Unsown, and die ungathered. It is sweet
To linger here, among the flitting birds

And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks, and winds

That shake the leaves, and scatter, as they pass,
A fragrance from the cedars, thickly set

With pale blue berries. In these peaceful shades
Peaceful, unpruned, immeasurably old —
My thoughts go up the long, dim path of years,
Back to the earliest days of liberty.

II.

O Freedom, thou art not, as poets dream,
A fair young girl, with light and delicate limbs,
And wavy tresses, gushing from the cap
With which the Roman master crowned his slave
When he took off the gyves. A bearded man,
Armed to the teeth, art thou; one mailèd hand
Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword; thy
brow,

Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred

With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs
Are strong with struggling.

Power at thee has launched

His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee; They could not quench the life thou hast from Heaven.

Merciless power has dug thy dungeon deep,

And his swart armorers, by a thousand fires,

Have forged thy chain; yet while he deems thee

bound,

The links are shivered, and the prison walls
Fall outward; terribly thou springest forth,
As springs the flame above a burning pile,
And shoutest to the nations, who return
Thy shoutings, while the pale oppressor flies.

III.

The birthright was not given by human hands;
Thou wert twin-born with man. In pleasant fields,
While yet our race was few, thou sat'st with him,

To tend the quiet flock, and watch the stars,
And teach the reed to utter simple airs.
Thou, by his side, amid the tangled wood,
Didst war upon the panther and the wolf,
His only foes; and thou with him didst draw
The earliest furrows on the mountain-side,

Soft with the deluge.

Tyranny himself,

Thy enemy, although of reverend look,
Hoary with many years, and far obeyed,
Is later born than thou; and as he meets
The grave defiance of thine elder eye,
The usurper trembles in his fastnesses.

IV.

Thou shalt wax stronger with the lapse of years, But he shall fade into a feeble age;

Feebler, yet subtler. He shall weave his snares, And spring them on thy careless steps, and clap His withered hands, and from their ambush call His hordes to fall upon thee.

He shall send

Quaint maskers, forms of fair and gallant mien,
To catch thy gaze, and uttering graceful words
To charm thy ear; while his sly imps, by stealth,
Twine round thee threads of steel, light thread on
thread,

That grow to fetters, or bind down thy arms
With chains concealed in chaplets.

V.

O, not yet

Mayst thou unbrace thy corselet, or lay by
Thy sword; not yet, O Freedom, close thy lids
In slumber; for thine enemy never sleeps,

And thou must watch and combat till the day
Of the new earth and heaven. But wouldst thou

rest

Awhile from tumult and the frauds of men,

These old and friendly solitudes invite
Thy visit. They, while yet the forest trees
Were young upon the unviolated earth,
And yet the moss-stains on the rock were new,
Beheld thy glorious childhood, and rejoiced.

18. THE NECESSITY OF GOVERNMENT.

Society can no more exist without government, in one form or another, than man without society. The political, then, is man's natural state. It is the one for which his Creator formed him, into which he is impelled irresistibly, and the only one in which his race can exist and all his faculties be fully developed.

It follows that even the worst form of government is better than anarchy; and that individual liberty or freedom must be subordinate to whatever power may be necessary to protect society against anarchy from within or destruction from without.

Just in proportion as a people are ignorant, stupid, debased, corrupt, exposed to violence within and danger without, the power necessary for government to possess, in order to preserve society against anarchy and destruction, becomes greater and greater, and individual liberty less and less, until the lowest condition is reached, when absolute and despotic power becomes necessary on the part of the government, and individual liberty becomes extinct.

So, on the contrary, just as a people rise in the scale of intelligence, virtue, and patriotism, and the more perfectly they become acquainted with the nature of government, the ends for which it

was ordered, and how it ought to be administered, the power necessary for government becomes less and less, and individual liberty greater and greater.

-JOHN C. CALHOUN.

19. THE PILGRIM FATHERS.

THE HISTORICAL LESSON OF THE SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA.

One righteous word for Law - the common will;
One living truth of Faith - God regnant still;
One primal test of Freedom - all combined;
One sacred Revolution - change of mind;
One trust unfailing for the night and need-
The tyrant flower shall cast the freedom-seed.

So held they firm, the Fathers aye to be,
From home to Holland, Holland to the sea;
Pilgrims for manhood, in their little ship,
Hope in each heart and prayer on every lip.
They could not live by king-made codes and creeds;
They chose the path where every footstep bleeds.
Protesting, not rebelling; scorned and banned;
Through pains and prisons harried from the land,
Through double exile - till at last they stand
Apart from all,- unique, unworldly, true,
Selected grain to sow the earth anew ;
A winnowed, a saving remnant, they;
Dreamers who work-adventurers who pray!