3. Report on other writings of Dr. van Dyke. Which

of his outdoor books do you know?

Love thou thy land, with love far-brought From out the storied Past, and used Within the Present, but transfused Through future time by power of thought.

—Alfred Tennyson.

WARREN'S ADDRESS AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

BY JOHN PIERPONT

Stand! the ground's your own, my braves! Will ye give it up to slaves? Will ye look for greener graves? Hope ye mercy still? What's the mercy despots feel? 5 Hear it in that battle peal! Read it on yon bristling steel! Ask it—ye who will!

Fear ye foes who kill for hire? Will ye to your homes retire? 10 Look behind you! they're afire! And, before you, see Who have done it! From the vale On they come!—and will ye quail?— Leaden rain and iron hail 15 Let their welcome be!

In the God of battles trust! Die we may—and die we must; But, oh, where can dust to dust Be consigned so well, 20 As where heaven its dews shall shed On the martyred patriot's bed, And the rocks shall raise their head, Of his deeds to tell?

WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

BY HECTOR SAINT JEAN DE CREVEC[OE]UR

De Crevec[oe]ur (1731-1813) was a French writer who emigrated to America at the age of twenty-three. He settled on a farm near the City of New York, and came to know many of the great men of his day. For instance, he had the friendship of Washington and Franklin. France appointed him as her consul at New York. In 1782 Crevec[oe]ur published his Letters of an American Farmer. As this extract shows, it is almost prophetic in its insight into the future.

What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was 5 Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations.

An American is he who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he 10 obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. Americans are the western 15 pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigor, and industry which began long since in the East; they will finish the great circle.

The Americans were once scattered all over Europe; in America they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever appeared, and which will hereafter become distinct by the power of the different climates they inhabit. The American ought therefore to love his country much better than that wherein either he 5 or his forefathers were born. Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor; his labor is founded on the basis of nature, self-interest. Can it want a stronger allurement?

Women and children, who before in vain demanded a 10 morsel of bread, now gladly help their men folk to clear those fields whence exuberant crops are to arise to feed and to clothe them all, without any part being claimed either by a despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord.

Religion demands but little of the American: a small 15 voluntary salary to the minister, and gratitude to God. Can he refuse these?

The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, 20 penury, and useless labor, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence.—This is an American.

—Letters of an American Farmer.

1. What is Crevec[oe]ur's definition of an American? How would you define an American to-day?

2. Explain lines 15-18, on page 336. What does the last clause of the sentence mean?

3. What reasons does the author give for a great love of country on the part of Americans? Do these reasons still hold good?