor aim beyond our pow'r; Nor lose the present hour. To be resign'd, when, ills betide, Whose fragrance-smells to heav'n Thus, hand in hand, thro' life we'll go; With cautious steps, we'll tread; And smooth the bed of death.-Coon. Ye glittering towns, with wealth and splendor crown'd; Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale; Ye bending swains, that dress the flowery vale: For me your tributary stores combine: Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine. 681. 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 cannot 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 cannot 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 cannot reach it. It comes, if it come 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 repuked, and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then, patriotism is eloquent; then, selfdevotion is eloquent. The clear conception, out-running the deductions of logic, the high purpose, of firm resolve, the dauntless 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. 682. THE SOUL'S DEFIANCE. I said to Sorrow's awful storm, But still the spirit that now brooks Thy tempest, raging high, Undaunted, on its fury looks With steadfast eye." I said to Penury's meagre train, I said to cold Neglect, and Scorn, Its high-born smiles." I said to Friendship's menaced blow, Shall smile-upon its keenest pains, I said to Death's uplifted dart, A weak, reluctant prey; Shall, smiling, pass away." coursers' flight. "Fly, Misraim, fly!" The ravenous floods they see, CONCEALED LOVE. She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek: she pin'd in thought. And, with a green and yellow melancholy, She sat like patience on a monument, Smiling at grief. READINGS AND RECITATIONS. To be a brother-to th' insensible rock, 684. GREEK LITERATURE. It is impos- And, lost each human trace, surrendering up aible to contemplate the annals of Greek lit-Thine individual being, shalt thou go, erature, and art, without being struck with To mix forever with the elements, them, as by far the most extraordinary, and brilliant phenomenon, in the history of the human mind. The very language, even in its primitive simplicity, as it came down from the rhapsodists, who celebrated the exploits of Hercules, and Theseus, was as great a won-Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mcd Yet not, to thy eternal resting place, der, as any it records. And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain The oak All the other tongues, that civilized men have spoken, are poor, and feeble, and bar-Shalt thou retire, alone-nor could'st thou wish Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down Its compass, barous, in comparison of it. and flexibility, its riches, and its powers, are With patriarchs of the infant world, with kings, altogether unlimited. It not only expresses, The powerful of the earth, the wise, the good, with precision, all that is thought, or known, Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, at any given period, but it enlarges itself na- All-in one-mighty sepulchre. turally, with the progress of science, and affords, as if without an effort, a new phrase, or a systematic nomenclature, whenever one is called for. The hills, [all, Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun; the vales, Stretching in pensive quietness between; It is equally adapted to every variety of The venerable woods; rivers, that move style, and subject, to the most shadowy sub-In majesty, and the complaining brooks tlety of distinction, and the utmost exactness of definition, as well as to the energy, and the pathos of popular eloquence, to the majesty, the elevation, the variety of the Epic, and the boldest license of the Dithyrambic, no less than to the sweetness of the Elegy, the simplicity of the Pastoral, or the heedless gayety, and delicate characterization of Comedy. Above all, what is an unspeakable charm, a sort of naivete is peculiar to it, and appears in all those various styles, and is quite as becoming, and agreeable, in an historian, or a philosopher, Xenophon for instance, as in the fight and jocund numbers of Anacreon. Indeed, were there no other object, in learning Greek, but to see-to what perfection language is capable of being carried, not only as a medium of communication, but as an instrument of thought, we see not why the time of a young man would not be just as well bestowed, in acquiring a knowledge of it, for all the purposes, at least of a liberal, or elementary education, as in learning algebra, another specimen of a language, or arrangement of signs perfect in its kind.-Legare. 685. OUR EXIT: THANATOPSIS. When thoughts Of the last bitter hour, come like a blight Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, "Yet a few days, and thee, That make the meadows green; and, poured round All that tread The globe, are but a handfull, to the tribes, To swell small things-to great; nay, out of nought. 686. BENEFITS OF AGRICULTURE. Agriculture-is the greatest among the arts; for it is first in supplying our necessities. It is the mother, and nurse-of all other arts. It favors and strengthens population; it creates and maintains manufactures; gives employment to navigation, and materials to commerce. It animates every species of industry, and opens-to nations the surest channels of opulence. It is also the strongest bond of well regulated society, the surest basis of internal peace, the natural association of good morals. We ought to count, among the benefits of agriculture, the charm, which the practice of it communicates to a country life. That charm, which has made the country, in our view, the retreat of the hero, the asylum of the sage, and the temple of the historic muse. The strong desire, the longing after the country, with which we find the bulk of mankind to be penetrated, points to it as the chosen abode of sublunary bliss. The sweet occupations of culture, with her varied products and attendant enjoyments, are, at least, a relief from the stifling atmosphere of the city, the monotony of subdivided