and of the happy influences which have been produced, by the same events, on the general interests of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark the spot which must be for ever dear to us and our posterity. We wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, 35 may behold that the place is not undistinguished where the first great battle of the Revolution was fought. We wish that this structure may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event to every class and every age. We wish that infancy may learn the purpose of its erec- 40 tion from maternal lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it and be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud in the midst of its toil. We wish that in those days of disaster, which, as they come upon all nations, 45 must be expected to come on us also, desponding patriotism may turn his eye hither, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong. We wish that this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, 50 may contribute also to produce in all minds a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object on the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something, which shall remind him of the liberty and 55 glory of his country. Let it rise till it meet the sun in his coming. Let the earliest light of morning gild it, and parting day linger and play upon its summit. CLASS BOOK OF PROSE AND POETRY. PART II-POETRY. EXERCISE I. To Seneca Lake.—PERCIVAL. 1. On thy fair bosom, silver lake The wild swan spreads his snowy sail, And round his breast the ripples break, As down he bears before the gale. 2. On thy fair bosom, waveless stream! 3. The waves along thy pebbly shore, As blows the north wind, heave their foam, And curl around the dashing oar, As late the boatman hies him home. 4. How sweet, at set of sun, to view The golden mirror spreading wide, And see the mist of mantling blue Float round the distant mountain's side! 5. At midnight hour, as shines the moon, Light clouds, like wreaths of purest snow. 6. On thy fair bosom, silver lake! EXERCISE II. The Soldier's Dream.-CAMPBELL. 1. Our bugles sang truce - for the night cloud had lowered, 2. When reposing that night on my pallet of straw, 3. Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array, To the home of my fathers, that welcomed me back. 4. I flew to the pleasant fields traversed so oft In life's morning march, when my bosom was young; I heard my own mountain-goats bleating aloft, And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers sung. 5. Then pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly I swore From my home and my weeping friends never to part; My little ones kissed me a thousand times o'er, And my wife sobbed aloud in her fullness of heart. 6. "Stay, stay with us-rest, thou art weary and worn: " EXERCISE III. Consumption. PERCIVAL. There is a sweetness in woman's decay, power, That ever in Pæstum's garden blew, Or ever was steeped in fragrant dew, 5 When all that was bright and fair, is fled, But the loveliness lingering round the dead. 10 Oh! there is a sweetness in beauty's close, Has mantled her cheek with its heavenly dye, 15 And there is a blending of white and blue, In the flush of youth and spring of feeling, 40 45 |