Chapter 25

10. Within a few paces from where the foam of the waves breaks on the yellow sand, forests of tall and unknown trees stretched away, one above another, over the successive terraces of the island. Green valleys and bright clefts in the hollows, afforded a half glimpse into these mysterious wilds. Here and there could be discovered a few scattered huts, which, with their outlines and roofs of dry leaves, looked like bee-hives, and thin columns of blue smoke rose above the tops of the trees. Half-naked groups of men, women, and children, more astonished than frightened, appeared among the thickets near the shore, advancing timidly, and then drawing back, exhibiting, by their gestures and demeanor, as much fear as curiosity and wonder, at the sight of these strange vessels, which the previous night had brought to their shores.

11. Columbus, after gazing in silence on this foremost shore of the land so often determined by his calculations, and so magnificently colored by his imagination, found it to exceed even his own expectations. He burned with impatience to be the first European to set foot on the sand, and to plant the flag of Spain,--the standard of the conquest of God and of his sovereigns, effected by his genius. But he restrained the eagerness of himself and of his crew to land, being desirous of giving to the act of taking possession of a new world, a _solemnity_ worthy of the greatest deed, perhaps, ever accomplished by a seaman; and, in default of men, to call God and His angels, sea, earth, and sky, as witnesses of his conquest of an unknown hemisphere.

12. He put on all the insignia of his dignities as Admiral of the Ocean, and the Viceroy of these future realms; he wrapped himself in his purple cloak, and taking in his hand an embroidered flag, in which the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella were interlaced, like their two kingdoms, and, surmounted by a crown, he entered his boat, and pulled toward the shore, followed by the boats of his two lieutenants.

13. On landing, he fell on his knees, to acknowledge, by this act of humility and worship, the goodness and greatness of God in this new sphere of His works. He kissed the ground, and, with his face on the earth, he wept tears of double import, as they fell on the dust of this hemisphere, now, for the first time, visited by Europeans,--tears of joy for the overflowing of a proud spirit, grateful and pious,--tears of sadness for this virgin soil, seeming to foreshadow the calamities, and devastation, with fire and sword, and blood and destruction, which the strangers were to bring with their pride, their knowledge, and their power.

14. It was the _man_ that shed these tears; but it was the _earth_ that was destined to weep. As Columbus raised his forehead from the dust, with a Latin prayer, which his companions have handed down to us, he thus addressed the Sovereign Ruler of the world: (_sl_.) "Almighty and eternal God, who, by the energy of thy creative word, hast made the firmament, the earth, and sea, blessed and glorified be Thy name in all places! May Thy majesty and dominion be exalted forever and ever, as Thou hast permitted Thy holy name to be made known and spread by the most humble of Thy servants, in this hitherto unknown portion of Thy empire."

15. He then gave to this land the name of San Salvador. His lieutenants, his pilots, and his seamen, full of gladness, and impressed with a superstitious respect for him whose glance had pierced beyond the visible horizon, and whom they had offended by their unbelief,--overcome by the evidence of their eyes, and by that mental superiority which overawes the minds of men,--fell at the feet of the Admiral, kissed his hands and his clothes, and recognized, for a moment, the power and the almost divine nature of genius; _yesterday_ the victims of his obstinacy,--_now_ the companions of his success, and sharers in the glory which they had mocked. Such is humanity,--persecuting discoverers, yet reaping the fruits of their inventions.

QUESTIONS.--1. What evidences had Columbus that land was near? 2. What did the mutineers do? 3. In what month and year was the _new world_ discovered? 4. What is said of the natives? 5. What did Columbus do on landing? 6. What was the conduct of the officers and seamen?

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LESSON CIV.

FER' MENT, heat; glow. EN THU' SI ASM, excitement. PRO DIG' IOUS, very great. SPEC I MENS, samples. LEAGU' ED, joined; banded. PER SUAD' ED, convinced. PRE POS' TEROUS, absurd; ridiculous. VAUNT' ED, boasted. DE LU' SION, deception. CRED' U LOUS, apt to believe. UN RE LI' A BLE, untrustworthy. SUS PI'' CION, doubt; mistrust.

THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS.

VINET.

DON GOMEZ AND HIS SECRETARY.