employments, the anxious uncertainty of commerce, the vexations of ambition so often disappointed, of self-love so often mortified, of factitious pleasures, and unsubstantial vanities. Health, the first and best of all the blessings of life, is preserved and fortified by the practice of agriculture. That state of well-being, which we feel and cannot define; that selfsatisfied disposition, which depends, perhaps, on the perfect equilibrium, and easy play of vital forces, turns the slightest acts to pleasure, and makes every exertion of our faculties a source of enjoyment; this inestimable state of our bodily functions is most vigorous in the country, and if lost elsewhere, it is in the country we expect to recover it. The very theater of agricultural avocations, gives them a value that is peculiar; for who can contemplate,without emotion, the magnif icent spectacle of nature, when, arrayed in ver nal hues, she renews the scenery of the world! All things revive her powerful voice - the meadow resumes its freshness and verdure; a living sap circulates through every budding tree; flowers spring up to meet the warm caresses of Zephyr, and from their opening petals pour forth rich perfume. The songsters of the forest once more awake, and in tones of melody, again salute the coming dawn; and again they deliver to the evening echo-their strains of tenderness and love. Can manrational, sensitive man-can he remain unmoved by the surrounding presence! and where else, than in the country, can he behold, where else can he feel--this jubilee of nature, this universal joy!-MacNeven. Let me lead you from this place of sorrow, To one where young delights attend; and joys, Yet new, unborn, and blooming in the bud, Which want to be full-blown at your approach, And spread like roses, to the morning sun; Where ev'ry hour shall roll in circling joys, And love shall wing the tedious-wasting day. Life without love, is load; and time stands still; What we refuse to him, to death we give; An' then, then only, when we love we live. 687. THE AMERICAN FLAG. And set the stars of glory-there. Who rear'st aloft-thy regal form, When strive-the warriors of the storm, And rolls-the thunder-drum of heaven,~ Child of the sun! to thee 'tis given, To guard the banner of the free, And cowering foes-shall fall beneath By angel hands-to valor given; ing cry, That made the torches flare around, and shook the flags on higt: "Ho! cravem, do ye fear him ?-Slaves, traitors! have ye flown? Ho! cowards, have ye left me to meet him here alone! O then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you 688. TRIBUTE.O WASHINGTON. Hard, | Bowl-rang to bowl,-sterl-clanged to steel, -and rose a deafen hard indeed, was the contest for freedom, and the struggle for independence. The golden sun of liberty-had nearly set, in the gloom of an eternal night, ere its radiant beams illumined our western horizon. Had not the tutelar saint of Columbia-hovered around the American camp, and presided over her destinies, freedom must have met with an antimely grave. Never, can we sufficiently admire the wisdom of those statesmen, and the skill, and bravery, of those unconquerable veterans, who, by their unwearied exertions in the cabinet, and in the field, achieved for us the glorious revolution. Never, can we duly appreciate the merits of a Washington; who, with but a handfull of undisciplined yeomanry, triumphed over a royal army, and prostrated the lion of England at the feet of the American eagle. His name,-so terrible to his foes, so welcome to his friends,--shall live forever upon the brightest page of the historian, and be remembered, with the warmest emotions of gratitude, and pleasure, by those, whom he had contributed to make happy, and by all mankind, when kings, and princes, and nobles, for ages, shall have sunk into their merited oblivion. Unlike them, he needs not the assistance of the sculptor, or the architect, to perpetuate his memory: he needs no princely dome, no monumental pile, no state-Time out of mind, the fairies' coach-makers. ly pyramid, whose towering height shall And in this state she gallops, night by night, pierce the stormy clouds, and rear its lofty Thro' lovers' brains, and then they dream of love head to heaven, to tell posterity his fame. On courtiers' knees, that dream on curtsies strait; His deeds, his worthy deeds, alone have ren- O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees: dered him immortal! When oblivion sha!! O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream have swept away thrones, kingdoms, and Sometimes, she gallops o'er a courtier's nose, principalities--when human greatness, and grandeur, and glory, shall have mouldered in- And then, dreams he of smelling out a suit: to dust,--eternity itself shall catch the glow- And sometimes comes she, with a tithe-pig's ta, ing theme, and dwell with increasing rapture Tickling the parson, as he lies asleep; on his name!--Gen: Harrison. 689. THE BARON'S LAST BANQUET. Uer a low couch-the setting sun-had thrown its latest ray, Where, in his last-strong agony-a dying warrior lay, The stern-old Baron Rudiger, whose frame-had ne'er been bent By wasting pain, till time, and toil-its iron strength had spent. "They come around me here, and say my days of life are o'er, 11 at I shall mount my neble steed, and lead my band no more; Irey come, and to my beard-they dare to tell me now, that I, Their own liege lord, and master born,—that 1, ha! ha! must die. And what is death? I've dared him oft-before the Paynim spear, Think ye he's entered at my gate, has come to seek me here? I've met him, faced him, scora'd him, when the fight was raging hot, I try his might-I'll brave his power: defy, and fear him not, An hundred hands were busy then, the banquet forth was spread, And rung-the heavy oakeu floor, with many a martial tread; Lights-gleamed on larness, plume and spear, o'er the proud old Gothic hall. Fast hurrying through the outer gate-the mailed retainers pour'd, Then dreams he-of another benefice. of youth--is slowly wasting away into the BRONSON |