Caroline. For us, I grant you; but, if they were hereditary, if we had been born to them, if they came to us through belted knights and high-born dames, then we might be proud to wear them. I never shall cease to regret that I was not born under a monarchy, Horace. You seem to forget that all are not lords and ladies in royal dominions. Suppose you should have drawn your first breath among the lower classes, suppose it classes,—suppose should have been your lot to crouch and bend, or be trodden under foot by some titled personage, whom in your heart you despised; what then? Caroline. You may easily suppose that I did not mean to take those chances. No; I meant to be born among the higher ranks. Horace. Your own reason must tell you, that all can not be born among the higher ranks; for then the lower ones would be wanting, which constitute the comparison. Now, Caroline, is it not better to be born under a government where there are no such ranks, and where the only nobility is talent and virtue'? Caroline. Talent and virtue ! I think wealth constitutes our nobility, and the right of abusing each other, our liberty. Horace. You are as fond of aphorisms as Lavater1 was. Caroline. Let me ask you if our rich men, who ride in their own carriages, who have fine houses, and who count by millions, are not our great men? Horace. They have all the greatness that money can buy; ut this is very limited. Caroline: Well, in my opinion, money is power. Horace. You mistake. Money may be temporary power, but talent is power itself; and, when united with virtue, is godlike power, before which the mere man of millions quails. Caroline. Well, Horace, I really wish you the possession of talent, and principle, and wealth into the bargain. The latter, you think, will follow the two former, simply at your beck ;-you smile; but I feel as determined in my way of thinking, as you do in yours. QUESTIONS.-1. What is the subject of this dialogue? 2. What did Caroline regret? 3. What reply did Horace make? 4. What did Caroline wis to be? 5. What did Horace say constituted true nobility? LESSON XXXVI. RE SERVING, keeping; retaining. IN DIG NATION, angry feeling. EX ER' TION, (egz er shun,) effort. JU DI" CIOUS, wise; prudent. AR IS TOC' RA CY, (ARISTO, the best; CRACY, government,) government by the best, or nobles. See SANDERS' ANALYSIS, page 200, Ex. 283. 1 SOC' RA TE$, the most celebrated philosopher of antiquity, was born at Athens, 470 years before Christ. The purity of his doctrines, and his independence of character, rendered him popular with the most enlightened Atheniaus, though they created him many enemies. He was falsely accused, arraigned, and condemned to drink hemlock, the juice of a poisonous plant. When the hour to take the poison had come, the executioner handed him the cup, with tears in his eyes. Socrates received it with composure, drank it with unaltered countenance, and, in a few moments, expired. 2 DE MOS' THE NE$, a great Grecian orator, who, rather than fall into the hands of his enemies, destroyed himself by taking poison. It is said that, when a youth, he frequently declaimed on the sea-shore, while the waves were roaring around him, in order to secure a large compass of voice, and to accustom himself to the tumult of a popular assembly. KING DA' VID, the sweet singer and poet of Israel. For the interesting account of his triumph over Goliath, the giant champion of the Philistines, see 1 Sam., chap. 17. MY FIRST JACK-KNIFE. 1. I REMEMBER it well! Its horn handle, so smooth and clear, glowing with the unmeaning, but magic word, "Bunkum ;" and the blade significantly inviting you to the test, by the two monosyllables, “Try me.” 2. I know not how it is, but I never could take half th comfort in any thing which I have since possessed, that▲ took in this jack-knife. I earned it myself; and, therefore, I had a feeling of independence; it was bought with my own money, not teazed out of my uncle, or still kinder father,money that I had silently earned on the afternoons of those days set apart for boys to amuse themselves. 3. Yes! with a spirit of persevering industry and selfdenial, at which I now wonder, I went, every afternoon, during "berry-time," and picked the ripened fruit with eagerness; for my heart was in the task. I sold my berries, and, carefully reserving the proceeds, shortly accumulated enough to purchase the treasure, for which I so eagerly longed. 4. I went to one of the village-stores, and requested the clerk to show me his jack-knives; but he, seeing that I was only a boy, and thinking that I merely meant to amuse myself in looking at the nicest, and wishing it was mine, told me not to plague him, as he was otherwise engaged. 5. I turned with indignation; but I felt the inward comfort of a man who has confidence in his own resources, and knows he has the power in his own hands. I quietly jingled the money in my pockets, and went to the opposite store. I asked for jack-knives, and was shown a lot fresh from the city, which were temptingly laid down before me, and left for me to select one, while the trader went to another part of his store to wait upon an older customer. I looked over them, opened them, breathed upon the blades, and shut them again. 6. One was too hard to open, another had no spring; finally, after examining them with all the judgment which, in my opinion, the extent of the investment required, I selected one with a hole through the handle; and, after a dissertation with the owner upon jack-knives in general, and this one in particular,-upon hawk-bill, and dagger-blades,— and handles, iron, bone, and buck-horn,—I succeeded in closing a bargain. 7. I took the instrument I had purchased, and felt a sudden expansion of my boyish frame! It was my world! I deposited it in my pocket among other valuables,—twine, marbles, slate-pencils, &c. I went home to my father; I told him how long I had toiled for it, and how eagerly I had spent time, which others had allotted to play, to possess myself of my treasure. 8. My father gently chided me for not telling him of my wants; but I observed his glistening eye turn affectionately to my mother and then to me, and I thought that his manly form seemed to straighten up and to look prouder than I had ever before seen him. At any rate, he came to me, and, patting my curly head, told me there was no object in life, which was reasonably to be desired, that honesty, selfdenial, well-directed industry, and perseverance would not place within my reach; and if, through life, I carried the spirit of independent exertion into practice, which I had displayed in the purchase of the jack-knife, I should become a "great man." 9. From that moment, I was a new being. I had discovered that I could rely upon myself. I took my jack-knife, and many a time, while cutting the walnut-saplings for my bow, or the straight pine for my arrow, or carving my mimic ship, did I muse upon these words of my father,—so deeply are the kind expressions of a judicious parent engraven on the heart and memory of boyhood. 10. My knife was my constant companion. It was my carpenter, my ship-builder, and my toy-manufacturer. It was out upon all occasions, never amiss, and always "handy;" and, as I valued it, I never let it part from me. I own my selfishness; I would divide my apples among my playmates, my whole store of marbles was at their service, they might knock my bats, kick my foot-ball as they chose; but I had no partnership of enjoyments in my jack-knife. Its possession was connected in my mind with something so exclusive, that I could not permit another to take it for a moment. Oh! there is a wild and delicious luxury in one's boyish anticipations and youthful day-dreams! 11. If, however, the use of my jack-knife afforded me pleasure, the idea of its possession was no less a source of enjoyment. I was, for the time being, a little prince among my fellows, a perfect monarch. Let no one exclaim against aristocracy; were we all perfectly equal to-day, there would be an aristocracy to-morrow. Talent, judgment, skill, tact, industry, perseverance, will place some on the top, while the contrary attributes will place others at the bottom of fortune's ever-revolving wheel! 12. The plowman is an aristocrat, if he excels in his vocation he is an aristocrat, if he turns a better or a straighter furrow than his neighbor. The poorest poet is an aristocrat, if he writes more feelingly, in a purer language, or with more euphonic jingle than his cotemporaries. The fisherman is an aristocrat, if he wields his harpoon with more skill, and hurls it with a deadlier energy than his messmates, or has even learned to fix his bait more alluringly on his barbed hook. |