W WE CANNOT FAIL. HEN I think of the heroism displayed in the field, of the devotion shown at home, of the men and women whose lives have been saved from guilty dissipation, or from that utter frivolity which is only a hair's breadth this side of guilty dissipation, redeemed and consecrated to patriotism, I find some compensation even for the horrors that have befallen us. I spoke of hope. Let us rather call it faith, -faith that a rebellion founded in a denial of human rights, and sustained by daily wrongs, cannot be destined to prevail. Because we are thoroughly in the right, because the interest of mankind for generations to come depends upon our success, because the hopes and prayers of good men everywhere, the living and the dead, are with us, -we cannot fail. Failure, if it comes, will only rekindle the spirit of our nation. The lust of gold, the madness of luxury and fashion, the strife of party, will give way to universal loyalty, in the presence of a peril which we feel. Foreign intervention, if that is threatened, will make of us more than ever, more than anything, one people. I look for another day of perfect union, of indignant loyalty, of assured victory. I cannot believe that the glories of our fathers' days and of their fathers', the grand voices that sound from two centuries of civilized life in America, are but a prelude to the dirge which humanity would chant over the grave of a ruined nation and a lost hope. I rather count the sad tidings which too often grieve our ears, as the mournful notes which will lend grandeur to that full anthem of praise which will burst from the heart of a redeemed nation as they shout with one accord: 66 Sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously." She spread her soft wings on them To warm and to guard them, Her love was so strong; One day, the young birds Who were wicked and rude. They took the warm nest down But when back again Oh, then she began A most pitiful cry ; She mourned a long while, L LITTLE BY LITTLE. ITTLE by little the rain falls from the clouds upon the thirsty earth, giving beauty and freshness to nature, and causing the seeds to expand, the grass to spring up, the flowers to open. Little by little does the acorn send forth its tiny shoots, which slowly press upward, and stretch outward, until they take the form and qualities of the stately oak. Little by little do the mountain rills add to the flowing rivulet, until they all unite to form the noble river, and are borne onward to the mighty ocean. Little by little does the painter add to the blank canvas, until it assumes the form and expression of the human face, and the likeness of a dear friend. So, too, little by little, do we grow from infancy to manhood, from feebleness to strength, from a state of dependence to active and useful lives. Little by little, do we gain that learning which will fit us to act well our parts in life, and make us both useful and happy. May we daily strive to add, little by little, to the growth of our minds, and the culture of our hearts, that we may not fail of becoming a benefit to the world in which we live, and so that we may daily meet the approval of Him who gives us all our blessings. INTEMPERANCE. GAZED upon the tattered garb I gazed upon his pallid cheek, And asked him how his cares begun; He sighed, and then essayed to speak,"The cause of all my grief is rum." I watched a maniac through the grate, I asked a convict in his chains, While tears adown his cheeks did roll, I asked a murderer, when the rope His answer was, "The flowing bowl." GOD NEVER MADE A SLAVE. COL YOLUMBIA'S sons, though slaves ye be, He life to all and being gave, But never, never made a slave! His works are wonderful to see, All, all proclaim the Deity; He made the earth, and formed the wave, He made the skies with spangles bright, The verdant earth on which we tread All men are equal in his sight, The bond, the free, the black, the white; |