Elson Grammar School Literature, book 4Elson, William H. (William Harris)
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Elson Grammar School Literature, book 4
Elson, William H. (William Harris)
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"Thou hast taught me thy arts of destruction; for that alone I thank thee.
And now take heed to thy steps; the red man is thy foe. When thou goest
forth by day, my bullet shall whistle past thee; when thou liest down by
night, my knife is at thy throat. The noonday sun shall not discover thy
enemy, and the darkness of midnight shall not protect thy rest. Thou shalt
plant in terror, and I will reap in blood; thou shalt sow the earth with
corn, and I will strew it with ashes; thou shalt go forth with the sickle,
and I will follow after with the scalping-knife; thou shalt build, and I
will burn,--till the white man or the Indian perish from the land. Go thy
way for this time in safety,--but remember, stranger, _there is eternal
war between me and thee!_"
Biographical and Historical: Edward Everett was a celebrated American
orator and statesman. His career was varied, but he will be remembered
chiefly through his essays and orations. He was in turn clergyman,
professor of Greek at Harvard, representative in Congress, governor of
Massachusetts, minister to England, president of Harvard, and secretary of
state. He died at the close of the Civil War.
This extract is from an address delivered at Bloody Brook, South Deerfield,
Mass., September 30, 1835, in commemoration of the death of many colonists
in that spot during King Philip's War, September 18, 1675. King Philip, son
of Massasoit, was an Indian chief who resented the coming of the white man
and, gathering many Indian tribes about him, waged bitter war against the
colonists. He himself was killed at Mount Hope, Rhode Island.
* * * * *
THE CAPTURE OF QUEBEC (From "Montcalm and Wolfe.")
FRANCIS PARKMAN
The sun rose, and, from the ramparts of Quebec, the astonished people saw
the Plains of Abraham glittering with arms, and the dark-red lines of the
English forming in array of battle. Breathless messengers had borne the
evil tidings to Montcalm, and far and near his wide-extended camp resounded
with the rolling of alarm drums and the din of startled preparation.
He, too, had had his struggles and his sorrows. The civil power had
thwarted him; famine, discontent, and disaffection were rife among his
soldiers; and no small portion of the Canadian militia had dispersed from
sheer starvation. In spite of all, he had trusted to hold out till the
winter frosts should drive the invaders from before the town; when, on that
disastrous morning, the news of their successful temerity fell like a
cannon-shot upon his ear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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