2. Dissolve the Union! madmen, would you rend To see the lurid flames of freedom's funeral pile ? 3. Dissolve the Union! In the day and hour Ye rend the blood-cemented ties in twain, On every old blue hill and sunny plain, With idle words, the blessed ties that bind, That treasure up the hopes of all mankind. 4. Dissolve the Union! Never! Ye may sow And show your disregard of all its grand Of patriots, tried, and true, will still remain, With heart to heart, and sinewy hand to hand, To guard from foul dishonor's cankering stain, The jewels God has shrined in freedom's holy fane. 5. Dissolve the Union !-perish first the page That gave to human sight the hideous scrawl: Read these detested words: they would recall That mars the noontide glory of our time. To waver now is little less than crime, XL. THE FIREMAN. F. S. HILL. 1. HARK! that alarm-bell, 'mid the wintry storm! 2. Now, quick, brave youth, retrace your path,-but, lo! One desperate leap!-lost! lost!-the flames arise, The applauding shouts of rapturous friends he hears! 3. But struggling nature now reluctant yields; He nerves his faltering frame for one last bound,— 4. And his reward you ask ;-reward he spurns; XLI.-LAY OF THE MADMAN. 1. MANY a year hath passed away, Many a dark and dismal year, Since last I roamed in the light of day, 2. Here have I watched, in this dungeon cell, Here have I shrieked, in my wild despair, When the damned fiends, from their prison came, Sported and gamboled, and mocked me here With their eyes of fire, and their tongues of flame, And I strove in vain to burst my chain, 3. How long have I been in this dungeon here, What to me is the day, or night, Spring-tide flowers, or winter's blight, Pleasure's smile, or sorrow's tear? Time! what care I for thy flight, Joy! I spurn thee with disdain; Nothing love I but this clanking chain; Nothing I said, but silent, and bold, Like the shepherd that watches his gentle fold, Hours upon hours so watched I here; Till one of the fiends that had come to bring Ha! how he shrieked to see me free- Gods! how I shouted to see him pray! To see the trembling wretch's fright! 4. Gods! how I crushed his hated bones! 'Gainst the jagged wall and the dungeon stones; And plunged my arm adown his throat, And dragged to life his beating heart, To see its quivering fibres start! Till my brain grew dark, and I knew no more, Ho! when I break its links again, Ha! when I break its links again, Woe to the daughters and sons of men! XLII. THE MOUNTAINS OF LIFE. J. G. CLARK. 1. THERE's a land far away, 'mid the stars, we are told, 'Tis the land of our God, 'tis the home of the soul, Where the ages of splendor eternally roll, Where the way-weary traveller reaches his goal, On the evergreen Mountains of Life. 2. Our gaze cannot soar to that beautiful land, And our souls by the gale of its gardens are fanned, And we sometimes have longed for its holy repose, 3. O, the stars never tread the blue heavens at night, And the day never smiles from his palace of light, But we feel the bright smile of our God. We are travelling homeward through changes and gloom, And our guide is the glory that shines through the tomb, XLIII.-SCOTT AND THE VETERAN. BAYARD TAYLOR. 1. AN old and crippled veteran to the War Department came. But you have done your share, my friend; you're crippled, old, and And we have need of younger arms and fresher blood to-day.” 2. "But, General!" cried the veteran, a flush upon his brow, "The very men who fought with us, they say, are traitors now; They've torn the flag of Lundy's Lane, our old red, white, and blue, And while a drop of blood is left, I'll show that drop is true. I'm not so weak but I can strike, and I've a good old gun To get the range of traitors' hearts, and pick them one by one. Your Minie rifles, and such arms, it a'n't worth while to try; I couldn't get the hang o' them, but I'll keep my powder dry! "God bless you, comrade!" said the Chief—" God bless your loyal heart! But younger men are in the field, and claim to have their part. 3. They'll plant our sacred banner in each rebellious town, And woe, henceforth, to any hand that dares to pull it down!" "But, General,”—still persisting—the weeping veteran cried "I am young enough to follow, so long as you're my guide And some, you know, must bite the dust, and that, at least, can I; |