Beadle's Dime National Speaker, Embodying Gems of Oratory and Wit, Particularly Adapted to American Schools and Firesides

THE UNION A HOUSEHOLD. – Ibid

The great object which the statesmen of the Revolution sought, was the defense, protection, and good government of the whole, without injustice to any portion of the people. Experience had taught them that it was impossible for a great republic to grow up where its every act of public policy was liable to be thwarted by the vote of the individual States; therefore they framed an organic law at the foundation of our common government, which gave the men of Carolina and Massachusetts a name dearer than any sectional name – the name of an American citizen! In that conflict of opinions, by a temper of conciliation and brotherly love, by an earnest loyalty to freedom and profoundest reverence for law, they framed that constitution which has been the admiration of the world.

I yield to no man in my admiration for those noble men whose names are our household words; but in this history I see the hand of God and acknowledge that our nationality was his gift and not the fruits of our fathers' wisdom. Ours is not the only nation who have sought to be free. Strong arms and stout hearts have often failed – the world is filled with the lamentations of the patriots and dirges for the dead. God always gives to a nation its birthright and its name. A nation is not a mere aggregate of households, or villages, or States – national life is something beyond the fact that individual men have banded together for mutual defense. This belonged to the savage tribes who once roamed over this goodly land. They may be strong, daring, freedom-loving men, without national life. There never was a nobler race than the people who dwelt in the fastnesses of Scotland, but their tie was only one of kindred; the family became a clan, separate clans warred with each other in murderous strife, and Scotland was a field of blood. Until the cross was firmly planted in Britain, England had no nationality – it was a land of faction until the law and providence of God became the people's guide, and then the nobler name of Saxon became a Christian name to tell of all that is manly and true. Our national life is the gift of God. No other hand could gather out of other lands millions of people of different tongues and kindred, and mold these into one mighty nation that shall receive into itself the men of every clime, and stamp on them its own mark of individuality, teaching them its language, making them its kin, and binding them as one household under its own constitution and laws.

INDEPENDENCE BELL. – July 4th, 1776

When it was certain that the Declaration would be adopted and confirmed by the signatures of the delegates in Congress, it was determined to announce the event by ringing the old State-House bell which bore the inscription, "Proclaim liberty to the land: to all the inhabitants thereof!" and the old bellman posted his little boy at the door of the hall to await the instruction of the doorkeeper when to ring. At the word, the little patriot-scion rushed out, and, flinging up his hands, shouted "Ring! Ring! RING!"

There was tumult in the city,In the quaint old Quaker's town,And the streets were rife with peoplePacing restless up and down;People gathering at corners,Where they whisper'd each to each,And the sweat stood on their temples,With the earnestness of speech.As the bleak Atlantic currentsLash the wild Newfoundland shore,So they beat against the State-House,So they surged against the door;And the mingling of their voicesMade a harmony profound,'Till the quiet street of chestnutsWas all turbulent with sound."Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?""Who is speaking?" "What's the news?""What of Adams?" "What of Sherman?""Oh, God grant they won't refuse!""Make some way there!" "Let me nearer!""I am stifling!" "Stifle, then!When a nation's life's at hazard,We've no time to think of men!"So they beat against the portal,Man and woman, maid and child;And the July sun in heavenOn the scene look'd down and smiled,The same sun that saw the SpartanShed his patriot-blood in vain,Now beheld the soul of freedomAll unconquer'd rise again.See! See! The dense crowd quiversThrough all its lengthy line,As the boy beside the portalLooks forth to give the sign!With his small hands upward lifted,Breezes dallying with his hair,Hark! with deep, clear intonation,Breaks his young voice on the air.Hush'd the people's swelling murmur,List the boy's strong joyous cry!"Ring!" he shouts, "Ring! GrandpaRing! Oh, Ring for Liberty!"And straightway, at the signal,The old bellman lifts his hand,And sends the good news, makingIron-music through the land.How they shouted! What rejoicing!How the old bell shook the air,Till the clang of freedom ruffledThe calm gliding Delaware!How the bonfires and the torchesIllumed the night's repose,And from the flames, like Phœnix,Fair Liberty arose!That old bell now is silent,And hush'd its iron tongue,But the spirit it awaken'dStill lives, – forever young.And while we greet the sunlight,On the fourth of each July,We'll ne'er forget the bellman,Who, twixt the earth and sky,Rung out Our Independence;Which, please God, shall never die!

