2. These in the robings of glory,'

Those in the gloom of defeat,
All with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet;
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day ;-
Under the laurel, the Blue ;

Under the willow, the Gray.

3. From the silence of sorrowful hours
The desolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers

Alike for the friend and the foe ;-
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;-

Under the roses, the Blue;
Under the lilies, the Gray.

4. So with an equal splendor

The morning sun-rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender,
On the blossoms blooming for all ;-
Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day ;-
'Broidered with gold, the Blue ;
Mellowed with gold, the Gray.

5. So, when the summer calleth

On forest and field of grain
With an equal murmur falleth
The cooling drip of the rain ;-
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day ;-
Wet with the rain, the Blue;
Wet with the rain, the Gray.

6. Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
The generous deed was done;

In the storm of the years that are fading,
No braver battle was won ;—

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;-
Under the blossoms, the Blue;
Under the garlands, the Gray.

7. No more shall the war-cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever

When they laurel the graves of our dead!
Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day;—

Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray.

FR

LESSON XVII.

THE FATE OF VASCO NUÑEZ.

BY HUBERT H. BANCROFT.

ROM the heights of Quarequa, overlooking the bay of Panamá, on the 25th of September, 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa first beheld the Pacific Ocean. There it lay spread out before him, far as the eye could reach, in calm, majestic beauty, glittering like liquid crystal in the morning sun. Casting himself upon the ground, he poured forth praise and thanksgiving to the Creator of that boundless unknown sea, for the honor of its discovery. Then, with his faithful comrades, he descended to the shore, and, drawing his sword, marched into the water and took possession for the king of Spain. Returning to Darien he made known his wonderful discovery. Throughout Christendom his name became famous; King Ferdinand praised him for his brilliant achievement, and made him governor of the Southern Sea which he had found; Pedrarias Dávila, governor of Darien, betrothed to him his

daughter. Flushed with his success and loaded with honors, Vasco Nuñez attempted yet greater things. Desirous of ex

tending his discoveries, he built ships upon the northern seaboard, and, with great difficulty, conveyed them in pieces across the mountains to the new South Sea.

2. Meanwhile Pedrarias, now old and petulant, grew jealous of his young, adventurous rival. "This upstart," thought he, "whom all men honor, will soon displace me in my government if I do not clip his wings." So he induced the king to make the government of the South Sea subordinate to his own; then he set afloat rumors that Vasco Nuñez, upon his broad new sea, cared little for the sovereign of Spain, or for any of his governors. About this time, one Andres Garabito-as treacherous a villain as ever betrayed friend - under many

obligations to Vasco Nuñez, and professing for him devoted attachment, told Pedrarias that the young governor was faithless to the old man's daughter and faithless to him. At this, his jealous fears took fire; but smothering his wrath, he wrote smooth letters, beseeching his dear son-in-law to come to him, that they might confer upon some projected enterprise. When the messengers had gone the old man sat down, and brooded over fancied wrongs until his hate was unto death, murderous; then he rose up and laughed as he thought upon the sweet revenge which should so soon obliterate them all. "Once within my grasp," meditated Pedrarias, "and he shall never escape me."

3. Leaving his ships at the Pearl Islands, in the bay of Panamá, Vasco Nuñez hastened to answer the summons of Pedrarias, returning with the messengers to Acla, on the northern seaboard, where the old man awaited them. Won by his courtesy and noble bearing, when about half the journey was accomplished, the messengers of Pedrarias told Vasco Nuñez that their master premediated harm to him. Conscious of no wrong, frank and unsuspicious, Vasco Nuñez could not credit their assertions. "There must be some mistake," said he, "at all events, I have nothing to fear; I will go forward.” As the little party descended the mountains which separate the two great oceans, and approached Acla, they were met by an armed force sent out by Pedrarias. The leader of the band, who had often served under Vasco Nuñez, stepped forward and placed his former patron under arrest. Casting upon him a reproachful look, Vasco Nuñez exclaimed, "How is this, Francisco Pizarro? You were not wont to come out in this fashion to receive me!" No attempt, however, was made to escape; no remonstrance, no complaint. He suffered himself to be placed in chains, to be conveyed to Acla and cast into prison.

4. The old man Pedrarias, could scarce conceal his exultation in having thus outwitted, as he imagined, his enemy; could scarce refrain from feasting his eyes on him; nay, he

would not, so he visited him in prison, and with hypocritical face and dolorous voice said to him, "Be not cast down, my son, with grief, neither give way to fear; for the more clearly your past actions are brought to light, the brighter will shine out your eminent and loyal services." Pedrarias now put forth his utmost endeavor to heap together charges which should criminate the prisoner; and in this he was so far successful as to force from the unwilling judge a sentence of death. The old man's happiness, however, was incomplete without a fiendish triumph.

5. Once more he enters the prison. Dropping the mask of hypocrisy, relentless rage gleaming from his eyes, his voice tremulous with passion: "You thought to escape me," he cries; "Your governor has become your tool, your plaything; his daughter an idle jest. Know that your days are numbered, and that revenge, grown ripe with age, is none the less sweet for being long delayed." The prisoner manifested no surprise at this outburst. During the progress of the trial he had become convinced that he was prejudged and foredoomed. Calmly he answered the vindictive old man. "I am here at your bidding. Since last we pledged our friendship, I have toiled unceasingly in your behalf and mine. I have suffered many hardships, have overcome obstacles deemed insurmountable by most men. Never in my heart have I entertained one thought disloyal to my king, treasonable to you, or unfaithful to my betrothed."

6. "And, that what I say is true," continued Vasco Nuñez, "my actions are my witnesses. Think you with four good ships, and three hundred brave, devoted men at my command; with bright fortune beckoning me across the sea from every direction, that had I harbored treason in my breast I should not have spread my sails and sought a land unknown, beyond all fear of capture? But, unconscious of any wrong intent, unsuspicious of this black iniquitous perfidy, forgetting that my lord Pedrarias deals out chains and death, as the rewards of honest purpose and faithful service, I am here powerless, and