AMERICAN UNION SPEAKER; CONTAINING STANDARD AND RECENT SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND POETRY, FOR RECITATION AND DECLAMATION, IN SCHOOLS, WITH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON ELOCUTION, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. BY JOHN D. PHILBRICK, LL. D. SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BOSTON. BOSTON: THOMPSON, BROWN, AND COMPANY 25 AND 29 CORNHILL. UNIVERSITY Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts Copyright, 1875, by JOHN D. PHILBRICK. RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. PREFACE. THE plan and peculiar characteristics of this Speaker were set forth in the preface to the first edition, as follows :— "The design of this book is two-fold, to meet the present demand for new selections suited to the spirit of the hour, and also to furnish a choice collection of standard pieces for elocutionary exercises on which time has set its lasting seal. "The new pieces will, for a time, receive the preference over old ones, and some of them will survive the period which called them forth. But to insure for the work, if possible, a permanent value as a Standard Speaker for students of common schools, higher seminaries, and colleges, the greater part of the selections, nearly three hundred in number, have been chosen from those of acknowledged excellence and of unquestionable merit as exercises for recitation and declamation. This department comprises every variety of style necessary in elocutionary culture. "Aware of the deep and lasting power which pieces used for declamation exert in moulding the ideas and opinions of the young, it has been my aim to admit only such productions as inculcate the noblest and purest sentiments, teaching patriotism, loyalty, and justice, and firing the youthful heart with ambition to be useful and with heroic devotion to duty. "The text of the extracts has been made to conform to that of the most authentic editions of the works of their authors. Some pieces, which have heretofore been presented in a mutilated form, are here restored in their original completeness. Where compression or abridgment has been necessary, it has been executed with caution, and with strict regard to the sentiments and ideas of the authors. "In accordance with the opinion that elaborate treatises on elocution more appropriately form separate publications, nothing of the kind has been included in this volume. A summary of practical suggestions to teachers and students was thought to form a more useful introduction. "This work, the preparation of which has been an agreeable di |