Various

“ The soldier on the bed next his, who had spent a good part of his thirty years of life in a fishing-smack, who knew nothing of books beyond what the common-school education had given him, and less of any life but his own venturesome calling, who beyond knowledge of the sea and its dangers had been taught only by the quickness of his own wit and the honor of his own heart,—this man, as he turned attentive eyes upon the approaching figure, Harwin involuntarily glanced at. ”

“ There is, after all, something deeply pathetic in the terrible necessity which exposes persons of wealth, culture and exalted station to the unpitying penalties of greatness. A lesson ever needed, ever present, and yet constantly disregarded and defied, has just received a new and somewhat startling illustration in the sudden death of the amiable daughter and much-beloved wife of Secretary Bayard. Can it be necessary that society should sacrifice its brightest ornaments, and literally do itself to death, in order to maintain its existence? ”

“ In order to a clear and correct understanding of the position of Irish affairs at the present juncture, and of the nature and ground of the Home Rule demand, it will be necessary briefly to sketch the history of the agitation's genesis and growth. It is all the more necessary to do this as there are few political or social problems, even in England itself, more grievously misunderstood and wantonly misstated. It is truly surprising how much confusion, ignorance, and irrational antipathy may be nursed and maintained by an excited state of public feeling and a partisan and prejudiced press. ”

“ They gave to Abraham Lincoln the faith at whose bidding a hundred thousand men sprang to their feet as one—the faith which brightened the six and thirty stars round the forehead of liberty, and flung the broken fetters of the last slave beneath her feet. If the church keep the people in their allegiance to those awful virtues, America shall still be the enlightener of the nations, the beautiful pioneer in the vanguard of the progress of the world. ”

“ Thus the conflict continued; grape and solid shot tore frantically over us, plowing up the dirt and crashing through the woods in the rear, filling our ears with the most frightful din. Our greatest difficulty was in loading, for if so much as a hand was exposed to view, such a rain of lead would be sent our way that it took some minutes to assure one's self that he was not killed. ”

“ But if she spread a table to Fortune, or enshrine Mammon above her altars, if her commerce become dishonest, and her press debased, and her society frivolous, and her religion a mere twilight of wilful and self-induced delusion—she in her turn shall fall like Lucifer, son of the morning, and the double oceans which sweep her illimitable shores shall only plash to future empires a more sad, a more desolate, and a more unending dirge. ”

“ There were other breakers ahead that would do more damage to their rotten system than the storm of the Land League. When the laborers and the artisans of Ireland or of England and Scotland were enfranchised, was it to be supposed that the educated millions of industry would allow the national patrimony—the land—to be any longer the property of a useless class? In the language of scripture, the landlords would be asked to give an account of their stewardship, for they could be no longer stewards. ”

“ Glorious indeed will be our victory, and high in the estimation of mankind will our grand old fatherland stand, if we can so curb our passions and control our actions in this struggle for free land, as to march to success through privation and danger without resorting to the wild justice of revenge, or being guilty of anything which could sully the character of a brave and Christian people. ”

“ One of the chief difficulties in the way of local patronage has been the overshadowing influence of Harvard University. It was scarcely to be expected that an institution planted in such close proximity to that powerful and venerable seat of learning would, in the beginning, attract students from its immediate neighborhood. Many persons have thought that the location of the College is a mistaken one on that account. But colleges are not made in one day nor in one decade. It will take more than Leland Stanford's twenty millions of endowment to give his University a solid and enduring fame. ”

“ Adroitly and skilfully it has been manipulated by some of the most brilliant, sagacious, and resolute agitators Ireland has ever known. Slowly but steadily it has grown, passing from stage to stage with ever-brightening prospect of ultimate success, until it has now become the aspiration, we might almost say, the one, quenchless, all-absorbing passion of the Irish people. ”

“ Colleges, indeed, like all the great and permanent institutions by which society is upheld, and the welfare and progress of humanity are secured, are the slow growth of generations. The selection of the present site of the College cannot be regarded as other than fortunate; first, because of its proximity to Boston, the most important literary centre of the new world, where it may constantly feel the pulsations of every intellectual movement that takes place in the domain of thought ”

“ He well illustrated this idea when he further said (and who that listened did not thrill with true patriotism?) , "The walls that are about you are the self-same that existed at the time of the Boston Massacre; the windows the self-same openings—here, where the Declaration was read in 1776, and the Proclamation of Peace, in 1783; there, where Washington, in 1789, reviewed the procession in his honor. Within these very walls some of the greatest events of American history have occurred and the greatest and most notable men who figured in those events been gathered together." ”

“ Wild with delight, Lord Randolph Churchill actually leapt on to the bench, waving his hat with the enthusiasm of a schoolboy. His friends clustered round him, caught at him, drew him down, but could not restrain him from the vehement expression of his delight. The example was contagious. The whole House to the left of the speaker roared and shouted and thundered and waved its hats and clapped its hands in a frenzy of general delight. Their hour at last had come, and the fate of the ministry was sealed." Alas for human short-sightedness! ”

“ To us it is utterly inconceivable that the Queen, who is profoundly conscious of her power, keenly sensitive as to her royal dignities, rights, and prerogatives, and proud, as she has reason to be, of her long and prosperous reign, should ever consent to a policy of dismemberment, by whatever political party proposed. The Conservatives cannot afford to purchase the influence and assistance of the Irish vote at the price Mr. Parnell has fixed and is every way likely to insist on. ”

“ Formerly in all the New England colleges an elaborate system of rules, enforced by an oversight, which often amounted to espionage, was thought to be necessary to good order and the proper moral development of young men. In the eyes of the students, the faculty of a college seemed to be little else than a grand court of inquisition for the trial and punishment of offences against discipline. ”

