LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEENTH. FILIAL DEVOTION. A woman of Japan was left a widow with three sons, and with no other wealth than what could be procured by their joint labour. Work became scarce; and the sons saw their mother ready to perish. With the most ardent attachment to their mother, and unable to relieve her, they formed a desperate resolution. An edict had a short time before been, issued, promising a large recompense for whoever apprehended a thief, and brought him to justice. The three brothers determined to draw lots which of them should personate the thief, and be brought before a magistrate, in order that the others might obtain the reward. The lot fell upon the youngest, who confessed to a crime of which he was not guilty, and his brothers received the money. The anxiety visible in their countenances, and the tears which involuntarily forced themselves into their eyes, struck the magistrate, who ordered his servant to follow and watch them. They returned to their mother, and threw the money into her lap; but, when she learned how it had been obtained, she refused to touch this "price of blood." This being told the judge, he sent for the prisoner, and again interrogated him concerning the supposed robbery; but he still persisted that he was guilty. Struck with the filial affection and fortitude of the youth, the magistrate laid the case before the sovereign, who sent for the three brothers and their mother, loaded them with favours, and gave an annuity of five hundred crowns to the two eldest, and fifteen hundred to the youngest. LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH. SUNDAY. O day most calm, most bright! Sundays the pillars are On which heaven's palace arched lies: And hollow room with vanities. Which parts their ranks and orders. The Sundays of man's life, LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIRST. MAJOR ANDRE. John Andre, aid-de-camp to Sir Henry Clinton, and adjutant-general of the British army in America, during the revolution, was born in England, in 1741. He was, in early life, a merchant's clerk, but obtained a commission in the army, at the age of seventeen. Possessing an active and enterprising disposition, and the most amiable and accomplished manners, he soon conciliated the esteem and friendship of his superior officers, and rose to the rank of major. After Arnold had intimated to the British, in 1780, his intention of delivering up West Point to them, Major Andre was elected as the person to whom the maturing of Arnold's treason, and the arrangement for its execution, should be committed. A correspondence was for some time carried on between them, under a mercantile disguise, and the feigned names of Gustavus and Anderson; and, at length, to facilitate their communications, the Vulture sloop of war moved up the North River, and took a station convenient for the purpose, but so near as to excite suspicion. An interview was agreed on; and, on the night of September 21, 1780, he was taken in a boat, which was despatched for the purpose, and carried to the beach beyond the posts of both armies, under a pass, as John Anderson. He met General Arnold at the house of a Mr Smith. While the conference was yet unfinished, daylight approached; and, to avoid the danger of discovery, it was proposed that he should remain concealed till the succeeding night. He desired that he might not be carried within the American posts, but the promise made to him by Arnold to respect this objection was not observed. He was carried within them, contrary to his wishes, and against his knowledge. He continued with Arnold the succeeding day, and when, on the following night, he proposed to return to the Vulture, the boatmen refused to carry him, because she had, during the day, shifted her station, in consequence of a gun having been moved to the shore and brought to bear upon her. This embarrassing circumstance reduced him to the necessity of endeavouring to reach New York by land. Yielding with reluctance to the urgent representations of Arnold, he laid aside his regimentals, which he had hitherto worn under his surtout, and put on a plain suit of clothes; and, receiving a pass from the American general, authorising him, under the feigned name of John Anderson, to proceed on the public service to the White Plains, or lower, if he thought proper, he set out on his return. He had passed all the guards and posts on the road without suspicion, and was proceeding to New York in perfect security, when, on the 23d of September, one of the three militiamen, who were employed, with others, in scouting parties between the lines of the two armies, springing suddenly from his covert in the road, seized the reins of his bridle, and stopped his horse. Instead of producing his pass, Andre, with a singular want of self-possession, asked the man hastily where he belonged to; and, being answered, "To below," replied immediately, "And so do I." He then declared himself to be a British officer, on urgent business, and begged that he might not be detained. The other two militiamen coming up at this moment, he discovered his mistake; but it was too late to repair it. He offered a purse of gold, and a valuable watch, to which he added the most tempting promises of reward, and permanent provision from the government, if they would permit him to escape; but all his offers were rejected. The names of the militiamen who apprehended him were, John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Vanevert, who, immediately after searching their captive, carried him before their commander, Colonel Jamieson. On the 29th of September, 1780, General Washington appointed a board of fourteen general officers, among whom were General Greene, the Marquis de la Fayette, and Baron de Steuben, with the judge-advocate, John Lawrence, before whom Andre was brought for trial. After the most mature deliberation, they pronounced him a spy from the enemy, and, agreeably to the law of nations, condemned him to death. When his sentence was announced to him, he expressed a hope, that, since it was his lot to die, as there was a choice in the mode, they would grant him a professional death; but his request to be shot, rather than hanged, was not acceded to. When he was led out to the place of execution, he bowed familiarly to all those with whom he was acquainted; while his countenance indicated the serene fortitude of his mind. Upon seeing the preparations at the spot, he asked, with some emotion, "Must I die in this manner?" Being answered in the affirmative, he said, "I am reconciled to my fate, but not to the mode." Soon after, however, recollecting himself, he added, "It will be but a momentary pang;" and springing upon the cart, performed the last office to himself, with a composure that excited the admiration, and melted the hearts, of the spectators. LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTYSECOND. PATERNAL AFFECTION. How mildly beams a father's face! How true and tender his embrace! Heaven blends the hearts of sire and son; No stay is like a father's arm; Hath fickle passion wrong'd thy youth? Or hast thou aimed to soar in skies, Thou weary bird, make there thy nest. Alas, for orphan hearts that mourn For them, life's surest friend is gone; LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTYTHIRD. SERJEANT JASPER. At the commencement of the American revolutionary war, Serjeant Jasper enlisted in the second South Carolina regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel Moultrie. He distinguished himself in a particular manner, at the attack which was made upon Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, on the 25th of June, 1776. In the warmest part of the contest, the flag-staff was severed by a cannon-ball, and the flag fell to the bottom of the ditch, on the outside of the works. This accident was considered, by the anxious inhabitants of Charleston, as putting an end to the contest, by striking the American flag to the enemy. |