lee ass eh RN risus i t aig! Hh) “hah a ee aie yi eee Serer se sees SE tEZS se 2 ee er snares = sax oes $ tise SS2SiF28= Setet= ae ig = te 5 yc, a8 : a ie . Mae i S at ei » e CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 16B of IIlinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign NOV 22 om When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign _ https://archive.org/details/northamericanrea0Ounse University of Illinois Library FEB 15 ida 3 ae Sil | 5 Nae See MW a fl Ri t ws at: eRe wae SS ji Fa y, Eel ce) = pia a re Caters ee wee Heat py SSS NP UB ES % aS 3 3 b ads aye % ieee 4 WES en ely Parca ve Ae orereae engines ‘ M For George P. Morris, Haq. Ras CP Seth ote oe Washington’s Head Quaters, Newburg, N. Y.—See p. 137. Wen. Painted by Robert W. THE NORTH AMERICAN READER; CONTAINING A GREAT VARIETY OF PIECES IN PROSE AND POETRY, FROM VERY HIGHLY ESTEEMED AMERICAN AND ENGLISH WRITERS; ALSO, OBSERVATIONS ON GOOD READING ; THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 3 THE CONSTITUTION CF THE UNITED STATES; POLITICAL DEFINITIONS 5 VARIABLE ORTHOGRAPHY; CONCISE PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIA- TION; RULES FOR THE DIVISION OF WORDS; AND THE RULES FOR SPELLING THE PLURALS OF NOUNS, PARTICIPLES, PRESENT TENSE, AND PRETERIT OF VERBS, AND THE COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE DEGREES OF ADJECTIVES. DESIGNED FCR THE USE OF THE HIGHEST CLASSES IN SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES, BY LYMAN COBB, A.M. Author of the First Book, Spelling-bock, Expositor, School Dictionary, Miniature Lexicon, Primary Mas torial Lessons, Juvenile Reader, Nos. 1, 2, & 3, Sequel to the Juvenile Readers, Arithmetical Bu es and Tables, Explanatory Arithmetick, Nos 1 & 2, and Ciphering-book, Nos. 1 & 2 yas FOURTH EDITION. PHILADELPHIA: DESILVER, THOMAS, & CO. TRENTON : B. DAVENPORT. 1836. 4 » the book most generally used in the schools of our country, does not WHEN a new work is presented to the publick, almost every reader expects to find some reasons assigned by the author for his undertaking. The unusually great demand for the Juvenile Readers and the Sequel to them, and the frequent and earnest solicitations of the patrons of those works, as well as a belief that the addition of another volume, somewhat more mature in its character, was needed, to adapt the Series to the wants of the publick, were the chief inducements which led to the publication of the present work. Some persons may think, that books of a similar character have been sufficiently multiplied ; but, in answer to this, it may with propriety be remarked, that the greatest evidence of a spirit of improvement in our schools and academies, and that education is in a high state of prosperity, is the continually increasing demand for new school-books, which exists in every part of our country. Indeed, it may with perfect safety be stated, that when instructers become wholly content with the elements and principles which have long been in use, the progress of improvement is entirely at an end. ‘The spirit of the age is onward ; and while improve- ments are in progress, in every thing in which the mind of man is engaged, or on which the impress of man’s handiwork is exhibited, what philanthropist, what statesman, or what friend of our numerous and flourishing schools and academies, can, for a moment, wish to check the progress of improvement in our books, and systems of instruction ? In making this selection, the author has been strictly rigid in selecting such pieces only, as shall have a direct tendency to lead the scholars in the paths of virtue and religion, as well as to improve their taste in reading. Such improvement he has hoped to promote, by furnishing a book embracing selections of various character, written in a chaste and pure style, by eminent statesmen, pious divines, profound philosophers, and the most approved poets of this and other countries. It is well known, that the influence of school exercises in the formation of young minds, is very great; and, perhaps, that influence does not Operate with more force in any department of education than in the improvement which the mind receives from the exercise of reading. Chastity of thought, and purity of diction, have, therefore, been objects _of peculiar attention in the compilation of this work. The pieces in this work are chiefly American. ‘The “‘ English Reader,” ‘contain a single piece or paragraph written by an American citizen. Is - this good policy? Is it patriotism? Shall the children of this great nation * be compelled to read, year after year, none but the writings and speeches * of men, whose views and feelings are in direct opposition to our institu- ‘tions and our government? Certainly, pride for the literary reputation “Sof our own country, if not patriotism and good policy, should dictate to 80 NORTH AMERICAN READER. all unable to express the gratitude of the heart, with which your visit to this hemisphere has been welcomed, afford ample demonstration. 