and delicate limbs,
And wavy tresses gushing from the cap
With which the Roman master crowned his slave,
When he took off the gyves. A bearded man,
Arm'd to the teeth, art thou; one mailed hand
Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword; thy brow,
Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarr'd
With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs
Are strong with struggling.... Oh! not yet,
Mayst thou unbrace thy corselet nor lay by
Thy sword; nor yet, O Freedom! close thy lids
In slumber; for thine enemy never sleeps,
And thou must watch and combat till the day
Of the new earth and heaven."

[Great applause.]

EDWARD EVERETT HALE

THE MISSION OF CULTURE

[Speech of Edward Everett Hale, D.D., at the seventy-first annual
dinner of the New England Society in the City of New York, December
22, 1876. The President, William Borden, gave the fifth regular toast,
to which Dr. Hale responded, as follows: "New England Culture--the
open secret of her greatness."

"Yet on her rocks, and on her sands,
And wintry hills the school-house stands,
And what her rugged soil denies,
The harvest of the mind supplies.
The riches of the Commonwealth
Are free strong minds and hearts of health
And, more to her than gold or grain
The cunning hand and cultured brain."]

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--You seem to have a very frank way
of talking about each other among yourselves here. I observe that I am
the first stranger who has crossed the river which, I recollect Edward
Winslow says, divides the Continent of New England from the Continent of
America [laughter], and, as a stranger, it is my pleasure and duty at
once to express the thanks and congratulations of the invited guest here
for the distinguished care which has been taken on this occasion
outdoors to make us feel entirely at home. [Laughter.] As I came down in
the snow-storm, I could not help feeling that Elder Brewster, and
William Bradford, and Carver, and Winslow could not have done better
than this in Plymouth; and indeed, as I ate my pork and beans just now,
I felt that the Gospel of New England is extending beyond the
Connecticut to other nations, and that what is good to eat and drink in
Boston is good to eat and drink even here on this benighted point at
Delmonico's. [Laughter.]

When you talk to us about "culture," that is rather a dangerous word. I
am always a little afraid of the word "culture." I recollect t