TRUE HEROISM.

LET others write of battles fought,
Of bloody, ghastly fields,

Where honor greets the man who wins.
And death the man who yields;
But I will write of him who fights
And vanquishes his sins,

Who struggles on through weary years
Against himself, and wins.

He is a hero stanch and brave
Who fights an unseen foe,
And puts at last beneath his feet
His passions base and low;

Who stands erect in manhood's might,

Undaunted, undismayed,

The bravest man who drew a sword
In foray or in raid.

It calls for something more than brawn

Or muscle to o'ercome

An enemy who marcheth not

With banner, plume, or drum, -
A foe forever lurking nigh,
With silent, stealthy tread;
Forever near your board by day,
At night beside your bed.

BENEATH the rule of men entirely great

The pen is mightier than the sword.

Behold

The arch enchanter's wand! - itself a nothing

But taking sorcery from the master's hand

To paralyze the Cæsars and to strike

The loud earth breathless! Take away the swordStates can be saved without it.

From "Richelieu."

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CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON.

GEORGE BANCROFT.

GEORGE BANCROFT was born at Worcester, Mass., in 1800 and died in 1891.

He was graduated from Harvard College when he was seventeen, bearing off the second honors of his class.

The following year he sailed for Europe and spent five years studying under the most learned professors in Germany, France, and Italy.

On his return to America he became a tutor at Harvard and was afterwards connected with a classical school at Northampton. He was deeply interested in the affairs of the nation, but refused to enter public life, as he had decided to write a history of the United States.

The first volume of this history appeared in 1834, and the series occupied his time for many years.

Mr. Bancroft held the position of secretary of the navy for about a year under President Polk. It was due to his efforts that the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., was established. He was appointed minister to England in 1846 and remained abroad for three years.

It

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He returned to this country and resumed his literary work. In 1867 he was appointed minister to Berlin by President Grant. The "History of the United States" is without a rival. is generally accepted as an authority. Mr. Bancroft spared no pains in his researches among old manuscripts, and his style 10 is full of interest.

At eleven years old, left, an orphan, to the care of an excellent but unlettered mother, Washington grew up without learning. Of arithmetic and geometry he acquired just knowledge enough to be able to practice 15 measuring land; but all his instruction at school taught him not so much as the orthography or rules of grammar of his own tongue. His culture was altogether his own work, and he was in the strictest sense a self-made man; yet from his early life he never seemed uneducated. At 20 sixteen he went into the wilderness as surveyor, and for three years continued the pursuit, where the forest trained him, in meditative solitude, to freedom and largeness of mind; and Nature revealed to him her obedience to serene and silent laws.

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In his intervals from toil, he seemed always to be attracted to the best men, and to be cherished by them. Fairfax, his employer, an Oxford scholar, already aged, became his fast friend. He read little, but with close attention. Whatever he took in hand, he applied him- 30

self to with care; and his papers, which have been preserved, show how he almost imperceptibly gained the power of writing correctly; always expressing himself with clearness and directness, often with felicity of 5 language and grace.

Courage was so natural to him that it was hardly spoken of to his praise; no one ever at any moment of his life discovered in him the least shrinking from danger; and he had a hardihood of daring which 10 escaped notice, because it was so enveloped by superior calmness and wisdom.

He was as cheerful as he was spirited; frank and communicative in the society of friends; fond of the fox-chase and the dance; often sportive in his letters; 15 and liked a hearty laugh. This joyousness of disposition remained to the last, though the vastness of his responsibilities was soon to take from him the right of displaying the impulsive qualities of his nature, and the weight which he was to bear up was to overlay and 20 repress his gayety and openness.

His hand was liberal; giving quietly and without observation, as though he were ashamed of nothing but being discovered in doing good. He was kindly and compassionate, and of lively sensibility to the sorrows 25 of others; so that, if his country had only needed a victim for its relief, he would have willingly offered himself as a sacrifice. But while he was prodigal of himself, he was considerate for others; ever parsimonious of the blood of his countrymen.