4. When the contest of freedom, to which you had repaired as a voluntary-champion, had closed, by the complete triumph of her cause in this country of your adoption, you returned to fulfil the duties of the philanthropist and patriot in the land of your nativity. There, in a consistent and undeviating career of forty years, you have maintained, through every vicissitude of alternate success and disappointment, the same glorious cause, to which the first years of your active life had been de- voted; the improvement of the moral and political condition of man. 5. Throughout that long succession of time, the people of the United States, for whom, and with whom, you have fought the battles of liberty, have been living in the full possession of its fruits, one of the happiest among the family of nations ; spreading in population, enlarging in territory, acting and suf- fering according to the condition of their nature, and laying the foundations of the greatest, and, we humbly hope, the most beneficent power that ever regulated the concerns of man upon earth. 6. In that lapse of forty years, the generation of men with whom you co-operated in the conflict of arms, has nearly passed away. Of the general officers of the American army in that war, you alone survive. Of the sages who guided our councils ; of the warriours who met the foe in the field or upon the wave, with the exception of a few, to whom unusual length of days has been allotted by Heaven, all now sleep with their fathers. A succeeding, and even a third generation, have arisen to take their places ; and their children’s children, while rising up to cal] them blessed, have been taught by them, as well as admonished by their own constant enjoyment of freedom, to include in every benison upon their fathers the name of him who came from afar, with them and in their cause to conquer or to fall. 7. The universal prevalence of these sentiments was sig- nally manifested by a resolution of Congress, representing the whole people, and all the States of this Union, requesting the NORTH AMERICAN READER. 81 President of the United States to communicate to you the assurances of the grateful and affectionate attachment of this government and people, and desiring that a national ship might be employed, at your convenience, for your passage to the borders of our country. 8. The invitation was transmitted to you by my venerable predecessor; himself bound to you by the strongest ties of personal friendship ; himself one of those whom the highest honours of his country had rewarded for blood early shed in her cause, and for a long life of devotion to her welfare. By him the services of a national ship were placed at your dis- posal. 9. Your delicacy preferred a more private conveyance, and a full year has elapsed since you landed upon our shores. It were scarcely an exaggeration to say, that it has been to the people of the Union a year of uninterrupted festivity and en- joyment, inspired by your presence. You have traversed the twenty-four States of this great confederacy. You have been received with rapture by the survivers of your earliest com- panions in arms. 10. You have been hailed as a long absent parent by their children, the men and women of the present age. And a rising generation, the hope of future time, in numbers surpas- sing the whole population at that day, when you fought at the head and by the side of their forefathers, have vied with the scanty remnants of that hour of trial, m acclamations of joy at beholding the face of him whom they feel to be the common ‘enefactor of all. ‘|. You have heard the mingled voices of the past, the pres- #., and the future age, Joiming in one universal chorus of de- ligex at your approach ; and the shouts of unbidden thousands, which greeted your landing on the soil of freedom, have fol- lowed every step of your way, and still resound, like the rush- ing of many waters, from every corner of our land. i2. You are now about to return to the country of your dirth, of your ancestors, of your posterity. The Executive Government of the Union, stimulated by the same feeling which had prompted the Congress to the designation of a na- tional ship for your accommodation in coming hither, has des- D3 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY, 82 NORTH AMERICAN READER. tined the first service of a frigate recently launched at this metropolis, to the less welcome, but equally distinguished trust, of conveying youhome. ‘The name of the ship has added one more memorial to distant regions and to future ages, of a stream already memorable at once in the story of your suffer- ings and of our independence. 