Standard Selections: A Collection and Adaptation of Superior Productions from Best Authors for Use in Class Room and on the Platform
General
Standard Selections: A Collection and Adaptation of Superior Productions from Best Authors for Use in Class Room and on the Platform
Recitations
Scotland! There is magic in the sound. Statesmen, scholars, divines,
heroes, poets! Do you want exemplars worthy of study and imitation?
Where will you find them brighter than in Scotland? Where can you find
them purer than in Scotland? Here, no Solon, indulging imagination, has
pictured the perfectibility of man; no Lycurgus, viewing him through the
medium of human frailty alone, has left for his government an iron code,
graven on eternal adamant; no Plato, dreaming in the luxurious gardens
of the Academy, has fancied what he should be, and bequeathed a republic
of love; but sages, knowing his weakness, have appealed to his
understanding, cherished his virtues, and chastised his vices.
Friends of learning! would you do homage at the shrine of literature?
would you visit her clearest founts? Go to Scotland! Are you
philosophers, seeking to explore the hidden mysteries of mind? Bend to
the genius of Stewart. Student, merchant, or mechanic! do you seek
usefulness? Consult the pages of Black and of Adam Smith. Grave
barrister! would you know the law, the true, sole expression of the
people's will? There stands the mighty Mansfield.
Do we look for high examples of noble daring? Where shall we find them
brighter than in Scotland? From the "bonny highland heather" of her
lofty summits, to the modest lily of the vale, not a flower but has
blushed with patriot blood. From the proud foaming crest of the Solway,
to the calm, polished breast of Loch Katrine, not a river, not a lake,
but has swelled with the life tide of freedom. Would you witness
greatness? Contemplate a Wallace and a Bruce. They fought not for
honors, for party, for conquest; 'twas for their country and their
country's good, religion, law, and liberty.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the
Presidential office, there is less occasion for extended address than
there was at first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to
be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now at the expiration of four
years, during which public declarations have been constantly called
forth on every point and phase of the great contest which absorbs the
attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new
could be presented. On the occasion corresponding to this, four years
ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All
dreaded it; all sought to avoid it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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