Chapter 24

There is a land of every land the pride, Beloved of Heaven o'er all the world beside, There brighter suns dispense serener light And milder moons imparadise the night. O land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth, 5 Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth! There is a spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest, Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside His sword and scepter, pageantry and pride, 10 While in his softened looks benignly blend The sire, the son, the husband, brother, friend. Where shall that land, that spot of earth, be found? Art thou a man, a patriot? Look around! O thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam, 15 That land thy country and that spot thy home.

1. Make a list of songs whose theme is love of country. Name the national hymns of the chief countries of the world. What songs have love of home as their theme?

2. Write the meaning of the above poem in a few short sentences.

3. Select five unusual words from the poem, give a brief definition of each, and use each in a sentence.

4. Find out the following facts about the life of Montgomery: dates of birth and death; nationality; business or profession; chief writings.

PATRICK HENRY'S SPEECH

In March, 1775, a month before Lexington, Patrick Henry electrified the Virginia convention with the speech that here follows. A resolution was before the convention "that the colony be immediately put in a state of defence." Speaking to that resolution, Henry thrilled the delegates with his review of British mistreatment and his climax of "give me liberty or give me death."

Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and to listen to the song of the siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men engaged in the great and arduous struggle for 5 liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes see not, and having ears hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to 10 provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the 15 British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves 20 to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? 5

Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation, the last argument to which kings resort. I ask, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has 10 Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us. They can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been 15 so long forging.

And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is 20 capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? What terms shall we find that have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could have been done to avert the storm 25 that is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. 30

Our petitions have been slighted, our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult, our supplications have been disregarded, and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate these 5 inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must 10 fight! I repeat, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us.

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? 15 Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom, hope, 20 until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath placed in our power.

Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, 25 are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to 30 the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, and let it come! I repeat, sir, let it come! 5

It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry Peace, peace! But there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here 10 idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! 15

1. The following outline sets forth the major topics of the speech. Find the paragraphs each includes. What did Henry say on each point?

I. Introduction 1. The speaker is willing to face facts II. Body 1. The past acts of the British ministry are not favorable to present hope 2. The present assembly of British armies and navies means subjugation for the colonists 3. The colonists cannot meet this force with petitions, for a. Petitions have been tried and are useless 4. The colonists can meet the British only with force of arms, for a. It is the only means left, and b. The colonists have the strength to fight III. Conclusion 1. Therefore, let us make ready for battle.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO MRS. BIXBY

Executive Mansion, Washington. November 21, 1864.

Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts.

Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts 5 that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the 10 consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a 15 sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln.

1. Undoubtedly the most difficult kind of letter to write is the letter of sympathy, expressing sorrow for loss by death. Why? Lincoln's little letter to Mrs. Bixby has long been considered a classic of its kind. It is sincere, sympathetic, and helpful. What makes it so?

2. How did Lincoln come to write this letter? What does the fact that he wrote it show about the man? What was his object in writing it? Do you think he succeeded? What consolation did he offer the mother?

THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

What flower is this that greets the morn, Its hues from heaven so freshly born? With burning star and naming band It kindles all the sunset land: Oh, tell us what its name may be,-- 5 Is this the Flower of Liberty? It is the banner of the free, The starry Flower of Liberty!

In savage nature's far abode Its tender seed our fathers sowed; 10 The storm winds rocked its swelling bud, Its opening leaves were streaked with blood, Till lo! earth's tyrants shook to see The full-blown Flower of Liberty! Then hail the banner of the free, 15 The starry Flower of Liberty!

Behold its streaming rays unite One mingling flood of braided light,-- The red that fires the Southern rose, With spotless white from Northern snows, 20 And, spangled o'er its azure, see The sister stars of Liberty! Then hail the banner of the free, The starry Flower of Liberty!

The blades of heroes fence it round, Where'er it springs in holy ground; From tower and dome its glories spread; It waves where lonely sentries tread; It makes the land as ocean free, 5 And plants an empire on the sea! Then hail the banner of the free, The starry Flower of Liberty.

Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower, Shall ever float on dome and tower, 10 To all their heavenly colors true, In blackening frost or crimson dew,-- And God love us as we love thee, Thrice-holy Flower of Liberty! Then hail the banner of the free, 15 The starry Flower of Liberty.

1. What is "The Flower of Liberty?" Does Holmes gain anything by calling it a flower? Substitute its real name and read the poem through thus, to test your answer.

2. Interpret the following passages: "hues from heaven"; "burning star"; "flaming band"; lines 9-14, page 348; lines 19-20, page 348; "blades of heroes"; "empire on the sea"; "thrice-holy."

3. What other poems on the flag have you read? Which do you like best? How does this one compare in quality with the others?

4. Bring to class another poem by Holmes and read an interesting extract from it.

TRUE PATRIOTISM

BY BENJAMIN HARRISON

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) was the twenty-third President of the United States; the grandson of President William Henry Harrison; and the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison, Sr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was well qualified to speak on the subject of real patriotism as against mere loyalty to political party.

Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let those who would die for the flag on the field of battle give a better proof of their patriotism and a higher glory to their country by promoting fraternity and justice. A party success that is achieved by unfair methods 5 or by practices that partake of revolution is hurtful and evanescent, even from a party standpoint. We should hold our different opinions in mutual respect; and, having submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judgment with the same respect that we 10 would have demanded of our opponents if the decision had been more in our favor.

