The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-12-23

birthplace and in our lineage.
WHO would not rather be OF the Pilgrim stock
than claim descent from the proudest Norman that
ever planted mis- robber-blood in the halls OF the
Saxon, or the boldest paadin that qnafied wine at
the table of Charlemagne? Well may we be
proud of our native land, and turn with fond atiec-
tion to its rocky shores. The spirit OF the Pilgrims
still peryades it and directs its fortunes. Behold
The thousand temples of the Most High that nestle
in its happy valleys, and crown its swelling hills.
See how their gttering spires pierce the blue sky,
and seem like many celestial conductors ready
to avert the lighting of an angry Heaven The
piety Of the Pilgrim Patriarchs IS not yet extinct,
nor have the sens forgotten the God Of their |
Fathers.
Behold wonder simple building near the crossing
of the village roads 1t is small and of rude con-
siruciion, but stands in pleasant and quiet spot.
magnificent old elm spreads its broad arms above
and seems to lean towards 1t, strong man bends
10 shelter and prof3ct child. A brock runs |
through the meadow near, and hard by there is an
orchard-but the trees have suffered much and |
bear no fruit except uron the most remote and IN
accessible branches. From within its walls comes |
a busy hum, such as you may hear in disturbed
beehive. Now peep through yonder window and |
you will see hundred children, with rosy cheeks,
mischievous eyes and demure faces, all engaged,
pret ending to be So IN their little lessons Is
the public school-the free, the common school !
provided by law open to all claimed from thet
community as right, not accepted as bounty |
Here the children Of rich and poor, high and low |
meet upon perfect equality, and commence Under |
the same auspices the race of life. Here the GUS
enance of the mind is served up to all alike, az the
Sparans served their food opon the public table.
Here Young Ambition climbs his little ladder, and
boyish Genius plumes his half.fledged wing From |
among those laughing children VIII go iorth the |
men who are to control the destinies Of their age
aud country; the statesmen whose wisdom is TO
guide the Senaie-the poet who will take captive
the hearts of the people and bind them together
with immortal song-Ihe philosopher who, boldly
Il Il. ,I,ana aa11 ..yrrs1I II
them to his wishes, and, through new combina-
ions of their primal laws, by some great discovery
revouionize both art and science.
That common village school is New England's
fairest boast-the brightest jewel that adOrns her
brow The principle that society ia bound TO pro-
vide for its members education as well as protec-
ton SO that none need bs ignorant except from
choice, is the most important that belongs 10 mod
ern philosophy. 1t is essential TO republican gov
ernInent Universal education is not only the
best and surest, but the only sure foundation for
free institutions. True liberty is the child ofknow
edge she pines away and dies in the arms of ig-
norance.
Honor, then, to the early fathers of New Eng
land, from whom came the spirit which has built
school house by every sparkling fountain, and bids
all come as freely to the one to the other. All
honor too to this noble city, who has dsdained
to follow the example of her Northern sisters, but
has wisely determined that the intellectual thirst of
her children deserves as much attention as Their
physical, and that it is much her duty to provide
the means Of assuaging the one as of quenching the
other.
But the spirit of the Pilgrims survives, not only
in the piety and knowledge of their sons, but, most
OF ALL in their indefatigable enterprise and indom-
| table perseverance.
They have wrestled with nature till they have
prevailed against her. and compelled her reluctantly
10 reverse her own laws. The sterile soil has be-
come productive under their sagaclous culture, and
the barren rock, astonished, finds itself covered
| with luxuriant and unaccustomed verdure.
