f thou wilt harken vnto me, or rather to Chrisippus, the sharpeste witted of Philosophers, y shalte prouide y thyne infante and yonge babe be forthewyth instructed in good learnyng, whylest hys wyt is yet voyde from tares and vices, whilest his age is tender and tractable, and his mind flexible and ready to folowe euery thyng, and also wyl kepe fast good lessons and preceptes. For we remẽber... more...

INTRODUCTION TO THE REVISED VOLUME. The third volume of the American Eloquence is devoted to the continuation of the slavery controversy and to the progress of the secession movement which culminated in civil war. To the speeches of the former edition of the volume have been added: Everett on the Nebraska bill; Benjamin on the Property Doctrine and Slavery in the Territories; Lincoln on the Dred Scott... more...

Explanation of Terms.—At the outset the explanation of a few terms, often used, may be helpful to the reader. Among these are the terms statute and common law. Statute law or statutes mean the laws enacted by the state legislature and by the federal congress. Common law means the decisions made by the state and federal courts. These decisions may relate to the interpretation and application of... more...

CHAPTER I THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHURCHES The first question which the unprejudiced inquirer will seek to answer is: How far were the Churches able to prevent, yet remiss in using their influence to prevent, the present war? There is, unhappily, in these matters no such thing as an entirely unprejudiced inquirer. Our preconceived ideas act like magnets on the material of evidence which is submitted... more...

NOTES ON SEVERAL MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS. (Continued from p. 522.) Dare, to lurk, or cause to lurk; used both transitively and intransitively. Apparently the root of dark and dearn. "Here, quod he, it ought ynough suffice, Five houres for to slepe upon a night: But it were for an olde appalled wight, As ben thise wedded men, that lie and dare, As in a fourme sitteth a wery hare." Tyrwhitt's... more...

December 15, 1920 CHARIVARIA. Apparently the official decision not to issue Christmas excursion tickets for journeys of less than one hundred miles will inflict some inconvenience on the public. Several correspondents point out that they will be obliged to travel further than they had intended. A newspaper correspondent describes Charlie Chaplin as being an amusing companion in private life. We always... more...

CHAPTER I. A CENTURY OF RAILROAD BUILDING The United States as we know it today is largely the result of mechanical inventions, and in particular of agricultural machinery and the railroad. One transformed millions of acres of uncultivated land into fertile farms, while the other furnished the transportation which carried the crops to distant markets. Before these inventions appeared, it is true,... more...

THE PROCESSION OF THE FLOWERS. In Cuba there is a blossoming shrub whose multitudinous crimson flowers are so seductive to the humming-birds that they hover all day around it, buried in its blossoms until petal and wing seem one. At first upright, the gorgeous bells droop downward, and fall unwithered to the ground, and are thence called by the Creoles "Cupid's Tears." Frederika Bremer... more...

CHAPTER I ANTICIPATIONS Three girls were strolling down the street, and, as on the occasion when the three fishermen once sailed out to sea, the sun was going down. The golden rays, slanting in from over the western hills that stood back of the little town of Deepdale, struck full in the faces of the maids as they turned a corner, and so bright was the glare that one of them—a tall, willowy lass,... more...

As theEmperor Mothsat one evening in May,Fanned by numberless wings in the moon’s silver ray,[p6]While around him the zephyrs breathed sweetest perfume,Thus he spoke to his dwarf with theRagged white plume:“That vain Butterfly’s Ball, I hear, was most splendid,And, as the world says, very fully attended,Though she never asked us, but assigned as a cause,We were all much too heavy to gallope and... more...