No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love, or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion 15 to enterprise and labor. God has placed upon our head a diadem, and has laid at our feet power and wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not forget that we take these gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power, and that the upward 20 avenues of hope shall be free for all the people.

I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush along our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all. Passion has swept some of our communities, but only to give us a new demonstration that the great body of our people are stable, patriotic, and law-abiding. 5 No political party can long pursue advantage at the expense of public honor, or by rude and indecent methods, without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body. The peaceful agencies of commerce are more fully revealing the necessary unity of all our communities, and 10 the increasing intercourse of our people is promoting mutual respect. We shall find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation which our census will make of the swift development of the great resources of some of the states. Each state will bring its generous contributions to the great aggregate of 15 the nation's increase. And when the harvests from the fields, the cattle from the hills, and the ores from the earth, shall have been weighed, counted, and valued, we will turn from all to crown with the highest honor the state that has most promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism 20 among its people.

1. When was Benjamin Harrison President? What did he know about the party defeats he mentions? Was he ever a defeated candidate?

2. What are the leading political parties of our country at present? Are they essential to our form of government? Support your answer by reasons.

3. Explain what Harrison meant by: "A party success . . . achieved by unfair methods"; "the arbitrament of the ballot"; "justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power"; the last sentence.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

BY KATHARINE LEE BATES

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! 5 God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress 10 A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, 15 Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! 20 America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream That sees, beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! 5 God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

1. The author mentions many ways in which America is beautiful. Which of these are real, matter-of-fact? Which are not?

2. To whom is the reference in lines 9-10 applicable? Explain lines 14-16. Paraphrase line 19. What is meant by line 7, page 353?

3. Memorize at least one stanza of the poem.

O BEAUTIFUL! MY COUNTRY!

BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

This is a part of Lowell's "Commemoration Ode" written in honor of the heroes of Harvard College, killed in the Civil War. Lowell here imagines America as a beautiful woman--a Goddess of Liberty--now fully restored to her worshipers.

O beautiful! My Country! ours once more! Smoothing thy gold of war-disheveled hair O'er such sweet brows as never other wore, . . . What were our lives without thee? What all our lives to save thee? 5 We reck not what we gave thee; We will not dare to doubt thee, But ask whatever else, and we will dare!

THE PROBLEMS OF THE REPUBLIC

BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT

The following is extracted from the inaugural address of President Roosevelt, delivered March 4, 1905. It is of special interest to read it in connection with Mr. Hughes's speech (page 356) and to compare the ideas of citizenship and of our country as expressed in the two. In reading this speech you should bear in mind that the era was one of peace, long undisturbed by war. Our problems then were the ordinary problems of everyday living.

Modern life is both complex and intense, and the tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary industrial development of the half century are felt in every fiber of our social and political being. Never before have men tried so vast and formidable an experiment as that of 5 administering the affairs of a continent under the form of a democratic republic. The conditions which have told for our marvelous material well-being, which have developed to a very high degree our energy, self-reliance, and individual initiative, also have brought the care and anxiety 10 inseparable from the accumulation of great wealth in industrial centers.

Upon the success of our experiment much depends, not only as regards our own welfare, but as regards the welfare of mankind. If we fail, the cause of free self-government 15 throughout the world will rock to its foundations, and therefore our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn.

There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, 20 neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us, nor fearing to approach these problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.

Yet after all, though the problems are new, though the tasks set before us differ from the tasks set before our 5 fathers who founded and preserved this republic, the spirit in which these tasks must be undertaken and these problems faced, if our duty is to be well done, remains essentially unchanged. We know that self-government is difficult. We know that no people needs such high traits 10 of character as that people which seeks to govern its affairs aright through the freely expressed will of the free men who compose it.

But we have faith that we shall not prove false to memories of the men of the mighty past. They did their work; 15 they left us the splendid heritage we now enjoy. We in our turn have an assured confidence that we shall be able to leave this heritage unwasted and enlarged to our children's children.

To do so, we must show, not merely in great crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities of practical 20 intelligence, of courage, of hardihood, of endurance, and above all, the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded this republic in the days of Washington; which made great the men who preserved this republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln. 25

1. Give a full report of Roosevelt's life and activities--political, literary, personal. Try to describe the kind of man you think he was.

2. Find in this section of your Reader expressions similar to lines 10-13, page 355.

3. What qualities does Roosevelt say we must display if our country is to survive? Why does he speak of our form of government as an experiment?

THE MEANING OF AMERICANISM

BY CHARLES EVANS HUGHES

Charles Evans Hughes (1862- ) has had a conspicuous political career. He has been successively governor of New York for two terms, a justice of the Supreme Court; Republican nominee for the Presidency; and Secretary of State.

At the time of the delivery of this speech Europe was in the throes of the World War. America was soon to join forces with the Allies against Germany. This extract from Mr. Hughes's speech should be read with the spirit of portending war in mind. But the four-square interpretation of Americanism that is herein set forth holds to-day with as much force as in 1916. Read the selection especially to get the notion of an ideal America and the ideal citizen.

We want something more than thrills in our patriotism--we want thought; we want intelligence--a new birth of the sentiment of unity in the nation.

My dream of America is America represented in public office by its best men working entirely for the good of the 5 Republic and according to the laws and ordinances established by the people for the government of their conduct, and not for personal or political desires and ambitions; America working her institutions as they were intended to be worked, with men whose sole object shall be to secure 10 the end for which the offices were designed.