Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 1. The stars, as a matter of course, represent States. The origin of the stripes, I think, if searched out, would be found to be a little curious. All I know upon that point is that on the 4th day of July, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was carried, a committee was appointed by. Congress, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, Dr. Franklin, and John Adams, to prepare a device for a seal of the United States. This seal, as reported, or the device in full, as reported, was never adopted. But in it we see the emblems, in part, which are still preserved in the flag. 2. The stripes, or lines, which, on Mr. Jefferson's original plan, were to designate the six quarterings of the shield, as signs of the six countries from which our ancestors came, are now, I believe, considered as representations of the old thirteen States, and with most persons the idea of a shield is lost sight of. You perceive that, by drawing six lines or stripes on a shield figure, it will leave seven spaces of the original color, and of course give thirteen apparent stripes; hence the idea of their being all intended to represent the old thirteen States. My opinion is that this was the origin of the stripes. Mr. Jefferson's quartered shield for a seal device was seized upon as a national emblem. We have now the stars as well as the stripes. When each of these was adopted I cannot say; but the flag, as it now is, was designed by Captain Reid, and adopted by Congress. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 1. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 5. Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 6. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child; now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 7. For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I have been known. 8. But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. ST. PAUL, Revised Version. L. CHARACTER. of As Nature made every man with a nose and eyes his own, she gave him a character of his own, too; and yet we, O foolish race, must try our best to ape one or two of our neighbors, whose ideas fit us no more than their breeches ! THACKERAY. The most dis Brains and character rule the world. tinguished Frenchman of the last century said, “Men succeed less by their talents than by their character." There were scores of men a hundred years ago who had more intellect than Washington. He outlives and overrides them all by the influence of his character. WENDELL PHILLIPS. Our character is our will; for what we will we are. ARCHBISHOP MANNING. Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of the brain, the latter of heart power; and in the long run it is the heart that rules the life. SAMUEL SMILES. There are many persons of whom it may be said that they have no other possession in the world but their character, and yet they stand as firmly upon it as any crowned king. SAMUEL SMILES. Character is not cut in marble; it is not something solid and unalterable. It is something living and changing, and may become diseased as our bodies do. GEORGE ELIOT. A good character when established should not be rested in as an end, but only employed as a means of doing still further good. ATTERBURY. LI. THE VISION OF MIRZA. 1. When I was at Grand Cairo, I picked up several Oriental manuscripts, which I have still by me. Among others, I met with one entitled "The Visions of Mirza," which I have read with great pleasure. I intend to give it to the public when I have no other entertainment for them, and shall begin with the first vision, which I have translated word for word, as follows: 2. On the fifth day of the moon which, according to the custom of my forefathers, I always keep holy after having washed myself and offered up my morning devotions, I ascended the high hills of Bagdat, in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound contemplation on the vanity of human life; and, passing from one thought to another, "Surely," said I, "man is but a shadow, and life a dream." 3. While I was musing, I cast my eyes toward the summit of a rock that was not far from me, where I discovered one in the habit of a shepherd, with a little musical instrument in his hand. As I looked upon him, he applied it to his lips, and began to play upon it. The sound of it was exceedingly sweet, and wrought into a variety of tunes that were inexpressibly melodious, and altogether different from anything I had ever heard. 4. They put me in mind of those heavenly airs that are played to the departed souls of good men upon their first arrival in paradise, to wear out the impressions of |