_Don Gomez_. WHAT! what is this you tell me? Columbus returned? A new world discovered? Impossible!

_Secretary_. It is even so, sir. A courier arrived at the palace but an hour since with the intelligence. Columbus was driven by stress of weather to anchor in the Tagus. All Portugal is in a ferment of enthusiasm, and all Spain will be equally excited soon. The sensation is prodigious!

_Don G_. Oh, it is a trick! It must be a trick!

_Sec_. But he has brought home the proofs of his visit,--gold and precious stones, strange plants and animals; and, above all, specimens of a new race of men, copper-colored, with straight hair.

_Don G_. Still I say, a trick! He has been coasting along the African shore, and there collected a few curiosities, which he is passing off for proofs of his pretended discovery.

_Sec_. It is a little singular that all his men should be leagued with him in keeping up so unprofitable a falsehood.

_Don G_. But 'tis against reason, against common sense, that such a discovery should be made.

_Sec_. King John of Portugal has received him with royal magnificence, has listened to his accounts, and is persuaded that they are true.

_Don G._ We shall see, we shall see. Look you, sir, a plain matter-of-fact man, such as I, is not to be taken in by any such preposterous story! This vaunted discovery will turn out no discovery at all.

_Sec._ The king and queen have given orders for preparations on the most magnificent scale for the reception of Columbus.

_Don G._ What delusion! Her majesty is so credulous. A practical, common-sense man, like myself, can find no points of sympathy in her nature.

_Sec._ The Indians on board the returned vessels, are said to be unlike any known race of men.

_Don G._ Very unreliable all that! I take the common-sense view of the thing. I am a matter-of-fact man; and do you remember what I say, it will all turn out a trick! The crews may have been deceived. Columbus may have steered a southerly course, instead of a westerly. Any thing is probable, rather than that a coast to the westward of us has been discovered.

_Sec._ I saw the courier, who told me he had conversed with all the sailors; and they laughed at the suspicion that there could be any mistake about the discovery, or that any other than a westerly course had been steered.

_Don G._ Still I say, a trick! An unknown coast reached by steering west? Impossible! The earth a globe, and men standing with their heads down in space? Folly! An ignorant sailor from Genoa in the right, and all our learned doctors and philosophers in the wrong? _Nonsense!_ I'm a matter-of-fact man, sir. I will believe what I can see, and handle, and understand. But as for believing in the antipodes, or that the earth is round, or that Columbus has discovered land to the west,--Ring the bell, sir; call my carriage; I will go to the palace and undeceive the king.

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LESSON CV.

HAR' BIN GER, forerunner; precursor. UN PIL' LAR ED, unsupported by pillars. UN YIELDING, stubborn. DE CREES', edicts; laws. HAL' LOW ED, sacred; consecrated. MOLD' ER ING, decaying.

TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO,

GRENVILLE MULLEN.

1. Wake your harp's music!--louder,--higher, And pour your strains along; And smite again each quivering wire, In all the pride of song! (f.)Shout like those godlike men of old, Who, daring storm and foe, On this blessed soil their anthem rolled, TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

2. From native shores by tempests driven, They sought a purer sky; And found, beneath a milder heaven, _The home of Liberty!_ An altar rose,--and prayers,--a ray Broke on their night of woe,-- The harbinger of Freedom's day, TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

3. They clung around that symbol too, Their refuge and their all; And swore, while skies and waves were blue, That altar should not fall! They stood upon the red man's sod, 'Neath heaven's unpillared bow, With home,--a country, and a God,-- TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

4. Oh! 'twas a hard, unyielding fate That drove them to the seas; And Persecution strove with Hate, To darken her decrees: But safe, above each coral grave, Each booming ship did go,-- A God was on the western wave,-- TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

5. They knelt them on the desert sand, By waters cold and rude, Alone upon the dreary strand Of oceaned solitude! They looked upon the high, blue air, And felt their spirits glow, Resolved to live or perish there,-- TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

6. The warrior's red right arm was bared, His eyes flashed deep and wild: Was there a foreign footstep dared To seek his home and child'? The dark chiefs yelled alarm, and swore The white man's blood should flow, And his hewn bones should bleach their shore, TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

