XXVI. THE KING'S RIDE. 1. ABOVE the city of Berlin shines soft the summer day, 2. A bent old man in plain attire! on him no courtiers wait, No armed guard attends the steps of Frederick the Great! But boys have spied him, and with shouts the summer breezes ring; The merry urchins haste to greet their well-belovèd king. 3. The frowning look, the angry tone, are feigned, full well they know; They do not fear his stick that hand ne'er struck a coward blow. "Be off to school, you boys!" he cries. "Ho! ho!" the laughers say; "A pretty king, you, not to know we've holiday to-day!" 4. And so upon that summer day, these children at his side, The symbol of his nation's love, did royal Frederick ride. O kings! your thrones are tottering now! dark frowns the brow of Fate! When did you ride as rode that day King Frederick the Great? LUCY H. HOOPER. XXVII. OLIVER CROMWELL. 1. THE rest of the history of the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell is a history of his parliaments. His first one not pleasing him at all, he waited until five months were out, and then dissolved it. The next was better suited to his views; and from that he desired to get-if he could with safety to himself the title of king. He had had this in his mind some time; whether because he thought that the English people, being more used to the title, were more likely to obey it, or whether because he really wished to be a king himself, and to leave the succession to that title in his family, is far from clear. He was already as high, in England and in all the world, as he would ever be, and I doubt myself if he cared for the mere name. 2. However, a paper, called the "Humble Petition and Advice," was presented to him by the House of Commons, praying him to take a high title, and to appoint his successor. That he would have taken the title of king there is no doubt, but for the strong opposition of the army. This induced him to forbear, and to assent only to the other points of the petition; upon which occasion there was another grand show in Westminster Hall, when the Speaker of the House of Commons formally invested him with a purple robe, lined with ermine, and presented him with a splendidly bound Bible, and put a golden scepter in his hand. 3. The next time the Parliament met, he called a House of Lords of sixty members, as the petition gave him power to do; but as that Parliament did not please him either, and would not proceed to the business of the country, he jumped into a coach one morning, took six guards with him, and sent them to the right-about. I wish this had been a warning to parliaments to avoid long speeches and do more work. 4. It was the month of August, one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight, when Oliver Cromwell's favorite daughter, Elizabeth Claypole (who had lately lost her youngest son), lay very ill, and his mind was greatly troubled, because he loved her dearly. Another of his daughters was married to Lord Falconberg, another to the grandson of the Earl of Warwick, and he had made his son Richard one of the members of the Upper House. 5. He was very kind and loving to them all, being a good father and a good husband; but he loved this daughter the best of the family, and went down to Hampton Court to see her, and could hardly be induced to stir from her sick-room until she died. Although his religion had been of a gloomy kind, his disposition had been always cheerful. He had been fond of music in his home, and had kept open table once a week for all officers of the army not below the rank of a captain, and had always preserved in his home a quiet, sensible dignity. He encouraged men of genius and learning, and loved to have them about him. Milton was one of his great friends. 6. He was good-humored, too, with the nobility, whose dresses and manners were very different from his; and to show them what good information he had, he would sometimes jokingly tell them, when they were his guests, where they had last drank the health of the "King 'King over the water," and would recommend them to be more private (if they could) another time. But he had lived in busy times, had borne the weight of heavy state affairs, and had often gone in fear of his life. 7. He was ill of the gout and ague; and when the death of his beloved child came upon him in addition, he sank, never to raise his head again. He told his physicians, on the twentyfourth of August, that the Lord had assured him that he was not to die in that illness, and that he would certainly get better. This was only his sick fancy; for, on the third of September, which was the anniversary of the great battle of Worcester, and the day of the year which he called his fortune day, he died, in the sixtieth year of his age. 8. He had been delirious, and had lain insensible some hours, but he had been overheard to murmur a very good prayer the day before. The whole country lamented his death. If you want to know the real worth of Oliver Cromwell, and his real services to his country, you can hardly do better than compare England under him, with England under Charles the Second. CHARLES DICKENS. XXVIII. THE FRUITS OF LABOR. SAMUEL PENNIMAN BATES (1827) was born at Minden, Mass., January 29, 1827, and was graduated at Brown University in 1851. He was principal of Meadville Academy in 1852-'57, where he did much to stimulate the cause of education. He has published various works, among which are a History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, History of the Colleges of Pennsylvania, School Laws of Pennsylvania. He also prepared Armer's Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania (1873). 1. TO THE youthful aspirant of to-day, who is willing to take so humble a sentiment as Labor for his watchword, there are noble examples among the great names of the past to cheer him on his way. Some of the brightest lights that have adorned the generations in which they lived, and have led the way wherever they have appeared, are those that have been obliged to trust to their own hands for maintenance and aid. With strong wills and trusting hearts, their lives have exhibited that majesty which action, steady, noble, successful, alone can give. 2. James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, was, in early life, a toiling mechanic in indigent circumstances. He . was employed by the university to repair and keep in order the apparatus used in illustrating the principles of natural philosophy and chemistry. Had he been like many mechanics, he would have been content with doing the work assigned, receiving his pay, and then smoking and drinking a portion of it, with such companions as he could induce him to join him in the nearest saloon. But his mind, lit up with thought, was busy in inquiring into those laws which the apparatus he was employed to repair was designed to illustrate; and the thinking of that one man has performed more actual labor than all the slaves that have toiled and sweat since Creation. The thinking of that man has revolutionized modern society, and unborn generations will rise up and bless his name. 3. Nathaniel Bowditch was a Boston sailor-boy, and spent the greater portion of his years as a practical navigator. He had no instructor, and no opportunities for study, except such as the deck or the cabin of his vessel could afford. On one occasion his vessel was wind-bound for a week in Boston harbor. On commencement day at the university, he walked over to Cambridge to hear the performance. At the close the president conferred some honorary titles, and among them he thought he heard the degree of A. M. conferred on Nathaniel Bowditch. He was not mistaken. They indeed gave their degrees to the sailor, and well they might, for he was writing books which scarcely one of the faculty of the university could understand. The "Practical Navigator," which was the result of his studies, has carried many a sailor through the storms and darkness of a tempestuous ocean, and has guided him safely over unknown seas. He died lamented as the man, the Christian, and the first mathematical scholar of his age. |