interests of humanity everywhere a matter of deep, universal, and abiding consequence. He did not write for effect upon a nominating convention, or to influence an approaching election; and so he dodged nothing, remitted nothing to the people. 66 3. "All men are created equal," he said; and a "world" was asked to hearken. He believed, what many then and afterwards were slow to learn, that principle could not be provincialized, that freedom was something more than a concern of school districts, that truth scorned to be circumscribed by geographical metes and bounds. With such a belief, he could not make an audience of anything less than the human race; and speaking for a single people, he gave to all other peoples, through all the ages, mankind's political Sermon on the Mount. HENRY KING. VII. OUR COUNTRY. JAMES MONTGOMERY (1771-1854), the son of a Moravian preacher, was a native of Ayrshire, Scotland. He was educated at Fulneck, Yorkshire, England. For many years he edited a paper called The Sheffield Iris, during which time he was twice imprisoned for sedition. At the age of fifty-four he retired from business, and eight years later was given a government pension of £150 yearly. His principal works are: The Wanderer of Switzerland, The West Indies, The World Before the Flood, and The Pelican Island and Other Poems. Besides these he wrote many hymns. The familiar one beginning with the words, "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire," is of his composition. 1. THERE is a land, of every land the pride, A land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth, 2. The wandering mariner, whose eye explores 3. For in this land of Heaven's peculiar grace, 4. Here woman reigns: the mother, daughter, wife, Where shall that land—that spot of earth-be found? JAMES MONTGOMERY. VIII. WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE? SIR WILLIAM JONES (1746-1794). One of the finest linguists and Oriental scholars England ever produced was Sir William Jones. In honor of his memory the East India Company has erected a monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, and his statue in the city of Bengal. He was born in London, and educated at Harrow and Oxford. At the age of thirty-seven he was called to a judgeship in the Bengal Supreme Court. Here he established the Royal Asiatic Society, and was its first president. The purpose of this society was the investigation of the history, antiquities, arts, sciences, and literature of Asia. He died at the age of forty-eight. His principal literary writings pertain to Oriental studies. 1. WHAT Constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlements or labored mound, Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned; Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 2. No; men, high-minded men, With powers as far above dumb brutes endued, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude; Men who their duties know But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain, Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain; These constitute a state; And sovereign Law, that state's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. SIR WILLIAM JONES. IX. TRUE PATRIOTISM. SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832). In all literature few men outrank Sir Walter Scott in breadth and brilliancy of genius. Sprung from the old Border families, his was an historic inheritance. On account of his delicate health his early life was spent in the country. The region was rich in legends, historic recollections and ruins. His education was completed at the Edinburgh University, and he became a lawyer by profession. But the love of literature, especially in the poetic and historic phases, won him to a literary life. It was his pen that saved to the reading world the picturesque ballads of the Scottish Border. Among his best-known poems are: Marmion, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, and The Lady of the Lake. In 1832 Scott suffered financial ruin through the failure of the business house with which he was connected. He himself might have escaped the payment of debts if he had chosen to take advantage of the bankrupt law. His high sense of honor forbade him to do this; so he began by arduous literary effort to pay the sum of one hundred seventeen thousand pounds. The result was The Waverley Novels. Seven of these pertain to Scottish history; seven, to English history; and three, to Continental history. The other twelve are personal novels. As a poet and novelist in the wide field of historic and legendary research, Scott is peerless. As a man of refined mind and sterling character, his name will ever honor the annals of English men of letters. 1. BREATHES there a man, with soul so dead, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, From wandering on a foreign strand? 2. High though his titles, proud his name, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, To the vile dust from which he sprung, SIR WALTER SCOTT. X. THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 1. It is probable that the Mound-Builders did not occupy this country till long after the last mammoth was slain. They never saw the mammoth, we may be sure, or else they would have carved or painted its likeness, as they did those of the birds and beasts they knew. 2. They did not make, unfortunately, distinct pictures of themselves, so that we do not know what they looked like. And as they wrote no books, we do not know what language they spoke. The most we know of them is what we learn from certain great mounds of earth they built. From these great works they derive their name. 3. One of the most remarkable of these mounds is to be seen in Adams county, Ohio. It represents a snake a thousand feet long and five feet thick, lying along a bluff that rises above a stream. You can trace all the curves and outlines of the snake, ending in a tail with a triple coil. In the open mouth something in the shape of an egg seems to be held; and this egg-shaped mound is one hundred and sixty feet long. 4. Other mounds have other shapes. Some are like animals, and some like men. Some are earthworks, or fortifications, inclosing in some cases one or two acres, and in others four hundred acres. In some places there are many small mounds, arranged in a straight line, at distances nearly equal, and extending many miles. In others there are single mounds |