The ethnic anthologies growing out of love of country are a mingled literature of filial and religious piety, ranging from war-like paeans to lyric prayers. They become the cherished inheritance of a nation, and, once fixed in the common memory and common heart, the people rarely let them die. The "Songs of the Fathers" have perennial breath, and in every generation-- The green woods of their native land Shall whisper in the strain; The voices of their household band Shall sweetly speak again. --_Felicia Hemans_. ULTIMA THULE. American pride has often gloried in Seneca's "Vision of the West," more than eighteen hundred years ago. Venient annis Saecula seris, quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens Pateat tellus, Typhisque novos Detegat orbes, nec sit terris Ultima Thule. A time will come in future ages far When Ocean will his circling bounds unbar. And, opening vaster to the Pilot's hand, New worlds shall rise, where mightier kingdoms are, Nor Thule longer be the utmost land. This poetic forecast, of which Washington Irving wrote "the predictions of the ancient oracles were rarely so unequivocal," is part of the "chorus" at the end of the second act of Seneca's "Medea," written near the date of St. Paul's first Epistle to the Thessalonians. Seneca, the celebrated Roman (Stoic) philosopher, was born at or very near the time of our Saviour's birth. There are legends of his acquaintance with Paul, at Rome, but though he wrote able and quotable treatises _On Consolation_, _On Providence_, _On Calmness of Soul_, and _On the Blessed Life_, there is no direct evidence that the savor of Christian faith ever qualified his works or his personal principles. He was a man of grand ideas and inspirations, but he was a time server and a flatterer of the Emperor Nero, who, nevertheless, caused his death when he had no further use for him. His compulsory suicide occurred A.D. 65, the year in which St. Paul is supposed to have suffered martyrdom. "THE BREAKING WAVES DASHED HIGH." Sitting at the tea-table one evening, near a century ago, Mrs. Hemans read an old account of the "Landing of the Pilgrims," and was inspired to write this poem, which became a favorite in America--like herself, and all her other works. The ballad is inaccurate in details, but presents the spirit of the scene with true poet insight. Mr. James T. Fields, the noted Boston publisher, visited the lady in her old age, and received an autograph copy of the poem, which is seen in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. The breaking waves dashed high, on a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky, their giant branches tossed, And the heavy night hung dark, the hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark on the wild New England shore.