“ Neither Liberal nor Conservative will care to incur the displeasure of the Queen and the implacable wrath of the English aristocracy—both Whig and Tory—by consenting to the political divorcement of Ireland, and to what would be regarded as the disruption of the empire. For it is felt, not without good reason, that the indirect and ultimate consequences of the severance would be far more serious than any direct and immediate effects. The efforts of popular statesmen, in recent times, have been mainly directed toward the maintenance of the prestige of the Crown. ”

“ But the reality is far different; very few men are so constituted, or are so reckless of their lives, that they can listen to the unearthly screech of the shell or the crash of solid shot, mingled with the sickening thud of grape and bullets, without a shiver of weakness creeping through their systems, and a helpless knocking of their knees together. ”

“ A traveller walking through Fifth Avenue and then through the roads of Londonderry can detect the superiority of New York with the naked eye. Unless Abbot Academy receive a larger and richer endowment than it now has, it will be to other institutions what the New Hampshire township is to the commercial emporium of our land. ”

“ The smoke rising from the partially burnt timbers, and the frequent interchange of rifle and carbine shots, with now and then the roar of artillery, gave ample evidence that business would soon be lively in that locality. The outlook was not at all enlivening; our regiment was small in number, the woods dark and treacherous,—the main army adding mile upon mile to the interval between us,—and we were very forcibly impressed that even railroad-smashing, in plenty of company, was far better than bridge-burning with such lonesome surroundings. ”

“ Having for eight years led in members and excellency all the departments of the country, with its record of over $600,000, expended in its relief work, with $120,000 now held for that purpose, with a membership of nearly eighteen thousand, and possessing the only Soldiers Home in the nation, established solely through its own efforts and still maintained in its hands, the Grand Army of Massachusetts has a right to be proud of its exemplification of the virtues of "Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty." ”

“ Abbot Academy has no superior. Its graduates go forth fitted for life's true work. The education they have received has been admirably adapted to form both mind and heart. It has had the social, intellectual and spiritual elements in due proportion.... I have sent six daughters to Abbot Academy and do not fear to compare the result as seen in their training, with the results attained in any other institution of our land, provided the persons selected are of equal natural gifts. The missionary work of Abbot Academy has been wide in extent and noble in character, both at home and abroad ”

“ It is one which few men are likely to envy; it is one which not one in a thousand is competent to fill. Will he be equal to it? Where Grattan—sagacious, eloquent, high-minded and sincere—so signally failed, is Parnell likely to succeed? To-day his party is united, enthusiastic and strong, but when the hour for compromise and concession arrives, will the unanimity be maintained? ”

“ It cannot but be regarded as a wholesome and altogether welcome sign of the times that the science and methods as well as subject-matter of education are becoming increasingly popular questions, receiving a considerable share of attention, and inviting a more close, careful, and comprehensive study. Here, however, it happens, as it does in many other things: the difficulties of the problem multiply exactly in proportion to the clearness and completeness of our apprehension of what ought to be done, and the earnestness of purpose with which we address ourselves to the doing of it. ”

“ With tails stiff as crowbars and hind legs higher than their heads, they were cavorting around the field, bellowing with fright, and making such an extremely ludicrous spectacle, that, in our excited condition, it was more than we could bear, and almost hysterical laughter weakened us so that we were hardly able to move. ”

“ It is to the credit of American womanhood that the presiding mistress of the White House is one who, while she is making history, is so intelligently in sympathy with everything connected with it. Her sensible ideas of the subject as revealed in the chapter on History in her recently published book, "George Eliot's Poetry, and other Studies," indicate a mind capable of seizing the essential facts and seeing in them the divine spark. "We must take the event as a starting point, and travel from it to the man and men behind it." ”

“ Phillips Brooks said at a meeting on behalf of Abbot Academy, in Boston, upon the 12th of January, at the time the school was founded, great ideas and great processes which have not yet [Pg 141] begun to fulfil themselves had just begun to impress themselves on men's minds. The old and the new existed together; and that Madam Abbot, without advantages of early education herself, could so entirely have appreciated them that she was willing to bestow her all upon the new scheme, speaks volumes for her strength and foresight. ”

“ The more we accomplish, the more there is to challenge our courage, skill, and capabilities. Improved machinery, reformed methods, accumulated experience, with increased ability and aptitude on the part of teachers, cannot fail to advance the problem of popular education nearer to a satisfactory solution; but we must never allow ourselves to forget that many of the most important elements that contribute to the success of teaching are not at the command of the teacher. Education has to do with mind and character ”

“ Nearly a century ago the little town, now the prosperous city, of Fitchburg, Mass., was the scene of a fierce contest that lasted a decade. Never in the history of the town was there contention so bitter or opposition so determined as that shown in the ninety-nine town meetings held during the years 1786-96. The cause of this tempest in a teapot was the location of a new meeting-house. ”

“ Nor has it been more fortunate in securing unanimity of judgment as to its political merits and significance from the public organs which reflect with more or less precision and exactitude the opinions of the great community of nations on the other side the Atlantic. Party feeling, unless it be of a very enlightened, patriotic, and unselfish kind, is apt to breed the worst types of mental perversity, and give birth to paradoxes of the most startling character. ”

“ But, on the other hand, there is great danger of too much emphasizing the need of change, and of forgetting how much the value and efficiency of any given scheme depends on the ability, wisdom, and earnestness of those who apply and administer it. One specialist insists, with great force of argument and convincing earnestness of spirit, on the need of devoting more attention to the training and development of the business faculty in the up-growing youth of the age. He looks at the matter from the side of an experienced, active, and successful man of business. ”