THE SCHOLAR'S DIGNITY. – Hon. George E. Pugh July 5th, 1859

The purpose of all genuine effort, beyond the satisfaction of physical wants, should be to enlarge the compass of human sympathy and desire, to purify, elevate, ennoble the intellectual constitution of our race. God has so created us that these results can be attained by simple and even direct agencies. Man is a sympathetic being; and the full discharge of his obligation toward his own family, his friends, his neighbors, is the method by which he can best discharge his duty in other relations; toward God and his country, toward the millions of his fellow-beings now alive, and the millions who will inherit the earth in a course of ages. Hence arise man's real pleasures, and (not less) his noblest responsibilities and actions. But, as our nature is composed of appetites and passions which rightly adjusted, each with another, lift us almost to the dignity of the Godhead, but when disorganized, show us to be meaner than the brutes; so civil society, or the association of mankind pursuant to the Divine order, while capable, in its normal state, of the utmost happiness for all its members, is now disorganized and demoralized, its sweet bells of sympathy turned to discord, even its charities stained by selfishness and base pretension; its capacities for good entirely perverted to the oppression, to the cruel debasements of the multitude, and to the unjust advantage of a few. Here is the field of chivalry for him – scholar and squire who would be something more – conscious of his earnest duty, of the vast rewards which must crown success, and alive to the inspiration of all the past, the present, and the future; here is a field on which he may win the gilded spurs of knighthood, and where, with his own arm, he can truly redress the innocent, rescue the unfortunate, and reclaim even the oppressor to a recognition of the rights of the oppressed. Or, if he would choose a holier part, although less conspicuous, it may be, let him join that valiant array of pioneers which is marching now (as, in time past, it ever has marched) at the head of the generation; hewing down primeval forests of ignorance; bridging the torrents of crime; leveling mountains of doubt and difficulty; filling up quagmires of sorrow; that so, in age after age, the hosts of pilgrims from the cradle to the grave shall traverse their distance without harm, and measurably anticipate, if not realize, the beatitude of toil forever accomplished.

In a true sense, the scholar is a king of the noblest power. Not his that dominion which exercises itself over the bodies of men, subduing alike their happiness and their will, making of his fellow-creatures a mere sport or convenience, but that dominion which exists by the full consent of the governed, and without which, in reality, their happiness and peace can not be secured. [Nam, uti genus hominum compositum ex anima et corpore, ita res cunctæ, studiaque omnia nostra, corporis alia, alia animi naturam sequuntur. Igitur, præclara facies, magnæ divitiæ, ad hoc vis corporis, alia hujuscemodi, omnia brevi dilabuntur; at ingenii egregia facinora, sicuti anima, immortalia sunt. Postremo, corporis et fortunæ bonorum, ut initium, finis est: omnia orta occidunt, et aucta senescunt: animus incorruptus, æternus, RECTOR HUMANI GENERIS, agit atque habet cuncta, neque ipse habetur.] The liberty of men does not stand in rebellion against the truth, nor against the truly-anointed genius of the age:

Unjustly thou depravest it with the nameOf servitude, to serve whom God ordains,Or Nature; God and Nature bid the same,When he who rules is worthiest, and excelsThem whom he governs. This is servitude,To serve th' unwise, or him who hath rebell'dAgainst his worthier.

