known to man, might have been written as it transpired, upon the surface of the Pyramids, and yet the shadows of unknown times would rest upon their summits. 6. We must go back to a period long prior to any certain chronology, if we would even attempt to form a conception of the refinement and resources of this wonderful people. We must violate the gloomy sanctuary of the mausoleum and catacomb, be able to interpret the hieroglyphics of their decaying temples, and, wandering amid their time-honored Pyramids, be gifted with a mental vision that penetrates the dim twilight of ages, if we would solve the mystery of the early Egyptians. 7. Egypt, amid the nations of the earth, reminds us, if we may "compare great things with small," of the old oak that has braved the storms and the changes of a thousand years, and beheld sapling after sapling rise in its shadow, grow to maturity and decay, while its own form became but the more venerable with the moss of ages. The Parthenon, the Colosseum,2 and the Palace of the Alhambra,3 have each been the pride and glory of their respective nations, and are now venerable in ruins; but neither the elegant Greek, the stern Roman, nor the haughty Moor,* could, more than ourselves, penetrate the obscurity that vails the builders of these vast edifices, which vie in durability with the "everlasting hills." 8. It was here that Herodotus, Pythagoras,5 Homer, and all the wise and gifted of Greece, sat at the feet of an Egyptian priesthood, and imbibed those lessons of wisdom and knowledge which they were to convey to their own soil, where, touched by a livelier fancy and more elegant taste, they were to produce works that remain to this day, the wonder and admiration of the world. LESSON CLIV. CHOICE EXTRACTS. 1. I. BUGLE SONG. TENNYSON. THE sp snowy summits old in story; splendor falls on castle walls, And snowy The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying; 2. O hark! O hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, The horns of Elf-land faintly blowing! Blow! let us hear the purple glens replying: Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, — dying, dying, dying! 3. O love! they die in yon rich sky; They faint on hill, or field, or river! Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow forever and forever. Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying; II. THE AGE OF PROGRESS. CHARLES SUMNER. 1. THE age of manity has come. chivalry has gone. An age of huThe horse, whose importance, more In than human, gave the name to that early period of gallantry and war, now yields his foremost place to man. serving him, in promoting his elevation, in contributing to his welfare, in doing him good, there are fields of bloodless triumph, nobler far than any in which the bravest knight ever conquered. Here are spaces of labor, wide as the world, lofty as heaven. 2. Let me say, then, in the benison once bestowed upon the youthful knight, - Scholars, jurists, artists, philanthropists, heroes of a Christian age, companions of a celestial knighthood, "Go forth. Be brave, loyal, and successful!" And may it be our office to light a fresh beacon-fire sacred to truth! Let the flame spread from hill to hill, from island to island, from continent to continent, till the long lineage of fires shall illumine all the nations of the earth, animating them to the holy contests of KNOWLEdge, JusTICE, BEAUTY, LOVE. III. CLEAR THE WAY. 1. THERE's a fount about to stream, Into gray: Men of thought, and men of action, 2. Aid the dawning, tongue and pen; Aid it, for the hour is ripe, And our earnest must not slacken Men of thought, and men of action, IV. OUR SAGES AND HEROES. CHARLES SPRAGUE. I. To the sages who spoke, to the heroes who bled, Be that story long told, And on Fame's golden tablets their triumphs enrolled, Who on Freedom's green hills Freedom's banner unfurled, And the beacon-fire raised that gave light to the world! II. They are gone, mighty men; and they sleep in their fame! Shall we ever forget them? Oh, never! no, never! Let our sons learn from us to embalm each great name, And the anthem send down, "Independence forever!" Wake, wake, heart and tongue! Keep the theme ever young; Let their deeds through the long line of ages be sung, Who on Freedom's green hills Freedom's banner unfurled, And the beacon-fire raised that gave light to the world! V. THE AMERICAN UNION. WEBSTER. WHEN my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once-glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, "What is all this worth?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first, and Union afterward;" but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,-LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW and forever, ONE AND INSEPARABLE! VI. EXPULSION FROM PARADISE. MILTON. O UNEXPECTED stroke! worse than of death! Thee, native soil? these happy walks and shades, |