3. The sucklings of the she-wolf Like stubble from his path; Then crested he with temples The seven hills of his home, And builded there, by Tiber, The eternal walls of Rome! Hath store of pregnant pith For mine own time and mine own clime; 4. Like Romulus and Remus, Her bloody suck did give, Straight to our hearts comes home — Freedom's eternal Rome! LI-A TRIBUTE TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN. JAMES R. LOWELL. 1. Life may be given in many ways, And loyalty to truth be sealed As bravely in the closet as the field, But then to stand beside her When craven churls deride her, And measure of a stalwart man, Who stands self-poised on manhood's solid earth, Not forced to frame excuses for his birth, Fed from within with all the strength he needs. 2. Such was he, our martyr chief, Whom late the nation he had led, Wept with the passion of an angry grief; Forgive me if from present things I turn To speak what in my heart will beat and burn, And hang my wreath on his world-honored urn. 3. Nature, they say, doth dote, And cannot make a man, Save on some worn-out plan, Repeating us by rote; For him the old-world mold aside she threw, With stuff untainted shaped a hero new, 4. How beautiful to see Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed, Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead; One whose meek flock the people joyed to be. Not lured by any cheat of birth, But by his clear-grained human worth And brave old wisdom of sincerity! They knew that outward grace is dust; They could not choose but trust In that sure-footed mind's unfaltering skill, And supple-tempered will That bent like perfect steel to spring again and thrust. 5. Nothing of Europe here, Or, then, of Europe fronting mornward still, Ere any names of serf and peer Could Nature's equal scheme deface; Here was a type of the true elder race, And one of Plutarch's men talked with us face to face 6. I praise him not—it were too late; And some innative weakness there must be In him who condescends to victory Such as the present gives, and cannot wait, Safe in himself as in a fate. So always firmly he; He knew to bide his time, And can his fame abide, Still patient in his simple faith sublime, 7. Great captains with their guns and drums, Disturb our judgment for the hour, But at last silence comes; These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, Our children shall behold his fame, The kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeing man, Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, New birth of our new soil, the first American. LII.- THE MAIN TRUCK, OR A LEAP FOR LIFE G. P. MORRIS. 1. Old Ironsides at anchor lay, In the harbor of Mahon; The waves to sleep had gone; 2. A shudder shot through every vein, No hold had he above, below, Alone he stood in air; To that far height none dared to go; 3. We gazed, but not a man could speak! In groups with pallid brow and cheek, We watched the quivering mast. As, riveted unto the spot, Stood officers and crew. 4. The father came on deck,--he gasped, "Oh God! thy will be done!" Then suddenly a rifle grasped, And aimed it at his son; Jump far out, boy, into the wave! Jump or I fire!" he said; "That only chance thy life can save ! "Jump! jump, boy!"— he obeyed. 5. He sunk,―he rose,— he lived,— he moved,— On board, we hailed the lad beloved, His father drew, in silent joy, Those wet arms round his neck,-- LIII.-PASSAGE OF THE POTOMAC THROUGH THE BLUE RIDGE. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1. The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes of nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Potomac, seeking a passage also. In the moment of their junction, they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. 2. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time; that the mountains were first formed, that the rivers began to flow afterward; that, in this place particularly, they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountain, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to |