Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader Part 11

The baron then took him into the village, and showed him a small, neat cottage, where his son had established a school, in which a hundred orphans were fed and taught at his expense. "What a happy man you are," said the gentleman, "to have so good a son!"

"How do you know that I have so good a son?" replied the baron.

"Because I have seen his works," said the gentleman, "and I know he must be talented and good." "But you have never seen him," said the baron. "I have seen what he has done, and am disposed to love him, without having seen him," said the gentleman.

"Can you see anything from that window?" asked the baron. "The landscape is beautiful," said the gentleman; "the golden sun, the mighty river, the vast forest, are admirable. How lovely, and pleasant and cheerful, every object appears!"

"How happens it," said the baron, "that you could see such proof of my son's existence, in the imperfect work of his hands, and yet you can see no proof of the existence of a Creator, in the wonders and beauties which are now before you? Let me never hear you say again that you believe not in the existence of G.o.d, unless you would have me think that you have lost the use of your reason."

LESSON x.x.xVII

REPUBLICS

The name Republic is written upon the oldest monuments of mankind. It has been connected in all ages with the n.o.ble and the great in art and letters.

It might be asked, what land has ever felt the influence of liberty, that has not flourished like the spring? With regard to ourselves, we can truly say that we live under a form of government the equal of which the world has never seen. Is it, then, nothing to be free? How many nations in the history of the world have proved themselves worthy of being so?

Were all men as enlightened, as brave and as self-respecting as they ought to be, would they suffer themselves to be insulted by any other form of government than a republic? Can anything be more striking or more sublime, than the idea of a republic like ours; which spreads over a territory far more extensive than that of the ancient Roman empire?

And upon what is this great and glorious combination of states, so admirably united, really founded? It is founded upon the maxims of common sense and reason, without military despotism or monarchical domination of any kind. The people simply govern themselves, and the government is of the people, by the people and for the people.

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

We must have an end of all persecution of ideas.

I condemn the government of France and Prussia when they oppress the Jesuits.

I condemn the government of Russia when it oppresses the Jews.

I affirm that to persecute ideas is like persecuting light, air, electricity, or the magnetic fluid.

Ideas escape all persecution. When repressed they explode like powder.

LESSON x.x.xVIII

FALSE NOTIONS OF LIBERTY

People talk of liberty as if it meant the liberty of doing what a man likes. The only liberty that a man should ask for is the privilege of removing all restrictions that prevent his doing what he ought to do.

I call that man free who is able to rule himself. I call him free who has his flesh in subjection to his spirit; who fears doing wrong, but who fears nothing else.

I call that man free who has learned that liberty consists in obedience to the power and to the will and to the law that his higher soul approves. He is not free because he does what he likes, but he is free because he does what he ought.

Some people think there is no liberty in obedience. I tell you there is no liberty except in loyal obedience. Did you ever see a mother kept at home, a kind of prisoner, by her sick child, obeying its every wish and caprice? Will you call that mother a slave? Or is this obedience the obedience of slavery? I call it the obedience of the highest liberty--the liberty of love.

We hear in these days a great deal respecting rights: the rights of private judgment, the rights of labor, the rights, of property, and the rights of man.

I cannot see anything manly in the struggle between rich and poor; the one striving to take as much, and the other to keep as much, as he can.

The cry of "My rights, your duties," we should change to something n.o.bler. If we can say "My duties, your rights," we shall learn what real liberty is.

LESSON x.x.xIX

THE VOICE

A good voice has a charm in speech as in song. The voice, like the face, betrays the nature and disposition, and soon indicates what is the range of the speaker's mind.

Many people have no ear for music; but everyone has an ear for skillful reading. Every one of us has at some time been the victim of a cunning voice, and perhaps been repelled once for all by a harsh, mechanical speaker.

The voice, indeed, is a delicate index of the state of mind.

What character, what infinite variety, belongs to the voice! Sometimes it is a flute, sometimes a trip-hammer; what a range of force! In moments of clearer thought or deeper sympathy, the voice will attain a music and penetration which surprise the speaker as much as the hearer.

LESSON XL

THE INTREPID YOUTH

It was a calm, sunny day in the year 1750; the scene a piece of forest land in the north of Virginia, near a n.o.ble stream of water.

Implements for surveying were lying about, and several men composed a party engaged in laying out the wild lands of the country.

These persons had apparently just finished their dinner. Apart from the group walked a young man of a tall and compact frame. He moved with the elastic tread of one accustomed to constant exercise in the open air. His countenance wore a look of decision and manliness not usually found in one so young.

Suddenly there was a shriek, then another, and several in rapid succession. The voice was that of a woman, and seemed to proceed from the other side of a dense thicket. At the first scream, the youth turned his head in the direction of the sound. When it was repeated, he pushed aside the undergrowth and, quickening his footsteps, he soon dashed into an open s.p.a.ce on the bank of the stream, where stood a rude log cabin.

It was but the work of a moment for the young man to make his way through the crowd and confront the woman. The instant her eye fell on him, she exclaimed: "Oh, sir, you will do something for me. Make them release me, for the love of G.o.d. My boy, my poor boy is drowning, and they will not let me go." "It would be madness; she will jump into the river," said one, "and the rapids would dash her to pieces in a moment."

The youth scarcely waited for these words, for he recollected the child, a fine little boy of four years old, who was a favorite with all who knew him. He had been accustomed to play in the little inclosure before the cabin, but the gate having been left open, he had stolen out, reached the edge of the bank, and was in the act of looking over, when his mother saw him.

The shriek she uttered only hastened the catastrophe she feared; for the child lost its balance, and fell into the stream. Scream now followed scream in rapid succession, as the agonized mother rushed to the bank.

One glance at the situation was enough. To take off his coat and plunge in after the drowning child were but the actions of a moment.

On went the youth and child; and it was miraculous how each escaped being dashed to pieces against the rocks. Twice the boy went out of sight, and a suppressed shriek escaped the mother's lips; but twice he reappeared, and with great anxiety she followed his progress, as his tiny form was hurried onward with the current.

The youth now appeared to redouble his exertions, for they were approaching the most dangerous part of the river. The rush of the waters at this spot was tremendous, and no one ventured to approach, even in a canoe, lest he should be dashed in pieces. What, then, would be the youth's fate, unless he soon overtook the child? He urged his way through the foaming current with desperate strength.