LXIX.- NEW ENGLAND.

PERCIVAL.

1. HAIL to the land whereon we tread,
Our fondest boast!

The sepulchre' of mighty dead,
The truest hearts that ever bled,
Who sleep on glory's brightest bed,
A fearless host!

No slave is here; our unchained feet
Walk freely as the waves that beat
Our coast.

2. Our fathers crossed the ocean's wave
To seek this shore:

They left behind the coward slave
To welter in his living grave:
With hearts unbent, and spirits brave,
They sternly bore

Such toils as meaner souls had quelled';
But souls like these such toils impelled

To soar.

3. Hail to the morn when first they stood
On Bunker's height,

And, fearless, stemmed the invading flood,
And wrote our dearest rights in blood,
And mowed in ranks the hireling brood,

In desperate fight!

O, 'twas a proud, exulting day,
For even our fallen fortunes lay
In light.

4. There is no other land like thee,
No dearer shore;

4

Thou art the shelter of the free;
The home, the port of liberty,
Thou hast been and shalt ever be,
Till time is o'er.

Ere I forget to think upon

My land, shall mother curse the son
She bore.

5. Thou art the firm, unshaken rock,
On which we rest;

And, rising from thy hardy stock,
Thy sons the tyrant's frown shall mock,
And slavery's galling chains unlock,
And free the oppressed;

All who the wreath of freedom twine,
Beneath the shadow of their vine
Are blessed.

6. We love thy rude and rocky shore,
And here we stand

--

Let foreign navies hasten o'er

And on our heads their fury pour,
And peal their cannon's loudest roar,
And storm our land;

They still shall find our lives are given
To die for home; and leant on Heaven
Our hand.

1 SEP'YL-CHRE (-kẹr). A burial-place. |

QUELLED. Subdued; tamed.
Serving for hire; me

WEL'TER. Roll in, or as in water or 4 HIRE'LING. blood; wallow. cenary.

1. A SUPERCILIOUS1 nabob of the East

Haughty, being great — purse-proud, being rich
A governor, or general, at the least,

I have forgotten which—

Had in his family a humble youth,

Who went from England in his patron's suite3, An unassuming boy, and in truth

A lad of decent parts, and good repute.

2. This youth had sense and spirit;

But yet, with all his sense,

Excessive diffidence

Obscured his merit.

3. One day, at table, flushed with pride and wine, His honor, proudly free, severely merry, Conceived it would be vastly fine

To crack a joke upon his secretary.

4. "Young man," he said, "by what art, craft, or trade Did your good father gain a livelihood? "He was a saddler sir," Modestus said, "And in his time was reckoned good."

5. "A saddler, eh? and taught you Greek,
Instead of teaching you to sew!
Pray, why did not your father make
A saddler, sir, of you?"

6. Each parasite' then, as in duty bound,

The joke applauded, and the laugh went round

At length Modestus, bowing low,

Said (craving pardon, if too free he made),
"Sir, by your leave, I fain would know
Your father's trade."

7 "My father's trade! Come, come, sir! that's too bad My father's trade! Why, blockhead, are you mad? My father, sir, did never stoop so low

He was a gentleman, I'd have you know."

8. "Excuse the liberty I take,"

Modestus said, with archness on his brow,-
"Pray, why did not your father make
A gentleman of you?"

1. I HAVE often been struck with the singular attachment hunters sometimes have for some bird or animal, while all the rest of the species they pursue with deadly hostility'. About five hundred yards from Beach's hut stands a lofty pine tree, on which a gray eagle has built its nest annually during the nine years he has lived on the shores of the Raquette.* The Indian who dwelt there before him says that the same pair of birds made their nest

A small lake in northern New York.

on that tree for ten years previous; making in all nineteen years they bave occupied the same spot, and built on the same branch.

2. One day, however, Beach was near losing his bold eagle. He was lying at anchor, fishing, when he saw his favorite bird, high up in heaven, slowly sweeping round and round in a huge circle, evidently awaiting the approach of a fish to the surface. For an hour or more, he thus sailed with motionless wings above the water, when all at once he stopped and hovered a moment with an excited gesture, then, rapid as a flash of lightning, and with a rush of his broad pinions, like the passage of a sudden gust of wind, came to the still bosom of the lake.

4.

3. He had seen a huge salmon trout swimming near the surface; and plunging from his high watchtower3, drove his talons deep in his victim's back. So rapid and strong was his swoop, that he buried himself out of sight when he struck; but the next moment he emerged into view, and, flapping his wings, endeavored to rise with his prey.

4. But this time he had miscalculated his strength; in vain he struggled nobly to lift the salmon from the water. The frightened and bleeding fish made a sudden dive, and took eagle and all out of sight, and was gone a quarter of a minute. Again they rose to the surface, and the strong bird spread out his broad dripping pinions, and, gathering force with his rapid blows, raised the salmon half out of water. The weight, however, was too great for him, and he sank again to the surface, beating the water into foam about him. The salmon then made another dive, and they both went under, leaving only a few bubbles to tell where they had gone down.

5. This time they were absent a full half minute, and Beach said he thought it was all over with his bird. He soon, however, reappeared, with his talons still buried in the flesh of his foe, and again made a desperate effort to