Towards the persons of those who are holding dominion among us by military force, and who cannot but know of the energy with which we have defended, and are still defending, our independence, let us conduct ourselves with all needful forbearance. Let us observe the rules they have laid upon us so long as those rules do not violate our personal liberty, nor our consciences, nor our duty to our country. Let us not take bravado for courage, nor tumult for bravery. Our distress has moved the other nations. England, Ireland, and Scotland; France, Holland, the United States, Canada, have vied with each other in generosity for our relief. It is a spectacle at once most mournful and most noble. Here again is a revelation of the Providential Wisdom which draws good from evil. In your name, my Brethren, and in my own, I offer to the governments and the nations that have succored us the assurance of our admiration and our gratitude. OZYMANDIAS I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert.... Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. AND THE COCK CREW[1] "I hate them all!" said old Gaspard, And in his weather-beaten face The lines of bitterness grew hard, For he had seen his dwelling-place Laid waste in very wantonness, And all his little treasures flung Into that never-sated press From which no wine, but gall, had sprung-- And not his heart alone was sore, For in his frail old limbs he bore Wounds of the heavy, ruthless hand That weighed so cruelly of late Upon the people and the land. It was not hard to understand Why old Gaspard should hate Even the German lad who lay His neighbor in the hospital, The boy who pleaded night and day: "Don't let me die! don't let me die! When I see the dawn, I know I shall live out that day, and then I'm not afraid--till dark--but oh, How soon the night comes round again! Don't let me die! don't let me die!"