I saddle than he gave spurs to the horse, and galloped off, calling out as he did so: "It is I— Daher. have got the horse and I am off with it." 8. Naber called after him to stop and listen. Certain of not being overtaken, he turned and halted at a short distance from Naber, who was armed with a spear. 9. "You have taken my horse," said the latter. "Since Heaven has willed it, I submit. But I beseech you never to tell any one how you obtained it." And why not?" said Daher. IO. 'Because," said the noble Arab, "another man might be really ill, and men would fear to help him. You would be the cause of others refusing to perform an act of charity, for fear of being duped as I have been." II. Struck with shame at these generous words, Daher was silent for a moment. Then, springing from the horse, he returned it to its owner, embracing him in token of esteem. Naber invited him to his tent, where they spent some days and became fast friends. Selected. "There is nothing so kingly as kindness, IV. TO MY LITTLE DAUGHTER'S SHOES 1. Two little, rough-worn, stubbed shoes, With striped stockings thrust within, 2. Of very homely fabric they; They might have cost, when they were new, 3. And yet this little, worn-out pair Than all the jeweled sandals are 4. This mottled leather, cracked with use, Is satin in my sight; These little tarnished buttons shine With all a diamond's light. 5. Search through the wardrobe of the world, You shall not find me, there, So rarely made, so richly wrought, 6. And why? Because they tell of her Whose form is moving beauty, and 7. They tell me of her merry laugh; 8. They tell me that her wavering steps For the old road of human life Is very roughly laid. 9. High hills and swift descents abound; Feet that can wear these coverings 10. Sweet little girl, be mine the task To be thy guide, thy counselor, II. And, when my steps shall faltering grow, Thy strength shall lead my tottering age In cheerful peace along. CHARLES J. SPRAGUE. V. THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 1. I was a boy ten years old when the troops marched away to defend Washington. I saw the troops, month after month, pour through the streets of Boston. I saw Shaw go forth at the head of his black regiment, and Bartlett, shattered in body but dauntless in soul, ride by to carry what was left of him once more to the battlefields of the Republic. I saw Andrew, standing bareheaded on the steps of the State House, bid the men godspeed. I cannot remember the words he said, but I can never forget the fervid eloquence which brought tears to the eyes and fire to the hearts of all who listened. To my boyish mind one thing alone was clear, that the soldiers, as they marched past, were all, in that supreme hour, heroes and patriots. Other feelings have, in the progress of time, altered much, but amid many changes that simple belief of boyhood has never altered. 2. And you, brave men who wore the gray, would be the first to hold me, or any other son of the North, in just contempt if I should say that, now it is all over, I thought the North was wrong and the result of the war a mistake. To the men who fought the battles of the Confederacy we hold out our hands freely, frankly, and gladly. We have no bitter memo ries to revive, no reproaches to utter. Differ in politics and in a thousand other ways we must and shall in all good nature, but never let us differ with each other on sectional or state lines, by racé or creed. 3. We welcome you, soldiers of Virginia, as others more eloquent than I have said, to New England. We welcome you to old Massachusetts. We welcome you to Boston and to Faneuil Hall. In your presence here, and at the sound of your voices beneath this historic roof, the years roll back, and we see the figure and hear again the ringing tones your great orator, Patrick Henry, declaring to the first Continental Congress, "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." of 4. A distinguished Frenchman, as he stood among the graves at Arlington, said, “Only a great people is capable of a great civil war." Let us add with thankful hearts that only a great people is capable of a great reconciliation. Side by side, Virginia and Massachusetts led the colonies into the War for Independence. Side by side, they founded the government of the United States. Morgan and Greene, Lee and Knox, Moultrie and Prescott, men of the South and men of the North, fought shoulder to shoulder and wore the same uniform of buff and blue-the uniform of Washington. |