EXERCISE 52. Battle of Borodino.-ANONYMOUS. The night passed slowly over the wakeful heads of the impatient combatants. The morning of the 7th of September at length broke, and thousands beheld the dawn for the last time.-The moment was arrived, when 5 the dreadful discharge of two thousand cannon was to break the silence of expectation, and arouse at once all the horrors of war. General as the attack seemed, the corps of Prince Bagration had to sustain the accumulat ing weight of nearly half the French army; and the de10 termination shown by its cavalry was so desperate, that they charged up to the mouth of the Russian guns.— Whole regiments of them, both horses and men, were swept down by the cannon shot; and all along the front of Bagration's line, arose a breast-work of dead and dy15 ing. Napoleon ordered up fifty additional pieces of artillery, and a fresh division of infantry, with several regiments of dragoons. This new force rushed on, over the bodies of their fallen countrymen, and did not allow themselves to be checked until they reached the para20 pets of the Russian works. Their vigorous onset overturned with fierce slaughter every thing that opposed them, and obliged Bagration to fall back nearer to the second line of the army. The rage of battle at this crisis is not to be described. The thunder of a thousand 25 pieces of artillery was answered by the discharge of an equal number on the part of the Russians. A veil of smoke shut out the combatants from the sun, and left them no other light to pursue the work of death than the flashes of musketry, which blazed in every direction. 30 The sabres of 40,000 dragoons met each other, and clashed in the horrid gloom; and the bristling points of countless bayonets, bursting through the rolling vapor, strewed the earth with heaps of slain. Such was the scene for an extent of many wersts, and 35 the dreadful contest continued without cessation until the darkness of the night.-This closed that memorable day, and with it terminated the lives of eighty thousand human beings. The horses which lay on the ground, from right to left, numbered full 25,000. 40 The next day, says Labaume, very early in the morning, we returned to the field of battle. In the space of a square league, almost every spot was covered with the killed and wounded.-On many places, the bursting of the shells had promiscuously heaped together men and 45 horses. But the most horrid spectacle was the interior of the ravines; almost all the wounded, who were able to drag themselves along, had taken refuge there, to avoid the shot. These miserable wretches, heaped one upon an50 other, and almost suffocated with blood, uttering the most dreadful groans, and invoking death with piercing cries, eagerly besought us to put an end to their tor ments. EXERCISE 53. Shipwreck.-FREDERICKSBURG ARENA. In the winter of 1825-Lietenant G. — of the United States Navy, with his beautiful wife (the most lovely female my eyes ever beheld) and infant child, embarked in a packet at Norfolk, bound to South Caro5 lina. 'Tis true the weather was extremely cold, but as the wind was favourable, this mode of getting to their friends was not considered more hazardous, than the same trip by stages through the swamps and sands of the Carolinas. Besides, the vessel in which they sailed 10 was a well known and popular trader, and had never encountered an accident in making her numerous voyages. For the first day and night after their departure, the wind continued fair, and the weather clear; but on the evening of the second day, they being then in sight 15 of the coast of North Carolina, a severe gale sprung up from the northward and westward, and towards midnight, the Captain, judging himself much farther from the land than he really was, and dreading the gulf stream, hauled in for the coast; but with the intention, it is 20 presumed, of laying to, when he supposed himself clear of the Gulf. Lieut. G- did not approve of the Captain's determination to stand in for land, and the result proved that his objections were well founded; for about four A. M. the vessel grounded. Vain would it be 25 to attempt a description of the horror which was depicted in every countenance when the awful shock, occasioned by the striking of the vessel's bottom, was first experienced. The terrors of such a situation can be known only to those who have themselves been ship30 wrecked. None others can have a tolerable idea of what passed in the minds of the wretched crew, as they gazed with vacant horror on the threatening elements, and felt that their frail bark must soon, perhaps the next thump, be dashed to pieces, and they left at the 35 mercy of the billows, with not even a plank between themselves and eternity! First comes the thumping of the vessel-next the breaking of the raging surge over her