I've sipped a purer fountain; I've decked a holier shrin I own a mightier mistress ; O Nature, thou art mine! And only to that well-head, sweet Mary, I'll resort, There's many a one will tell thee, 't is all with roses gay; There's many a one will tell thee, 't is thorny all the way Deceivers are they every one, dear child, who thus preter God's ways are not unequal; make Him thy trusted frie And many a path of pleasantness He 'll clear away for the However dark and intricate the labyrinth may be. I need not wish thee beauty, I need not wish thee grace; And now, my little Mary, if better things remain Pronounce Stael, Stah'ěl. Do not slur the sound of er in gov'ern-ment ducts', contests, &c., heed the consonant terminations. 1. It is by the promulgation of sound morals community, and, more especially, by the trainin instruction of the young, that woman perform WOMAN IN AMERICA. 179 tuity of a free constitution, rests on the virtue and intelligence of the community which enjoys it. How is that virtue to be inspired and how is that intelligence to be communicated? Bonaparte once asked Madame de Staël in what manner he could most promote the happiness of France. Her reply is full of political wisdom. She said: "Instruct the mothers of the French people.”, 2. Mothers are, indeed, the affectionate and effective teachers of the human race. The mother begins her process of training with the infant in her arms. It is she who directs, so to speak, its first mental and spiritual pulsations. She conducts it along the impressible years of childhood and youth, and hopes to deliver it to the rough contests and tumultuous scenes of life, armed by those good principles which her child has received from maternal care and love. 3. If we draw within the circle of our contemplation the mothers of a civilized nation, what do we see? We behold so many artificers working, not on frail and perishable matter, but on the immortal mind, moulding and fashioning beings who are to exist forever. We applaud the artist, whose skill and genius present the mimic man upon the canvas; we admire and celebrate the sculptor, who works out that same image in enduring marble; but how insignificant are these achievements, though the highest and the fairest in all the departments of art, in comparison with the great vocation of human mothers! They work, not upon the canvas that shall fail, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit, which is to last forever, and which is to bear, for good or evil, throughout its duration, the impress of a mother's plastic hand. 4. I have already expressed the opinion, which all allow to be correct, that our security for the duration 180 WOMAN IN AMERICA. of the free institutions which bless our country de pends upon the habits of virtue, and the prevalence of knowledge and of education. Knowledge does not comprise all which is contained in the larger term of education. The feelings are to be disciplined; the passions are to be restrained; true and worthy motives are to be inspired; a profound religious feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality inculcated, under all circumstances. 5. All this is comprised in education. Mothers who are faithful to this great charge will tell their children that neither in political nor in any other concerns of life can man ever withdraw himself from the perpetual obligations of conscience and of duty; that in every act, whether public or private, he incurs a just responsibility; and that in no condition is he warranted in trifling with important rights and obligations. 6. They will impress upon their children the truth, that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty, of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every free elector is a trustee, as well for others as himself; and that every man and every meas ure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others, as well as on his own. It is in the inculcation of high and pure morals, such as these, that, in a free republic, woman performs her sacred duty, and fulfills her destiny. DANIEL WEBSTER. (1782- 1852.) FATHER of light and life! thou Good Supreme! From every low pursuit; and feed my soul With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure, In perfume, the accent is on the first syllable when it is a noun; on the second, when it is a verb. Do not say dooey for dew'y. 1. It is summer! it is summer! How beautiful it looks! There is sunshine on the old gray hills, and sunshine on the brooks; a singing-bird on every bough; soft perfumes on the air; a happy smile on each young lip, and gladness every where. O! is it not a pleasant thing to wander through the woods, — to look upon the painted flowers, and watch the opening buds; or, seated in the deep, cool shade, at some tall ash-tree's root, to fill my little basket with the sweet and scented fruit! go 2. They tell me that my father's poor; that is no grief to me, when such a blue and brilliant sky my up turned eye can see. They tell me, too, that richer girls can sport with toy and gem. It may be so; and yet, methinks, I do not envy them. When forth I upon my way, a thousand toys are mine: the clusters of dark violets, the wreaths of the wild vine. My jewels are the primrose pale, the bind-weed, and the rose. O! show me any courtly gem more beautiful than these.. 3. And then, the fruit! the glowing fruit! how sweet the scent it breathes ! I love to see its crimson cheek rest on the bright green leaves. Summer's own gift of luxury, in which the poor may share,-the wildwood fruit, my eager eye is seeking every where. O! summer is a pleasant time, with all its sounds and sights; its dewy mornings, balmy eves, and tranquil, calm delights. I sigh when first I see the leaves fall yellow on the plain; and all the winter long I sing, Sweet summer! come again! MARY HOWITT Pronounce Ophir, O'fer · His-pan-i-o'la, as marked; Asia, Ã'she-a. 1. HE was decidedly a visionary, but a visionary of an uncommon and successful kind. The manner in which his ardent imagination and mercurial nature were controlled by a powerful judgment, and directed by an acute sagacity, is the most extraordinary feature in his character. Thus governed, his imagination, instead of wasting itself in idle soarings, lent wings to his judgment, and bore it away to conclusions at which common minds could never have arrived; nay, which they could not perceive when pointed out. 2. To his intellectual vision it was given to read, in the signs of the times and the reveries of past ages, the indications of an unknown world, as soothsayers were said to read predictions in the stars, and to foretell events from the visions of the night. "His soul," observes a Spanish writer, "was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved the great enterprise to plow a sea which had given rise to so many fables, and to decipher the mystery of his time." 3. With all the visionary fervor of his imagination, its fondest dreams fell short of the reality. He died in ignorance of the reäl grandeur of his discovery. Until his last breath, he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the East. He supposed Hispaniola to be the ancient Ophir which had been visited by the ships of Solomon, and that Cuba and Terra Firma were but remote parts of Asia. 4. What visions of glory would have broke upon |