UNION AND LIBERTY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES LAG of the heroes who left us their glory, FL Borne through their battlefields' thunder and flame, Blazoned in song and illumined in story, Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame! Up with our banner bright, Sprinkled with starry light, Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore, Loud rings the Nation's cry, UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE EVERMORE! Light of our firmament, guide of our nation, Empire unsceptered! what foe shall assail thee, Yet if, by madness and treachery blighted, Dawns the dark hour when the sword thou must draw, Then with the arms of thy millions united, Smite the bold traitors to Freedom and Law! Up with our banner bright, etc. Lord of the Universe! shield us and guide us, Thou hast united us, who shall divide us? Up with our banner bright, Sprinkled with starry light, Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore, Loud rings the Nation's cry, UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE EVERMORE! THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES HIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, THIS Sails the unshadowed main, — The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea maids rise to sun their streaming hair. Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; Wrecked is the ship of pearl! And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell, Before thee lies revealed,— Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous cell Still as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new, Stole with soft step its shining archway through, Built up its idle door, Stretched in his last found home, and knew the old no more. Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, Child of the wandering sea, Cast from her lap, forlorn! From thy dead lips a clearer note is born. Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! While on mine ear it rings, Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul; As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, No more shall feel the victor's tread, O better that her shattered hulk And give her to the god of storms, HOW MONTEZUMA LIVED WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT NOTE TO THE PUPIL. Prescott was born at Salem, Mass., in 1796. While a junior at Harvard in his seventeenth year, the sight of one eye was instantly destroyed by a piece of bread thrown by a fellow student. The other eye was soon affected, and from this time to the end of his life Prescott was not only blind, but was rarely free from pain. Notwithstanding this affliction which put him to so much disadvantage he wrote histories more popular than those of any other American, not even excepting Parkman. His "Ferdinand and Isabella," "Conquest of Peru," and "Conquest of Mexico" are all interesting and valuable. You should read one of the latter two. If you do, you will be very likely to read both. His " Philip Second" was not finished. Prescott died in 1859. HE domestic establishment of Montezuma was on the THE same scale of barbaric splendor as everything else about him. He could boast as many wives as are found in the harem of an Eastern sultan. They were lodged in their own apartments, and provided with every accommodation, according to their ideas, for personal comfort and cleanliness. They passed their hours in the usual feminine employments of weaving and embroidery, especially in the graceful feather work, for which such rich materials were furnished by the royal aviaries. They conducted themselves with strict decorum, under the supervision of certain aged females, who acted in the acceptable capacity of duennas, in the same manner as in the religious houses attached to the teocallis. The palace was supplied with numerous baths, and Montezuma set the example, in his own person, of frequent ablutions. He bathed at least once, and he changed his dress four times, it is said, every day. He never put on the same apparel a second time, but gave it away to his attendants. Queen Elizabeth, with a similar taste for costume, showed a less princely spirit in hoarding her discarded suits. Her wardrobe was, probably, somewhat more costly than that of the Indian emperor. Besides his numerous female retinue, the halls and antechambers were filled with nobles in constant attendance on his person, who served also as a sort of bodyguard. It has been usual for plebeians of merit to fill certain offices in the palace. But the haughty Montezuma refused to be waited upon by any but men of noble birth. They were not unfrequently the sons of the great chiefs, and remained as hostages in the absence of their fathers; thus serving the double purpose of security and state. His meals the emperor took alone. The well-matted floor of a large saloon was covered with hundreds of dishes. Sometimes Montezuma himself, but most frequently his |