THE CYCLES OF PROGRESS. – Ibid

The world moves in a grand cycle of days, and weeks, and months, and years, susceptible of approximation, but not of exact ascertainment. There are cycles, also, of the human understanding; or, at least, of opinions with regard to the faculties and organism of the human intellect. Locke was thought to have demonstrated, by unanswerable argument, our entire lack of innate ideas; thus demolishing the foundation upon which others had erected so many and such various theories. But now Kant has proven, by a logic far more subtle, and altogether more conclusive, that the mind acts only in certain processes, or by means of certain categories, which are the laws of its organization, and whence result conceptions or ideas not derived from experience, or observation, or confidence in others. Plato arrived at the same conclusion two thousand years ago, although he supposed these conceptions or ideas to be the reminiscences of a former and superior state of intellectual existence. What has Kant accomplished, in all his philosophy, except our remission to the speculations of Plato, as enforced and illustrated by the wisdom of revealed religion? And so, in the world of moral sentiment, there must be cycles of repetition and restoration, but of restoration with new auspices, and informed by principles of higher and pure significance.

The Age of Chivalry was an age of moral improvement, an age of sympathy and generous enterprise, after centuries of darkness, antagonism, and oppression. When scholars, therefore, shall have become true to themselves, true to the mission of their faith and labors, as against the overwhelming allurement of our time; shall have become the actual prophets, and priests, and rulers, which once they were, another Age of Chivalry will arise and dawn upon earth. It will restore us a Government paternal in character, and yet stripped of the usurpations by which government is now rendered oppressive; it will restore us a Church of pristine authority and influence, but authority and influence derived from purity in practice as well as in precept. And with these two elements so long extinct or lost – leaving mankind to all the terrors of tyranny and all the wiles of imposture – with a Church and a Government reflecting the Divine conception of men's duties toward their Creator and toward each other, will Human Society attain, at last, the summit of human perfection. Then will the original brotherhood and equality of our race be forever acknowledged; then will there be work for all, and wages for work, instead of the injustice, the crime, the misery, the wasteful disorder which fill our hearts with so much despondency and woe. This Chivalry is of magnificent design; since to the faith, to the hope, to the steadfastness of our fathers, to their moral excellence and solid greatness, will thus be united the wondrous material achievements for which we have been so distinguished – a Chivalry of splendors enhanced as well as rekindled, or splendors essentially bright, and joyous, and immortal.

History tells us of republics full of promise and full of glory like our own. Such were those which clustered upon the shores of the Mediterranean, in almost the same latitude with us, and accomplished, centuries ago, their rise, their zenith, and their fall. Such were those free states and cities which braved the bleakness and inclemency of the Baltic and German coasts; and which likewise had their increase, and fullness, and extinction. These were all the children of Commerce, and followed her along the borders of the sea. Their ships explored the very ends of the world; laid the Indies under tribute; and on this remote continent, also, planted colonies and outposts of civilization. Alas! those republics and free states and cities have gone to their decay; the armed legions of Despotism tread upon their tombs, and scatter even their sacred ashes to the winds. But may our New World, which inherits their enterprise as well as their liberty, rejuvenate the nations grown old in oppression and despair, and plant upon the Eastern Continent the germs of a Civilization nobler than has yet been recognized – nobler than was ever sung by the poets, or foretold by oracles – a Civilization which shall raise up Labor from its fallen estate, heal its infirmities, cover its nakedness, and enthrone it with honor; as the rescued maniac, by Divine compassion, was seated near the feet of our Saviour, clothed, and in his right mind!

A CHRISTMAS CHANT. – Alfred Domett

It was the calm and silent night!Seven hundred years and fifty-threeHad Rome been growing up to might,And now was queen of land and sea!No sound was heard of clashing wars,Peace brooded o'er the hush'd domain;Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars,Held undisturb'd their ancient reign,In the solemn midnight,Centuries ago!'Twas in the calm and silent night!The senator of haughty RomeImpatient urged his chariot's flight,From lordly revel rolling home.Triumphal arches, gleaming, swellHis breast with thoughts of boundless sway;What reck'd the Roman what befellA paltry province far away,In the solemn midnight,Centuries ago?Within that province far awayWent plodding home a weary boor;A streak of light before him lay,Fallen through a half-shut stable-doorAcross his path. He paused, for naughtTold what was going on within;How keen the stars, his only thought;The air, how calm, and cold, and thin,In the solemn midnight,Centuries ago!Oh, strange indifference! low and highDrowsed over common joys and cares;The earth was still, but knew not why;The world was listening – unawares!How calm a moment may precedeOne that shall thrill the world forever!To that still moment, none would heed,Man's doom was link'd, no more to sever,In the solemn midnight,Centuries ago!It is the calm and silent night!A thousand bells ring out, and throwTheir joyous peals abroad, and smiteThe darkness, charm'd and holy now;The night that erst no shame had worn,To it a happy name is given;For in that stable lay, new-born,The peaceful Prince of Earth and Heaven,In the solemn midnight,Centuries ago!