7. But lo! the warrior's eye grew dim,-- His arm was left alone; The still, black wilds which sheltered him, No longer were his own! Time fled,--and on the hallowed ground His highest pine lies low,-- And cities swell where forests frowned, TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

8. Oh! stay not to recount the tale,-- 'Twas bloody, and 'tis past; The firmest cheek might well grow pale, To hear it to the last. The God of Heaven who prospers us, Could bid a nation grow, And shield us from the red man's curse,-- TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

9. Come, then,--great shades of glorious men, From your still glorious grave! Look on your own proud land again, O bravest of the brave! We call you from each mouldering tomb, And each blue wave below, To bless the world ye snatched from doom, TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

10. Then to your harps!--yet louder,--higher And pour your strains along; And smite again each quivering wire, In all the pride of song! (f.)Shout for those godlike men of old, Who, daring storm and foe, On this blessed soil their anthem rolled, TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!

QUESTIONS.--1. Who are meant by _godlike men of old_? 2. Why did they flee to this country? 3. Who warred against them?

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LESSON CVI.

SE RENE' LY, calmly; quietly. SUR MOUNT', rise above; overcome. TRAMP, tread, or travel. EB' ON, black, as ebony. GUARD' I AN, defender; protector. CHIV' AL RIC, brave; heroic. MAIL, defensive armor. EX ALT', lift up. FRAIL' TY, weakness. BLIGHT' ED, blasted. RE NOWN', fame; celebrity. STEAD' FAST, firm; resolute.

IN TER VENE', (INTER, _between_; VENE, _to come_;) come between; interpose.

SUC CEED', (SUC, _after;_ CEED, _to come;_) come after; follow.

PRESS ON.

PARK BENJAMIN.

1. _Press on!_ there's no such word as fail! Press nobly on! the goal is near,-- Ascend the mountain! breast the gale! Look upward, onward,--never fear! Why shouldst thou faint? Heaven smiles above, Though storms and vapor intervene; That Sun shines on, whose name is Love, Serenely o'er Life's shadowed scene.

2. _Press on!_ surmount the rocky steeps, Climb boldly o'er the torrent's arch: He fails alone who feebly creeps; He wins, who dares the hero's march. Be thou a hero! let thy might Tramp on eternal snows its way, And, through the ebon walls of night, Hew down a passage unto day.

3. _Press on!_ if once and twice thy feet Slip back and stumble, harder try; From him who never dreads to meet Danger and death, they're sure to fly. To coward ranks the bullet speeds; While on their breasts who never quail, Gleams, guardian of chivalric deeds, Bright courage, like a coat of mail.

4. _Press on_! if Fortune play thee false To-day, to-morrow she'll be true; Whom now she sinks she now exalts, Taking old gifts and granting new. The wisdom of the present hour Makes up her follies past and gone: To weakness strength succeeds, and power From frailty springs;--_press on_! PRESS ON!

5. _Press on_! what though upon the ground Thy love has been poured out like rain? That happiness is always found The sweetest, which is born of pain. Oft 'mid the forest's deepest glooms, A bird sings from some blighted tree, And, in the dreariest desert, blooms A never-dying rose for thee.

6. Therefore, _press on_! and reach the goal, And gain the prize, and wear the crown: Faint not! for, to the steadfast soul, Come wealth, and honor, and renown. To thine own self be true, and keep Thy mind from sloth, thy heart from soil; _Press on_! and thou shalt surely reap A heavenly harvest for thy toil!

QUESTIONS.--1. What encouragement is given to those who press on? 2. Who fails, and who wins? 3. What is said of those who never dread to meet danger and death? 4. How are they rewarded, who press on?

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LESSON CVII.

EX PAND, develop; enlarge. EL E VATE, raise; dignify. VAR RI A BLE, changeable. PHAN TAS MA GO' RIA, magic lantern; illusive representations. UN' DU LA TING, waving; irregular. MO BIL'I TY, movableness; readiness to move. DO' CILE, teachable; obedient. CE LES' TIAL, heavenly. DIS' SI PATES, scatters, or confuses. IN FIN' I TY, boundlessness. GYM NAS' TIC, athletic exercise. O PAC' I TY, state of being opaque or dark. PA THET' IC, feeling; tender. IN DOM' I TA BLE, unconquerable. CO-OP' ER ATE, work with; join with.

