For the Leader's eye is on us, Night and day! Wide the trackless prairies round us, Steep and savage mountains bound us; Smile the soft savannas green, Rivers sweep and roll between : 4. Bring your axes, woodmen true; Smite the forest till the blue Of heaven's sunny eye looks through Every wild and tangled glade; 5. O'er the torrents fling your bridges, Pioneers! Upon the ridges Pray! and Work will be completer; 7. Fear not lest the busy finger Cleaving clouds that still divide us 8. Live in Future as in Present; Work for both while yet the day LESSON CII. AM BAS' SA DOR, messenger; deputy. PROP O SI" TION, proposal. to ours. 1GEN O E$E', a native of Genoa, a famous fortified seaport city of Northern Italy, in the Sardinian States. 2 LAC TAN TIUS, one of the fathers of the Latin church, born about the year A. D. 250. He was celebrated as a teacher of eloquence, and before his conversion to Christianity, had so successfully studied and imitated the great Roman orator that he received the appellation of the "Christian Cicero." QUEEN ISABELLA'S RESOLVE. FROM VINET. QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN, DON GOMEZ, AND COLUMBUS. Isabella. And so, Don Gomez, it is your conclusion that we ought to dismiss the proposition of this worthy Genoese." Don Gomez. His scheme, your majesty, seems to me fanciful in the extreme; but I am a plain matter-of-fact man, and do not see visions and dreams, like some. Isa. And yet Columbus has given us cogent reasons for believing that it is practicable to reach the eastern coast of India by sailing in a westerly direction. Don G. Admitting that his theory is correct, namely, that the earth is a sphere, how would it be possible for him to return, if he once descended that sphere in the direction. he proposes? Would not the coming back be all up-hill'? Could a ship accomplish it with even the most favorable wind'? Columbus. Will your majesty allow me to suggest that, if the earth is a sphere, the same laws of adhesion and motion must operate at every point on its surface; and the objection of Don Gomez would be quite as valid against our being able to return from crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. Don G. This gentleman, then, would have us believe the monstrous absurdity, that there are people on the earth who are our antipodes,-who walk with their heads down, like flies on the ceiling. Col. But, your majesty, if there is a law of attraction which makes matter gravitate to the earth, and prevents its flying off into space, may not this law operate at every point on the round earth's surface'? Isa. Truly, it so seems to me; and I perceive nothing absurd in the notion that this earth is a globe floating or revolving in space. Don G. May it please your majesty, the ladies are privileged to give credence to many wild tales which we plain matter-of-fact men can not admit. Every step I take, confutes this visionary idea of the earth's rotundity. Would not the blood run into my head, if I were standing upside. down! Were I not fearful of offending your majesty, I would quote what the great Lactantius' says. Isa. We are not vain of our science, Don Gomez; so let us have the quotation. Don G. "Is there any one so foolish," he asks, “as to believe that there are antipodes with their feet opposite to ours, that there is a part of the world in which all things are topsy-turvy, where the trees grow with their branches downward, and where it rains, hails, and snows, upward' ?”’ Col. I have already answered this objection. If there are people on the earth who are our antipodes, it should be remembered that we are theirs also. We Don G. Really, that is the very point wherein we matterof-fact men abide by the assurance of our own senses. know that we are not walking with our heads downward. Isa. To cut short the discussion, you think that the enterprise which the Genoese proposes, is one unworthy of our serious consideration; and that his theory of an unknown shore to the westward of us is a fallacy. Don G. As a plain matter-of-fact man, I must confess that I so regard it. Has your majesty ever seen an ambassador from this unknown coast? Isa. Don Gomez, do you believe in the existence of a world of spirits? Have you ever seen an ambassador from that unknown world? Don G. Certainly not. By faith we look forward to it. Isa. Even so by faith does the Genoese look forward, far over misty ocean, to an undiscovered shore. |