sides-then the receding for an instant of the waves, causing the vessel to careen on her beam ends40 and lastly, the crashing of the spars and timbers by the returning rollers-the whole exhibiting a scene of confusion and horror, of which the most vivid language could afford but a cold and faint picture. But awful as this is, cheerless as are the shipwrecked sailor's pros45 pects, what are his feelings compared to the agony of a fond husband and father, who clasps in a last embrace his little world, his beloved wife and child! Although conscious of the hopelessness of his situation that to remain by the vessel was death! and to 50 seek the shore, which, now that the day began to dawn, had become visible, was scarcely less perilous; still every feeling of his noble nature prompted him to action. My friend was a seaman, and a brave one: accustomed to danger, and quick in seizing upon every means of 55 rescuing the unfortunate. But now, who were the unfortunate that called upon him for rescue? who were they whose screams were heard louder than the roaring elements, imploring that aid which no human power could afford them? His wife and child! O! heart60 rending agony! But why attempt to describe what few can imagine? The subject is too appalling to admit of amplification. In a word, then, the only boat which could be got at was manned by too gallant tars. G- — and child, and its nurse, were lifted into it— The freight was saw this, and knew 65 it was the thought of desperation! already too much. Mr. G Mrs. that the addition of himself would diminish the chances of the boat reaching the shore in safety; and much as he deplored the necessity-horrible as was the alterna 70 tive-he himself gave the order ;-" Push off, and make for the land, my brave lads!"-the last words which ever passed his lips! The order was obeyed; but ere the little boat had proceeded fifty yards, (about half the distance to the beach) it was struck on the quarter by a 75 roller, capsized, and boat, passengers, and all, enveloped for a time, in the angry surge! The wretched husband saw but too distinctly what seemed to be the destruction of that all he held dear! But here, alas, and forever, were shut out from him all sublunary prospects! 80 He fell upon the deck powerless-senseless-A CORPSE! the victim of a sublime sensibility! But what became of the unhappy wife and child? The answer shall be brief; Mrs. G- was borne through the breakers to the shore, by one of the brave sailors; the nurse was 85 thrown upon the beach, with the drowned infant grasped in her arms. The nurse survived. Mrs. G was taken to a hut senseless-continued delirious many days, but finally recovered her senses, and with them a consciousness of the awful catastrophe which in a moinent 90 made her a CHILDLESS widow. EXERCISE 54. The Bucket.-A Cold-Water Song.-WOODWORTH. 1 How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood! When fond recollection presents them to view; The orchard, the meadow, the deep tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew; The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it, The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell; The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well; The old oaken bucket-the iron-bound bucketThe moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well. 2 That moss-covered vessel I hail as a treasureFor often at noon, when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it with hands that were glowing, And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well; EXERCISE 55. Anecdote of Judge Marshall.-WINCHESTER REPUBLICAN It is not long since a gentleman was travelling in one of the counties of Virginia, and about the close of the day stopped at a public house, to obtain refreshment and spend the night. He had been there but a short time, be5 fore an old man alighted from his gig, with the apparent intention of becoming his fellow guest, at the same house. As the old man drove up, he observed that both the shafts of his gig were broken, and that they were held together by withes formed from the bark of a hickory sapling.10 Our traveller observed further, that he was plainly clad, that his kneebuckles were loosened and that something like negligence pervaded his dress. Conceiving Lim to be one of the honest yeomanry of our land, the courtesies of strangers passed between them, and they entered 15 the tavern. It was about the same time that an addition of three or four young gentlemen was made to their number-most, if not all of them of the legal profession. As soon as they became conveniently accommodated, the conversation was turned by one of the latter upon 20 an eloquent harangue which had that day been displayed at the bar. It was replied by the other, that he had witnessed the same day, a degree of eloquence, no doubt |