MOUNT PER' DU, one of the high summits of the Pyrenees mountains, in Spain. The name signifies "Lost Mountain;" in allusion, probably, to its peak being lost in the clouds.

THE THREE FORMS OF NATURE.

FROM THE FRENCH OF MICHELET.

1. There are three forms of Nature, which especially command and elevate our souls, release her from her heavy clay and earthly limits, and send her, exulting, to sail amidst the wonders and mysteries of the Infinite. _First_, there is the unstable _Ocean of Air_ with its glorious banquet of light, its vapors, its twilight, and its shifting phantasmagoria of capricious creatures, coming into existence only to depart the next instant.

2. _Second_, there is the fixed _Ocean of the Earth_, its undulating and vast waves, as we see them from the tops of "the earth o'er gazing mountains," the elevations which testify to antique mobility, and the sublimity of its mightier mountain-tops, clad in eternal snows. _Third_, there is the _Ocean of Waters_, less mobile than air, less fixed than earth, but liable, in its movements, to the celestial bodies.

3. _These three things_ form the gamut by which the Infinite speaks to our souls. Nevertheless, let us point out some very notable differences. The _Air-ocean_ is so mobile that we can scarcely examine it. It deceives; it decoys; it diverts; it dissipates, and breaks up our chain of thought.

4. For an instant, it is an immense hope, the day of all infinity; anon, it is not so; all flies from before us, and our hearts are grieved, agitated, and filled with doubt. Why have I been permitted to see for a moment that immense flood of light? The memory of that brief gleaming must ever abide with me, and that memory makes all things here on earth look dark.

5. The _fixed Ocean of the mountains_ is not thus transient or fugitive; on the contrary, it stops us at every step, and imposes upon us the necessity of a very hard, though wholesome gymnastic. Contemplation here has to be bought at the price of the most violent action. Nevertheless, the opacity of the earth, like the transparency of the air, frequently deceives and bewilders us. Who can forget that for ten years, Ramon, in vain, sought to reach Mount Perdu though often within sight of it?

6. Great, _very great_, is the difference between the elements; the earth is mute and the ocean speaks. The ocean is a voice. It speaks to the distant stars; it answers to their movements in its deep and solemn language. It speaks to the earth on the shores, replying to the echoes that reply again; by turns wailing, soothing, threatening--its deepest roar is presently succeeded by a sad, pathetic silence.

7. And it especially addresses itself to man. It is creation's living eloquence. It is Life speaking to Life. The millions, the countless myriads of beings to which it gives birth, are its words. All these, mingled together make the unity, the great and solemn voice of the ocean. And "what are those wild waves saying?" They are talking of _Life,--of Immortality._

8. An indomitable strength is at the bottom of Nature--how much more so at Nature's summit, the Soul! And it speaks of partnership, of union. Let us accept the swift exchange which, in the individual, exists between the diverse elements; let us accept the superior Law which unites the living members of the same body--Humanity; and, still more, let us accept and respect the supreme Law which makes us co-operate with the great Soul, associated as we are--in proportion with our powers--with the loving harmony of the world--copartners in the life of God.

QUESTIONS.--1. What are three great forms of Nature? 2. What is said of the Air-ocean? 3. How does the Ocean address itself to man?

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LESSON CVIII.

MO NOP' O LIZED, engrossed. CEL' E BRA TED, praised; talked of. PO' TENT LY, powerfully. MAR' I TIME, pertaining to sea. SA GAC' I TY, acuteness. IN TRE PID' I TY, daring valor. SAN' GUINE, bloody; cruel. EC CEN TRIC' I TY, peculiarity, oddity. WA' RI NESS, cautiousness. ED' I BLE, eatable. E MAN' CI PA TED, freed; liberated. IN TER ME' DI ATE, lying between. DEV AS TA TING, laying waste. DOUB' LE, sail around.

[Headnote 1: BASQUES, (_basks_), an ancient and peculiar people, living on the slopes of the Pyrenees Mountains.]

[Headnote 2: BRE' TON, a native of Brittany, an ancient province in France.]

[Headnote 3: NOR' MAN, that is, Northman, a name given to the ancient inhabitants of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and afterward to their descendants who settled in the north of France.]

