When I have forgotten thee,
my right hand shall have forgotten its cunning, and my heart
forgotten its pulses.
Let us look at the list of names with which
Boston has honored itself in our days, and then ask what other town
of the same size has done more. Prescott, Bancroft, Motley,
Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson, Dana, Agassiz, Holmes, Hawthorne! Who
is there among us in England who has not been the better for these
men? Who does not owe to some of them a debt of gratitude? In
whose ears is not their names familiar? It is a bright galaxy, and
far extended, for so small a city. What city has done better than
this? All these men, save one, are now alive and in the full
possession of their powers. What other town of the same size has
done as well in the same short space of time? It may be that this
is the Augustan era of Boston - its Elizabethan time. If so, I am
thankful that my steps have wandered thither at such a period.
While I was at Boston I had the sad privilege of attending the
funeral of President Felton, the head of Harvard College. A few
months before I had seen him a strong man, apparently in perfect
health and in the pride of life. When I reached Boston I heard of
his death. He also was an accomplished scholar, and as a Grecian
has left few behind him who were his equals. At his installation as
president, four ex-presidents of Harvard College assisted. Whether
they were all present at his funeral I do not know, but I do know
that they were all still living. These are Mr. Quincy, who is now
over ninety; Mr. Sparks; Mr. Everett, the well-known orator; and Mr.
Walker. They all reside in Boston or its neighborhood, and will
probably all assist at the installation of another president.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
It is, I presume, universally known that the citizens of the Western
American colonies of Great Britain which revolted, declared
themselves to be free from British dominion by an act which they
called the Declaration of Independence. This was done on the 4th of
July, 1776, and was signed by delegates from the thirteen colonies,
or States as they then called themselves. These delegates in this
document declare themselves to be the representatives of the United
States of America in general Congress assembled. The opening and
close of this declaration have in them much that is grand and
striking; the greater part of it, however, is given up to
enumerating, in paragraph after paragraph, the sins committed by
George III. against the colonies. Poor George III.! There is no
one now to say a good word for him; but of all those who have spoken
ill of him, this declaration is the loudest in its censure.
In the following year, on the 15th of November, 1777, were drawn up
the Articles of Confederation between the States, by which it was
then intended that a sufficient bond and compact should be made for
their future joint existence and preservation.
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