Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volleyed and thundered:

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell, –

All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
Oh, the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

XII.

THE CONCORD HYMN.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood,

HOME, SWEET HOME.

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The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept

Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;

That Memory may her dead redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

XIII.

HOME, SWEET HOME.

JOHN HOWARD PAYNE.

'MID pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it never so humble, there's no place like home! A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.

Home, home! Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home.

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain.
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singing gayly that came at my call;
Give me these, and the peace of mind dearer

than all.

Home, home! Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home.

XIV.

SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS.

DANIEL Webster.

SINK or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there's a divinity that shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest, for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the declaration? If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry on, or to give up, the war? Do we mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, Boston Port-Bill and all? Do we mean to submit and consent that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit.

SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS.

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The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off longer the declaration of independence? That measure will strengthen us. Read this declaration at the head of the army; every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand with it or fall with it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it, who heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it, who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support.

Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs; but I see, I see clearly, through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this declaration shall be made good. We may die; die, colonists; die, slaves; die, it may be, ignominiously, and on the scaffold. Be it so! Be it so! If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But, while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a free country.

But, whatever may be our fate, be assured that this declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and

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SELECTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADES.

it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires and illuminations. On its annual return, they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, All that I have, and all that I that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment: - independence now, and independence forever!

XV.

MY MIND TO ME A KINGDOM IS.

SIR EDWARD Dyer.

My mind to me a kingdom is;

Such perfect joy therein I find

As far exceeds all ear

That God