THE WHALE AND THE WHALER.

FROM THE FRENCH OF MICHELET.

1. Who opened up to men the great distant navigation? Who revealed the ocean, and marked out its zones and its liquid highways? Who discovered the secrets of the globe? _The Whale and the Whaler!_ And all this before Columbus and the famous gold-seekers, who have monopolized all the glory, found again, with much outcry about their discovery, what had so long before been discovered by the whalers.

2. That crossing of the ocean, which was so boastfully celebrated in the fifteenth century, had often been made, not only by the narrow passage between Iceland and Greenland, but, also, by the open sea; for the Basques [Headnote 1] went to Newfoundland. The smallest danger was the mere voyage; for these men, who went to the very end of the _then_ known world, to challenge the whale to single combat, to steer right away into the Northern sea, to attack the mighty monster, amid darkness and storms, with the dense fog all around, and the foaming waves below,--those who could do this, were not the men to shrink from the ordinary dangers of the voyage.

3. Noble warfare! Great school of courage! That fishery was not _then_, as it is _now_, an easy war to wage, made from a distance, and with a potently murderous machine. No; the fisher then struck with his own strong hand, impelled and guided by his own fearless heart, and he risked life to take life. The men of that day killed but few whales; but they gained infinitely in maritime ability, in patience, in sagacity, and in intrepidity. They brought back _less_ of oil; but _more, far more_ of glory.

4. Every nation has its own peculiar genius. We recognize each by its own style of procedure. There are a hundred forms of courage, and these graduated varieties formed, as it were, another heroic game. At the North, the Scandinavian, the rude race from Norway to Flanders, had their sanguine fury. At the South, the wild burst, the gay daring, the clear-headed excitement, that impelled, at once, and guided them over the world. In the center, the silent and patient firmness of the Breton [Headnote 2], who yet, in the hour of danger, could display a quite sublime eccentricity. And, lastly, the Norman [Headnote 3] wariness, considerately courageous; daring all, but daring all for success. Such was the beauty of man, in that sovereign manifestation of human courage.

5. We owe a vast deal to the whale. But for it, the fishers would still have hugged the shore; for, almost every edible fish seeks the shore and the river. It was the whale that emancipated them, and led them afar. It led them onward, and onward still, until they found it, after having almost unconsciously passed from one world to the other. Greenland did not seduce them; it was not _the land_ that they sought; but _the sea, and the tracks of the whale_.

6. The ocean at large is its home, and _especially_ the broad and open sea. Each species has its especial preference for this or that latitude,--for a certain zone of water, more or less cold. And it was _that_ preference which traced out the great divisions of the Atlantic. The tribe of inferior whales, that have a dorsal fin, are to be found in the warmest and in the coldest seas,--under the line and in the polar seas.

7. In the great intermediate region, the fierce Cachalot inclines toward the south, devastating the warm waters. On the contrary, the Free Whale fears the warm waters,--we should rather say, that they did, formerly, fear them,--they have become so scarce. They are never found in the warm southern current; it is _that_ fact that led to the current being noticed, and thence to the discovery of the _true course from America to Europe_. From Europe to America, the trade winds will serve us.

8. If the Free Whale has a perfect horror of the warm waters, and can not pass the equator, it is clear that he can not double the southern end of America. How happens it, then, that when he is wounded on one side of America, in the Atlantic, he is sometimes found on the other side of America, and in the Pacific? _It proves that there is a north-western passage_. Another discovery which we owe to the whale, and one which throws a broad light alike on the form of the globe, and the geography of the seas!

9. By degrees, the whale has led us everywhere. Rare as he is at present, he has led us to both poles, from the uttermost recesses of the Pacific to Behring's Strait, and the infinite wastes of the Antarctic waters. There is even an enormous region that no vessel, whether war-ship or merchantman, ever traverses, at a few degrees beyond the southern points of America and Africa. No one visits that region but the whaler.

QUESTIONS.--1. What has been done by the whaler? 2. By whom had Newfoundland been discovered? 3. What is said of the courage of the whaler? 4. What proof is given that there is a north-western passage, by water, from the Atlantic to the Pacific?

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LESSON CIX.