7. Weigh the vessel up, The tear that England owes. 8. Her timbers yet are sound, Full charged with England's thunder, 9. But Kempenfelt is gone; And he and his eight hundred 2 HEEL. Lean or incline to one side, 1 FAST BY. Near to; close by. as a ship. from the mast-head to the vessel's sides, to support the mast, &c. 4 WEIGH (wa). Lift, raise. & SHRÖÛDŞ. A set of ropes reaching 5 MAIN. The open sea; the ocean. VIII. THE SUNBEAM. MRS. HEMANS. [Felicia Dorothea Hemans was born in Liverpool, England, September 25, 1794, and died May 12, 1835. Her poetry is remarkable for purity and delicacy of feeling, and a fine sense of the beauty of nature.] 1. THOU art no lingerer in monarch's1 hall: A joy thou art and a wealth to all; A bearer of hope unto land and sea: Sunbeam, what gift hath the world like thee? 2. Thou art walking the billows, and ocean smiles; 3. To the solemn depths of the forest shades Thou art streaming on through their green arcades, 4. I looked on the mountains: a vapor lay 5. I looked on the peasant's lowly cot: 6. Sunbeam of summer, O, what is like thee, One thing is like thee, to mortals given 6 The faith touching all things with hues of heaven. lives in the country. 1 MŎN'ARCH. A ruler of a nation, 3 PEAŞ'ANT. A laborer in Europe who who has sole authority; a sovereign; a king. 2 AR-CADE'. A walk arched above; an arched aperture; a space covered by an arch. 4 CAȘE MENT. A part of a window sash, opening upon hinges. 5 MÖRTALS. Human beings. IX.. MEMORIALS OF WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN. [The following deeply interesting proceedings took place in the House of Representatives at Washington, on the 7th day of February, 1848. Mr. George W. Summers, of Virginia, rose and addressed the house as follows.] 1. MR. SPEAKER: I rise for the purpose of discharging an office not connected with the ordinary business of a legislative assembly. Yet, in asking permission to inter rupt, for a moment, the regular order of parliamentary proceedings, I cannot doubt that the proposition which I have to submit will prove as gratifying as it may be unusual. * 2. Mr. Samuel T. Washington, a citizen of Kanawha county, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and one of my constituents3, has honored me with the commission of presenting, in his name and on his behalf, to the Congress of the United States, and through that body to the people of the United States, two most interesting and valuable relics, connected with the past history of our country, and with men whose achievements, both in the field and in the cabinet, best illustrate and adorn our annals. 3. One is the sword worn by George Washington, first as a colonel in the colonial service of Virginia, in Forbes's campaign against the French and Indians, and afterwards, during the whole period of the war of independence, as commander-in-chief of the American army. 4. It is a plain couteau,† or hanger, with a green hilt and silver guard. On the upper ward of the scabbard is engraven “J. Bailey, Fish Kill." It is accompanied by a buckskin belt, which is secured by a silver buckle and clasp, whereon are engraven the letters "G. W." and the figures "1757." These are all of the plainest workmanship, but substantial, and in keeping with the man and with the times to which they belonged. 5. The history of this sword is perfectly authentic, and leaves no shadow of doubt as to its identity. The last will and testament of General Washington, bearing date on the 9th day of February, 1799, contains, among a great variety of bequests, the following clause: "To each of my nephews, William Augustine Washington, George Lewis, George Steptoe Washington, Bushrod Washington, and Samuel Washington, I give one of the swords, or cou * Pronounced ka-nâw/wą. Pronounced kô-tō'. teaux, of which I may die possessed; and they are to choose, in the order they are named. These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for selfdefence, or in defence of their country and its rights; and, in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof." 6. In the distribution of the swords hereby devised among the five nephews therein enumerated, the one now presented fell to the share of Samuel Washington, the devisee last named in the clause of the will which I have just read. 9 7. This gentleman, who died a few years since in the county of Kanawha, and who was the father of Samuel T. Washington, the donor, I knew well. I have often seen this sword in his possession, and received from himself the following account of the manner in which it became his property in the division made among the devisees: 8. He said that he knew it to have been the side arm of General Washington during the revolutionary war; not that used on occasions of parade and review, but the constant service sword of the great chief; that he had himself seen General Washington wear this identical sword, he presumed for the last time, when, in 1794, he reviewed the Virginia and Maryland forces, then concentrated at Cumberland under the command of General Lee, and destined to cooperate with the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops then assembled at Bedford, in suppressing what has been called the "whiskey insurrection." 9. General Washington was then president of the United States, and as such was commander-in-chief of the army. It is known that it was his intention to lead the army in person upon that occasion, had he found it necessary; and he went to Bedford and Cumberland prepared for that event. The condition of things did not require it, and he returned to his civil duties at Philadelphia. 10. Mr. Samuel Washington held the commission of a captain at that time himself, and served in that campaign, many of the incidents of which he has related to me. 11. He was anxious to obtain this particular sword, and preferred it to all the others, among which was the ornamented and costly present from the great Frederic.* 12. At the time of the division among the nephews, without intimating what his preference was, he jocosely remarked, that "inasmuch as he was the only one of them who had participated in military service, they ought to permit him to take choice." This suggestion was met in the same spirit in which it was made, and the selection being awarded him, he chose this, the plainest, and, intrinsically 10, the least valuable of any, simply because it was the "battle sword." 13. I am also in possession of the most satisfactory evidence, furnished by Colonel George Washington, of Georgetown, the nearest male relative, now living, of General Washington, as to the identity of this sword. His information, as to its history, was derived from his father, William Augustine Washington, the devisee first named in the clause of the will which I have read; from his uncle, the late Judge Bushrod Washington, of the Supreme Court; and Major Lawrence Lewis, the acting executor" of General Washington's will; all of whom concurred in the statement that the true service sword was that selected by Captain Samuel Washington. 14. It remained in this gentleman's possession until his death, esteemed by him the most precious memento of his illustrious kinsman. It then became the property of his son, who, animated by that patriotism which so character * Frederic II., king of Prussia, a most skilful general, was born in 1712 and died in 1786. |