STABILITY OF CHRISTIANITY. – Rev. T. H. Stockton, House of Representatives, March 19th, 1860

I contemplate the heaven and earth of the old world: the overrulings of Providence and changes of society there. I think of the passing away of the whole circle of ancient Mediterranean civilization. I think of the dark ages of Europe. I think of the morning of the Reformation, and the fore-gleamings of "the latter-day glory." I think of Art, and her printing-press; of Commerce, and her compass; of Science, and her globe; of Religion, and her Bible. I contemplate the opening of the heaven and earth of the New World: the overrulings of Providence and changes of society here. I think of the passing away of savage simplicities, and of the rude semblances of civilization in Mexico and Peru, and of earlier and later declensions. I think of the gracious reservation of our own inheritance for present and nobler occupancy. I think of our Revolution, and its result of Independence. I think of our first Union, first Congress, first prayer in Congress, and first Congressional order for the Bible; and of our wonderful enlargement, development, and enrichment since. And, in view of all – of the whole heaven and whole earth of the whole world; and of all changes, social and natural, past, present, and future; profoundly and unalterably assured, as I trust we all are, that the truth as it is "in Jesus" is the only stability in the universe – I feel justified, in invoking, this day, your renewal of our common and constant confession – that: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the words of Christ shall never pass away. And, standing where we do, on the central summit of this great Confederacy, unequalled in all history for all manner of blessings, – if we did not so confess Christ; if we did not cherish the simple confidence of His primitive disciples, and hail the coming of our Lord with hosannas; if we could ignobly hold our peace, – the very statues of the Capitol "would immediately cry out;" the marble lips of Columbus, Penn, and Washington, of War and Peace, of the Pioneer, and of Freedom, would part to praise His name; and the stones of the foundation and walls, of the arcades and corridors, of the rotunda and halls, would respond to their glad and grand acclaim.

From Maine to Florida, from Florida to Texas, from Texas to California, from California to Oregon, and from Oregon back to Maine; our lake States, gulf States, and ocean States; our river States, prairie States, and mountain States, all unite in confessing and blessing His name, beholding His glory, surrounding His throne, high and lifted up, and ever crying, like the six-winged seraphim, one to another, far and near, from the North and the South, from the East and the West: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory!"

THE TRUE HIGHER LAW. – Ibid

We hear much of the higher law; and the application of the phrase to civil affairs has excited great prejudice and given great offense. But, what is the higher law? It is said to be something higher than the Constitution of the United States. Can there be a law, within these United higher than the Constitution of the United States? If there can be and is such a law – what is it? I need not and will not recite inferior, questionable, and inappropriate answers here. But, is there not one unquestionable answer? Suppose it be said, that, in relation to all subjects to which it was designed to apply, and properly does apply, the Bible is a higher Law than the Constitution of the United States? Will any man, unless an utter infidel, deny this? Surely not. Waiving its practical operations, certainly, as an abstract proposition, this must be admitted as true. It may be extended, so as to include all our State constitutions, and all our Church constitutions, and all our more Social constitutions. Put them all together, magnify and boast of them as we may, not only is the Bible a higher law, but it is an infinitely higher law. For thus saith the Lord: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Therefore, also, the universal and perpetual prophetic challenge: "Oh, earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!"

All human constitutions, social, ecclesiastical, and civil, are changeable, and contain provisions for change; but, the Bible is unchangeable. Instead of any provision for change, it is guarded, at all points, against change. The writer of its first five books declares in the last of the five: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you." And, in like manner, the author of its last five books, declares in the last of the five: "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." And so Isaiah, standing midway between Moses and John, exclaims: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished." Therefore, it is only in accordance with the testimony of all His witnesses, that Christ Himself avers: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."