Upon the banks OF every river they build tenn
| pies to industry and stop the squanderings of the
| spendthriit waters They bind the naiads Of the
| brawling stream, and compel them, like the sad
| daughters of Danaus, to pour increasingly from
their giterng the sparkling treasures of their
| crystal fountains. They drive the dryads from
their accustomed haunts, and force them to desert
each favorite grove; for upon river creek and bay
they are busy Transforming the crude forest into
'staunch and gallant vessels From every inlet OIL
| ndenture along the rocky shore swim forth these
4 cea'~birds-born in the wild wood hedged upoI
the abs Behold how they spread their whit
| piniotP to the favorng breeze, and wing the
flight to every quarter OF the globe-the carrle
pigeons of the world 1t is upon the unstable ele
| ment the sons of New England have achieved
their greatest triumphs. Their adventurous Prov
yex the waters of every sea. Bold and restless az
the old Northern Vikings they go forth to seel
their fortunes in the mighty deep. The ocean j
their pasture and its wide pralries they follow
the monstrous herds that teed upon ts azure nelds
Il AS the hunter casts his asso upon the wild horse
so they throw their lines upon the tumbling whale
They :" draw out Leviathan with hook" The
"fill his skin with barbed irons" and in spite 9
his terrible strength they part him among tn
merchants To them there pillars of Her
cules. They seek with avidity new regions, am
fear not to be "the first that ever burst into un
known seas. Had they been the companions
: Columbus, the great mariner would not have bee
urged to return, though he had sailed westward t
his dying day.
Glorious New England thou art still true to til
7 ancient fame and worthy of thy ancestral honor
t We, thy children, have assembled in this far d
f tant land % celebrate thy birthday thousan
0 fond associations 1hrong upon us, reused by til
spirit of the hour. On thy pleasant valleys rest ik
f sweet dews Of morning the gentle recolleetons
our early life around thy hills and mountains cn
r like gathering mists the mighty memories of the R
, | voluIion; and far away in the horizon of thy pa
d CLEAN, like thy own bright Northern Lights, II
awful virtues of our Pilgrim sires But while "
n devote this day to the remembrance of our natiN
: land we forget not that in which our happy lot
| cast. We exult in the reflection that though v
i count by thousands the miles which separate
4 from our birthplace, still our country is the sam
i We are no exiles meeting upon the banks oi
foreign river to swell its waters with our home si'
: tears Here floats the same banner which rustic
above our boyish heads, except that its mighty fol
a are wider and It's gliterng stars Increased In nuT
- ber.
Fl The sons oil New England are found In eve
0, State of the broad Republic. In the East, 1
u South, and the unbounded West, their blood mi
ID giles freely with every kindred current. We ha
se but changed our chamber in the paternal manslo
4 in all its rooms we are home and all who inha
II, t. are our brothers. To us the Union has but o
domestic hearth; its household gods are all t
same Upon us then peculiarly devolves the dr
of feeding The fires upon that kindly hearth !;
guarding with pious care those sacred househ'
gods.
We cannot do with less than the whole Unio
to us it admits of no division. In the veins OF {
children flows northern and southern blood; h
40 shall it be separated; who shall put asunder
no best affections Of the heart, the nohest instincts
ie- our nature! We love the land of our adopt
en- so do we that of our birth Let us ever be true
lrn both; and always exert ourselves in maintain
lor the unity of country, the integrity of the
public.
ais Aecursed, then, be the hand put forth to loo
ay- the golden cord of Union thrice accursed
mt traitorous lips, whether of northern fanatic
j36 southern demagogue, which shall propose its se
alb ance.
rt- But no the Union cannot be dissolved; its
On, tunes too brilliant to he marred lis desil
, at TOO powerful TO be resisted. Here will be t
hall greatest triumph, their most mighty deyelopmeI
nen And when, century hence, this Crescent
EN- shall have filled her golden horns ; when WI
her broad armed port shall be gathered the prod
of of the industry OF hundred millions of freen
ub- when galleries of art and halls of learning
ears have made classic inns mari OF trade then
r as the sons of the Pilgrims, still wandering from
ern- bleak hills Of the Norlh, sland upon lne pan
and The Great River and excaim with mingled
I,,t ailKatr al