13. The ship is now prepared for your reception, and equip- ped for sea. From the moment of her departure, the prayers of millions will ascend to Heaven, that her passage may be prosperous, and your return to the bosom of your family as propitious to your happiness as your visit to this scene of your youthful glory has been to that of the American people. 14. Go, then, our beloved friend; return to the land of brilliant genius, of generous sentiment, of heroick valour; to that beautiful France, the nursing mother of the Twelfth Louis, and the Fourth Henry; to the native soil of Bayard and Coligni, of Turenne and Catinat, of Fenelon and D’Agues- seau. In that illustrious catalogue of names which she claims as of her children, and, with honest pride, holds up to the ad- miration of other nations, the name of Lafayette has already for centuries been enrolled. 15. And it shall henceforth burnish into brighter fame ; for if, in after days, a Frenchman shall be called to indicate the character of his nation by that of one individual, during the age in which we live, the blood of lofty patriotism shall man- tle in his cheek, the fire of conscious virtue shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of Lafayette. Yet we, too, and our children, in life and after death, shall claim you for our own. 16. You are ours by that more than patriotick self-devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of their fate ; ours by that long series of years in which you have cherished us in your regard ; ours by that unshaken sentiment of gratitude for your services which is a precious portion of our inheritance ; ours by that tie of love, stronger than death, which has linked your name, for the endless ages of time, with the name of Washington. 17. At the painful moment of parting from you, we take comfort in the thought that, wherever you may be, to the last NORTH AMERICAN READER. 83 pulsation of your heart, our country will be ever present to your affections; and a cheerful consolation assures us that we are not called to sorrow most of all, that we shall see your face no more. We shall indulge the pleasing anticipation of beholding our friend again, In the mean time, speaking in the name of the whole people of the United States, and at a loss only for language to give utterance to that feeling of at- tachment with which the heart of the nation beats as the heart of one man, I bid you a reluctant and affectionate farewell ! LESSON XXXI. Reply of Lafayette to the foregoing Address.—LaFaYETTE. ]. Amrpst all my obligations to the General Government, and particularly to you, sir, its respected Chief Magistrate, I have most thankfully to acknowledge the opportunity given me, at this solemn and painful moment, to present the people of the United States with a parting tribute of profound, inex- pressible gratitude. 2. To have been, in the infant and critical days of these States, adopted by them as a favourite son; to have partici- pated in the toils and perils of our unspotted struggle for inde- pendence, freedom, and equal rights, and in the foundation of the American era of a new social order, which has already pervaded this, and must, for the dignity and happiness of mankind, successively pervade every part of the other hemi- sphere; to have received, at every stage of the revolution, and during forty years. after that period, from the people of the United States, and their representatives at home and abroad, continual marks of their confidence and kindness, has been the pride, the encouragement, the support, of a long and event- ful life. 3. But how could I find words to acknowledge that series -of welcomes, those unbounded universal displays of publick affection, which have marked each step, each hour, of a twelve months’ progress through the twenty-four States, and which, 84 NORTH AMERICAN READER, while they overwhelm my heart with grateful delight, have most satisfactorily evinced the concurrence of the people in the kind testimonies, in the immense favours, bestowed on me by the several branches of their representatives in every part, and at the central seat of the confederacy. 4. Yet gratifications still higher await me. In the wonders of creation and improvement that have met my enchanted eye; in the unparalleled and self-felt happiness of the people ; in their rapid prosperity and ensured security, publick and private; in a practice of good order, the appendage of true freedom; and a national good sense, the fina] arbiter of all difficulties, | have had proudly to recognise a result of the re- publican principles for which we have fought, and a glorious demonstration to the most timid and prejudiced minds, of the superiority, over degrading aristocracy or despotism, of popu- lar institutions, founded on the plain rights of man, and where the loeal rights of every section are preserved under a consti- tutional bond of union. 