THE DESOLATION OF SCIO. (1822.)
Reading edition
A deep, a broken note of woe Rose from the Archipelago. The seaman, passing Scio by, Stood out from shore: the wailful cry That reached him on the waters blue Was more than man could listen to; And when no more the death-cry came, The rising smoke, the sun-dimmed flame, The flashings of the scymitar, Told Scio’s slaughter from afar! What demon governed your debates, Ye mighty Christian potentates, That Greece, the land of light and song, Should feel the Paynim scourge so long? That Greece, for all the lore she gave, Should cry in vain, “Save, Europe, save!” How could you let the gasping child Besmear with gore the mother wild? How could ye let that wild one be The sport of wanton cruelty? Or Beauty, from Dishonour’s bed, Swell reeking piles of kindred dead, Where mingled, in the corse-fed fires, The cindered bones of sons and sires! But all is o’er—the storm hath passed, Nor oak, nor osier ’scaped the blast, Nor flow’ret of the loveliest dye— All, all in one black ruin lie! In one short day a People fall— Their mansions make their funeral pall— Their winding-sheets are sheets of flame— Their epitaphs, “Shame, Europe, shame!” Inhuman deed! Oh, murdered race! To Turk, to Holy League disgrace! Blush, Christian princes!—heartless men Who rule the councils, ne’er again Look on the Cross!—you have its ban— You crowned it with the Alcoran! T.
Patriotism.—Patriotism, or love of country, is a sentiment which pervades almost every human breast, and induces each individual to prefer the land of his birth, not because it is better than another country, but merely because it is his country. This sentiment may be illustrated by a variety of anecdotes. Many of the Swiss, on account of the poverty of their country, are induced to seek military service in foreign lands. Yet, in their voluntary exile, so strong is their affection for their native hills, that whole regiments have been said to be on the point of desertion, in consequence of the vivid recollections excited by one of their national songs. A French writer informs us that a native of one of the Asiatic isles, amid the splendours of Paris, beholding a banana-tree in the Garden of Plants, bathed it with tears, and seemed for a moment to be transported to his own land. The Ethiopian imagines that God made his sands and deserts, while angels only were employed in forming the rest of the world. The Maltese, insulated on a rock, distinguished their island by the appellation of “The Flower of the World.” The Javanese have such an affection for the place of their nativity, that no advantages can induce them, particularly the agricultural tribes, to quit the tombs of their fathers. The Norwegians, proud of their barren summits, inscribe upon their rix-dollars, “Spirit, loyalty, valour, and whatever is honourable, let the world learn among the rocks of Norway.” The Esquimaux are no less attached to their frigid zone, esteeming the luxuries of blubber-oil for food, and an ice cabin for a habitation, above all the refinements of other countries.—Fireside Education, by S. G. Goodrich.
If a man be gracious and civil to a stranger, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins them.