18. THE NORMANS. 1. In 1066, the Normans invaded England, and the battle of Hastings broke, forever, the Saxon and Danish power. But years passed, and several monarchs filled. and vacated the English throne before these Norman pioneers had accomplished their work, and molded the nation to their will. 2. They were warriors-not reformers. They were greedy of power, but impatient of its exercise upon themselves; greedy of wealth, but lavish in its expenditure. They were reckless alike of their own and the life of others. Turbulent, unruly-equally dangerous to the people whom they subdued, and to the princes who led them to conquest. Gallant men, full of deeds of knightly courtesy, yet reddening their hands ́ with the blood of civil broil, and ever ready to maintain their right with their swords. 3. Men of clear intellect and giant will, they acknowledged an uncertain allegiance to their king, and only bowed their necks to the yoke of God, when at the close of life they deemed it necessary to assume the monastic habit, or to do penance of their goods for the salvation of their souls. 4. From these stern and bloody men, "who came in with the Conqueror," or followed in the train of hist successors, the noblest families of England are proud to derive their descent; and even we republicans, upon this distant coast, and at this late period of time, do not refuse our admiration to these Norman pioneers, who, through the mists of the past, loom up like giants before us. 5. Yet our admiration of these old warriors, the admiration of the world for them, is not because they shed blood, or amassed or squandered wealth, or swore fealty to their kings, or broke their oaths in rebellion, or committed or abstained from the crimes that were common to their age. The Norman pioneers are enrolled in history among the most illustrious of men, because in the dark and troublous times in which they lived, in the midst of confusion and blood, with strong hands and undaunted hearts, they laid deep the first foundations of English liberty, and became the fathers of that system of common law which, at the end of eight hundred years, is the protection and the glory of all who speak the English tongue. F. P. TRACY. 19. WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 1. Inspiring auspices, this day, surround us and cheer us. It is the anniversary of the birth of Washington. We should know this, even if we had lost our calendars, for we should be reminded of it by the shouts of joy and gladness. The whole atmosphere is redolent of his name; hills and forests, rocks and rivers, echo and reecho his praises. 2. All the good, whether learned or unlearned, high or low, rich or poor, feel, this day, that there is one treasure common to them all, and that is the fame and character of Washington. They recount his deeds, ponder over his principles and teachings, and resolve to be more and more guided by them in the future. 3. To the old and the young, to all born in the land, and to all whose love of liberty has brought them from foreign shores to make this the home of their adoption, the name of Washington is this day an exhilarating theme. Americans by birth are proud of his character, and exiles from foreign shores are eager to participate in admiration of him; and it is true that he is this day, here, everywhere, all the world over, more an object of love and regard than on any day since his birth. 4. On Washington's principles, and under the guidance of his example, will we and our children uphold the Constitution. Under his military leadership our fathers conquered; and under the outspread banner of his political and constitutional principles will we also conquer. 5. To that standard we shall adhere, and uphold it through evil report and through good report. We will meet danger, we will meet death, if they come, in its protection; and we will struggle on, in daylight and in darkness, ay, in the thickest darkness, with all the storms which it may bring with it, till "Danger's troubled night is o'er, WEBSTER. 20. NATIONS AND HUMANITY. 1. It was nót his olive valleys and orange groves which made the Gréece of the Gréck. It was not for his apple orchards or potato fields that the farmer of New England and New York left his plow in the furrow and marched to Bunker Hill, to Bénnington, to Saratóga. A man's country is not a certain area of land, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. The secret sanctification of the soil and symbol of a country is the idéa which they represent; and this idea the patriot worships through the name and the symbol. 2. So with passionate héroism, of which tradition is never weary of tenderly télling, Arnold von Winkelreid gathers into his bosom the sheaf of foreign spears. So, Nathan Hale, disdaining no service that duty demands, perishes untimely with no other friend than Gód and the satisfied sense of duty. So, through all history from the beginning, a noble army of mártyrs has fought fiercely, and fallen brávely, for that unseen mistress, their country. So, through all history to the end, that army must still márch, and fight, and fall. 3. But countries and families are but nurseries and influences. A man is a father, a brother, a Gérman, a Róman, an Américan; but beneath all these relations, he is a man. The end of his human destiny is not to be the best Gérman, or the best Róman, or the best father; but the best man he can be. GEORGE W. CURTIS. 21. CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. 1. Sir, it matters very little what immediate spót may be the birthplace of such a man as Washington. No people can cláim, no country can appropriate him. The boon of Providence to the human ráce, his fame is eternity, and his residence creation. Though it was the defeat of our arms, and the disgrace of our pólicy, I almost blèss the convulsion in which he had his òrigin. If the heavens thundered, and the earth rocked, yet, when the storm pússed, how púre was the climate that it cleared; how bright, in the brow of the firmament, was the plánet which it revealed to us! 2. In the production of Washington, it does really appear as if Nature was endeavoring to improve upon herself, and that all the virtues of the ancient world were but so many studies preparatory to the patriot of the new. Individual instances no doubt there wéresplendid exemplifications of some single qualification. Caesar was merciful; Scipio was cóntinent; Hannibal was patient; but it was reserved for Washington to blend them all in one, and, like the lovely masterpiece of the Grecian artist, to exhibit, in one glow of associated beauty, the pride of every módel, and the perfection of every master. 3. As a géneral, he marshalled the peasant into a vèteran, and supplied by discipline the absence of expérience; as a stătesman, he enlarged the policy of the cabinet into the most comprehensive system of general advàntage; and such was the wisdom of his views, and the philosophy of his counsels, that to the soldier and the stătesman, he almost added the character of the sage! A conqueror, he was untainted with the crime of blòod; a revolútionist, he was free from any stain of treason; for aggression commenced the contest, and his country called him to the command. 4. Liberty unsheathed his sword, necessity stáined, victory retùrned it. If he had paused here, history might have doubted what station to assign him; whether at the head of her citizens or her sòldiers, her héroes or her patriots. But the last glorious act crowns his caréer, and banishes all hesitation. Whó, like Washington, after having emancipated a hémisphere, resigned its crówn, and preferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land he might be almost said to have created? PHILLIPS. 22. BUNKER-HILL MONUMENT. 1. The Bunker-Hill mónument is finished. Here it stands. Fortunate in the natural eminence on which it is placed-higher, ìnfinitely higher, in its objects and púrpose, it rises over the land, and over the séa; and vísible, at their homes, to three hundred thousand citizens of Massachusetts-it stands, a memorial of the pást, and a monitor to the présent, and all succeeding generations. 2. I have spoken of the loftiness of its purpose. If it had been without any other design than the creation of a work of árt, the granite of which it is composed |