5. The cherishing of that union between the States, as it was the farewell entreaty of our great, paternal Washington, and will ever have the dying prayer of every American patriot, so it has become the sacred pledge of the emancipa- tion of the world, an object in which I am happy to observe that the American people, while they give the animating exam- ple of successful free institutions, in return for an evil entailed upon them by Europe, and of which a liberal, enlightened sense, is every where. more and more generally felt, show. themselves every day more anxiously interested. 6. And now, sir, how can I do justice to my deep and lively feelings, for the assurances, most peculiarly valued, of your esteem and friendship; for your so very kind references to old times, to my beloved associates, to the vicissitudes of my life ; for your affecting picture of the blessings poured by the several generations of the American people on the remaining days of a delighted veteran; for your affectionate remarks on this sad hour of separation, on the country of my birth; full, I can say, of American sympathies ; on the hope, so necessary to me, of my seeing again the country that has deigned, near half a century ago, to call me hers? NORTH AMERICAN READER, 85 ‘7. I shall content myself, refraining from superfluous repe- titions, at cnce before you, sir, and this respected circle, to proclaim my cordial confirmation of every one of the senti- ments which [ have had daily opportunities publickly to utter, from the time when your venerable predecessor, my old brother in arms and friend, transmitted to me the honourable invitation of Congress, to this day, when you, my dear sir, whose friendly connexion with me dates from your earliest youth, are going to consign me to the protection, across the Atlantick, of the heroick national flag, on board the splendid ship, the name of which has been not the least flattering and kind among the numberless favours conferred upon me. 8. God bless you, sir, and all who surround us! God bless the American people, each of their States, and the Federal Government! Accept this patriotick farewell of an overflow- ing heart; such will be its last throb when it ceases to beat. LESSON XXXII. Extract from an Oration deliwered at Boston, July 4, 1807. P. O. TuHacuer. 1. Ir for a nation to be free and happy, it were only neces- sary that it should be able to boast of a republican form of government, we should be the only free and happy nation on the face of the earth. Look around you, and seek after the republicks of former ages. Inquire for those, on which that sun has shone, within the present age, as well as on our own. 2. Where are the renowned states of Greece, so celebrated for their wars, their triumphs, and their dissensions? In vain do we seek for the living glory of Athens. Her train of ora- tors, poets, and philosophers; her muses, her arts, and her graces, have long since deserted the ruins of that celebrated city. 3. The grandeur of Rome, which once carried in its train the spoils of a conquered world, has vanished like a spectre of the night. The constitutions of Switzerland, those varie- gated forms of republican liberty, which we once contemplated 86 NORTH AMERICAN READER. with delight, have melted like the snows which descend from the Alps. They have all been destroyed by party spirit, or have been swallowed up by the jaws of a monstrous despotism. 4. Weare a free people. ‘There never was a period, when we were slaves. Our independence was founded not on the ruins of tyranny, but on resistance to pretensions, which would have ended in tyranny. The actors in the revolution knew how much easier it was to resist usurpation, than to demclish it after its establishment. But, let me ask, wherein does our freedom consist? In the form of government? 5. If that is not written on our hearts, as well as on parch- ment, believe me, it will be but a frail tenement for the abode of liberty. Does it consist in your power to destroy tyranny ? But if, when you have deposed one tyrant, you have a heart to create another, think you, that the fickle goddess, whose ro- mantick spirit delights in the woeds as well as in the full city, will be proud of her votaries? Perhaps, however, it consists in our right to elect our own rulers. 6. But if, in the wanton exercise of this right, we ca- priciously reject the old and faithful servant, whose services have an equal claim on our admiration and gratitude, then we are tyrants, and consequently we cannot be free. We are to treat with reverence the principles of our constitution. It is the government of our choice, and therefore we are not to mur- mur that in a republick every thing is subject to change. 7. As wave succeeds wave, the rival factions fast press on each other, and each gradually sinks to the common level. And the day which invests a citizen with power, reminds him by the fate of his predecessor, that he likewise is mortal.