2. The distinctive characteristic of their settlement is the introduction of the civilization of Europe into a wilderness, without bringing with it the political institutions of Europe. The arts, sciences, and literature of England came over with the settlers. That great portion of the common law which regulates the social and personal relations and conduct of men, came also. 3. The jury came; the habeas corpus came; the testamentary power came; and the law of inheritance and descent came also, except that part of it which recognizes the rights of primogeniture, which either did not come at all, or soon gave way to the rule of equal partition of estates among children. 4. But the monarchy did not come, nor the aristocracy, nor the Church, as an estate of the realm. Political institutions were to be framed anew, such as should be adapted to the state of things. But it could not be doubtful what should be the nature and character of these institutions. A general social equality prevailed among the settlers, and an equality of political rights seemed the natural, if not the necessary consequence. DANIEL WEBSTER. SECTION III. RECITATIONS AND READINGS: POETRY. 1. THE CROWDED STREET. 1. Let me move slowly through the street, Sóme bright with thoughtless smiles, and sóme | 3. They páss-to toil, to strife, to rèst; To halls in which the feast | is spread; 4. And some to happy homes repair, Where children pressing cheek to cheek, 5. And sóme, who walk in calmness hére, Shall shudder when they reach the door | Where one who made their dwelling déar, Its flówer, its light, is seen no more. 6. Youth, with pale cheek | and slender fráme, And dreams of greatness in thine eye! Goest thou to build an early náme, Or early in the task | to die? 7. Keen son of trade, with eager brów! 8. Who of this crowd | to-night | shall tread | Whó | writhe | in throes | of mórtal páin ? In His large love | and boundless thòught. 11. These struggling tides | of life | that seem | In wayward, aimless course to ténd, Are éddies of the mighty stréam | 2. THE BUILDERS. 1. All are architects of Fate, Working in these walls of Time; 2. Nothing useless is | or lòw ; Each thing in its place | is bèst; Strengthens and supports the rest.. 3. For the structure | that we raise, Are the blocks | with which we build. 4. Truly shape | and fashion thèse; Leave no yawning gaps between; BRYANT. Think not, because no man sées, 5. In the elder days | of árt, Builders wrought | with greatest cáre | Each minute and unseen pàrt; For the gods are èverywhere. 6. Let us do our work as wèll, Both the unseen | and the sèen; 7. Else our lives | are incomplète, Standing in these walls of Tíme; 8. Build to-day, then, strong and sùre, 9. Thus alone | can we attain | To those turrets, where the eye I 3. PSALM OF LIFE. 1. Tell me not in mournful númbers, Life is but an empty dréam ; For the soul is dead And things are not 2. Life is real! Life | is that slúmbers, what they seem. earnest ! And the grave | is not its goal; 3. Not enjoyment, and not sòrrow, 4. Art | is lóng, and Time | is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beáting | Funeral marches | to the grave. 5. In the world's broad field of battle, Be not like dumb, driven cáttle; 6. Trust no Fúture, howe'er pleasant! Heart within, and Gód | o'erhèad. 7. Lives of great men | all remind us | 8. Foot-prints, that perhaps another, 9. Let us, then, be up and dòing, LONGFELLOW. |