the sharpshooters, supposing he was going to plunder their comrades, began to fire at him. For some minutes he went about doing good under circumstances of most imminent personal danger. Soon, 5 however, those to whom he was taking the water recognized the character of his undertaking. All over the field men sat up and called to him, and those too much hurt to raise themselves held up their hands and beckoned to him. Soon the sharp10 shooters, who luckily had not hit him, saw that he was indeed an angel of mercy and stopped their fire, and two armies looked with admiration at the young man's pluck and loving-kindness. With a beautiful tenderness Kirkland went about his work, 15 giving of the water to all, and here and there placing a knapsack pillow under some poor wounded fellow's head, or putting in a more comfortable position some shattered leg or arm. Then he went back to his own lines and the fighting went on. 20 Tell me of a more exalted example of personal courage and self-denial than that of that Confederate soldier, or one which more clearly deserves the name of Christian fortitude. cuirassier: a soldier armed with a cuirass. engendered: to cause to exist. mitigate: lessen. - sharpshooters: soldiers who shoot unusually well. Now the bright morning star, Day's harbinger, Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. harbinger: forerunner. 5 10 THE GREAT TRIO JOHN CABELL BRECKINRIDGE JOHN CABELL Breckinridge (1821-1875), an American statesman and soldier, was born near Lexington, Kentucky. In 1851 he was elected a member of Congress. After serving as congressman for several years he was, in 1856, elected Vice President of the 5 United States. In 1860 he was one of the Democratic candidates for the Presidency, but was defeated by Mr. Lincoln. In the same year he was sent to the United States Senate. He resigned his seat in the Senate to enter the Confederate army, in which he received a commission as major general, and served actively in the field 10 until his appointment as Secretary of War. The Senate is assembled for the last time in this chamber. Henceforth it will be converted to other uses; yet it must remain forever connected with great events and sacred to the memories of the 15 departed orators and statesmen who here engaged in high debates and shaped the policy of their country. Hereafter the American and the stranger, as they wander through the Capitol, will turn with instinctive reverence to view the spot on which so 20 many and great materials have accumulated for history. They will recall the images of the great and the good, whose renown is the common property of the Union; and chiefly, perhaps, they will linger around the seats once occupied by the mighty three, whose names and fame, associated in life, death has not been able to sever, -illustrious men who, in their generation, sometimes divided, sometimes led, and sometimes resisted public opinion; for they were of that higher class of statesmen who 5 seek the right and follow their convictions. There sat Calhoun, the senator, inflexible, austere, oppressed, but not overwhelmed by his deep sense of the importance of his public functions; seeking the truth, then fearlessly following it, a man 10 whose unsparing intellect compelled all his emotions to harmonize with the deductions of his rigorous logic, and whose noble countenance habitually wore the expression of one engaged in the performance of high public duties. 15 This was Webster's seat. He, too, was every inch a senator. Conscious of his own vast powers, he reposed with confidence on himself; and, scorning the contrivances of smaller men, he stood among his peers all the greater for the simple 20 dignity of his demeanor. Type of his northern home, he rises before the imagination, in the grand and granite outline of his form and intellect, like a great New England rock repelling a New England wave. As a writer his productions will be cherished 25 by statesmen and scholars while the English tongue is spoken. As an orator his great efforts are historically associated with this chamber, whose very air seems to vibrate beneath the strokes of his deep tones and his weighty words. 5 On the outer circle sat Henry Clay, with his impetuous and ardent nature untamed by age, and exhibiting in the Senate the same vehement patriotism and passionate eloquence that of yore electrified the House of Representatives and the country. 10 His extraordinary personal endowments, his courage, all his noble qualities, invested him with an individuality and a charm of character which in any age would have made him a favorite of history. He loved his country above all earthly objects. 15 He loved liberty in all countries. Illustrious man whose light, at - orator, patriot, philanthropist its meridian, was seen and felt in the remotest parts of the civilized world; and whose declining sun, as it hastened down the west, threw back its 20 level beams in hues of mellowed splendor, to illuminate and to cheer the land he loved and served so well! austere stern. or set of truths. deduction: a truth drawn from another truth peers: equals. |