Cato. Those very reasons thou hast urged forbid it. And reason with you, as from friend to friend. Still may you stand high in your country's honors. Cato. No more! I must not think of life on such conditions. Dec. Cæsar is well acquainted with your virtues, Cato. Bid him disband his legions, Restore the commonwealth to liberty, And stand the judgment of a Roman Senate: Dec. Cato, the world talks loudly of your wisdom,— ployed though Cato's voice was ne'er em To clear the guilty, and to varnish crimes, And at the head of your own little Senate; With all the mouths of Rome to second you. Cato. Let him consider that who drives us hither. 'Tis Cæsar's sword has made Rome's Senate little And thinned its ranks. Alas! thy dazzled eye Beholds this man in a false glaring light, Which conquest and success have thrown upon him. Didst thou but view him right, thou 'dst see him black crimes. That strike my soul with horror but to name them. I know thou look'st on me as on a wretch Dec. Does Cato send this answer back to Cæsar, JOSEPH ADDISON. (1672—1719.) LXIX. -LINES TO LITTLE MARY. CHA'RY, a., careful; cautious. IN'TRI-CATE, a., entangled. PA'GAN, a., heathen. BEN'I-SON (-zon), n., a blessing. SUCCINCT-LY, ad., briefly; compactly I'M bidden, little Mary, to write verses unto thee; I'd fain obey the bidding, if it rested but with me; But the mistresses I'm bound to (nine ladies, hard to please !), That 't is only now and then - by good luck, as we may say — A couplet or a rhyme or two falls fairly in my way. Fruit forced is never half so sweet as that comes quite in season; But some folks must be satisfied with rhyme, in spite of reason; So, Muses, all befriend me,- albeit of help so chary,— To string the pearls of poësy for loveliest little Mary. And yet, ye pagan damsels,* not over-fond am I To invoke your haughty favors, your fount of Cas'taly: *By the pagan damsels, the "nine ladies hard to please," the author means the Nine Muses; female deities that were imagined by the ancients to preside over poetry, music, &c. The fount of Castaly was on Mount Parnassus, in Greece, and was sacred to Apollo and the Muses. I've sipped a purer fountain; I've decked a holier shrine ; 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; I need not wish thee beauty, I need not wish thee grace; And now, my little Mary, if better things remain My mother-tongue's best benison,- God bless thee, precious child! Pronounce Stael, Stah'ěl. Do not slur the sound of er in gov'ern-ment. In con ducts', contests, &c., heed the consonant terminations. 1. Ir is by the promulgation of sound morals in the community, and, more especially, by the training and instruction of the young, that woman performs her part toward the preservation of a free government. It is generally admitted that public liberty, the perpe 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 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 allcircumstances. 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! Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, From every low pursuit; and feed my soul With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure, |