THE ONE GREAT NEED. – Ibid

Tell me, oh, tell me, what is it we need? Do we need health, or genius, or learning, or eloquence, or pleasure, or fame, or power? Do we need wealth, or rank, or office? Does any one of us need to be chaplain, or clerk, or representative, or senator, or speaker, or vice-president? an officer of the army or navy? a member or head of any department? a foreign minister? a cabinet officer? or even a successor in the line of presidents of the United States? Is such our need? Ah, no! we need salvation.

What did I say in the beginning? Did I not say we need elevation? as men, Americans, and Christians, we need elevation: in our persons and families, states and churches, we need elevation. Certainly I did thus speak, and meant all I said.

Oh, my Friends! All the distinctions alluded to such as we know them here, are comparatively little things. Greater things are in prospect; but these things, though they seem great, are really little. Pause, think, recall what life has taught you – what observation and experience have combined to impress most deeply upon your consciousness – and begin your review with the sad words, after all! After all, health is a little thing, and genius is a little thing, and learning, and eloquence, and pleasure, and fame, and power, and wealth, and rank, and office, all earthly things are little things. How little satisfaction they yield while they last, and how soon they pass away!

THE SHIP AND THE BIRD. – Owen Meredith

Hear a song that was born in the land of my birth!The anchors are lifted, the fair ship is free,And the shout of the mariners floats in its mirth'Twixt the light in the sky and the light on the sea.And this ship is a world. She is freighted with souls,She is freighted with merchandise; proudly she sailsWith the Labor that stores, and the Will that controlsThe gold in the ingots, the silk in the bales.From the gardens of Pleasure, where reddens the rose,And the scent of the cedar is faint on the air,Past the harbors of Traffic, sublimely she goes,Man's hopes o'er the world of the waters to bear!Where the cheer from the harbors of Traffic is heard,Where the gardens of Pleasure fade fast on the sight,O'er the rose, o'er the cedar, there passes a bird;'Tis the Paradise Bird, never known to alight.And that bird, bright and bold as a poet's desire,Roams her own native heavens, the realms of her birth,There she soars like a seraph, she shines like a fire,And her plumage hath never been sullied by earth.And the mariners greet her; there's song on each lip,For the bird of good omen, and joy in each eye,And the ship and the bird, and the bird and the ship,Together go forth over ocean and sky.Fast, fast fades the land! far the rose-gardens flee,And far fleet the harbors. In regions unknownThe ship is alone on a desert of sea,And the bird in a desert of sky is alone.In those regions unknown, o'er that desert of air,Down that desert of waters – tremendous in wrath —The storm-wind Euroclydon leaps from his lair,And cleaves through the waves of the ocean, his path.And the bird in the cloud, and the ship on the wave.Overtaken, are beaten about by wild gales,And the mariners all rush their cargo to save,Of the gold in the ingots, the silk in the bales.Lo! a wonder which never before hath been heardFor it never before hath been given to sight;On the ship hath descended the Paradise Bird,The Paradise Bird never known to alight!The bird which the mariners bless'd, when each lipHad a song for the omen which gladden'd each eye,The bright bird for shelter hath flown to the shipFrom the wrath on the sea and the wrath in the sky.But the mariners heed not the bird any more,They are felling the masts – they are furling the sails,Some are working, some weeping, and some wrangling o'erTheir gold in the ingots, their silk in the bales.Souls of men are on board; wealth of man in the hold;And the storm-wind Euroclydon sweeps to his prey;And who heeds the bird? "Save the silk and the gold!"And the bird from her shelter the gust sweeps away!Poor Paradise Bird! on her lone flight once moreBack again in the wake of the wind she is driven —To be whelm'd in the storm, or above it to soar,And, if rescued from ocean, to vanish in heaven!And the ship rides the waters, and weathers the gales:From the haven she nears the rejoicing is heard.All hands are at work on the ingots, the bales,Save a child, sitting lonely, who misses – the Bird!